Luke placed a hand on Aaron's shoulder and closed his eyes. Before doing anything else, he moved a thread to his patient's heart and meta-heart and another one to his lungs. If this was going to work, he'd need to keep a close eye on the vitals.

  Having no mobility and no feeling at all meant nerve issues, but since Aaron could still breathe, the phrenic nerve was intact. Luke's idea was to restore the other nerves to their old condition, but it would be difficult, to say the least. If he hadn't ranked up Threads of Mana, what he was about to attempt would be impossible.

  Weaver's Eye at Rank 2 allowed him to see the nerves, in a way, but it was abstract, like a representation. Shifting between the physical realm of a patient's body and the metaphysical, where he could see the meta-heart and its mana channels, helped. Still, Luke wished he could go deeper on the physical side of things, so he could see each individual nerve. Perhaps that would be possible once he ranked up Weaver's Eye.

  But if you waited for the optimal time to heal people, it would never come, and you'd never improve. You could always wait until you were a little stronger, but doing so would mean never getting stronger. Using people to improve was an ethical problem, but Luke had already decided that this was his path forward.

  With all those things in mind, Luke brought a third Thread of Mana to Aaron's neck and, as expected, found a cervical spinal cord injury. Shifting his Weaver's Eye to the metaphysical, he saw minuscule mana channels running alongside the bundles of nerves. Mana didn't just follow your blood, then. It ran in channels everywhere. Obvious, once Luke thought about it, but he hadn't even thought to look closer before. He still had a long way to go as a healer.

  Luke moved the Thread of Mana in Aaron's neck this way and that, trying to form a plan of attack. The spinal cord was like a highway of nerves, and the damaged section like a car crash. Now, almost all lanes were closed, cutting off the traffic while cars piled up in both directions. Without those lanes, there would be no sensation and no movement.

  Taking individual nerve strands and trying to connect them would not be possible. Stitching with Needle of Life wouldn't work in this case. That skill was too imprecise for work on such a small scale.

  Weaver's Renewal, his new skill, was an option to consider, of course. Luke, however, didn't think that would work. To use that, he'd need to remove the injury first, like with Alan's tumor. Doing so on the spine, especially in the neck, was dangerous. Too dangerous.

  Once he repaired sensory nerves, another problem would present itself. Pain. Right now, Aaron didn't feel any, but that would change once Luke got started. A complication and a sign things were on the right track. Pursing his lips, Luke withdrew from Aaron and turned to Tim. "Do you have anything you can give him for the pain?"

  "I don't feel pain," Aaron said.

  Luke squeezed his shoulder. "Not yet, you don't."

  Tim crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "I can't give pain meds to someone who isn't a patient. If we admit him, we could make a case for it."

  "About what?" Luke asked.

  "Healing as a Lifeweaver means pain for the patient. Kind of like surgery, no?"

  "That's right."

  "The plan when we return as Lifeweavers after tomorrow is to set up a new type of ward where we'll have greater access to pain relief to help the patients deal with the procedures. Even anesthesia for some."

  "That's a good idea," Luke said. "Can't we get some of that for Aaron?"

  "It isn't set up yet," Tim said. "And you know how strict everything is around pain medication. I had to fight tooth and nail to get it for the kid you healed. It's a whole thing. If you just wait a few weeks, maybe a month or two, Aaron, I'm sure we'll be able to squeeze you in and then you'll be treated by actual medical professionals." He looked at Luke. "No offense."

  "None taken."

  "We already have a list compiled of patients to heal. It's a long list, but I'm sure nerve damage would be of interest to Dr. Wienburg, who specializes in paralysis."

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  "You might get me in after a few weeks?" Aaron asked, shaking his head. "I don't want to wait. If there's a chance for me to regain some of what I've lost. I want it. I don't care about the pain."

  "It could be a lot of it," Luke said.

  "I don't care."

  Lilly was tapping away on her phone but looked up and chirped, "Just heal him already. You said you would."

  "Well, okay," Luke said. "Let's do this then."

  Luke's mana was back to max, and he'd stocked up on mana potions just in case, leaving his credits account near zero again. Mana would be important. Running low was not an option. He tried that with Alan and didn't want to repeat the experience.

  Going back into the neck with two Threads of Mana this time, Luke adjusted Weaver's Eye to work on the mana channels first, ignoring the physical nerve fibers. With this, he was able to group the millions of mana channels into something akin to bundles. Around 15 of these bundles showed up before his inner sight, and he saw slight differences between them. In a sense, you could say their color was different, even if that wasn't quite right. These colors showed their function, Luke figured. Some would be responsible for movement, a few dealt with autonomic systems, like blood pressure and heart rate, and the rest were sensory. He'd need to repair them all.

  Hoping for the best but expecting the worst, he moved a Thread of Mana to the mana channel associated with a nerve bundle, then used the trick he'd learned when dealing with Alan's brain. Healing mana surged outward, like lightning branching out in all directions. This time, the channels on the opposite side were close enough that the healing mana reached them, and to Luke's surprise, one channel responded, shifting. It was almost like it wanted to connect with its counterpart on the other side of the broken-down highway.

  Luke went into that channel with a second Thread of Mana, infusing healing mana into it. The two cut-off channels grew and stretched, latching onto one another, becoming one. Just like that, the first mana channel was restored.

  But the metaphysical part was just one aspect. Now he needed a solution for the physical bundles of nerves. Shifting his vision to the physical realm, he found a host of nerves, thousands of them, moving on their own, like watching a tree grow at 100x speed, the limbs trembling upward, and in this case, downward at the same time. It was a slow process, but Luke waited, watching the nerve endings meet and meld together.

  "Is this what everyone else's healing does?" Luke muttered to himself. It made a sort of sense. Mend the metaphysical and the physical would follow. In Luke's case, it had been the other way around. Since he'd focused on healing the physical, that meant the metaphysical followed. At least he hoped it did, or everyone he'd healed so far would be walking around with broken-down mana channels. This was something he needed to explore much, much deeper, starting with his sister. Perhaps this was the missing piece needed to heal Milla’s lungs back to full function.

  "Whoa," Aaron said. "My hand."

  "Can you move it?" Luke asked without opening his eyes.

  "Yeah," Aaron said, then a moment later, "can't feel anything though."

  "I'm not done yet," Luke said, refocusing. So far, so good. There were many bundles of nerves to put back together. Moving on to another bundle at random was not the best idea, but there was no turning back now. The first mana channel he'd healed restored some motor function. With the second, he wanted sensation.

  Repeating the process was easier now that he knew what he was doing, but a complication reared its ugly head. Aaron cried out in pain, gasping, "It's like someone is stabbing me all over my body!"

  "Hypersensitive pain syndrome," Tim said, raising his voice so it would carry over Aaron's groans.

  Aaron's body trembled, and Lilly spoke up. "What's happening to him?"

  "Keep going, Luke," Tim said. "I'll explain."

  Luke dove back in, holding Aaron's shoulder in a firm grip as he felt his other Threads of Mana pulling on his attention. Autonomic dysreflexia. His heart and blood pressure were going crazy, like with Alan. Restoring the sensory nerve meant latent signals could now cross over. Aaron's brain wasn't used to pain anymore and couldn't regulate it. This was not good. It was like the culmination of all pain-related complications he'd experienced thus far, and now he needed to find a way around it, or Aaron wouldn't be able to go through the rest of the healing. His brain would calm down after some time, perhaps days, but by then, getting to the next rest of the nerves might prove a challenge. Aaron's heartbeat was turning irregular. Not a good sign.

  Focusing on the sensory nerve, dealing with the culprit in Aaron's pain, Luke's first attempt meant flooding a small area with healing mana, but that did nothing. With Ken, Luke had used Threads of Mana to affect the physical as well as the metaphysical, bringing the two together. Perhaps that was part of the 'weaver' aspect of Lifeweaver, combining the two realms. That would be the trick here, too, bringing in the mana channels to help.

  As if by instinct, Luke knew what to do. He pulled on the mana channel associated with the nerve bundle, causing Aaron's pain, and he pushed on the barrier between the physical and metaphysical, shattering it at that small location. That allowed him to force a piece of the mana channel into the physical bundle of nerves. Once that was done, Luke wrapped a Thread of Mana around the two aspects of Aaron's body, the physical human part and the metaphysical part he'd received when becoming Integrated. This forced the barrier between the two realms to remain open.

  Aaron fell silent as Luke opened his eyes, dreading what he would see. He blinked. Aaron just sat there, frowning.

  His sister was frantic, standing with her body in a weird position, arching her back. "What's going on?!"

  Aaron held up a hand, flexing his fingers. He looked up at Luke. "The pain. It's gone."