Oh shoot. Ow. OW. OW.

Demund awoke to a cramp in his leg. His whole body felt weak and sore, and his shoulders, which had carried the bike for half a kilometer while he ran, felt even worse. He took off his shirt and looked in the mirror. The place where the bike had rubbed against it had its skin peeling off. Demund carefully retrieved some ointment from his drawer and checked the expiration date. Eh. It was still usable. He rubbed the salve on his shoulder and moved it around. Much better.

Contrary to his body, his mind was in perfect shape. He didn’t feel fatigued or drowsy. Rather, he could recall everything that happened yesterday clearly. Including the pain.

Demund shuddered. Would he really have to push himself that far every day? Maybe some rest was fine. He looked in the mirror and saw his skinny body. He had gained some muscle, but it wasn’t all that impressive.

He gave himself a slap on the cheeks. What was he thinking? He had just gotten plenty of rest for seven days. If he were to give up now, he’d be a disgrace to himself. He had a promise to keep, a goal in mind. Improve himself as much as he could with his power. Jothan would be suffering much worse probably.

He quickly dressed and went down for a hearty breakfast. Keeping the body nutritious was important as well. Thanks to his mind being so awake, he could clearly think of the things to do despite his body being sore and slightly swollen.

If only there was something that could cure him like his mother cured his brother.

Wait a moment. He stopped eating midway and went to his bag to retrieve the pamphlet of TISE High he had gotten two days ago. Hopefully, it was still there. He shuffled through the pockets of his bag. The crumpled piece of paper was in the front section of the bag.

Demund quickly straightened the paper and continued to swallow his food. He flipped to the second page. Not there. He flipped to the back and found it.

The school infirmary—where students could get top medical treatment after injuries or accidents. This was a world with superpowers! Though most of the gifted had gone to the Islands, plenty of C classes remained. It wasn’t like C classes didn’t train themselves. They were plenty more formidable than normal people. TISE High was a school equipped with facilities that could bring out their potentials. The infirmary was one of them.

Demund felt relieved. He had been afraid that maybe he was pushing himself too much, but as long as the infirmary existed, even severe injuries could be treated. He happily finished his breakfast and packed his things into his bag. So many opportunities, so much time. He would surely make it to the special class.

He’d go early today to check out the infirmary.

He half-limped to the bike. It still hurt a lot.

〄 〄 〄

Demund arrived at the infirmary at around seven twenty. It was in the building where the gifted students and the senior upperclassmen went. Apparently, the elite side had more accidents than the normal side. Well, that was reassuring to hear. It was surprisingly easy to find; the big glass doors of the infirmary were clearly visible when Demund entered the school grounds and circled the big statue at the center. He left his bike outside the infirmary. He was too sore to walk.

Thankfully, other bikes were parked in the area behind the library. Demund quickly stationed his bicycle and headed towards the infirmary. Oh man. The pain was becoming a little worse. It wasn’t excruciating, but it still felt like he had run a marathon. To put it plainly, his legs were noodles.

The doors automatically slid open when Demund approached. The place looked like an emergency room. Beds with movable curtains were stationed everywhere around the room along with intricate-looking devices and apparatuses.

There wasn’t anyone in the room, but at the back, a door that read ‘Nurse’s Office’ stood in place. Demund dragged himself weakly across the floor and knocked on the door. He peeked inside the small glass window.

He saw a person with light blonde hair inside, slumped over on a desk. She wore the lab-coat looking nurse’s outfit, but her messy hair and bent posture really didn’t help her look professional. Demund sighed to himself. He hoped she would be able to help him.

He cleared his throat and knocked once more.

“Hello, Ms. Nurse?”

He searched for a name near the sign and found ‘Emily Clarn.’

“Hello, Ms. Clarn? I need some help.” He knocked harder on the door.

Finally, the corpse-like nurse raised her head and stared at the door. Hair was in her mouth, and she had serious dark circles under her pale blue eyes. Wow, Demund thought. She must be really tired. Maybe I should have let her sleep?

The nurse groggily straightened her back and pushed her hair to the side. She got up from her chair and opened the door as Demund took two steps back. She looked very tired.

She smiled weakly at Demund. “Do you need any help?”

“Well…” Demund trailed off as he felt bad for asking for help when he wasn’t even bleeding. Ah, whatever. He was here.

“I ran too much yesterday and I feel so sore.”

He pointed to his legs and shoulder.

“Also, my shoulder is sore too. Can you cure the soreness?”

The nurse took out a pair of glasses from her breast pocket and placed them on her eyes.

“Let me inspect you first.”

She pointed to the nearest bed. “Go lie down there, face up.”

Demund was slightly confused but he followed her instructions. This was a professional nurse at a prestigious school, after all. Not to mention she was pretty, but that was out of context. It had nothing to do with his willingness to obey her.

He relaxed his body on the comfortable mattress. The nurse went back into the office and returned with a cup in her hand. It smelled like coffee. She took a few sips and set it down on the desk next to Demund’s bed.

“Don’t worry now,” she said kindly. “This won’t hurt a single bit.”

Demund watched in astonishment as a greenish-bluish light formed a circle in front of the nurse’s hand. She then moved her hand over Demund’s body, first starting from his legs and going all the way up to his head. She finished quickly, and the light disappeared into thin air. It was like seeing magic.

She took another sip of coffee and signaled for Demund to sit up, which he did.

“What did you do yesterday? Did you run a marathon?” she asked. “Or did you run a marathon every day for the past few days? Your body is filled with fatigue. Your muscles are full of rips on your legs. Your shoulder is fine—it’s nothing more than a scrape.”

“Well…I did run a lot?” replied Demund.

“More than you should in a single day,” the nurse said. “The cure is simple: rest for a week and you’ll be in perfect shape.”

“But I can’t do that!” Demund argued. “I mean, I need to run every day. It’s a promise I made with a friend.”

Demund looked at the nurse with pleading eyes. “Is there any way I can recover right now?”

“There is a way but…” Her eyes seemed to grow darker for a moment. “Okay. What’s your name?”

“Demund.”

“Okay, Demund. Normally, I would give you a band-aid for your shoulder and some relaxant cream for your legs. But you need something faster. Correct?”

Demund nodded. The nurse went over to one of the containers in the room and took out a bottle of clear liquid.

“This is a bottle of diluted anexide. Have you heard of it?” She looked over at Demund who shook his head sideways. “Anexide is a drug that enhances your healing and numbs the pain in the process,” she explained. “It is commonly used in the Islands after students injure themselves during training. Our school runs a similar program too, so we have many in stock.”

Demund looked curiously at the bottle. The liquid was no different from water appearance-wise.

“Usually, only the gifted students use this. This is probably the only way to cure your muscles quickly. Are you okay with this?”

“Yes,” said Demund. After all, if the gifted students used it, it wouldn’t be that bad and certainly not addictive. The school would never give harmful substances to their students.

“Okay. I’ll have to inject this into your bloodstream. But first, you need to sign an agreement paper. It’s nothing serious.”

The nurse quickly fetched a piece of paper proving that the school hadn’t forced Demund to take the medicine. The contents were reasonable and easy to understand, so Demund signed it.

Afterwards, the nurse injected the diluted anexide into Demund’s arm. He winced a little bit, but the pain subsided quickly. The needle wound healed instantly to Demund’s surprise.

“You won’t hurt as much anymore. The effects will start to appear within ten minutes and last from five to six hours. But remember, this doesn’t make you a superhuman. It only dulls the pain and increases your healing. Is that clear?”

Demund nodded. “Yes. Thank you very much!”

Ms. Clarn gave Demund a kind smile. “Good luck on running,” she told Demund.

Demund gave Ms. Clarn a bow and rushed towards his classes. They were starting soon, and he couldn’t be late. The nurse looked at Demund’s back as he ran off and sighed to herself. A normal exercising with the difficulty of a gifted. He was an interesting kid. Just what kind of running had he done? If he continued his training schedule, he’d be here often. She just hoped he wouldn’t overexert himself too much. She disliked seeing students in pain.

She sipped the last of her coffee and stretched herself. Work was work. She’d do her best at it and that would be it.

〄 〄 〄

The soreness really had vanished. Demund moved his legs in awe and looked at his shoulder. The scrape was already replaced with skin. His legs almost felt like they were in perfect condition too. It had been around four hours since he was injected, but he felt like he had rested for a week. Modern medicine was great.

“So, you knew about this?” asked Demund to Riley. Riley swallowed his food and nodded his head.

“Of course! All of the sports clubs know about it. You can’t use it unless the nurse decides you can, but I heard it’s really effective.”

“Yeah. I once got it during middle school after I cracked my head on the floor,” added Rhyne.

“You what?”

“It was nothing. Just a very big bruise that had to go away fast.”

“I remember that! Your mother came to the school and begged them to heal you. You had a photo shoot or something.”

“Family photo since my dad came home that day. But yeah, the stuff is really effective. My bruise was gone in hours.”

They continued to eat their lunch as they talked about trivial things.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join a sports club? Rhyne and I are both in the MMA club. We have so much fun there.”

“Sure we do. As long as we’re not getting beaten up.”

“That’s why we improve, Rhyne. Besides, they’re probably going easy on us.”

Demund looked at the pair. He was interested in the club, but he had more important things to do.

“Maybe next year. I want to focus on my studies to get into the elite side. Besides, I already exercise during my free time.”

“That’s too bad. Hope you join next year,” said Riley.

Riley was a really chill person. He was always optimistic and collected while being energetic at the same time. He didn’t get insulted by the occasional remarks Rhyne threw at him and instead rebutted with humorous sarcasm. Demund could see that their friendship was a deep one. Like his and Jothan’s. He was grateful they had let him join their table.

“Next year. I promise. If I make it into the elite class.”

“Let’s all try our best then. A toast!”

Riley lifted his plastic cup up into the air. Rhyne sighed and followed his example. Demund too raised his cup with a smile. They clanked their cups in unison.

“To our future in the elite class!”

“Hah. To our future.”

“And MMA club too!”

The three friends shared smiles as lunch came to an end.