'Huh?'
He was really confused when he had read the power system, he scrolled through it multiple times just to confirm that there were no classes. So how will he grow stronger? The typical rpg games lets you kill monsters to gain experience points, and in return, level up. This way, you can get free stat points to allocate wherever you want. Peter hardly had time to play games back in the real world, but even he knew that the typical games allows you to level up a class.
Another thing is feats. What qualifies as a feat? Peter had gotten a feat called Fearless due to conquering his demons and dispelling the fear debuff. But what about saving Hohepa? Perhaps the act of bandaging up a bleeding man wasn't amazing enough?
"Wait, don't move him like that, you'll open up some more wounds and cause even more damages to his body" Peter warned the giant man. Mikare was going to carry him inside the sack that he was holding, but luckily Peter stopped him before explaining to him that Hohepa's bones are still broken and fragile, needless movement would be extremely dangerous and could potentially be life threatening.
Peter then took the sack, some nearby poles and some strings to create a home-made stretcher. This stretcher is just a lightweight portable hammock with a basic frame made out of ordinary materials, so he had to be careful when carrying the injured rider with this tool. Mikare held one end while he held the other, Mikare led them towards his own household in a slow, steady pace.
On the way towards the house, Peter could see many natives around the village, but some of them were avoiding the group. Not only because of a stigma caused by rumours about Hohepa, but also because of Peter. A mysterious white skinned man suddenly strolled into town just before the Nightmare incident.
Although they have a few white-skinned inhabitants inside the tribe, including some that had lived with them for countless years, Peter also had a dragon’s tattoo. A dragon is generally a taboo, a mystical creature said to befell misfortune and chaos. There were also rumours of dragons flying around and causing havocs across the world. But not all the natives avoided him, some even smiled and nodded in acknowledgement of his existence, some playful kids even waved towards him and started following him in curiosity.
Mikare was more opened minded, he says that he had travelled into modern towns in the past, towns that were many times larger than his tribe. He saw that there were many people of different races live in these types of communities together. There were a few discords here and there, but overall, it was generally harmonious.
Tattoos are not rare, in fact, the people of the Bellenau tribes had many different types of traditional tattoos on their bodies. These types of traditional tattoos are called, Ta moko. Not only is it extremely painful, but also dangerous. The most skilled tattooist in the region originates from this village, they dip a small blade in black ink, then hammer down the blade into the skin with a mallet to leave permanent marks onto the skin.
Mikare says that the traditional tattoos of his tribe would bless him with power, but Peter didn't believe it one-hundred percent as the tattoos he had seen in this village looked ordinary. They didn't glow, or show any signs of power, they just looked ordinary, like his own. But perhaps there was something there, so if he wanted to confirm the existence of it's power, then he would need to test it himself when he had the time and money.
Soon, after fifteen minutes of carefully treading across the tribe, they had finally made it towards Mikare's house. It could only be described as a medium sized wooden hut with a dry muddy rooftop.
"Husband is that you? Did you finish the task? Huh?" A tall attractive woman, barefoot and was dressed in a grass bikini with her stomach exposed, heard footsteps nearing the entrance of the hut. She had a dark spiralled tattoo above her chin and below her lips, her visage was that of high elegance and class. Except that she had reddish eyes, a trait that showed that she had been crying recently, and her hair had a few messy bits which showed that she was stressed out.
"This is my wife; Kura, and this is Peter; a healer" Makere introduced the both to each other before stepping inside the hut, the other followed through and they gently placed the injured rider onto one of the bed.
"A healer? Wonderful! Oh? Is this Hohepa?" The wife said in confusion as she saw the man who was being laid down in her house.
"Yeah, um… is it fine if we could crash here Mrs Tounga?" Hini said meekly as she hid behind Peter, she feared being rejected since she and her father were usually looked at with contempt.
"Of course, you can, I knew your father since we were young, so I can be considered as your aunt" Kura said, surprising the little girl as she never knew that fact.
"Well, actually, it's more like I knew your father's brother more, but unfortunately, he passed away" Kura said sadly.
"Yeah, it was a shame, his death was really a mystery and it broke many peoples heart" Mikare added.
"My father wasn't the killer, he was with me the whole time" Hini said defensively.
"It's ok Hini, we don't believe that rumour, only people looking for someone to be blamed, believes that" Mikare said while patting the little girls head, he then looked towards Peter.
"Follow me, I can show you my son's condition, he really is really unwell, and you might want to cover your face" Mikare said in a warning tone. Peter nodded before accepting a face mask made of weaved leaves. Peter followed Mikare, along with Kura while Hini stayed beside her dads’ side.
The three of them entered the back room of the hut, it was closed off from the rest of the rooms to isolate the sick boy. Peter was stunned when he first walked in. He noticed the boy tiredly laying on the bed. The boy had rashes all over his skin and he was in a state of extreme fatigue. Peter walked up to the boy in order to examine him more thoroughly. Kura was clenching her husband hands with worry and hope.
"Hi kiddo, I'm a healer, and I'm here to help you, so don't worry, you will be back on your feet’s in no time" Peter said cheerfully. The boy’s eyes went wide with hope, but he could barely show his joy through action as his muscles ache.
Peter noticed that the boy's skin was scaly, rough and dry. If he had the correct medical tools, he would use them, but unfortunately, he had nothing much, so he borrowed their wooden spoon to use as a stick. He used the spoon to open the boys mouth and saw that his gums were swollen and bleeding.
"He can barely move at all, I don't know what’s happening with him. Can you save him, healer?" Kura said with a pleading voice.
"I think I have an idea of what the problem is, but first, can you answer a question of mine?" Peter asked both the parents, and they nodded in consent.
"Does your son have a loss of appetite?"
"Yes, he barely eats his meal, even if I try and force the food into his mouth, he will barely swallow it down, he also loss a lot of weight, he used to be a cute little chubby boy but now..." Kura cried in her husband arms as she saw the sight of her son, he was not the chubby kid that he used to be, he had lost a lot of fat, and was showing signs of anorexia, this caused the mother to be extremely distressed.
"I need to something that may be painful for your son, but it will confirm my thoughts on what sickness he has" He said explained slowly towards the parents, at first, they weren't up for it, but Peter told them that it will not take long and that this test was needed to confirm his diagnosis. So, they reluctantly agreed.
"This may be painful, but it won't last long, I need you to be brave, are you a brave fighter?" Peter said towards boy, the boy weakly smiled while nodding.
"Ok, does this feel painful?" Peter light pressed down on the boys’ knees. The boy scrunched his nose, Peter could tell that it was painful for the boy.
"I know what we are dealing with" Peter stopped his test and told the parents what they wanted to hear.
"Really? Do you know how to save him?" Kura said while Mikare looked in expectancy.
"It is called, scurvy"
"Scurvy?" Both parents were confused about the term.
"He lacked some vital nutrients needed for a human body to function, this is called vitamin C. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and helps maintain the skin, blood vessels, bones and the basic form of the body. It is easy to spot people with Scurvy as they have the same symptoms as your son, red rashes, fatigue, swollen and bleeding gums, loss of weight and appetite and weak muscles, especially in the legs."
"And can this, scurvy be cured?" Said Kura.
"Yes, he can be cured by eating fruits, such as kiwi fruits, citrus and orange fruits. Any kinds of fruits would do. I can guarantee that he will show signs of recovery after 48 hours once he is fed fruits, and after two weeks, he will make a full recovery, but I don't recommend over feeding him fruits, just a small amount every few hours would do"
"Thank you so much for your help Peter... Husband, hurry up and pay him the money!" Kura angrily shouted at her husband, before he finally gave Peter a small pouch containing 25 copper coins.
Quest Completed: A boy is unwell
Rewards: 25 copper coins
One E Meter Point.
Congratulation
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Identifying and solving an illness at your stage is an amazing feat.
You are rewarded a Feat.
Medical Practitioner
Medical Practitioner Lvl 1
Identify and solve 5 different illness. (0/5)
You proved yourself worthy enough to equip this feat, so you are blessed with the power to help sick patients.
Confidence (1)
Do you want to make this your Primary Feat?
Yes/No
'Yes,' Peter thought with curiosity.
Medical Practitioner has replaced Fearless
- (1) Fear Resistance
+ (1) Confidence
Feats
Primary Feat
Medical Practitioner Lv1
Identify and solve 5 different illness. (0/5)
Confidence + 1
Reserve Feats
Fearless Lv1
Break through 15 more fear debuffs to level up. (0/15)
Fear Resistence + 1
Peter was suddenly swamped with many texted boxes, he didn't understand much as first, so he decided to look at it later. He did feel something change inside his body, a boost of confidence, an attribute that boost his mindset and mental fortitude, it was noticeable to himself because he knew his own body best. Kura was going to fish out some more coins, but Peter stopped her.
"This payment alone is enough I don't want to take anything more from you since you have been so kind in letting Hohepa and Hini stay for a while. Also, your son hasn't been cured of his illness yet and it makes me feel uneasy just by accepting anymore payment"
"If you say so, but if you are lying about my son..." Kura said while smiling faintly into Peters eyes. He shivered coldly as he stared into her eyes, imagining what she might to do him if the prescription fails.
"I'll go buy some fruits, although they are expensive right now, we should buy enough to cure our boy" Mikare said while rushing out immediately, he ran to get his money pouch before disappearing outside the house. He was too anxious to wait any longer than necessary.
The two of them left the little boy alone to rest before moving back towards the main room. They sat down for brunch as Kura had already cooked food for her husband, but she decided to let the man who claims to be a healer have it. Peters stomach was already grumbling and couldn't wait to dig in. The meal smelt fresh, it was a traditional meal called boil up, a meal with a broth soup and boil meat, the meat was medium well done and could melt right off the bones, there were also some potatoes and fried bread on the side.
"I find it weird that since coming into this tribe, many people are still healthy but then, how did your son fall to scurvy?"
"Well... We didn't know the problem, but there is a reason why he hadn't had any fruits. The reason why our son didn't have any fruits in the last few months was because our tribes fruit trees had been destroyed, the trees and plant of the farm had died out, it was like the life of the farm had been sapped dry. Furthermore, this caused the prices of fruits from outside of the tribe to rise. I'm guessing that the reason why most of the adults hadn't suffered from scurvy is because of a traditional fruit based wine that nearly all adults drink every few days"
"That seems, reasonable, may I ask, how many other people are suffering from scurvy?" Peter wanted to know this because he really wanted to play the healer card again, this way he can finish multiple quests in just a short time so that he can stack up more E Meter points.
"Yes, at first, we thought that it was contagious, so everyone hid the sick kids inside a closed off room, we then gather every night to find solutions, but nothing works, even begging the Healer of Pain for help didn't work. So, beside us, there should be around less than 50 people suffering with this disease"
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go help out the others" Peter said urgently as he didn't want to wait any longer or else the gold mine before him might be snatched by another player. Fifty patients would give him at least two days’ worth of E Meter points, this will let him relax for a brief moment since his situation wouldn't be urgent anymore.
After checking up on Hohepa and seeing that his body is safe from critical conditions, he then had the dirty makeshift bandages, his shirt, replaced by a proper sterile clean cloth. He then told Hini to look after her dad and the sick boy while they leave. Hini nodded seriously before she stood guard near the entrance door.
Kura and Peter then moved from house to house to accept and complete all the scurvy quests available. With his +1-confidence stat, he was able to smoothly explain and diagnose many of the patients quickly. It was before of this extra stat that made him look more trusting as he possessed the confidence of a real healer. This had drastically cut down the time needed to finish each individual quest. After his eleventh patients, the next one had a different sickness, it was a cold. Luckily a cold is a common ailment back on Earth and he was able to easily explain and solve the sickness of this patient.
Quest Completed
Reward: 14 copper coins
One E Meter Point.
Medical Practitioner Lv1
Congratulation, You have identified and solved another illness
Identify and solve 5 different illness. (1/5)
He then moved onto his next few patients who all had scurvy and easily completed the quests. He was now moving onto his 23rd patient but found an anomaly. Just before Kura could explain to the parents of their sick kid that Peter was here to help. The parents thanked them both for coming to them, but they said that they already had a healer come in to diagnose their son.
Peter double-checked with the parents to find out what sort of diagnosis the healer had given them, and he found that it was similar to his own. The two of them went to the other patients to find out that another healer had gotten to them first. This made Peter depressed since he had only gotten 23, including Kura's son, out of the 50 potential quests. Which meant that he had only gotten less than one day worth of E Meter points. But the good thing was that he had collected a total of 267 bronze coins due to his good deeds.
He found that had travelled around for a total of four hours, so he now had a total of 66 E Meter points. The sky was growing a little dark and since that there were no more free patients left, the two of them walked back to the hut. Soon after entering the hut, they found another person inside, kneeling next to Hohepa.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Kura said fiercely in a chilling tone. Her killing aura brought the rooms temperature down to a few degrees.
"Wait, she is a healer like Peter, she wanted to check up on your son, but I told him that he had already been diagnosed, so she went to check on my father" Hini came out to explain and defend the mysterious newcomer.
"So, you're the other healer?" Peter said towards the woman checking on the injured rider. He couldn't help but be stunned at her exposed long smooth legs. She was currently bending over and checking the Hohepas injuries thoroughly. The other healer was extremely calm, she didn't even flinch at the shout of Kura, even the killing intent that scared both Peter and Hini didn't faze this girl.
'Hmmmmhm'
The female healer just mumbled in consent before finishing up her inspection. Once she turned around, her long black hair waved softly like silk as her stunning face came into view. Peters jaw dropped as he saw the beauty in front of him, even Kura was stunned and felt that her beauty paled compared to this mysterious healer.
This woman looked to Asian, in her mid-twenties, and had sharp eyebrows that complements her dark eyes. The eyes were as beautiful and sparkling as the vast galaxy of the universe. Her skin looked smoothed and free of flaws. Her small tiny nose looked exceptionally cute, her lips were the shade of cherry pink and looked too sweat to taste.
Peter had never been captured by any type of beauty in his lifetime, all he wanted was to maintain his own company and realised his ancestors dreams. Marrying that despicable women was a business decision, one that will elevate his company to a new level, but who knew that this woman would be crafty and plot a coup behind his back.
"You must be the other healer, I'm glad to meet someone else like me in this world, my name is Clare" She said straightforwardly while holding out her hands.
"Peter" He smiled brightly while bringing his hand to meet her, but he felt quite sad when he saw her maintain a neutral flat expression.
"Well, since you are here, I can leave Hohepa into your hands"
"Wait, ah, what can I say, um, I'm not actually a doctor, I just have some knowledge about a few illness, and I don't have the skillset to completely make Hohepa recover, so since you are here, can you help him please? He did save my life beforehand" Peter said while briefly remembering Hohepa's shout. This shout had caused him to break out of his daze and jump out harm’s way. If this didn't happen, Peter would had been crushed under the foot of that horse and not only would he feel unimaginable pain, if he died then and there, he would had lost 40% of his current E Meter Points and be respawned back to his personal platform in space.
"Oh, Well I should had known... Who would think that you are a real doctor?" She lightly insulted Peter while checking him out, her eyes briefly lingered onto his muscular abs before she turned away quickly. She agreed to help Hohepa after Hini's constant pleading, this pleading had triggered a quest for Clare, so she soon started her work.
Peter didn't know why, but when the beautiful woman teased him, and when he saw her looking at his body, he felt a fire burning in his heart while his face showed an obvious blush. Peter really wanted to see her smile but didn't want to try too hard as to make her feel uncomfortable.
So, he skipped all forms of small talks and flirting techniques that were running in his mind, he eventually leaned towards a more serious approach due to the solemn nature of the woman before him. Any kind of distraction will unfazed her, she has the deposition of a war medic, someone who treads a dangerous path just to help out her fellow soldiers, this is what Peter had guessed.
Soon Mikare came back with a large batch of fruits. Kura then explained Clare’s presences to her husband and he was happy to have another guest inside his home, especially another healer. Mikare and Kura then went to their sons to feed him and stay with him. Hini was tired and went to sleep on a spare bed, this made it easier for Peter to talk to Clare.
"It has been six hours since this world has been available to the public, do you understand much about of power system?" He said curiously.
"Not really, I don't really play games that much"
"What about Feats?"
"Oh, I have a Feat... It's Doctor lvl 1, this Feat gives me, + 1 confidence and + 1 humane stats"
"What? I have one called Medical Practitioner, which only gives me + 1 confidence, and one called Fearless, which gives me + 1 fear resistance" Peter was stunned when Clare had a different medical title when they both did the same thing. She got her title after finishing her first quest, diagnosing one of the scurvy patients. He had found out that she completed her quest before him. After talking back and forth with their own experiences. They theorised that a feat can only exist once. Since Clare finished first, she got the Feat of Doctor, and Peter finished next, he got the Feat of Medical Practitioner, which is lesser than a doctor.
Although this was just a theory and wasn't proven to be true yet, Peter felt some sense of urgency due to this thought. What if all the top combat feats were to be taken already? Then he can only hope to gain a lesser one... And what if you die? Would you lose all your feats that you had collected so far? There were still too many unknown factors in this game, he was just going to have to play it through to find out more. He then confirmed that he can switch between primary and reserve Feats instantly, and that only one Feat can be effective at a time. He would have to try and find Feats of different types so that he can properly design a pathway for himself. Perhaps an offensive, defensive and movement type, so that he can switch in between battles smoothly.
'Perhaps this quest can give me the opportunity to get a top feat' Peter thought about the first quest he had received, The only E rank quest he had recieved. He had to figure out how the horse had transformed into a nightmare, perhaps he would find a true culprit in the end.
His brilliant mind flashed, and he thought of everything that may be related to the incident.