"I'm just going to take a look at you, OK?" Luke asked again. Not wanting to scare the kid, Luke moved to the side before allowing Threads of Mana out with Weaver's Grasp, through the space between them, and into his patient. It was bad.

  The muscles of his legs were in an awful state, as were the muscles in his abdomen. How the kid was sitting up was a mystery to Luke, who continued his examinations. The heart and lungs were on the verge of giving up as well, with fibrotic tissue replacing healthy muscle, and necrotic tissue breaking down even more muscle, along with a whole lot of inflammation. If this continued, he didn't think the kid would make it to the end of summer.

  After having gained a general idea of what was wrong with him, and the symptoms told him it was indeed DMD, Luke formed a plan of attack. The only reason he knew so much about the disease was that he wrote a paper on it. It didn't get more than a passing grade, but still. What he needed to do was clear away the fibrotic tissue and remove the necrotic bits eating into the muscle, then heal the muscles themselves to promote new, healthy tissue fiber growth. This would be the most complex thing he'd ever attempted, and it would take time to complete, with a good chance the kid would feel pain during.

  "You want me to get something for the pain?" Tim asked.

  Luke looked up at him and nodded. It took a while, but Tim returned with a syringe, glancing back over his shoulder as he entered.

  "What's that?" the boy's father asked.

  "Intramuscular pain relief," Tim said. "It'll dull the pain."

  The father nodded and about fifteen minutes later, Luke was good to go.

  He pulled up a chair in front of the boy and sat down, looking him straight into his eyes. "I am going to make you better, but it will hurt. The medicine doctor Hastings just gave you will help, but there might still be some. You're a strong boy, right? You can handle it?"

  The boy's gaze shifted to Luke's face, but he didn't say a thing.

  "What's your name?" Luke asked.

  "Peter," the father said.

  "Peter," the boy whispered.

  "Like Spiderman?"

  That got a small smile and a nod.

  "Great," Luke said. "Spiderman is strong, so you're strong, yeah?"

  "Yes," Peter said, his voice a little louder.

  Luke glanced over his shoulder at the door again, then leaned forward and put his hands on Peter's. "Here we go."

  First, Luke attempted to heal an area in Peter's leg using the brute-force method, but found it inadequate. While it worked to an extent, it was far too inefficient with how much mana it used. That way, he wouldn't be able to clear the patient's whole body. Resigned to do it the hard way, Luke activated Needle of Life and set to scouring the necrotic tissue from around Peter's heart and lungs.

  Peter whimpered and let out a low cry, but then closed his mouth, bearing the pain like a champion as Luke dug and cut, getting rid of every trace of what the disease had done to the poor boy's chest. It was taking too long, far too long. He used Needle of Life again, going in with a second thread to speed up the process, but that put a strain on the patient's weak heart, forcing Luke to go in with a third thread to release small amounts of healing mana to keep the heart going.

  "You're doing good, son," the father said.

  Satisfied the necrotic issue was gone, Luke set to dealing with the build-up of fibrotic tissue in Peter's muscles, which filled in the gaps where healthy muscle should grow. That didn't seem to pain Peter as much, allowing Luke to withdraw a thread as he continued working. He wasn't done yet.

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

  "Dad!" Peter cried out. "It feels better!"

  Luke kept working, healing the muscle to promote new tissue growth. To his immense relief, muscle fibers grew, not more fibrotic tissue. He'd done it. But even with his manual method with Needle of Life, he had spent a lot of mana using three threads and keeping the boy's heart going, and now he was running out.

  "Tim," Luke said, not opening his eyes, nor stopping his healing. "You need to bring me the Integrated you spoke of. Do it now!"

  "What?" Tim asked.

  "Just do it," Luke said, gritting his teeth. "Wheel him in here, even if he refuses."

  "I can breathe!" The boy's voice was like a soothing balm on Luke's stressed mind, allowing him to keep calm. Luke heard the tears in Peter's words, but they were happy tears.

  "What?" the father asked, his voice moving closer to the floor as he hunched down to get to eye level with his son.

  "Look!" the boy drew in an audible breath, then coughed.

  The father spoke, his voice breaking into a trembling mess. "You can breathe?"

  Luke ignored them all, and the renewed whimpers as he continued to destroy damaged tissue. Healing the muscle afterward would require too much mana, so that had to wait. This, unfortunately, meant prolonging Peter's pain, but there was no way around that. Luke worked, feeling his shirt plastered against his back, sweat pouring out of him. Breathe, he couldn't forget to breathe. One Thread of Mana slipped from out of his concentration, and he flexed, for lack of a better word, his will to catch hold of it again.

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

  "I've got him!" Tim shouted, and Luke heard a wheelchair being pushed inside the room, the door closing with a bang behind them.

  "This the Integrated who needed me?" a deep voice asked.

  "Yes!" Luke gasped. "Come here!"

  The wheelchair approached, and Peter's father moved aside. He was weeping now, holding on to his son, trying to comfort him through the pain. Luke reached out and grabbed a thick wrist and held on. Not asking beforehand, he grabbed the Integrated's mana channel and siphoned mana out of him into himself before pouring it into Peter. He hadn't been certain it would work, taking another Integrated's mana and using it himself, but was thankful it did. Without the new influx, things would've fallen apart.

  "What the fuck man?" the voice cried out, and he tried to pull away, but Luke, in the zone, lashed out with a Thread of Mana, wrapping it around the Integrated's wrist, holding him by force. "That's my mana!"

  "He's using it to heal the boy!" Tim cried out.

  That shut the Integrated up for a moment, but then the complaints returned. "You're taking too much, man!"

  Luke breathed in, dropped his Threads of Mana, and let out a sigh of relief, opening his eyes.

  "It's done," Luke said, looking at Peter. "How do you feel?"

  Peter turned to look at his father. "I feel good. Dad! Look!" He drew in a deep breath, lifted his arms over his head, and even moved his legs a little. His father embraced him and turned into a blubbering mess. Words spilled out of his mouth, but they were unintelligible.

  Luke stood with a wince and a groan, his thighs on fire from the weightlifting. He turned to Tim and nodded, then looked down at the Integrated in the wheelchair. His head was bandaged and his leg in a cast, bruises covering much of his body. He was a big guy, built like a refrigerator, and his dark skin stood in stark contrast to the light blue patient's robe he wore.

  "Luke," Luke said, holding out his hand.

  The Integrated took it, his hand enveloping Luke's, and squeezed. "Hey. Kenny." He looked over to the boy. "How did you manage that? I've tried, man, but my healing won't work like that."

  Luke explained his theory again.

  "Shieeeeet," Kenny said, somehow making the drawn-out word sound thoughtful as he nodded. "Looks like you got one of them advantages and disadvantages situations, then, huh? Healing that sucks for combat but can do this!"

  "Um, yeah. I guess," Luke said.

  Kenny narrowed his eyes then. "Since you went and stole my mana, how 'bout you heal me to make up for it?"

  "I'm a little tired," Luke said, glancing to the father and son still hugging it out. "And you're my competition now, aren't you? For dungeons, I mean?"

  "Don't you be like that now," Kenny said.

  Luke headed for the door, turned, and waved for Kenny and Tim to follow. "Come on then. I guess it's only fair."

  A little later, Luke lay atop his mattress on the floor of his new apartment. Exhaustion held him tight, and he felt himself drifting to sleep, thinking of his promise to Tim, that Luke would return and help more patients, the grinding opportunity that was, and the 3 attribute points he'd gained in a single day. This was just the beginning.

  Something tickled at the back of his mind, and it sent a jolt of excitement through Luke as he opened his Interface, knowing what he'd find.

  Sense Dungeon. Profession skill. Seeker: A new connection to The Greater System drifts closer to your system.