I could feel my smile forming.

"I died, so my life is over. You guys revived me." The Imaginal shrugged. "I'm in. You can use my life as you see fit. I do ask, however, that you consider that I would like to find what you call the 'angel,' and, if possible, I would also like to take down that kid--the Neo-Demon."

"Fair enough, but this is where we've got to talk about the missions Svilran mentioned. You can't go back to your homeworld easily because of Divine Rules or whatever."

"Interesting."

"To get the chance to go back, you need to earn the right by accumulating something called Heroic Merit--"

"And I would get that by taking on Missions--am I getting that right?"

"Yes. The missions would be based on what we could get that would be appropriate for you, so it's not like we can actively search for the punk and send you after him."

The Imaginal chuckled. "That's fine. I need to get stronger if I want to stand a chance against him anyway. But you guys can help with that, right? Getting stronger?"

I smiled. "We most certainly can. One of ours--Elma--she's already improving. I'm sure you'll be able to do the same by gaining experience."

"I do think there may be a problem," Svilran said, her hand on her chin and her brows furrowed. This was the most serious I had ever seen her. She glanced at the Imaginal and shook her head. "I have a feeling we might not be able to send you out on Missions any time soon."

I looked at the Imaginal and got it. "Oh... It's because you look like a walking corpse."

I was really downplaying how terrible she looked. She was so injured I was even more sure than before that rocks had melded with her flesh.

The Imaginal held their hands up. "This is... jarring."

"We have rules on being able to integrate and blend in with a local population," Svilran said. "In your present state--one which I don't think is naturally possible and is only occurring because of the Hub's intervention--you might not be allowed to travel to other worlds. And unfortunately, there's a limit to how much can be concealed with clothing."

The Imaginal studied their hand, flexing their fingers many times. "Even I'm astounded that I'm still breathing... So, do I have a path forward?"

I leaned back. "I mean--there's really only one thing we can try."I brought up a map of the Hub and pointed at the one building. "We'll have to see if our <Infirmary> can heal you."

At the <Infirmary>--

"So, I just need to lie here?" the Imaginal asked, already on one of the beds.

"That's right," I replied, navigating the screens. "It's just scanning you right now..."

As I was looking at the screens, I noticed her personal details, and when I did, Svilran spoke up.

"Hey, we've been speaking with you, but we haven't gotten your name yet!" Svilran backed off and scratched her cheek. "I mean, we could just look it up, but that would feel a little ruder."

The Imaginal nodded. "I am sorry for that... My name is Kanae. I was born on the wasteland called Drollfall, and spent my days wandering its surface... I am sorry for attacking you when I first arrived, Svilran."

Svilran frantically held her hands up. "Please! Don't worry about it! Everything's okay. You were just confused--as you had a right to be!" Svilran put a hand on my shoulder and shook me a little. "Fainn, have you found anything out?"

"Yeah, she's extremely disfigured due to... extreme temperatures." I winced and looked at Kanae, who nodded back. "On the upside, she is in no danger of dying. This thing also says that you have a 'Natural Healing Factor,' Kanae."

She nodded. "It's true. I noticed I could heal a little faster than the others of Drollfall... However, it doesn't feel like my healing ability is active now."

"Well, according to this, your healing factor will be bolstered by the bed... Hold on... The scan just finished. 'An Anomaly Has Been Detected.'" I leaned back to let Svilran look at the screen too. "Any idea what this is, Svilran?"

"I don't... I can only assume it means that the <Infirmary> has identified something it can't yet properly examine."

"Is this bad?" Kanae asked. "Should I be worried?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "You're not in danger of dying still. Svilran, do your senses as a former goddess give you any insight?"

"Well, I do get feelings for our Heroes, but the problem is all of them feel different. I, as someone who never interacted with Imaginals before, cannot tell what is correct or wrong. For instance, Elma feels nauseating, likely because of her mana. Dorthaunzee garbles my mind when I probe too deep, but otherwise, she's pleasant, and now, Kanae--she feels cold when I'm far away, but as I get closer, she feels warm."

"Warm?" Kanae asked. "I've never heard that. I always thought I was cold. Interesting. You have interesting senses, Svilran."

Svilran giggled. "Thank you. But yes, as I explained, I don't know enough to know what would feel wrong."

"So, that leaves us with an anomaly that must be significant since the <Infirmary> doesn't know what to do with it..." I went through more menus. "Anyway, it looks like the treatment options start at A-Rank... Shit. That's 400 Resource Points... We have 105 Points."

And just like that, I was thankful we didn't use the Resource Points earlier.

"D-Did I do something wrong?" Kanae asked.

"No, of course not, Kanae!" Svilran said, grabbing the woman's hand. "It was just surprising..."

"Sorry, Kanae, it doesn't look like we'll be able to heal you up quickly. On the other hand, you would naturally heal in 58 days, so it's not all bad."

"Actually, it might be a little bad," Svilran interjected. "Kanae has 20 days before she must go on a Mission. It seems her condition is being taken into account--"

"But the powers that be think we can get her working 28 days ahead of when she would naturally heal," I concluded.

"If it's any help," Kanae said, "I think I am able to work, if I've understood the Missions correctly. Truth be told, I don't want to waste any time knowing the child might still be out there with that Neo-Demon pursuing them."

"Well, that brings us back to the topic of what to do next, and more specifically, what we can do," I said. "As things stand, the telescope is too unwieldy to conduct a thorough search of your world with, there are no Auxiliary Missions in that world, so our other Heroes can't go there, and like we said, we aren't allowed to send you back. On the other side, we have a new conundrum concerning your injuries. Right now, if we want to search the world without missions, we would need to build that facility, Svilran."

"I agree," she replied. "And then, with regard to Kanae's condition, we need to wait until Elma and Dorthaunzee return and earn us the points needed to speed up her healing."

Kanae nodded along as we talked.

"So, the issue here is that we have options, but we can't really act on anything now. We need to accumulate the points."

Kanae raised her hand to speak. "I would just like to say something. I am the one who has a mission she wants to complete. If resources are limited, please don't hesitate to prioritize something else."

I looked at her and scrunched my face. "You don't have to be so self-sacrificing. What you want to do sounds important, and we'd like to help you."

"You have already helped me by reviving me in a way... Though, I guess if you were to find out anything--"

"We'll tell you immediately," I assured her. I switched my attention to Svilran. "Well, we have a Hero who needs to rest. How about you and I return to the <Observatory>, Svilran? Kanae, you can rest here and keep recovering."

"Yes... I should work on cutting down those 58 days of recovery."

Svilran pulled a watermelon out from thin air and placed it on the stand next to the bed. "In case you get hungry..."

"Yes, thank you." She looked at the watermelon. "I've never seen such an item..."

"It's really tasty! I promise!" Svilran replied. She happily karate chopped the melon and split it in half somehow. Then she made a spoon appear. "Please, enjoy!"

"Thank you," Kanae replied.

And so, we left the <Infirmary> and Kanae.