You can read more ahead at.
Eldritch Horror? No, I'm A Doctor
Read up to 10-12 chapters ahead
Access exclusive character portraits
Q&A
Dimensional Librarian Available now on Patron!!!
Your support means the world to me and will help me keep creating this story. If you enjoy the ride so far, please consider joining every bit of support helps! ❤️
Link
https://patreon.com/Thanarit?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Ren leaned against the reception desk, looking down at his clothes. Blood had splattered across the black fabric during surgery, but even as he watched, the stains were fading. The Umbral Gentleman's Attire lived up to its reputation, dark material absorbing the gore and cleaning itself without any effort on his part.
Within seconds, his suit looked pristine again. No trace of the carnage from the operating room remained.
At least I don't have to do laundry, he thought. Small mercies.
The two hunters stood near the examination room door, not quite ready to leave but not sure what else to do. The rogue kept touching his arm where the gash had been, fingers probing skin that should have been torn open. The warrior shifted his weight carefully from foot to foot, testing his previously injured leg.
"So your name is Kai, right?" Ren asked, pointing at the rogue.
The man nodded, dark hair falling across his eyes. He pushed it back with shaking fingers.
"And your name is Ash?"
"Yes." The warrior's voice came out rough. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Ash. That's me."
"Kai is a rogue and Ash is a warrior," Ren said, more to himself than them. Mental notes. Patient records. Professional standards meant keeping track of these things. "Now check your bodies thoroughly and tell me how you're feeling."
They both looked at each other, then back at him.
"Like, right now?" Kai asked.
"Yes, right now. I just regrew someone's intestines and fixed whatever was wrong with you two. The least you can do is confirm everything works properly before you leave my clinic."
Jack, who had been standing quietly by the door with his new arms, let out a nervous laugh. "He's serious. Just do it."
Kai rolled up his sleeve, examining the skin where the wound had been. His fingers traced over smooth flesh, pressing down to test for pain. Nothing. He bent his elbow, rotated his wrist, made a fist and released it. The movement was fluid, natural. No stiffness at all.
Ash was doing something similar with his leg. He lifted his knee, putting all his weight on what had been the injured side. Then he did a small bounce, then a larger one. His face showed confusion more than anything else.
"To be honest," Ash said slowly, "I feel a bit shaken. And terrified."
Kai just nodded, his whole body trembling slightly. His jaw was tight, like he was holding back words that wanted to escape but couldn't find the right shape.
"Hmm." Ren studied them both. The trembling was normal. Most people shook after his procedures. The fear response took time to fade. "You should be fine now. Don't forget to pay."
Both men pulled out their phones with fumbling fingers. Kai dropped his once before managing to open his banking app. The phone clattered against the tile floor, and he bent down quickly to retrieve it. His hands were still shaking as he unlocked the screen again.
Ash got his open on the first try but stared at the screen for several seconds before his thumb started moving. He double-checked the amount three times before confirming the transfer.
Transfer received: $10,000
Transfer received: $10,000
Ren's phone buzzed twice in quick succession. He checked the notifications, confirmed the amounts, then pocketed the device.
"Okay," he said, managing what he hoped was a pleasant smile. "Please rate it five stars if you can on social media. And please spread the word about the brilliance of this place."
The words came out with more sarcasm than he intended. Brilliance. His clinic that looked like it was auditioning for a horror movie.
"W-we will," Kai stammered, his voice breaking on the first word. He cleared his throat. "Definitely. Five stars."
"I will as well," Jack added. He'd been testing his new arms the whole time, clenching and unclenching his fists, rotating his shoulders. Now he stood straighter, speaking with genuine enthusiasm. "Seriously. This place saved my life. I was dying out there."
"You were," Ren agreed. "Your intestines were visible. That's generally considered a bad sign."
Jack let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah. Bad doesn't even begin to cover it."
Ren held up one finger. "Sure, see you guys later. Oh, and don't speak about my appearance to anyone. Normally I wear a mask. Today was an emergency and I forgot to put it on."
All three of them nodded quickly. Too quickly.
Ren took a step closer. His voice dropped lower, and he made sure they could see his eyes clearly. "If word of my face comes out, I will personally find you myself. Got it?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. All three hunters went very still.
"Yes sir," they said in unison, their voices overlapping.
"Good." Ren straightened up and gestured toward the door. "Okay, you can go now."
They moved toward the door like they'd been released from detention. Jack reached it first, pulled it open, and stepped out into the afternoon air. Kai followed close behind, and Ash brought up the rear, still testing his leg with each step.
The door closed behind them with a soft click.
Ren stood alone in his clinic for a moment. The building was quiet now, just the hum of ventilation and the distant sounds of the city outside. He looked down at his hands, which had stopped shaking. His stomach had settled somewhat, though he knew it wouldn't last.
Three patients in his first hour. Not bad.
He walked over to the reception desk and sat down in the black leather chair behind it. The chair was comfortable, expensive. The System had spared no expense when it came to furniture, apparently. Too bad it had also made everything look like a funeral parlor.
His phone buzzed again. He pulled it out.
$1,030,000 received today.
Not bad at all.
The three hunters walked in silence for almost a full block. Their footsteps echoed off the buildings on either side of the narrow street. The area was eerily empty. Everyone had evacuated to the shelters when the gate break alert went off. Somewhere in the distance, sirens wailed. Smoke still rose from several points across the city skyline, dark columns against the reddening evening light.
Ash broke first.
"What the fuck was that?"
His voice came out louder than he probably intended, bouncing off the empty storefronts. The sound carried in the silence, echoing back at them.
Jack stopped walking and turned to face him. His new arms swung at his sides, and the motion still felt strange. "How the fuck should I know? That was scary as hell. What the fuck have you both thrown me into?"
"We didn't throw you into anything," Ash shot back. "You got yourself disemboweled. We just happened to find a place that could fix it."
"A place with tentacles and chainsaws!"
"Would you rather be dead?"
"Keep your voice down," Kai said quietly, cutting through their argument. He glanced around the deserted street out of habit, even though there was no one to hear them. "And stop fighting, you idiots."
"Sorry," Ash muttered, his shoulders dropping slightly.
"Sorry," Jack echoed, rubbing the back of his neck with one of his new hands.
They started walking again. Kai seemed to be leading them somewhere, though none of them were sure where. Probably back toward the gate break zone. That's where hunters were needed. That's where they'd left their squad.
"Think the others made it to the shelter?" Ash asked after they'd walked another block in silence.
"Hope so," Jack replied. "Marcus was in bad shape when I last saw him. Broken ribs, maybe worse."
"The medics were setting up triage near the east entrance," Kai said. "If they got that far, they should be okay."
"For now, check your body condition," Kai added after another half block of silence.
Ash frowned, his eyebrows drawing together. "Didn't we already check it?"
"Do it again." Kai stopped at a corner and turned to face both of them. His expression was serious, focused. "In there it was scary as hell. How could you check it in detail with that doctor staring at us?"
"Fair point," Ash admitted. "I was mostly trying not to look at the tentacles."
"Same," Jack said. "Hard to focus on anything else when there's a chainsaw involved."
Jack reached up to touch his face, then stopped. His hand hovered near his left eye, fingers trembling slightly.
"What?" Ash asked, watching the gesture.
Jack's fingers moved slowly, carefully. He was reaching for something that should have been there but wasn't. His hand came away empty, and he blinked several times in rapid succession.
"What the fuck," Jack said softly.
"What is it?" Kai and Ash asked at the same time, their voices overlapping.
"My contact lens."
"Your eye?" Ash took a step closer, peering at Jack's face. "What about your eye?"
"What is it? Don't edge us, you fucker," Kai added, his impatience showing.
Jack blinked several more times, testing. His hand went back up to his eye, touching the area around it gently, feeling for any damage or irregularity. "My contact lens fell off a long time ago. Back in the gate break, probably. I didn't even notice until now."
Ash made an irritated sound in the back of his throat. "What the fuck? You screamed like your eyeball was missing."
"That's not why I'm surprised," Jack said quickly. He turned to look at a distant street sign, squinting slightly, then his eyes widened. "I can read that sign from here."
"So?" Ash didn't understand.
"So I have terrible vision without my contacts. I've worn them since I was twelve. That sign should be a blur to me right now."
Kai held up his hand, cutting off whatever Ash was about to say next. "Wait. Ash, he must have another reason."
He was looking at Jack carefully now, studying his face with the intensity of someone piecing together a puzzle.
"Although I lost my contact lens," Jack said slowly, like he was testing the words as he spoke them, "I can see more clearly than ever. Better than with the contacts, even."
"What is it, like you got lasik or something?" Ash asked.
"Yes. Yes, fuck." Jack turned in a slow circle, looking at everything around them. The street signs. The buildings. The individual bricks in the walls. The smoke in the distance, where he could make out shapes and movement he shouldn't be able to see from this distance. "Everything is sharper. Clearer. Colors are brighter. I can see details I couldn't see before."
"You're saying the doctor fixed your eyesight," Kai said. It wasn't a question.
"He must have. But I didn't ask him to. I didn't even know he could."
Ash stopped walking. His hand went to his forehead, fingers running across skin that felt smooth where it shouldn't be. He'd had that scar for years. Got it during his first C-rank dungeon when a hobgoblin's rusty blade had caught him across the face. The wound had gotten infected, leaving a raised line of scar tissue that had never fully faded.
"There's a mirror," he said, already moving toward the closed clothing store on their right. The display window was dark but reflective enough in the fading light.
He stepped up close to the glass, using his hand to shade out the glare from the setting sun. His reflection stared back at him. Ash pushed his hair up and away from his forehead with both hands, exposing the area fully.
Smooth skin. No mark. Nothing.
"What the fuck." His voice came out as a whisper. "The scar on my forehead disappeared."
Kai was beside him in an instant, also peering at the reflection. "You're serious?"
"Look at it." Ash turned his head, giving Kai a better angle. He ran his fingers over the spot again, pressing down. "It's gone. Completely gone. Like it was never there."
"That scar was deep," Kai said. "I remember when you got it. You needed stitches."
"Twelve of them," Ash confirmed. "And it left this ugly raised scar that never went away. Until now, apparently."
Kai's hand went to his own mouth. His tongue probed at something, testing. He ran it along his back teeth, counting them carefully. His eyes went wide.
"Shit, this is big," Kai said suddenly. He opened his mouth and pointed at his back molars. "Even the tooth I lost has grown back."
"Which tooth?" Ash leaned in to look.
"Lower left molar. Lost it three years ago in a fight with a D-rank orc. Never had the money to get an implant. I've been eating on the right side of my mouth ever since." He closed his mouth and opened it again, testing the bite. "Now it's back. Perfect. Like it was never gone."
All three of them stood there on the sidewalk, staring at their reflections in the closed store window. The empty street stretched out behind them, abandoned buildings on either side. Above, the sky was darkening with more than just evening. The gate break was still active somewhere close, smoke and flame visible in the distance.
"He fixed things we didn't even mention," Ash said slowly. "Things that weren't life threatening. Old injuries. Chronic problems."
"Complete healing," Kai murmured. "Not just emergency treatment. Complete healing."
Jack was flexing his hands again, but this time with a different expression. Not fear, but wonder. "These arms are better than my original ones. I can feel it. Stronger. More flexible. Like he upgraded them instead of just replacing them."
"My leg feels the same," Ash admitted. "That injury I had wasn't just from today. I've been favoring this leg for months after I pulled something during a raid. It never quite healed right. Now it's perfect."
"And my tooth isn't just back," Kai added. "My whole jaw feels better. I didn't realize how much I'd been compensating for the missing tooth until now."
They stood in silence for a moment, processing the implications.
Jack was the first to connect the dots. His eyes went distant for a moment, thinking through the logic. Then they snapped back into focus with sudden clarity.
"Wait." He turned to look at both of them. "If it's like this, as long as we're not dead, we can be cured, right?"
Ash's mouth opened slightly. "What do you mean?"
"It literally said it on the sign," Jack continued, his voice picking up speed with excitement. "As long as you're not dead, we can cure anything. That's what it said. Word for word."
Kai's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "Holy shit."
"Although the fee is high," Jack said, already pulling out his phone to look at his bank account balance, "this is big. Hah, this is really big. We don't have to worry about dying as long as one of us can carry us to that clinic."
"Think about what that means," Ash added, his tactical mind starting to work through the possibilities. "Lost limb? Fixable. Crushed organs? Fixable. As long as your brain is intact and your heart is still beating, you can be saved."
"The monster core gathering and level up process is going to be interesting," Kai said. He was grinning now, a real smile breaking through the stress of the day. "We can take bigger risks. Push harder into dangerous gates. As long as we don't die instantly, we have a way out."
"It's insurance," Ash said. "The best insurance policy a hunter could ever ask for."
"Better than insurance," Jack corrected. "Insurance pays out after you're already crippled. This fixes the problem. Makes you whole again. Better than whole, apparently."
Kai nodded slowly, his strategic mind already working through scenarios. "We need to be smart about this. Can't rely on it as a crutch. Still need to be careful. But knowing it exists, knowing we have this option..."
"Changes everything," Ash finished.
"The question is cost," Jack said, looking at his phone screen. "I just paid a million. You two paid ten thousand each. That's a huge range."
"Probably depends on severity," Kai reasoned. "Your injury was life threatening, needed complete organ reconstruction. Ours were minor by comparison."
"Still expensive," Ash pointed out. "Ten thousand isn't nothing."
"Ten thousand for instant healing with no recovery time?" Kai countered. "Most hunters spend that much on potions over a year, and those only work on minor wounds. This is cheap by comparison."
They stood in silence for a moment, letting it all sink in. A clinic that could heal anything. That could regrow limbs. That could fix injuries other doctors couldn't even touch. The cost was high, sure, but what price could you put on not dying?
"For now," Kai said finally, straightening his shoulders and adjusting his gear, "we should go back and help at the gate break."
"Right." Ash tested his leg one more time, putting his full weight on it and doing a small jump. Perfect. No pain, no weakness, no hesitation. "People are still fighting. Our squad might need backup. We can't just stand here talking while they're in danger."
Jack flexed his new arms, feeling the power in them. The muscle responded instantly, perfectly coordinated. "Let's go. And this time, if we get hurt, we know where to go."
"Don't get cocky," Kai warned. "We still need to be careful. The fee might be worth it, but I'd rather not test the limits of what counts as 'not dead yet.'"
"Fair point," Jack admitted. "I don't want to find out the hard way what happens if you bring someone who's too far gone."
They turned as one and started running back toward the gate break zone. Their footsteps echoed off the empty buildings, a rhythmic sound in the abandoned streets. Smoke rose thicker ahead of them, and they could smell burning now. The sounds of combat grew louder with each block they covered.
But for the first time in their careers as hunters, they ran toward danger without the usual knot of fear in their stomachs. Because now they had something they'd never had before.
A way back from the edge.