Bianca had her arms crossed as she stood before Lucian and Annabelle as they sat together at a table. The pair had just finished telling her about their adventure, and their misadventure. Bianca groaned, “So you almost got yourself killed… And you lost your arm because of it.”

  “Well, yeah… But if she hadn't stepped in I’m pretty sure the knight would have killed me.” Lucian defended himself before taking another bite of his calzone.

  “We’re fairly certain that someone with a strong enough healing skill could grow his arm back…” Annabelle looked down, clearly a bit guilty, “We just… Don’t know if any healer would be a high enough level yet…”

  Lucian shot her a look and swallowed his bite, “Stop beating yourself up about what happened. I made the choice to do what I did.”

  Bianca tapped her foot, “Well… I might have good news for you then.” She nodded, “I’m level 6 now. I just kept making food for people and started gaining levels doing it.”

  Lucian and Annabelle both stared at her for a second. “That’s great news!” Lucian laughed.

  Annabelle beamed, “We might be able to find a healer, then! Even if they haven’t been doing what we have!”

  “Yeah but who knows how much monetary value someone who could regrow a limb would place on their services?” Lucian sighed, “We should see if we can find a magic item in a dungeon other than the Great Tree, like that nameless one we met in. Even if this hypothetical person doesn’t want payment for their services, I feel like it would be best to at least give them a thank you gift.”

  “That’s not a bad idea.” Annabelle sighed, “But are you up to it with one less arm?”

  “As long as there are no more god damn tree knights, we should be good.” Lucian laughed, “Plus, it’ll be good training.”

  Bianca groaned, “You’re a lunatic.” She laughed dryly, “Don’t get yourself killed.”

  “Don’t plan on it.” Lucian smirked, “I’ll be holding my lifesaving acts over Annabelle’s head for a long time to come.”

  Annabelle rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah. My savior.”

  Lucian looked back over to Bianca, “And congrats on level 6 by the way, get a cool skill at 5?”

  Bianca nodded, “[Enchantment of Healing]. It says it adds a slight regenerative effect when applied to a baked good.”

  “Oh, so now you can make health and stamina potion bread.” Lucian chuckled, “Sounds useful. Mind if we take some with us?”

  “Sure. It costs a lot of Spirit to make, but I did make some of both over the last day or two. Since I probably won’t be able to convince you to not go out again, take some.”

  “Thanks BB!” Annabelle grinned.

  “At least take the rest of the day off.” Bianca crossed her arms, leaning back against the counter.

  “That would be fine with me, I suppose. I could use a good night’s sleep in a proper bed but I probably can’t go back to my old apartment.” Lucian said.

  “That's fine, you can crash at mine.” Annabelle suggested, elbowing him playfully.

  Lucian blinked then cleared his throat, “Alright, that works…”

  “I would say get a room.” Bianca laughed, “But that seems like the idea huh?” She teased.

  “Take me to dinner first.” Lucian chuckled a little.

  “Maybe another day.” Annabelle giggled.

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  “Another day.” Lucian looked back up to Bianca, “So, that magic bread?”

  “They’re actually magic garlic knots. Come pick them up before you go out. I’ll keep them in the fridge for you.”

  “Alright, that sounds good.” Lucian said then paused, “Wait, I actually might know a guy who can heal me!”

  “And you’re only mentioning this now?” Annabelle laughed.

  “It slipped my mind! The food was too good…” Lucian shot back, “Before we met, I spent some time in the hospital. There was a doctor. I think his name was… Andrew? No, it was Anderson. Doctor Anderson.” Lucian nodded, “He had a healing skill, I watched him use it on a kid.”

  “Fitting! Alright, let's go find him!” Annabelle stood up happily.

  “Sure thing.” Lucian got up and stretched, his tail standing out straight behind him. Bianca looked down at it and smirked.

  Lucian and Annabelle left the shop and started on their way to the hospital to find Doctor Anderson. As they walked, Lucian looked over to Annabelle, “So, that dinner.”

  “We… Can go to dinner together another time…” Annabelle said after a pause.

  “Alright, I’ll hold you to it! It’ll be a date.” Lucian smirked.

  “A date.” Annabelle nodded. “I had been meaning to talk to you about… All that but, we’ve been kind of busy.”

  “Same here, to be honest.” Lucian shrugged, “I figured it would come up naturally eventually.”

  Annabelle laughed and hugged him from the side gently, “Well I’m glad it did.”

  Lucian smiled, “Yeah, same.”

  The pair continued to the hospital, making smalltalk as they walked. Eventually, they reached their destination. Unlike the first time Lucian had arrived here, there was no group of police guarding the doors. They entered the building and Lucian made his way over to one of the reception desks.

  “Excuse me, is Doctor Anderson in?” Lucian asked the young man behind the desk.

  “Doctor Anderson is in, yes.” He looked down at Lucian’s left arm - or more accurately the lack thereof, “Ah. I see.”

  “We’re classed as well. Lost it fighting some tree knight.” Lucian sighed, “I remembered he had a healing skill. We wanted to see if he could fix this.”

  “Alright. Give me a moment, I’ll see if he can see you. You can take a seat over there if you would like. I’ll call you over once I know.” The young man looked down at his computer and began to check some things.

  Lucian and Annabelle walked over and took a pair of seats. After a little over ten minutes, a doctor came to speak with the receptionist, who gestured to the pair of them waiting. The doctor walked over, and Lucian looked up.

  “Doctor Anderson!” Lucian smiled and stood up, offering his hand to shake.

  Doctor Anderson gave Lucian a firm handshake, “Hello again. I see you could use some help.”

  “Fairly. I would love my arm back, if that's possible. We figured out people could level without fighting monsters so we figured we would come to you and see if you had a skill that could help.” Lucian sighed.

  “Sadly I have yet to receive something that potent.” Doctor Anderson looked at Lucian with a gaze full of sympathy, “I have managed to level up from healing others but the pace has slowed.”

  Lucian and Annabelle exchanged a glance, “I mean, that’s kind of how it usually works. The higher your level, the harder the next level is to get.” He said, “You probably need to do more work, or harder work.”

  “There’s also always the chance that he could still level up from fighting monsters.” Annabelle chimed in.

  “That is certainly possible.” Lucian agreed, “We haven’t tested that.” He looked up to Doctor Anderson.

  “Unfortunately I have duties here I need to attend to, so I don’t really have the time to follow you two and test your theory.” Doctor Anderson said with a hint of disappointment. “Regardless. I may eventually get a skill that allows me to help you, I just don’t have one yet. If or when I get such a skill, I would happily help you.” He smiled, “If you give the receptionist your contact information, you’ll be the first to know if I gain that capability. We all owe you.”

  Lucian smiled, “Thank you, I’ll do that. Do you mind if I ask your level?”

  “Level 12. My skills have also been improving. It doesn’t take me two minutes to fix such a simple injury anymore.” He laughed a little.

  “Well, we appreciate your time, doctor.” Lucian shook his hand again. “I wish you the best and hope to hear from you soon.”

  Doctor Anderson nodded, “I wish you the best as well.”

  Lucian gave his contact information to the receptionist as Doctor Anderson returned to his duties. Lucian and Annabelle left the hospital. “Well… Wanna show me your place?”

  “Sure thing. The weather is nice so we can walk if you want, it's a little far though.” Annabelle laughed, “Not that we haven’t been walking everywhere for the past few days.”

  “The buses seem to be going so we can catch a ride.” Lucian said, noting the bus approaching the hospital’s bus stop.

  “Alright!” Annabelle nodded, and the pair quickly moved to the bus stop, and got on the bus when it pulled in. “We’ll need to transfer twice but it shouldn’t be a big deal.” Annabelle said as they sat down.

  “Noted.” Lucian relaxed in his seat as the bus began to move. He was looking forward to a proper bed - or at least a nice couch.