The <Infirmary>.

At Level 2, this place gained a few more beds, and the effectiveness of the natural healing effect increased slightly. And when I say slightly, I mean it shortened her recovery period by one day. There were a few more bonuses. The Heroes could exchange Heroic Merit for three types of medicines. Vitamins, sleep aids, and painkillers. If Svilran or I needed it, we could use Resource Points to buy the items.

Honestly? That was surprising. Narlivs explained it to me by reminding me that Heroes could die if they died here. What that meant was that, naturally, they could get hurt here. For instance, what if there was a training accident? I could definitely see the need for painkillers. On that note, it was worth mentioning that the items allowed for solutions that didn't require the use of the beds. You could get a vitamin infusion through the bed if the diagnosis said you needed it, or you could just stay on top of your health. The sleep aid made sense in that way too. If you wanted to sleep in your room and not the bed, but were having sleeping issues, use the sleep aid medication.

What I ultimately came away thinking was that this upgrade really made the Hub feel more like a place people lived in.

***

Elma and Kanae had just finished a ten-minute guided meditation, and I was examining the results on the <Infirmary's> interface. The room was warmly lit, and the girls were lying in adjacent beds, chatting.

"So then, I used the <Training Range's> functions to create stepping stones to reach Fainn. I went for him, but he managed to cut me in half," Elma said.

"Wow! That's scary! But his power kept the injury from sticking?"

"Yes. Fainn is a god, so he can manipulate reality to some degree--"

"Not a god," I added.

"Wow!" Kanae repeated. "I... I think I need to experience this power for myself. I believe he used it on me before, but I only got a glimpse of it..."

I noticed there was a shift in one of Kanae's graphs. "Hey, Kanae, you feeling nervous or something?"

"Erm--yes. I was recalling when you first tried to subdue me..."

"Ahh, okay. Yeah. You've exited what we'll call the 'meditative' state. Your recovery period increased back to the original number."

Kanae chuckled and gave us a dejected "Oh."

So, to explain what just happened--meditation actually did something. When she got into it and relaxed, it shortened her recovery period by another day. What I learned now was that for that projection to remain true, she had to stay in the meditative state. In other words, the <Infirmary> was saying: 'Meditative State Kanae will be fully healed in X minus 1 days.'

I explained my inference to Kanae, and she nodded. "I see... Then, if this meditation really does help, I'll endeavor to maintain it as often as I can."

"Fainn," Elma said, "am I still in that special state?"

"You are. Your brain waves are still in that good range."

Elma chuckled, a wide grin on her face. "I'm very good at staying calm, it seems. All those years of solitude are paying off."

"Don't say that, Elma," Kanae replied. "My heart hurts whenever I think about what you went through."

"It's given me purpose, Kanae... and it got me here... So it's not the worst. I got to meet you and everyone else thanks to that past."

Kanae sighed and nodded, her skin cracking as she did. "That's a way of looking at it..."

"It's a good way of looking at it," I said. "We're going to be here for a long time. I'd rather we not be bogged down the whole time."

"Yes... Have you uncovered the nature of my anomaly, Fainn?"

"No... I don't think we're at a high enough Level... Whatever this anomaly is, it's beyond our already impressive facility."

"So that begs the question," Elma said. "Should we upgrade the <Infirmary> again?"

"So, it cost 22 Upgrade Points. The next Level will cost us 45 points... I'm not sure it's worth it right now. We have 314 Upgrade Points, but I think we need to hold onto them just in case."

"Kanae had her recovery period shortened. Did that adjust the Resource cost for her treatment?"

"No... She might need to make it past milestones for the cost to go down. Since the treatments are based on the rank of the treatment, they won't decrease until you downgrade."

"Unfortunate."

Kanae raised her hand. "I'm happy to just be here."

Elma and I both looked at Kanae and chuckled, with Elma adding, "we're happy to have you here."

"Okay, I just need to check a few more things here, girls..." I said.

"Anyway, Kanae, once you're healed up, you should give the <Training Range> a try."

"I will! Maybe I can do some target practice with my flames."

"Please do. I'd love to see what a B Grade proficiency looks like. Maybe I can get some ideas for my own Withering Magic."

While the girls were talking, I noticed an alert in the corner of my eye--I had new messages in the Individualized Correspondence System.

***

Messages

*New Super Rare Structure Unlocked

*New Inverse Structures Available

***

My heart jumped. Did we finally get stuff we could build down there? Finally! But first, the Super Rare Structure--

"Oh... Looks like we got a new Structure," I said, publishing the structure so that Svilran could see it. I figured it would be safe since she wouldn't know what we were doing to trigger it. The system seemed okay with it.

Elma and Kanae were waiting with bated breath.

"It's the... Oh... <Zen Garden>?"

The girls got excited, but I was nodding to myself, accepting that the Structures I unlocked were coming to me based on my interactions with the girls.

The <Training Range> appeared when Elma asked, and the <Material Analyzer> appeared when I learned of the strange stone... Now, the <Zen Garden> showed up when we had just discovered that meditation had positive effects.

It was still weird that I couldn't speak of them until they were officially published, though.

"So, this garden will improve the effects of meditation and make it easier to slip into a meditative state. When you use it, of course."

"It's SR, so it must have powerful effects!" Elma said.

"How exciting," Kanae followed. "If meditation helps my recovery, maybe I could spend some time over there as well."

Elma smiled at Kanae. "It would be a nice change of scenery, wouldn't it?"

"Don't get carried away now. You'll be healed up before we build it."

While the girls kept chatting, I sent part of myself down to the Inverse, excited to learn about the new structures.

***

Down in the Inverse--

"Narlivs!" I excitedly shouted.

"Yes, Fainn?" she replied from behind me.

I turned on my heels. "We've got structures?"

This beautiful subconscious chuckled. "We did. The update just came in on my side."

She opened a menu and showed me the items we could make.

"Statues?"

It was just a list of many different statues.

"Allow me to explain, these statues, when placed on a unit of land, will affect their corresponding square in the Topside. It's similar to how the subconscious affects the conscious. They would create a hidden and passive effect."

"Okay..."

So here were the types of statues we could erect:

Race Statues--These statues improved the parameters and growth rates of the corresponding race when said person was using the facility tied to the statue's square. We currently had the race statues that corresponded to Elma, Dorth, and Kanae.

The example for this one was that if there was a Witherspell Race Statue beneath the Training Grounds, Elma's parameters would increase slightly over time, assuming she used the Grounds a lot.

Elemental Charge Statues--These ones were kind of weird because I couldn't figure out how to use them immediately. These statues applied a charge to their corresponding topside unit. An Elemental Charge was an intrinsic property like Elemental Affinity. With these ones, I learned that not all statues will have an effect on any particular structure. In this case, a Fire Charge Statue was almost guaranteed to do nothing to the Observatory. Narlivs had some ideas, though, and she recommended I try putting a statue beneath the Watermelon Jungle. She had a feeling the Elemental Charge statue would best affect resource-producing tiles.

Then, the last of the three basic types were the Class Wisdom Statue. It came as just one generic statue. This statue made it so that people could more easily learn a Class passively while using the corresponding Topside tile. This one got me the most excited. Narlivs explained it as the person's subconscious would be better equipped to learn the little tips and tricks that came with the mastery of a job or activity. Narlivs also explained that a person could learn a Class if they actively tried, but it would take months, if not years. The statue just made it easier by focusing the subconscious on said task. She also said it was possible that some Classes were so esoteric that maybe a person could only learn them by cheating in this way. This statue brought up many more questions, though.

"So... Classes... If we start gaining them... How do the girls change over to them?" I asked. "Is there any way to see their progress toward the new Class?"

Narlivs smiled. "Here is what is happening--we've learned about the possibility of gaining more than one class ahead of time because of your power's compatibility with the Inverse." She pointed at her head. "I've learned about a structure that we have yet to formally unlock in response. It is the <Class Shrine>, a Rare structure. I suspect it will be unlocked once one of our Heroes gains two different Classes. That Shrine will allow them to change classes. It may also show progress toward gaining a Class."

"Awesome..."

"It's possible that upgrading the <Status Shrine> may lead to this as well."

"Noted... So where do you recommend placing these Class Wisdom Statues?"

"I would advocate for experimentation. It's possible that all of our structures have Classes hidden within them... That said, the <Training Range> would seem like a good starter choice."

"Ahh, but I got excited about placing the Witherspell Statue there... So those parameter increases--"

"Yes. Usually, the main stats like Attack, Defense, and Speed would only increase on a Level Up. These statues make it so that they may possibly improve a point or two without needing to Level Up. Of course, it depends on how long they spend at the empowered facility. The longer they use the facility, the more of an increase they will enjoy. I do believe it would take many hours before you could see an improvement."

"And these Statues can be Leveled Up?"

"Yes. It would shorten the time and increase the effects, where applicable. I would not recommend Leveling these up right now."

"Because that's not the right way to use the Statues, right?"

Narlivs giggled. "Yes. What made you think that?"

"It's the <Training Range>. I want Elma to grow faster, but I also want Kanae to grow too. For that to work, I'd need two Statues at the Range, but I can only place one under each structure, right?"

"That's right."

"Then, that implies these statues need to be moved around... Now, in a game, you could just remove a piece of furniture and put it in storage until another time... but here..."

"Yes, to remove the statue, it would need to be destroyed. It's an unfortunate system. There is no storage function here. I believe it's because of how... profound an activity affecting the subconscious can be. Conversely, the structures upstairs cannot be moved at all."

"And that's why the Statues only cost 1 Inverse Point. It's to encourage erecting and destroying the Statues as our needs change."

"Yes."

"Now, one last thing." I went through the menu and landed on one certain statue. "This Statue--the one we got for Dorthaunzee."

"Ahh, yes."

"It can be built here, too, even though it's a topside statue."

"Yes, but there are many structures from the Topside that can be built down here as well. In the case of this Statue, it would gain functions similar to the other Inverse Statues if it were down here. Upstairs, it has a passive effect that permanently improves Dorthaunzee's growth. If you built it down here, it would lose its active function, and its passive function would be tied to only one structure. So, for example, if you placed the Inverse duplicate under the <Training Range>, not only would Dorthaunzee have the benefit of the Topside equivalent, but she would get a duplicate benefit when at the Range."

"And double-dipping is always good... Though... We really don't need it right now... Okay, so we have 8 points." I walked out of the Infirmary's double and looked around. "And no Parasites to farm."

Narlivs latched onto my arm. "What would you like to do, Fainn?"

"We have to be smart here... Okay, let's put a Fire Charge Statue in the Jungle!"

"Done."

"Next, Class Statue over at the Training Range."

"Done."

"Class Statue over at the Observatory."

"Oh my, how exciting!"

"Wishing Fountain--let's cheat a bit. Put Dorthaunzee's God beneath the Fountain."

"Oh my... This Statue, as it is special, costs 2 Inverse Points."

"That's fine."

"Done. We have 3 Points left."

"Would it be worth it..." I muttered as I looked at the <Infirmary>. "She wants to get stronger... It's a gamble since we don't know the rate of improvement but..." I nodded to myself. "Place a Race Statue here--one for Kanae. If she's going to be here for a while, she should get stronger too."

Narlivs nodded. "Very well..."

Light shined from within the <Infirmary's> shadows.

"It is done. The Statues have been erected. We have 2 Inverse Points left. Good job, Fainn. I can't wait to see what else we discover."

"I'm excited about those watermelons, personally."

Narlivs giggled. "Yes, that most certainly rouses the curiosity."