As Max opened his eyes, still dazed, his head pounding, he looked around. He was in a wooden building with a few beds and no one around. Dim evening light shone through the windows, along with a few dim bulbs that lit the room.
He got up and tried to sit, but felt sharp pain and itching in his chest and left arm.
He frowned and looked down at his arm and chest, which were wrapped in bandages.
His face twitched with pain, but he remained calm, not at all startled by the sudden changes to himself and his surroundings.
From the memories he had received, he knew how he had gotten injured and where he was.
"I transmigrated," he thought to himself.
He was Max, with the same name and almost the same body, except this body had a few more injuries than his previous one. However, this body was tougher than the sedentary body he had developed in his previous life.
In his previous life, he had been a freshly graduated doctor, though not a particularly smart one. He had taken some time to clear medical school with difficulty and had entered the real world to earn money and gain respect, but he had been met with harsh reality.
Jobs were scarce. There was an excess of doctors but too few jobs, and no one wanted freshers. On top of that, the pay was low.
Finally, after getting a job, he had overworked himself to death and transmigrated to this new world, one that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
From his memories, he knew this looked like a Pokémon world, but it wasn't the same.
Both Pokémon and humans were much stronger and much crueler.
As Max was thinking, he suddenly felt a numbing sensation spreading from his wounds, and the pain started to lessen. Within a few minutes, he was feeling better than before.
Max was astounded.
As he tried to get up from the bed, he accidentally knocked over the side stand. Hearing the noise, someone finally came out of the inner room of the barracks.
As Max looked up, he recognized him. He was Doctor Lin, the only doctor in the barracks.
Doctor Lin looked at him in astonishment and said, "You woke up pretty fast. Your injuries were relatively serious, and on top of that, you were poisoned by Paras."
Max didn't want anyone to notice anything strange, so he made an excuse.
"Maybe I didn't inhale many of the poisonous spores released by Paras."
Doctor Lin had a thoughtful look on his face. Then he came up to Max, lifted the bandage, and examined the wound. Seeing that the discoloration had disappeared and the wound looked much better, he nodded and said, "Yeah, even though I gave you half a dose of Energy Powder and a quarter dose of Heal Powder, it looks like the scratches from the Paras's attack made your mild poisoning look severe. Still, it's good that you're okay. You're lucky that Guard Chief Seth has given you 50% of the profit from the Mind Power Herb."
Max's face brightened, and he happily said, "Thanks to the Guard Chief!"
Doctor Lin nodded, and as he walked away, he said, "Since you're feeling better, you can go back home. Now that you have money, you can buy a full dose of medicinal powder to recover faster."
Max watched Doctor Lin return to the inner room of the infirmary.
He heaved a sigh of relief. With every passing second, he felt less and less pain, and it seemed as though strength was returning to his weak body.
He got up much more easily this time. He walked out of the infirmary and headed toward the warehouse.
As he walked in, he saw the warehouse manager, Huge, standing behind the counter. He walked up to him, presented his medicinal gatherer's token, and said, "Hello, Manager Huge. I want to redeem my reward for this trip to Shadowpine Forest."
Warehouse Manager Huge raised his eyebrow as he looked Max up and down. He took the token, which was a steel badge with a name and numbers for identification, and checked it in his book.
"I thought you would stay in the infirmary for a few days, and we would have to contact your parents to come and pick you up. But it seems your injuries are already better."
He handed back the token, went to the back of the warehouse, and returned after some time with a pouch, which he handed to Max.
"Here is your reward: 500 Pokédollars. Lucky you."
Max took the pouch and smiled slightly.
"Thank you, Manager Huge. Dr. Lin checked me and said maybe I didn't inhale many poisonous spores, and the scratch attack made my injuries look more serious than they were."
He didn't know what was going on. Even as he was talking, his injuries were still getting better and better.
Manager Huge didn't say much. He just nodded and waved for Max to leave.
Max didn't linger around the warehouse. As night was approaching, he hurried toward the exit of the guard barracks.
By the time he walked out of the warehouse and left the guard barracks, he felt completely fine.
'As if it were like before the injuryâno, even better, as if even my old wounds had been healed.'
He knew this world was magical. It had Pokémon that could heal severe injuries in a matter of seconds and even herbs that could heal people and Pokémon. To some extent, there were even herbs and treasures that could revive Pokémon and people if used in time.
But all of that was far, far away from him, an eighteen-year-old medicinal gatherer.
Even just a couple of days ago, he had been working with his parents as a farmer.
He wanted to change his life and become a Pokémon Trainer.
He wanted to leave this small town.
To achieve his dreams, he needed money, which he didn't have. So he had thought of becoming a medicinal gatherer, hoping to take a risk and earn quick money for his first Poké Ball.
With that in mind, he didn't linger near the barracks and walked home.
As he reached home, he saw a small six- or seven-year-old girl playing in the yard of his house. That was his sister. He was the eldest and had only one younger sister, along with his parents, in this world.
As the memories fused with his own, they seamlessly became his, as if they had always been his memories.
In his previous life, he had been an orphan and had never experienced family love. He was socially introverted and had made some friends, but none were close enough to lend him a hand when he needed it.
These memories and the feelings that came with them made him feel different.
He smiled, walked up to the girl, and called out, "Little Ciri, it's dark, and you're still playing outside."
Ciri looked up, and her face lit up with a smile. She ran up to Max.
"Brother, I was waiting for you to come back! You said you would help me get a Sentret when you made lots of money."