How to Use the Experience Bar

Thinking this, Lu Yuan threw off the blanket covering him and went to the infirmary, stopping before a wooden cabinet filled with bottles and jars.

Lu Yuan decided to prepare the simplest painkiller first: Red Grass Ointment.

As a coastal town, Grim Port never lacked workers at the harbor. While loading and unloading cargo, they were bound to suffer scrapes and bruises.

At a time like this, a useful Red Grass Ointment should, in theory, never lack buyers—as long as its effects justified its price.

The formula was simple: Red Grass, Three-Leaf Hemp, and Pine Branch Sap.

The difficulty lay in the vague description in Basic Herbology: "Use appropriate heat to extract the active ingredients from Three-Leaf Hemp."

"What does 'appropriate' even mean? This kind of vague description exists solely to monopolize knowledge."

"Too bad it ran into me."

With that thought, Lu Yuan set up an iron pot, his gaze fixed firmly on the lower-right corner of his vision.

He dropped Three-Leaf Hemp into the water and boiled it fiercely over high heat, but his experience showed no response at all.

"Wrong." Lu Yuan immediately dumped the ruined materials, then switched to soaking them in warm water and slowly stirring with a wooden stick.

The instant the medicinal liquid began to turn cloudy, a line of grayish-white text finally popped up.

[Pharmacology: +0.1... You are refining medicine]

"That's more like it." The corners of Lu Yuan's lips lifted slightly.

He did not need to understand pharmacology. He only needed to keep experimenting like he was playing a game until he triggered the right condition.

That was his absolute advantage.

The convenience of having something like "control assistance" in a game drove Lu Yuan to keep processing medicinal ingredients.

Half an hour later.

Three deep-red pills, giving off a faint pine fragrance, lay quietly in a tray.

[Pharmacology: 1/50 (Beginner)]

[You have successfully made inferior Red Grass Ointment. Although it looks decent, its effects are touching.]

"As long as it doesn't kill anyone, it's good medicine."

Lu Yuan carefully packed the pills into glass bottles and tidied up the counter with satisfaction.

"As long as I steadily grind up my experience later, I'll be able to establish myself in this world."

"But I still need to think of a way to let people know the clinic has reopened..."

The next morning, a thick lead-gray fog hung over Grim Port.

Lu Yuan pushed open the door, and the salty stench of the sea mixed with coal smoke rushed into his face.

In the distance came the muted blare of ship whistles, along with the rough shouts of workers on the docks.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath of the damp air, removed Doctor Laisen's old sign from outside the door, and replaced it with a new wooden board.

Written on it in Imperial Language was a sharp, bold line:

[Laisen Clinic has reopened. A new physician is now in residence, specializing in external injuries, pain relief, and all manner of difficult and complicated conditions. Fair prices, honest service for all.]

However, Lu Yuan had hesitated when writing the part about "specializing."

For a fraud who had barely even touched a medical book, this was practically a scam.

But after feeling the two Copper Plates jingling in his pocket, he hung up the sign without changing his expression.

"As long as I cure them, I'm a miracle doctor. As for how I cure them..." Lu Yuan glanced at the experience bar in his vision, poised and ready to go. "...that's my family secret."

After putting up the notice, Lu Yuan returned inside, took out several books related to medicinal ingredients, and continued reading.

The clinic door was left slightly ajar, and from time to time he could hear footsteps passing along the bluestone street.

As he read, Lu Yuan silently calculated whether he would be able to wait for his first customer today.

If not, should he make more copies of the notice and hire someone to promote the clinic at the docks?

Just as Lu Yuan was thinking, faint footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.

The footsteps were strange—one heavy, one light, as though one leg had been seriously injured, or as though something was dragging a heavy object.

Lu Yuan was sitting behind the counter, reading medical books to grind experience. Hearing the sound, he instinctively pulled a scalpel from the drawer.

Then he reconsidered and realized it was daytime.

At last, there came a knock at the door, followed by someone calling out.

"Doctor? Is anyone here?"

The voice was loud and slightly hoarse, carrying a thick dockworker's accent.

Lu Yuan closed his book, rose to his feet, and went to open the door.

A man stood outside. His skin had been darkened by sea wind and sun, his hair was somewhat messy, and he wore a coarse jacket patched several times over. Damp, un-dried salt stains were still visible around the cuffs.

The man's left foot had a slight limp. There were obvious muddy water stains on his trouser leg, and he unconsciously protected his left leg while standing. Clearly, the injury was not light.

When the man saw Lu Yuan, he was visibly startled. He had apparently not expected the new doctor to be so young—or to be a black-haired, black-eyed Easterner.

"You... you're the new doctor?" the man asked tentatively. "The one called Lu... Yuan, taking over for Doctor Laisen?"

He asked tentatively, suspicion in his eyes, as though he were ready to turn and leave at any moment.

"Yes." Lu Yuan nodded and stepped aside to make room. "Come in first. Also, my name is Lu Yuan."

The man thanked him, smiled somewhat awkwardly, and dragged his leg into the entryway. The mud on his shoe soles left a long trail across the floor.

The man was clearly familiar with the consultation room. He found a chair and sat down on his own.

"What should I call you?"

"People in town call me Thomas." The man scratched the back of his head, smiling a little stiffly. "I move cargo at the port."

"Thomas." Lu Yuan repeated the name. "What seems to be the problem?"

Thomas hesitated, but finally stretched out his left leg, rolled up his trouser leg, and exposed his left calf.

An Eerie bruise covered his leg. Along the Edge of the bruise, several round marks could vaguely be seen, like the imprints left by suction cups.

Looking at the pale yellow traces remaining along the Edge of the bruise, Lu Yuan asked, "Have you had it looked at somewhere else?"

"I got medicine from the church." As Thomas said this, a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face. "But the medicine they prescribed was too expensive. I only used it for two days. If I kept using it, my family and I would have to live on air."

"Luckily, I made a little money a few days ago..."

After saying that, Thomas seemed to recall something and added, "Doctor Laisen didn't charge too much before. We always came here when we were sick. Now that you've taken over, the prices shouldn't be too high, right...?"

"They won't be. Same as before," Lu Yuan answered casually.

"That's great! Jack really didn't lie to me. He said you were like Doctor Laisen—at least you wouldn't be some heartless bastard." Thomas smiled, relief appearing on his face.

"Jack?" Lu Yuan asked casually.

"Him? He always says he's a Bard, but he's really just a vagrant. We used to work together at the docks. Recently, he's been hanging around the tavern every day, picking up odd jobs."

"I see." Lu Yuan nodded, committing the name "Jack" to memory. At the same time, he understood that the only person who knew his name was that vagrant from last night beneath the electric lamp.

"He really helped me out... I should meet him when I get the chance."