It spits on my hand to melt the metal, but the fire isn't hot enough. It gives up trying to eat my hand after a while.

I have Prometheus activate its [Hardening] skill. A portion of its body shifts into a shell and then hardens. The rest of its body slinks inside, hiding away without needing to solidify. It just hermit crabbed itself. Actually, with the composition of its body, it kinda looks like a snail. Actually, it looks exactly like a snail. It looks almost identical to a [Fire Snail]. Metallic shell with a magma body with metal flakes, yeah.

The shell melts back into its body, making Prometheus undulate. I hold it with one hand, and little bits of him fall off and hit the floor. Since Prometheus is no longer in their egg, I can't just feed them mana. They still enjoy eating fire, but they really want my arm. I go into the mansion's warehouse and grab some of the ore I looted from the desert. I pick up a decent size chunk and let Prometheus crawl over it.

They start melting small pieces of the metal, consuming the liquid metal like its nectar. I watch on. This little creature I hatch has its first meal outside of its egg. This was a much-needed distraction. I tell master Giles of the good news, but I don't let him see my beast yet. Duchess can babysit for a while.

"Master Giles, do you have something that might help something consume molten metal?"

"Hmmm, no."

"Damn."

"Actually, I might have something."

He leaves me alone with the blue monkey for over ten minutes before he appears with what looks like a baby's bottle made out of a gray crystal.

"This old fashing nursing device can hold even liquid tungsten. I used to bottle-feed fire elementals with this thing. Do you need safety equipment... Ah, yes. Nearly forgot that you are Wang's disciple too."

[Temperature Resistance Baby Bottle C]

"Thank you for the gift."

"It's for the child. Let me see it before it grows up. I want to take pictures."

"Sure, master Giles."

I got my child back and went to the team exercise, but it was more like a meet and greet. John introduced himself to me again, and so did his team. His team really is five beautiful women, damn. Hope, Heather, Heidy, Helen, and Herman. The last girl goes by her last name instead of her first. By the end, I only remember Heather since I talked to her before. She wanted a sidebar with me after the exercises. We had to play the game of, "Hi, my name is - and one fact about me is -" and I almost blew my brains out with my firearm arm.

John apparently likes training and having fun with his friends. I clocked out after that point. I just started nursing my ooze with the bottle. I had Duchess melt some low melting point metal, and I scooped it inside. I don't think Prometheus can suckle, but it's enjoying itself anyways.

After some light conversation, I pulled two people aside before meeting with Heather. Abigal and, surprisingly, Arlug. Abigal is a necromancer and might know what "lording over a graveyard" is, and Arlug is a healer, and I have questions to ask him about that.

"That's very specific. I'm eighty percent sure that means you need to one, be undead, two, kill all the other undead in a miasma-filled graveyard, and three... Nope, I think that's it."

The only graveyard I know of with miasma is the endless one, It might also be segmented into pieces since there are walls, but that might be a waste of time to send Rob in to clear out.

"Thank you."

"No problem, cool slug."

"..."

"Why do you need me?"

"Oh, Arlug. Yeah. Can you tell me the situation of healers finding work, you know, as healers?"

Spending half the day working out ruins my prospects of making credits. I can't work for the hazard branch since I won't have enough time to do fracture reconnaissance. I wanted to use my new title to sell my services. I could also be a "fixer" since [Heal Anything] works on objects, but the mana consumption might not be sustainable for money making.

"Shit, man. You're bringing up bad memories. Do you know about the Valentine Corporation?"

"They have a chokehold in the industry."

"Yeah, almost every healer is associated with them. Even government-run hospitals are staffed by the Valentine Corporation. They did a census, and over 60% of government hospitals are staffed only by Valentine members."

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"Damn! How?"

"I imagine lobbying and bribes. You need a license to heal others. It's like how you need a license to practice medicine. The Valentine Corporation gives out the licenses on behalf of the government. They can charge whatever they want and even force a subscription."

"What about good samaritan laws?"

"I guess that works, but people can still sue you for healing them. Something about consent. Nine times out of ten, if the intentions are pure, the case gets thrown out, but some people get unlucky. There are ways to get around a license."

"Tell me."

"One, if healing others is a part of your religious beliefs, the freedom of religion act protects you. That's how I managed to get around it eventually. Two, break the law. Enforcers can't prove that you don't have a license, just that you don't have one on your person. As long as you don't get pinned down in one spot or get reported for malpractice, it'll be fine."

"What about the church of order and their magical ways of knowing when you commit crimes?"

"Ehh, medical malpractice is relatively low on the scale when you think about it. Some people can mind control or murder with just a thought."

The deans would've told me if the cult members were caught. They should've been on the church's radar with their attempted terrorist attack. They might have a way to keep away from their scrys. I'll ask my basement boy.

"You said you worshiped a god?"

"Yeah, at least my ma does. Dwarven goddess of hearth and home. Almost all the races have a hearth and home goddess. Since my pa is a human and my ma is a dwarf, she prayed every day for ten years so her next child would come out healthy as an ox. They didn't want a mule situation, You know, hybrid race with mismatched chromosomes."

"..."

"I got myself checked out. I can have children if I want to. Not like a mule."

"Very cool, Arlug."

"Yeah, she prayed so much that I came out of the womb with a blessing. I was practically predetermined to become a cleric or something."

"I'm going now."

"It was nice talking to you, Eliis. For some reason, people think you hate me."

"..."

~

"You wanted to speak to me, Heather?"

"Yeah, how did you get master Giles to take you in?"

"He asked me."

"Damn! I had to beg him for half a year before he put me on a trial apprenticeship! Are his beasts healthy? Of course, they are, but I want to hear it."

"I have only seen a rooster, an ox, and a monkey, but they seemed chipper."

"Damn. Alright then, see ya."

"Why did you ask me when you can go visit him?"

"Ughhh. I don't want to get into it, but I'll tell you. After master Giles trains you a bit and spoils you, he releases you like a bird nursed back from a broken wing. Plus, he makes me do chores and errands when I visit."

"One last thing. What's up with the rumors about your party? John's girlfriends?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Where did you hear that? Hope is john's sister, for gods sake!"

I almost asked her which one was Hope again, but I held my tongue.

"I'm sorry, but I won't rat out the dean of the Auroran Institute, Albert."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

~

Going to prison and paying fines after healing people isn't worth it, so I must find a workaround. I could do it for free and use my doctor's mask to be anonymous, so I don't get sued for malpractice, but I need credits, not karma. I asked Dylan about hiding from the church of order, and he couldn't say anything. Usually, that only happens when his god or someone in the cult comes up in conversation.

Moments like these make me wish Charlie wasn't detained by one of the most influential families. He's business oriented and could advise me Better. "Break the law and don't get caught" will be my last case scenario. I decided to call him on a whim, and to my surprise, he picked up. The final message I heard from him seemed doctored and bait for me to meet up with him.

"Hello? Ellis? Is that you?"

"Hey, buddy. It's good to hear from you. How is captivity?"

"I can't complain."

"It's that good?"

"No. I can't complain."

"Ah. I see. How'd you get access to your phone?"

"There's a long story. Do you want to hear it?"

Charlie told me his story anyways. He was held against his will inside his family's mansion. This is what he's been working towards, making enough money to be able to come home but not like this. The Greenbacks were almost ravenous for a direct line to Meritas, the goddess of wealth. They'd lock him in a dingy room and give him the bare essentials to survive, tempting him with a good life outside his locked door if he gave up his secrets or cut his family into the deal. But to Charlie, it wasn't that bad.

He used to live in squalor, these conditions, if anything, were better than his home in Bluefield. But when the beatings started, things went downhill. It got bad enough that Meritas herself punished his cousins for "trying to undermine a Goddess' deal. Now they don't lock Charlie up, but they still won't let him leave the premises for his "safety." If he tries to contact the outside world, they'll just beat him for fun rather than trying to mess with the goddess. He tried calling the enforcers, but they didn't care. At that point, he gave up on using the phone.

"So, how much money did you make?"

"Hehe, I can't say. My phone is bugged, and someone is listening to our conversation."

"Aren't you worried about the beatings?"

"Nope!"

"Why not?"

"I know I'll get hurt, but I'm not worried. Eventually, I'll be able to walk out of here, and no one can do anything to stop me. Speaking of which, I'm going to hang up. I hear someone approaching."

*click*

Shit, I was just about to ask him for advice. He's run so many scams and never got caught, so he must know at least one tip or trick. I decide to don my plague mask and doctor robes and try anyways.

I walk inside my mansion to grab my clothes, but I see feathers all over the courtyard. I pick one up. It's large, like a banana leaf, and multicolored. This is one of Duchess' wing feathers.

I pocket them and find Duchess in the library. I hold up one of the feathers inquisitively.

[Thisss one started molting. A few feathers will fall out, but nothing will change. It might have been prematurely advanced by a magical error thisss one committed.]

"I'm keeping this big one."

[Feel free to keep them all. Thisss one doesn't have a use for loose feathers. Thisss one has a supply.]

I put the feathers, all but one, into a pillowcase. I pocket the remaining one for good luck. Time to make money.