Chapter 40 - The Gift (2)
Azreal laid on a raised wooden platform in the middle of the main chamber where the Patriarch and his council members were gathered. They all stood a few meters away from the platform, as they examined what Mian was doing. The young demi-human in question was the only one who stood directly beside the platform.
Azreal had unwrapped the bandages that were tied around the stump of his shoulder, revealing the bright red swollen flesh that had remained. In fact, it was actually not as bad as Mian had thought it would be. The wound looked as though it had already begun to heal over, and would become a permanent mark on Azreal for his loss in battle.
Thankfully, Mian could help.
"So, how exactly are we going to proceed?" Azreal asked and turned his head to face Mian who stood at his side.
"Um... Just brace yourself. I have no idea if this will hurt, but you should still be prepared in the event that it does." Mian advised and raised his hands above Azreal's severed shoulder.
He did exactly as Hana instructed him. He willed the Natural Energy that was present in the surroundings to gather around Azreal's shoulder with the intention of healing it.
As he did so, specks of golden light began to appear in the air above the wooden table, drawing the attention of the council members to them. They all watched with amazement in their eyes as the specks of golden light began to converge on Azreal's injury. To them, this was a spectacular moment. They were able to watch one of their own utilize a Gift. Because of this, they were already envisioning making Mian into a Pillar to support their own demi-human society, and then grow even more from there.
They had been forced to limit their growth in order to avoid sparking conflict between themselves and the Henshaw Dynasty, but as that conflict had already come to pass, leading to the loss of the Dynasty's Pillar, and them gaining their own Pillar, they believed it was time to resume their upwards trend.
While the council members were lost in their thoughts and fantasies, Mian noticed something was wrong.
'Hana, why do I feel as if something is wrong?' He asked Hana mentally.
[That is because something is wrong. You are only utilizing the sparse Natural Energy in the environment. While normally, that is enough for simple injuries, it is insufficient to repair the damage done to the arm of this dominant Werewolf. You will need to consume Evolution Points in order to properly heal him.]
Mian understood what Hana said quite easily. It was reasonable for the requirement to heal such a grave injury to be Evolution Points.
Evolution Points were the highly concentrated and condensed form of Natural Energy. It was only natural they were much more potent than the stray Natural Energy that was present all around.
'How many Evolution Points will it take to completely heal him arm?'
[Exactly two thousand and three Evolution Points. While reconstructing the tissue and flesh is not a big deal, building his bones and allowing them to be able to withstand the amount of Natural Energy that a powerful dominant like him is able to wield will take the most amount of the Evolution Points that will be used in the reconstruction.]
The interaction between Hana and Mian took place in just a few seconds. That was too short of a time for anyone to notice anything. Mian immediately allocated the amount of Evolution Points that would be needed to regrow the arm.
A dazzling flash of light temporarily blinded everyone present, only subsiding a few seconds later, but the sight that their eyes welcomed was something that would forever be imprinted in their minds.
When the light subsided, Azreal sat up with wide eyes and a slack jaw. His right hand clutched his left arm that he thought had been lost forever. The skin and fur of the arm still felt tingly and sensitive, but that was a small price to pay for getting back the lost limb.
This act was enough to convince everyone who still doubted, that Mian was worthy of a seat on the council.
Even Daven was caught in a daze. He had seen plenty examples of both humans and demi-humans alike wielding Natural Energy, but this was the first time he had seen it being used for something other than destruction. It was so new that he almost felt compelled to relinquish his seat as Patriarch to Mian, but his mind soon reasserted proper thoughts and pushed away the stupid, mindless ones that had swarmed his line of thought just a moment ago.
"Amazing!" Azreal exclaimed with a new light in his eyes. He looked at Mian with a deeply seated and new found respect. Truly, the young demi-human was worthy of a spot on the council among the most powerful dominants of the pack.
"Now that you have all been convinced of Mian's ability, I hope you all will show him nothing but kindness and acceptance as he embraces his position on the council." Daven smiled and patted Mian's shoulder.
Mian's smile faltered at that moment as Daven's words contradicted with his future plans, but he held back his words.. He would bring it up at a later date, but for now, he would stay with the pack and enjoy being around those who were close to him.