“Give me your hand.” Exill set aside his empty breakfast bowl and reached out, palm facing upward.

“What do you want?” Envy replied with narrowed eyes, continuing to hone her dagger against a leather strop.

“Yeah, put that down and give me your hand, just trust me on this.” He beckoned impatiently with his fingers.

Envy reluctantly placed her slender hand in his, and an intricate silver ring was slid on to her ring finger, then finding it too large, shifted over to the middle finger. He cupped her ring adorned hand with both hands and explained its purpose, “This is a Wizard Ring, I want you to channel mana outwards and cast [Heal].”

“Heal.” Envy channelled mana as instructed but the magic failed to activate.

“Damn! Your starting mana must have been even lower than mine.” Exill released her hand dejectedly and looked far away in thought, ‘It would have been great if I could train her to be a backup healer, I don’t want to end up on Luna’s doorstep if I’m hurt badly.’ He shook his head at the thought of such uncomfortable situation, ‘It is a shame that most magic can’t be cast on yourself.’

“Wait, follow me outside.” Exill grabbed her hand again and lead her out back towards the iron slag piled up against the wall. He had a solution, and pointed to the small crater nestled within the iron byproduct.

“Channel all your mana out of your palm and point it towards that crater while invoking the command [Fire].” He stood just to one side of her. If she could obtain [Wizard] and its associated skill [Channelling Efficiency], there was a chance she could obtain [Healer] later on.

Envy was starting to grow tired of his games, and between furrowed brows, channelled mana as he instructed to quickly finish this ordeal.

“Fire.”

Nothing happened.

Exill plucked the intricate silver ring from her finger and muttered dejectedly as he returned to the Smithy. This was a major disappointment, and he needed a backup plan in case he was seriously injured, or generally needed help with clinic operations.

Turning the corner, he encountered a burly man, balancing a crate of linen bandages and gauze on his broad shoulders. Timeus the Weaver turned his head in recognition of the Witchdoctor, and Exill could have been mistaken, but he swore there was a flash of indignance in the burly man’s eyes.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, I was experimenting out back. Is that the delivery I ordered?” Exill opened the door and moved aside as Timeus sidestepped into the Clinic.

“Yes, three quarters are bandages of various sizes, and the rest is gauze.” The Weaver’s muscles bulged as he lowered the open-topped crate onto the counter.

“Thank you, it looks good. Here is the payment.” Exill brushed his hand against the crate contents in a quick inspection and passed several large copper coins towards the towering man.

“I’ll be off then, send a messenger for your next delivery… and I wish you the best of luck in your new business.” Timeus turned away to leave but stopped as the Witchdoctor called out to him.

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“Is she doing alright?”

Timeus shook his head, the muscles in his neck bulging momentarily in anger. He turned around to face Exill, barely holding back his rage.

“No, she is not alright. She has yet to recover from nursing your ungrateful whoring ass back to health. I heard she put up a notice recruiting an apprentice because of the increased workload, but you wouldn’t care about that would you?”

Exill looked away first, unable to confront the open disdain from Luna’s childhood friend. He had always considered the Weaver a genial giant of a man, but looking at him now, Exill understood it had all been out of consideration for the elf-maiden.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be off Witchdoctor sir.” Timeus turned away and heaved away into the crowds of the bustling market, pulling his creaky hand drawn cart to the next delivery.

“He hates you; you know.” Envy sauntered in with a sardonic grin, as if she had been listening to the conversation all along.

“Are you being serious? Actually, you have better things to worry about, because Luna is still technically the beneficiary of the estate upon my death.” He enjoyed the narrowed look of her eyes, “Yes that’s right, not so funny now is it?” He knew how much they disliked each other.

“You better change who you bequest me to. I’ve killed my owner before, and the only thing staying my hands against you is our Contract. There is no such agreement with that elf.”

Exill grinned smugly despite her intimidating spiel. He had spent enough time with the Vampire to know the edges of her amber eyes turned a flashing red when she meant to murder someone – and he knew she was just blustering.

“Sure~ remember to tell me when you find someone I can pass you on to.” Knowing there were no alternatives, he beckoned her again, “Now follow me, I need to teach you how to make ointments.” Exill’s arms bulged as he lifted the crate of linen bandages and walked into the adjoining treatment room. Envy grimaced, but followed shortly after.

“I need you to grind the ingredients together until it turns into a smooth red paste, there should be no large clumps.” Exill dumped a handful of ingredients into the large mortar seemingly haphazardly, but Scientist’s [Measure] was active as he accurately measured the weight of each ingredient in his hand.

Envy sullenly ground away on the pestle and mortar as Exill arranged the bandages in the newly renovated wall cabinets. His mind was detached, wondering how Luna would fare with an apprentice assisting her.

“Wait, let me check on that.” Exill hurriedly turned around to find the Vampire portioning the lumpy paste into the pre-arranged pots. The ingredients were obviously not mixed together well, and he felt his blood pressure skyrocket at the sight of her self-satisfied look. It was obvious she had deliberately done a crappy job to weasel her way out of the task.

“Look how lumpy this is! How can you not follow simple instructions when you promised to assist me in all my endeavours?” Exasperated, he pointed outside in the direction of the Labyrinth, “Is that what you want to do all day? Don’t you want a respectable skill that would carry you to old age?”

Envy’s satisfied smirk was wiped out by his condescending question. There was a brief pause as hidden emotion flickered in her eyes.

“You think people like us can make it to retirement?” There was hidden scorn in the question, as if mocking her own words, “Tell that to someone who isn’t forsaken by the world.”

Exill froze, at a loss for words.

‘Why do I want to comfort her?’ he looked away, unable to meet her challenge. Simultaneously, he recognised the chasm deep inside echoing the dark sentiment. Concealing the shiver running down his back, he instructed the Vampire in a sharp tone.

“Forget it. You can’t cast magic or craft even the basic ointments anyway. I’ll manage the clinic without you, but I want you to contribute towards the rent instead.”

Exill resignedly shook his head as the glamorous woman fumed away to practice her forms. The only thing she lived for was exercise and stretching in preparation for their delves. There was still so much left to do, and he quickly needed to open the Clinic to start affording the rent of this place.

‘Can I actually do this?’ For the first time, he began to have doubts about his endeavour. Running a clinic alone was no easy task, as evidenced by Luna searching for an apprentice. To afford the 800 Denar rent on top of his existing 1300 Denar monthly debt burden he needed the business to succeed.

‘I hope I haven’t misjudged this.’ He thought, while scraping the lumpy paste back into the mortar.