William stared at Ellie for a full ten seconds, watching how her amber eyes showed the mix of fear and hope that comes from being truly desperate. The crowd behind her was still slowly breaking up, and students were looking back at them with interest and whispering to their friends about what they had just seen.
"What do you mean by 'healing magic is out of control'? There's no way, right?" William asked, keeping his voice calm while he thought about the problem like he used to think about battle situations. "But, alright, how long has this been going on?"
Ellie's shoulders drooped a little, as if she had been holding her breath for him to laugh at her or tell her to leave. "Three months now."
"At first, it was just small changes in how much mana I was using, but it's gotten worse over time."
"Last week, I tried to help a student with a sprained ankle, but I ended up healing it too much and giving him an extra toe. The doctors had to take it out with surgery."
"Wow, that's really scary but impressive," William said. He almost laughed but decided against it because he didn't want to hurt her feelings.
Ellie's face turned red with embarrassment, and William quickly added, based on his information about the world, "I mean, most healers have a hard time getting enough mana for basic healing."
"It's a different kind of problem to have too much power, but it's still fixable."
"Really?" Ellie's voice broke a little with hope. "You think you can help me?"
"The medical instructor keeps telling me to meditate more or use visualization techniques, but none of that helps because it's getting worse."
William was about to speak when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. Lia had come over, and her red eyes were clearly interested in both of them, but there was also a hint of suspicion in them.
"Are you really going to train her?" Lia asked directly, crossing her arms. "A healer? Based on what you showed me before, I thought you were an expert in teaching combat."
William said, "Combat, healing, and magic control. It's all the same basic thing."
This was technically wrong, but both girls believed him because he sounded so sure of himself. "The issue isn't the type of power, but rather the control and understanding of one's limits." Miss Von Synthia here has a problem with power, not with her skills."
Ellie nodded with excitement. "That's right! It really does feel like that. I understand how to heal by applying the methods and theories I have learned. But it's like trying to pour water from a fire hose when I only need a trickle."
William said, "That's a perfect analogy. So the answer isn't to pour less water, but it's to control the flow."
He stopped for a moment and then looked at Lia. "By the way, why are you still here?"
"Don't you have to go to class or train by yourself?"
Lia's face got a little harder. "I'm curious about how you teach, especially after you give that asshole a lesson. I know that you're rather unusual for a Zero-class thing."
"Maybe you're worth learning from more than just that one technique you showed me if you can really help her."
William said with a smug smile, "Ah, so you're looking for me."
"Okay then. Both of you can come with me right now."
"We need a private place where Miss Von Synthia won't accidentally turn the grass into a jungle or something." William said with a suspicious face even though he didn't have any evil intentions for it.
"Just call me Ellie," the elf girl said quickly. "Miss Von Synthia sounds too formal, especially since you're going to be my instructor."
...
William took them away from the main training area and toward a smaller practice room that he remembered from his body's memories. Zero-Class instructors had to deal with one of those forgotten rooms that was almost like a big closet with stone walls and no windows. The room was sufficiently quiet to ensure their privacy.
William turned to face Ellie once he was inside, and Lia stood against the wall to watch. "Okay, show me how to use your healing magic."
"Just make the energy like you usually do, and just don't try to heal anything in particular."
"Alright... I'll try not to disappoint." Ellie thought about it for a second, then held out her hands. She closed her eyes and focused.
After a few seconds, a soft green light started to come from her hands. At first, it was gentle, but in a matter of seconds, the glow got much stronger and almost blinded everyone in the small space. William could feel the mana pressure coming from her. It was thick and heavy, like humidity before a storm.
William said calmly, "That's enough, stop," and Ellie stopped right away. She was breathing heavily, and sweat was forming on her forehead even though she had only been channeling for about fifteen seconds.
"See?!" Ellie said sadly. "I can't keep it steady. It just keeps on building and building until either I cut it off completely or I pass out from exhaustion.""
From her spot against the wall, Lia spoke up. "That's not how mana flows at all. It's like seeing a dam about to break."
"Lia's right," William said, pleased that Lia had figured out the main point so quickly. "The problem is that you think of healing magic as an all-or-nothing switch."
"Fully on or fully off. But mana control isn't like something you call black and white. It's called a range."
"You need to learn how to work in the middle ranges."
"But how?" Ellie begged. "I've tried slowing it down, meditating, and every other method the doctors and other instructors suggested. Nothing works for more than a few seconds before it starts up again."
William remembered his past life, when he had trained soldiers who had trouble with overcommitting in battle. He could change the principle because it was similar enough. "The problem is that you're trying to control the output."
"Before doing that, you need to control the input first."
William went into more detail because both girls looked confused. "Imagine your mana as a river, and you're standing downstream right now, trying to slow down the water that's already rushing toward you."
"And of course that can't be happening easily because you need to go upstream and control how much water gets into the river in the first place."
"I don't get it," Ellie said. "How do I control how much mana I make? It just happens when I try to heal."
"Because you've trained yourself to connect healing with maximum output," William said. "You're strengthening that connection every time you practice."
"We need to change that pattern and show your body that healing can happen in different ways."
He walked over to Ellie and told her to put her hands out again. "This time, I want you to do something else."
"Don't try to fix anything, and don't even think about getting better."
"Just make as little mana as you can. Instead of starting a bonfire, act like you're trying to light a match."