I spend an hour or so, cooking food. I use the vegetables to make a broth and I hunt some wolf meat. I prepare three full pans before I'm done, there was a lot of wolf and I don't like wasting anything. The dryad consumes an entire pan. I take down the other one. There's still a pan left. I only have a single pan, the dryad made these weird flowers that I pour the food in.

I receive a PM from Lem in due time.

"Let's go on a quest."

"I can't, I'm about to log-out but I have some free food, if you want."

"K, I'll reach."

She's down here in about twenty minutes. I spend that time practising the new enchantment I've acquired. It's much more advanced then the six basic ones. The only one I'm proficient in is [Brute Buff].

This is too advanced for me but I can manage it. I'm going to have to hunker down and work on this new enchantment.

"Whoa, what is this?" She's pointing at the white flower with the food in it.

I shrug. "I don't know, she came up with it."

"Ohhh...That's so cool. I think you're the only player who's tamed a dryad. Most of all, this early in the game. I know of one other person like you."

"He's got a dryad too?"

"No, no. It's a she and she's gaming all the time like you. Her entire concept is around [Healer]. She's, I think the best healer in the game."

"Then how does she remind you of me?"

"Both of you are cheapskates."

Lem finishes her pot while we chat and there's an alert.

[Ding!]

[New Skill Acquired!]

[Cooking: Level 1]

That's it! I pump my fist in the air. "Ok, I'm logging out." I turn to the dryad. "Don't wander away too far."

The dryad nods and I'm out. Lem looks like she's about to say something but I just don't have the time.

...

..

.

I groan when I wake up. I feel a spiking pain radiating up from my back. This rig is an older manual, its not one of the newer ergonomic models. It's annoying but I can't afford one of the newer models.

I need to get stronger and complete the more lucrative quests. This sparks an idea in my mind. I can't do it right away and its too crazy, maybe even impossible but there is a hint of possibility. I'll have to study the enchanter class with a religious fervour if I want to take a gander at it.

I file it away in my mind and get into the shower. I feel pins and needles running down my legs and I collapse in the washroom.

I land on my elbow, it hurts a lot more than normal. I lie there for a few minutes and let the water run over my body.

I get out of the tub after a few minutes and check my balance. I have enough money for a cab but I need something close to 6000 credits, can't waste it on a cab.

I walk down to the hospital. It takes me close to forty minutes. I'm very tired by the time I reach the building. I'm drenched in sweat. My body is too frail and unfit.

I climb into an elevator and press number four. I walk down the corridor and I smell that antiseptic smell unique to hospitals. It clogs my nose and I have trouble breathing. There's a practicality to hospital's, I think it's the easiest way to deal with decay and suffering.

I open the door and there he is. He's lying prone on the bed, he's in a rig similar to a virtual one. With the advent of Magical Frontier, the doctors had tried to hook him up to the game. It didn't work, there was no response. Now, he was just in an ergonomic model, that looked for any signs of life.

It resembles a coffin and I hate it. I hate that my brother has to be in here. I get up from my chair and move to the window.

I look down at the parking garage and all that. The door opens up behind me and its two nurses. They must be here to turn him over.

I can hear their whispers when they walk out he room but I ignore them. I sit there for another ten, fifteen minutes and leave.

These visits are more of an obligation for me, something I have to do just to make sure the doctors are treating him with fairness.

As the door shuts behind me, there's a finality in the air. I have a nagging feeling I won't be back here. I ignore it.

...

..

.

The 2 Nurses

Omura grabbed Taki's arm and whispers in her ear. "That's him! He's the one who caused that scene."

"He's the orange juice guy?"

"Yup, yup!" She was nodding her head up and down like a rabbit.

"What are you talking about?" Jumbo was a new addition to the staff. He'd only been here for a few weeks.

"He's the orange juice guy." Taki supplied helpfully.

"What?"

"You know the patient in Room 427, the one who's comatose. This is a private facility. One of the doctors tried to put that patient in the public floor downstairs." Omura just shook her head.

"He came in and saw what was happening. He made a huge scene about it. He found the doctor who put him down there and poured orange juice on his head. He had to be escorted out of the hospital."

"How come the guy's still here?" Jumbo couldn't believe the hospital would let one of its staff be disrespected like that, this was akin to assault.

Omura shrugged, "The doctor was fired and the hospital director put the patient back up in the private facility. They're loaded, I think. There's a rumour one of the wards is named after him."