Chapter 17: Finding A Suitable Place

Theo once again directed a burst of electricity towards the Mind Source.

His face contorted. It was indeed painful, but he knew it wasn’t enough. It had only been a tiny spark, definitely not enough to forcibly break through the shackle. Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth and tried again.

It felt as if someone was drilling a hole directly through his spinal column using only a rusty nail and a jagged screwdriver. A painful experience. What’s more, the process was also unapologetically time-consuming. At some point, his entire body started shivering. Theo’s complexion paled, while his breathing quickened. Soon, he was frantically gasping for air.

Occasionally, he let out a grunt. Theo tried desperately to hold it in, but the pain was simply too much. Whether it be through clamped lips or gritted teeth, all the same, the noise came out. No matter how fiercely he resisted, his body’s natural urges won over.

It was impossible.

His body was slowly slipping out of his control. Another grunt leaked out from his parched lips. Sweat dripped down his cheeks and pooled on his desk. STAB. Another jolt of lightning and another round of wincing pain.

No.

He couldn’t do it.

…At least, not here.

He leaned back and sighed. Theo wiped the sweat off his brow and slowly looked around the room. He caught sight of a few probing stares. He shook his head. Others were beginning to notice.

In retrospect, it was only inevitable. Imagine it from their perspective. Some random kid in class suddenly starts grunting and making all sorts of weird noises. In addition, his face was deathly pale, almost as if he had just finished scaling a mountain while wearing nothing but a pair of underwear and some fuzzy socks.

Even the teacher was giving him a weird look.

He couldn’t continue like this. He knew he had to stop.

Severance was an extremely painful process. It emphasized forceful improvement through self-destruction. Something that sounded as scary as that was bound to be painful. If it wasn’t, then there would have been a hell of a lot more magicians running around Mistelhan. Theo knew that it would only grow worse the closer he got to breaking through.

The moment when the shackle finally breaks was the most intense part of the whole process. The first time he had done it, Theo inadvertently pissed himself. This time around, controlling his voice was the least of his problems.

A crowded, open place like this… Theo shook his head. It was simply impossible to keep doing this sort of thing in the middle of class.

“I’ll need to think of something to fix this problem.” He muttered to himself. “In the meantime, the only thing I can do is wait.”

And wait he did.

Theo rested his head on the desk and looked out the window. He lazily watched the clouds meander through the pale blue canvas. It had rained over the weekend and judging by the grey specs that loomed just beyond the horizon, another storm was on its way.

After a little less than two hours passed, the bell finally rang. He immediately stood up and rushed out of the classroom.

Although he had been in a rush earlier, in truth, he didn’t really have a particular destination in mind. Theo staggered around the hallway, his thoughts preoccupied.

His next class for the day was Languages. It was another two-hour class. After giving it some thought, he straightforwardly rejected the idea of going to class. In fact, he decided that the best course of action was for him to skip the rest of his classes entirely.

The fastest way to improve his academics was not to attend classes on subjects that he knew he couldn’t understand, but rather to build up his ability to understand. If he manages to successfully break his first shackle, then his computational speed and mental ability will undergo a drastic improvement. Something that would usually take him a week’s time to learn, might only require a day’s worth of effort, maybe even less, depending on how many mind shackles he can successfully break.

With that sort of ability under his belt, then it would be a whole lot easier for Theo to bridge the seven-month gap in knowledge.

So, in order to quickly sever his first mind shackle, Theo needed to first find a safe and somewhat quiet place for him to train. Said place also had to be somewhere on school grounds. After all, Shirley was here. He didn’t want to worry her. Plus, he also promised to visit her club today.

“A place on campus where either no-one will disturb me, or where I can make all sorts of noises and others won’t even bat an eyelash…” After thinking about it for a while, he came up with two possible options; the infirmary or the rooftop. The infirmary was a place for the sick and injured, so even if he were to groan and moan, nobody would find it all that odd. As for the rooftop, it was a restricted area from the start, so guaranteed no people.

He immediately removed the rooftop as an option.

Seven months ago, it would have been the perfect destination, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case now. He recalled something that Shirley had once told him about over the weekend; the rooftop had been taken over by wannabe gangers. Right now, it was a delinquent’s paradise.

In truth, Theo wasn’t afraid. Even with twenty or thirty thugs in waiting, he was still fairly confident in his ability to deal with that sort of number. Unfortunately, there was a difference between being able to fight and wanting to fight. The trouble that the rooftop brought with it far outweighed the benefits, especially since his original intention was to find a place for peace and quiet, not bloodshed and mayhem.

Eventually, the bell rang. Theo had long since decided on his destination.

****

Five minutes later.

Theo found himself standing in front of a white door. Located just a bit to the right of the door was a black plaque with nine white letters printed on its surface.

[Infirmary]

He knocked on the door. Half a second later, he heard shuffling coming from somewhere inside. A few more seconds passed and the door creaked open.

“Yes, what is it?” A feminine voice. Theo looked up, only to see a woman standing in front of him.

She was a beautiful woman, slightly older than Aunt Lynn. Pale blue eyes and wavy golden blonde hair that fell all the way down to her shoulder blades. She wore a spotless white lab coat draped over a black low-cut sweater. A fair bit of her alabaster skin was exposed.

His eyes subconsciously traveled downward. Past her bulging chest, she wore a tight-fitting grey tube skirt and a pair of black high heels.

He subconsciously creased his brow.

Another beautiful woman?

Not that there was anything wrong with beautiful ladies, but Theo felt as if he was encountering them way too often. Shirley and his Aunt Lynn, plus that pair of gaudy students from his history class… with the addition of this mature looking beauty, that made five girls in total with looks rivaling that of a supermodel’s.

In the twenty-five years he spent on Mistelhan, Theo probably encountered far fewer girls of similar caliber than in the three days that he’s been on Plume.

Are my standards worsening or is Mistelhan just a lot worse than I remembered it to be?

He shook his head and focused on the lady before him.

Honestly, he had no recollection of her within his hazy memories, but Theo didn’t really find that too surprising. For all the time that he’s spent enrolled in Valery Heights, he couldn’t actually remember a single instance of him ever visiting the infirmary.

For a moment, the lady’s eyes widened. She stared piercingly at Theo’s face, before her expression immediately reverted back to normal. She tried to hide the surprise on her face, but Theo had seen it quite clearly.

“What did you want?” She asked again, warily glancing up at him. The woman was about half a head taller than Theo, just a little bit shorter than Aunt Lynn.

“Yeah, I have a splitting headache. I can’t concentrate in class, so can I take a nap here until I get better?” He straightforwardly asked. Technically speaking, he wasn’t lying. His head really did hurt from all of the attempted breakthroughs that he had performed.

“Do you have a note from your teacher?”

“Um, no…” Theo hesitated for a moment. “Do I need one?”

“….”

For a time, the two stared at each other in silence. Theo felt a bit awkward. He was too naïve! Not once did he consider the possibility of rejection. In fact, he actually assumed that the nurse in charge would just let him right in as longa as he gave some half-hearted excuse.

Theo was stuck at an impasse, uncertain of what to do next.

Just as he thought about leaving, the lady suddenly widened the door and retreated back inside the room.

Click-click, click-click, click-click…

She sighed lightly, the sound of her clicking high-heels echoed through the room. She moved towards the far corner of the room and sat down on a leather swivel chair. She returned to her computer and started typing something down.

After a few seconds, she realized that Theo had not followed her. She slightly turned her head and gave him a sidelong glance.

“What are you waiting for? Get in already.” The lady spoke lightly, before she turned back around and continued with whatever she was doing.

“Um… alright then.” Theo was a bit hesitant, but nevertheless, he easily agreed. He walked into the room and quietly observed his surroundings. It was a simple set up.

The room was narrow but rectangular in shape. Three beds were spread evenly throughout the room. Each bed had their own private partition. The nurse’s desk was located in the far back, along with a series of cabinets and other medical compartments.

Now that he was actually here, Theo didn’t know what to do next.

Should he just straightforwardly take one of the beds in the room or was he supposed to say something beforehand? What about the nurse? Was it fine for him to do whatever he wanted or should he ask for permission first?

Thinking about it now, it was a bit awkward with just the two of them in the room like this… not that he minded the company of a beautiful woman. In fact, the nurse was actually his type of girl, but that wasn’t actually saying much, considering Theo’s rather wide strike range.

Even if her presence did make him feel a bit uncomfortable, Theo wholeheartedly believed that it was still several times better than being alone.

“Just to be clear, I’m only making an exception just this once.” The nurse suddenly spoke up, interrupting Theo’s train of thought.

“An exception?”

“That’s right.” She nodded. “Next time, don’t skip class. And if you do skip class, at least bring a teacher’s note.” She paused for a moment, before she gestured for Theo to come forward. “Come here for a second.”

Theo acquiesced and quietly walked up to her.

With her sitting down like that, the difference in height forced Theo to look down on her. She apparently did not like this, because she immediately gestured for him to lower his head. Theo could only comply with her demands.

The lady squinted her eyes and suddenly placed a hand on his forehead. For a moment, he was dumbfounded. He felt the coldness of her palm seep into his skin, before he managed to regain a little bit of clarity.

“Look, if you’re going to pretend to be sick, then at the very least, be a bit more convin—” Her face suddenly froze. She looked oddly at him for a second, before she pulled her hand away.

“You’re burning up.” She said.

“I am?”

“Yes. Yes, you are.” She dismissively waved her hand, as she turned back around and reached for another drawer. “Who would have thought? You really were telling the truth.”

Theo bitterly smiled. He didn’t really mind the teacher’s attitude. It kind of reminded him of his Aunt Lynn, except the woman before him was a whole lot colder. Still, he too was surprised.

Why was he so hot? It was only a casual excuse, to think that he really was running a fever…

He thought about it for a moment and quickly blamed his current condition on the attempted severance from earlier. The process does place a considerable physical strain on my body… I guess a fever is one way to show it.

“Your body temperature’s elevated, I’m guessing somewhere above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (38~ C). I won’t know the exact temperature unless I actually measure it. Regardless, that’s quite the high fever you’ve got there.” She explained. “You might be sick; do you want to head home for the day?”

Theo shook his head. “Can I just lie down? Hopefully, I’ll get better with a little bit of rest.”

“Well, do what you want…” Just as she was about to dismiss him, a weird glint suddenly flashed through her eyes. She enthusiastically asked, “Do you want some medicine?”

“Um, sure, if you got any.” Theo agreed. It was a long shot, but modern medicine might actually have a positive effect on his next round of severance.

“Good, I’ve got some suppositories near the back, let me go get them…”

“S-suppositories?” Theo widened his eyes, before he hurriedly shook his head. “Wait, wait, never mind. I don’t need the medicine. On second thought, I’ll just go rest…”

The nurse laughed in response. “Suit yourself, although if you ever do get in the mood, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll be right here, always ready and waiting…”

Theo self-deprecatingly smiled to himself. He didn’t dare converse with this weird nurse for even one second longer. He retreated towards the closest bed and quickly pulled on the bedside partitions.

Soon, the curtains encircled all around him. Now, Theo was finally alone.