That night, Natsunishi lay on the guest room's tatami mat, his eyes fixed steadily on the ceiling.
At this moment, his focus was not on his Flame Breathing progress, but rather on the life skill [Medicine].
[Medicine LV.3 (741/2000)]
[Overview: A healer's heart with skillful hands; the principles are difficult to grasp without innate intuition. Though it cannot reverse life and death, it can often turn the tide in the face of collapse.]
[Effects: Systematically master knowledge of anatomy, pharmacology, etc. Capable of handling common external trauma and disease diagnosis. With system assistance, complex treatment plans may be attempted.]
Although Shinjuro didn't seem particularly welcoming toward them, Natsunishi's player instincts were constantly reminding him that the Rengoku Estate held a massive quest!
The wife of a key NPC was suffering from a critical illness, and he just happened to possess the [Medicine] skill. In a high-freedom game like this, even someone thinking with their toes could guess that this was likely a trigger for a hidden storyline.
Without the medical skill, one would probably just follow the script and learn Flame Breathing step-by-step. But what if he could cure Ruka's illness? There would definitely be extra rewards!
The problem was whether his Level 3 Medicine was sufficient. After all, in most games, even if a skill could trigger a hidden branch, there was usually a level threshold.
Level 3... To be honest, Natsunishi wasn't very confident.
Well, there was no use overthinking it. For now, he had to sleep.
[Skip]
In the adjacent room, Shinobu Kochou could hear Natsunishi's murmurs and steady breathing just a moment ago. Then, in the blink of an eye, the sound of rhythmic, light snoring drifted over.
This "Big Radish"—did he really have to fall asleep that fast?
The girl huddled in her blankets, tossing and turning in the unfamiliar environment, unable to drift off. She had actually been thinking about knocking on his door to talk to him.
The Next Morning—
Shinobu Kochou slowly opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. Right—she was at Mr. Rengoku's house. She seemed to have fallen asleep very late last night.
Stretching her limbs, Shinobu sat up groggily, her eyes bleary as she reached for her demon slayer uniform folded by the pillow. As she turned, she suddenly locked eyes with a pair of calm, watching eyes.
Natsunishi was sitting cross-legged by her bed, looking as though he had been waiting for a long time.
"Oi, you're finally awake."
"Big Radish, you're up so ear—wait? Ah!"
Shinobu snapped to her senses, unable to stop herself from crying out. Why was this guy in her bedroom?!
She instinctively felt her body; fortunately, her sleeping undergarments were perfectly intact, and nothing untoward was exposed. Just as she was about to puff out her cheeks and demand an explanation, Natsunishi's words cut her off.
"Don't shout. I have serious business to discuss."
Natsunishi really wanted to try triggering the quest. Not waking Shinobu up earlier was already a show of restraint. He said quickly, "Shinobu, I want to talk to you about a treatment plan for Lady Ruka."
The girl's hands, which were clutching her covers, relaxed slightly.
"Big Radi—Kuguruma-kun, didn't you say you only knew a 'thing or two' about medicine?"
Natsunishi replied, "I only know a bit about local Far Eastern medicine, but I never said I didn't know Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine."
Shinobu couldn't tell for a moment if he was joking.
"The medicine you brought from the Butterfly Mansion—how was the effect after using it yesterday?"
"Medicine doesn't show results that quickly—"
"And the truth? Speak from your conscience."
"Well..." Shinobu fell silent for a moment before whispering, "The effect of the new medicine... is negligible."
"Let me try," Natsunishi said.
Shinobu hesitated. It was at that moment the paper door was slid open with a shloop.
"I heard Miss Kochou scream just now and thought an intruder had broken in!" Kyojuro stepped in, brimming with energy. He then shouted somewhat sheepishly, "So you two were already up! Well then, good morning!"
"Rengoku, Shinobu and I were discussing a new treatment plan. It might have some effect on Lady Ruka's illness."
The owl-like youth's smile stiffened slightly, his eyes filling with a mix of surprise, anticipation, and hope. His brief contact yesterday made him feel Natsunishi was a steady and reliable person. Since he said so, perhaps...
"Big Brother Kuguruma, please, you must examine my mother!"
Even the honorific had changed.
Natsunishi turned back to look at Shinobu, his gaze saying: Let's go, you can't back out now.
The girl sighed. "You two—before we go see Lady Ruka, could you at least let me put my clothes on?!"
Ten minutes later, Natsunishi and the other two stood outside Ruka's room once more. Nearby, Shinjuro sat blankly staring at the sky.
Natsunishi spoke cautiously, "Mr. Rengoku, regarding the Lady's illness, I have some... different ideas. I'd like to try once more alongside Physician Shinobu."
Shinjuro's bloodshot eyes turned toward him, filled with suspicion and impatience.
Natsunishi quickly added, "I know the Butterfly Mansion has done its best, and Physician Shinobu's skills are superb. However, I once studied under a powerful traveling doctor and learned some unconventional conditioning methods. It might provide a new perspective. I can't guarantee a cure, but at least... perhaps we can make the Lady a bit more comfortable."
Perhaps it was the phrase "make her more comfortable" that moved Shinjuro. Or perhaps it was Natsunishi's calm expression and his status as a Butterfly Mansion medical assistant.
Shinjuro remained silent for a long time before grunting from his throat, "Fine... try again."
Shinobu and the young Kyojuro exchanged a look before following Natsunishi into the room.
In the inner chamber, the pale but still gentle Lady Ruka lay on the tatami, looking somewhat surprised to see everyone enter.
"Pardon the intrusion, Lady/Mother."
Natsunishi, however, was not subtle at all: "I will be the primary physician today, so rest easy."
Looking at the complex symptom descriptions on her status panel, Natsunishi indicated it wasn't a major problem.
System, don't let your old man down.
[Medicine! Activate!]
His vision shifted instantly. The real-world scenery was overlaid with a semi-transparent system interface and UI. A glowing blue analytical layer enveloped Lady Ruka. Data that Natsunishi couldn't quite comprehend kept popping up, expanding around her like background special effects.
Deep organ failure, accompanied by stasis in Qi and blood circulation...
Critical condition; conventional therapies have hit a bottleneck.
[Please design your treatment plan]
Natsunishi's mind raced, coordinating resources like he was in a strategy game. He began combining options on the panel.
First was the three-way strategy choice:
The pale blue [Conservative], the light red [Aggressive], and the light purple [Unconventional].
Based on Natsunishi's experience during this time, conservative strategies were generally low-risk, low-reward. Given Ruka's condition, the effect likely wouldn't be much better than the Butterfly Mansion's current plan. As for aggressive, Natsunishi worried his Level 3 Medicine couldn't handle the pressure, which would lower the success rate.
As expected, strange diseases required "Unconventional" thinking.
Selection: [Unconventional]
Step two was choosing medical tools (Multiple choice).
[Local Materials (Disabled)]: Indoor items are insufficient to support the [Unconventional] plan.
[Search Nearby for Simple Equipment]: Can search the Rengoku Estate for items left behind by previous doctors.
[Exquisite Medical Tools]: The tools within the refined medical kit Shinobu Kochou carries from the Butterfly Mansion.
[Expensive Imported Facilities (Disabled)]: No expensive imported facilities currently available.
Shinobu's toolkit was professional and a must-use. However, "Unconventional" might require some non-standard items. Thus, he checked both [Exquisite Medical Tools] and [Search Nearby for Simple Equipment].
Next to pop up was the treatment duration.
[Short]: Rapid administration, low burden on the patient, but difficult to complete complex interventions.
[Medium]: Allows for systematic conditioning and phased operations.
[Long]: Can attempt multi-stage, multi-method comprehensive treatment, but requires consideration of the patient's physical and mental stamina.
There was no question here; Natsunishi decisively chose [Medium].
Finally, step four was the final and most important part of constructing the plan: choosing the intended outcome. Not every treatment was conducted with the goal of a complete cure. After all, this was medicine, not a "healing spell."
[Relief Orientation]: Alleviate current symptoms and complications. (The header was blue; through his long career as a doctor, he knew this represented a high success rate.)
[Healing Orientation]: Bring the disease itself under control or move it toward a positive state. (Usually a blue option, it was currently yellow. The last time he saw this color was when a swordsman's hand was destroyed by a Blood Demon Art. It represented a low success rate.)
[Eradication Orientation]: (Currently grey and unselectable.) [Exceeds current medical operation range].
Natsunishi swapped several combinations, but while the colors of the first two buttons shifted, [Eradication] remained unselectable.
Natsunishi took a deep breath.
[Plan Confirmed: Unconventional · Mixed Tools · Medium Duration · Healing Orientation]
[Loading auxiliary modules...]
[Generating herb and equipment list...]
The system could only take him this far. The rest was "Natsunishi's" battlefield.
Natsunishi gradually focused his mind, preparing to face the upcoming medical QTE (Quick Time Event) mini-game.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi