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Chapter 229: Healer - Markets and Multiverses
🕑 Added 2024-04-06 04:39:30 +0000 UTCI spent a few hours going over a contract that Doctor Trish offered me. She offered to pay me a percentage of every patient I helped treat, depending on how much I contributed to each treatment. I wasn’t offered a ‘standard wage,’ but considering the fact that Doctor Trish was unfamiliar with how much healing I could do a day, I thought this was fair.
When I checked in with the others back at the inn, they reported less luck finding employment. Neither Anise's parents nor Sallia's parents had found a new job yet. Sallia's parents didn't seem to be in the right mental state for job hunting yet, given how recent Sallia's death was. I quietly promised that I would help them out for a few months. It was only right to give them time to grieve.
Old Mo had a much easier time finding a new job. He claimed he had met up with a few acquaintances of his, which I took to mean informants. Right afterwards, Old Mo had a new stash of funds. He bought a new building, where he intended to establish a bakery that also sold soup.
I wondered if Old Mo had a fixation on bakeries that sold soup. Was it some sort of remnant from his dead lover? I almost asked him about it, before I decided it was none of my business. If Old Mo wanted to talk about it, he would tell me.
The next day, our families arranged to rent a small apartment together. Since we had just arrived in this town, Anise and Sallia’s parents needed to save on costs. I also needed someone to keep an eye on my mother, and Anise’s parents wanted someone to watch Anise while they looked for employment.
A few months passed as we adapted to our new home.
My work at the clinic went very well. Doctor Trish seemed more pleased with my healing ability every day, and paid me generously. I also got Doctor Trishs’s clinic a lot more traffic, because I was excellent at re-growing limbs.
Plenty of people liked to upgrade a limb or two and replace them metal. After all, metal limbs were stronger, and they could drastically enhance one's physique. But it was also common for someone to regret replacing a limb. Every single metal limb relied on binding essence to move, so there was a limit to how many limbs one could replace. And sometimes, either due to an accident or overreaching, people exceeded that limit. People might replace a hand, and then unexpectedly lose a leg in an accident. Or they might get two new arms, then realize they didn't have enough essence to move them both. It was rare, but it happened.
In such cases, people sometimes wanted their organic limbs back.
In this world, re-growing a limb was very difficult. It usually took a team of people with healing abilities to fix. Each person would help recreate part of the limb in a process that took several weeks. But considering how rare people with abilities were, this wasn't an option for everyone. People with abilities expected to be paid more for their time. Hiring a team of ability-users for several weeks of delicate work was expensive.
I didn't need a team of other people to help restore a limb. I could heal a lost limb entirely on my own, and I could restore multiple limbs a day. Doctor Trish guaranteed my abilities, and I charged much less for limb restoration than a full team of people. Soon, we had plenty of patients.
As my ability became more well known, Doctor Trish’s clinic also became more well known. Doctor Trish gave me almost all the money for each limb restoration, so I was soon swimming in wealth.
Influence: Restore 2 Permanent, debilitating injuries.
Achievement +90
Influence: Restore 10 Permanent, debilitating injuries.
Achievement +300
Influence: Restore 25 Permanent, debilitating injuries.
Achievement +450
As I healed people, I started to notice that I got less Achievement in this dimension than the previous one. It was still a good source of Achievement, but it was worse than last time. I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit of a shame. The exact amount of Achievement I got for doing something seemed slightly random from one dimension to another.
With the 860 Achievement I got from healing injuries, my Achievement increased from 6,432 to 7,292.
During the time I worked for doctor Trish, I also regrew the arm of Sallia’s father. It wouldn't make up for the fact that Sallia was dead, but it was something to improve their lives.
After a month, they recovered enough to look for work. Old Mo helped them find jobs working as waiters. It wasn’t a perfect job, since it didn’t pay as well as some other jobs in the town. But it was safer than their previous jobs as factory workers, and they were able to scrape by.
Anise’s father found a job as a factory manager without Old Mo's help. He had lost some pay from his previous job, but he was still firmly in the middle class. With their finances resolved, Anise's mother went back to being a housewife. It seemed boring to me, but if she was happy, who was I to say anything?
After two months, we moved into new apartments. We still lived next to each other, but our environment was much less cramped.
A few weeks later, we heard news about the coalition army. They had pushed further into Verne. The coalition soldiers had an awful reputation for how they treated occupied territories. When we had left Verne, I had assumed that Verne was exaggerating the news. That turned out to be true... but they hadn't been exaggerating much. The coalition soldiers massacred most towns that they conquered. And while the coalition failed to strike a decisive blow against Verne, they seemed to be winning the war. This news seemed to make Anise’s parents glad that they had fled the country with us. I was glad that the war was now on the other side of the continent. The idea of trying to escape the city with Anise, Felix, and Sallia sent shivers down my spine.
After a few more months, I started preparing to put my other plans in motion.
It was time to think about school for all three of us.
Felix was the one that would most obviously benefit from school.
Felix still wanted to learn alchemy. This world’s binding magic system was practically tailor-made for him. But this world’s binding magic system wasn’t very intuitive. Felix needed specialized tutors and education to learn how to progress. I needed to learn medicine, so that I could heal my mother and learn how to heal better.
Anise seemed the least interested in going to school, but she wasn't against the idea. After talking with the three of us, Anise decided she wanted to specialize in two magic systems. But she couldn't figure out which one would supplement her ambitions to be a super-witch. She decided to try out alchemy while she had the chance. If she ended up liking it, she would try to form a keyword ability based on binding essence. If she didn't like it, she could just ditch it after this life.
The week after we turned seven, I enrolled the three of us in an alchemy prep school.
The night before our first day at the academy, Anise, Felix, and I got together to do our last bits of preparation. After packing and repacking our bags, scanning our textbooks, and checking the school's entry requirements, we ended up turning the meeting into a sleepover.
“I’m a bit nervous,” said Felix, as we were getting ready for bed.
“But are you excited?” I asked, grinning.
“Yes, I’m very excited,” said Felix, as he faintly smiled. Then, he gave me a hug. “Thank you very much, Miria. You did a lot for me this time. I don't know how much harder it would have been to get into alchemy school without your help. I really appreciate it.”
I grinned. “You guys have gone along with my crazy ideas for the past two lives. It's only fair if I help you out for a life or two, right? Besides, I'll benefit from this too. If I ever want to figure out how to heal brain injuries, I need to start somewhere. Maybe in another life or two I'll understand much more about how souls work.”
Felix just smiled. “You’re the best friend I could have asked for.”
I felt myself cheeks grow warm, and Anise giggled. "Yeah, thanks Mir. The amount of work you put in for us is astounding sometimes. But I’m glad that I get the chance to try out alchemy. And I'm also glad I get the chance to learn Zelyrian magic. You helped keep me safe for both of those things. Thank you.”
I felt my cheeks grow hotter.
I didn’t know what to say, so instead, I leaned closer to both of them and gave them big hugs.
“Seeing both of you happy is the best thanks you can give me,” I said. “Now let’s go to sleep. Our first day is tomorrow.”
Author’s Note:
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Comments
Rain
TFC
SomeRandomGuy
Tftc! Awwww
Jemini
"I felt myself cheeks grow warm" myself -> my
