The little old lady turned and looked up at Luke, blinked, then adjusted her thin-framed glasses, got up, and moved one seat over to get away from him. Maybe this would be trickier than he thought.

  "Have you seen the news? The orb?" he asked, but she just ignored him, looking away like he was a crazy person.

  Sitting back in his chair, Luke pondered how to go about this when a sound made him turn the other way.

  "Pst!"

  A woman in her forties with auburn hair with streaks of white through it waved for him to approach from the other end of the waiting area. Her face was sunken and her cheeks hollow, making her look older than she was. "Pst! Come here!"

  Luke stood and walked over. "Yes?"

  "I heard you talking to the lady," she said. "You're a healer?"

  He nodded. "I am."

  She gave a nod, then winced as if in pain before turning to a guy sitting next to her. A twenty-something wearing a white tank top and gray sweatpants, with earphones on. The woman waved in front of his face, then made a shoving motion, telling him to move.

  Luke took the guy's seat and turned to the woman. "You know of healers?"

  "Of course," she said, with a snort. "I've been to a bunch with my pain problem. Crystal massages, aura taming, karma extraction therapy. I've done it all. Problem is, so far, the effects have only been temporary. And now, boy let me tell you, it hurts bad. That's why I'm here, you know?"

  "Right," Luke said. "I'm not talking about that kind of healing."

  "No, of course," she said, nodding with enthusiasm. "You're like a shaman or something?"

  "Sure, let's go with that. Do you want me to take a look?"

  "Please," she said, nodding again.

  Just by being in her proximity, Weaver's Eye told him there was a mass in her stomach, and he reasoned that was to blame for her pain. He didn't know how long she'd messed around with charlatans when she should've received proper medical care, but it'd been too long. Touching her shoulder gave him better insight into the woman's condition, and he closed his eyes, using Threads of Mana to get a better sense of the tumor’s location in her abdomen. From the size and shape of its imprint upon the weave, Luke saw what all the textbook knowledge he'd gathered in his medical studies told him was a malignant tumor. Cancer.

  Luke opened his eyes and looked straight into her face. "What's your name?"

  "Belinda."

  "Belinda, I'm Luke, and I want you to know that I can fix you. Do you believe me?"

  She wet her lips, not even blinking. "Yes."

  Perhaps if she hadn't been so trusting, she wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

  "Belinda, you have cancer." Her breath caught, and she let out a small whine, so Luke took her hand. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you're fine and pain-free."

  "Really?" she asked.

  "Really," Luke said. "But me fixing you is going to hurt. A lot."

  "Hurt? Why?"

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  "That's just the way it works," he said.

  A tear formed in the corner of Belinda's eye, and she wiped it away. "The other healers never hurt me."

  Perhaps blasting it with healing mana would cure the woman without having to inflict pain, like it had helped Alan, but that would take most of Luke's available mana, and regenerating it would require too much downtime. Efficiency was key here. Also, to gain Focus and Willpower, Luke needed to use his focus and willpower, to concentrate and force his will on the problem, not just wash it away in a healing flood. Since she wasn't Integrated herself, Belinda didn't have any mana of her own for him to draw from either. No meta-heart at all. Was that what touching the orb did? Did it put the meta-heart into you? Questions for Guide, if he ever showed up again.

  "That's because they scammed you. Can you take the pain, Belinda?"

  The nod she gave was uncertain at best, but Luke took it as his green light to get started. Holding on to her shoulder with a firm grip, Luke brought forth another Thread of Mana and wrapped that around the tumor in her abdomen, cutting off its blood flow. He felt her wince at that simple little step and worried how well Belinda would be able to handle what came next. Affixing Needle of Life to a Thread of Mana, Luke focused and made as clean a cut as he was able, separating the tumor from the surrounding tissue.

  Belinda cried out and pulled away, but Luke was quick, grabbing her arm with his free hand, holding her down. "Just a little more, Belinda. Be strong."

  "It hurts!" she shouted.

  "Pain is a small price," Luke said.

  Using a third Thread of Mana, Luke ignored her continued whining and began stitching the wound he'd left in her abdomen when removing the tumor. One stitch was enough to produce a loud wail from Belinda, and Luke now heard people talking around them, the sound of steps hurrying.

  "What is going on here?" a voice full of authority called out.

  Luke gritted his teeth. "Just another moment."

  Another stitch, and Belinda let out an open-mouthed cry that hurt Luke's ears, trying to pull away. He held her fast. The wound inside her was bleeding. If he stopped now, he wasn't sure she'd live unless rushed into surgery. Hurrying while keeping his focus up was difficult, and when other people started shouting and then tugging on him, it was just too much, but he couldn't let this poor woman down, no matter how annoying she was.

  Luke used The Healer's Moment. The world around him stopped. Without opening his eyes, he finished closing Belinda's wound with another three stitches, then used both, now free, Threads of Mana to envelop the tumor. Using the thread with Needle of Life, Luke went in and destroyed the tumor. Once satisfied no trace of the terrible ailment remained, he applied just a hint of healing mana to the stitched wound, to soothe the patient's pain right away.

  The Healer's Moment ended, and Luke was pulled off Belinda by several pairs of strong arms. Her shouting and whining stopped in that same moment, and she blinked, bringing a hand to her stomach while Luke was being pulled out and away from the emergency room by a pair of security guards.

  Stumbling outside, the two bastards threw him forward, one of them pointing. "Show your face here again and it'll be the cops next time!"

  They headed back inside, and Luke stood there, unsure of what to do. He hadn't taken the pain into account. In hindsight, perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to heal someone in the emergency room waiting area. Turning toward the busy street with cars honking, people rushing past, talking in or scrolling on their phones like the world hadn't just changed forever, Luke racked his brain for what to do next when the doors to the emergency room opened again.

  "Hey!" Belinda shouted.

  Luke turned back with a nervous grin on his face. "Hey, Belinda."

  "You actually did it?"

  "Did what?" Luke asked.

  She pointed to her stomach. "The pain is gone."

  "Yup," he said, nodding. "You had a tumor in your abdomen. I removed it and patched you up."

  Belinda stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's the first time I’m pain-free in over a year. You're a real healer. How come you're not famous and charging loads of money for this?"

  Luke gave her a light hug back, then extracted himself from her embrace, scratching at the back of his head. "Well, I just got started. The orb, you know?"

  "The Integrated business? I thought that was a hoax. Still, you should share this gift with others!"

  Of course she thought it was a hoax.

  "Well, it isn't a hoax, and as to why I'm not charging you for it.. Let's just say I get something else out of it," Luke said.

  "Ah, a true altruist," Belinda said, impressed.

  "Sure, let's go with that," Luke said.

  Belinda looked up at him for a moment with an almost shy look about her, then turned and walked past, turning in a circle to face him again. "Well, thank you so much. See you!" Then she was walking away.

  "Bye," Luke said, watching her go.

  A young man with thick-rimmed glasses and a fade, of all possible haircuts, wearing a doctor's coat, opened the door into the hospital and exited, panting, as if he'd been running. He stopped right outside, stunned.

  "Luke?" he said.

  Luke blinked, only then recognizing the doctor. "Tim?"