Ball of Nothing

[Bonus Scene taken from Chapter 100 - Training (8)]

*Chapter excerpt*

He didn't know how Zero thought about fusing two dying or dead animals to improve his success rates. The creatures lived but seeing that they were two very different species, they couldn't come to agree on which prey to hunt and that resulted in their deaths by starvation - something Zero learnt the hard way.

Hua Tuo didn't understand how Zero thought it would be a great idea to pour healing magic constantly into a dead creature for more than three minutes. The unexpected happened when the creature morphed into a zombie who came alive in the form of a spirit taking over possession of its rotting body. Even after its resurrection, Zero faithfully continued to supply it healing magic and Hua Tuo almost fainted when the creature became a zombie mutant capable of absorbing mana for its survival. Without knowing what he did, Zero left happily. Hua Tuo only knew about a massacre of a small village the day after and had to secretly end that monster's 'life'. Endow Hill's magic was strong enough to drive the weak-willed minds insane. With an indestructible body and a weak mind, it was only a matter of time before what Zero 'saved' morphed into everyone's nightmare. If not put to a stop, it could very well turn into a calamity class demon, given enough time. When Zero learnt about the monster he created from Gaia who heard it from Hua Tuo, he mourned for the deaths of those innocent villagers and promised to never do that again.

*End of Excerpt*

How long had it been since Hua Tuo entrusted him with the secrets to revival magic? Zero was beginning to feel a sense of urgency and frustration. Of all the obstacles he faced, this was taking the most time to master. He'd never had any learning disabilities or difficulties before, so why now?

Hua Tuo's silent disappointment was affecting Zero in not a good way. Every night before he went to bed, he would take a look at his teacher's face and feel bad. True, the old man might be stricter than usual and more grumpy. Zero has also become less chatty lately due to the tension between them. However, on the inside, the boy thought that he must be a severe failure of a student. Hua Tuo was a great teacher and Zero found himself understanding the clear instructions. It's just that when a life was extinguished before his very eyes, Zero couldn't help but feel their desperation. It was impossible for him to be level-headed in times like that when something was screaming at him to stop the inevitable.

The fault lies entirely with him and Zero sighed. If only there was a way for him to get it under control. His body simply didn't listen to him when the time called for it. Zero knew everything in his head and at the back of his hands what he needed to do. However, for some reason, the vessel he was in simply couldn't react the same way his head knew he should be reacting. He was unable to master Hua Tuo's cold and impersonal demeanour and set his mind to focus on the job without caring about the results. Zero cared too much about the dying patients and panicked more when they were actually dead. He feared for them as much as he feared his failure.

On hindsight, perhaps that was the reason for his continuous streak of failure. Zero found it very hard to be optimistic about his progress with the results of his incapacity staring back at him. The number of lives he failed to save kept on increasing by the day, adding an invisible weight to his very existence. If he could collect the number of tears he shed over every life he failed to save, Zero was sure that his tears could fill up a small pond by now.

The heart was a peculiar organ. Although there wasn't anything wrong with his vessel, Zero felt as if someone was continuously squeezing it. Was that the ghost of all those fishes he failed to save? It was gradual but undeniable that Zero's confidence was diminishing. Each time the fish failed to respond and the soul left the body, something fragile in Zero broke. Hua Tuo's sigh echoed loudly in Zero's world and the silence that followed was even worse than that admonishing look at the very beginning.

Zero knew that he was inadequate. Hua Tuo hasn't said anything about giving up but Zero was almost ready to throw the towel in himself. If the number of lives he had to sacrifice to master this revival magic outweighed the number of lives he could save in future with it, Zero was heavily considering to drop it. However, Zero also knew that if he didn't master this magic that was Hua Tuo's signature healing magic, he would be a failure of a disciple.

Hua Tuo's light snores were the last thing Zero wanted to hear tonight. With so many thoughts tumbling around in his head, the boy decided to take a walk. The night was always something Zero liked whenever he was feeling down. Under the cover of darkness beneath the starry sky, Zero didn't have to worry about anyone spotting him. He could allow himself to stop smiling and cry.

Zero knew that he could call any of the people on his communicator's contact list to talk about it but he thought that it wasn't fair to be doing so. This training was a test to see if he could overcome the difficulties that he will face in the future as a travelling physician. Hua Tuo never stopped Zero from doing what he did as long as it was reasonably safe. That made Zero wonder if there was something he missed out previously. He only understood what he should be doing and not why he should do them.

Thinking about it, Zero wondered why Hua Tuo broke it down so specifically. It might work on fishes but if he wanted to save humans or birds, did the same revival magic techniques that worked on fishes apply to them?

"Maybe there's something else Hua Tuo wants me to find out but I've been too focused on making the revival magic work to understand the hidden lesson. That's right, Hua Tuo isn't the kind of teacher who would spoon-feed answers. I have to find out what he wants me to learn on my own. Perhaps this isn't the best way revival magic is done, perhaps there are hidden tricks to this!"

Feeling rejuvenated with the new target in mind, Zero started thinking about ways he could do some special training to help him understand the mysterious art of revival magic.

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Hua Tuo sensed a change in his disciple. Zero was now more enthusiastic despite his failures. for some odd reason, the boy had taken more interest in the bodies of the fishes they'd cut up for lunch after his failure to revive them. This made the Sage God more cautious. Whenever Zero got into one of his 'experimental learning' modes, it was often followed by trouble.

Zero kept thinking about it. For now, he had to understand the differences in anatomy between species. Through observation and reading up, Zero understood that most living creatures he ate had brains and hearts. That was also the crucial point in revival magic. If Zero could successfully restart the brain and the heart, then heal up whatever is causing organs to malfunction, the creature would come to life automatically.

In that case, if he were to get two living creatures of different species one with a functioning brain and the other with a functioning heart then healed them up so that they became one living creature, would that count as a successful revival?

Hua Tuo told Zero to hunt something and prepare dinner that day so Zero leapt at the opportunity. He was going to find a pheasant.

Normally, they didn't eat the brains of pheasants so Zero had experiment materials. There would still be life some moments even after the head is detached from the body but Zero had to work fast. Some fishes can still live without the head attached so Zero was going to try his fusion theory out. It was easier to focus on healing and fusing the two species that were moments away from death instead of one creature that had already completely stopped functioning. With this method, Zero knew that he had higher chances of succeeding without needing to focus too much on supporting the functions of a revived organ.

Hua Tuo noticed how his student was acting strange. He'd never been that enthusiastic about preparing dinner before. With suspicion, Hua Tuo chose to follow Zero discreetly from a distance. He wanted to know what his student was up to this time. His progress in revival magic was stagnant and he could see the toll of those failed attempts beginning to take its toll on the boy. However, Zero made a complete recovery from that crippling depression with renewed optimism that scared Hua Tuo.

True to his suspicions, Zero decided to head to the river after he caught the pheasant. The boy put the poor bird out with a strong sleeping spell and Hua Tuo was curious as to what his student would do at the river.

Zero undressed and folded his clothes neatly beside the sleeping pheasant and jumped into the water. At first, Hua Tuo thought that his student was just going to catch a tasty afternoon snack and was about to return when Zero did something strange.

Hua Tuo's eyes widened when Zero retrieved his hunting knife from his inventory. In one swift move, Zero cut the head off the fish he caught and the head of the pheasant who was still asleep. The blood splattered everywhere but Zero was more concerned about losing time. His teacher watched from the shadows how Zero was attempting to create a chimaera and frowned.

Zero spent a long time trying to figure out how to connect the different circuits even though it was easier to maintain the life of two different animals now that he didn't have to pour mana to support the brain and the heart simultaneously. With his left hand, Zero supplied mana to the pheasant's brain and with his right, he supplied mana to keep the body alive.

Therein lies the main problem. Zero didn't know that the animals he chose would be incompatible in terms of blood vessels, skeletal structures and muscles. Even the cell structures were slightly different and Zero groaned. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy in practice. In theory, it sounded simple to simply regrow parts that were missing for the fusion of two different species. He read it in alchemy but the subject was very vaguely explained so Zero could only figure the rest out when he actually did it.

Now, he found himself stuck. If he released the supply of mana right now, both animals will die in vain. Zero wanted to scream and tear his hair out. For now, both the fish and pheasant were alive but if Zero doesn't find out how to reconstruct them on a cellular level, they would be doomed.

As the blood started to drip dry, Zero thought about something. If he could not replicate the cells for either fish or bird, perhaps he could make something more neutral like a general muscle structure and bridge the vessels over. The blood from the bird and fish was mostly gone by now and they were essentially thriving on Zero's mana supply so reconnecting the vessels and drafting new skin didn't matter much. Zero felt as if they were closer to becoming fairies who thrived on mana instead of oxygen and food. Still, it was worth a try.

Hua Tuo watched as his student tried to copy and replicate parts of muscles and blood vessels. The process of learning through trial and error was painfully slow. Zero went as far as to understand the structure of skeleton to recreate something that held the bird and fish together. He saw how Zero would absorb a small part of the bird's body or fish's head to understand their anatomy better. Slowly, the creature fused together with Zero's aid.

Hua Tuo couldn't believe his eyes. If he hadn't been there for the last hour to watch Zero's slow progress, he wouldn't believe that chimaeras could be created without dark magic and sacrifices. In fact, both the bird and fish retained their souls in the same body. Zero did reconstruct a huge part of the chimaera's body but the most important achievement was how the sanity of the chimaera was retained. It wasn't corrupted in the process and continued to flop on the ground trying to get away from Zero.

Zero flopped onto the ground, butt-naked. He didn't know how long that took but the bird-fish was now alive. His experiment proved successful and Zero felt happy. Although it didn't help him much with understanding revival magic, Zero now knew that a new door was open to him. Regrafting was a process of absorbing and recreating the old body part into something newer and stronger. The bird's skeleton was hollow and light with the fish's skeleton was rigid. They had two different respiratory systems and even blood types so Zero altered those as well. He didn't do much to the muscle structures but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Zero created blood cells after analysing both types of blood and decided that it might be better to stick with the fish's blood seeing as the bird will be living underwater for a while. He added new body parts like gills to the bird's head as well as eyes that could function underwater.

With that, Zero felt satisfied with the chimaera he'd created. It might not be progress towards revival magic mastery but Zero now knew there were other possibilities and that revival magic can be used on other species easily. He only required to channel mana to the parts that required support. Even without a lower-body or blood, the creature would still thrive for a while. The crucial part was replenishing lost parts that Zero had taken out during the disassembling process. If that was done correctly, the creature will survive the transformation.

That night, Hua Tuo pretended not to notice Zero slipping out. Instead, he allowed Zero to do so while following the boy closely. It didn't surprise him that Zero was tracking the chimaera and it didn't take long for his apprentice to notice that something was wrong with it. Hua Tuo couldn't help but pity the poor experiment.

Given that both bird and fish retained their consciousness, their instincts and feeding habits couldn't be that easily changed. The bird kept trying to fly and the fish often ended up on land. Not to mention, the pheasant ate seeds and insects while the fish only ate plankton and other smaller fishes in the river. The poor diet and different needs caused the chimaera to grow insane and eventually starve to death from the differences.

It was barely a week of the chimaera's birth before it died. Zero cried heavily when he found the body of his first revived experiment. It was doing so well before and the boy simply couldn't understand what went wrong. Perhaps this is what the alchemists faced when trying to create artificial life and fusion between two different living creatures. With two souls in one body, the subject often died.

Hua Tuo was glad that he followed Zero out on his nightly trips. The chimaera's body was already rotting when Zero tried des[perately to use revival magic on it. It didn't matter how many times Zero failed, he continued it despite the fact that both souls of the original host had already left it. Hua Tuo didn't need to stay to watch the end of what would happen either. Eventually, he hoped that Zero would give up and let the dead rest in peace.

Zero continued for hours and despaired over not being able to recall souls. His earlier theory about mana acting as a battery for the body remained correct. The corpse didn't decay any further when he got the organs functioning with mana fuelling them. Hence, Zero decided to continue channelling mana into the body while searching for the souls that left it.

Zero was still searching for the souls when he felt the body beneath him twitch to life. He didn't know how long he had been meditating but the sun was almost up now. The student jumped in alarm and decided to hide the body for now. He would continue it tonight. For now, he needed to hurry before his teacher woke up.

Hua Tuo pretended not to know what his student was up to but regretted it when things got out of control. he didn't understand the reason for Zero's cheerfulness until Roovan from Half Moon Village reported about a strange monster going around to massacre smaller villages on Endow Hill. The Sage God investigated the case and was horrified to find out that Zero's chimaera had turned into a zombie.

He didn't need to question his disciple about what he did to know what happened. Zero must have ignored the three-minute rule and desperately tried to bring his creation back to life by pumping in mana into an empty body. With so many lingering souls around, it wouldn't take long for one to discover a free vessel to possess. Unfortunately, the tragedy didn't end there. Endow Hill was a breeding ground for monsters and beasts because of the dense mana around it. Weak-willed souls will only be driven insane by the potent mana and that was exactly what happened to Zero's chimaera.

If it went berserk as a half rotting bird-fish, Hua Tuo would have left it alone. However, it started evolving and gaining intelligence after eating the villagers. The Sage God could no longer ignore the threat it proved to be and ended the creature before it became capable of evolving into a calamity class demon.

After he subdued the zombie, Hua Tuo had to return to heaven for a short while to fill in his report because the soul was corrupted.

The report ended up in the hands of King Yama and Gaia because of the soul discrepancy. Horrified by the report, Gaia pressed Hua Tuo about the details. Training with Hua Tuo on Endow Hills proved to be more dangerous and Mother Nature was reconsidering cutting the training for Zero short. Unable to convince Gaia, Hua Tuo told her to talk to Zero about it. The choice was in Zero's hands if he wanted to continue down the medical path. Hua Tuo was slightly hurt by the lack of faith the Great Goddess had in him but he couldn't blame her. She wasn't given a lot of details about what was happening on Endow Hill.

Zero was happy to receive a call in the middle of his practice and Hua Tuo allowed him to answer it, excusing himself so that Zero could take his time and speak his mind.

"Gaia!"

"Hello, Zero," Mother Nature smiled. Zero sounded as if he was having fun. It was a relief to hear that the boy wasn't down despite the lack of success in mastering revival magic. However, she didn't think Hua Tuo had informed his student about the little experiment that went wrong yet. She hated to be the one to break the news but she had to.

Zero was silent after Gaia told him what his chimaera had done. He felt a sense of grief that things had gone so badly and that he had a hand in the massacre of that small village.

"Zero?"

"I'm sorry!" Zero cried, unable to undo what he had done. He made a huge mistake simply because he didn't listen to Hua Tuo and used healing magic even after the soul has left the body.

Gaia didn't berate the boy. Many people made mistakes during their training, some bigger than others. She believed that Zero would learn from it and not repeat the same mistake again. However, she still had to ask if Zero wanted to continue with his training.

Zero didn't hesitate to answer despite the grief that he would continue with the training.

"I will master revival magic no matter what. If I give up right now, all those lives sacrificed would be in vain. I cannot be so irresponsible as to run away from failure after so many lives have been sacrificed. I need to work harder and make up for my mistakes."

Hua Tuo who was eavesdropping had to hide and wipe away his tears. As hard as it was for Zero, the Sage God felt the same pressure on his shoulders. As Zero's teacher, he couldn't give up when his student was still determined to succeed. He had to find a way to help Zero master this final stage even if it meant sacrificing more lives.

However, through hearing Zero's resolve, the physician was also sure of one more thing.

Zero was going to be a great doctor, one capable of surpassing even him.