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Josef had made his choice. Guiding Light was certainly a strong core skill for someone planning to be a traditional healer, but Josef himself was neither a normal healer nor in need of the efficiency. Looking at his mana, he saw that it had already reached a staggering amount, exceeding two hundred. Compared to where he started, that was an enormous amount. Even with his increased mana cost, he could do a fair amount of healing. On top of that, he had access to Mana Drain, which could always help top him up.

He would have to test whether he could borrow something from his own familiars or not. Even if that failed, he could potentially just turn a patient's own mana into the fuel for their healing, as long as it wasn't detrimental to their health. Also, he had Nibbles. What point would there be to having an assistant healer if he didn't get to do anything? In fact, maybe he should just let his companion handle as much as possible and only step in when necessary. Eventually, he could run a clinic all by himself.

Josef hadn't even started his first day as an official healer, and he already planned to delegate all of his work. In the corner of his eye, he saw Nibbles faintly shivering. Mentor's Feedback was his choice. The skill was more obscure in nature than any other he had been able to choose from so far, as it offered him no explicit numbers. Perhaps that was what made it so interesting in the first place, as the benefits it offered were too special to be expressed in numbers.

It also came with the highest rank of all selectable feats yet, which should say something about the expected quality. He still wished he could somehow consult a book on that matter, but what information he recalled from skimming a book on class-stones made the matter of affinities sound rather esoteric. And wouldn't it be horrible if he ended up having to do some cultivator nonsense with years of meditation? Thus, the new skill was chosen. The moment he made his selection, he felt pinpricks jabbing into his mind.

Two of them, he would have wagered, though the amount of pain somewhat obfuscated the number. Then, a moment later, the feeling passed, and all that remained was a cool sensation at the back of his mind. Something had connected there, he understood. Or maybe that connection was already there, as it pertained to his summons. But now it had become something more, something deeper. It wasn't doing much at the moment, but he imagined that this would change once his summons were using their magic.

Once more the realm collapsed unto itself, as sandstorms kicked up and the horizon disappeared. Though for one final, fleeting glance, he thought he saw something unusual with Lapis's statue. Was that a crack? Josef could not check, as she was already gone before he could focus on her form within the storm. Moments later, darkness took him. He would have to wait until next time. A moment later, the light came back into his vision, and with it the living room of Zassa's tavern. The Salty Snake, as he recalled.

A funny name for a harbor tavern led by a snake lady. If only the current atmosphere were even half as humorous. After some preliminary treatment, courtesy of his own magic, they had both made the depressing walk back out of the dungeon. The air between them had been mostly silent and awkward, only barely inquiring about each other's well being. Josef himself had come to understand that they had likely been in shock, something that not even a burst of healing could simply remove.

The long path back had given them some time to calm down, at least. They hadn't even remembered to hide Cana's now exposed face, changed as it had looked by the still growing, short fur. Fortunately, no one came to stop them on their way back to the tavern. Which had now left them with the matter of addressing what had happened in that 10th floor boss room.

"I really have no idea why that happened. All I saw was a weirdly colored system message, filled with strange signs I couldn't read." Josef pleaded with the stern gaze of Zassa.

"If I had known something like that could happen, then I wouldn't have pushed to go with only Cana and so little preparation. Heck, I was planning on going alone if she hadn't come with me. I can only imagine how that would have gone for me." A part of Josef did wonder if he could have handled the fight solo, like some hero from the mangas he read. At least, those slimes couldn't exactly team up while he was inside them. Still, he was glad that it didn't come to that. He had no desire for unnecessary heroism.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Zassa sighed heavily, her head resting on intertwined fingers, elbows on the table.

"I understand, Josef, and I am not mad at you, truly. It is just hard to take in that I almost lost my dearest friend and our town's new ray of hope in a routine dungeon delve. This is exactly why I never wanted you to go in the first place."

"At least the gains were worth it?" Josef abashedly looked down at his shoes. He understood where Zassa was coming from. She must have placed much hope and many expectations on him.

"I've gotten a lot better at magic, and I even got a new assistant healer." When the weight of expectations is too heavy to bear, just throw an adorable animal under the bus to distract everyone! Zassa gave him a look that let him know that he was, in fact, not off the hook, even if she indulged him.

"He is an adorable little fellow, though his appearance is rather… unusual. How effective is he at healing?"

"He's done pretty well in supporting me. Treated the burns faster than that slime dished them out. As long as I dodged well, at least." Cana supplied her point of view, looking at the rodent in question. Nibbles himself was currently playing with Coco. The little girl was waddling on the ground, now much more lively than in the days before, chasing after the rat with gleeful abandon. Of course, he was always moving just slowly enough to keep the little lycan's hunt interesting.

Not even two hours old and the little guy was already acting like a good big brother. They grow up so fast.

"I didn't have the time to watch during our fight, but how does his healing work? Does he just pump out healing magic like I do?" Josef inquired.

"It's different. He just licked the acid off my wounds and gnawed at the dead skin. And suddenly, there was new skin in its place. It's like he just eats the injury. He looked kinda rough after the first round of treatment. Though he healed up just fine before you joined in." Cana explained to them.

"He consumes injuries, then heals himself from the damage that causes him? That's remarkable. I have never heard of any method of healing even remotely similar to that," Zassa exclaimed. She looked genuinely surprised at that revelation..

"Sounds like I have found myself the perfect assistant for running a clinic." He flashed a thumbs up at Nibbles, who stopped to return it, much to the confusion of the adults in the room. Coco, however, was quite happy with her chance to capture the rat. Embracing him in a hug, they both went to the ground under the girl's giggling. That scene brought a smile to everyone's faces, further aided by the mock upset squeaks of the little rodent.

At least Josef hoped it was a fake reaction, because he had no intention of interrupting this delightful scene. Just as he had considered himself safe, Zassa's voice caught him unawares.

"Exactly, which is precisely what you are going to do without any more suicidal distractions. I have a location set up for you to start tomorrow. It will take some time to get the word out to the right people, but there will at least be some patients coming in. No more dungeons for you""For now." Josef was willing to yield that much. After the surprise boss encounter, his desire for adventure had diminished rather quickly. Still, he expected that he would want to go back there sooner rather than later.

Fighting for his life might be terrifying, but the rush of power from leveling sure was intoxicating. As they both entered into an awkward staring match, it was Cana's voice that brought them out of it.

"You won't be able to keep him out of the dungeon forever, Zassa, we both know that type. You'll just have to work with his stubbornness. Like you do with mine." She smirked at the snake. But before Josef could feel the triumph set in, she continued, "But there will be no more adventuring until my crew checks out that place on our next delve later this week. We're better equipped to handle another surprise round."

"Wouldn't it be better to take me along? Having a personal healer and all that?" Josef argued.

"Of course that would be great, but we have done this for years without one. No offense, but we are better off in a group where everyone knows exactly how to work with each other. Also, we'll bring along plenty of supplies. Trust me, those slimes would get manhandled by us." Josef sighed. He knew that he had no ground to gain in that argument.

"Fine, but at least introduce me to your crew when you meet up. I wanna meet the people who get to have all the fun." He also wanted to entice them with the idea of getting a party healer. That would definitely boost his future prospects of being taken along.

"Fun?" Zassa exhaled in disbelief.

"Didn't you almost die?"

"Told you, he is that type." Cana grinned at her friend. Then she turned to Josef, lowering her voice in a fake whisper, "It totally was. We should do that again" While Zassa was groaning in exasperation, the two of them shared a laugh.

"So… we're still good, Cana?" This had been Josef's biggest concern, he admitted to himself. She was arguably the first friend he had made in this world, and he would hate to lose that connection over something that likely happened because of him, even though he had no control over it.

"Of course." She assuaged his fear.

"Putting aside that I owe you my life for saving Coco, shit just happens in the dungeon. So do accidents. If you didn't mean to do it, then it's fine. Otherwise, I would have had to turn into a solo delver long ago. You wouldn't believe the amount of arrows I got hit with because some moron forgot about a pressure plate. Sometimes more than once in the same hallway. Just buy me a drink or something, if it makes you feel better." Josef smiled at that.

"Deal." After a moment of thought, he continued.

"That reminds me, how much coin are we gonna get out of those cores? The two big ones should be worth something, right?" He didn't expect the bagful of small crystals to fetch much, considering that even children could collect those, but the large ones from the royal slimes would have to bring some nice cash, or so he hoped.

"I bet'cha those beauties will be worth some gold coins." Cana agreed.

"In fact, let's make a trip of it after the sun is down. I'll show you where folks like us can turn to if they want to get a fair trade. Well, a fairer trade than on the market." A market they go to after sundown? That didn't go along with the governing people's prejudice? Was that what he thought it was?

"Are you saying we are going to an actual black market?" Josef sounded excited, like a kid in front of a candy store. She snorted in response.

"Look at you getting all fired up like a sheltered boy. Yeah, that's where we are going. Let's clean up and grab a bite. We still have some time before it gets dark." He knew that it probably wouldn't be some super exciting adventure, but the novelty of it still excited him. Josef was looking forward to tonight.