At first everything is going according to plan. Using Analyze I was using the information I was reading off Amy in order to copy it to Rosaline. Pushing through the headache that was slowly forming. Skin started to net together across the body in the middle. I could hear the slightly distracting gasps of people but pushed everything else out as I worked.

As analyze was starting to work towards the inner workings of her body, nerve tissue structure and specific organ placement I realized a problem. Her organs may all be dysfunctional, but she has no food... Her stomach will be empty, and bacteria won’t be there. I might save her only for her to not be able to properly digest things… Well, it’ll be a better existance than this. And so I keep on working…

As I finish working on part of her lungs I can feel as she takes a deep breath. Forcing me to work on other nearby parts as the strain from the diaphragm pulling more than ever before causes several other muscles to twitch excessively from not being used to the movement. Her body is going to need to relearn all of its automatic processes.

Just… got to keep pushing through this headache… Just going to save her… Why do I care so much? No… don’t get distracted.

The materials within the circle slowly start dwindling. I can’t see it anymore, but I can feel it through the circle. Like a tool that’s running out of battery the current seems to almost flicker when it tries to grab a material that it’s running low on. I’ve been doing this for… I don’t know how long. I hear things going on around me, but I can’t hear them over the throbbing sound in my skull. I think I’m nearly done? I’d turned off unseen eye a while ago to better concentrate.

Maybe I should just take a pe- something snaps. I feel the sensation of a tug at my consciousness but almost like my mentalscape protects it I’m instead reeling backwards. Like a weight I’d slowly been leaning towards is suddenly gone. I flail my arms in the darkness around me. Still unfamiliar with my new arms I try to catch myself only to feel something wet splash my face.

That… she didn’t explode, did she? She… no… no everything should have worked out. I did the mental calculations for the proper order of things. Everything should be fine.

Slowly I ease myself up. I try to turn on unseen eye only for my senses to be assaulted by a blinding light pushing in from in front of me. All I see behind me is the frozen form of Amy below me, she’s twisting in pain the arm she’d been holding me with riddled with burn marks. Looking at myself I’m covered in jagged arcs of burnt tissue. I also see the wet feeling was my nose bleeding profusely… This is likely from the stronger than normal lightning… oh… maybe it wasn’t the headaches that were painful… As the light settles down and my consciousness starts finally fading against my will, I catch a glimpse in the middle of the circle.

A little girl sitting up… At first, I think she’s smiling wide with her mouth open. Then I realize that she’s not smiling… she’s screaming at the top of her lungs hugging herself in the middle.

A barely audible “Fuck…” Is all I can manage out before I’m once more sucked away into the mindscape.

Looking around the table I guess Shimada and Haru are there too. I hadn’t noticed them enter because of how much I was concentrating.

Haru speaks up first. “You did well, as much as you could really… I’m surprised you went so far to heal her…” Honestly? I’m surprised too… I just saw her and thought about how small she was and thought of Chi… Oh crap.

I let out a sigh. “Yeah… I just couldn’t help but think of how much she reminded me of my little sister and… I sort of miss Chi even now. Another part of me just wanted to see if I could do it… To test that my thought process was right. I just hope I didn’t mess anything up…”

Shimada surprisingly shows some support. “I understand what it’s like… you got attatched to someone. Now you see it in someone else and want to help out. Just uh don’t get yourself killed trying to save people now, you know? You’re living for more than just yourself.”

Sighing again I stand up and start pacing. “I know… I just… when I saw her, I couldn’t help it. I just… I hope it worked out… Why can’t I just hole up in a lab somewhere and experiment with alchemy and Alkahestry until I’m old? I thought part of the whole leaving Xing was to have less traumatic experiences.”

Haru shakes his head. “You did the right thing. I’m sure after this is all over, you’ll be able to have a few happy memories with her and you can appreciate saving her. In the meantime, you should check your notifications. If anything could have leveled up Treatment+ that’s probably it. In the meantime, just watch some old memories, relax. You’ve had a couple of rough days. Repeat concussions can’t be helpful for the mind.”

They both head out giving me some space. I just… I want to just stay holed up in a room and make transmutation circles… To rediscover how to make so much modern technology… but why? I guess just to see if I can… no… that doesn’t seem right. I spent such a long time on that stupid ice cream transmutation circle. I figured out I could early on… why did I spend so much time working on it to make it right?

It almost feels like a book smack me in the head with a memory. It’s the party, seeing Chi as she happily eat some icecream and calling me big brother flashes through my mind.

“I guess I never really had siblings in the last lives… I never really cared for anyone outside of romantically or as my parent… but what do I do with this information?

I… Should I get her to come with me? No… she has her own responsibilities in the clans. They may be better off now thanks to my help but her presence is still required in order to maintain their political prestige. Mine is solid thanks to my contributions so I’m freer to wander… none of those little shit heads better get any ideas about attempting an assassination on her. -sigh- is this what it means to be a caring sibling?

I spend the next couple of hours? Going through memories. Finally, I settle down and take a look at my status. I sort through a bunch of skill up notifications first.

Name: Jiang Du

Titles: Prodigy, Bookworm

Age: 16

Carried over skills: Rebirth, Mindscape, Unseen Eye, Treatment+

Health status 15/100

Afflictions: Sleep deprivation, Disarmed, Eyeless, Slight starvation, moderate blood loss, electrical burns.

Inventory: First Aid kit, Custom Firearm, Chunk of gold

Current skills

Chi manipulation lvl 60 Disease resistance lvl 99 Poison Resistance lvl 85 Analyze lvl 99 Metabolism lvl 24 Empty Empty

Attributes: 0 points

Strength: 10

Speed: 11

Endurance: 13

Resilience: 10

Thought speed: 10

Perception: 10

It looks like treatment also hit level 124. I guess what I did wasn’t something within the usual realms of what I should have been able to do. I should really choose my next skill. Having one open slot is fine but two is just wasteful. I’ll look at my options after looking at my other notifications.

Surprisingly I guess what I did was enough to warrant a title.

Title: Child Healer

Description: You have spread healing methods to your home country, taught others some of the secrets of biology. Not even death itself has been able to snatch your patients from you. Word of your healing ability will be told by a famous family for generations to come.

Active title effect: In stressful situations sometimes those that are injured cannot think clearly. While this title is active any patient you are attempting to heal will instinctively know that you mean them no harm.

Passive title effect: Evolve medical related skill.

Ding~

Would you like to evolve skill... [Treatment+]? Once the selected skill has evolved all levels will be lost but bonuses will be increased.

Huh… I feel like the effect of the title is a bit based on how I got it. Why Child Healer and not just Healer? Why didn’t I get anything when I healed Zig? Was it because I didn’t actually heal him but instead whatever that god was finished the job for me?

The active effect seems useful when dealing with patients that have received sever head trauma or are suffering from PTSD or some mental disability. I feel like I’ve been treating more physical wounds not psychological ones…

The problem is with this evolved change I won’t be able to help as much for a long time. I also don’t know if it will be geared differently. The rest of the title seems to be geared more towards mental care. But it could also just be a general upgrade rather than a specialization… Though if it is a specialization, I might be able to just pick up treatment again later to double stack it…

Worst case scenario I’ll just pick treatment again… I have the open slots for it.

Mentally confirming the skill, I stagger.

It feels like a part of my very being is ripped and torn before twisting into a different shape. As I’m falling over, I feel like darkness is encroaching on the corners of my vision. Before I even have much of a chance to react, I’m already back to normal. Blinking away the darkness that had encroached on my vision despite this place not even being real. Note to self…

I hear Haru and Shimada rushing into the library. “What the hell was that?” “Are you okay?” They both come to my sides helping me up.

“Yeah… I’m fine. I just… I just evolved Treatment+ I think… Since it was already saved it’s a part of us… When I confirmed to evolve it I felt like something was ripped from me before it was shifting around under my not skin but my mind?” I nervously glance between the two.

Shimada seems in pain with a somewhat glazed look. He snaps out of it briefly looking a bit frantic. “That’s… That’s sort of what I felt. R-rather than just a part it felt like I was torn in half where part of me was… pulled? From this place. Severed and cut before it was thrust back here… whole again but… different. Not wrong but not the same.” He shakes briefly his eyes regaining some of the same glazed look. So, they are the anchors to their skills? Does changing the skills also changes them?

“How are you feeling?” He slumps slightly.

“Honestly? Not that great. It’s weird, it’s like I had all this energy before now it’s like my heads foggy.” Huh… Lower energy… We haven’t tried carrying on a skill that’s not at lvl 100 or near it yet. So maybe it’s because of the level going down?

“Do you think maybe it’s because the skills level was reset to one? Maybe if I level it up, you’ll start feeling some of your old energy again?” Looking at him his eyes are slightly unfocused, but he nods regardless.

Haru also seems concerned. “We’ll need to see if this happens with the other upgrades. A fusion may be extreme enough to change large parts of ourselves. Especially if you attempted to fuse two skills that are being stored. The upgrade may be a less extreme option but we don’t know until it happens…”

I nod… I turn my attention back to the notification.

Healing lvl 1

Description: wounds treated by you heal 15% faster per lvl.

“Well, it’s certainly better… It’s about three times stronger than the standard Treatment skill… So as long as it doesn’t permanently harm you it was probably… worth it?” I sort of trail off near the end as I recieve glares from the both of them.

Haru grunts looking at me a little annoyed. “Still… If possible, let’s not risk it for now if you get the option again. Let’s see how this works first… I’d also rather we not risk losing the mindscape if it wipes everything for the evolution…” He makes a good point…

He holds onto Shimadas shoulder and guides him to a chair he makes. “Work out your status. I’m going to make sure he’s okay.”

I nod before looking at skills that are offered. Sure enough, treatment isn’t available. Looks like evolved skills are different from fused ones… damnit! I just realized I didn’t have the chance to heal all of my scars before losing the option again… I’m going to need to level it back… I could always try to use Alkahestry? No that’s dangerous…

Looking through the options I find a few more general ones that will be helpful.

Physical conditioning, martial arts, stealth, pain resistance or engineering again… I do miss the ability to tinker without needing resources. I’m not in much danger still… That pain resistance skill is looking pretty tempting, but I’ve already been able to power through things… Physical conditioning also seems like it could function well with Chi and Metabolism. Increase gains even further and require less and less calories… That’s a good potential combination…

I may not need it but it’s worth learning for future lives at least.

Physical Conditioning lvl 1

Description: Your body loses built up muscle lvl % slower without training activity.

Interesting, so rather than helping me gain it the base ability helps me retain it without as much activity? I guess at level 100 I’ll be able to train up to peak condition and not have to worry about working out to maintain a good base for my attribute multipliers.

Looking at my last skill slot I hesitate about what to do with it… maybe I’ll use it later when I need something. Stealth or martial arts will probably be best if things get dangerous, Shimada used them effectively and I have been training with him for years now, so I’ll be able to use them effectively. However, if this life looks like it’ll start calming down, I might just pick up engineering again.

Finished with that I look around and see Shimadas been escorted out by Haru. They are going off to the village.

With nothing else to do I just rewatch some memories, I look at some quests. I notice another oddity. My turn in criminals quest never updated. Maybe Father Cornello wasn’t technically a criminal? Oh well, I’ll just find more later. Not sure how specific the system is in what’s defined as a criminal either, perhaps I have to be the one to physically hand them in?

I eventually feel myself stirring again. This time it’s a bit easier to tell because of the large amount of pain my outside body is in. That pain resistance skills is looking more and more tempting. Let’s see if everything worked out okay…