Todd doesn’t know her name, it’s just some kid. He watches as Candra draws her fingers through the girl’s long blond hair; gently brushing it out. Dark rings shadow Candra’s eyes, and every movement she makes is in opposition to a body that needs nothing more than rest.

The teenager’s gaze is empty and distant, but the state of mind taking back its native habitat fastest is: angry. She holds two untransformed [Mercury Rod]s, one loosely in each hand. The business ends plink absently against the tile, the last rivulets of bug goo dripping off.

Todd looks down past his rolled up pant-leg, to the swollen puckered hole in his lower calf. The redness is reduced, and the clenched tension in his muscles beginning to relax. He hefts his last remaining [Nettle Salve Skin Mending Pill] in his hand in a way that suggests it’s a hundred times heavier than it is.

“Getting sick of it,” Candra croaks softly in a way that’s meant to be, but isn’t a question.

He’d been right. The Cultivation had helped. He nods. The soft-sweet floral energy of the thistle pill had tickled as it flowed through his body, pressing against the heat and pain of the venom. But the breathing technique had quickened the course of the medicine in his veins; had infused its potency with fresh Cosmic Energy. It had been enough to begin healing the puncture wound itself, he’d felt it as his skin and muscle tightened, as the broken blood vessels had sealed.

Now it’s just a red hole in his skin that oozes a pink, low-heme plasma.

Candra licks the pad of her thumb and then blots a fleck of bug eyeball off of the girl’s jaw. “There we go. I bet you’re feeling better already,” she whispers comfortingly. “Do you want me to braid your hair?” The girl does not respond. “I can braid your hair.” The girl inclines her chin slowly, and Candra begins to neatly set apart three evenly sized strands.

Disinterested in the process, Todd pulls up a new menu that he hadn’t had a chance to explore yet.

Tutorial SkillsWater Spear – Proficiency: Early‘A Journey into the Art of Fire Suppression and Paint Stripping’Upgradeable

He inspects the hovering panel, then purses his lips. He expected the [System] to disrespect his choice, but it’s a surprise to be made fun of for it. Ignoring the jibe, Todd inspects the skill closer and invokes the Tutorial supplemental information panel. These special panels feel a little different, Todd has noticed. Like they’re a little… thinner? He doesn’t have an effective vocabulary for his interaction with the [System], and he struggles to map it onto words and feelings he’s familiar with.

Skill Detail: Water Spear Proficiency Early: The mind, body, and talent of a Cultivator must accommodate a skill fractal by incorporating its pathways and mysteries. Mastery of a skill will usually improve one or all of its: effectiveness, efficiency, utility, finesse, or other unique qualities. Upgradeable True: Upgradeable skills will grow and develop as mastery continues. They may even evolve, changing considerably in form, manifestation or function. Affinity Elemental Water (Major): The Solvent Element. The Change through Catalysis. Neutral Essence.

Force Energy (Minor): The Impulse Energy. The Compulsion of Pressure and Motion. Negative Essence Attribute Scaling Intelligence – High: Cohesion, Velocity

Dexterity – Mid: Accuracy, Finesse Control

Wisdom – Low: Energy Diffusion

Proficiency – Mid: Fluid Volume, Boundary Parameters

???? – High: Elemental Fidelity

Once again, Todd is confronted with a lot more than he’s ready to handle. The important bits (for now) seem to be the ways he can improve the technique. Clearly, the biggest thing to tackle is just going to be practice. The [System] may have a dry way of describing it, but it makes sense that he simply isn’t going to have a lot of control over this magic until he gets used to it. The fractal is clearly designed to take a lot of the decision-making off of his hands, and not just the energy consumption. Some of his shots (especially that last one) should have been harder to make than they were, so the skill likely had some target-locking and aim-control going on. He looks down at his hand.

The good news will be that his statistics increases from leveling up will also make this thing stronger, but most of all he’ll still need a lot of practice. Getting the training wheels off of this thing will be pretty important in the long run, he decides. Thinking back to the start of this the fight, he reminds himself that he has an active quest to do just that.

Skill Mastery (I): Water Spear (5/30) Reward: ₦200, [F-Nexus Crystal: Water]x1, [Skill Treasure: Minor]

His progress is at five out of thirty. That’s the number of times he’d used the skill in the fight, and it had been his absolute limit. Not great, not terrible. But it hadn’t been the kind of game changer that he’d been hoping for, especially compared to Randall’s massive fire attack.

The sound of approaching footsteps convinces Todd to close out his menus and look up. Nayira Seacole: emergency response technician, and Dr. Abhigjna Chowdhury: podiatrist, are the only real medical professionals that the humans of Tutorial {EARTH} C2F-4 have got. Dr Chowdhury’s sleeves and trousers are torn, up to the knees and elbows, but otherwise her gi is pristine. Nayira’s is a mess, except her right leg: of which the pant is torn up to her mid-thigh.

“This is Mr. Todd?” The doctor asks the tech, walking as she talks. She hikes her pants up above her knees and squats down to match Todd’s eye level. “How you feeling?”

He shrugs. “It’s a lot better.”

“You know,” Abhigjna chuckles, “if you got yourself hurt three inches lower I would be legally licensed to treat you.” She gingerly guides his calf up and turns his knee for a better look.

“What does a foot doctor even do? Why’s it a separate thing?”

The doctor huffs. “Mostly I help diabetics manage their symptoms, and write prescriptions for teen athletes to get physical therapy.” Seeming satisfied, she sets Todd’s leg down and stands back up. “I’d say watch it for infection. I don’t know what else to tell you. Should I prescribe a quarter hour of meditation once every four? A magic bean once in the evening?”

“It seems to work so far.”

“Of course it does! Makes me want to grab my degree and tear it up. Up is down, down is up...” Dr. Chowdhury throws her hands in the air, then lets them drop. “No scratching, no swimming, and no fighting giant monsters. Okay?”

Todd murmurs an acknowledgement.

Nayira hangs back while Abhigjna moves on to help another patient. “If you know anybody with clean clothing, let us know.” She plucks at the frayed tear at the edge of her pant leg. “If we keep needing bandages like this, I’m gonna be out here with my tits hanging out.”

Snorting, Todd promises her he’ll ask around. “Yea, we may be able to buy some stuff from the crystal store now too,” he adds.

“Good point. Alright kid, see you next time you save a dummy from gettin’ ate on.” She waves and then jogs off to follow Dr. Chowdhury.

He sees Candra is still busy braiding, so: carefully, and keeping his weight on his good leg, Todd rises to his feet. By now, the last bugs are retreating back towards the tunnels they came from. While they’re too afraid to rush the fighters pushing them back, they’re apparently too stubborn to give up.

Finally, the survival timer on the quest ticks down to zero and a noise signals an anti-climactic end to the ordeal. Those last bugs turn tail and flee, fast as the flip of a switch. They shove, they collide, they stumble. But they all return to the tunnels they came from.

It might be cause for celebration, if not for the bent-elbow ape-angry waddle that Ranger Drew is making, direct and at pace right towards Todd.

“You!” Drew yells. His voice is just a little high pitched, in the way you might make fun of once and regret after. Old man Walter is out in front of him, walking backwards, uncomfortably and at speed. He’s saying something and holding his hands out towards the other man. Drew neither replies, nor slows. “Trying to kill me, you little shit?” He snarls.

“I, what? That was twenty minutes ago?” Todd stammers, hobbling backwards and finding his leg regretting it.

While he had meant to express his surprise that the Ranger had waited until the end of the fight to turn angry, Drew interprets his meaning less charitably. “Come here and let me help put your teeth into tomorrow’s stool you pasty little – let off, Walter!”

The old man might be half white hair, half gristle, but he stands firm between Todd and Drew. He keeps putting his hands out and in the way as Drew tries to reach around. “He didn’t mean nothin’, Andrew. You know that.”

“Step off, Drew,” warns a fourth voice, and Joe practically leaps out from the crowd. He taps Todd with his palm, pushing him lightly away. Joe and Drew face each other, Walter in between. The two men loom high over their peers, making themselves large like they slipped down a few rungs on the Animal Kingdom. “He hit that thing from thirty yards away. Kill you? How do you know he didn’t save your life?” Joe’s only got one inch of vertical over Drew, but he milks it for all it’s worth.

Doesn’t do much good though. Walter sighs in pained exasperation, and then Drew surges forward, red faced and iron-eyed. He nearly bowls Walter over. The three men grapple, starting with open palms and escalating as fingers curl into fists. Todd glances over at Teo for support, the biker looking man having followed slow from behind and just caught up. But his face is all Switzerland, cold and lofty and unwilling to risk his neck.

What should Todd do? Does he help? Does he fight? Can he apologize if he finds the right words? He can’t see the right choice to make, and that’s got his chest shivering in fright.

“Whaaaaaat the crap, you lunatics?” Howls Nayira as she shoves hard on Joe and Walter, separating the two packs. “You! Kid, look at you. You know better than this, you’re smarter. You’re handsome. So handsome. Got those cheekbones…” Nayira leans in closer to Joe, then pulls away. “He’s gonna mess up your pretty face, so don’t you dare.”

“This is a private matter,” Drew growls.

“And YOU! You a grown ass man. So why don’t you calm your beef ass, hillbilly ass, big bushy beard ass, tickles when you kiss ass, giant comfortin’ biceps ass self down.”

The two men blink, confused.

“Too few beautiful men in this word, and y’all gonna make it worse,” Nayira puts her hands on her hips, wrestling with a smile. “Go get yourself over to the other side of the mob. You’re on time out, Drew.”

Hesitating, Drew opens his mouth, but then grumbles and turns away. Todd practically deflates with relief.

“Are you. Out. Of. Your. Mind?” Nayira hisses at Todd and Joe. She shakes her head. “Thank you Walter. Teo, you’re a wet towel at a ski lodge, buddy.”

“Sorry Naya,” Todd apologizes. He squirms a bit, wincing as he settles his weight back on his healthy foot.

“Thank you, Miss Seacole,” Walter inclines his head. “Always a pleasure.”

Nayira waves and heads off, searching once again for the doctor. Meanwhile, Teo lingers for a second, his face painting guilty as he faces the old man. “Was a good shot,” baldie says to Todd, then he turns on his heel and retreats.

“That thing,” Walter begins, “had ten razor sharp legs. And he goes up underneath it. What does he think’s gonna happen. I don’t know if you saved his life, but far as I saw you didn’t hurt nothing neither.”

“That meathead should be thanking Todd,” Joe insists peevishly.

“It’s fine,” Todd protests. Candra makes a doubtful noise from her seated position nearby. “It’s fine,” he repeats more firmly.

“I think the idea that he needed saving, is like to have Andrew more worked up than being put in danger,” Walter warns them. “So my advice is, don’t be saying that. Let’s let this go for now, and I’ll talk to him. See if we can’t come to something amicable.”

Joe looks like he’s about to argue, so Todd blurts out some preemptive gratitude. “Thanks Walter,” he says.

And that’s the end of that.