SSS-Ranked Surgeon In Another World: The Healer Is Actually OP!

Chapter 257: The Art Of Adaptation!

Lily pushed herself without restraint, her spear thrusting and retracting in sharp lines, her footwork growing heavier as fatigue crept in, each breath coming louder than the last.

Still, she didn’t stop. Not until her arms began to tremble and her breathing turned ragged, chest heaving as she fought to draw in air that refused to come fast enough.

Bruce stepped back first, lowering his daggers with deliberate calm.

“Alright,” he said evenly. “That’s enough for now, Lily. Let’s give you a few minutes to catch your breath.”

She didn’t respond. Lily bent forward slightly, hands braced on her knees as sweat dripped from her brow and soaked into the ground beneath her feet.

Her shoulders shook with every breath, but she never once complained, never looked up in frustration or defeat. Bruce watched her quietly, letting the silence stretch, letting the moment settle. He knew when to press, and when not to.

When her breathing finally steadied just a little, he lifted his hand.

Red shifted.

The twin daggers dissolved into crimson motes and reformed into a compact red shield strapped snugly to his arm, its surface smooth and faintly glowing. Lily froze. Her eyes widened as she stared at it, surprise flickering across her face before understanding followed.

Even at her age, she knew what it meant. Bruce was trying to let her adapt to different weapon styles…

Her grip tightened around the shaft of her spear until her knuckles turned white. She straightened, teeth gritted, feet planting firmly into stance once more. The seriousness on her small face, paired with her determined posture, made her look almost unbearably earnest.

“Come,” she said.

The way she beckoned him, focused, unwavering, without a hint of hesitation, nearly made Bruce laugh. Nearly. He swallowed the urge down. Breaking the flow now would ruin everything.

This time, he attacked first.

Bruce moved in short, controlled bursts, circling her with measured pressure, his steps light, shield angled just enough to threaten without overwhelming.

Lily reacted instantly, sliding her feet along the ground the way she’d been taught, turning with him, spear tracking his movement as if tethered by instinct.

He struck at her guard, testing angles, forcing reactions. She answered each one, flowing through his patterns like water slipping past stone, redirecting, adjusting, refusing to freeze.

The shield was small. It didn’t cover his entire body.

Lily noticed.

Again and again, she seized fleeting openings, thrusting toward exposed angles, switching lines mid-motion, trying to slip past the shield’s coverage. Each time, the red surface snapped out with sharp precision, smacking the spear’s tip aside just before it could land.

The impacts echoed dully, rhythm building between them. Lily didn’t grow frustrated. She didn’t hesitate. She came again. And again.

Bruce’s breathing remained steady, body relaxed, not a single drop of sweat forming on his skin. Lily, by contrast, was completely drenched. Her clothes clung to her frame, hair plastered to her cheeks, arms burning, but her eyes burned brighter with every exchange.

Then she changed.

Instead of thrusting, Lily swung.

The spear shifted from an impaling weapon into a striking one, sweeping toward Bruce like a staff, targeting angles the shield couldn’t intercept easily. Low strikes. Lateral blows. Sudden reversals meant to force the shield wide.

Bruce’s eyes flickered.

He nodded once.

“Good,” he said, voice calm but approving. “You stand a better chance against shield users with that style.”

Lily nodded sharply and pressed harder, sweeping low for his legs with a sudden burst of speed. Bruce leapt lightly to avoid it, boots barely brushing the ground before she followed through without pause, relentless, refusing to give him space.

The exchange continued like that for a while, until Bruce judged she had reached the edge of what she could absorb for now.

He let it happen.

Her spear slipped through his defense and struck the back of his knee at just the right angle, an attack that would have sent anyone her age sprawling to their knees…

Bruce flowed with it instead, staggering half a step before straightening smoothly.

And in the same motion, Red shifted again.

The shield elongated into a spear, then twisted into a scythe, then reshaped into a longsword before collapsing into nunchaku that swung loosely from his grip.

Lily blinked rapidly, surprise flashing across her face, but she didn’t stop. Bruce moved through each weapon with controlled awkwardness, not mastery, but competence. He wasn’t displaying dominance. He was practicing.

When he read all the books in the Nether Realm’ library there was obviously some stuffs about different weapon styles, so apart from the medical stuff he also read and learnt many other things…

So, everything he’d studied in the Nether Realm’s library, weapon forms, balance theory, transitional grips, he applied in motion, refining knowledge through reality. With his control over his body, even unfamiliar weapons obeyed him well enough.

Lily adapted. Again and again. In truth, with each new weapon, they were both learning.

She refined distance, timing, and flow. He refined application.

After a while, Bruce raised his hand briefly.

’Heal.’

Warmth surged through Lily, fatigue washing away as if it had never existed. Her eyes widened as strength flooded her limbs, breath stabilizing instantly. And she attacked again, harder than before.

Bruce cycled weapons continuously, sabers flashing, nunchaku snapping, staff sweeping, claws slashing, clubs crashing, each form forcing Lily to think, to adjust, to react. With Heal sustaining her, she lasted far longer than any child should have.

Finally, Bruce stepped back and raised his hand.

“That’s enough now, Lily. You’ve trained enough for today.”

She froze, then lowered her spear slowly.

“…Thank you, big brother,” she said, bowing deeply, a bright, honest smile blooming across her face. “I learned a lot.”

She had enjoyed every second of it. If Bruce hadn’t stopped her, she would have kept going as long as he healed her. She loved training with him. Loved being close to him. Loved the warm, powerful feeling that came with his Heal. Though she didn’t show it, a small part of her felt sad it was ending.

He had been away, and even days felt long to her.