Chương 21: 1-20 Times are changing

It wasn't much later when Charly came down to inform Josef that she was closing her shop for the night. After that last emergency, his first day as a proper healer had come to a calm end. There were no further accomplishments as far as the system was concerned, but the remaining work he had done nonetheless felt fulfilling for him. The way back to the tavern was easier than he had anticipated, as his improved eyes made it easier to identify the dark passages of the sewer and Highsend's alleys.

It also helped that Nibbles would pull on his hair whenever he was about to take a wrong turn. Not that he would ever have to rely on that to make his way back! That night, Cana informed him that she would be meeting with her dungeon crew three days later. They planned to check if the boss room was back to normal and then proceed to the deeper floors after that. Apparently, they have their sights set on the floor 40 boss, but are still struggling to make it through the last couple floors before that.

In a world where healers are a rare commodity, sustainability is obviously a concern for groups. Outside of some miscellaneous abilities they could bring along, her group mostly relied on just being very efficient and avoiding injuries as much as possible. In short, they planned on conquering the dungeon by simply getting good. And bringing a backpack full of medicine from Charly's place. Josef could admire that kind of determination, even if he would prefer it if they just took him along.

The following days came and went quickly as he continued his work as a dedicated basement healer. Or was he an unlicensed doctor? Health dealer? Dark vet? He would have to workshop a better description at some point. Josef's routine was mostly the same during those days. Talk with everyone over breakfast in the morning, head off to Charly's shop, which he could now do all on his own, and spend the day treating patients there. Then go back home for dinner and fall asleep exhausted in bed.

He should really make some time for lunch. What also stayed the same during that time was his repeat patient, the temporary one-armed reptile named Zippa. Having had some time to recover from the initial shock, that guy turned out to be a rather cheerful fellow, often making jokes about his current situation. The guy was either a born comedian, or he was handling trauma through humor. Josef could identify with the latter.

If he wasn't busy regrowing his limbs, he would be going to the dungeon to earn money, like so many other scalefolk in town. He and his brother were surprisingly successful, going by the stories they told of their adventures. And proper adventurers they were, as they were even signed up with the local guild. Apparently their parents had managed to get them in long ago, when discrimination wasn't yet in full swing.

While they had originally only planned to come by once a day, they ultimately swung by several times, giving Josef some time to regenerate his mana in between visits. Something that turned out to be surprisingly easy, as Nibbles could effectively handle most patients on his own, leaving Josef to recover over games of checkers with his cheating bunny companion. There was no other reasonable explanation for how Dusty could have won that often.

On the third day, he had jokingly invited them to stick around for the day, and to his utter surprise, they agreed. He hadn't been sure how to handle that, introverted as he considered himself to be, but it worked out pretty well in the end. It turned out that two chatty reptiles could make up for an awkward human. Somehow, they had managed to form a budding friendship, even though Josef was still hiding his identity. He hoped they wouldn't judge him when he ended up revealing his face.

The kind of encounter those two went through was bound to have left more than physical scars. Josef had also remembered to ask the two brothers how it had come to that injury and what had happened to the arm. And wasn't that one a punch to the gut. Zippa and his little brother Bezzo had run afoul of a group of Sanctum zealots that were pushing people to find comfort in the 'Light of Sanctum,' as they would call it.

As it turned out, the new book they had released, a copy of which Josef still had among his own collection, had some rather violent views on the importance of converting the foul beasts of the realm. That included anyone who wasn't an elf, as far as Josef was aware. In their eyes, beastkin and scalefolk could only be saved from the darkness of their bestial nature if they received the blessed healing of the Sanctum's healers.

Thus, when some members of that violent cult caught the two brothers in a secluded alley, they made sure that there was ample reason to visit the temple for healing. Zippa had barred their way so his little brother could run and hide, losing his arm in the process. The zealots had then made a point to bandage the wound and burn his arm right in front of his eyes, letting him know that his only hope lay in finding salvation with Sanctum.

It was a sickening tale, especially in light of what would most likely have happened had they ended up going to the temple, and it had already started to make its rounds among the people of Highsend. Fortunately, extremists like that were still a rarity and so were the violent incidents. However, fear among the non-elven citizens was rising as these groups continued to threaten them, with no efforts made on the side of the law to stop them. The work in his basement clinic was starting to pick up, though.

Even if the overtly violent incidents were a rarity, they did happen here and there. And many of those would find their way below Charly's shop. Most of those victims had endured deep cuts on their bodies, ensuring they would receive visible scars should they not receive magical healing. He made sure to remove those scars without leaving a single trace. Nibbles was once again a brilliant assistant in that matter, as he could also take on scar tissue before slowly recovering himself.

Josef understood that this situation was bound to blow up sooner rather than later. But was there something he could do about that? Worst of all, he became more and more concerned with the coming beasttide that he had heard about during his first day in Highsend. He had since gathered more information about it, mostly by asking Dizzy, and it painted a concerning picture.

It would usually start at the first snowfall of the year, at most another month at this point in time, with only a few groups of beasts rushing in from god knows where out in the wilds. Then, every couple of days, sometimes a full week, more monsters would appear, before finally reaching a crescendo about three months into winter. That's when the final tide would appear, with monsters as far as the eye could see. This story originates from Royal Road.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Fortunately, those beasts would rarely have much individual strength and possessed low intelligence, as the beasttides would otherwise be catastrophic. At that time, everyone in Highsend was supposed to stand together, with all capable fighters taking shifts at the walls to keep the city safe. But what if everyone was already at each other's throats, unwilling to cooperate? Josef really hoped the city wouldn't fall.

He had barely started his new life here and didn't want to watch it all fall apart because of those fanatics. For now, all he could do was improve himself. And improve himself, he did. Today was the day Cana would return to the dungeon, still without him, despite daily reminders of how glad he would be to come along, and also the day he would get to meet her friends before they set off together.

It would also be the last time they saw each other in at least a full week, as that was how long they planned for their entire trip to last. During those last three days, he managed to accomplish several more improvements, as acknowledged by the system. Level 14 -> 16 5 Free attribute points. 1 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom and 1 Charisma gained Another two levels were gained, mostly thanks to the increased number of patients he had to treat.

Level 15 had unfortunately not given him another skill of his choice, proving that the frequency of those was going to go down as he progressed. It did, however, come with another load of attribute points he could invest as per the usual rules. Which meant more Endurance, Wisdom and Intelligence as far as he was concerned.

2 Endurance, 2 Intelligence and 1 Wisdom gained He even managed to eke out another increase in his Summon Familiar spell, though it didn't appear to be doing much, aside from slightly improving Nibble's capabilities, as far as he could observe. ☆☆ Summon Familiar (Moderate) -> (Advanced) Current limit: 2 Aside from that, his affinities had continued to improve as he played with his familiars and had Nibbles bear the brunt of the healing that had to be done.

✩✩ Summoning(Advanced) -> (Pinnacle) ✩✩ Restoration(Exceptional) -> (Pinnacle) Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a qualitative increase to these improvements, at least their descriptions didn't mention anything. That was probably a downside of leveling purely through repetitive work. At least that work had brought him to the cusp of a new rank for both affinities. He was looking forward to what those would bring, though he imagined he needed a proper push to break through.

The same probably held true for his Heal skill, which also persistently remained at the Pinnacle-Grade. But Josef was hopeful that he would break through that barrier once he had finished regrowing Zippa's arm. Something he had made good progress on. Today he would reach the wrist and could then start working on the hand.

He really hoped magic would handle all the difficult motor functions that needed to be restored, because he barely had a clue of what the inside of a human hand was supposed to look like, and this one belonged to an entirely different species! With that, he took the time to look through his full status, something he rarely did. Keeping note of parts of it had become second nature at this point. Pulling up singular spells, his resources or attributes on their own was as easy as thinking about it.

Still, there was a certain beauty to look at everything he had gained, all at once. Name Josef Trach Level 16 Class L. A. P. I. S. Type <Summoner> v0. 9b Body ☆☆ Humanoid (Pinnacle) Heart ☆☆☆ Syphoning Manaheart (Moderate) Health 180/180 Mana 240/240 Strength 8 Intelligence 24 Dexterity 6 + 4 Wisdom 19 Endurance 18 Charisma 9 Affinities???? Unknown(???) ☆ Earth (Advanced) ☆☆ Water (Exceptional) ☆☆ Restoration (Pinnacle) ☆☆ Summoning (Pinnacle) ✩ Space (Exceptional) Spells ☆☆ Water Prison (Moderate) ☆☆ Heal (Pinnacle) ☆☆ Summon Familiar (Advanced) | 2/2 ☆ Light (Moderate) ☆☆ Regeneration (Advanced) ☆☆ Mana Drain (Moderate) ☆ Blink (Exceptional) Skills ☆☆☆☆☆ Draconic Thesaurus (Pinnacle) ☆☆☆☆☆ Portable Hoard (Pinnacle) ☆☆☆ Nightprowler's Eyes (Moderate) ✩ Mental Resistance (Moderate) ☆ Fluid Movement (Exceptional) ☆☆ Acid Resistance (Moderate) ☆☆ Blunt Resistance(Moderate) ☆☆☆ Mentor's Feedback (Moderate) Feats Transmigrator, Dragon's Heartstone, Kingslayer Now, only one thing remained to be done before he set off with Cana to finally meet her other friends.

It was time to absorb the skill gem for Embodiment of Mana. If shit really hit the fan and the town's atmosphere turned violent, then he wouldn't want to get caught with his pants down, lacking a useful skill, or not knowing how to properly use it when he had to absorb it in a rush. Cana was right about change. It was impossible to avoid, and he couldn't shy away from it any longer. Not if change was something he hoped to bring to the world around him.

In the end, he would always remain Josef, no matter what changes any skill could inflict on him. He had already lost his original, fleshy heart and upgraded it to a magic stone he got from a dragon, and that didn't stop him from being human. Why should some lousy skill get to change his mind on that? With the comforting weight of Dusty on his shoulder, and an encouraging squeak from Nibbles, he pushed his mana into the gem. The change was imminent.