Laughing I quickly leave Walter's shop, but instead of heading to Mitch's I head to the inn. Only after a delicious lunch do I return to the street and head for Mitch's shop. When I enter he is hard at work carving something so I wait patiently for him to finish.

Mitch says "Hey, Ash! It's been a while, how have you been?"

"There have been a few bumps in the road, but all in all I'd say its been pretty good. How about you?"

Mitch says "Good! Great even! I've got orders coming in constantly and enough materials to craft anytime I want to."

"Sounds good, I'm glad things have improved!"

Mitch says "Yeah, and it's all thanks to you! So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, right now Bones is with Vacker and Vacker is going to be testing him. Once Vacker figures out what the best style is for Bones he will be letting you know. At that time I would like you to craft new armor and a weapon for Bones."

Mitch says "That's no problem at all! What bone am I going to be using?"

"I have drake bones for you, once you make the stuff for Bones the rest is yours."

Mitch says "You killed another drake? Too cool!"

"Yeah, this one was a lightning drake. So I kind of cheated! By the way, do you know anyone who does taxidermy?"

Mitch says "Actually, no. They don't do that here. Instead they have a mage cast a preservation spell on it. Why?"

"Oh, so that's the case. I kept the head of the drake intact. I thought it would make a nice decoration for the inn."

Mitch says "It will certainly be unique! Just don't put it up without Sarah's permission!"

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid!"

Mitch says "Alright, just checking."

"Well, I needed to go to the mage guild anyway, so I guess I will have them take care of it."

Mitch says "Okay, I will get to work as soon as I hear from Vacker."

"Thanks, Mitch."

So I leave and make my way towards the city center where the tower of the mage guild is. When I enter I am immediately escorted up to Roddick's office where I find him and Belliza. With them is Rat who is currently playing with Belliza while Roddick is doing paperwork.

When she sees me Rat gets up and runs over to me, she then wraps her arms around my leg. As she hugs my leg she looks up at me with a huge smile, but she doesn't say anything. I reach down to ruffle her hair and then she runs back to Belliza to continue playing.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Roddick says "She hasn't spoken a word yet, but we are confident that she will in time."

"Yeah, I'm sure she will. She spoke to me when I found her, that's how I know her name is Rat. She probably just needs some time to adjust to the new situation. That and affection."

Belliza says "And we will give her both, in addition to spoiling her rotten!"

"We? Oh! So that's how it is!"

Roddick says "Now wait a minute! Don't go jumping to weird conclusions!"

"What's wrong? I think you two would make a good couple!"

Belliza says "He is hung up about his age."

Roddick says "That's because I am old enough to be your grandfather!"

"Is it the age, or how you feel because of the age?"

Roddick says "It's how I feel mostly. Every morning when I wake up, everything hurts and it takes a lot of willpower to even get up."

Belliza says "You never told me that! We can get a healer in to take a look at you!"

Roddick says "I didn't tell you because there is no point. You can't heal old age!"

"Well, that's not exactly accurate."

Both say "What?!"

"It is possible to reduce the effects of age. I've already done it for Zamart."

Roddick says "How does it work exactly?"

"With my sacred power I am able to scan your body and break down old scar tissue. I can also rejuvenate your organs by feeding them a tiny amount of power."

Roddick says "Sounds good! Can we give it a go? I'll pay you whatever you want."

Belliza says "Wait, are there any risks?"

"No, it's perfectly safe. And I have no intention of charging you. This is between us as friends."

Belliza still looks worried as I put my hand on Roddick's shoulder, but he looks calm. As I am scanning Roddick I feel Rat hugging my leg again so I go ahead and scan her as well. Rat is perfectly healthy, but I find a serious problem with Roddick, he has cancer.

From the looks of it he probably only has another year or two to live, unless I can remove the cancer. I have never tried to remove cancer before, but I carefully start trying to. Using my sacred power like a knife I slowly cut away some of the cancer.

Once a piece is freed I use my power to dissolve it and render it harmless. When it is dissolved I leave the remains for his body to deal with and move on to the next part of the cancer. Normally, it only takes me a few minutes to rejuvenate someone, but Roddick is another story.

It takes me more than an hour to hunt down and remove all the cancer in his body. After that is done, rejuvenating him is super easy, but I almost run out of sacred power. Dealing with the cancer used up a lot more power than I was expecting.

When I take my hand off his shoulder and step back I find that I am actually sweating. I also feel somewhat tired, I have never concentrated for that long before, it took a toll on me. Roddick on the other hand looks like he is at least thirty years younger than when I started.

He is stretching and moving around with a huge smile on his face, before he excuses himself. When he comes back the smile is still there, and Belliza also starts smiling. As I sit down in a chair Roddick picks up Rat and then all three of them hug, it is very touching.

Roddick says "I feel amazing! Thank you, Ash!"

"You're welcome."

Belliza says "It seems to have taken a lot out of you. I thought this was something simple?"

"Normally it is, but Roddick had cancer."

Roddick says "Cancer? What's that?"

"It is a disease, but don't worry. I have removed all of it. You are now in perfect health."

Roddick says "If you hadn't done this, how long would I have had left?"

"A year, maybe two."

Roddick says "Then you just saved my life!! I can't think of any way I can possibly repay this!"

"Don't worry about it. As I said, we are friends."

Roddick says "Even though you say that I still feel like I owe you, big time."

Belliza says "I agree. So, maybe we can start with what brought you here today?"

"Oh, I do have a couple of questions. For starters, are you familiar with bags of holding?"

Roddick says "I don't know that name, can you describe them?"

"Bags that are bigger on the inside."

Belliza says "Oh, we call those stasis bags!"

"Are you able to make them?"

Roddick says "Yes, it isn't easy but we make one or two per month. We have a backlog of orders for them, but I can probably get you a couple."