“Well, make it quick.” I said with a grimace while I checked over Gail’s crumpled body which was currently laid out on the floor. I used what little I remembered from a lesson about first aid forever ago to do so while I did my best to ignore the various pains throughout my body and how my fingers refused to move properly.
Gail on the outset didn’t look to be in any sort of good condition. Blood slowly oozed out from various points across his head and I was fairly certain his nose hadn’t looked like that before it had met the Inversions shield.
“Of course!” Rumiko stated with far more enthusiasm than I felt was appropriate for the situation. “But first, do I have your permission to physically manifest? Right now-”
“Sure, don’t know what you mean by physically manifesting when you’re already clearly standing in front of me, but if you think you need to do it, just do it.” I distractedly interrupted her before I remembered a simple thing I could do from the first aid lesson and checked for both his pulse and whether or not he was breathing. A tiny bit of the tension within me melted away when I found both to be present, even if they were worryingly weak.
A flash of dark lilac light in front of me alongside the strange new feeling throughout my body I hadn’t felt before, intensifying for a second before relaxing, momentarily drew my attention to where Rumiko was now standing. Somehow, she seemed more real than before despite how little that made sense.
“Ahh, there we go.” Rumiko sighed in relief while she spun around. “No Inversions should be able to sneak up on you while you’re still deafened now that I can hear too. Anyways, MG’s have access to the Transcendents' quite extensive collection of technology and magic, which of course, now includes you among their numbers.”
I absently-mindedly nodded my head towards her, I suppose another Inversion showing up was a worry right now and it was good she was listening for it. And it was well known that MG’s had access to what the Transcendents could make even if it was never explained how.
Mentally processing what she was saying, I moved to check on Holly who no longer seemed to be as shrouded by the black fog to my eyes despite it still clearly being draped around the area. Weird, but a weirdness I didn’t mind in the slightest right now.
Holly had collapsed against a wall with her left arm bent in a way that didn’t seem natural, but otherwise she seemed mostly okay. However, when I checked for her own pulse it seemed unreasonably faster than it should’ve been, while her breathing was even weaker than Gail’s. That probably wasn’t good, not that I understood the why’s of why it wasn’t good other than that it wasn’t normal.
I made to try and drag over closer towards Gail, only for Rumiko’s voice to cut in before I could do so. “Wait! My knowledge on first aid only has the very basics at the moment, but I do know you don’t want to move either of your friends at the moment until they’ve been given some treatment at the very least. And even then, we’ll want to keep that to a minimum.”
I tilted my head at her, before nodding and letting go of where I had grabbed Holley. There was no reason for me to not trust her words on this. “Alright then. But if I now have access to the Transcendents collection of equipment, how do I get what I need from it the way other MG’s do so? Specifically, whatever medical supplies I’d need to treat Gail and Holly to give them the best odds I can?”
Rumiko grinned at me. “By spending Fragments to unlock Repositories of course! In regards to the best way for your question, using them to unlock the Basic Medicinals Repository which grants me both the knowledge of the usage of everything within the Repository and the ability to purchase anything within it which will appear wherever you want it too around you, alongside spending some more fragments on the Medicinals you’ll need for the treatment. There is a lot more that Fragments can be used for alongside there being other ways you can-”
“Is doing this the best way to secure treatment for Gail and Holly that’ll make sure they survive and can recover?” I interrupted her again. Right now, I didn’t need to know anything beyond the best way to aid them and while they didn’t seem like they were about to die for the moment, I had no idea how long they really had before it was too late.
I wouldn’t take that chance.
Rumiko blinked and seemed to be taken a bit off-guard by my interruption this time, but swiftly recovered. “Yes, this will be the most reliable way you could spend your fragments to save the both of them, however there are a few other-”
“I don’t care. If that’s the best way, then there’s no question about what I’ll be spending these Fragments on.” It was so obvious to me. Why wasn’t it obvious to her?
Rumiko frowned at me. “Are you sure? While this is the best way to ensure your friends survive and get the treatment they need to prime them for a smooth recovery, it’s also the most expensive option we can take at the moment with the Fragments you currently have and will assuredly complicate matters for the future.”
I kept my gaze steady at her while I nodded. “I’m sure. And before you ask, you have my permission to purchase whatever you deem will be needed for this. I want to waste as little time as possible before treating them and I don’t know enough about first aid myself to judge whatever it is they’ll need compared to whatever it is you’ll learn by unlocking that Repository.”
I didn’t entirely get how everything she was saying worked, but frankly I didn’t need to. If it worked and was the best odds for them, that’s all I needed to know.
Rumiko stared at me for a moment before softly laughing to herself and smiling again. “Well, who am I to argue with you about this when it’ll all but guarantee your friends will be okay barring any unforeseen complications. It’ll make things a little tight for the future, but some Medicinals for you and your friends to give them the best odds of survival are coming right on up!”
Basic Medicinals Repository unlocked! -250 Fragments.
3x Basic Single-Use Medicinal Multi-Purpose Inhaler purchased! -30 Fragments.
2x Basic Single-Use Medicinal Restorative Stimpack purchased! -40 Fragments.
2x Basic Single-Patient Affliction Diagnoser purchased! -20 Fragments.
Basic Medicinals Aid Kit purchased! -10 Fragments.
Total Fragments Left: 155 Fragments.
I was taken slightly aback from the series of messages that flitted across my vision after she said that, accompanied by the unnamed strange feeling still present in my body intensifying yet again. A second later it relaxed once more while a dark lilac light once more bursted from the ground beside me and when it faded, what looked to be the container of a first aid kit was now lying on the floor like it had always been there.
I looked towards Rumiko, a question in my eyes. “What was that? And do you have any idea whether I should be worried about whatever this strange feeling that keeps flaring up is? It happened whenever you physically manifested and just again when you summoned the medical equipment here.”
Rumiko cheerily bounded towards the first aid kit before cutely taking it in her mouth and offering it to me. “Why, that was the result of a little log display I’ve worked on so that you can always see what you're spending and what it leaves you with afterwards!” She said clearly despite having something in her mouth. “And don’t worry about that feeling. That’s just the magic flowing freely throughout your body now that it’s awoken and how it feels whenever it’s used, which it was both in my manifestation and when I requisitioned your brand new medicinal equipment.”
Huh, magic. I had magic now, which made perfect sense since I was now an MG. I didn’t deserve it like everything else about this situation involving Rumiko, but I wouldn’t begrudge that if it helped save my friends.
I gingerly took the first aid kit from her, forcing my fingers to awkwardly grip around the soft fabric of it, despite the pain that emanated from them when I did that. Strangely enough, It was also embellished with wave themed designs on its blue body, though still identifiable for what it was by the white cross on either side of it. “Ah okay. And this has everything I need inside it, right?”
“Yup!” Chirped Rumiko. “And I can help guide you through the process to treat your friends in much greater detail now that I have access to the knowledge within the Basic Medicinals Repository. First things first, when you open the kit it’s organized so that everything within the kit normally is on one side, while all our other purchases are on the other. You’ll want to begin by grabbing all three of the single-use inhalers.”
I had no idea how she already knew the ins and outs of a modified first aid kit, but I wasn’t concerned about asking her that at the moment. Instead, I just did as she asked. I struggled for a moment with unzipping it, my fingers not completely cooperating with me, but I managed in the end. A moment later I had it open and was greeted by an array of different medical supplies on one side, alongside a much smaller number of specialized supplies on the other.
While I wasn’t entirely sure on what the inhaler was going to look like, it was easy enough to just grab whatever there were three of on that side. Each of the sleek dark blue inhalers didn’t look to be much with their practical designs, but I was sure they’d be more than useful in treating Holly and Gail if Rumiko had gotten them. Though, I wasn’t entirely certain on why she got three of them.
“Alright, good! Now, you’ll want to take one of those for yourselves, before using the other two on both of your friends. For them, it’ll just be priming their bodies for the more magical nature of the treatment involved with the stimpacks and diagnosers and acting as a minor painkiller for them. For you, since your magic is awakened now, it’ll have a much more profound effect and will spur your body on to swiftly begin treating your own injuries and be a stronger painkiller overall. It’s an inefficient way to do so in the grand scheme of things, but it’s more than enough for our purposes to get you back in tip-top shape!” Rumiko said swiftly and concisely.
I gave her a confused look. Wasn’t this all supposed to be for treating Holly and Gail? Why did she want me to take one? Sure I was kinda injured, but Holly and Gail needed it more at the moment. “I don’t need it. I don’t know why you think I need one, but I guess we can save the extra for later.”
Rumiko shot me an incredulous look at that. “Merrick. You are currently suffering from two ruptured eardrums from which are the cause of your current deafness, multiple deep lacerations in both your hands that will likely cause semi-permanent damage if not treated in a timely manner, and a whole host of other more minor injuries. The pain you are experiencing from all this is no minor thing either if I’m interpreting the sensations it's causing you correctly. You will want to be as uninjured as possible right now considering the incredibly high likelihood you will encounter more Inversions before the end of this Inversion Upheaval. While this isn’t perfect, given your current Fragments it’s our best option to treat you at the moment. Use. The. Inhaler.” She all but commanded, her voice far more intense than I’d heard from her so far.
For a moment I stared at her, part of me wanting to argue that I was fine. And I was mostly, really. Sure I couldn’t hear anything besides her at the moment and my fingers were consistently being troublesome. But the pain wasn’t that bad and something I could focus through. After all, it was nothing compared to the pain my father had shown me that most others could and would inflict on others to get ahead, showing me that truth of the world.
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But she was right about me needing to be less injured in the case I encountered another Inversion. The first had been a fluke where I’d only survived because it completely ignored me for some reason. I couldn’t say the same would happen for any others I’d encounter later.
I slowly nodded my head towards her. “Alright. Anything I should know about using it before I do so?”
Rumiko smiled in relief before responding. I guess she must’ve been worried about me not taking the inhaler. “Apart from making sure to fully deplete the inhaler when you use it on yourself and your friends and preferably not letting any of the blood on your hands drip into the mouthpieces once you open them, not particularly. Just be prepared for your magic to feel a little more active as it interacts with the magic present in the mist the inhaler will spray when you use it on yourself.”
“Okay.” I simply said while I put down the first aid kit against the wall before separating one of the single-use inhalers from the others, taking a bit longer than I’d like to as my hands fumbled about and once more struggled to move as I wanted them to.
Maybe there really was something more than I originally thought about treating the lacerations on my hands. Fumbling with every little thing I did when the pain intensified with them was annoying.
After a few moments though, I eventually had the cap off of it. All without letting any blood touch the mouthpiece. Breathing out as deeply as I could, I then took the mouthpiece into my mouth before taking as deep a breath as I could while pressing down on the release button on the top of it.
My eyes widened as seconds after the mist shot into my mouth, I felt the pain I’d been feeling ever since the encounter with the Inversion mostly fade away. What little was left was easily something I could focus past and there was a sudden clarity within my mind now that I wasn’t constantly having to focus past the pain. Alongside that was the sensation Rumiko had warned me about, the sensation I now knew to be my magic moving intensifying and seemingly beginning to circulate around my body. Most notably was how I could feel it being particularly active around my hands, ears, and my back.
“Better, right?” Rumiko chirped. “Frankly, I have no idea how you were functioning as well as you were when I realized you were dealing with that level of pain after the Vow. Much less whenever you actively made use of your hands. But we’re past that now. I’ll work on prepping what else you’ll likely need to grab from the Medicinals Aid Kit while you use those other two inhalers on your friends.”
Giving her a nod, I got right to it. The process went along more swiftly then it had taken with myself, on account of my fingers being far easier to manipulate than they were before I’d taken the inhaler. Both of them didn’t react too much to the inhaler itself, so the most awkward part came when I had to close their mouths for them around the mouthpieces of their inhalers. It was simple enough otherwise.
Once I was done, I discarded each of the single-use inhalers on the floor before returning back to the first aid kit Rumiko was currently shifting around supplies within. “I’ve finished. What’s next?”
She looked up from her work before giving me a smile. “Good! It’s time for the affliction diagnosers now that they’ve been primed for more magical treatment by the inhalers.” She said while nudging her head against two devices that looked vaguely similar to a watch if it didn’t have any part meant for timekeeping. And unlike when I’d first seen them within the first aid kit, they were glowing with a soft dark lilac light. A telltale sign it was some sort of magitech.
“I’ve already taken the liberty of connecting our magic to them so that step is already taken care of. All you’ll need to do is wrap them around their wrists, or really any part of your body you can fit it around, and it’ll start working. They’ll help to direct the magic that’ll be involved with the next step while providing us with a list of the most pressing medical problems your friends are facing so we know how severe it is.”
Rumiko paused for a moment, before continuing. “Or well, I’ll be interpreting what it tells us for you since you don’t know how to read magic just yet.”
Reading magic? I shook my head while taking both of the diagnosers. That could be added to the list of questions I’d be asking about later once my friends were safe.
They were even easier to use than the inhalers were and in short order, both Holly and Gail had one tightly wrapped around their wrists. I did notice though while putting it on both of them, that my hearing was starting to finally return, alongside how the lacerations lining my hands were both no longer bleeding and didn’t seem as deep as they had been. Why it was so much more effective on me for simply having magic, compared to my friends where it was apparently only a primer for another treatment was something for me to ask Rumiko about later.
Returning back to the first aid kit again, I found Rumiko to be a lot more distracted by the air in front of her for whatever reason, her tail occasionally twitching. “Got the diagnosers on both Holly and Gail now.”
“Yup, yup! Just give me a second. Need too…” She trailed off for a moment before continuing. “Aha, there we go. Alright, both of your friends' injuries aren’t pretty, but well within the treatable range for us. Especially since there was little delay between them receiving them and us subsequently treating them. Your friend Holly has multiple fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken arm, and a concussion. Meanwhile your friend Gail is suffering from a fractured skull and spinal cord, a broken nose, and even more severe concussion than Holly. Both have ruptured eardrums alongside a slew of other more minor injuries that we shouldn’t have to worry about other than them needing to be cleaned after the next step. I can comfortably predict that once we’re finished, they’ll only need around two weeks to make a full recovery as long as proper aftercare is taken!”
I heaved a sigh of relief at Rumiko’s prognosis. Their injuries sounded terrible, but if what we did next would be enough to ensure that swift of a recovery for them, I would be happy.
I hadn’t failed them.
But I didn’t let go of all the tension within me just yet. Those final steps in their treatment still needed to happen after all. “Okay, that’s good. What do we need to do next?”
Rumiko nudged the final two objects she had purchased, which vaguely looked similar to a syringe if it were much more solid. “You need to inject a stimpack into both of them, preferably in a vein. This is where the magic will really happen and it’ll greatly increase their bodies ability to handle the wounds they have, setting them up for the long term. It won’t be as extreme as it was for you with the inhaler and it’ll leave the both of them hungry and thirsty when they next wake up, but this is some of the best treatment they could get given the situation.”
I grabbed both of the stimpacks with steady hands now. I could barely feel the pain that encompassed them only a bit ago. “Okay. Got it.”
It did take a bit more time than I’d like to admit to actually inject them and I had to get Rumiko to come over from organizing and separating what she called the ‘after care’ treatment in order to help me properly identify where their veins were, but a few minutes later I’d injected both of them with the now discarded stimpacks.
Afterwards, she had me disinfect any open wounds they had before bandaging them, cleaning up what blood I could from them and me afterwards. And for the final touches, she had me put a brace on both of them. One for Gail’s nose and the other for Holly’s arm.
Both Holly and Gail already looked a lot better than they did when I first began treating them, a paleness in their skin I hadn’t even noticed at first glance having mostly been reversed. When I went to check on both of their pulses and breathing, I could comfortably say both seemed to be in much better places. I let myself smile slightly while I finished zipping closed the first aid kit.
“Hey, Rumiko? I began after another moment passed.
The white fox tilted her head from where she was sitting by Gail’s body now. “Yes Merrick?”
“I just wanted to say thank you for this. I… I’m not sure if my friends would still be alive without all your help.” Maybe I could’ve done it alone, but the equipment she had provided me with using whatever those Fragments were made their injuries seem so much easier to treat, not to mention her actually knowing what to do.
Rumiko just giggled at me. “What’re you thanking me for? You’re the one who saved your friends, not me. All I did was provide some advice and handle the more tedious parts of the process in place of you. I’m just doing my job as your Familiar. You’re the one who saved them from an Inversion and placed as much emphasis as you did on treating them. Though now we’re unfortunately going to have to deal with the consequences of only having less Fragments then would be preferred for the ongoing Inversion Upheaval.”
I wanted to disagree with her when she said that I was the one who deserved the credit, though I was stopped in my tracks by what she said afterwards. She had said something about the way I’d gone about things complicating matters for the future, hadn’t she? “How bad is it?”
Rumiko went quiet for a moment before a light frown graced her features. “Well, the decision to use the Fragments for the Basic Medicinals Repository and any equipment we might need for your friend's treatment within took a great deal of your available Fragments, of which you began with 505. The majority of those were just the beginners bonus given to all new MG’s and you had an extra 5 for your actions in eliminating the Duty Inversion. And now, you currently have 155 fragments which, outside of being used to purchase more supplies from the Basic Medicinals Repository, is not enough for much that’d be relevant to our current situation.”
A hint of dread began to form within my stomach. “How troublesome is that exactly?”
Rumiko hummed quite loudly for a moment before answering. “Hmm, think of it like this. Normally MG’s have plenty of time to figure out how to spend their initial Fragments. Usually unlocking one or two different Repositories, directly unlocking a Spell or two or unlocking a Spellbook to learn from manually, and spending the rest on directly improving themselves through increasing their Attributes. Even then, they usually are able to keep a small stash of Fragments for anything else they might need.”
She paused, before standing up and walking closer towards me as she continued. “You on the other hand, only have enough to do only one more of what I just said that Fragments are usually spent on. And of them, I can really only recommend choosing to unlock a weapon Repository and purchasing a type of said weapon from the Repository for your current situation.”
Well, that sounded bad. But something couldn’t help but stand out to me from her explanation. “Wait, if I had a little more than the starting Fragments of an MG to begin with and they usually unlock one or two Repositories alongside everything else you said that you hadn’t mentioned before, how come that’s different for me?”
Rumiko gave me an apologetic smile. “Well, you were wanting to get the best treatment possible for your friends with such a level of urgency that I didn’t get the chance to even explain to you how Repositories worked, much less anything else to give you an alternative. The Basic ones that you have access to range from costing 50 to 250 Fragments to unlock and any further Basic Repositories after you purchase your first one double in cost. Something the Transcendents have done to both promote specialization in one's gear and as a gentle nudge for new MG’s to pay attention to Spells and Attributes too. And the Basic Medicinals Repository sits at the expensive end of that at 250 Fragments.”
I blinked in surprise. “Is it really that expensive for MG’s to get the supplies needed for some first aid?”
Rumiko shook her head. “Of course not. The Repository for Basic First Aid only costs 50 Fragments and is heavily recommended as one of the essentials for any MG wanting to plan around fighting the Inversions, alongside Basic Alchemy and directly unlocking some sort of healing Spell. Basic Medicinals is usually recommended only for those who wish to contribute by saving lives in a more traditional manner within a hospital or other place where treatment is needed, earning their Fragments by completing Tasks.”
Her ear twitched in annoyance before she kept on going. “Something you should’ve gotten a notification for by both protecting and saving your friends, though I suspect you currently are unable to due to the severity of the current Inversion Upheaval preventing it and the Fragments you’d receive from completing it from reaching you. On the plus side though, you are the seventh MG in the world to take Basic Medicinals as your first Repository unlock, so congratulations on that?”
So I’d accidentally partially screwed myself by insisting on getting them the best possible treatment without considering any of the other options? Ah well, I wasn’t going to regret that. Not in a million years.
“I see, that makes sense.” I began before turning my attention towards a plan for the future. “Well, Holly and Gail still aren’t in any condition to move and I can’t carry them both by myself, much less could I do while protecting them from any Inversions that might come along. So we’d have to hunker down here anyway until they recover. Not that any shelter but the main one in the park would still be open at this point. You said something about unlocking a weapon Repository?”
Rumiko nodded. “That I did. You need something to defend yourself with, since while this building is a good second to a proper shelter for hiding out due to its soundproofing and my own suspicion it was originally meant to house the shelter beside it from its magic resistant materials, it’s only a matter of time before you encounter another Inversion. And no offense, but I wouldn’t trust the next Inversion to wander inside here in search of people to be alone or let you use your makeshift garrote on it again without any trouble.”
That was fair, I still didn’t know why that worked myself. “So, what options for weapons do I have for this situation since I need to prepare for any other potential… Inversions.” I said, my mind momentarily flashing towards the one I’d felled and how terrifying that ordeal had been even if I’d pushed past it.
Rumiko’s grin returned at that, growing quite wide. “A whole arsenal of different weapons! Just say the name of what type of weapon you’d want, whether it be you giving me a specific or just aspects you’d want in one, and I’ll tell you if it’s something we can do and whether or not I think it’s a good idea. And while we do that, I can even get to giving you a proper introduction to all your new capabilities as an MG. Just leave it to me!”