“Putting IV into the external jugular vein,” Erik said. He hit the vein on the first try.
“IV solution four parts Stamina, one part healing solution,” Erik said. The tubing had been primed and there were no bubbles, allowing him to attach it directly into the catheter and let it flow into Chonglu’s body.
Quinn dropped beside them and Erik used the Clean spell on him and passed him tourniquets.
“Open these up and put them around his upper legs and arm.” Erik pointed to the places he wanted them with his right hand as he pulled out a tray of medical tools, using the Clean spell again.
He cancelled his Hallowed Ground, feeling his mana recovering, and took out scissors, cutting Chonglu’s clothes to expose his chest.
“Stamina is starting to stabilize. We’re really low—touch and go here,” Yang Zan said.
“Make sure to take mana pills as needed, and concentrate on conserving. The more mana we expend, then we can’t keep him going.” Erik used a scalpel to cut Chonglu open. He didn’t need to break his breastbone as he opened his chest. His heart wasn’t beating anymore and he looked like a mess internally.
Erik stabbed a needle into Chonglu’s heart and injected the small amount of healing and Stamina concoction held within the needle.
Chonglu’s heart started to recover slowly and Erik turned to the ribs and breastbone, using his Heal Bone spell that made his bones glow. He fused them together, enough to make them stick together but not enough to make them recover completely.
“I’m done,” Quinn said.
Erik put his tools to the side; using the Clean spell, the dried blood fell from his hands. He grabbed one of the arm tourniquets closest to him and yanked on the strap and then took the handle on the strap and twisted it, tightening it a few more times as he spoke.
“Don’t be scared about hurting him! Tighten it up until you can’t anymore and then turn it a few more times.”
“Stamina drop!” Yang Zan said. “Brain can’t go on just my healing spells. Thinking spinal or brain stem tap with Stamina!”
“Shit,” Erik hissed as he massaged Chonglu’s heart, pumping the Stamina and healing solution. The Stamina solution was replacing the blood or revitalizing it, while the healing concoction broke down the clots that were forming and repaired the damaged veins, arteries, and cardiovascular system.
The IV in Chonglu’s neck was also working, but it was going down to the heart instead of up to the brain.
Erik massaged the heart, mechanically forcing blood through Chonglu’s body. He used his Simple Organic Scan, looking through Chonglu’s body.
“Blood now moving to the brain,” Yang Zan said before he fell silent.
The two of them had turned off the outside world, their patient the only thing they were focused on.
Erik paused on massaging Chonglu’s heart and it started to beat by itself.
Erik didn’t have time to be happy as he looked at Quinn.
“They’re tight,” Quinn said, his face pale. He looked just at Erik, not daring to look down.
Erik checked the tourniquets and then pulled out a blade, using his Clean spell on it. “Okay, cut where I leave marks.”
“Cut?” Quinn asked, alarmed.
“Do it or else his body will be strained trying to recover everything and then we could lose him!” Erik yelled and forced the blade into Quinn’s hand, using the Clean spell again to make sure that his hands were clean. Erik took a new scalpel from his tools, cleaned it, and pulled out what looked like a perfume bottle. There was a healing potion on one end and a small air pump with a bendable nozzle.
Erik cut Chonglu’s trachea and put the bending nozzle down and inside, squeezing on the little air pump.
The healing solution turned into an aerosol, spreading through the lungs, and started healing them from inside.
“Need to hold the healing solution. Body is in severe Stamina withdrawal,” Yang Zan said.
“Condition otherwise?”
“Brain is stable. Heart is strong. Cardiovascular system is repairing, but internal bleeding is heavy, leaking all over the place—whole body is trying to recover instead of system by system,” Yang Zan said.
Erik looked over at Quinn, who had removed Chonglu’s first leg. One of the guards standing nearby took it from him.
“Looks like losing the leg reduced the Stamina loss,” Yang Zan said.
“Hurry up, Quinn!” Erik said.
Emboldened by their words, Quinn worked quicker, removing the limbs.
Erik had a pair of tweezers and a scalpel. He removed the bone fragments throughout Chonglu’s body.
Quinn watched over them as Erik and Yang Zan talked back and forth. Yang Zan kept Chonglu stable as he calmly sipped on mana potions. If he did one wrong thing or didn’t notice something, then Chonglu’s condition could collapse in a matter of seconds.
He used an airbag to make Chonglu breathe, using the aerosol healing solution only a few more times before he removed it and healed the trachea.
Erik fused the broken ribs, removed the bone fragments, and aligned his spine again. It was time-laborious work. They needed Chonglu to recover enough Stamina so that their stabilizing spells would be effective and they could continue to progressively heal him.
This kind of healing would be impossible back on Earth and it went against most of what he had been told to do as a medic.
Erik removed the last bone fragment. Chonglu still had massive internal injuries, but his lungs were being made to work with the air bag. His heart was working and pumping the mostly IV solution in his veins; blood was starting to be created again and although recovery was incredibly slow, it was happening.
Erik put down his tools and then started to stitch up the various injuries inside Chonglu’s body. With them next to one another, less healing solution would need to be expended and Chonglu would recover faster.
Erik checked him over once again and rolled back onto his heels, realizing how much his body hurt from being stuck in just a few positions for hours, only moving quickly when there was an emergency.
“Check without healing spells,” Erik said, as he used Simple Organic Scan.
Yang Zan stopped casting his Focused Heal on Chonglu’s brain.
Erik and Yang Zan checked his brain and his body. It was still in critical condition, but now, with time and a very weak healing concoction mixed with a strong Stamina concoction, Chonglu would recover.
“Monitor him over the next hour and make sure that there are no issues without continuous healing spells. We can increase the healing concoction then and he’ll recover faster,” Erik said.
“Yes, sir,” Yang Zan said.
Erik looked to Quinn, who sat in a chair, watching them. “We’re going to need to move Chonglu and his family. If they stay here, another attack might be right around the corner.”
“This is Chonglu,” Quinn said defiantly.
“You think that you can stop people from the Fourth Realm easily?” Erik asked.
Quinn fell silent, gritting his teeth in anger.
“Sir, we stopped people from moving. We didn’t want information to leak.” Roska walked over from where she had been tending to the wounded. “Gong Jin has been in charge of security while I have been in charge of the other medics.”
“Were you able to save many?” Erik asked.
Roska simply shook her head. She didn’t need to say anything else.
“You did good. They’re all to take oaths to agree not to tell anyone about us. Nothing is to leak about this incident. Tell the people that he was attacked, but he repelled the attacker and is leaving to meet with the king immediately. I will head to see Mira Elsi,” Erik said.
“Are you sure that is a wise idea?” Roska asked.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I’ll return within ten minutes.” Erik walked over to the two corpses and waved his hand, collecting them both.
“What are you doing?” Quinn grabbed the hilt of his sword.
“You won’t know who these people are, but I need them as proof. Trust me, the next person who comes will be Chonglu and his children’s greatest shield.” Erik jumped and flew through the window. It was mid-morning now; he had been working on Chonglu for unknown hours.
He flitted over the rooftops. People didn’t even catch sight of him before he dropped into an alleyway. He changed his clothes and walked out to the totem, making it look as if he was just crossing the square before he disappeared in a flash of light.
***
Mira Elsi rushed over to Vuzgal when she got the message, heading to the designated Sky Reaching Restaurant.
She was guided to an empty floor. In it, there was Erik, wolfing down food.
Seeing her and her alone, he looked at the guide; they nodded to Erik.
“I need you to swear an oath that you will not reveal where any information I give you came from, or look into my background or the background of anyone I am associated with,” Erik said.
“Why?” Mira asked.
“I have enough worries—I do not need you as well,” Erik said. Others have probably figured out we’re not from the Ten Realms. As long as they don’t figure out Alva, we’ll be fine.
Mira studied Erik some more as he continued to eat.
“This better be useful or the oath will be annulled,” Mira said.
Erik waved his hand and two corpses appeared. “These two nearly killed your husband and intended to kill your children,” Erik said. The oath came in full force, binding Mira’s words and actions.
The room chilled but Erik wasn’t affected by it and continued eating.
“I can take you to see Cai Chonglu,” Erik said. Elan’s information network was already starting to show some fruits.
Mira tensed at what he was saying but instead chose to take a knee and pulled off the wrappings of the different men and checked their storage rings.
“Does he still use his first name at banquets?”
“Never known him to have a banquet and it took quite a lot to find out his first name—only refers to himself with his last name.”
She looked at him, studying him again before standing. Her words had been another test. “These are people from the Stone Fist sect,” she said, a cold look in her eyes.
“I can take you to Chonglu. You can call on the people who are downstairs,” Erik said.
Mira arched her eyebrow.
“This is my city, after all.” Erik looked out of the window at Vuzgal. He was still surprised by the scenery; the city was growing faster than ever. Rugrat’s actions were a master stroke, increasing the number of people within the city, many times over. People were already asking whether it was possible to increase the size of the city so that there would be more housing available.
“I would be in your debt.” Mira stood and cupped her fist.
Erik could tell how hard it was for a proud person like her and one who had been betrayed by the people she trusted most to make such a statement.
“Follow me.” Erik pulled on a hat that hid his features.
“Why did you do this for me?” Mira asked, unable to hold her question back.
“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for your children,” Erik said bluntly.
Mira fell into silence as she had the others with her and followed Erik.
They left Vuzgal through the totem.
Entering the First Realm, their mana moved slower and there were more impurities within it. Erik and the others felt awkward as their bodies tried to draw more mana in, but the First Realm didn’t have any more mana to give.
Erik guided them away from the totem quickly and then through some alleyways before climbing to the roofs and heading for the castle.
The members of the special team and the guards were still there as Erik and Mira’s people were escorted into the castle and up to where Chonglu was.
Mira, who always seemed to look at the world around her with cold eyes, let out a startled breath as she saw Chonglu’s broken body on the ground.
“He just needs time to recuperate, we think,” Erik said.
Quinn looked at the guests and then to Mira. Erik’s words seemed to break him out of his reverie.
“My lady.” Quinn dropped to his knee.
“Quinn?” Mira looked at him closer.
“While you didn’t age, some of us did,” Quinn said.
There was a noise and Mira turned and looked to see a young boy and girl.
Looking between them, Erik could see the resemblance.
The boy and girl looked tired and distraught. Tears, long dried, left trails on their faces as they looked at this woman.
Felicity rummaged around her neck and pulled out a locket as Feng looked over and then to Mira.
“Mom?” Feng asked.
Mira’s ice empress exterior shattered and tears poured down her eyes. She turned into a blur, leaving falling ice behind as she dropped to her knee, hugging them both.
She tried to say words but could only cry and look at them both, studying and looking at them for any damage.
The group with her spread out to protect the castle.
Roska walked up to Erik. “We have the oaths. They’ll think that we were sent by Mira,” Roska said in a sound transmission.
“Good,” Erik said and moved to one of Mira’s people.
“He needs a mixed healing and Stamina concoction. It would be best if a healer also monitors him at the same time to keep him stable,” Erik said.
Special Team Two gathered themselves up, their job done.
“Look after those two. They awoke their constitutions. Ice phoenix constitutions—should be powerful fighters in the future,” Erik said as he left with the group.
“Thank you!” Mira yelled after him.
“Remember—none of this happened.” Erik looked into her eyes.
Mira nodded as Erik turned and left with the special team. They used the totem to return to Alva.
Once they were safe he took a look at his latest notifications.
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Skill: Healer
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Level: 73 (Journeyman)
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You have become familiar with the body and the arts of repairing it. Healing spells now cost 5% less Mana and Stamina.
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45,948,136/56,900,000 EXP till you reach Level 58
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My Experience gain wasn’t much in terms of my overall, but still, everything adds up. I don’t know what I’ll have to do in order to push forward now. The fastest way is to kill things. With crafting, I can level up, albeit slower. Erik waved his notifications to the side.
“The way that I think of healing people has changed from when I first entered the realms. I would’ve never taken a person’s limbs off unless they were damaged but I took them off to keep more blood in the body and reduce the strain on Chonglu. Stamina and mana play a much larger function than limbs. Everything can be healed or altered with time.”
Erik spoke to himself quietly. He was a little scared with how easily he had changed his ways and adopted methods that any doctor back home on Earth would’ve dismissed as ridiculous. Magic, concoctions, and healing magic made it all possible.
Chapter: Armaments
Rugrat looked at a formation on one side of his workspace and his original rifle from Earth on the other.
“Okay, I’ve adapted items in the Ten Realms to become weapons like those on Earth.” He sat down on the stool in front of the desk.
“Though, that said, weapon technology on Earth still has room for advancement. Sure, the fifty cal machine gun might work as advertised a hundred years ago and a 1911 pistol does the same thing. Reliable is good, but reliable might not be the strongest. Gatling gun—good concept when it started, great gun. Then someone stuck a motor on it and then its rate of fire shot up and the heat was dispersed over multiple barrels to allow cooling.
“Earth weapons are
heavy. They need a ton of ammunition. Ammunition problem is solved with storage rings. Though we still need to increase our production speeds. The weight issue by increasing Body Cultivation. Recoil can also be negated by increased strength, better aim with Agility. Which then gives rise to issues like the rounds aren’t as powerful. With a higher reaction time and greater control over the human body, shooting at longer distances isn’t an issue. But then you have to calculate where that round is going, change up your shooting table. I can do it, sure, but very few people understand math other than the sharpshooters who have mandatory tests and classes.
“Now the other issues with weapons: heat buildup, the amount of ammo that it can store. We’ve got repeating crossbows and bolt action rifles. They’re good but reloading them is a pain in the ass. Also, although we’re building out an ammunition factory, more rounds is always better than less rounds.” Rugrat took out an M32 launcher and put it on the table.
“The charge is made of gunpowder, but then the explosive head is actually just a formation on the round. The power of the round, if it has a formation, isn’t based on its speed or weight, but the material and the formation.” Rugrat lapsed into silence.
“For artillery, we could make howitzers, but that is a hell of a lot of work. And if we improve the mortars, maybe got acceleration formations on the tubes, we could be hitting even farther away with greater lethality. Simpler, easier, still as deadly and with a higher rate of fire. Tube acceleration...if there was a way to do that, if we could accelerate the round instead of using gunpowder. Recoil won’t disappear when you use a rail gun instead of a gunpowder round, but then, if needed, a formation can increase the power that it uses to fire. So say someone increases their Body Cultivation—their weapon shots are as powerful as they can handle without needing an entirely new rifle.
“Also say they’re going up against a powerful opponent. Sure, they might bust their shoulder, but with some healing concoction, they could fight stronger opponents with much stronger defenses. With gunpowder weapons, we would have to keep on finding new powders, just like how I spent days with those rifles. With a formation, we just boost the power. So with magical rail guns, we don’t need the gunpowder, so we can make larger and denser projectiles and cover them with stronger formations, filling or covering them in poisons.
The Fifth Realm Page 21
