Latal soon returned dragging an armed warrior in tow. The man looked to be a couple of years older than him and was sporting a full leather armor. He was still holding a wicked-looking barbed spear in his hand. He was tanned, had piercing green eyes, and looked dangerous in every sense. Wait, had she just dragged one of the Priests here that was training in the courtyard? It did not look like the man had much of a say in the matter of being here.

“Great, now that is taken care of, let me get all my tools ready. Namir, please wash your hand and get ready to assist me.”

Quickly Latal and Namir were both in a flurry of motion, while he and Tamas watched the proceedings. At least the man looked familiar with the equipment.

Latal spoke up. “Young lady, are you planning on watching the operation on your husband?”

Judging from her facial expression, that thought did not exactly please her. “Not my husband, and no that is alright, I would rather observe some of the priests sparring in the courtyard.” Latal did not look like she cared either way.

Christopher was annoyed, she had teased him for his nervousness, but did not look to have that strong of a stomach either. Still, there was no need for both of them to suffer.

Tamas exited the building, and Latal and Namir finished setting everything up. All Christopher could do was watch while one scary tool after the other was placed on a table next to the patient's bed.

Time went by slowly but soon everything was finished. Latal wheeled a small table next to him. Strangely she looked almost excited as if she could not wait to cut him up. Namir was a closed book and kept his facial expression neutral. “Alright please put your arm onto the table.” Putting his arm in that angle did hurt Christopher, but he complied without any indication of pain. “Very good, I will now temporarily block the soul force from circulating to your arm. Latal put her finger on several points around his shoulder.

“Strange, I have never felt a soul force that flowed this weakly. It is like you have never used soul force before.”

Christopher grimaced. That explained his remarkably low soul force attribute. “So, by using soul force it grows stronger over time?”

“Of course,”

“So how do you use it.”

“uh. well, obviously you focus on the desired intent of its use, and then send it in the desired area.” She answered, somehow taking his situation in stride. She must have thought it strange that he did not know. And had he not tried something just like this before. When he arrived in the forest, he had tried to use soul force on one of the light-red leaves. He had gotten nowhere.

He felt that there was much more to it, but thanked her for the answer regardless.

“I will now block the flow of soul force into your arm. You should feel some tingling while your arms turn numb.”

It was just like she told him. A strange tingling feeling could be felt all over his arm, followed with total numbness. This would not be that painful after all.

“I am starting the procedure now, feel free to look away, since observing might be disconcerting for you.” She picked up a scalpel-like tool, and Christopher decided to follow the advice, focusing his mind elsewhere.

They proceeded the procedure, and strange and disturbing sounds filled his ears over the minutes. He could somewhat follow along since Latal and Namir occasionally exchanged short words about the steps that they were following.

Latal noticed his pained face and looked concerned. “Wait are you still feeling something, your arm should be completely paralyzed.”

“ah, no, it’s just the sounds that are kind of disturbing.”

“Ah, but I am making good progress, no need to worry.” Latal continued digging through bone fragments within his arm, a gleeful expression on her face. What was wrong with this woman.

After what felt like an eternity to him, they finished up rearranging his bones. Latal muttered. “hmm I don’t think it is safe to let this heal naturally, the bone fragments will get displaced. Namir, fetch me a regeneration potion, bottom shelf.”

They were going to use a potion on him? That must be quite expensive, considering the cost of soul points in the store.

“Alright, Christopher. This potion should heal your arm back to full health within the next five minutes. Please make sure to drink it all in one go.”

“I understand, thank you.”

He was handed the potion to his good arm, and he made sure to gulp it down in one go. He did not like the taste, but it could have been worse. He felt a strange warm sensation from the potion. Most of the warmth was indeed located in his arm, but he could feel it spread to other parts of his body. Maybe he had accumulated other damage.

Although all of this was done to him free of charge, he still felt that he was racking up somewhat of a debt to the Priests. Well, he would certainly do his best to fight against the blight. Hopefully, that would be enough.

While they were waiting, and making sure that his arm would properly heal, he decided to ask a few questions.

“Are most of the priest’s fighters?”

Latal answered, Namir clearly was a man of few words. “I would say that the majority are, fighting just happens to be pretty important when waging a war against the Blight. But there are many valuable roles that need to be filled in the war. There are of course healers like me, Warders for defense, scouts for reconnaissance. Even Educators have joined the Priesthood, to teach people how to fight back. Who is to say which is more valuable, the teacher that teaches the weaknesses of monsters, or a healer like me? They are all an essential part of the effort. “

He thought it interesting. Was he sure that being a fighter was his best way to utilize his unique skills? There clearly were other paths to take. But no, fighting was an important skill for him to have. But that did not mean that he should forsake other methods of gaining a tactical advantage.

“After fighting the Goblins, I decided that I would like to train my fighting skills, where do I go to sign up for an initiate fighting class?”

“Talk to Portos, He will be able to place you in a class that corresponds to your skill level. Classes were formed a week ago, so you will probably be placed in an existing class. Namir please introduce Christopher to Portos.” Namir nodded.

It looked like Latal enjoyed a lot of respect from the warrior priest. Maybe it was not that surprising, since a warrior priest would be sure to rack up a lot of wounds, and would need a lot of healing.

“Are there other’s than the Church fighting back against the Blight?”

“Hmm, you must be new to the kingdom of Venaria. There is of course the city guard under command of the Earl of Lumen. They are tasked with defending the city, but they don’t often go on the offensive. And then there is the Venaria army under command of the King, but don’t even get me started on them.”

Interestingly, there seemed to be some tensions between the Church and the King.

Christopher glanced at his left arm that was indeed healing at a visible rate, it was fascinating to see both tendons and skin reattach. He was sure that his bone was doing the same out of his sight. Soon his skin had completely closed up from the incisions, leaving a white scar on the length of his arm. It still was completely paralyzed.

“Excellent that should just about do it. Latal carefully examined his arm, pressing down to make sure that all was in its proper place. Looking satisfied, she put her fingers on his shoulder and upper arm again. “I will now reopen the blockage of soul force. This part will be rather unpleasant, but this is normal.”

It took only a moment, and indeed his arm felt like it recovered from severe frostbite, tingling all over. But it did not bother him, this was nothing compared to the sharp pain that had been constant for the last two days.

At this point, a message popped up once again.

[Congratulations, you have increased your Vitality by two points.]

Interestingly, his vitality had increased by healing his wounds. Did this mean that he would have to get hurt to increase his vitality? He was not pleased by that thought. He quickly willed up his status screen.

Vitality 12 Endurance 13 Strength 9 Agility 12 Soul Force 4

His stats were clearly still pretty poor, but he was happy to be making progress.

“How long should I rest my arm before I can use it?”

“no need to wait, the regeneration potion has had its effect, your arm should be as good as new. Ah, Namir, be sure to point out Portos to Christopher on the way out.” The stoic man only nodded, truly a man of few words.

He took his time to profusely thank Latal for her efforts in healing him.

He and Namir walked back out to the courtyard, where the warrior priests were still intensely training. Tamas was watching intently, her beauty probably only spurring them on even more. The sun was now much lower on the horizon. Namir waited a moment before leading Christopher up to a bear of a man, who had just finished a flurry of powerful strikes. The man was bald, sported a bushy beard, and looked to be around 6 foot 5.

“Ah Namir, and who is this brat.” Hoping that this was his cue to introduce himself Christopher responded.

“Sir, my name is Christopher, I am here to train”