Chapter 246 - Progression Falls (2) (2/2)

The teenager coughed as hot steam entered his mouth, burning his lungs.

”I'm ok!”

Hua Tuo highly doubted it but it was too risky to go in there yet. What exactly did his apprentice do?

Once the steam cleared and vision was back, Hua Tuo jumped in through the small crack and checked over his student for injuries. There were some first and second-degree burns but Zero was already recovering rapidly from them. Only after he was certain that Zero wasn't harmed too badly did he smack Zero on the head.

”Do you really want to try dying so badly? If you weren't wearing swimming trunks the Great Gods blessed you with, you would have been cooked!”

Zero grimaced. He couldn't retort here and Hua Tuo was right. He'd been reckless and impatient.

”Sorry, shifu.”

Hua Tuo simmered visibly. Seriously, someone had to keep an eye on the teen at all times. There was never a moment he could relax. Just when he thought Zero had matured a little enough to be left without constant supervision, the brat had to prove him wrong.

He studied the ground that was cracked and charred. Zero must have gotten impatient and decided to use direct fire instead of heat. He clicked his tongue in disapproval. This is another lesson Zero must learn.

”Do you know what you've done wrong?”

Zero nodded and looked down in shame all the while maintaining the mana shield. Hua Tuo sighed.

”Not knowing is not a crime. However, not finding out what you don't know and assuming that it will be alright is a crime. Clay needs to be dried out first then fired to be strengthened into a waterproof state. Firing and drying has to be done evenly otherwise cracks will form and if this is going to be a bathtub, we don't want any cracks showing. It wouldn't be any different from the branch nest if it had cracks.”

Zero nodded but Hua Tuo pointed at Zero's nose and continued in an even sterner voice.

”However! If you administered fire to wet clay that still contained a lot of water content in such an enclosed space, not only will the clay be damaged, a steam explosion will happen and you would have died.”

Zero gulped with crossed eyes focussed on that pointer finger that moved upwards to flick him on the forehead. The teenager yelped in pain as his head was thrown back by the force of that one finger flick.

Hua Tuo huffed. ”That's for endangering yourself. Everything happens for a reason. If you don't know why it is happening, you should find out first before taking action. Always look before you leap! Think before you act because once you've done something, you cannot take it back. Once the damage is done, it lasts forever like a scar left behind from an old wound. Not everything can be saved by healing magic, human emotions are even more fragile than their fleeting lives.”

”I'm sorry,” Zero whispered, horrified at the implications. Hua Tuo had every right to be angry.

Ever since Zero became a teenager, he'd been making nothing but mistakes. He thought he'd matured enough to handle everything by himself and make accurate judgements like how he found out about the allergies vampires had. However, it seemed as if all those discoveries were nothing more than just a fluke. Zero paled. What if this was actual lives in his hands and he simply took action based on assumption without investigating the actual reason? Would he have killed someone?

Hua Tuo didn't need to say much more when the horror settled in. Zero had to learn that medicine was not a craft to be taken for granted. A misdiagnose could heavily cost someone their lives and future. As a doctor, Hua Tuo made sure to always check all the symptoms for every individual each time they visited to form a diagnosis accurately without getting influenced by what is 'common'.

Out of the two hundred people that showed flu-like symptoms, there would always be the possibility of that one person carrying something that looks like the flu but more dangerous. Hua Tuo always regretted not paying closer attention while he was still working in the palace. Although nobody blamed him for the plague breakout, Hua Tuo always regretted the fact that it could easily be avoided if he'd been more vigilant. He didn't want Zero to follow his footsteps of being complacent with his knowledge and overlooking possible signs of something worse.

”Fix it up. Once you're done, come for lunch. I'll leave your share by the portal, don't cut corners this time.”

Zero nodded and scrambled to find more clay, taking care to cut out and dispose of the ruined portions from the earlier explosion. Hua Tuo returned to his cooking this time with his mind at peace. This time, he was sure that Zero wouldn't stray from the path.