I take a good long look at the diagrams I’m sketching down for the guide. Using [Advanced Mana Sense] combined with [Tracking] is good, but not refined enough if I want to cure bone metastases. The main problem so far is that the guide has not followed the same rigorous process used for the main spell. Lord Juler and I have approximated whatever Mana coordinateS are seen through [Advanced Mana Sense]; that’s how it worked in battle. But if I’m working with small patches of bone cancer, I need more precision than that. And it’s not about the main spell, it’s about creating a superior tracker to guide it. Incidentally, such a thing will have its own utility in battles too. But that’s not why I am doing this.

I have decided to go forward with my idea. I mean, I kind of contradicted myself. I am not going to Kome anytime soon. Especially not before becoming strong enough to protect myself, that’s for sure. But what I’m going to do is keep my word with Antoninus. I need to cure his mother. And it’s not going to be an easy task. I have already spoken with Valarith, and I think it will take several days, maybe weeks worth of radiation. And before we proceed, I’m preparing, with the help of Lord Juler, some experiments to judge the residue of radiation inside an irradiated object. Also, I need to finish studying [Regenerate]. That’s a Tier 6 spell, bordering on Tier 7. And nope, it’s not just a matter of talent. The spell matrix you need to cast is humongous. I barely have enough Mana for one simple application.

“Joey, the Princess has said she has the coordinate down. If you want, we can proceed.”

I hear Lucinda from just outside the room.

I take one last look at all my research.

I’ve been studying for two entire weeks. I’m not sure I can do better than this without several months worth of research. And I’m not sure Antoninus’s mother has so much to live.

“Well, let’s go then,” I say while taking some parchment with me for notes and a few diagrams.

“Are you sure about this?” Lucinda asks me once again.

“Well, as long as she doesn’t see Valarith, Lord Juler, or anyone else, why not?”

“She is a very strong adventurer, Joey. She could get antsy during the healing process. And she could try to kill you.”

“Meh. Whatever.”

I ignore the possibilities while going through the illuminated corridors and stairways of Valarith’s tower. The weird stones we are basically floating upon are the usual sore thumb in the eye – I wish someone with a better sense of décor would take care of this place.

And while taking narrow spiral staircases and occasionally glancing at Lucinda’s rear, bigger and bigger questions start coming to me.

If the guide fails, is there the risk she will hemorrhage?

If the experiments are not a correct representation of reality, will she slowly die in a year or two?

If I had to choose between a world of only big asses and flat chests or flat asses and big boobs, what would I pick?

Great doubts, including questions that had been plagued mankind since its inception, had come to torture me. It’s inevitable. The brain tries to distract you from the most important things—boobs. Probably. But anyway, most of the stuff I had theorized and practiced with Lord Juler now worked. To further my experiments, I need to start the treatment. Hell, this is going to be very experimental in nature. And not experimental like you see in hospitals: there, when you get an ‘experimental’ something, it’s already gone through several phases. Here, I’d say that apart from the Joey+Juler phase, we are pretty much at the beginning of things.

“You don’t owe them anything, Joey,” Lucinda says. “People want you dead.”

“People want a lot of stuff that they can’t have, Lucy. I, for once, would like ten wives very gifted in both departments. Sadly, it’s not going to happen.”

Lucinda doesn’t even turn back to look at me. She’s more than used to my jokes and weird remarks. It’s comforting, really. Say all you want about this woman, but at least I can be myself around her.

“I’ll be there with you in case we need to restrict her movements,” she says, dead serious.

“Ok.”

There is no point in arguing with a woman when you are talking about another woman. It doesn’t matter what subject you are brushing up on – always tell the women they are right about other women. If you don’t, it’s your funeral. And if you are asking why, it’s the same as having a friend with a restaurant. You would never tell that another restaurant has something on them, would you? Well, apply the same for whatever relationship you have with women, even your mother, and you shall live a life of eternal happiness.

We arrive in front of a door, and I can hear incoherent sounds from outside.

“Is she here?” I ask.

Lucinda nods.

I slowly open the door, finding Antoninus’s mother on a bed, restricted by several knots and enchanted leathers.

“Hello there,” I say with a smile. “Do you remember me?”

She looks much better than the last time. Lord Juler casted a plethora of spells that kept her healthier and let her pain subside. Now, though, she looks pale again, and it’s clear that even though she’s been feeling better, her body hasn’t. She’s extremely thin, bordering on skeletrical.

“You—” she erupts in a fit of cough with her head reclining on her feeble chest.

“The restrictions are because of your levels. I’m hunted, at the moment. I could have come to Amorium, but this whole process will take anything from a few weeks to a few months. You’ll be fed, and I can keep you company when you are awake.”

She looks around with wide eyes as soon as her coughing relents.

“Where are we?”

“I can’t tell you, for obvious reasons. But no one is going to hurt you. And if you were to choose so, I’ll send you back. But if you do go back without being cured, you will die. I have a good shot at curing you, but I need your total collaboration.”

The woman bites the insides of her cheek for a second before narrowing her eyes and looking around once again. Thankfully, she’s much more practical than the average man. Why? She’s a Gold Ranker.

“Let’s do it.”