The next morning, I gave Grey and Sylvia my goodbyes and watched them walk away together. I had woken up fairly early around the green period, and made my way to the Healer’s tent for my operation, Fade at my heels. The retreating father and daughter had been waiting for me just outside the canvas walls of the tent, ready to wish me well on my surgery. After clasping arms with Grey and exchanging a hug with Sylvia, to Grey’s raised eyebrow, they had told me that they had work to do with the camp commanders.

I was going to ask them to keep an eye on Fade, but I didn’t get the chance. He had already scampered off to do his own thing like usual. No doubt off to terrorize the local wildlife around Silvercrest.

Now that they were gone, it was time for me to get on with this. I took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out slowly. When I was done, I turned back to face the Healers tent and brushed aside the flap.

Inside, it was…pretty mellow right now. Since it was so early in the day, I guess there was no need to patch up….

Wait.

I was going to say scrapes and bruises, but this was a Sculpted camp. Why did they even have a Healers tent? I’d gotten the impression that most Healing magic didn’t typically work on Sculpted. They needed individualized work in order to patch up damage to their bodies. My understanding was that Aurum had been a bit of an outlier by becoming an actual Healer.

Giving the tent a closer look, I could see that it was a bit…odd. Sure, there were still plenty of things that I would expect from a Healers tent like cots and curtains, but that was where the similarities ended. Scattered around the tent were a bunch of workmen’s tools and materials. I’d usually expect things like…forceps, scalpels, and bottles of potions. Instead, I saw metal files, carving knives, tongs, and a large variety of materials ranging from wood to stone to metals arranged on a large shelf. Hell, even the needle and thread that I’d think were used for stitching wounds were ominously large.

That looked more like a textile needle…

I shook myself out of my odd tangent. I was just distracting myself from my nerves about the procedure.

Still, something else caught my eye.

Venix.

He was lying on one of the cots in the tent, looking like he was sleeping peacefully. I…hadn’t seen him in a while. I was ashamed to say this, but I had forgotten about his state while I had been obsessed with replacing my arm. Walking up to his reclining form, I gazed down at him.

He looked…fine? To me? I didn’t see anything wrong with him, even though he was still comatose from the battle at Caer Drarrow. It had been weeks now and he was still out.

I hoped he would be okay.

I was startled out of my inspection of the Antium man by the sound of Honoka’s voice.

“He’s fine.” Turning around, I saw that the older woman had brushed aside a curtain that led to a sectioned-off part of the tent. She walked to me and nodded down at Venix. “Had the Preceptor come down here the other day and take a look at the big oaf, since I can’t do anything with souls. He confirmed my suspicions about a diminished soul.”

“But he’s going to be fine?” I asked her, concerned.

Honoka nodded, to my relief. “Yeah, he will. But he’s going to be out of it for some time. It could be weeks or months until he’s strong enough to wake up again. But the Preceptor confirmed that he’s recovering well enough on his own.”

I sighed in relief. Meanwhile, Honoka jerked a finger over her shoulder the way she came. Following it, I could see an entire operating theatre set up in the sectioned-off space, complete with a raised bed.

I looked around though, because there was something, or rather someone missing. “Where’s Renauld? I thought he would be assisting. For that matter, what about the actual Healer this tent belongs to?”

Honoka glowered off into space. “The fox is late. We’re just waiting on him to show up now, and then we can get started. As for the Healer,” She rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say, this isn’t her field of expertise. I asked her to clear out for the duration of the operation.”

Casting a gaze at a nearby hammer covered in stone dust, I nodded in understanding. Yeah, I could see how they might not be able to help.

Our attention was stolen by the entrance to the tent flapping open, and Renauld sauntering in like he owned the place. He brightened when he saw me, raising a hand in greeting and opening his mouth.

He didn’t get a chance to say anything, though.

Swifter than he could react, Honoka reached him and grabbed one of his furry ears. He yelped as she twisted it and brought him down to her position. “You’re late,” Honoka hissed into it. I cringed in sympathy.

“What do you mean I’m late?” Renauld literally whined. “You just said to be here after sunrise!”

“It’s at least twenty minutes after sunrise, fool!” Honoka barked, letting go of the Gnoll’s ear. She raised a threatening finger in Renauld’s direction to point at him. He cringed away from it. “This is why you didn’t get the internship with Professor Sereni last year! Always late!”

I smiled slightly at the byplay. It was a little funny seeing someone on the other side of Honoka’s haranguing for once. It calmed my nerves a bit. “I didn’t know you two knew each other.” I’d never seen them interact back on the Thorny Reef or on the drive to Silvercrest.

Renauld eyed Honoka like she was a dangerous beast. “I’m a Healing student at the Academy, so I have to know her. She’s in charge of the department, after all. Even if I’m not a Cultivator, she’s still in charge.”

Honoka snorted at the Gnoll and lowered her finger. “Damn right, I’m in charge. Go prep yourself at the station I made and get ready.” She jerked her head in the direction of the surgery room she had apparently claimed in the Healers tent.

You know, I was starting to wonder if the Sculpted Healer had been glad to get away from Honoka.

Renauld did as she said, circling around Honoka warily to reach the surgery station like she was a rabid beast that could attack him at any moment. Once inside, I saw him skitter over to a sink and turn it on with one last wary glance over his furry shoulder.

Honoka looked away from him dismissively and pinned me with a look. “Now you. You’ll have to lose the shirt, and the pants too. Unless you want them to be ruined with your own blood, after all.”

Nah, I’d made these myself. I stepped past Honoka into the operating theatre and pulled my shirt off, uncaring about my partial nudity. I might have arrived on Vereden soft and doughy from a relatively cushy life back home, but I’d since put on some muscle. Not to be arrogant, but I don’t think I had anything to worry about looks-wise after months of hard travel, combat practice, and actual battle. Plus, I had the sneaking suspicion that a Status just made you more attractive in general.

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It was odd to think about it, but I don’t think I’d ever met anyone on Vereden that was outright unattractive. Even old Porous Pete from the Reef hadn’t been outright hideous, despite his unfortunate pockmarks.

I took off my pants as well, leaving me only in my leather underclothes, and then climbed up on the operating bed. I took a deep breath once I was in place, while Honoka and Renauld appeared above me, on my left and right respectively. They'd layered white linen robes over themselves, belted at the waist and were wearing long gloves. I guess this was the Vereden equivalent of surgeon's garb.

“Alright,” Honoka said seriously. “As we talked about, this is how it’s going to go. You’ll use your Skill to numb yourself, and then I’ll open up the stump so it can be operated on. Once that’s done, Renauld will start keeping you stable with a steady stream of healing so you don’t bleed out. Meanwhile, I’ll apply the cap,” She raised the twinned piece of gold and Mithril that Azarus had forged. “And apply the brute force mystical power that you’ll need to 'Meld' it to your body and soul. Are you sure that you can convert Ki to your needs?”

I nodded up at Honoka from my reclining position. “I am. I may not be very familiar with it, but I won’t have problems. Aetherial Melding seems to have no problem with things like that.”

“Very well. Don’t worry if this takes a long time,” Honoka reassured me. “I have the staying power to keep whatever you need flowing for more than long enough. And despite his deficiencies in other areas, the fox is a decent enough healer that he won’t have problems either.”

“Wow. Thank you for the thrilling endorsement, Lady Honoka,” Renauld muttered under his breath. Apparently not quiet enough, as he cringed away from the evil eye she shot him.

Shaking her head, Honoka switched her gaze back to me. “Are you ready to begin?”

I took another deep breath to squash the nerves I could feel in my stomach. At the same time, I activated the abilities of both my middle and my core rings. I instantly calmed down from the stranglehold that I placed on my emotions, feeling an unnaturally deep and steady calm roll over me. At the same time, I felt most of my sense of touch fade from my body, with a rolling numb rolling over me. I wasn’t going to be feeling much of anything while I had this active, much less pain.

I looked up and met Honoka’s eyes. “Yes. I’m ready,” I said calmly.

Honoka studied my pacified state for a moment before nodding. “Then let’s get this over with,” She said grimly, picking up a nearby surgical scalpel.

.....................................

In my artificially relaxed state, I didn’t find it difficult to endure the physical portion of the operation. Once Honoka had opened up my stump and pressed the cap onto my bleeding flesh, she visibly concentrated. From her form roiling waves of vibrant, flaming Ki began to flow in waves. With a gesture from her free hand, the Ki began to cascade down towards me, encircling the gold and silver cap. It began to glow, and I could see the gold half of the cap soften slightly. Strangely, it perfectly retained both its shape and its enchantment, to my senses.

Still, it was time for my part of the job. I smoothly entered my Melding trance and concentrated on the cap, ignoring the veritable bonfire of Ki that Honoka registered as to my senses. Focusing my will to a razor-sharp edge, I urged the flesh of my arm and gold of the cap to become one. While I’d never tried this before, I was strangely confident that it was possible. At first, both my bleeding flesh and the shining gold were resistant to my demands. But gradually, I could feel it as they began to melt into each other.

Good.

On the inside of the cap, I did the same thing. I urged the two protrusions that Azarus had smithed on the inside of the cap to meld with what was left of my radius and ulna. The Mithril of the bones reached out, and much more easily than the flesh, twinned around and infiltrated the bone. I felt it as the bone was reinforced with the metal that Sylvia was made from.

I had no way of knowing how long that had taken, but I was essentially finished with the physical portion of the operation. My stump now ended in a gold and silver flattened cap, with several slots set in its surface. The metal actually didn’t end at just the stump, either. I’d found a need to snake several tendrils of gold up around my elbow to support it, leading to a sort of spiraling pattern to form. Due to the melding process, it didn't harden and restrict the crucial joint. Instead, it became one with the flesh, moving as one with the skin it had fused to.

All that was needed for the physical portion of the operation now was some more healing from Renauld and Honoka. I had lost a not insignificant amount of blood from the whole process, even if Renauld had been supporting me.

However, now the easy part was done.

It was time for the hard part.

I fell deeper into my melding trance, closing my eyes. Deeper and deeper and deeper. Until I was resonating with the pulse of Vereden itself.

In and out.

In.

And.

Out.

After a time, I opened my eyes.

Just like with Sylvia, I found myself in the middle of a dark void. Floating in the middle of that void was what could only be my own soul.

It wasn’t quite as beautiful as hers had been.

While Sylvia’s had manifested as a brilliant orb of silver light, mine appeared to be a tree, hanging in space with its roots exposed. A decidedly odd-looking tree, at that. Towering in the center of the void, it looked to be wrought from the same diffusion of rainbow fire as The Scintillant Blade. But the tree itself wasn’t burning. Rather, it was somehow a crystallized flame, forming countless branches sporting bladed leaves that tinkled oddly in the void from an unseen wind. Snaking all up and down its prismatic bark and curling around its branches were familiar thorny red vines, so similar in appearance to those used by my Skills.

Despite the glow from the frozen flames, it was an almost ominous sight.

Still, I’d sighted what I knew I needed. One of the branches of the tree had been cut off, leaving a sheered and splintered end. Here in this space where I could view my own soul, I somehow knew that this was a representation of my own arm.

Well, time to fix that.

I reached out, and connected a strand of the Aether that was so thick around me to that splintered branch. Deep inside myself, I felt something almost tingle. Slowly, I snaked that strand of Aether out into the void, searching for the golden resonance I knew I would find.

Connection.

Golden light flared into existence into what I was going to call my Soulspace. I shielded my spectral eyes briefly with my one arm before lowering it. I smiled at what I found.

A gold and silver cap, resting on the end of the tree branch that had previously been broken before.

It had worked.

My job here was done.

Slowly, I started drawing myself out of my deep Melding trance. I was used to this part at least, so it wasn’t very difficult for me by this point. Before long, I was blinking open my eyes. Looking around, I could tell that I had been under for some time, based on the light streaming into the tent. It looked to be midday by now, and I didn’t initially see either Honoka or Renauld. They must have left due to the amount of time it must have taken me to do the soul grafting. I stood up from the operating bench, finding that a thin blanket had been covering me. It looked like I had been cleaned up, as well. I didn’t see any traces of all the blood I had lost on my body.

Just beyond the closed curtain of the bed I was resting on, I heard the low murmur of two people talking. One voice was familiar to me, but the other was new. My slight movements seemed to be enough to interrupt them, though, as I heard a recognizable gait tromp my way. The privacy sheet was drawn to the side, allowing me to see one of my oldest friends on Vereden.

Azarus.

I…guess he had decided to wait around for me to wake up.

I think I was supposed to feel something about that, but my Skill-induced numbness was still in place.

I felt barely anything at all.

Over his shoulder, I could see the other person he had been speaking to, a female Sculpted hewn from what looked to be white limestone. She was dressed in similar-looking robes to what Honoka and Renauld had been wearing earlier, leaving me to think she might have been this Healing tents owner. She was blinking at me in surprise, with a curious look in her eyes.

The red-haired dwarf looked me over for a moment. “How ya feelin’, Nate?” He asked me, in a mildly concerned tone.

“I feel fine,” I said to him calmly, fully sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I met his eyes. “Do you have it?”

Azarus blinked at my direct question. “Uh…yeah? Ivory, can ya grab the package I left at the table?” He said to the Sculpted woman, for some reason keeping a queer eye on me.

“W-what?” The Healer, apparently named Ivory, stuttered. “Oh! Um. Y-yes, one moment.” She scurried away for a moment, only to return with what I was so eagerly awaiting.

Well. As eager as I was for anything, in this still numb state.

Azarus took it from her with a nod of thanks and then unwrapped the long canvas package.

My world narrowed onto what he was holding. I…think Azarus was saying something, but it didn’t penetrate my focus.

Cradled in the Dwarf’s hands was what he had promised me. Expertly forged and intricately detailed, what lay in his hands was my new arm. Primarily gold with occasional visible Mithril insert, it looked perfect. The fading light from Tarus streaming through the gaps in the tent caused the arm to glitter and glimmer, playing across its gold and Mithril surface.

I took it from him and held its Mithril end to the corresponding cap on my arm. I slotted it in and twisted.

My arm clicked into the proper position.

A bolt of electricity shot down my spine.

Despite my numbness, I felt it as a smile grow on my face.

Slowly, I held the gold and silver arm up, palm facing me and…

Wiggled my new fingers.

Complete success.