“I guess this isn’t the worst thing in the world,” I replied, flexing my new muscles with a fair amount of appreciation. I opened up my character menu and looked at my stats again. With my old cancer debuff being counteracted by the new strength buff, I wasn’t looking nearly as shabby.

Strength: 15 Stamina: 9 Dexterity: 10 HP: 91/100 MP: 163/96 SP: 48/100

My base stamina had nearly recovered to normal levels, my dexterity was back to normal, and my strength was better than ever. Though I hated to do it, I had to check my cancer debuff to see how much time I’d gained. It no longer displayed a countdown timer, thankfully.

Debuff: Cancer—Stage IV Strength: -2 Stamina: -4 Dexterity: -1 Maximum HP: -8% Estimated Remaining Lifespan: 7 months, 3 weeks

“Well, it looks like you just added a month to my lifespan,” I reported to the professor. “I guess I’m glad you didn’t let me leave.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t do more for you. I’ve seen more dramatic improvements from those with more body fat. You can always come back if you manage to gain some weight and we can do it again. But maybe when you come back, we’ll have entirely new techniques. We are always pushing the limits of what magic can accomplish. Discovering a cure for cancer is one of our goals. Every day we get closer to a permanent cure.”

“I bet that instant muscles spell is popular,” I said. “And I don’t just mean for terminal patients.”

Lightglow sighed. “Yes,” he agreed, “and not with the kinds of people I would like it to be used on, either. That Skill combination was developed to help treat patients of muscular dystrophy, but ever since the church cut our funding we’ve been applying it to a hundred soldiers for every medical patient with genuine need. I’ve brought my objections upstairs, but they fall on deaf ears. Anything that brings in money must be considered.”

Vince felt a twinge of guilt at hearing about the university’s financial problems after how Gora had convinced him to purchase the most expensive translator on the market on their dime. “That really sucks about your funding,” I commiserated.

Professor Lightglow dropped into his seat with a heavy creak of flexing wood. “It’s a shame the church doesn’t think more about unintended consequences,” he said. “They didn’t approve of the profitable studies coming out of the black college, so they withdrew funding from the white college and forced us to sell our services to Dilethian heretics. How is that better than trying to work with us to stay in compliance? They must have assumed the university would collapse. They underestimated the tenacity of our dean.”

“Different world, same story,” I said. “It’s almost comforting to hear that politicians are idiots everywhere.”

Lightglow propped his elbows on his desk and dropped his chin in his hands. His eyes drifted toward the ceiling absentmindedly as he spoke. “I worry sometimes,” he said. “If history teaches us anything, it’s that magical progress is always quashed by the church. I see a holy war on the horizon with the fate of our school hanging in the balance. We are not prepared.” He looked down at me. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to pawn my worries on you. Forget about it. You can go. I’ll deduct the cost of the muscle treatment service from your stipend. With my employee discount, of course. I’d prefer not to have to charge you at all, but with our finances lately… I would get in trouble.”

“No hard feelings,” I said. In truth, I probably would have agreed to the interview with Clarice whether or not it paid. “One question before I go. Do you know of any other ways I might cure my cancer for good? I spoke to a priest who said the pope of his church could probably do it.”

Professor Lightglow clicked his teeth. “Those hypocrites? Don’t bother. They only serve their own interests. You’re better off chasing down hedge-healers. The church would only heal you so they could put a collar around your neck. I’ve seen what happens to those that take them up on their offer. They are not the same. It is just death by a different name. My research is about finding a cure without strings attached. The church does not appreciate competition.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds like they have a monopoly.”

“A what?” Professor Lightglow asked.

“Uh, that’s an economic term. It means they control the supply completely. It’s like…” I tried to think of an example that someone who wasn’t familiar with the concept of economics would be able to understand. “Like if someone bought up every store in the entire world that sells hats. Anyone who wants to buy a hat has to buy it from them. They can charge as much as they want because there’s no competition. Hats become really expensive, but normal people can’t do anything about it. They either pay the extortionary price, or go without.”

“Interesting,” Professor Lightglow said. “Very interesting.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Monopolies suck. Where I come from they’re illegal. But it’s worse than that, because the person with the monopoly can use all their money and influence to quash anyone who tries to open their own hat shop in order to maintain their monopoly… just as an example.” The parallels between the school’s position and my analogy were pretty hard to ignore.

“I see,” Professor Lightglow said. He sat up a little straighter. “I think I understand what you’re trying to say. The church controls effective healing magic. They aren’t acting illogically; they’re doing this on purpose. We are their competition. If we cured cancer and the rest of the uncurables, they would lose their… monopoly.” His eyes went wide. “It makes sense! We are playing into their hands! By forcing us to sell our Skills to Dilethian mercenaries they will be able to justify another crusade.”

“Another crusade?” I asked. “The church does a lot of those, does it?”

The professor waved a hand. “Every century or two. It’s been a while though. I thought they’d grown more tolerant.”

“Well, that’s where you went wrong. Getting your hopes up. Take it from me; the best way to avoid disappointment is to always expect the worst possible outcome.”

“Thank you,” Professor Lightglow said. “I think I understand this situation much better now. I have a lot to think about.”

“What about my cure?” I asked. “You never told me what a hedge-healer is.”

“Bah,” Professor Lightglow said. “I was only trying to illustrate a point. Chasing down hedge-healers is a waste of time unless you’re extremely wealthy. That is just what we call anyone with a random Skill that can do some amount of healing. Most villages have at least one, and they are the next thing to useless when it comes to uncurables. Our university has tracked down many. Their Skills are never impressive. Plenty claim to be able to treat uncurables, but in all my years here I’ve only seen that hold true once. And that was for an uncurable that isn’t even directly lethal: Brittle Bones.”

“If hedge-healers aren’t an option, then what do you suggest I try next?” I asked. “Because right now my options are looking like church slave, or death.”

“The answer probably already exists,” Professor Lightglow explained. “The Brokers have a library of over 20,000 Brands. One of those Skills, or a combination of them, is likely capable of treating or curing your disease. It is just a matter of finding it. That is what my research is all about.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s at least something. Where’s this library? I’ll look through it myself.”

“If only it were that simple,” Lightglow sighed. He was doing a lot of that. He seemed like he was under a lot of stress. “They do not let just anyone peruse their library. The best you can probably do as a civilian would be to make a request to a broker to look through the library for you. I have access, as a professor, but I cannot extend that access to anyone else.”

“I’d rather not sit around waiting to die,” I said. “Surely, you can understand.”

Professor Lightglow frowned. “I wish I could help,” he said. “But they only give access to their library to their brokers or the leaders of organizations they work with. If I could make you a professor with the wave of my hand, I would do so, but I possess no such power.”

“Well, what other organizations do they work with?” I asked. “Maybe I can ask one of them to give me access.”

“They work closely with the Dilethian government, a number of mercenary companies, the Porters, a couple fishing companies, the Adventurer’s Guild, and a construction company here in Raith. I’m sure there are other regional businesses, but those are the ones I’m aware of.”

“Oh hey,” I said. “I know an adventurer. Maybe I could ask him?” I wasn’t actually sure if Ferrith would do something like that for me, especially considering what Clarice had told me about him the other day. But I was literally dying. It couldn’t hurt to at least ask.