Luke woke with a start, having no idea where he was.

  "Easy," someone said.

  It was a man in his late thirties, maybe early forties, with light blond, almost white hair. He was clean-shaven with sharp features and intense eyes, wearing a black tracksuit with white stripes along the arms and legs. He was holding a familiar-looking item.

  "Mana potion," Luke croaked.

  The guy looked at him, then realized what Luke had said and held it up. "Yeah, mana potion. Came to check on Mr. Schmidt and found a group of doctors trying to start your heart back up."

  Luke dragged a palm across his face and then used a finger to pick away crud at the corner of his eye. "Yeah. I think I overdid it." His eyes widened. "Did Alan make it?"

  "Still unconscious, but stable." The guy reached his hand out. "I'm Martin, by the way."

  Luke took it and shook. "One of Alan's Integrated bodyguards?"

  Martin chuckled. "Something like that."

  "So, I guess you saved my life," Luke said, peering out the window. "Am I still in the office building?"

  "Don't mention it," Martin said. "And yes, Mr. Schmidt's room is just over on the other side. I thought it best to get away from all those white coats. Don't trust doctors."

  "What about healers?" Luke asked.

  Martin grinned down at him. "We'll see."

  Luke tested his legs and arms and found them working. His head was still muddled, like he needed sleep, but he seemed otherwise fine. His meta-heart was working overtime regenerating mana, but Luke was in no danger of collapsing again.

  "I should get going," he said.

  "You don't want to wait for Mr. Schmidt to wake up?" Martin asked.

  "No. I'll check in on him and make sure he's okay, but I don't have time to sit around."

  Martin held out a card. "Why don't you take my number in case you need to talk with Mr. Schmidt, but can't? Also, reach out if you need to fill a slot for a dungeon."

  "Sure. What's your class?"

  "Phase Blade."

  "That's like an assassin?" Luke asked.

  "Sort of. It has some stealth elements, but there's more to it than that. Why don't you punch me, and I'll show you."

  Luke took a step and shook his head. "Can barely stand. Another time."

  "Sure," Martin agreed. "Another time."

  Luke nodded to the room at the far side. "Doctors still in there?"

  "Just a nurse keeping an eye on things. The doctors cleared out almost right away after I poured the mana potion into your mouth. Don't think they care for Integrated."

  "Wonder why." Luke snorted. They had a little laugh together, and Luke walked up to Alan's room to approach the bed. Alan looked small, withered, but his skin tone was healthy and his breathing steady. Luke put a hand on his shoulder and made sure his meta-heart was doing its job, then moved on to check the brain. Perhaps he'd overdone it a little, because the new tissue was even more full of mana channels than the rest of the brain, and it lit up bright under Luke's attention, showing a lot of activity. A good thing, he figured.

  He turned to Martin. "Alan seems fine. I'm going to head out now. Need to check on a friend."

  "Want me to get you a car? A driver can drop you off anywhere."

  "Actually, yeah," Luke said. "That would be great."

  Ray lived quite far from the building, far closer to the orb, and within ten minutes, Luke was being driven in a black car with tinted windows, feeling like he was some dignitary or a high-ranking government official. All that was missing was the security guards.

  That car ride gave him some time to think about what he experienced just before losing consciousness. The entire world and everything in it were just one massive weave, with an infinite number of threads going every which way. The potential there and how that connected to Luke's class were mind-boggling. Above everything else, it made him want to get strong enough to reach out to those weaves and see what sort of marvels would be made possible by doing so. Darkness had lurked beyond that weave. The void. Was it the same void Guide mentioned? It made little difference. Either way, Luke had to admit how that darkness made him feel strange and uncomfortable. The way it'd regarded him, like a living thing with intent of its own. Curiosity, almost.

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  Luke shuddered and pushed that feeling away, focusing on other things. Things he could deal with now.

  Once he'd checked on Ray, it was time to work on the problem of pain. Luke had some ideas, but he wasn't sure how viable they'd be. Some reading would be required, and perhaps a field trip back to the hospital to see a couple of doctors and talk about the subject. There were pain meds, of course, but it wasn't a viable option to carry that around and dose everyone he healed. Most medications weren't fast-working enough for that, anyway. With more healers popping up, he needed a solution to this problem, or Luke would get left behind. No one would want a healer who made you cry out in pain every time.

  Helping Alan had given him a chunk of experience. Gaining levels through healing people outside of dungeons was a viable way of grinding experience and gaining Attributes, but it wasn't as fast, and he admitted to himself, not as exciting. Safe, but in the end, boring.

  The car dropped him off right outside Ray's apartment building. It was getting late, and drowsiness battled against Luke's attention span. Sleep. He needed sleep, and he needed it soon. A lot had happened during this long day, and he pondered the experiences while trudging up the five flights of stairs. The elevator was broken, had been for months. The place smelled like an alleyway next to a bar with only one bathroom. Sounds of shouting reached him from inside the different apartments, and quite a few people were passing him on the stairs.

  After reaching the right floor, Luke had to stop for a moment and gather his breath. His legs ached, still a little sore from the weight training with Vasilij. Luke would need to head back there the next day, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of dread at the prospect of more squats, but strength would be important going forward, so he'd still go. Then there was the martial arts training and running. All of a sudden, it seemed like there were too few hours in a day.

  Ray shared an apartment with three other guys, all in their early twenties, so the apartment was often booming with sound from one speaker or another, or shouts, not from parties, but from someone raging at whatever game they played that day. Today, though, it was dead silent inside. Strange.

  Luke knocked on the door. Three loud raps. After not hearing a sound for a long moment, Luke banged on the door again. "Ray, I know you're in there!"

  After waiting a little while longer, he banged a third time, and the lock clicked as soon as he withdrew his hand. The door opened just a crack, showing a dark entryway behind Ray's pale, sweat-streaked face. His friend's eyes were red and swollen, and his brown hair was matted against his forehead, greasy from sweat.

  "You look like shit, Ray," Luke said.

  "I feel like it," Ray muttered. "Go away, man. I need to sleep."

  Ray made as if to close the door, but Luke put his foot in the way. "I'm a healer, remember? Let me fix you up."

  Ray stopped for a moment, as if considering the offer. "Nah, I'm good. Just need to sleep."

  "You look half dead," Luke said. "Just let me heal you."

  A smell wafted out from the apartment. One that made Luke's stomach turn. "What's going on in there, Ray? Where are your roommates?"

  Ray swallowed hard. "Gaming in their rooms or at work. Don't know, don't care. Look, just get the fuck out of here so I can sleep. I'll call you tomorrow."

  He tried to close the door again, but Luke didn't let him. "Why don't you let me inside so we can talk?"

  "We have talked. I don't have anything to say right now. Just give me a few days and I'll be back to my old self."

  "Nah, I don't think so," Luke said. "There's obviously something wrong with you. Just let me help you."

  "Fuck off!" Ray barked, once again attempting to close the door.

  Luke grabbed it with both hands and forced it open. Ray cried out, as if in pain, and his arm dropped to his side. The smell assaulted Luke once the door opened, and Ray took a step back, and another, turning to shuffle into the apartment, hurrying away from Luke.

  "Ray? Where are you going?" Luke said, following into the gloom, hitting the lights switch, which did nothing. Glancing up at the breaker box, he saw that all the fuses had been removed. Luke didn't want to go deeper into the apartment. Not alone. But it was his friend in there, and Ray needed help.

  With the staff brought out of his Inventory, Luke followed Ray, struggling with the stink. The sound of buzzing flies grew more pronounced until it was all that he could hear. It was coming from the kitchen, both smell and sound. Spoiled meat left out in the sun, or something worse. Luke glanced into the kitchen and saw someone on the floor, long dead, and almost vomited from the smell. Rather than going into the separate rooms, where he was afraid he'd find more of the same, he continued into the living room.

  Ray sat on the couch, his face blank in the darkness. The blinds were down, and Luke hurried over to the windows to pull them up and let in some light. He looked back when he did so and saw a flash of something across Ray's face when the light hit him. Something, someone, he hoped never to have to see again. Someone who should be dead.

  His friend was still in there. Luke could see that in the look Ray gave him, his eyes wide with fright. Raising his arm, he showed with skin the color of ash, mottled with red lines that almost seemed to glow. Ray's lips formed a word, but rather than speak it, he disappeared into thin air, going into stealth. The word was help.

  "Ray!" Luke shouted, running up to the couch, trying to grab Ray, embracing only empty air. He fell into the couch but pushed himself off it as the sound of Ray's running disappeared down the hallway and out the door.

  "Relian!" Luke shouted, following after. "Relian, you let my friend go!"

  The Fallen Shepherd had escaped. It’d all been ruse, the whole of the pink dungeon. Just a way for Relian to escape.