Nathan trotted to his bunk with 61 copper coins in his pocket. Based on his time with El and Peter, this was half a month’s worth of coin for them. Pending how much the Amber cost to pay back Ragnork, Nathan hoped he could start saving or investing in better gear.

Nobody was in the room when he got back. “Perfect, some alone time.”

Nathan fell into the bed feeling exhausted. In his entire life, this was the most physical work along with mental work he has done in his life….both lives he supposed.

“What am I getting myself into. Fighting monsters to make a living? Come on, I am a Doctor! I should be setting up shop in a clinic or something and helping people, not fighting fantasy creatures.”

Nathan closed his eyes in frustration. “Why am I doing this…”

He felt more conflicted than any other time in his life. Nathan needed to figure out what he wanted. Being a Doctor isn’t going to get him far in this world, so he will have to adapt. That meant fighting.

“I severely underestimated what Elderade told me about this world. This isn’t easy at all.” It wasn’t that Nathan actually thought fighting would be a walk through the park. His mind lingered on the finer details that Kira and Brawn mentioned.

“Fighting requires focus and teamwork. Two things I have when it comes to helping people, not killing slimes.”

Nathan thought about his approach to his situation. “A Battle Medic still feels somehow right to me, but what am I doing wrong?” Nathan thought about changing how he fought, acquiring different armor, or simply swapping weapons. Nothing quite felt like the right answer.

His mind wandered to his past older self. He always felt like this when a patient’s life was on the line. When he was forced to tell the patient there was nothing they could do for them. It was guilt that he didn’t do enough.

“I just want to go home. I don’t have to fight monsters there. I just have to deal with doctors who are greedy or morally warped. Not slimes or wolves who want to kill me.” Nathan rolled over in his bed and stared at the wall secretly hoping it would turn into a doorway to take him home.

Minutes went by and nothing happened. Nathan decided to distract himself by going over his level and skill increases. He ignored the skills and turned to where he would put his 10 new skill points.

“Casting spells are important. So I think increasing Intelligence is the way to go. I’ll throw a couple of points into Constitution to keep me alive against more slimes, and more into Wisdom. That way I have more Mana Recovery.” Nathan applied his points and looked at everything including the progress of his skills.

Name:

Nathan Shutlz

Level:

5

Stat Points:

0

Skill Points:

0

Strength:

15

Agility:

15

Endurance:

20

Constitution:

20

Intelligence:

17

Wisdom:

23

Base

Current

Total

Stamina:

175

170

175

Health

250

189

250

Mana

235

89

235

Base

Total Per Day

Stamina Recovery:

85

85

Health Recovery:

160

179

Mana Recovery:

175

175

Battle Mind - 2/10

Cardio - 2/∞

Cleanse - 2/5

Field Medic - 3/8

First Aid - 4/5

Healing Touch - 3/10

Invigoration Ray - 2/10

Iron Skin - 2/10

Spear Mastery 2/∞

Troll Blood - 2/10

Nathan noted five skills increased: [Battle Mind], [Cleanse], [Healing Touch], [Iron Skin] and [Troll Blood]. He felt happy to see those numbers increase. Now was the time to apply his two skill points. He excitedly scanned through the six skill trees he already had unlocked. Seeing if anything new popped up.

Tier 0:

Healing Touch - 3/10

Touch a living creature and spend up to 30 Mana and the target will Recover an amount double to that amount.

Tier 1:

Cleanse - 2/5

Removes dirt and grime from the target. 25 Mana.

Invigoration Ray - 2/10

Heal a living creature within 50ft. Spend up to 20 Mana and target will Recover an equal amount of Health

Remove Poison - 0/10

Remove Points from a target. 40 Mana

Tier 0:

Iron Skin - 2/10

Reduce Damage taken by Physical Attacks by 7%

Tier 1:

Enduring Strength - 0/10

5% of Endurance stat is added to Strength

Poison Resistance - 0/10

Reduce the effects of Poison by 10%

Stone Bones - 0/5

Increase resistance to Knockback by 10%

Troll Blood - 2/10

Increase Health Recovery by 12%

Tier 0:

Spear Mastery - 2/∞

Increase proficiency with Spears per rank increase.

Tier 1:

Spear Throw - 0/5

Increase aim when throwing a spear by 15%. Increase distance thrown by 50%.

Spear Thrust - 0/10

You thrust forward with your spear, aiming for a vial area. 20 Stamina.

Sweep - 0/10

Using your spear, you swing your weapon in front of you hitting all targets within reach. 50 Stamina

Vault - 0/4

You use momentum to carry yourself over a great distance using your weapon. Increase of this skill will increase proficiency in this action.

Tier 0:

First Aid - 4/5

Knowledge on proper medical aid.

Tier 1:

Diagnose - 0/10

Scan a target body to find medical ailments such as poisons, broken bones, or internal bleeding. 75 Mana.

Field Medic - 3/8

Increase knowledge of wounds and how to treat them in a battle scenario.

Treat Minor Wound - 0/5

Apply bandages to a target’s minor wound to stop bleeding. Better quality bandages improve percent of bleeding that is stopped.

Tier 0:

Cardio - 2/∞

Increase speed by 1% per rank. For every 5 ranks increase Stamina Recovery by 1%.

Tier 1:

Limber - 0/10

Increases flexibility. Every 2 Ranks increase Agility by 3 points. [Locks out certain muscle and strength based skills]

Long Jump - 0/1

Add Cardio skill to Jump related skills with a running start.

Marathon - 0/10

Spend 100 Stamina to add Cardio Rank to Endurance for thirty minutes.

Sprint - 0/10

Spend 10 Stamina to increase movement speed by 200%. Lasts for one minute per rank.

Tier 0:

Battle Mind - 1/10

Increase awareness of one's surroundings during combat. Every 2 ranks increase Wisdom by 1 point.

Tier 1:

Iron Mind - 0/15

Increase resistance to mental attacks by 2%.

Second Thought - 0/6

Increases the chance to notice things that are hidden.

Sense Ally - 0/5

Know the exact location your party members are within 100 feet.

Nathan frowned at seeing no new skills since he last looked a week ago, but it was to be expected. He hasn’t progressed enough to warrant any change. “Well my video game-like skills haven't changed, but I have. I’ve changed so much.”

Nathan closed his Menus and looked down at his new body. “I just have to keep pressing on. Until I get home. I have to succeed. If I have to fight some mindless snot monsters, so be it. I can still do my best without fighting every mission.”

Nathan eyed his skills, ignoring the [Vault] one from the spear tree. If Nathan was to pick anything from this list it would be [Second Thought] and maybe [Limber] or [Long Jump]. But he didn’t want to pick anything yet, and decided to look through other skills that could help him.

Nathan scrolled down to the knowledge skills. These are all very limited skill trees in options, but the base skill is almost always worth it. El said she had two, and Peter had one as well. So long as he applied it going forward, he will be an expert at whatever one he picked.

Nathan found three, each more appetizing than the next.

Knowledge (Magical Kinesthetics)

0/∞

Increase knowledge on how magic and body interact.

Knowledge (Biology)

0/∞

Increase knowledge on the subject of biology

Knowledge (Vitamancy)

0/∞

Increase knowledge on the magic of Life.

Nathan couldn’t pick which one would be the best to get. He wanted to get all three. “Going to need to get more levels it seems.”

Nathan tried to think about which skill would work best with his current skill set, which booted Biology to the bottom of the list. He wanted to know how magic and the body works, but also wants to understand the magic itself.

He thought back to his college days. He had to learn the basics before he could learn how to apply what he learned. With Nathan answering his own question, he put a point into [Knowledge (Vitamancy)].

Once he did, knowledge of what Vitamancy was flooded his brain. The concept of healing magic was more than just Health Recovery. It was the magic of life. Both repairing and creating. That was as far as the skill went for him.

Nathan assumed that use of healing magic would increase the skill. If he studied more into how it all worked, that could help out as well. Feeling happy with his newest skill, Nathan turned his eyes to something that can help him be a better healer.

[Diagnose] was a perfect choice, but Nathan didn’t know if it would be useful right now. So far, nobody got severely hurt enough to warrant such a skill except for Marcy. “What if we fight wolves again?”

Nathan imagined the Alpha Wolf trying to fight Brawn and honestly thought it would be a close fight between the two in brute strength. By no means would the winner walk away unharmed though.

Nathan kept going over several different choices, even eyeing [Second Thought]. In the end, Nathan decided to wait. He had other things to do than mull over a single skill. He had a debt to start paying off.

Leaving behind most of his belongings, Nathan left his bunk room. The weight of coins on his person was a new and welcomed feeling. One he hoped didn’t go away too soon.

Nathan was soon standing in the waiting room of Ragnorks clinic. Several Adventurers were waiting to be treated from their recent battle wounds. Nathan was tempted to treat them then and there, but he didn’t want to anger Ragnork more than what was already justified. Plus most of their wounds were either too much for Nathan to fix with his low mana, or were minor enough that he was surprised to see them there.

Once the crowd was gone, Ragnork waved him into the back. “I hope you have actual money today.”

Nathan pulled out his coin purse. “How much do I owe for the amber? I only have 61 Copper.”

“Oh that much already? Who did you steal it from?” He asked with a wavering look in his eyes. As if he actually believed Nathan stole it.

“None at all. I came back from my first mission, this is our yield. The bonus of clearing out a bunch of slimes.”

Ragnork eyed the money then looked back to Nathan. “It’s 4 silver. Pay me 30 Copper today, and that can be your first payment. Not going to make you go broke. That’s how you end up dead and can’t pay me back.”

Nathan handed him three stacks of coins, which he promptly stored in his pocket. “So, what are we going to talk about today my Human friend. We never finished talking about Cancer.”

“Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you about a new skill I acquired, [Knowledge (Vitality)]. I picked it up so I could hopefully learn more about Healing Magic and improve it.”

Ragnork made a face that showed he was thinking. One Nathan was growing familiar with. “Well, I can’t suggest taking it, but I can talk a little about it however. What do you want to know?”

“How to improve it if possible.”

“Hmmm, have you used any healing spells since you picked it up?” Nathan shook his head in response. “Ahh, start there and use that big brain of yours. I can’t say much more, but what I will say is there are more skills like it. All Doctors within the Church pick up similar skills.” Ragnork obviously was choosing his words carefully.

“Thanks, I normally practice my healing by the Guild’s training ground. It’s surprising how many people flock to me for free healing.”

“That’s because it’s free with no strings attached. Most Priests, such as myself, charge a fee, to pay back to the Church for the good will they turned over to us. Tithes to the Gods are a requirement. To not pay tithes is to suffer the wrath of the Gods.”

Nathan refrained from snorting. “Well I have yet to give any offerings to any gods. So far I’ve been good. No divine smites or bloody rivers for me.”

“I will save breathe and not argue about that again. I had a sore throat for two more days after that argument.” Ragnork said scratching at his beard in thought.

“Well I had one more question.” Nathan pulled out the book on Gems and Healing magic. “I found this in the Guild. I was wondering when I can start incorporating gems into my spells.”

Ragnork let out a whistle. “They had that in the Adventurers Guild? Best keep a hand on that, it’s worth a lot of gold. As for your question, whenever you can afford a gemstone. I can’t elaborate more than that. However, if a spell has a material requirement, it will mention it.”

Nathan nodded looking at the bookmark for Amber. Ragnork clapped his hands with greed in his eyes. “Enough questions from you. The deal is about you answering questions from me, I almost have my [First Aid] to rank 4 and I won’t be satisfied till it is done!”