Chapter 10 Part 2 of 2 (Patreon)

He sent a spark of lightning into the man’s spinal column that should have moved his fingers. Erik traced the lightning as it faded out, never making it through. The connections were broken.

Erik sent a few more flashes of lightning through the man’s body. “I think I know what this is. We need to lie him down somewhere before I can get to work.”

The man looked at the attendant that had been feeding him. She pulled out a piece of wood and put it near his hand, in flowing script, words burned into the wood. ‘What are you going to do?’ the man asked.

“First, I want to clear the blockage to your acupoints. Acupoints are very similar to mana gates and I’ve been known to open a few of those in my time. I will heal your acupoints first, then you will temper your body with the Earth element and then the Metal element.” Erik looked at the attendant. “I will check the method to make sure that it won’t create issues.”

His eyes returned to his patient. “With that, you should be able to quickly recover from what ails you. It will take me a few days so I will come here every morning to check on you. Should be complete in two weeks. Shall we proceed?”

‘Do it’

“Very well.”

The attendant and guard moved the man to a bedroom. Erik waiting downstairs with Lydia and Rimy, giving the man some privacy and respecting his dignity.

“How long will you be?” Lydia asked.

“The acupoints aren’t too badly injured, it should only take a few minutes. Should be seeing our next patient in an hour. We’ll go to the ones in the worst condition first.”

“Make sure you don’t pick up another batch of patients when we return, or you won’t be done in a month,” Lydia said.

Erik smiled as the servant appeared. “He’s ready for you.”

“Thank you.” He tilted his head towards Rimy. “Do you have the concoctions and materials needed for his Earth and Metal tempering?”

“I have sent the servant out to gather them. She should return shortly. Are you sure tempering his body won’t harm him?”

“I was asleep for a lot of my elemental tempering, what matters is the harming and hurting to make sure that you’re helping more than you’re harming.” The servant appeared with an ornate box.

Erik went through the servant’s potions and concoctions, laid out in a box. “Okay, this should be enough. With the Metal elements, you will want to go further, this will allow him to temper his body with the Metal element but won’t allow him to assimilate it. You’ll need to get three times the dosage of this Metal tempering kit and have him in a Metal element gathering formation to make sure that he progresses and the Metal element builds instead of reversing.”

The servant backed away with the box.

“I’ll be right back.” Erik went upstairs. He pulled out the prepared needles and took out a needle, injecting a potion through an open acupoint into the mana channels. “That should make it a bit easier.”

He dipped a needle into a mana cultivation potion. Checking his scans, he studied the network of fine hair-like acupoints across the man’s body. He took the needle, lining it up, and tapped it into the small acupoint. Feeling the hardened blockage of his acupoint, he twisted it to drive in deep.

“One done.” Erik worked, hitting the other four in the area that had been badly affected.

He checked his work, already the needles were starting to work, releasing the blockages. He left the room, finding Rimy and Lydia waiting with the guard and servant.

“Here is my sound transmission mark. Take out the acupuncture needles in four hours. Call me once he has completed his Metal element tempering.”

They exchanged information and left.

“So, what’s wrong with him?” Lydia asked once they were away from the manor.

“He has a neural issue. Parts of his nervous system have shut down. When he had the backblast of the mana gathering cultivation, his body was dealing with the damage and his nerves started to retrograde. Even with the healing concoctions, it wasn’t as strong as his own healing abilities. Once they started going, the body thought that they shouldn’t exist, and healing didn’t help. He needs to go through Metal tempering because it will temper and renew his nervous system, rebuilding it. Fixing his acupoints means that his body will be under less stress so it should be easier for him to go through his temperings.”

Lydia pursed her lips and nodded, Erik hid his grin. “There’s few things that are better in the world and more rewarding than healing someone.” He pulled out notes on his next paitents. “And there are plenty of others that need our help!”

The next three days were spent going from patient to patient before Erik returned to his accommodations.

The compound had been taken over by the special teams, in its depths Erik found several cultivation pods and a familiar face.

“I hear you’ve been off healing everyone,” Jen rose from her desk.

“Shouldn’t the head of Alva’s medical studies be off in Alva?”

“Some in-field training never hurt and my staff have things well in hand. Up here I get to be on the bleeding edge of cultivation and there are plenty of bookstores, healers and alchemists that are willing to exchange information,” She grinned.

Erik snorted, hugging her. “It is good to see you.”

“And you, so tell me about your patients.”

They discussed his patients ailments and the different ways he was trying to heal them, losing track of time.

“The man with the nervous system, how did you know what he had?”

“We have issues like it, or the same back on Earth, people who are completely cognitive, but their bodies betray them. It’s nasty to see. Sharp as a whip but their body turns into their own prison.”

Julie shook her head. “That’s horrible.”

“Yes, it is, glad that I’m able to help him here at least. Anyway I was told that you’re the lady to talk to about supercharging my mana gathering cultivation?”

“Get in the pod and roll up your sleeves.” She smiled.

He obeyed as she attached IV bags to the pod and moved a table over with the catheters, needles and tubing she required.

With quick deft movements she set up IV’s in both arms.

“Okay, got the drip going. Just get comfortable and circulate your mana, condensing as you do so.” Julie checked the last of the IV lines and pressed the command, tilting Erik backwards as the glass closed over him.

“Have a good sleep, shouldn’t be long now till you get your Five Aperture heart. I’ve added in Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water elements as well to increase your bloodline and your Water tempering slowly.” Her voice muffled by the glass covering.

“Thanks,” Erik said, giving her a thumbs up as mana rushed into his pod and he closed his eyes.