After a few days of visiting my parents in the hospital, creating a team to manage the materials from the fracture, and unwinding with copious amounts of books, I got a strange notification from my Rankable app.

A viral - heavily edited - video of me fighting multiple sword users back to back in what looks like a fully attended arena plays out in front of my eyes. The user who posted that video has the pseudonym "Pink Arrow" and tagged me in the post. Some commentators are confused, but the rest seem supportive, one way or another.

[RodriguesTheRock: Damn, great defense. Better than me at my age. Decent fighter, too.]

[Snake_Fan4: Where is the snake?]

[OnionFarmer(Mispelt Union): Isn't this the guy from the lawsuit? Are you telling me he returned for seconds? Damn, no wonder he's the representative of humanity.]

[KenMember#578: Overrated. Reported for terrorism.]

[50_yearold_wizard: Isn't this a bit too bloody, even with all the edits trying to hide it. No hate here, but I don't know how people can stomach all that.]

[Champagne&Cyanide: I like the blood :heart:]

[I_Eat_Skin: Imbed fail.]

[JerryDacre: Hey! I know that guy! :)]

I got a call from my PR manager after reading Jerry's message. I answer the phone and tentatively put it up to my ear.

"Why is it only now that I'm aware of your "sparring match" with the Ken family? Who is this [Pink Arrow] that has this video? Can we hire them?"

"Oh, hey. I'm 97% sure that my foster sister. I killed nine people, and that's the outcome of the video."

"...I didn't know your sister was on Rankable. That's on me. But did you know she has quite the following? We should push with more... What are you doing, and when can you pull another stunt?"

"I didn't know. I'm technically training. Whenever."

During the few days of downtime I had, I discovered something interesting. Rob can gather experience for us. I'm not sure if this works if I don't own the fracture, but the experience Rob gains while in the [Endless Graveyard] still gets split amongst the rest of us. He amassed a caravan to trek to the next 'city,' killing skeletons and passively earning the rest of us levels. Although it's exponentially slower, I can focus on other things than grinding levels, thanks to Rob.

Rob doesn't care that we are mooching off him since he's in graverobber paradise. Everyone around him has bones for the taking right out in the open. He can frolic through a field of graveyards and come out of it with an armful of arms. He gets distracted sometimes because if he sees a skeleton with a better 'bone' than he, he'd stop at nothing to get it for his collection since I'm not there to tell him otherwise.

"Do you want to participate in a reality television show? It'll start filming relatively soon, and you should be at an appropriate level for it."

"No, I'm good."

"Hmm... One of the local guilds is holding a contest for the other local guilds. It's basically a race to find an object they hid within. The winner gets a credit prize and a B-rank item."

"Maybe if nothing else, but that doesn't sound appetizing."

"If you don't like those two, the other things lined up won't interest you. How about charity? We can open a foundation to help people like the Carters with their court cases."

"You just reminded me that I have a Mastercard from the Valentine Corporation. I'm technically a registered healer." That pink-bearded doctor registered me after a misunderstanding. It'll be fine.

"That's... important. I'll expand some avenues and find ways to use that information. I'm curious about how my remarks reminded you about this?"

"I recalled that I was tempted to heal Carter's paralyzed son since I wanted to see how my healing would interact with that... It doesn't matter since they've been in 'witness protection' since the trial. If you can get me some interesting cases, I'll heal them pro bono."

"You sound like the Saint... barring the obsession with reproduction."

"You've met that asshole?"

"It seems like you've met him as well. I'll have Chains set up everything. Come by the guild building in a few days."

After the next few days, I spent roughly 20 million credits starting a charity foundation. I planned to use that money to purchase books to level a title and increase my [Mind] stat while filling my [Lexicon]. It's been a week since my fight with the Ken family, and my beasts haven't been slacking as much as I have.

Duchess won't update me with her bloodline shift, but she's been shedding her skin and feathers more often. I would be worried, but she told me not to. Flash Gordon has been fragmenting himself into different pieces, purposely not repairing himself and then waiting for him to 'grow' back the missing parts using the dense mana found in my mansion. He's making various elemental stones while training his [Fragmentation] skill.

Rob is still on the road, I think. I haven't got any notifications about him attempting to take over another sector. Experience is trickling in, so I guess he's just preoccupied.

Khan and Prometheus can do whatever they want. Khan has been brewing a storm at the ceiling of the fracture the mansion is situated in. He's been up there for the entire week, doing something. Prometheus doesn't have easily upgradable skills, but he's been messing around with his food stash, refining metals after eating them and turning them into little cubes.

I've been bleeding myself and practicing my martial arts, but once I'm focused and in the zone, I remember I have to leave the mansion and do something.

Having mental and physical reminders to not hide away and actually stay grounded is more exhausting than I thought. If nobody cared, I would've stayed in a fracture until I was strong enough to accomplish every goal thrown my way. I'm glad I have talents working for me, so I don't have to do the boring stuff.

Charlie has been hard at work turning one of the shops into an actual business. It's considered a 'guild shop' thanks to Free Chains legal shenanigans, which makes taxes cheaper on a technicality. He's been selling the bulk items to alchemists and some of the more niche ones to "men in dark robes," his words, not mine.

I'm not too worried about becoming an enabler for necrotic rituals. Necromancy isn't illegal, but most necromancers, like other magic casters, are willing to do deplorable shit if it furthers research or makes them more powerful. From what I know, the mightiest wizards usually live in solitude or in their own communities because modern-day society's ethics and laws 'restrict' them to the point to which they'll leave. If they buy their needs from me, they won't have to 'source' it from 'other places.'

Charlie also managed to convince Rain to partner with my corporation in a more 'official' way. Parts of our guild proceeds will directly go to her research fund, and in exchange, she will make potions for the guild and, once in a while, research new formulas for us. We get a decent chunk of the [V-Healing Potion]'s revenue anyway, so it's not a loss. By 'we.' I mean 'I.'

The first potion Charlie wanted Rain to research was a [Miasma-Resistance] potion so we could open the fracture to the public. Pay to enter the fracture, but also pay for the potion that will let you survive. It's a decent business model, but I'll have to ask Rob if that's okay with him. It's his tax-paying citizens who will be hunted for money and sport.

A [Miasma-Resistance] potion could be sold highly to the FIB or other guilds who privately own fractures with regions of 'contamination.' Hell, making any [Resistance Potion] from my blood would be profitable as fuck.

Enough about money. I plan to visit my foster parents in the hospital before starting the charity work. Even though I want to test things out, I won't subject my family to my experiments. I want to experiment with my healing to see how it would mentally affect someone undergoing physical therapy. Would it negate the need? Would it make it infinitely worse and cause mental blocks? Could I cause the body to think it's not working right even though it is physically healthy, causing a placebo impairment? I'm assuming healing phantom injuries would take more mana than I have, so rather than gambling on my foster father's health, I will risk some charity cases instead.

If I could only get my hands on some coma patient with mana sickness...

I never took any Hippocratic oath. Leaving my mansion, I realized that I had gotten mail for the first time in a while. I'm in my apartment, and there are no signs of breaking or entering. However, a letter that wasn't there when I entered my mansion was on the kitchen counter. I scan the room with [Scientific Insight+] and don't notice any hidden recording devices.

The letter doesn't seem laced with anything, so I open it. Inside is a single piece of paper with a cryptic message on it.

[Dearest Ellis Vincere of the Vincere Family,

It has come to our attention that

Please respond post haste with

We will know if

Signed,]

Fuck you. Who writes half a letter vertically. I'd understand if the bottom half was gone due to time constraints, but the asshole who broke into my house fucking left all the information out. And what's with this 'Vincere Family' shit. It's redundant. I'm the only one left. And if I'm not, then my system nickname of "Last Winner" needs updating.

I crumple the piece of paper and text Free Chains about upgrading the security of my buildings before going to the hospital to visit family.

~~~

My charity foundation sought out and hired as many of the people who were willing to follow me during the cleanup after the quake. A bunch of patients are being tended to by nurses and my 'volunteers' inside the guild's brand-new indoor auditorium, which I own. I'm glad the guild funds are going where they are most needed.

My PR manager forced me on stage and briefed me on giving a light speech before commencing with healing. I'm great at these. I'm even wearing my charisma-boosting suit. As I stand there, I am stared at by sick and injured people. Since the quake, I have a reputation as a decent healer, but to come here requires some level of desperation. The faces not twisted with agony are tired and lifeless as if they were on the verge of giving up.

My presence doesn't fill them with hope. I stand there and look back at these faces. I lean into the microphone and say something. My voice rings out through the entire auditorium.

"Who's first?"

My words were not an attempt to get the sickly to clammer for a spot in the Ellis auction but towards one of the staff members. They fumble around with a clipboard before saying medical jargon and gesturing to a patient.

I use [Scientific Insight+] to see what's wrong with them. A man covered with bandages lays on a stretcher. They have their own nurse and morphine. I lift one of the bandages up, and his body is... something.

[Cavity Syndrome

Cavity Syndrome causes the progressive disappearance of flesh and organs, replaced by empty spaces within the body. The growth of this syndrome is gradual enough to where the organs can adapt to the changes.]

[Skeletal Hollowing

Skeletal Hollowing causes the disappearance of bone matter, causing brittle bones prone to fractures and deformities.]

[Empty Vessel Syndrome

Empty Vessel Syndrome causes the vessels to widen and lose the ability to transport blood around the body. Specialized enchantments are necessary to maintain bodily function at this point.]

[Form Disorder

Form Disorder is declared when the patient's body cannot maintain its form without intervention.]

A bunch of information from my [Lexicon] streams into my head as I see the afflictions. Every aspect of his body is eroding away, becoming hollow. It's to the point where his body wouldn't even be shaped like a person if it weren't for the bandages.

I don't know how they are alive. Let's see what I can do.