The news came like a bolt from the blue. The worldstriders had punched through the front lines? Part of me felt horrified… but another part of me wasn’t surprised.

There weren't enough weapons that could hurt worldstriders. Alchemists were trying, and utterly failing to keep up with demand. Anise and I had tried to buy a bit of time, but it had been nowhere near enough.

Did I regret it retreating so quickly? I wasn’t sure. If Anise and I had pushed harder… maybe things would have been different. If we had abandoned school entirely, it might have been possible to make a real difference on the battlefield. But it was also likely that the worldstriders would have adapted to our tactics and killed us if we had pushed our luck. We had decided not to take that risk.

Either way, it was too late now. The Worldstriders were knocking on our door and pouring over the border. At this point, nearly a seventh of the continent was under Worldstrider occupation, and their population was swelling. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to stop them anymore. Even if it was, it certainly didn't rely on our efforts anymore. I closed my eyes, contemplating the situation for a few moments, and then opened them again.

I had no great ideas for how to turn the tables. So I wouldn’t worry about it. I would do what I could, and try to protect the people I cared about. Old Mo, Markus, and Dr. Trish were the three people I could try to help. Iselde and Vance were also people I could work to keep safe. While I was hesitant to see her again, I would still take action to keep my mother alive if it came down to it. Everyone else came second.

“Is Markus all right?” Anise asked, while I got lost in my thoughts.

“I don’t know. I just got the news. There’s no information at all on whether he’s okay. All I know is that the worldstriders are attacking his fort. The airships and trains are working overtime to move people and supplies around. It's making it hard to get specific news,” said Dr. Trish.

I stepped up to her and gave her a reassuring hug. Her arms tightened around me, and I could feel the anxiety in her grip.

“It’s going to be alright.” I didn’t know if my words were true or not. But I wanted to reassure her as much as I could. I felt Dr. Trish lean into my shoulder for a moment, and then I felt a bit of dampness spread across my bare skin. I let Dr. Trish stress-cry into my shoulder as I stroked her back, until she started to settle down. “I’m sure Markus is all right. All we can do right now is focus on what's in front of us.”

“Of course,” said Dr. Trish. She looked... a bit more put together. She still looked like a mess, but there was a bit of iron in her eyes again. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have been rambling about this. it was unprofessional of me.”

“Nobody sane would expect perfect professionalism from you right now. Do your best, and if you need help, let us know,” Felix said.

“Still, I should have focused on the patient first. All right, I think I’ve pulled myself together. What happened to Old Mo, anyway?” She looked like she was forcing herself to move onto a new topic. I didn't call her out on it. Having something to take her mind off of things might be a good thing for her. “Usually your healing ability fixes most problems. Does he have a problem like your mother did?” Dr. Trish looked baffled as she examined Old Mo. "I don't think Old Mo took any drugs, did he?"

I shook my head. "It wasn't drugs. Or at least, I don't think it was. it looks more like his heart gave out. I don’t know why, but my healing ability didn’t fix it the way it normally did. None of my healing worked. Instead, Felix had to make him a prosthetic heart.”

Dr. Trish gave Felix and I a startled look.

“A prosthetic heart? How does that work? How did you make sure that the valves and whatnot line up with the arteries of the heart? That… doesn’t seem like it should work, even with the correction that essence would give you.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“I kept him alive with my healing ability while we lined it up," I said. "It ate most of my essence reserves, but with my healing magic, we had a lot of room for trial and error."

"I helped too!" said Anise. "I moved his old heart out of his chest once Miria realized she couldn't fix it, and put in the new one. It helped reduce any further stress to his body. Much easier to move things around with force manipulation, instead of tools," she said.

“A way to replace missing organs,” said Dr. Trish, as she shook her head. “That’s… amazing. I know that you can already heal missing organs, Miria, but if there's a way to replace missing organs for people across the whole world...” Then, Dr. Trish stopped. "Actually, the real issue would be someone surviving long enough for the transplant to happen. Without your healing magic, I have no idea how to keep a patient alive during the process." She shook her head. "I guess there's no way to put it into practice without your help anyway."

“We’ll write a report about it later,” said Felix. He shrugged. “Maybe it’ll spur research in a new direction.”

I nodded. It was unlikely, but if anyone did get something out of our method, we might get a lot of free Achievement. It was worth a shot.

Dr. Trish fixed her attention back on Old Mo.

“Why do you need me to look after him, anyway? Your ability outclasses a lot of what modern medicine can do. If you can't heal him back up, nobody else in the clinic can heal him either.”

“I want someone to keep an eye on him. I know that you guys can't help him recover to full health, but you can at least stop him from getting worse. It's much better than just leaving him laying around, at least. Also...I’m going to go take a look at Markus’s fort,” I said.

“Miria, you don’t have to. Going to the front lines is dangerous. If those monstrous creatures attack you, you might die. I don't want your deaths to be on my conscience," she said.

“We can keep ourselves safe,” said Anise, as she grabbed a scalpel with {Mage Hand} and then floated it in front of Dr. Trish. "I have my mag-ability. Miria is part of the prosthetics research team. A lot of prosthetics research focuses on how to hurt the Zelyrian monsters using prosthetic limbs. Miria can heal us if we get hurt, as long as we don't die instantly."

Dr. Trish looked at the floating scalpel, and then turned towards me. She frowned in thought. Then, she lowered her head. “Thank you. I... don't know how I feel about this. Part of me says that I should tell you to stay. But another part of me wants you to go and keep Markus safe. Just... stay out of trouble, okay? Prioritize yourself first. If a situation looks bad, give up and run away. Those who live the longest have the last laugh. If Markus got you three killed, he would never forgive himself."

I shook my head. “Felix will be staying back. He’s not as combat- foc-”

“Screw that, I’m coming too,” said Felix. “You think I’m just going to wait here while the two of you charge into danger?” Then, he said the next sentence via communication bracelet.

I hesitated. Now that Felix had so much to lose in this world, I wasn't sure if letting him join us was a good idea. Anise and I had already hit most of the low-hanging fruit in this world. Any keyword abilities or Achievement we got would have to come with some amount of risks. There just weren't many easy sources of Achievement left. But Felix had so much more that he could lose. He had a promising future as a researcher, this world had exactly the magic system he wanted, and he had loads of resources at his disposal. It was basically a dream scenario for him.

On the other hand, if I said no right now… it wouldn’t be right. If I was going to put myself in danger for the people I cared about, I had no right to tell my friends they couldn’t do the same.

“Fine.” I turned towards Dr. Trish again. "Keep Old Mo safe until we get back.” There was nothing I could do to help Old Mo right now. I had done all I could for him right now, and I had no way to fix souls yet. But there was someone else I could save.

Dr. Trish nodded. "I will. I promise," she said. Then, she gave us all one final hug. "Stay safe."

I smiled as I hugged her back. "We will."

We left her clinic right afterwards. Anise and I went to see about getting airship or train tickets, while Felix went to install his prosthetics. Soon, we would face the Worldstriders again.