Chapter 16 - Medical Marvel

The group stood at the riverbank for what felt like an eternity, their gazes fixed upon the seemingly endless horde of creatures pouring out of the dropship. The ship had also begun unloading its structures, scattering them about the area. Already several formidable water creatures casually swam past them down the river, their imposing size clearly surpassing the group's capabilities.

"Well that's disheartening," sighed Trev, breaking the silence.

Perched atop a distant bridge, a moderately sized dragon scanned the area, its predatory eyes searching for prey. Spotting what appeared to be a goblin that had strayed too far, the dragon pounced, incinerating the creature with a burst of flame. There was no way they could advance through such an area, and attempting to navigate between adjacent dropships might only lead them into the path of another incoming ship. It seemed wiser to remain in the starting area, patiently awaiting the completion of the transformation process before venturing out. This way they wouldn't run into any surprises.

"There goes any hope of me ever getting home," sighed Elena. "That pretty much proves there is no escaping this bullshit."

"Do you have a backup plan?" Asked Trev.

"Kill whoever is responsible for this," replied Elena, her expression resolute.

Trev raised an eyebrow.

"That's certainly a plan, but how do we go about it?"

"There must be some sort of administration aboard those dropships, I doubt they are run autonomously. Our first step is to find a way onto one of those ships and extract the answers we need. But before that, I need to pay our little Ent friend a visit." smirked Elena.

~~~~

The death of the goblin chieftain had thrown the goblin organisation into disarray, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of their territory to other creatures. As Trev and the others retraced their steps through the previously traversed area, they encountered a variety of new adversaries. Their first encounter was with an imp, a foot-tall creature that hurled fireballs at them. The imps had red bodies with black wings, pointy noses, squinty eyes, forked tails, and horns on their heads. Elena, momentarily immobile, fell victim to an imp's fireball, scorching her jacket, However, Emilee quickly sniped the imp out of the air with an iceball, killing it. This pattern repeated with other creatures they encountered—charge or attack, then Emilee's precise shots with ice balls dispatching them. She was a good shot, though hardly surprising from a police officer.

After about an hour, they reached the river rest stop, having acquired fifteen copper coins,and gained experience, almost levelling up. Although they had only been gone for a day, significant changes were evident. The area teemed with people seeking refuge from the relentless creatures. Their path to enter the rest stop was obstructed by individuals scattered across walkways, pleading for food and money. Most of the people didn't even have a watch yet, but there were some who looked like they had actually made an effort to kill the creatures, with a select few joining them at level two. Due to the crowded conditions and Elena's wound, Trev and Emilee decided to leave Elena outside, which turned out to be a fortunate decision for Spruce.

Upon entering the rest stop, the market stalls remained vacant, now serving as makeshift beds for tired people. In the corner of the room, standing behind his small watch stand, stood Spruce. He looked as if he hadn't slept. His leaves were droopy, and weariness emanated from his appearance.

Spruce muttered robotically in broken English, "Watch, one coin," pointing at his sign.

"Hello Spruce," smiled Emilee.

Spruce awakened from his robotic stupor and returned the smile.

"Hello! We meet again," he said, pretending not to be exhausted.

"My Friend has been injured, how much is it for a couple of rooms for the night?" Inquired Emilee.

"It's one silver for a night per room. We also offer healing services. What type of injury does she have?" Spruce replied.

Trev was shocked that they had the ability to heal wounds until he remembered the third noise that healed his bullet bruise.

"It is a couple of stab wounds," he answered

"That will be two silver for a moderate injury," stated Spruce.

Emilee exchanged a glance with Trev, who retrieved their coin collection and handed Spruce two silver coins and a hundred copper coins. Spruce was visibly surprised by their possession of actual currency.

"We would like the healing services and one room please," smiled Trev.

"Thank you for your patronage!" Spruce exclaimed! "Where is the injured one?"

"She is still outside," replied Trev.

"Is it the angry one?" asked Spruce.

"Yes," Trev confirmed.

Spruce gulped, weariness returning to his face.

"Well, bring her to that door over there, and we'll get her patched up," he gestured toward an arched metal door in the corner.

Trev nodded and went to fetch 'The angry one'. Using Trev as a crutch, Elena slowly limped over and around the crowd. After about five minutes, they made it to the door, where they waited for Spruce. Moments later, Spruce emerged from the door and signalled for them to enter. The room they entered was small and square, featuring a metal bed at its centre, a small console on the wall and a pure white facade. Above the bed, three devices of varying sizes hung from long arms, resembling dental lights. They ranged from a quite small square, to a rectangle the length of the bed. These, Trev surmised, were the tools corresponding to different injury levels. On a console, Spruce pressed the middle of three large rectangles, which led to a prompt showing two silver coins. He inserted the coins into the slot, activating the medium-sized arm above the bed, which descended to a reachable height.

"Please remove the bandages, uncover the affected area, and lie down," instructed Spruce.

Elena followed his directions, revealing the fresh blood seeping from her stab wounds. Spruce positioned the arm over the wounds and pressed another button on the console. The arm illuminated, and suddenly, the air between the arm and the bed shimmered, refracting visible light. Before their eyes, the two stab wounds closed, drawing the seeped blood back inside Elena's body.

Trev couldn't help but be awestruck by this extraordinary medical marvel. If this portable setup possessed such incredible capabilities, he wondered what the third noise that had healed his bullet wound could have achieved for humanity. Did it cure cancer and disabilities? There is no way he could know unless he met someone with these ailments first hand.

From the three noises, the first, the weapon destroying noise was understandable considering the context of the game, humans would have been overpowered and it would make the game unbalanced. Also, likely the governments of the world would consider this invasion as an act of war and send their entire arsenal at the dropships. The healing pulse also made sense, it was intended to give every human a fair chance, but the technology destroying noise was just plain inconvenient for a world used to it. He wanted to know what was going on outside his immediate vicinity.

As the machine completed its work, Elena sprang to her feet, testing her newly healed leg with a bounce. Her face beamed with a brilliant smile as she fixed her gaze upon Spruce, her eyes shimmering with determination.

"Since you healed me, and seeing how exhausted you look, I'll make an exception because we don't have a strict deadline. But tomorrow, before we leave, I have some questions for you, Spruce," Elena declared.

Spruce looked visibly scared, but Trev understood why. Anyone would be scared if such a formidable woman declared such things before them.