Chương 29: 1-28 A time for peace

Josef wasn't surprised by the exasperated faces of Dizzy and Zassa after he came back home a little later than expected, with a story that couldn't have been more fitting for his first time without 'professional' supervision. Though they had been quick to offer their own support, he had mostly just wanted to go to bed quickly. At that point, he just wanted to have some peace and quiet to rest his mind and body. Thankfully, he was able to get just that during the night and the days after.

Zippa and Bezzo continued to be a part of his life, even if they hadn't come to visit every day after their dinner. The two of them would mostly visit in the evening and invite him over, with one brother having a slightly larger focus on just sharing dinner, where the other was more concerned with treatment for the woman they had rescued.

It was only on the third day after that bloody night that they finally decided to move her out of the brother's house and someplace where she wouldn't lie around half the day with no one at home. Checking in with both Charly and Zassa, it was ultimately the lamia who decided to take her in. After several days of the feral symptoms being gone, she was fine with offering a room in her home.

In her own words, her rooms were there to offer shelter to other women in need, and she couldn't turn away just because this case was a little more inconvenient for her. A statement that finally made it clear to Josef what kind of sanctuary he had been invited into, simply because of his importance as a healer. He considered moving in with the brothers, as to not intrude uncomfortably, but Zassa had made it more than clear that he was encouraged to stay with them.

As it turned out, kobolds weren't known to go feral either, being reptilian enough in nature to avoid the disease. For the sake of Coco's safety, only Zassa would handle the lycan, while Dizzy would exclusively take care of the child. Josef was amazed by how well they quarantined the patient on their own, though apparently that disease cropped up often enough for people to be somewhat knowledgeable about containing it.

He continued to spend a lot of time thinking about that lycan's condition, and wished he had a name to call her by, but despite the obvious connection with his unknown affinity, he was without any clues to continue on that front. Maybe he could gain a new skill choice from his level ups, one that would help him with finding out more about her condition, but at his current rate, that would still be a while off.

Sitting on his ass all day in the clinic didn't really help push him further, not at the kind of speed he got used to while fighting inside the dungeon, at least. That one was a recurring thought, always in the back of his mind, and he didn't even understand where it came from. Had he always had this much craving for violence? Josef didn't think so. What memories he had appeared from a peaceful, perhaps even sheltered life. He certainly couldn't remember being in any serious fights, or seeking one out either.

Then again, it's not like Earth had many opportunities to do anything like dungeoneering or monster hunting with magic, so maybe he had simply lacked the right kind of opportunities before. Or it's a sign that he became more of a dragon, though he had no clue how those even acted or felt, all things considered. Still, while his daily life didn't come with many challenges, it still held the occasional surprise, especially when it came to his work.

Word about his healing had slowly started to spread among the downtrodden people of Highsend, and now he would get the occasional visitor who wasn't a fresh patient sent down by Charly, but someone with older injuries in need of fixing. Through those patients, he had learned more about how his healing worked, like how an already healed injury is a lot harder to affect than a fresh one, as the new tissue that had already formed was in itself healthy, and his magic didn't want to touch those parts.

Which meant that to remove old scars, or restore fingers that were lost years ago, the easiest way to do so was to reopen the wound, removing any healthy skin that was in the way of recovery. Josef wasn't a fan of that, as taking a knife to a person wasn't something he was comfortable with, even if it was a necessary action.

Maybe having something specialised like a scalpel would have made it feel more acceptable, since he could at least associate those with medical professionals, but he didn't have access to something so fancy. In fact, the first time he had to open up an old injury, he didn't have a knife at all. The patient in question looked like a German Shephard, the dog, not the occupation, and had old scars that ran down his thighs, cutting deeply and affecting his mobility.

Even though he swore to still be fighting fit, he was retired from the guard because of it. Josef suspected that they just wanted to remove a beastkin from their forces, and he wasn't the only one who thought so. As he also found out during that encounter, dogs aren't just something you call a lycan as a slur, but they are their own distinct kind of people. Unfortunately, they didn't have the time to get deeper into that topic, but he hoped to learn more about it later. Maybe Dizzy could teach him?

Anyway, to make that treatment work he had to will his mana not only to create healthy, unblemished flesh where it was required, but he also needed to command the old scar tissue away. While he couldn't outright destroy anything with his healing magic, he could, just barely, get stuff to move around. Doing so was far more draining than the actual healing itself, and very slow to happen, but he eventually got it done. Love this story?

Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! It was then, when he realized that there was more than one scar to heal on that dog, that the patient himself offered a solution. Handing him an old knife he had kept from his days in the guard, he told him to get a little rough, because 'he could take it'. If it hadn't been for the encouraging words from the very guy he was cutting up, he probably would have chickened out, but ultimately went through with it.

In hindsight, a dog had praised him for doing a good job, which was a little surreal. Afterwards, he received that very knife as his payment. Allegedly, it wasn't anything special, just enchanted to stay sharp even without a whetstone, but to Josef it was the most he had ever received for his work. Literally, as going by his own enchanted clothes, that knife would probably cost more than a gold coin. For once, though, he accepted without a complaint.

Healing old injuries became a lot quicker after that, even if he sometimes felt like a butcher because of it. However, while using the knife made things a lot easier, he would still take his time to do things by magic only if he wasn't pressed for time or mana. He knew that taking the easy way wouldn't always be an option, and avoiding training an arduous task would only hamper his progress. That was also why he didn't just outright skip those issues with the help of Nibbles, but only a part of it.

The other reason for that was the trouble that even the rodent experienced when taking over old injuries, albeit less than Josef himself. Between old and new injuries galore, including even a couple of lost fingers to train the regrowing of flesh, they still managed to eke out decent progress over the five days that had passed since Josef's first dinner at Zippa's place. It shouldn't be long until Cana came back from the dungeon, after which he could hopefully once more get up to something more exciting himself.

Level 16 -> 18 2 Free attribute points. 1 Dexterity, 2 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom and 2 Charisma gained He had gained two more levels in those days, bringing him ever closer to the next milestone of 20, where he hoped to gain another skill selection. The attributes he had raised automatically weren't all that surprising either, with only Dexterity being a bit of a newcomer. That was likely because of the dexterity he displayed when using a knife for his work.

2 Endurance gained The two free points went into Endurance, as it had fallen a bit behind his Intelligence and Wisdom stats, and he didn't want to slack on building up health, especially since it no longer increased as quickly after changing his body to be better aligned with mana.

☆☆ Summon Familiar (Advanced) -> (Exceptional) Current limit: 2 The increase to his summoning spell was to be expected, considering just how much time he spent with his familiars, working together or just playing games, though the upgrade remained unremarkable. Even so, it brought him one step closer to his next familiar, which no longer appeared to be far off. Last but not least, came another improved spell.

☆☆ Regeneration (Advanced) -> (Exceptional) It only takes encouragement and a touch of magic, and the body will take care of itself. Channel your mana with the intent to improve the body's own regeneration. Improves the rate at which the body handles natural ailments. The rate of restoring lost tissue was further increased. Cannot restore limbs without guidance. It wasn't yet stuck at the pinnacle threshold like so many other entries on his status, but it was getting close as well.

After applying Regeneration whenever he went to restore fingers or larger injuries, while still using his Greater Heal to do the bulk of the work, it had finally caused an improvement in the spell. While the upgrade explicitly stated that it wouldn't restore limbs on its own, that only meant it was now helping his other spell along to achieve that result.

Unfortunately, none of his affinities had reached a new rank, though Josef wasn't too surprised about that, as his repetitive work environment probably wasn't helping along with it, and he had somewhat sidelined Nibbles on larger injuries in favor of his own progress, so the rat couldn't help push that affinity. Overall, it wasn't the greatest of improvements, but little things did pile up over the days.

For a regular healer, like the ones that must be working with Sanctum, that was probably how life went, slow and steady, with a progression that was likely even slower than his own. After all, they were a lot more picky with their patients, and didn't have the heart of a dragon, which apparently helped as well. Josef, however, could never be satisfied with a pace like that, and he was already thinking about how to increase his progress even more, when the universe answered him in the cruelest way possible.

He was alone in the basement, with his last patient having left already, and too early in the day for the brothers to come by for their regular invite, when he got an unexpected visitor. This one didn't come down the stairs from Charly's shop, but from the sewers below, a passage that only he and Cana had used before, at least as far as he was aware. It was a pitch-black minotaur, like the ones he had seen during his last visit to the black market when they had met the Inspector, Vasaj.

It could even be the very same one that had taken their payment before, though with the featureless darkness that clung to them, it was hard to differentiate them in any way. The bovine began to speak without any more formality after he fully emerged from below.

"The Inspector sends his regards." His voice sounded monotonous and was devoid of emotion. Josef suspected that this was caused by a spell, or a trinket like the one he received, because he couldn't fathom someone training a messenger specifically to deliver words like that.

"Uhm… Hey?" he greeted the bull back, pretty perplexed by this situation.

"What's this about?"

"The inspector wants to inform you that there has been a situation with the dungeon. Your comrade might not return." His peaceful days at the clinic ended right then and there.