Hissing at the pain, Alex slowly but surely removed the bandage on his stomach and hastily poured alcohol on it, which made him hiss even harder. Quickly he reapplied a whole new bandage and made sure it was not going to move around alot.

Alex went back to laying his back, thinking again. Jacob had just left after giving him a visit. A visit in which he had helped clean up the hallway from all the blood, an act he was deeply grateful for.

It was back breaking, arm tiring work, something that he couldn't do in his current state. And the stink would have been more horrible in the following days.

With the gut wound he had, it would take weeks or even months for it to heal. That was too long, his funds would run out by the time he could even run.

It was a big dilemma, how could he earn money while injured? He didn't know any crafts and he doubted he or his clones could fight monsters with the gut injury, it was just too much of a handicap.

But his Gift, or better yet his book had given him an easy alternative. He checked the end of the book and saw a new skill there.

[Skill Requirements Met. Natural Heal skill now available to insert.

Natural Healing: Blood, Pain, Heal, Repeat. Every level of this skill will grant a minimal increase to all non-artificial healing processes in the body.]

He felt around his limb and felt that as long as he was injured, the skill would hasten his healing speed by a smidge and would gain experience for the next level up.

It was the perfect skill he needed, so he inserted it into his skill set. He was also glad to discover that his two other skills had leveled up from the confrontation.

Apparently danger gave generous rewards.

[General Skills: (3/15)]

[Swordsmanship, Level 11]

[Physical Conditioning, Level 9]

[Natural Healing, Level 1]

He could now support a third clone without feeling like shit. It would drain a bit but not to an uncomfortable degree.

But no, there was a discovery far more important than those level ups. It was when he summoned all three of his clones, and then they all got ticking experience for [Natural Healing].

That meant that he got 4 times the experience from [Natural Healing]. And the skill ticked all day long.

He was confident that his healing time would be significantly lower now with the levels he could in the coming days.

And he was proven correct, when on that night, he had gained 3 levels in the skill. The next day he got 5 levels and the injury no longer itched but had sewn shut and scabbed over. The day after that he got 3, and in the following three days he got a total of 6 levels.

[General Skills: (3/15)]

[Swordsmanship, Level 11]

[Physical Conditioning, Level 9]

[Natural Healing, Level 18]

True to its description, the skill had fully healed him in five days. He could walk, exercise and run. When Jacob and Father Orkon saw him jumping around, they were concerned but he eased their concerns saying that he had gotten off lightly and that he had help from the numerous medicines he had on hand.

The injury now dealt with, Alex thought of what to do. He mostly needed money currently, he didn’t want to starve his mother of her precious medicine.

With three clones at his disposal, Alex devised a plan that went a little against his comfort zone.

Seeing that the situation had calmed down and the family of pimps nowhere to be seen, Alex wanted to leave the city and go monster hunting. He wanted to just send his clones to hunt, but came the problem of how he could get his clones in and out of the city without them being seen.

There was a solution, it was dangerous, risky and idiotic yet it was a solution. Alex would leave a clone at the house, he himself would leave by the north gate so that no one would recognize him, and he would camp out in the wilderness.

He would have two clones in his disposal to send out hunting while Alex himself would stay on the outskirts.

It was risky for his mother if the pimps decided to attack again, it was dangerous for him if he got caught by the monsters and it was playing dice with his secret.

It was his only choice to earn money.

--

Alex looked around the market place and headed towards the bulk clothing trader. If he wanted to enact his plan, he needed clothes for the clone that would stay at home and for the clones who would go out hunting.

Normally he wouldn't buy clothes just because they were better spent on supporting his mom, but now it was a necessity. It would be mighty suspicious to see two naked guys running around in a forest.

He barely had enough money for it, with the living expenses his stay-at-home clone would have and the medicinal expenses, Alex only had an allowance for a three-day trip after accounting the purchasing.

It would be disastrous if he couldn't get anything from the hunt. Of course, he had planned everything so that he could get every copper out of the trip.

He visited a herb buyer in the middle-class district, and got a full rundown of important plants to look out for and how to harvest them. The second stop he had made was to the Vanquishers guild, getting lucky enough to meet a kind clerk that gave him a pamphlet for valuable monster parts.

He even gave the butcher a visit, paying extra attention to the best parts to harvest from the best prey around. It was all around an attempt to maximise every possible way he could earn money in this trip.

So it was as Genesis was rising that Alex bade goodbye to D, the stay at home clone, and disappeared in the alleyways. He wouldn't want people to see him on the main street heading towards the north gate.

He clasped a hood down further down his face, relying on the shadow to mask his features. He had several sacks, each for a specific purpose, and hidden behind several layers of rags were Venma and Veleya.

It was a good day for hunting.