"We can do that?" Dot asked, her eyes widening. "Deal with the pain? It was really bad when I tried fixing myself."

  "You'll need a few more ranks in Weaver's Eye and Threads of Mana, but yeah, we can. See if you can follow this."

  With Dot closing her eyes in concentration, Luke followed her example and began. Moving at a slow, deliberate pace, he dealt with the nerve bundles. One by one, they went dark, and when he opened his eyes a crack to peek at Dot, he caught her shaking her head in what looked like amazement.

  "Hillary, I'm done with the first step. Now, I'm going to deal with the problem itself."

  "Couldn't catch a damn thing," Dot said.

  "You will. Later."

  It took almost no time at all to destroy the scar tissue and lesions before replacing them with a healthy equivalent.

  "There," Luke said, having finished the healing and removed the nerve blockades. "Done." He raised his voice and leaned right, trying to catch Lilly's attention on the other side of the partition. "You can bring in the next one."

  "That's it?" Hillary asked. "I'm healed."

  Luke checked his experience bar. It hadn't moved much. "Yep. All better. Except the hormone... stuff."

  "I don't feel any different."

  Dot put a hand on Hillary's forearm and gave her a warm smile. "The lesions and scar tissue have all been replaced with new tissue. Your ovaries look like they belong to a twenty-year-old."

  "TMI," Luke whispered to himself as someone new walked over.

  It was an Indian guy with thick, red-rimmed glasses, a wide, flat nose, and a white dress shirt covered in blood.

  "Uh, nice meeting you, Hillary," Dot said. "But I think you need to leave room for the next patient."

  The new guy raised a hand as if to wave, then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell unconscious, dropping to the ground.

  Luke winced. "Ouch."

  "Hurry! Help him!" Dot shouted, waving for Luke to get on with it.

  Using Threads of Mana, Luke forced a thread out as far as it would go, but it wasn't enough to reach the patient, forcing him to stand and step over to him. Judging by the freshness of the blood and how much of it was leaking out of the patient, Luke didn't need Weaver's Eye to tell him this was a fresh injury. Yep. Gunshot wound.

  "He's been shot!" Dot shouted as she heaved, trying to roll the guy over. Her hands were covered in blood. "Someone call an ambulance!"

  The people filming ignored her. They did not stop filming.

  "Dot. It's fine," Luke said, having pushed the bullet out and stopped the bleeding. "He'll be fine. But yeah, maybe we should still call an ambulance. He lost a lot of blood."

  "You healed him already?"

  "Yep."

  Dot raised her hands, looking at her blood-covered palms. "And all I did was panic."

  "You're new," Luke said. "And you haven't even been to a dungeon."

  "What do dungeons have to do with anything?" she asked, dropping her hands into her lap, staining her dress. "I'm never going into a dungeon."

  "They're a crash course in dealing with panic and chaos. Kind of like the ICU." Luke frowned. "You're not going to enter dungeons?"

  She set her jaw and shook her head. "Never."

  "You won't level up much without them."

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  "I gained experience now just from having that skill, Threads of Mana, active and, uh, inside the patients. I'll just do that. Heal people out here."

  "It'll be slow," Luke said after calling an ambulance. The guy was stable but still unconscious, best have someone see to him in a more... structured environment.

  Dot pulled out a packet of wet wipes from the rucksack she'd been carrying and set to trying to get the blood off herself. "I'm fine with that."

  Lilly walked around the partition and fixed her gaze on the patient still on the ground. Two out of three cameras panned to record her. "From the way you're talking, I'm guessing that man isn't dead?"

  "He'll be fine," Dot said.

  Luke got back into his chair and gave Lilly a tired look. "Gunshot victims? Really?"

  "I don't decide who shows up. He was in line. I even allowed him to skip ahead."

  "If you hadn't, he'd be dead now," Dot said, glaring up at Lilly.

  Lilly made a peace sign. "See? I'm doing good here!"

  With that, she was gone again.

  Dot eyed the cameras with a self-conscious look on her face. "I don't like this."

  As if on a signal, two guys wearing workout tops showing off their massive arms rounded the tent, grabbed the still unconscious gunshot victim, and hauled him off.

  Luke held up the bullet he'd pushed out of the wound. "Don't you want this?"

  The two exchanged a look, then returned, still carrying the patient, grabbed the bullet, then were off.

  "Don't think those two were EMTs," Luke said.

  Dot gave him a look. "Oh, really?"

  Another person arrived, a twenty-something guy without a shirt on. His chest, arms, and back were all covered in tattoos of roses, banners with words on them, skulls, and the like. A tattoo of a handgun stuck out over the rim of his shorts. Also, a huge piece with Sylvester Stallone as Rocky covered most of his left leg.

  "Fucked up my arm, ese," the guy said, cradling one arm in the other.

  "Are you a boxer?" Luke asked.

  The new guy's eyes widened, and he crossed himself, wincing as he moved his injured arm. "How'd you know? This ain't no devil worshippin' ting, is it?"

  Luke pointed to Rocky. "Nothing like that. Your bicep tendon is ruptured."

  "This is too spooky."

  "Dot. This one is perfect for you."

  "It is?" she asked.

  "Who're you?" the patient asked.

  "Dot," she said, getting to her feet. "I'm also a healer."

  "Luis," the patient said.

  Luke got up and stood next to them. "You just go in and stitch the tendon back together with Threads of Mana and Needle of Life. It's still attached to the bone, too, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

  She swallowed hard, doing her utmost to hide the nerves from Luis. "I can do this. I will do this."

  "Hol' up," Luis said. "That Lilly girl said we'd be fixed by someone who knows his stuff."

  "My protégé here is qualified, and I'll jump in if necessary," Luke said, going in to numb the pain. "How's that?"

  Luis's expression relaxed. "That's the stuff, 'olmes."

  Dot raised an eyebrow. "Protégé?"

  "Just go in and use Needle of Life. It'll be like you already know what you need to do, like it’s part of the skill, almost. If something goes wrong, I'll help." Luke leaned over to Luis. "Nothing will go wrong."

  "That's good, cuz. I need to get back in the ring."

  "You really shouldn't return to boxing right away," Dot said. "The injury needs time for recovery, no matter what."

  "You don't know my story," Luis grunted.

  Luke nodded to Dot. "Just heal the man. I'm already there, and I'll show you how to get started."

  Once Luke felt her presence, he made the first stitch connecting the tendon still attached to the muscle to the piece still on the bone. After that, Dot took over. Her focus was impressive, and she didn't drop the thread a single time. Perhaps she added a few stitches too many, but that wouldn't hurt Luis.

  "There," she said, a little out of breath. "I did it!"

  "Hell yeah, you did!" Luis shouted, extending his arm again and again, testing it.

  Luke removed his blockage around the nerve bundles. Luis flinched but didn't comment. Instead, he grunted a brief thanks, and then he was off.

  "I did it," Dot said, still breathing a little hard, her cheeks flushed with color as she watched Luis go, her eyes twinkling with joy.

  "Feels good, doesn't it?"

  She nodded. "This is it. What I've been looking for."

  "Real healing."

  "Yeah," she said, grinning. "Healing. I even leveled up."

  "Nice," Luke said, raising his hand for a high-five.

  Dot threw her arms around his chest and squeezed. "Thank you!"

  Then she seemed to realize what she was doing and let go, stepping back, her face now even redder. "Sorry, I, uh."

  "It's fine," Luke said, her excitement more than a little contagious. "Want to do another?"

  After that, a constant stream of people passed through their healing tent. Some were simple injuries, like with Luis, and Dot dealt with those to gain experience, both in the literal and figurative sense. Internal bleeding, broken bones, lung fluid, and many other problems. Dot worked through them like a champion, even gaining another level in the process.

  Luke treated a host of cancers, some minor brain injuries, and helped with a partial aorta blockage, which would've meant a rupture if left untreated. Over the course of several hours, he saw the experience bar tick upward at a slow but undeniable pace. While he didn't level up, he couldn't deny it was time well spent.

  Boon of Potential grants you an attribute point (+1 Focus).

  Boon of Potential grants you an attribute point (+1 Willpower).

  Boon of Potential grants you an attribute point (+1 Wisdom).