You Want Me to Go Where?

Hannah nodded at the relief on Baird's face. Honestly, he looked a little out of it, like he was coming out of anesthesia. I wonder if there are any adverse effects of mana stimulation. I should probably test that out later before I start testing out the other applications of mana stimulation with Hannah later that night.

"Well, it looks like your skill is more than up to snuff. I think I have an idea of where we can get you some work that won't step on the wrong people's toes," she said, smiling.

"Great, and I've figured something interesting out as well. If you'd like, maybe we could test it out tonight," I said, gazing steadily into Hannah's emerald eyes.

Her slit pupils dilated, and the smile shifted to something more primal and sensual. "Well," she purred. "I do get a little stiff from being on my feet all day. Perhaps a massage is just what I need."

I shifted close to her and inhaled her scent. "Yes, we should definitely get you off your feet and help you feel better," I whispered breathily into her kitty-cat ear. I drew her face to mine and reached for her lips...

And I was brought up short by a finger and a bemused expression. "Hold that thought lover-boy. I still have to work, and you still need to get the job."

I deflated. Well, most of me did; the rest would take a little longer. Clearing my throat, I stepped to add distance between us. "Right. A job. Okay, so, what's the plan?"

"Like I said, I still have to work, but I can bring you over to Jager House after the lunch rush. I still have some friends there that can help you get set up."

"I remember you mentioned there before. What is it exactly?"

"You don't know Jager House?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

Must be famous, but how would I know. "I've lived a very sheltered life. Just assume I've lived as a rock."

"You mean 'under a rock?'"

I shrugged. "That too."

"I guess so," she said, shrugging. "Jager House is one of the three largest adventurer guilds in the world, with branches in every country and every major city. The other two are Chausser House and Vanator House. Of the three, Jager is the one most friendly to new adventurers and the common folk. Chausser is almost exclusive to the nobility, and Vanator is more mercenary than adventure."

"Okay, so why do I need to go there? I'm not really equipped to be an adventurer. Either in gear or skills."

"Jager House also acts as an odd jobs temp agency and training center. Once you register with them, you can ply your trade virtually anywhere and have guild protection. Most low tier adventurers deal with those odd jobs than monster slaying or treasure seeking."

"If you can just go through Jager House, why would any other guilds exist?"

"Most trade guilds offer specific services to their members tailored to that trade's specific needs: resources, connections, and the like. Even for a behemoth like Jager, that would become cost-prohibitive across so many fields. The membership fees would have to increase, and that would start to cut out the common folk. It wouldn't help anyone."

"So, why not join a guild more specific to my skill set?"

"Mostly, the requirements. Jager House doesn't care about all that as long as you can provide the advertised service, but a healers guild has certain requirements for joining that I'm not sure you can meet. As for the other option... I think it's best for you just to avoid Ling House."

That's interesting. I wonder what Ling House is and why she wants me to avoid it. Maybe I'll ask later if I remember. "Okay. So, I just join Jager House, and then what?"

"Well, you create a listing on the Services Offered Board and check-in with the receptionists to see if anyone requires your services. The fact that your technique has regenerative properties will probably net you some customers fairly quickly among the adventurers that can't afford healing services or potions."

"Do you think the effect is good enough to take the place of a potion?"

She shrugged. "Well, it took about half an hour to fix Baird's shoulder, so as far as time goes, potions and healers are faster. However, the effect itself was at least that of a standard healing elixir. Perhaps better. The only question is, how much does it cost?"

I thought about it for a moment before asking, "How much does a healing potion cost?"

"Standard healing elixirs usually cost one silver apiece."

If a healing potion could repair muscle and tissue damage, then that price was quite reasonable. I'd have to undercut the cost quite a bit to make it worthwhile for people to want to take advantage of my abilities. Adventurers that can afford them are going to buy potions still since the application is significantly faster, but for those with a tight budget, they might come to me to save some cash.

There is still a couple of questions, though. Is it healing magic, and how would it affect lacerations? I'm not convinced that Therapeutic Massage could handle it, but Magic Fingers might be able to. I have a few hours, time to do some tests.

Ow. Ow. And just in case you missed it the first two times, ow. To the best of my knowledge, I've never been into cutting myself, and that hasn't changed, but I was in short supply of willing test subjects to become a pincushion, so I improvised.

I stared at a two-inch-long gash oozing blood on my thigh. It wasn't too deep as I'm not that confident in my ability to heal this type of wound. A strained muscle or torn ligament, probably, but an actual open wound strangely seemed different. Maybe because I would be able to see as the wound close, it seemed more like magic than an invisible injury did. It was stupid. I'd seen Hannah use magic, but the idea that I was using it was still a harder sell. I wanted to, but despite all the weirdness, I still had doubts.

I'd be a lot less useful to adventurers if I couldn't close up wounds. I took a deep breath and... had no idea how to do it.

Hey, Alexa, can you give me a hint on how to use Magic Fingers?

[...]

So I take that as a no, huh?

[...]

"Fine," I groaned out loud. "Alright, let's figure this thing out. I can use mana to stimulate the body."

I thought about it and realized something. "Why did I start experimenting with cutting myself open. Note to self: apply the next few levels worth of stat points to INT. I can't keep being this stupid."

Actually, that's a good question. Hey, Alexa. How do my stats match up to the average human?

[All Stats began at a normal human average. Points placed in Stats and rewards from quests have increased individual Stats beyond that point.]

Okay, so I'm not stupid, at least. I suppose everyone makes mistakes, right? This was so obvious, though. It was a straight-up face/palm. Alex practically told me straight out that I could use it to stimulate pleasure. Why not practice that way first. I've got a frigging intermediate handjob skill. I should be able to fap with the best of them, and yet the first thing I do is reach for the wrong blade.

Alright. Alright, stop beating yourself up—too late asshole. Fix the problem, don't bitch about it.

I'm not even sure what to do here. Maybe pinch the wound closed and focus. They say magic is about the will, so, will the mana to close the wound. Easy enough.

Ten minutes later and I was pretty sure that I'd made the frigging wound worse.

[Host may wish to try to perceive the mana within him before making further attempts to heal the wound. It will make directing the mana more efficient.]

Are you serious, right now? You couldn't have told me that ten minutes and a pint of blood ago?

[It is in the host's best interests to solve his problems and not immediately rely on the System.]

Yeah, yeah. I get it. It doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but I get it. A little sooner with the hints would be appreciated. Blood loss is starting to make me dumb.

[... of course, host.]

I needed to get my shit together before Alexa lost all respect for me. How do I perceive mana? What is it? Energy. Where does it come from? I have no idea.

Hey, Alexa, quick question. Where does mana come from?

[RESTRICTED: I'm sorry, host, but that information cannot be accessed at this time. I can, however, tell you that mana begins as universal energy. Beings process this energy into a usable form. The result is what is known as mana.]

Okay, pretty easy so far. How do we process the energy into mana?

[Within the Soul, host.]

Okay, but my soul is in a little hunk of metal somewhere in this body. Whoa, hang on.

A cold shiver ran through me. Did I...?

Alexa, did this body have a soul before I inhabited it?

[Yes, host.]

What happened to it?

[Integration.]

My heart beat faster. Was it even my heart?

Alexa, can you elaborate on exactly what takes place in Integration?

[Integration is the process of refining and assimilating foreign energies into the host's system.]

And what happened to the soul whose body this was?

[Both the target's Soul and Consciousness were refined and assimilated into the system.]

Oh, shit.

[The process was expedited due to the lack of memories or emotions in the target. The target was effectively a blank slate.]

Holy shit. I think I'm going to be sick. The blood loss is probably not helping. This is not good. Am I safe to be around?

Alexa, what triggered the Integration? Why hasn't it triggered since then?

[The Integration process was triggered by foreign energy acting on the host.]

Okay, so it can't activate unless some foreign energy tries to affect me?

[That is not correct. In this case, Integration was enacted as a defensive measure when the foreign energy attempted to assimilate the host into its Consciousness. However, if the host is aware of the presence of a foreign energy source, the host can activate Integration in an offensive capacity. The host should note that this would require a proper medium to facilitate the Integration.]

Okay, so, I'm not going to accidentally suck out Hannah's soul while were having sex, right?

[That is correct, host.]

Oh, thank god. Okay, so, what exactly did I gain from the Integration with Sable?

[That information is on the Status display, host.]

Alright, a more specific question. If I was to use Integration on another person, would I take over that person's body, like I did Sable?

[The host would need to transfer his vessel to the new body before he would be able to Integrate with the biological systems.]

That sounds like a definite maybe.

[Perhaps the host would like to continue his questions after repairing the wound.]

Oh, right. I'm still bleeding.

I close my eyes, or Sable's eyes, I guess. You know what, screw it. My eyes. Got it? They're mine now, and there is no going back. He was a meat suit grown in a lab. Alexa said it; he had no memories or emotions. How did he even have a soul to begin with?

Stop it. Clear my thought. Distracting myself will only let me bleed even longer. Breath in. Breath out. Find my center, the place where my soul resides. Meditate and feel. Can I feel anything? Nope, but I didn't expect to. Who sits down and experiences enlightenment instantly. Pfft. Who the hell am I kidding? I'm not looking for enlightenment; I'm looking for an energy source. So, where is the energy?

Let's try visualization. Maybe it's like heat and radiates out. So, I just need to find the edge and follow it back to the middle. Aaaand, I am searching, getting warmer. Oh yeah, it is a bit like heat but a little different. I can feel it. Holy shit. I did it. I can feel it. Now I can trace it back. Huh? That's not really like heat. More like light, maybe? The 'heat' was from where it touched my consciousness. Wow. Okay. I can feel it now. It's running through me like I'm full of fiber optic cables. That's pretty cool.

[Congratulations. You have learned the art of Mana Perception.]

Awesome. So, now I can perceive it, control it, and use it to stimulate the body. Let's see if I can do all three and close this wound.

It was... easy. Not closing the wound, that part took a little effort, but to move the mana where I wanted it to go. Now that I could feel where it was and where it was going getting it into the right place was pretty easy.

Getting it to do what I wanted, that was a little trickier. Once I figured out what I was triggering, with the help of Alexa, I could do it at will. The only problem was that it was cost-intensive. Not just in mana either. I was tired. It was a lot to heal that little cut.

Alexa? Why did it take so much more energy to heal this small cut than it did to repair Baird's shoulder? The wound was pretty superficial. You caught me. the whole 'pint of blood' thing was pure hyperbole.

[As the host practices with his abilities, they will become easier and more efficient to use. The intermediate skill Massage: Therapeutic has a defined cost to time ratio.]

Okay, so, like skills, there are levels of proficiency within abilities skills. However, for some reason, the Abilities don't list it explicitly. Is there a reason for that, Alexa?

[No. The current settings are merely the default for the system. Would the host like to customize the display?]

I considered it, but I still wasn't entirely comfortable with the system in general, so I'd wait to play around with it until I had a better grasp. I'm guessing some god created the system, and I wanted to see what they had planned before I started putting my own flair on it.