Chapter 32 The Body Scan

“Let’s move to the next test. We won’t receive a clear picture of her health until then. Evernya, please lay down on the bed.” Dictated Elizabeth.

Evernya stood from her chair and walked to the unusual bed. She laid down on the half-cylinder white bed, sinking deeply into the cushion as it conformed to her body. A ding sounded from her suit computer, drawing her attention. She lifted her arm to her face, reading a familiar pop-up asking her to link her suit to the bed. She paused for a second before selecting yes.

Upon hearing the ding, Elizabeth explained what was coming while rummaging through the storage compartment underneath the white metal half-cylinder bed. “This bed is used to perform a deep, full-body scan. It will scan your body down to the molecular level. The test will take approximately thirty minutes, but for you, it will feel like a minute since the bed will relax your body to the point you will probably fall asleep.”

Elisabeth appeared in her patient’s vision holding a clear facemask with a tube attached leading to under the bed. “Please put this over your face and press the button on the side of the mask.”

Evernya glanced at Elizabeth with suspicion, but after a pause, she complied. Upon pressing the button on the left side of the mask, she felt a suction force sticking the mask to her face, creating an airtight seal. Her former human instincts caused her to panic for a second until unneeded oxygen pumped into the mask through the attached tube.

“The mask will track your breathing and provide you with oxygen during the test. Now lay back and relax. The test will start in a minute.” Elizabeth instructed from a touchscreen control panel at the head of the bed, accompanied by Sarah, with Meira and Thomas observing from the table.

Why do I need an oxygen mask for this? What aren’t they telling me? This bed is comfy but not enough for me to fall asleep. It even conformed to my tail and ears, leaving nothing squished. Thought Evernya before she sunk further into the bed. Her descent continued until the bed engulfed her entire body, leaving the breathing tube as the only evidence of its occupant. A second later, a white metal plate slid over the top with a notch for the breathing tube, enclosing Evernya in the metal half-cylinder contraption.

What the hell! No wonder they didn’t tell me. The bed ate me! Evernya tried to struggle, but the hardened foam held her body with an unyielding grip. Her struggle ceased a moment later as a potent concoction of drugs pumped through her breathing mask. Evernya’s clenched muscles released against her will as the drugs circulated through her body, relaxing both her body and mind. As Elizabeth predicted, Evernya’s mind became muddled and lethargic, shutting down coherent thought. Unable to resist, Evernya drifted off to drug-aided sleep as the bed scanned her body.

Forty minutes later, Evernya awoke with a start, shooting up to a seating position. Still a little disoriented, Evernya’s thoughts raced. What happened? The last thing I remember was the bed eating me. Did I fall asleep like Elizabeth mentioned? The test must be over. Thankfully, I slept through it. I wouldn’t want to stay trapped down there while conscious or I may have blown the bed up. I would rather not go into debt from blowing up expensive medical equipment. I’ve destroyed plenty already.

“Oh Evernya, nice for you to finally join us. Did you enjoy your nap?” Meira teased while huddled next to the rest of the group at the screen at the head of the bed.

“It would have been nice for you to warn me. If I didn’t fall asleep, I would have blown the bed up!” Evernya grumbled to the group of experts.

Elizabeth diverted her attention from the monitor to her patient. “Well, if we had told you, would you have laid on the bed? Besides, wasn’t it comfortable? Though the drugs may have helped with that. Most don’t even realize they couldn’t move before the drugs kicked in. Unfortunately, you resisted them for a few minutes. We seemed to have gotten the dose right, though, since it knocked you out in a timely manner.”

“Wait, that feeling was because of drugs? It didn’t feel like the other times some sedated me. I thought I was resistant to drugs?” Questioned Evernya, while swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

Elizabeth again glanced up at from the screen before speaking, “You are quite resistant. The amount we used was over ten times the amount a human of your size needs and we didn’t sedate you, at least not in the same way. These drugs make you feel relaxed, so you fall asleep naturally. Even if you didn’t fall asleep during the test, I doubt you would have blown the bed up as you would’ve been too high on the drugs. The drug cocktail is a requirement for this test as no wants to be buried alive for over a half-hour.”

Evernya glared at the group arguing, “Still, I want to know ahead of time, I’m not a child. I can handle it. I want to know more about myself, even more than you people, as It’s my body. Please, just warn me before something like this happens. The surprise made it worse.”

Elizabeth honored her patient’s request by explaining their findings. “The deep body scan will be the last test of the day as your body cannot handle the rest of our planned tests. However, none of them would have made you uncomfortable, just a few body and mana system stress tests. From the tests we ran, we found your mana system is pristine. The problem is your mana system is barely holding your body together. If we don’t do something, your body will give out in one to two months.”

Well crap, that sounds bad, but they don’t appear too worried, so I bet they have a solution. Evernya thought as she hopped off the bed, scared of it swallowing her again. She sat at the table while watching the equipment disappear into dimensional storage devices, leaving the room empty of furniture beside the table and chairs. After the group stored away all the equipment, they joined her at the table.

Thomas broke the silence first by directing, “Read through your results, and we will answer any question you have.”

Evernya looked down at the results on her suit computer and scanned through the first few pages before stopping. Read through your results, he says. Doesn’t he know this is practically gibberish? I may have a psionically enhanced brain, but that doesn’t mean I know the scientific name for every atom of my body! Now where is the simplified version, like the other results?

She scrolled back to the top, looking for a way to condense the results to Evernya level. A moment later, a helpful pop-up asked her if she would like to switch to the summarized version, which she immediately accepted.

Overall health: Critical.

Name: Evernya.

Gender: Female.

Race: Feline shifter, draconic, vampiric, multiple unknown genes.

Bloodlines: Sealed.

As soon as her eyes landed on the list of races, Evernya blurted, “I’m part dragon!? I look nothing like a dragon!.”

Thomas, being an expert on anything ancient, including Dragons, was the first to respond. “Yes, you are, and that is part of the reason your body is in terrible shape. You have several draconic traits. Just because you don’t have scales or horns doesn’t mean you don’t take after them. For example, the glow of your eyes is an indicator. Didn’t you wonder why your mana aura has a potency well above your mana grade? It’s because of your draconic genes give your mana aura an oppressive ancient feel. We also suspect the reason the contract failed is because of your draconic heritage. The system governing all of us considers dragons a higher being than humans, preventing most human-made runes from working.”

Thomas took a breath before continuing. “In reality, we know little about dragons, since they avoid spending time with humans, and if they do, it’s in their polymorphic human forms. However, it isn’t unheard of for people to have some draconic ancestry. Ironically, dragons like to have sex with pretty much everything but their own race. So part dragons show up now and then, but mixed breeds do not inherit a draconic mana core, only increased magical capabilities and maybe a few other traits. Some of the most powerful human families owe their strength to a distant dragon ancestor. You aren’t some mixed breed though. All the seemingly unrelated genes seem intertwined, creating their own unique race. Therefore, we think it is best, for now, to keep your draconic and even vampiric parts secret. It doesn’t help that as Meira noticed your mana aura seems to have the ancient quality of an Elder Dragon, which should be impossible since you aren’t nearly powerful enough or old enough to qualify as one. Luckily, few can tell the difference other than an increased feeling of fear.”

Before Evernya could ask another question, Elizabeth jumped in to explain the medical side further. “Another surprising fact is the barrier surrounding Druth should read you as a mana beast, as dragons qualify as one, though in their case, they usually blast through the barrier. You have all the regular humanoid organs, and they function similar but in a slower, more efficient way, but you are effectively a being of mana, like a mana beast. As you have found, if something cuts off your supply of mana, you will die or at least severely weaken.”

“The reason your body is dying is you need large quantities of food grown from extremely mana rich environments. This is because of several reasons, one of them being your draconic genes. The primary reason is your body is stockpiling nutrients for an unknown reason, sucking away nutrients needed to sustain your body. Added to this, your body hasn’t reached adulthood yet, causing it to require more nutrients than a fully grown being.”

“Unfortunately, this stockpiling resets every time something deprives your body of mana. The only time we observed a similar phenomenon was with rare mana beasts from deep in the wilds as they prepared for their next evolution. However, I don’t think that’s the case for you. From our observations, as long as we feed you large quantities of food rich in mana and you avoid resetting your stockpile, you should recover relatively quickly.” Elizabeth rambled with enthusiasm, staring at Evernya as if she was a tasty treat.

Evernya fell silent for several minutes, overwhelmed by the recent information. Why couldn’t I just be a normal catkin? My new life is so much more complicated, but at the same time, simple. She shook her head before returning her attention to the results on her suit computer, prompting her to her next question. “What does it mean to have my bloodlines sealed, and what are they?”

This time it was Meira’s turn to answer, having had a bloodline years ago. “A sealed bloodline means you have a bloodline, but your genes may lack the purity to inherit it. This happens a lot with branch families of the bloodline carrying family. Another reason is the bloodline requires a certain age or a specific condition to unseal.”

“Even with a bloodline sealed, a carrier typically has more talent than someone without a bloodline. Hence, why even branch families outperform an everyday person. An active bloodline grants extra bonuses such as the ability to communicate with a specific animal or an inheritance of information.” Meira informed, lacking the enthusiasm of her peers, having triggered flashbacks to her exilement.

This world is so complicating no wonder humans love to keep track of everything. I could have a ton of sealed traits with how many races make up my genetics. It’s scary that I don’t know what I can do. To be honest, I’m overwhelmed with all I have to learn already. I don’t really want more added to it. Evernya thought as she continued to read the results, hoping to take her mind off the current massive list of information to process.

Weight: 50 kg

Height: 160 cm

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Black

Blood type: M+

“What does M+ blood type mean?” Evernya inquired.

Elizabeth jumped in to answer before Sarah, who wanted to contribute. “It means your blood is rich in mana and useless for blood transfusions. Unfortunately, your blood is rare and valuable. It is the most expensive type of blood since we can use it in powerful enchantments and potions.”

“I would watch out for vampires because your blood is irresistible to them. If a vampire drinks M+ type blood, they will temporarily gain the abilities of the original owner of the blood and a small permanent strength boost. There are M- and M types, which are more common, less potent versions usually found in a mana beast of Arisen stage.” Sarah added as Elizabeth paused.

Elizabeth took back over. “From what we discovered, beings with the M+ blood type are ageless since the high concentration of mana in their body stops the aging process. However, such a valuable gift comes with a price as you need to keep your blood type secret. People would kill you just for your blood. Most M blood type beings have enough strength to fend off most threat, but you don’t.” Elizabeth warned with nods of agreement from the rest of the group.

Evernya fell silent as her mind wandered. Oh, great, more secrets. I’m starting to wish I was human again, but then I would lose all my cool powers. I guess having my magic comes with the cost of avoiding having my body scanned, or my mind plundered for my secrets. No wonder the mage’s councils want to control or gimp all telepaths. They don’t want us to run around and steal all their secrets. At least I know I am immortal now. Still, as a former human having already found out I’ll probably live centuries, removing my expiration date doesn’t really have an impact.