Kai's Dad came to the hospital soon after Kai had asked him to come over. He seemed near panicked once he'd arrived, asking Kai all sorts of questions on what was going on, if something had changed. After a few minutes of reassuring that everything was good, Kai explained everything.

"So… you're sure this won't be the last time I see you?" His dad eventually asked.

"What? Of course I'm sure. I just told you, I'll be alive in ECLIPSE. You can come visit any time."

"Yeah, but, will you be you? Will you look the same, feel the same? You won't age, your brain and body will be as susceptible to change as everything else in the game… everything about you will change, many times over."

"Dad, I'm not this body, I've already lost everything this body is, and I'm still me. Moving to a digital body won't change that. The change will be gradual, my mind will be slowly transferred to another brain. You're still you, even though all the atoms in your body have been replaced multiple times over. I'll still be me. And I did make my avatar look as much like myself as I could. Maybe slightly more muscular."

"But why can't you just do what you've already done? Live your days in ECLIPSE, and then sleep here?"

"I don't have to be paralyzed, I get paid for it, I'll get to sleep in my own house, I won't have to be attached to all these machines anymore, doing it will help QUANTA spread it as a possibility for more people worldwide. Dad, I've made my choice, and I'm happy with it."

"And I'm happy you're happy, but you're the most important person to me in the entire world. I can't not worry."

"I know dad, I know." Kai said, leaving the hospital room in companionable science. "You know, I just realized I could literally make being a wizard into my profession." Kai said, sending the two of them into a spree of jokes and giggles.

"Do you know when the transfer will be made yet?" Kai's dad eventually asked.

"Yeah, if everything goes right, then it'll be tomorrow. A representative of ECLIPSE will come here, and inject me with the nanobot BCI. Once that's done, I won't be able to log out. The brain of this physical body will slowly be destroyed."

"Alright, I'll be here then."

The two continued talking for a while after that, until eventually Kai was left alone in the room, free to log back into the virtual world.

—

It was nearing midday when Kai found himself standing on the first floor of an inn. Kai had a plan for the day, he would gain a healing skill. He would learn the healing palm skill, and combine it with his pebble toss skill, in an attempt to make a ranged healing skill. All he needed to start with, was find a shop that sold healing salves, to get the skill. Another possibility was to find an adept of a healing skill, who'd be able to teach Kai a healing skill directly. But Adepts in Eldoria's Reach were few and far between, at least according to the wiki.

Finding a shop that sold various healing salves and ointments hadn't taken long. It was a small potions shop, filled with vials, bottles and tubes of goop's, slimes and fluids of all colors. Once Kai found what he was searching for, a small tube labeled 'Cut remover'.

Having bought the tube for the cheap price of six gold, Kai decided it was time to make a small sacrifice. Kai spread some of the healing salve on his right hand, before slicing his left hand against his finger. The cut healed quickly, but for a moment nothing happened. Kai decided to try again, and again. Once he healed the cut for s third time, Kai finally received the notification he'd been waiting for.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Skill gained: Healing palm (uncommon), Novice 1.

It wasn't the best healing skill, healing one hit point per five mana used, up to skill level. But it was better than nothing. But with the skill earned, Kai proceeded with the second part of his plan; merging his healing palm with his pebble toss skill.

Kai opened his interface, finding the skill merging menu from his character sheet, where he selected the two skills, placing the healing skill first.

Do you wish to merge skill: healing palm (uncommon), with skill: pebble toss (common).

Duration: 30 minutes.

Merge: Y / N

Selecting yes, Kai watched as the two used skills disappeared from his character sheet, before closing his interface. It was time to go back to the library, and do some more research on the world around him.

Half an hour later, Kai could be found in the history section of the library, searching through books on recent events of the world he was in. Information on a recent market crash, the last great monster attacking the city, and even famous gladiators could be found mentioned in the section of the library.

Skill merged: Healing toss (uncommon), Novice 1.

This skill allows its user to heal injuries by tossing the injured entity. Heals open wounds for 1n hit points per toss, where n is skill level.

That… wasn't exactly what Kai had wanted. He'd hoped to be able to be able to toss healing energy or something anywhere he wanted, not whatever this was. Maybe he should've merged the skills together the other way around, to be able to throw healing pebbles. Only that wasn't what Kai wanted either.

Skill: skill lore, novice 1 has increased to novice 2.

Kai sighed, at least the six gold he'd spent hadn't entirely gone to waste.

Deciding not to mess around with his skills any more for now, Kai went back to his research.

—

Eventually Kai came to a realization on what jobs he could get, and how he could get one. For one, Kai could find a shop, where he could apprentice at, learning the skills he'd need for whatever the craft was, when he'd be able to start a business of his own. Another option was to join the city guard by finding a guard's office, where he could apply. Third, he could join a guild, large organizations dedicated to achieve their goals. But Kai wasn't entirely interested in that. Unless Kai could get special treatment, or find a guild where he'd be able to do as he wished, Kai wasn't interested. The same went for joining the guard, or apprenticing under someone. Kai didn't get his body back just to be tied down.

This left choices such as becoming a freelancer mercenary and keep doing random quests, a gladiator, or a so-called adventurer. Or, Kai could simply become all of them. He could try entering a few Gladiator matches, do the occasional quests offered, and become a nomad who traveled around the world leading expeditions to unknown lands, exploring dungeons, new cities and having grand adventures in general.

The last one was Kai's favorite. He couldn't imagine staying in one city without exploring the entirely different universe he was in. But there was no need to hurry, he could give being a gladiator a try before that. From what Kai understood, there was a large popular gladiator arena where anyone could go and join a match, be it against rare or exotic monsters, or other people. The matches weren't to death, since each gladiator would be given a sigil that would teleport them out if an attack was estimated to do more damage than the sigils wearer had hit points left. Even then, accidents did occur, but rarely, and even If Kai died, it wouldn't be permanent.

It would be good training for his skills, a fast way to gain experience, both of which would be great if Kai ever went on adventures. Not to mention fighting in an arena could even be fun. Kai had enjoyed fighting the monsters, not the quick slaughter of the froglins, but rather the longer fights. When he'd battled the rockhopper or the moonclad fox, they were the fun times. The gladiator matches would be full of that. Or so Kai hoped.

Satisfied with his decision, Kai sent a message to Arson and Droozle, asking whether they were interested in joining Kai in the arena. Not waiting for a reply, Kai started asking for directions to a nearby arena, learning that the nearest one was nearly four miles away, towards the center of the apparently much larger than expected city.