He opened his eyes to the face of an old man peering down at him. Behind him was a white background, the ceiling, too bright for his eyes that was just getting adjusted to the light after his eyes were kept close for so long. He knew instantly that he was in a hospital.
His head ached badly as he tried to sit up. The old man straightened up and spoke.
"It’s you this time. Are you and your friend taking turns endangering yourself so you can end up here?"
Eric squinted, his palm on his forehead. "How long have I been out?"
"Just a few years," the old man replied calmly. "Your girlfriend has found herself another man and they are going to be having their second baby soon."
Eric almost laughed. The act actually almost got him, but for the fact that he and Opal aren’t on that level at all.
The old man must have misunderstood their relationship and thought she was his girlfriend really.
"She is not my girlfriend, doctor Oldie," Eric countered silently. The old man cocked his head and raised his brows.
"Oh, is she not?" he asked as he nodded his head to his left side. Eric followed the motion only to see Opal sitting on a waiting chair beside the bed, her head bowed against her laps, fast asleep. He had no idea how he didn’t notice her at first.
Eric could feel how uncomfortable it’d be for her to be sleeping in that position.
"Hey, how could you let her sleep like that? You should have found a bed for her. She’s only a lady."
The old man scoffed. "’She’s not my girlfriend,’ he said. Look at him trying to attack me because I wouldn’t assume his role for a short time. The beds here are only for sick people. The chair is for healthy people. What a dumb boyfriend." The man murmured as he stood up to leave. "I hope I never see you here again."
"She’s not my girlfriend." Eric snarled at the man’s retreating figure as the door to the ward slammed shut.
But a moment later, the old man returned, his body still in the corridor while only his face appeared in the ward.
"I forgot to tell you, but any weakling such as you would have died from that attack. But you managed to survive with just a little help. Your body did the healing itself while I only sedated you. Quite a unique body you got there, son. Makes me want to place you on my lab desk for examination."
He offered a crooked smile and slammed the door shut again.
Eric understood he’d been granted quick healing and recovery by the system, but he didn’t know just how much he could heal in a short time. His best guess was the more he levelled up, the better his body gets at healing itself.
Eric sprang up from the bed, his dull pain forgotten. He stood before Opal, unsure of what to do. He poked her gently, hoping it wakes her up but she wouldn’t even stir.
"Geez, how tired must you be to be able to sleep soundly while sitting."
He was about to start another round of poking, this time harder, when Kieran burst in through the door with tears flooding his eyes.
Eric wondered if he’s been crying ever since he’s out or if he only started after he heard that he’s awake.
But Eric was grateful that woke Opal up. She grabbed her wooden sword instantly and pointed it at the intruder, looking dazed and unhinged.
"Tch," Eric almost laughed again while Opal recoiled after realizing who came in.
"Eric... I’m really sorry, Eric!" Kieran cried. "It was my fault you got hurt. I... I couldn’t fight for myself."
"It’s alright, Kieran. As you can see, I am okay. Don’t beat yourself up too much. Besides, it was my decision to jump in." Eric replied simply.
Kieran lingered for a while, but his presence only made the room tense because he wouldn’t stop sniffing and sobbing. But after Silver and Gary stepped into the ward, he decided to leave.
"Thank you Eric, for saving my life. I won’t forget this," said Kieran as he stepped out.
"Hey Eric!" Silver shouted as he rushed forward and held Eric in a one-sided hug. "We thought you were gonna die."
"Truthfully, you should have died," Gary offered with an indifferent gesture. He appeared to be too lost in thought to bother about his action. "Did you all see how he was smashed into that tree and snapped the trunk? He...broke the trunk despite how thick it was."
Silver jumped in. "That’s right. Even Bart with the steel body wouldn’t have gotten away with that as easily as you did. Maybe you’re not as weak as you appear though. And I must be seeing things, but I know you were sitting, injured by the tree before Kieran was attacked. How did you get to his rescue so fast, with a cracked rib?"
Eric tried to open his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He guessed he’s been exposed finally. He was only glad it was withing this circle. But then, he remembered there were others as well. Mantra and Bart. They must be asking this same question.
How was he to answer?
Opal coughed lightly.
"You two should stop with the useless questions. We should be glad Kieran was saved and Eric didn’t die, else we would have gotten more than detention for our carelessness."
"That’s right. But remember to teach me your way, Master Eric," Silver made a half mock bow. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel_fіre.net
"Wait, detention?" Eric spoke for the first time since the two came in.
"Master Eleanor gave us an earful. I don’t know what’s worse, the nagging or the detention," said Gary.
Opal turned to explain to Eric. "She said we should have contacted her through our systems immediately we saw that many intermediate tier beasts in a basic tier beast’s territory. As the leader, I’m sorry for not thinking about that as soon as I saw that Eric was hurt from the first surprise attack."
She sounded hurt herself. She opted to be the leader and one of her team members almost died because she thought of killing the beasts instead of escaping. It was their first hunting experience as a student of the academy and it was only normal for them to steer clear of intermediate beasts for now.
Ordinarily, fighting a few of them wouldn’t have been a problem since they had good fighters in their team. But twelve Shade Stalkers should have send them running if they weren’t trying to be brave.
Sure enough, they actually ended up killing all the beasts and also extracted the cores, but Eleanor didn’t praise them for their bravado. She only scolded them for their foolishness.
Opal had pointed out that it wasn’t entirely their fault since Eleanor had claimed it was a basic tier beast’s territory, and there wasn’t supposed to be an intermediate tier beast around. They were also surrounded having walked into their burrow, and they wouldn’t have gotten out if they didn’t fight.
This made Eleanor reduce their punishment and only declared detention.
"So, what’s this detention about?" Eric asked, thinking it was normally supposed to be something light enough to face.
Silver answered, "you, Gary, Bart and I are going to help out at the blacksmith’s. Bastion and Kieran are going to be tending to the training ground’s store. A wicked task for them if you ask me... Opal and Mantra were assigned to Master Lancel’s to clean trophies or something. Lancel won’t give Opal anything hard to do anyway. So, easy detention for the girls."
Eric understood. But he didn’t know why Gary was looking mortified, so he asked.
"Oh, Gary?" Silver smiled. "He hates the blacksmith man. He once told him to dump his sword in the trash can after he asked for an upgrade using beast cores. Gary almost poured molten metal on the man’s head. And Master Lancel made him do detention at the same blacksmith’s corner for a whole week."
"Oh, I see," Eric chuckled at the story. From the little he’s seen of Gary, no one messes with his father’s sword and goes without consequences. But this was a funny story. "When is our detention starting?"
"Now, I guess. Since you’ve woken up," replied Opal as she jumped out of the ward. They all poured out after her.