You were certain you were already dead. The figure that leaped in front of you, the flash of light, surely it was just your vision sputtering out as you lie still in your final moments. So, despite being in the middle of Sahal's teleport gate, you lie flat on the ground, accepting a fate that never happened.

The last thing you remembered doing was giving Silica a small thumbs up when she was at your side, pleading for you to be alive at the time. It at least got her to calm down and get most of the attention off of you. Several people still gave the odd stare, though. Roughly one minute passed before you snapped back to reality and attempted to stand. On your own, it was slow, clumsy, and actually kind of difficult with the current pain in your chest.

Silica, who was leaning on one of the gate's pillars, quickly moved over to help you up on her shoulder.

"You feel any better now?"

"Good enough to stand… I think."

"I'm gonna let go, then. Ready? One, two…"

She then let go of you, leaving you to stand on your own. Immediately you stumbled forward, but soon you managed to balance yourself despite your poor health. Oh, right, your HP. That hadn't improved any, still in the low red zone, but thankfully it hadn't gotten any worse. Still, you needed whatever ailment was hurting you gone, and fast. There was a clinic near Sahal's entrance, right on the corner of a busy marketplace.

"Thanks for your help, Silica. I need a doctor, but I can find one on my own. So… see ya."

"Wait, what? Already?"

"Yeah. I've got what I need for the delivery, right?"

"You do, but you're still really hurt. I don't wanna leave you just yet."

"I'll be fine, I swear."

"But-"

"Seriously. Just let me handle myself, alright? We're in a safe zone."

"Oh… okay." You could feel the strong disappointment in her voice.

"Ah... maybe you could do something else for me? You've already done a lot, so I get it if you don't wanna."

Her face lit up immediately. "Huh? What is it?"

"I don't know how long I'll be recovering for, so could you bring these stones to Liz?"

"Sure! I'll make sure she knows where you are, too, otherwise she'll be worried sick."

"I really hope she doesn't… I don't wanna be another source of stress for her, I mean. Hopefully that didn't come out too badly."

"So you totally do care about her like that!"

"That's not… I mean… yeah, but now's really not the time!"

You would probably bet money at this point that she did something to try and set you two up when you got back. She wasn't wrong, but you didn't really want to be open about that yet.

After giving her the sandstones, you parted ways with Silica and went to the local clinic. The town was fairly busy for the time of day. Hopefully that meant the place was still open with it being sunset. It felt much warmer than when you first arrived. And that pain in your chest was starting to grow.

When you got to the clinic, you noticed that the lights were still on. Right beside the door was a missing poster for some NPCs in the area. Odd that most people were ignoring it, since that definitely screamed quest trigger, but to be fair, you weren't exactly jumping at the opportunity right then.

You let yourself into the building, which was empty at first glance. No one stood at the reception desk, nor was there anyone on the benches to your side. The walls were bare, but that was common in these desert houses. The rugs were usually fancy, though, and this place was no exception. Everything had an odd ambience to it, but you didn't get too much time to soak in the scenery. The doctor had arrived to serve you.

"May I help you?" His voice was deep, yet gentle.

"You still open? I think I caught something from a monster."

"Come with me to the back and I'll see what I can do."

Thank goodness. You needed to be ready for the raid tomorrow.

And you just remembered that the raid was tomorrow. It was currently sunset. You were sick and dying and probably wouldn't recover in time to make it, and Liz would totally have to work overnight for that weapon order. Sounded like a good enough reason to start freaking out internally.

"Don't worry. Any procedures I do will be entirely safe."

And externally, apparently.

"Right, right. I'll follow you."

Clinics in SAO were more like apothecaries with operating tables, and the doctors that ran them were just alchemists with knowledge of human anatomy. Broken and severed limbs were status debuffs that wore off over time, most damage could be healed with potions and rest, and the majority of status effects could be cured with crystals. That left difficult-to-cure statuses, "exotic stat boosters", and the occasional organ harvest as the only avenues for the medically inclined. Most of them were NPCs for that reason.

The room you were led to fit that description pretty well. There was a lone operating table with various 19th century tools beside it. Nearby counters held both labeled and unlabeled substances, all of which being a gamble for their effects.

"So, what's ailing you?" He took out a book, something that looked more like a journal over a regular publication.

You began describing your symptoms, as well as when the effects began. Meanwhile, he was writing things down and nodding the whole time.

"A disease from that place? Sounds like Stonebirth to me. It's a fungal infection from that area. Spores from the plant will contact you somehow, then start seeping inside you while sucking your life away. Since you mentioned pain in your chest, sounds like it's awfully close to reaching its last stage."

"Which is?"

"Take off your armor."

That was ominous. You did as he asked, and were extremely shocked at what you saw. Your chest was greying out and skin starting to die as craggy patterns began to cover it.

"The fungus reaches your core, then it starts forming a rocky shell. All the while it keeps draining the host until they hollow out and die. If you're lucky, you stay dead. Otherwise, that thing turns you into a monster. It all depends on how healthy the host was before they caught the shrooms."

"So how do you get rid of it?"

"At this point, the only way for me to get rid of it is to manually remove it from inside you. It shouldn't take me too long."

Surgery. Great. Just what you needed to calm yourself down. At least anesthetics weren't hard to come by. Maybe it'd be better to just close your eyes and let your mind melt away for a while…

…

…

And just like that, it was over. You felt like absolute garbage and had no idea how much time had passed, but you were awake. A lot of the numbness had yet to wear off. Doc seemed to be acting odd, though. He was intensely focused on the fungus he had just extracted from you. Seems like he was muttering something as well.

"Doesn't look like it'd be viable… maybe I should've waited longer." This would've been inaudible to anyone with an untrained Listening skill.

You tried to sit up, but just ending up tumbling off the side of the table.

"Oh dear! Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." You spoke, clearly in pain.

The doctor helped you to your feet and back onto the table.

"Just rest here for a bit, at least until you have feeling again. We can talk about payment then. I should let you know something, as well. This disease has a minor side effect that persists for a while after contracting it. You may have noticed your chest both looking and feeling much more stone-like. It'll be like that for a while. It's strictly cosmetic, however."

Sounded like you'd be waiting for a while. Might be a good time to figure more out about that fungus.

"Thanks for your help. Something I was wondering though was that fungus. Now that it's out of me, can it be used for anything?"

"As far as I know, no. There's a rumor I heard once that it's the key to Immortal Sandstones, but it's not something I've personally investigated. All I know is the effect it has on people."

"Mind if I take it off your hands, then?"

The question caught him off guard. "This? What for? I just said it isn't useful."

"As far as you know. I work with my fair share of potions, maybe I can figure something out."

"Oh… well, I suppose I could part with it. It'd cost you, though."

"You're telling me I have to pay for something that was in my body?"

"You're already paying for me to take it out. That'd imply you wouldn't want it, right?"

"And if I did?"

"You pay for it."

Nuts. There goes the money from Liz's job already.

Once you regained feeling in your body, you stood up from the table and headed to the reception desk. The doctor followed behind you, carrying the fungus in a glass jar. While he was working on the bill, you noticed a message from Lisbeth. Looks like she had sent it during your surgery, reading from a few hours ago. Silica had gotten her the stones, and she thankfully didn't take any extra payment. Hopefully she was still awake when you got there.

After you had paid the bill and left the clinic, you quickly traveled to the town's teleport gate and returned to Floor 48. This was already a pretty rough day, and you had another one coming tomorrow. Maybe Lisbeth would let you stay with her for the night.