"Tsk, only the healer comes up, I'll trade," Nuel replied aloud as well, imitating the commanding tone of a certain lieutenant.
"No, ya can't do that. Another of us will climb up with the healer. Take it, or we'll leave."
"...I'll take it."
Nuel compromised, his life was on the line after all.
Two sets of footsteps could be heard ascending the broken staircase - the one leading heavier than the one behind.
Then, a man and a woman in the familiar ragged clothing appeared from the staircase, Nuel's torchlight was bright upon the pair.
The well-built man in front was wearing a thick dusty jacket with his grey hair ruffled under a dark brown cap as he climbed up the stairs. His hazel eyes and thick gray beard brimmed from behind a black respirator mask.
「 ...typical male soldier NPC... 」
Despite the respirator he wore on his face, his gait and most noticeably, his 'experienced and sharp' mental signature suggested that he may be in his late 50s.
A modified Old World rifle hung lazily in his gloved-hands, as his pair of combat boots stopped a few meters from where Nuel was standing.
「 A Civilian with a combat-subclass??? No, no, no, seems more like an actual Soldier... 」
Nuel glanced at the Soldier's company who was walking a bit behind; she was wearing a long, beige coat while carrying a relatively large dark-blue canvas storage box on her back, like it was some sort of camping backpack.
She had also a respirator mask on, but her facial features confirmed that she was in her early 30s.
「 ...and of course, the healer is always an oneesan, I see... 」
"Hey, ya seem alright. From the Inner Ward?"
Nuel was holding his up aiming at the two people with only his right hand, with his eyes locked at the female with the rifle. His left arm was simply hanging awkwardly.
"...I have two bullet wounds at my chest, blunt damage on my left arm, another bullet wound at my right shoulder, and another at my lower right leg."
The woman in beige coat walked closer before she turned to look at the Soldier.
She then nodded and approached the wary Nuel with a 'don't-worry' smile.
"I'm going to remove the bullets first, so I need you to remove your exosuit, mister. Oh, don't worry about Old Luke, he won't shoot my patients."
Nuel took a gander at 'Old Luke', who had turned his back to him, before he complied to the request.
Of course, he kept his Precognition-ability active just to make sure.
He did not unequipped the Schwei via the [ EQUIPMENT ] tab, instead he manually removed the rust-accented exosuit and walked out of it in his bloody and badly-torn medical robe.
The healer was obviously surprised to see his body's bad condition; she motioned him to sit first and lean against the wall before she put the canvas bag on her back down and began taking out a few medical supplies and tools.
Then, as she knelt beside him, with her surgical gloves on, she slowly began her treatment.
A holographic progress bar immediately appeared floating on top of him.
Nuel's [ HP ] +0.1.
Nuel's [ HP ] +0.1.
Nuel's [ HP ] ...
...
Ding!
_____
You are undergoing an unidentified medical treatment.
The and the are slightly being suppressed.
Please wait a moment...
_____
"My name's Sophea by the way, and to be specific, I'm a Mystic Physician..."
「 Mystic Phy- MYSTIC PHYSICIAN?!! That, wow, that's a f**king rare subclass, even more so for an NPC! Should I start farming her favourability points now...? 」
"A Mystic Physician, huh. You can call me Nuel. I'm a Mechanist."
"Oh, ya mechanist? Like a mechanic or something? Ya repair guns? Tanks? How about mechs? Oh, ya gonna like Mackie - he's a full-blown Techie, I tell ya!"
Old Luke interjected still with his back facing him - his smile was not visible, but the elderly man's highly-excited emotion (was it pride?) could not hide from Nuel's Sense.
"...that Mackie lad repaired this Ol' World rifle of mine, and even made its shells for me, I tell ya, that lad amazing...!"
Sophea smiled for a bit as the veteran Soldier chatted away about their team's 'amazing Mackie the Techie'.
That was then the healer oneesan beside Nuel suddenly pinched something hard inside his wound and yanked hard, extracting a dark, bloodied metallic object out of his calf; Nuel could only winced at the stabbing pain the action brought him.
"F**-"
「 So, there's pain even without damage, huh? 」
Sophea simply smiled as she dropped the bullet onto the floor and began washing the wound with a bottled saline water and dabbed the flesh there with alcohol.
Then with a warm, green glow lit up at the tip of her forefinger, she drew a circle around the wound a few times as the light slowly disappeared into the skin there.
The wound slowly but miraculously closed up!
Ding!
_____
The have been slightly suppressed and regressed into .
The have been minimally suppressed and devolved into .
The penalty on your [ Max.HP ] has partially been reduced.
_____
Nuel's eyes widened to that scene.
「 No, f**king way, it just healed like that! As expected...! 」
He looked at Sophea, seeking for an explanation, but he got none.
The healer oneesan knowingly ignored his bewildered expression and continued with her treatment, now moving on to his injured left arm, which survived the bludgeon of the two-meters tall Necrobiote.
Another holographic progress bar appeared, and a similar miracle happened again.
But, she remained mum still.
It repeated a few more times until all of his injuries were treated and healed albeit not entirely; and it took less than three minutes!
Ding!
_____
(2) Abnormal Statuses have been considerably treated and have lessened into .
Your [ Melee.DMG ] and [ STA ] stats are slightly decreased for 1 hour.
The penalty on your [ Max.HP ] has been greatly reduced.
Your [ HP.Recovery ] has returned to normal.
_____
Nuel could only obediently wear his exosuit back, with all of his unsated curiousity crumpled at his lips.
「 ...Seriously though, should I farm her favourability points...? 」
"W-Wait a minute, you two. Your team's heading to Estama, right? I can bring you inside, I can grant access...to trade for the medical treatment, remember?"
They turned to one another for a bit before Old Luke looked back at him.
"What ya mean?"
"I'm saying that I'm from Estama. Just, wait for a sec, this will take a moment."
"..."
.
.
.
====================
Author's Post-Script:
Nuel's latest [ Character Status ] screen
_____
[ CHARACTER PROFILE ]
Name : Nuel | Calibre
Title(s) : [ Born of Giant's Strength III ] || [ Subject-023 ] [ Disciple of Archimedes ]
Class : [ Esper ( Level 2 ) ]
Subclass : [ Scrap Mechanist ( Level 1 ) ]
Race : [ Human : Protopsionic - Phenotype ]
Age : 18 y/o (200 yrs cryostasis sleep)
Reputation : 0
Affiliation : [ Thacon City Administration - Neutral : 0 ]
_____
[ STATS ]
DMG : 20.0 + 28.56 | Crit.DMG : 97.11 | Crit.Proc : 1.38%
RES : 15.1 | COMP : 1.25
HP : 150.5 /150.5 | HP.Recovery : +4.53 | Crit.HP : 30.1
STA : 60.0 /60 | STA.Recovery : +1.8
Sanity : 53.75 /53.75 | Sanity.Recovery : +1.81 | Crit.Sanity : 10.75
Energy :
• Psions : 22.00 /22 | Psion Recovery : +1.32 | Rank 1 (0 /10)
Accuracy : 54.69% | Evasion : 10.94%
Immunity : 2.8% | 0.3s
Initiative : CE +3.3 | 13.75% | 2.75s
CE : 0.875
XP : 65.94 | XP Multiplier : ×1.29
Carry Weight : 17.6 /40.1kg
Unallocated Attribute Points : 1
Unallocated Skill Points : 0
_____
[ EQUIPMENT ]
[ Weapons ]
• Main : (23.8% charge)
• Secondary : (0 ammo)
• Offhand :
[ Armors ] :
[ Tools ]
•
[ Inventory ] - select to open -
_____
[ MAIN ATTRIBUTES ]
STR : 4
INT : 4.5 | INT.GP : +0.5 /Lvl
DEX : 1
VIT : 3
_____
[ SUPPORT ATTRIBUTES (locked) ]
_____
[ ABILITIES & SKILLS ]
= CLASS : ESPER =
• : Initiative : + 1 | Initiative Chance : +27% | Precognition Time : Initiative Duration × 1.3 | Psions Cost : 2/s.
.
• : Quiescence : 1 × COMP × 5 | Stealth : +5% | Psions Cost : 0.5 /s /targets | Stamina Cost : 0.5 /s /targets.
.
= SUBCLASS : SCRAP MECHANIST =
• :
- : While equipping a at the [ Equipment : Tool ] subtab, dismantle any ( Machinery / Electronic ) items of any Grade with good precision to harvest its . | Range : 3m | Success Chance ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare or higher ) : ( +20% / +15% / +10% ) | Bonus Quantity ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare or higher ) : ( +25% / +15% / +5% ) | Channeling Time : 9s + 3s/0.1kg | Stamina Cost : 0.7/s.
- : The may be equipped at the [ Equipment : Offhand Weapon ] subtab. When in combat against targets, apply these effects. | Crit.Proc : +20% | Abnormal Status : Immobilised - Inflict Chance : +10%, 3s | Abnormal Status : Disarmed - Inflict Chance : + 10%, 3s | Crafting Tool Durability Cost : 0.5/hit | Stamina Cost : 1/hit.
.
• : While equipping a , repair any ( Machinery / Electronic ) item of any Grade to restore some of its durability with a percentage of success. | Success Chance ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare or higher ) : ( +20% \ +15% \ +10% ) | Durability Restored ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare or higher ) : ( +10 \ +7 \ +4 ) | Low-Quality Bonus Effect : Increase any one [ Item Stats ] +10% (max stacks 5×) | Channeling Time : 7s + 2s/0.1kg | Crafting Material Cost ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare or higher ) : ( 20% \ 10% \ 5% ) of item weight | Stamina Cost : 0.5/s | All of the aforementioned effects will only be applied when crafting with ( Machinery / Electronic ) items with [ Low Quality ] designations.
.
• : Obtain , Machinery/Electronic | Range : 3m | Success Chance ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 30% \ 20% \ 10% ) | Channeling Duration ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 10s \ 20s \ 30s ) | Cooldown : 24 hours | Stamina Cost ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 1 \ 3 \ 6 ).
.
• : Can only be toggled during crafting | Blueprint Success Chance : +15% to all Grade, ( Machinery- / Electronic- ) | Without Blueprint Success Chance : +5% to all Grade ( Machinery- / Electronic- ) | Better Quality Success Chance : +5%, [ Quality ] +1 Level.
.
• : Can only be toggled during combat | [ Max.HP ] +2.5% /s, +45% | [ Melee.DMG ] +1.5% /s, 30% | [ Crit.Proc Chance ] +30%, every 5s | +15%, 5s after receiving damage | Stamina Cost : 2/s.
_____
[ TALENT TREES ]
= CLASS : ESPER =
• : Range : 11 meters | Mind Sense : +5.
- : Range : 5.5 meters | Self: Composure +3 × (1 + 0.06INT) | Allies : Composure +1 × (1 + 0.02INT) | Psions Cost : 0.2 /s /target | Stamina Cost : 0.2 /s /target.
.
= SUBCLASS : SCRAP MECHANIST =
• :
Crafted items' [ Item Stats ] : +10% | Crafting Channeling Duration : -5% | Crafting Material Cost : -10% per | All of the aforementioned effects will only be applied when crafting using ( Machinery / Electronic ) materials with [ Low Quality ] designations.
.
= DEVIANCE : PSIONICS =
• : [ Psions ] max +1 for every 2 INT | [ Psion.Recovery ] : 5% +0.5% for every 2 INT | [ Psions ] +10.
- : Rank 1 : Maintain 50% (Psions & Stamina) || 10 hours || (0 /10).
_____
[ MISSIONS ] :
• [ Crisis : Code Red! ] Completed! : (rewards pending received).
• [ Act 0 - Main Story Mission : Credit-Oriented ] (ongoing) : 500 /10,000 ₢.
• [ Hidden Mission : Truth of Existence II ] (ongoing) : 5/???
• [ Crisis Mission : The Flood ] (ongoing) : 16 /100.
• [ Special-Issued Mission : Anti-Necrobiotic ] (ongoing) : 16 /100.
_____
[ ADDITIONAL ]
• [ Rare Title : Subject-023 ] : No [ Reputation ] requirement | [ Base Attribute : INT] +1 | First : × 1 and × 1.
• [ Unique Title : Disciple of Archimedes ] : Require equipping × 1 | No [ Reputation ] requirement | Grants during crafting | Grants .
• [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength III ] : Require former [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength II ] | No [ Reputation ] requirement | [ Base Attribute : STR ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : VIT ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : Unknown ] +2 | Grants .
• [ Class : Esper ] : [ Sanity ] max +20 | [ Energy : Psions ] max +10 | [ Base Attribute : INT ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : Unknown ] +2.
• [ Subclass : Scrap Mechanist ] : Grants | Grants | Grants .
• [ Race : Human : Protopsionic - Phenotype ] : [ INT Growth Potential ] +0.5 /Lvl.
• : [ XP Multiplier ] +0.2 | 30 minutes.