Chapter Twenty-Five: Anxiety

At this moment, Aoki Tsukasa, after returning to his room, did not continue watching movies or anime on his phone. Instead, his brow was tightly furrowed as he searched the internet for all kinds of knowledge related to heart disease.

After a long while, Aoki Tsukasa sighed. "System, if I want to cure someone like Sora, who has a congenital heart condition, what level of medical skill do I need at minimum?"

"At least level seven, at most level ten. The exact requirement fluctuates depending on the severity of the illness. It also varies based on whether the host focuses primarily on traditional or Western medicine."

Aoki Tsukasa's brows knitted even more tightly at this, his fingers tapping the desk in restless agitation.

"My skill is at level two now, which needs two hundred experience points. What about level three?"

"Three hundred points."

"And for level four?"

"Six hundred points."

"You might as well just list them all for me," Aoki Tsukasa said, rubbing his temples, his face full of worry.

"Level five: twelve hundred experience points. Level six: twenty-four hundred. Level seven: five thousand. Level eight: ten thousand. Level nine: fifteen thousand. Level ten: fifty thousand. Level eleven: one hundred thousand."

Aoki Tsukasa drew in a sharp breath.

To upgrade a skill to level ten, starting from level one, he would need a total of eighty-four thousand eight hundred experience points?

The higher the level, the harder it became to earn experience. According to Aoki Tsukasa’s calculations, once his skill reached level three, it would take roughly ten days or half a month of daily training to upgrade a skill. After that, it might take a month or even half a year to level up once. By the time he reached seven or eight, unless he took a professional path, it might take several years just to get a single level.

“How am I supposed to level up these skills in the later stages?” Aoki Tsukasa moaned, clutching his head in distress.

"Host, there's no need to worry. Skill upgrades are not limited to the methods you currently know. As your level increases, you'll discover new ways to improve your skills."

"Also, curing heart disease may not require extremely high medical skills. In the system's item inventory, there are items like 'Recovery Card,' 'Cure Doll,' 'One-time Surgery Card,' and 'Pain Transfer Voodoo Doll.' However, such items generally require quite difficult missions and high completion rates to possibly obtain."

Hearing this, Aoki Tsukasa’s anxiety eased a little, though he smiled bitterly. "I’ve seen other people's systems with a shop function. If you had one, I could just buy an item like that and cure Sora right away. Honestly, the days I spent in my previous life worrying about my little brother were truly hard. I really don’t want to go through that kind of life again. Even though I don’t have any deep feelings for Sora yet... if she really has to suffer so much because of her heart, I can’t help but feel responsible, like I haven’t done enough. It’s a terrible feeling."

Perhaps it was a form of emotional transference. For some reason, Aoki Tsukasa's feelings for the Kasugano couple were limited to gratitude and respect, but for Sora, his feelings were inexplicably deeper.

Aoki Tsukasa had been in this world for nearly a week. Although he felt he had done enough and fulfilled his responsibilities in the other world, being free of regrets didn’t mean he could easily let go of longing and concern.

Did his brother’s surgery succeed? Was his recovery going well? Even though the match had been perfect and even the doctors said it was rare to find such a compatible heart, was the outcome truly as ideal as hoped?

His parents were getting old, and his brother would need a long time to recuperate after the surgery, then return to school, and later, after starting work, would he be able to care for their parents as dutifully as Aoki Tsukasa once did?

These questions would pop into his mind from time to time, making it hard for him to let go of the past completely. Those misplaced emotions, after coming to this unfamiliar world, perhaps instinctively transferred to Sora, who suffered from the same illness as his brother.

Aoki Tsukasa truly wanted to cure Sora, even if he himself couldn’t quite understand the source of these feelings and thoughts, nor did he resist them. He didn’t want to see that fairy-like, adorable girl forever frozen at the bloom of her youth.

"In fact, you need not worry too much, host. Most congenital heart diseases are not so easily triggered. Even if an attack occurs, as long as treatment is timely, there is not much danger. There is even the possibility of full recovery. You really don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself."

The system's rare words of comfort drew a silent nod from Aoki Tsukasa. His understanding of the disease was not superficial; he knew all these things, but his past experience made him prone to imagining the worst.

"Hmm... since the experience requirement doubles after level four, that must be when a skill undergoes a qualitative change or unlocks some new system function." Aoki Tsukasa narrowed his eyes slightly. "The system just gave me a hint; that must be it..."

He glanced at his skill panel. His kendo skill had increased significantly from two real combat experiences and was close to leveling up. The learning skill, from listening in class, was slowly climbing and should reach the next level in a day or two.

"I'll focus on raising my kendo proficiency to level four first. To improve my learning skill now, I’d need to read a lot of course-related books, but those are hard to find, and even if I could, I couldn’t afford to buy them all. As for mixed martial arts, I can practice during my part-time job at night. Once I hit level four, I’ll see how skill upgrades work and immediately switch from kendo to medicine. Item rewards are too random, and my luck is always bad. I’d better rely on hard work."

Having set this small goal, Aoki Tsukasa picked up his wooden sword, took a deep breath, and began his earnest practice.

(I really dislike making experience values too detailed, and I don’t want to write too many stats, both because it affects the story’s feel and because it’s tiring to calculate and just adds to the word count. So, except for key moments, I won’t deliberately write out the numbers most of the time.)