Chapter 012

Another Day in the Hospital

Alevier woke up quietly under a familiar ceiling: the white-domed roof of a building he was closely acquainted with.

Slowly realizing where he was, he sighed to himself, wondering how he had lost control of himself the other day - it was not him. He tried to expel those memories as he lifted his bandaged head.

Curse his luck, he never liked to be dragged into violence because it brought nothing but destruction to either party - look at him, his face is covered in white bandages along with his torso, his arm is left immovable because of the plaster which covered it and he has a splitting headache every morning when he wakes up. Not to mention, his hand was covered in blisters and even with the regular application of healing magic and potions for a week, it was not completely healed. What good came out of that battle?

He heard the sounds of footsteps approaching his ward, a moment later the very same nurse that treated him after the Nightstalker incident, entered exclaiming, “Oh. you are already awake?”

“Yeah, I am not really used to sleeping in the same position for a whole week,” he grumbled.

“As irritated as always?”

“You bet.”

“Haha, I did not think you would end up here again so soon,” she said as she walked to the cupboard and opened it searching for something inside.

“Neither did I,” sighed Alevier.

“I mean, you spent like a fourth of your first year in the hospital because you got into so many fights and always tried out dangerous experiments without your teacher’s consent. To be honest, I did not think you would last more a year in this academy,” she muttered.

Alevier snorted and said, “I also did not think you would remain a nurse for long considering how you treated my wounds then - yet, here we are.”

“You can’t blame me for that! I was a bit nervous when you came here covered in bruises and snapping at people telling them how you will ‘nail some degenerates on a cross’ one day!”

“Oh, shut up. You don’t have to bring that up! I was just a bit angry that time,” Alevier protested.

“A bit angry?” she snickered. “You snapped at me while I was bandaging your arm calling me ’too inexperienced to tend to my injuries’.”

“Ugh, I was jus- nevermind, just give me my daily dose of medicine.”

“Ha, here you are,” she took out a small jar of pills and unscrewed it. After handing him two pills, she poured him a glass of water from the jug kept on the stand next to his bed.

As she watched him swallow the pills she reminisced about how that frail boy had stormed into the hospital two years ago, trying his best not to cry because he had been beaten up by some other students for calling them - ‘Self-centred arrogant pigs who had been fed until their bellies had grown five times as their brain’.

Well, he was correct over there, those students ended up being expelled because they had failed in their final exams. However, every time - save for once - he had been admitted into the hospital, he was never truly depressed, there was always a small light of victory in his eyes - like he had gained something with those injuries or maybe it was his childish confidence in fictions where the hero returns stronger-than-before after losing. But that was all in the first year, his aggressiveness had cooled down by his second year, he usually came to the hospital mostly because he was sick due to exhaustion or occasionally, because someone had played a dirty prank on him - at least that is how he had put it.

But there was this once he had come there utterly defeated, it was when he was heartbroken because of some failed love pursuit. He did not tell much about it to her when she asked him, he just said that he needed some analgesics. A pity she could not help him in any way. After some weeks he came back to the hospital because of some prank, he was fine by then but, something inside him had changed - he was more unfriendly and indifferent than usual.

How people change with time.

Alevier looked at her as she was vacantly gazing at the window. He made some throat clearing sounds to grab her attention. She jumped a little before she focused on Alevier.

“You seem to have a lot of time to chat with me today,” he said.

“Yeah,” she responded. “I had arrived here during the morning, three hours after you had blown up your dormitory, I was busy with stuff that day - what? I get vacations too!”

“Yeah, I know,” he laughed. “Well, go tend to your other patients, I bet you won’t get the award for best nurse of the month by talking to me.”

She snorted and walked out, a bit angry at Alevier but slightly happy that he was back to his irritated self.

Alevier shook his head and thought to himself how some things never change. For an hour, he sat in silence, trying to sleep again - he did not need to have breakfast since those magical pills served as food as well as medicine. Well, he could live with that.

However, it was a pity he could not read books. The doctor had 'ordered’ him not to when he asked Jaysaun to bring some because he was getting too bored lying in the bed all day. This was the worst.

He looked out of the window, staring at the deserted gardens, the daily lessons had probably begun some time ago and all the students were in their classes - except a few who chose to bunk their class, but the teachers did not care for such activities since the results of their exams will be a punishment enough.

“So, how are you?” said a female voice from behind him, making him almost jump in surprise. He hurriedly turned his head to see that Waelecia was sitting on a chair next to his bed.

“When did yo- Oh, nevermind,” Alevier rolled his eyes. His sister was more of a genius than him - a goddamn prodigy in spacial magic and dimensionalism. She could easily use magic even with those magic disruptive wards in the corridors - a true 3rd Star Mage…

“How are you?” she repeated her question with no hint of emotion in her face.

Alevier wanted to ask her how and when did she recall that she had a younger brother. He was truly curious about this since she had not even bothered to talk to him after the Nightstalker incident.

“See for yourself,” grunted Alevier pulling away his blanket to show his bandaged torso.

Waelecia examined him with her eyes for a moment before speaking, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Care to complete your sentence?” complained Alevier.

“Why didn’t you tell me about you being a low tier 3rd Star?”

Alevier gave her an unbelieving look. When did he become a 3rd Star Magus?

“I am not a 3rd Star, what the hell are you saying?” he said.

“You can perform supersaturation, overload five spells simultaneously without being sucked dry of mana, make tens of mana shields, and still perform unstructured magic,” she said pointing towards his plastered hand. “If you are still not a 3rd Star then I would say you are, at least, the best of the best in 2nd Star category.”

Oh, so she saw all that? Well, he should not be surprised, she had eyes and ears almost everywhere. But why don’t the teachers say anything about it? Don't they care about privacy? Well, did it matter to him? No, so he won’t go poking his nose in her matters...

“I talked to Jarkiso about this and he said that you don’t know your own level, I take it he is a powerful 5th Star and has spirit vision but, I was not convinced. Thus, I came here to contact you,” she deadpanned.

Alevier widened his eyes at this, he could not believe what he was listening. Jarkiso is a goddamn freaking 5th Star? And he has spirit vision? Alevier thought it only existed in books. What the hell? Jarkiso might even be an Archmage.

“So, why did you hide it?” she asked again.

“I-I seriously did not know my abilities! I am serious!” Alevier protested.

“What do you have to back your claim?” Waelecia struck back.

Alevier blinked his eyes looking away, trying his best to find a logical explanation as they sat in silence.

Then suddenly an idea struck him, “Well, If I were a 3rd Star then I would have been easily pointed out by the sensory type mages. I have been to a lot of places with sensory mages who can point out the amount of mana one has, even if it slightly inaccurate at times, they could have easily pointed me out back at home or somewhere else. Taking into consideration the fact that I am taller for my age and look a bit older, most sensors in the academy could have mistaken me for a fourth-year student, so it would have not struck them as unusual as I am only infamous in my age group.”

“So why didn’t anyone in your class point that out?” asked Waelecia.

“Well, all the sensors are grouped up in section R while I am in section Q, not only are these classes at either end of the floor, the number of students and mana disruptive wards might have masked my presence.”

Waelecia put her palm on her face and said in a matter-of-factly tone, “Of course. I almost forgot that there are mana disruptive wards and the sheer number of students that passed the 2nd Star Exam last year,” she looked at Alevier with a suspicious gaze. “So you are saying you just woke up one day with a terrifying boost in your mana?”

“Uh, you could put it that way.”

“When did you last use magic and felt something strange about your mana capacity?” she asked quickly.

“The Nightstalker incident, I overloaded my spell without any exhaustion,” replied Alevier.

“Before that, when did you use magic?” she fired yet another question at him.

Alevier closed his eyes and scanned through his memory before finally replying, “...2nd Star Mage Exams, just before the Vanishing of Armi.”

His tone was grave.

Waelecia gave him a thoughtful look, there was a hint of doubt in her eyes. “And you don’t remember what happened in Armi either?”

“No, I don’t,” replied Alevier.

“I still don’t understand, even though we have discussed it quite a few time. How is it that you don’t remember anything?”

“Haven’t I told you already? I woke up next to a damn black sphere the size of a whole city with thunderstorms above my head, and with no recollection of what happened in the past thirty-six hours!” snapped Alevier.

Suddenly a wave of force brushed across his neck making him shut up in fear. Waelecia said with her expressionless face, “Be mindful of whom you are talking to.”

“S-sorry,” Alevier quickly apologized.

“Anyway, have you kept shut about the Nightstalker incident?” she asked as if nothing ever happened.

Alevier replied after a short pause, “...Yes,”

“Good. What about your friend?”

“He hasn’t spoken a word to anyone, but shouldn’t you be able to tell? You have spying wards all over the place.”

“That is a misconception,” she responded while looking up at the ceiling. “I do have spying and scrying wards around me and they can collect data from some two miles but only when I consciously order them to - it is really mana consuming. Moreover, it is a pain to filter all the noise - you know the useless information, so I only program my wards in such a way that they can pick a few keywords and relay parts of those conversations to me. Not to mention, all teachers have protection against my spying wards.”

“I see,” for some reason, Waelecia seemed slightly more human in Alevier’s eyes. Emphasis on ‘slightly’, she was still a monster for all Alevier knew.

“If you are thinking that I spread that misunderstanding, then yes, I did that. As for why? You don’t need to know. Thus, it would be better if you kept quiet about it,” said Waelecia.

Okay, maybe that ‘slightly’ was an exaggeration.

Waelecia turned her head towards the entrance. “Jarkiso is here.”

Alevier quickly spun his face in surprise. The first question that popped up in his head was, “Why?”

“I think you can add a professor there?” came his voice as he emerged from the entrance.

“Apologies, professor Jarkiso,” said Waelecia in response, but no hint of sorry was visible on her face - it was neutral as always, but Jarkiso didn’t seem to mind.

“How are you feeling now, Alevier?” he asked with a smile before he walked up to his bed.

Alevier quickly regained his composure and said, “Er-I am alright Professor.”

Jarkiso scanned him with his eyes before saying, “You sure were beaten badly.”

“Yeah...” nodded Alevier bitterly.

“Well, it was reassuring to see that you can use your powers, ineffectively but still, it is better than nothing.”

Jarkiso looked at Waelecia. “Does being a magical genius run in the family?”

“I don’t know, brother Ziran is quite talented but far from being hailed as a prodigy like me,” answered Waelecia. “Alevier has just, mysteriously, discovered his potential and I have no idea how did such a thing happen. Then we have a younger sister named Janou, but she has not been assessed yet since she is too young.”

“And you all have no magical or noble background,” said Jarkiso thoughtfully. “Amazing. Not to mention, those two come from your family too.”

“We are told to keep quiet about that. And please exercise caution, we never know when someone decides to eavesdrop on us,” warned Waelecia.

“But you already have applied all the wards and enchantments over here. I trust a 4th Star who has been taught by me,” said Jarkiso as he magically conjured a wooden stool and sat on it, clearly tired of standing, looks like he was going to sit here for some time.

“What?” exclaimed Alevier. “W-when the hell?”

“What is it, Alevier?” asked Jarkiso.

“W-when did she become a 4th S-star?” he stammered trying his best to keep himself from quivering.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you? It was a few days back, she called a few of her teachers to take an unofficial 4th Star test - it was a mock test of sorts but, she managed to pass with flying colours,” said Jarkiso. “Of course, the information is confidential and she has not yet been promoted. But still, she is of 4th Star level.”

“I don’t plan to take the public test and officially become a 4th Star any soon, though,” added Waelecia. Alevier looked at her, why would she not get promoted as soon as possible? The perks and the recognition a 4th Star receives are too much of a temptation!

Waelecia stared back at him before letting out a worn out sigh, “It would attract quite some unwanted attention. You know, becoming a 4th Star by the age of seventeen is not really common, usually most ‘geniuses’ become a 4th Star in their late twenties.”

Okay, he underestimated the kind of monstrosity his sister is - she is a goddamn freak!

But then a question popped up in his head, “If you are so strong, you could have killed that Nightstalker quickly, then why...”

Jarkiso’s mood instantly lit up, “Oh, it is about that incident? I wasn’t in the school during that night, I had heard some stories from my colleagues, but I did not bother about it as some creatures tend to break into the school - occasionally though - after all, the school is built upon a dungeon. However, since no one was killed, it did not interest me, but now I am curious. Please tell me in detail what happened.”

Waelecia rolled her eyes and explained to him of that night after giving Alevier an annoyed look.

“...As for your question,” she turned towards Alevier. “I was simply putting up an act, I tried to cast some mind spell on it so I can subdue it and interrogate it since it was clearly intelligent, but my mind spell was disrupted because the creature was already under the control of much more powerful magic. Thus, I wanted to tire it out and then effectively stun it when it was out of mana and strength so it does not commit suicide when I torture it into revealing why it was here. I also tried to look weak by not attacking as fast and hard as I usually would, or not using any powerful spell or doing anything that would scare it. However, I got distracted for a moment when it used its fear inciting gaze on me and I was suddenly reminded of the thesis papers that I was writing before going to bed and how they might have caught fire. It was so saddening that I spaced out and hence, I was unintentionally scratched. It was truly traumatizing - so much that I was caught up in an internal debate of killing it on the spot or slowly torturing it to death. But you happened to kill it with one spell before I could make my move.”

Alevier just looked at her with wide eyes. Unbelievable. Did he ever mention that his sister was an abnormality? Well, he really meant it now. Really.

“That was really disappointing of you, Waelecia... However, I still find it hard to believe that you, Alevier, were able to supersaturate that ice pike spell,” said Jarkiso wryly. “This makes another reason to make my plan worth implementing.”

Alevier looked at him with a questioning expression.

“After seeing your duel with Lueirby, I realized that you are terrible at combat and even more so at protecting yourself physically,” said Jarkiso. “So, I have decided that I will train you in both aspects, physically and magically, particularly because you are her brother and your future success as an alchemist might attract some hostile attention. It would be a pity to see geniuses as you die at the hands of those foul people. Hence, I will train you. Daily.” He added with a smile which told Alevier of all the hard training he will have to go through.

Well, his luck was screwing with him again.

“So get well soon and come see me after that,” said Jarkiso as he patted Alevier on his back. “Well, I have a class to teach, I will be going now. Goodbye.”

He got up from his seat and exited.

Waelecia turned towards Alevier. “I have to go too. However, let me tell you that I have postponed the selections for the student's council because your friend came to me begging for an extension in the date saying how two brilliant students who can be really helpful to the council are hospitalized and for their sake I should bend the rules. If it wouldn't have been for him sticking to me for an entire day even when I thrashed him every time he came close, I would have not done it. So, you better not disappoint me for my actions else, you know what I can do.” Her lips curled up in a blood-curdling smile.

Alevier shuddered, he sure knew that. Seeing that she had clearly terrified her brother, she slumped back in her chair, unnatural. Then she uttered a soft chant and suddenly dissolved into thin air.

Wow, freaking great, she can make illusionary clones of herself? Or can she teleport despite the whole damn school being strictly warded against teleportation? Alevier could not care much about that since he had another thing to worry about.

Screw it. Why must he suffer?