Chapter 111: Unseen Potential

"...Professor Zenith, that’s a curious thing to show. I didn’t know you were so capable at this kind of thing," Edith says, pinning me against the wall with a somewhat invasive touch.

"And you’re so soft and smooth. Your skin is really nice for someone so strong who fights so much—"

"Stop losing focus." I spin her and take her down to the floor, catching the vial she drops. It nearly shatters on the ground, and I barely manage to save it.

"This is really good... and even though you got taken down, I’ll consider that you managed to administer everything." We were doing two practical tests. The first was using her ability to generate poisons to create medicine, and the second was her ability to administer it while fighting.

I was going easy on her, but she had to not only mix the products to create a medicine, but also do it while dodging my strikes and immobilizing me, which she did very well. Her concentration is genuinely good.

"Of course it is!! It has the ability to stop bleeding by generating blood coagulation in the contact area that’s far more efficient than natural coagulation!!" she says with a confident smile on her face.

"This really is very good. In a fight, bleeding is a problem, and you can’t always wait for it to stop on its own, but unfortunately it doesn’t help much, because we already have things to deal with that."

"There are military adhesive patches to place over wounds, and a large wound won’t stop bleeding just because the blood coagulated a little. Besides, blood coagulating and stopping a bleed only works if the person doesn’t make sudden movements, which is impossible in a fight," I tell her, and she makes a sour face.

"You could at least celebrate my success. I immobilized you while producing a medicine!! I’ve never had to try producing medicine before, and the materials you gave me were horrible."

"Most of them were strange chemical products. I had to analyze them and remove whatever would be harmful to the body from the final product!! Not to mention certain proteins were almost missing from it..." She speaks as if I had dismissed her work.

"Your work really was incredible, I don’t deny that. I’m just letting you know it isn’t useful, but your ability to turn some of the chemicals I gave you into a medicine is very good."

"Have you ever thought about trying to get into the medical field?" When I ask that, she looks confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Medicine. Being a doctor. As a doctor, you practically wouldn’t need to enter direct combat. Of course, since you have powers, you can’t become a normal doctor, but you could join the military medical team." When I say that, she looks interested.

"Really?"

"...Yes, I’m being serious." There’s no reason for me to joke about things like this, and I’m not the type of person who jokes around. Am I so sarcastic that when I’m serious it doesn’t seem like I am?

"I thought you wanted all of us to be soldiers!!" She seems genuinely very interested, which is a bit strange, especially since she believed I wanted them to be soldiers.

"No, I don’t want to force any of you into anything. But most of you only have powers suited for fighting, so that’s what I end up having to teach. You, on the other hand, have a power that works both for combat support and for being a doctor, so you can take a different path from the others." I toss her three small vials.

"Try making an anesthetic for me." She looks at the vials and starts carefully mixing some doses, discarding almost half of one of the vials onto the floor before handing it to me.

"Done." I’m surprised by how fast she does it. I pour a few drops into one of the testing machines and it’s approved, although the dose is very strong. If this anesthetic were administered to someone at that strength, it would be lethal, but obviously she would reduce the strength before using it, so it’s genuinely approved.

"So fast... this is exactly why I mentioned it. You seem to have a good future as a military doctor. You managed to make an anesthetic this strong with so few materials. You could use this on dozens of people. Being a military doctor is much safer than fighting directly, even though you’d still have to operate on the battlefield, so it would even be good for you." She approaches me and spins me around.

She presses me against the wall, slamming both hands on either side of my head to trap me in place. She presses her chest against mine, pushing them together while giving me a seductive look and bringing her face close.

"Oh, someone as tough as you is praising me so much. Have my charms finally reached you? Just know I’m very open to experimenting with a girl like you—" I move my leg against hers, throwing her off balance and taking her down.

"No, I’m just seeing valuable potential that could be wasted if it goes unnoticed. The medical team is unfortunately very overlooked, but they do very important work."

"I sincerely respect the medical team that enters the battlefield to help. It’s just that their numbers are very small, because abilities useful for helping the body recover are scarce."

"Your power is great for offense. Generating poison is indeed an enormous offensive power, but the core of your power is controlling chemicals to generate new chemicals, and the area of effect is perfect. You could make medicine rain down over an area."

"The potential for help your ability has is immense, but it all depends on what you learn. Aren’t you interested in that? Honestly, your power is so efficient that I don’t doubt you could become captain of the medical team." I say this genuinely.

"And as a bonus, I can tell you that a large part of the medical team is female, since the number of Kairas who are women is much higher than men, who are few. At most, the medical team has support soldiers." I increase her interest in this path.

"That sounds great... why are you trying to help me, Professor? You always seemed to avoid me quite a bit!" Indeed, I avoid her a lot. So much so that I never even thought about calling her for private training before calling all the others.

"...Your attitude displeases me. It’s invasive, and the way you look at my chest and butt bothers me. It’s a very shallow way of seeing me. That’s all. I have nothing against you, and I wish you the best future you can have. Just improve that attitude of approaching women as if they’re all that matters... you’re lascivious, and that’s unpleasant." That’s the only personality problem of hers that’s somewhat alarming.

"But Edith, that isn’t exactly a problem if you do a good job. I’ve met plenty of people stranger than you in this life." She sits on the floor and gives me a genuine smile.

"A moral lesson at this hour, Professor? It’s a bit early to lecture me, but thanks... do you really think I could become leader of the medical team? It sounds really cool. I never thought much about it. The academy always treated my power as if it were only for attacking."

"I think you have that potential. It all depends on merit, and your power used the right way can earn you that merit. After all, we live in a meritocracy that works, and I may detest the government’s practices, but they really do follow meritocracy in fact." The fact that it works is what justifies me and Nadir becoming commanders.

"...Being a doctor really does sound interesting, but will you really trust me to take care of injured girls? I might try to put my hands on them. After all, what would stop me?" She tries to sound malicious, but her tone doesn’t convey it.

"First, if you did that, they would beat you. After all, you won’t be caring for defenseless civilians. You wouldn’t have many chances to do that. Second, I don’t think you’re the kind of filthy person who tries to take advantage of injured girls."

"It’s a matter of character. Your character doesn’t seem rotten in that way, even though it is a somewhat questionable character."

"After all, you could have put suspicious things in the medicines I asked you to create to try something with me." I was actually quite alert to the smell of the medicines she created, but she really only made medicine and nothing more, and even their composition was normal, with no suspicious extra additions.

"...You’re harsh..." She stands up, somewhat embarrassed.

"But you’re right... I hate forced things... I may be invasive with girls, but I wouldn’t force anyone into anything. After all, I know what it’s like to be forced to do something... you’re nice, Professor."

"I thought you hated me since you avoided me. I’m glad to know it’s just because you find me strange hahaha." I toss her another vial, which she catches by reflex.

"Let’s continue. I have many tests I want to do with your power, and if you want to join the medical team, I’ll tell you what you need to demonstrate to the superiors so they see you wouldn’t be better off fighting compared to helping in the medical field."

"...Hehehe, you’re saving me from a mess."

"I’m not the type who likes seeing young people sent off to fight, but if it’s mandatory, then I should at least help you all survive. Now be quiet and get started. I want you to make a medicine that gives an adrenaline rush."

"It could be good for helping an injured person who shouldn’t lose consciousness."