Kade snapped his eyes open and looked at the door. It had been several hours since he decided to rest.

He had found himself in a strange half-asleep, half-alert state, but it worked well enough. The absense of all light helped greatly to get into that state.

It was pitch black in a way he had never experienced before.

Kade had never thought about how there was no more electricity. Now, it was quite literally impossible to ignore.

However, his far superior eyesight allowed him to see everything clearly, with only the moonlight to help. He suspected there wouldn’t be too many issues with his vision, even without the moon.

The door opened, and Finn stuck his head in. “We found a healer. Are you ready to meet her now, or should I tell her to wait?”

Kade sat up on the bed. “Now is fine.”

As if I would delay this.

The woman who entered was in her early twenties, around his age. She stood at an average height, with a slightly bulky build formed over years of hard work. Her eyes were a unique shade of blue, and her face had a faint sprinkle of freckles, giving her a young appearance.

Kade recognized her. “Celine!?”

Celine stared at him like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Oh, you know each other?” Finn frowned slightly, hearing his surprise. “Kade, you want me to find somebody else?”

Kade held up a hand to stop Finn from continuing, preventing Celine from defending herself. “I’m sure Celine can handle this, right?”

She looked him over and hesitated, understandable considering his condition, but nodded eventually. “If I can’t, I’m not sure if you can find someone better.”

Kade smirked at her confidence. It hadn’t changed since he last saw her in school all those years ago. “There you have it. Leave us, Finn.”

The door shut, silence falling over the dark room.

Kade wondered what the chances were for an old acquaintance to be the one to answer his call.

“When I saw that name on the list, I felt it was you. I had to see for myself if I was right.”

… Or my old acquaintance would purposely answer my call to satisfy her curiosity.

Kade narrowed his eyes. “Please tell me you’re actually a healer and didn’t just make that up to meet me.”

“Of course I am,” Celine moved closer. “I can prove it right now. Do you mind?”

She pointed to his legs. He shook his head and motioned for her to move forward with whatever she had planned.

Celine knelt on the floor before her hands glowed softly as she hovered them over his legs. Her eyes frequently flickered to the side until she couldn’t keep it inside. “So you have to hold your spear so close to me?”

“It’s a habit from the Rift Zones. I don’t think it’s a bad one to have.” Kade shrugged and did nothing to make her feel less intimidated.

The whole point of having his [Soulrend] clenched his hands was to prevent sabotage. Celine might be a familiar face, but he hadn’t seen her in years. There was zero chance he would put his life in the hands of someone he barely knew.

Celine didn’t look happy about it, but accepted it and moved forward with her job.

Kade felt he had a good grasp of his overall health. He could accurately tell when even the slightest change happened to his body. This was especially useful since the interface only gave him general warnings after specific percentages of his health remained.

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When he thought of a [Healer], he expected a reasonably fast restoration of his health. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at Celine’s hands.

She was healing him. That wasn’t in question.

Instead of a breeze killing him, he would only die from a harsh poke. It was a significant upgrade, but not when it took several minutes.

This might take a few days at this rate.

Kade didn’t disturb her. As shockingly slow as the healing rate was, he truly believed her claim to be one of the best.

The first reason was Finn. The man clearly wanted him associated with his group so he could be trusted to find the best [Healer]. And the second reason was the difference in [Arcana Levels].

Kade couldn’t sense Celine’s exact [Arcana Level], but it should be around ten.

Any [Arcana Level] below twenty would feel like cannon fodder to him. Applying the same logic here would explain why it was taking so long for Celine to heal him.

It was like a goblin trying to kill him. Technically, it could be possible, but the time necessary would be mind-numbing.

Celine dropped on all fours after several minutes. She took deep breaths like she ran a marathon.

Kade checked her progress. He might be able to take a poke from a weak goblin and still be fine.

“Y–You’re too much, Kade! I don’t know if I can handle you!” Celine said between gulps of air.

He couldn’t help himself. His mind fell into the gutter and blurted out, “Phrasing.”

Celine glared at him ineffectively as she gathered herself. “The difference in our levels makes it near impossible for my spell to affect you… I can do it alone, I think, but you can save time by getting additional healers to help while I recover.”

“Maybe later.” Kade shook his head. He barely trusted her. With complete strangers, he wouldn’t be comfortable letting them work without his [Soulrend] pointed directly at them. He would rather save the person from the trauma.

Celine sighed and shifted to sit cross-legged on the floor. “You’re the boss here. Give me some time to recover.”

***

Kade looked down at the street and observed the people rushing to the safe zone’s border. There must be another attack in progress.

After idling for nearly a day, he felt tempted to join in on the fun.

The door opened behind him.

“You ready?” Celine asked casually.

Kade turned away from the window. “Sure, and after you get tired, let Finn know he can find me more healers.”

Celine didn’t look offended. After all, she was the one who had pushed for it since the night before. Finding out her [Arcana Level] could increase from healing him convinced her that this benefit had to be shared.

Kade agreed. Even if he considered it a purely selfish way, having more experienced [Healers] available would be great for him in emergencies such as this.

Celine had healed his legs–the exposed bone back where it belonged­­–and had her hands over his stomach. She was a hard worker, as evidenced by how many times she pushed past her exhaustion to get back to healing him.

Kade wondered when she would tell him what she wanted. He had noticed her intention of asking since she arrived, but she kept delaying.

“Kade?”

Perfect timing. “Hm?”

“Are you part of Finn’s group?” Celine asked in a nonchalant tone as she moved her hands to hover over his pecs.

“I’m not a part of any group,” Kade said sharply, softening his tone when she flinched. He didn’t want to be pulled into any power struggle if he could help it. “But they’re decent if you’re thinking of joining them.”

“Who are the other groups you know in the city?”

Kade gave her a quizzical look. “I haven’t looked. I don’t plan to spend much time here, so it isn’t important.”

Celine worked silently for several minutes before dropping her hands and backing away as she took a deep breath. She was getting better at handling her exhaustion.

After a moment, she said, “Finn asked me to join this morning. Do you think that’s a bad–“

“Just join them. I can already see you want to.” Kade rolled his eyes at the round-a-bout way Celine asked the question. “If you’re asking if I’ll be around, then yes. A friend of mine joined on my recommendation. I won’t ignore this group.”

Celine beamed. “Then I’ll tell him now! I’ll come back with the news about the other healers.”

Kade gave her a small smile, which disappeared when the door closed behind her.

After hearing how she came to Finn’s group after hearing of his presence, he had hoped his missing friends would do the same. Surely, most of the city must know about his search for healers.

Kade feared he would need to accept the worst. He sighed in resignation before stretching out his legs with a wince.

Getting healed was fantastic, but it also fixed whatever was wrong with his nerves. He had been in near-constant, crippling pain since last night.

If it hadn’t been for practice at killing pain, Kade knew he would have been crying like a wailing toddler in front of Celine.

That would destroy my powerful image. I can’t let anyone see me bawling.

Kade’s ears perked up when he heard screams from the street. He couldn’t see anything out the window, but it was enough to convince him he had to leave the room.

He was getting stir-crazy, anyway.