“Stronger than expected resistance, continuing with the procedure,” the good doctor said as the knife slowly melted through Naran’s flesh. Naran was angled slightly, so he was tilted to his left side. This way the blood and other liquid ran off his face onto the ground. Light source was still overhead, and we had several hours until it got dark.

I was silent as the good doctor slowly melted his way through Naran’s flesh. “Water,” the good doctor said. Nurse Amanda poured water over Naran’s face, which ran down onto the ground. He cut without hesitation.

The good doctor made his way around the affected area on Naran’s head. Blood dripped down onto the ground. The good doctor would occasionally cut across length wise and then patchwork his cuts to pry up pieces of Naran’s muscle.

“Heart rate?” The nurse went over to Naran’s neck on the right side. “Slight drop but holding steady. No arrhythmia as far as I can tell.” Naran let out another long groan. The good doctor didn’t stop cutting as flesh was peeled away exposing the bone beneath. I looked at the bone and there were silver streaks through it.

A quarter of an hour he had removed quite a bit of Naran’s face and blood was dripping down. “Bleeding is light, but still ongoing. Pulse?” The good doctor asked.

“Lighter, but steady,” Nurse Amanda replied.

“Very well then. I am moving immediately to the enucleation. Beginning procedure. Remain alert for movement.” The good doctor began cutting into the white eye. Pus oozed out and dribbled down the exposed bone of Naran’s face.

Naran let out a louder groan. “Movement,” I said, and the good doctor quickly stepped back. Naran’s right hand was clenching and unclenching. I could see the finger grooves in the stone.

“Continuing surgery, remain on high alert and call out any other movement,” the good doctor said and kept slowly melting his way through Naran’s left eye. With Naran’s high body stat, even a single inadvertent movement could easily kill a person.

Doctor Katz was right to take these precautions. “Acid scoop one,” he said and passed the melting knife back to Nurse Amanda who then handed him a metal scoop. He pushed the scoop into Naran’s eye socket. “Water,” Nurse Amanda poured water over Naran’s face. Blood, pus, and ooze dribbled down onto the stone.

“Ahhh!” Naran began to scream and his right eye opened up wide. The good doctor quickly stepped back.

“Naran! Naran!” I shouted at the man. He reached up to his face with his arms, nothing would have been able to restrain him.

“NARAN!” I shouted as loudly as I could right over his head. His eye snapped to me. “I know you are in pain, but don’t move. I need to attempt to remove any lingering energy first.” I looked up at the doctor who nodded and then I looked back down at Naran.

“You need to hold still, focus on breathing. I know it hurts, bare with it.” While Naran could get a restoration right away, we needed to do everything we could before that. Once he got the restoration that was it. There would be no more surgery or any chance of fixing things.

I stuck my hand into the waiting bowl of water and pushed all my energy into it, knowing exactly what it needed to do and focusing on that thought. I then poured the glowing water on the upper part Naran’s face, towards the middle.

The glowing water rushed down over his wounds and swirled around in his eye socket before running off onto the ground. I didn’t know how much that would do, but it was the best idea I had come up with. “Arrrrrrr!” I could tell he was screaming in pain through his gritted teeth.

“Done! Pillars are to your left, just a few feet. I will guide you.” I put my hands behind his back and carefully helped him to sit up and then stumble over to one of the store pillars. He placed both hands on it. I held my breath, this was the moment of truth. Was he too badly cursed to use the store?

I let out a sigh of relief as his flesh on his face quickly reformed. His eye came back, but no hair. He appeared quite weird with half his facial hair and some of the hair on his left side missing. I helped Naran sit down on a provided chair.

“Wha…what happened?” Naran asked groggily. That was a loaded question to unpack.

“You were injured by the Ritualist. He gripped your face and put his energy into you as he transformed. Clarissa dragged you out of the plaza, and Doctor Katz performed an emergency procedure to save your life. Unfortunately, there were lingering effects.”

“You were injured seven days ago, on day 538. It is day 545 right now. Your flesh, bone, and eye were cursed. The Ritualist’s energy remained behind. Doctor Katz cut away the affected flesh and eye, while I tried to push any lingering energy off your face.”

“My, left eye. I can’t see from it. My face, how bad?” Naran slowly asked.

“Your skin has a silver tint, and your eye is whitish, but it has normal human eye features like a pupil again. Also, your eyelid is back. Doctor?” I looked up at Doctor Katz who was standing nearby.

“There was contamination on the orbital part of the bone around your eye socket and possibly your brain,” Doctor Katz said. I saw Naran tense up. “I made the decision to remove the eye before removing any bone. While your stats were holding steady, prolonging the procedure would put a lot of stress on your body.”

“The best advice I can give is to meditate a lot, talk about your feelings to discover any changes. And to avoid any sources of energy, for negative energy training, summoning, or anything else for the foreseeable future. In time the hope is with frequent restorations, your eyesight will return, and the offending energy will be pushed out of your body. If you have more questions or concerns, please speak with me anytime,” Doctor Katz said.

Stolen story; please report.

Naran looked at me. “The Ritualist?”

“Melted completely. There is nothing left of him. I made sure of it. There is a lot to talk about and to get you in fighting shape again,” I said. Naran shook his head.

“Maybe, but, this…I think I need a long break Michael,” Naran said. I lowered my head and let out the breath I had been holding.

“Whatever you want, you have earned it. Come on, lets get some real food into you,” I said and helped Naran stand up.

“Everything feels off and my head still hurts,” Naran said. I looked at Doctor Katz.

“Lingering effects of the surgery and foreign energy. Rest and recovery are the best and only realistic options at the moment. I wouldn’t want to try anything else. Surgery should be a last resort, since there are risks of complications. The good news is that you are alive and can use the store,” Doctor Katz said.

“The store?” Naran asked me.

“There was a risk the cursed injury would be too great and stop you from accessing the store. Thankfully that didn’t happen. It was either let you stay in a coma, or try the surgery,” I explained.

“Ah. Some food and then rest sounds good,” Naran replied.

I helped him back to my house and to his room. Food was already waiting for him. I sat in his room quietly as we ate in silence and Clarissa came in as well.

“Naran, I was worried. Good to see you on your feet,” Clarissa said.

“Clarissa. Thank you. You risked your life for mine,” Naran said quietly with his head bent, like he wanted to hide his face.

“Well, I couldn’t let both of you hog all the glory you know. Anyways, rest up. I heard you need time to recover and rest. I have some light work and a hair stylist for when you are ready,” Clarissa said.

“Thanks. I…I think I will need a few days,” Naran said.

“Take your time. I know Michael will never say so, but don’t stress too much. You earned your vacation days. Let’s let him rest,” Clarissa suggested to me. I nodded at that.

“I am not planning to leave for two days. You don’t have to come with me. Fethee and Heba are both safe as well. So, take your time recover and I will see you before I go,” I replied.

“Thank you. Both of you,” Naran said quietly, and we left his room, making our way to the conference room.

“Mental affects?” Clarissa asked me as I sat down.

“Possibly. He was seeing a mental health specialist?” I asked.

“Yes, Doctor Yang. She died from the Ritualist unfortunately. There is no suitable replacement for high level mental consultations unfortunately,” Clarissa said with a sigh.

“Well, me being around will probably stress him out. Send in Fethee, he is Naran’s friend,” I suggested and Clarissa nodded.

“I will try that. Is he really done?” Clarissa asked me.

“Probably. Maybe. I am not sure. He was thinking about retiring before. This injury will only compound things. Well, I need to push on regardless. She who watches from the West will be coming soon. And our resident star gazer is trouble as well,” I replied.

“Going to focus on Spirit?” Clarissa asked me.

“After upgrading my skill to level 3. It will reduce my ability to fight against hordes of monsters and spam the skill, but the power increase will be necessary to grind level 4 monsters efficiently. I will need to go all out as well. At least the million point mark isn’t real,” I said.

“I had suspected as much. Unfortunate about what happened. Should we tell Naran about the meta-points?” Clarissa asked me and I considered my answer carefully.

“Give him the same choice I had. If he wants to know inform him. If he wants to take a step back and retire, then leave him be. Let him mentally recover. It is unfortunate that he didn’t want to continue grinding and fighting,” I said in a melancholy tone.

“That is life. People move on, change priorities, and develop different focuses. Especially after life changing events,” Clarissa said. I nodded slightly at that. It still was frustrating. “You want to keep Fethee and Heba?” Clarissa asked me.

“No. Arrange something for them. They won’t be able to cross and set up camp in a level 3 zone. I am going to spend a long time grinding. I need about 240 million points to reach 10,000 total stat points. That means I need to kill about 66,000 level 4 monsters. If I can get away with one Acid Shot per monster, that means I am constrained by my Regeneration stat.”

“So, around 480 level 4 monsters for a 16 hour day, which is about 1.7 million points. Or 140 days of grinding, give or take. I will put the 5,000 total into Spirit while slowly boosting up the other stats. That should be around the time we are going to upgrade the city, right?” I asked.

“The new target date is day 675. It is being extended from the revised date of 655 a bit since a lot of points will be going into emergency preparations. That is around 120 days of grinding,” Clarissa said, and I nodded at that. Good, the Ritualist was someone we could weather as an entire city. A single high-level combatant was an entirely different matter. Better to flee and pull a Ritualist.

“What is the rally point, Neo Brasilia?” I asked.

“No. If she comes from the West, she will be in Esperanza first. I have already sent my agents there a warning to keep their eyes open and report the first issue. They will be our canary in the coal mine so to speak. So, you don’t have to risk everything. After that Neo Brasilia and Purgatory would be on the march to the East.”

“I am thinking we set up a rally point in Truth or nearby,” Clarissa said.

“Foul lake island. Anyone with any sense of decency will never go there. And if what the Astrologer said is true, then living near shit will amuse her. Also, it is close to Heaven and East Bastion and various grinding options,” I said.

“Alright, I will make preparations and boats. How many?” Clarissa asked.

“No more than ten total. If we are forced to retreat, we need to be flexible and adaptable. Also make sure you get your Aura and Spirit to at least 100. So, you can travel through level 3 zones,” I said.

“I have already planned that. Alright. Anything proactive?” Clarissa asked.

“No. For now, we will trust the Astrologer, despite being a complete con artist,” I said.

“Not even with all the information he handed out?” Clarissa asked me and I shook my head.

“Information we have no good way of verifying. He could be telling the truth or running an elaborate con. Until things are confirmed one way or the other, we will take him at his word, but verify everything we can safely, which isn’t much unfortunately,” I replied.

“I was thinking we might want to send a delegate to this Divine Empress, to find out the truth ourselves,” Clarissa said.

“And undermine the Astrologer’s position if he was telling the truth. It is too convenient that he is the only thing stopping this Divine Empress from acting. But if we try to separate ourselves from the Astrologer…”

“Then she might act right away. Better the devil we know, than the devil we don’t,” Clarissa said.

“Exactly. No adventurism or poking the West. We won’t stop with the bomb development or the summons. Unless there is another major war, it is doubtful that they can sense that far,” I said.

“Alright, I will work off those assumptions and set up a fallback plan at foul island.” I really hoped things didn’t come to that.