Chapter 30: True Name Mage Lv4

[Skill check successful...]

Lin Bo triggered his training in "Surface Touch and Internal Scrying" while taking a patient's pulse. He surmised that because the human anatomy is sufficiently precise and complex, and any lesion can be viewed as a form of damage, constructing an internal view through touch and then diagnosing the condition with his medical knowledge constitutes a successful skill execution. Integrating training with work and daily life without one hindering the other—that is truly living.

The visitors' ailments were varied, though most were not critical; severe cases either would not have survived until today or had already resulted in irreparable disability, rendering rescue efforts futile. Toothaches were the most common, particularly among the middle-aged who suffered from severe dental caries. Lin Bo would use needles to seal certain acupoints to numb the nerves, then extract the teeth on the spot if possible; if the position was difficult and risked infection, he would leave them for now.

There were also many patients with various internal ailments. Gout was the most prevalent, and muscle strain was a universal affliction. Circulatory system diseases like hypertension, cirrhosis, and gastritis were also routine. In one instance, Lin Bo identified nineteen different ailments in a single patient, yet even so, the old worker still managed to smile.

Among the waiting patients were women who were usually loud and boisterous, yet they acted like quails when seated across from the Night Watchman, trembling while unable to stop themselves from scrutinizing his cheeks. Lin Bo’s current methods were acupuncture and massage; out of respect for the female patients' privacy, he invited them into the lighthouse for treatment. To avoid suspicion, he had other women supervise and kept the main door open. However, his thoughtfulness was met with the rugged local temperament—the women didn't care at all, even complaining that the Night Watchman was being dawdling and fussy, and they were ready to bare their shoulders on the spot. Lin Bo had to persuade them two or three times to prevent these bold matrons from disrupting public decency.

Later, the queue began to include young girls, giggling and acting frivolous, having no real illness and just wasting Lin Bo’s time. He deliberately frowned and spoke in a dire tone; the girls, previously blushing, immediately turned pale, their eyes brimming with crystalline tears, which looked particularly amusing. This tactic only worked once; once the girls realized the Night Watchman's ruse, they ran back to their friends in a burst of laughter and voluntarily left the queue.

As the sun was about to sink into the sea, half the queue remained. Most mysteriously, more and more idlers, having heard the news, gathered at the cape, their dim blue whale-oil lamps converging. The Mayor also arrived with his colleagues to observe. Lin Bo looked at the sky and called out to those waiting: "Everyone go home, come back tomorrow!"

A collective, dejected sigh rose from the crowd. No matter how reluctant they were, they were eventually ushered away by the Mayor and the Night Watchman.

"Night Watchman, I’ve come to deliver your employment documents." The Mayor held an envelope and walked quickly to Lin Bo. He had brought the official appointment papers for the lighthouse keeper, along with an information form that needed to be filled out. As the highest-ranking official in the town, his personal delivery showed his sincerity. In this day and age, there was no such thing as an identity card; the authorities lacked the capacity for universal identity registration, so one’s identity was whatever one claimed it to be.

When filling out the records, Lin Bo could invent whatever he pleased. There wasn't much information required—primarily name, gender, age, and health status—followed by a few fingerprints. Everything else was inconsequential, and there wasn't even a requirement for nationality. After the forms were completed, the Mayor beamed with satisfaction, chatted a bit about church matters, and then took his leave, not wanting to delay Lin Bo’s work.

Once the bustle faded and things settled down, Lin Bo started the generator to light the lighthouse. Returning to the courtyard to tidy up the tables and chairs, he noticed several lanterns drifting outside the wall. The townsfolk, who had lingered, burst into laughter when they saw him emerge and scampered off into the distance.

On the small table where he had been examining patients, wicker baskets were stacked so high they were on the verge of toppling; even the stools and the ground were filled with them. He had told them to take their gifts back, yet they had left them behind after all. He smiled involuntarily, calling out to the lanterns receding into the night. A loud, clear echo and hearty laughter drifted back from afar, and the lanterns moved even faster.

Lin Bo spent a long time cleaning up. Aside from the tobacco and alcohol he didn't need, the remaining food was placed in the storeroom, enough to last for over a month. Finally, there were some banknotes and coins, totaling one thousand seven hundred and forty-five copper rounds.

Sunday.
Lin Bo did not attend services but continued his medicinal herb sampling according to his schedule. He had already put the creation of a self-made mental-restoration potion on his agenda. The medical knowledge provided by the Witch included many formulas for restoring mental energy, and he intended to use whale oil as the primary ingredient for a reproduction. This material truly contained extraordinary magical energy and possessed potential he could not yet assess. However, more experimentation was needed regarding the auxiliary ingredients.

Reproducing potions was a matter of luck; it might take a few days, or it might take a week or a month. Lin Bo could only be patient, constantly tasting the concoctions and waiting for the right results to appear.

Afternoon, East Cliff Grotto.
After seven days of non-stop, high-intensity map-clearing, Lin Bo finally accumulated enough experience to upgrade his profession.

[Your rewards for this dungeon instance are: 36 Disaster Coins, 180 General Experience, Precision Multi-tool Knife (Gray), Standard Electromagnetic Rifle (White), Leg-Load-Bearing Exoskeleton (Blue)]

"Good stuff." The mage nodded with satisfaction. Blue gear is always a gain, and the leg-load-bearing exoskeleton was a piece of equipment he actually needed.

Leg-Load-Bearing Exoskeleton (Blue)
Type: Engineering Product
Weight: 10.2kg
Equipment Effect: Grants the general skill [Steadfast Lv1], grants the active skill [Earth-Shattering Stomp]
Description: A blueprint for the legs from an early design draft of the Bionic Mechanical Guardian Type VII. Modified by a misfit mechanic into an exoskeleton wearable by humans, with the goal of successfully joining a competition among colleagues.
"Trash design, a piece of junk that can't play ball. Strong? Then go to a construction site and move bricks." — User's negative review.

Lin Bo observed a moment of silence for the mechanic who designed the exoskeleton.

"Steadfast" was a super-armor type skill. At Lv1, it allowed the user to resist most knock-ups, knock-downs, and tripping effects during the brief moment of assuming a defensive stance. "Earth-Shattering Stomp" relied on stomping the ground to generate a shockwave, briefly putting nearby creatures into an off-balance state; if used for combat, its lethality was also quite considerable.

He equipped the new gear—it was just the thing for moving the supplies scavenged from the factory into the grotto.

"Much easier," Lin Bo gave the exoskeleton a positive review.

Building materials were piled in the grotto, categorized in a way that looked messy yet orderly. The mage strolled out of the cave, bathed in the warm midday seawater, and after refreshing his body and mind, he sat cross-legged on a reef and opened his player information panel.

Profession: True-Name Mage L3 (5405/5400)

"Upgrade." Lin Bo was well-versed in the process.

The true-name rune in his mind grew brighter and more pristine, and his total pool of spell power increased by a stage.

Ding—
Profession: True-Name Mage Lv4 (5/20500)
Profession Trait (New)
True-Name Perception: By sensing all things, one may glimpse their true names.
—Only through words is silence born; only through silence are words made.

Seeing the new profession trait, Lin Bo couldn't help but slap his knee vigorously, then gasped as his stinging palm throbbed with pain. From this day forward, the true names he could master would finally no longer be limited to his own lonely name.