Chapter 144: Infirmary

While the group was on their return trip, Devonte pulled Zane to trail behind them, staying far enough back that no one could hear.

"Did something happen?"

"I wanted to thank you for the afternoon."

"It’s no problem," Zane replied, patting his shoulder.

"Can you help me one more time? Evans said James’ family wanted to apologize, and I don’t know what to do."

"Do you want to accept his apology?"

"Not really. Well, I don’t know. All I know is I want nothing to do with him."

"Alright. I’ll speak with him for you."

Zane did not waste time and called Evans to hash things out. James’ family wanted to make amends with Devonte, even offering some very expensive gifts. However, the young knight only wanted to put everything behind them. After a quick discussion, Zane convinced Devonte to accept the gifts, but he also made it clear that James had to stay away; he even emphasized that Sanjay could not act as James’ agent or on his behalf. Finally, everything was settled.

Thursday, Day 62:

Today was the fifth tournament, so as usual, Instructor Seiya canceled the mind-training session so everyone could be in the best shape for the afternoon. After morning class, Zane rushed to get a bite to eat, showered, and packed a bag of oranges before heading to the infirmary. All the clubs and guilds were in one area with the spatial dimension expanded, except for the Life Guild. It had its own building, cleverly located right next to the infirmary, which wasn’t too far from the training hall.

As soon as he entered, the first thing Zane could think of was that this place looked like a hospital: the glistening floor, white halls, the cold temperature, the scent of medicine, and the healers wearing a lab coat over their magic robe. He didn’t know whether infirmaries were like this in other dimensions or if the tower adapted this aesthetic to fit Earth, but that didn’t matter for now.

"How can I help you?" the male receptionist, dressed in scrubs, asked.

"I’m here to see a patient. His name is Mykhailo Rykov."

The receptionist picked up a magic pad and glanced at the screen for a few seconds. "The patient is in room 190-C down the hall to your left."

"Thank you."

"You need to sign in before you can see him."

"Oh." Zane displayed his left hand, and the receptionist scanned it with his magic pad. Then, he followed directions to room 195-C.

"It’s really you!"

"Z?"

Zane approached Myk’s bed and glanced at his bandaged arms and legs. "Why is it that every time I see you, you’re in terrible shape?"

"I can’t believe it," Myk said, trying to get up.

"Don’t move." Zane stopped him, set the orange bag on the desk beside him, and pulled up a chair to sit close by.

Myk smiled. "I should have thought about it. Aunt Sarfowa is a practitioner, so of course you would have magic talent."

"You knew about Ma?"

"Everyone in the neighborhood knew. Why do you think they always come to her for help?"

Zane paused. During his childhood, his mother was always popular in their neighborhood—maybe even too popular. Back then, he thought she was just charismatic, but it seems there was more to it. Zane took an orange and began to peel it. "So, why are you in such a terrible situation — again?"

"What else besides money? There is a Tier 1 potion that can stop the cancer from spreading, but if I want to heal her completely, I would need the help of an elite 2-ring Healer. However, the tower only provides services to the trainees, which means my only true option is a Tier 3 potion, but the price — oh, the price."

"But you don’t need to kill yourself. If you die, then everything is over."

Myk paused briefly. "Honestly, I was kind of playing with fire."

"Oh?" Zane handed him the orange.

"I heard the tower will save anyone who is in danger during hunting, so I convinced my team to hunt a high-level E-Class beast."

Zane wanted to slap this idiot. "Let me guess: it didn’t work."

Myk sighed. "My team almost died. The worst part is the tower slapped me with an expensive bill for saving me. And from now on, they will take 20% of my earnings until I pay the debt. I also can’t do solo missions, and any teams I’m a part of must be vetted to see if we’re qualified for whatever mission we choose."

"What if you can’t pay or need saving again?"

"I asked that, and they said they’ll send me to mine or some other work to repay the debt."

Zane was speechless. The tower system was interesting. They allowed transcendents to hunt and complete missions to earn resources, which they would have to recirculate through the plaza, forming a booming consumerist economy. In their models, keeping these transcendents alive seems more beneficial than letting them die.

"If not for the Supplementary Accord, they would probably not allow anyone to die in the dimension shifts as well," Zane thought.

"How much exactly do you owe?"

"Don’t worry about it," Myk replied.

"I —"

"Anyway, it’s good to see you, Z. I wish it were under different circumstances."

Zane sighed before changing the topic. The two talked about their experience. In the first shift, Myk was walking home when he was teleported. As fate would have it, he had a gun with him, which he used to kill a group of goblins and take their weapons. He survived the night by killing a few of them and stealing their prey.

Afterward, the tower summoned him for his Rune Diagram, followed by six months of intensive training, which Myk excelled at. In the second shift, he faced a bunch of lizardkin and killed an Ice Tiger alone with the assistance of his mage and the gun. Then, the tower invited him to attend an elite training camp, and he accepted.

Myk was only allowed a 2-hour visit, and Zane spent all that time catching up. They hadn’t seen each other for more than a year, but after so long, nothing seemed to have changed much. Some people just naturally clicked and meshed together. And although they had some conflict after Zane’s release, Aunt Rykov’s diagnosis had cleared things between them.

In the afternoon, Zane attended his tournament and won his second championship. Maybe because of his new spell or the happy mood after seeing Myk, Zane performed better than he had, almost entering the flow state. So, when he met the Sergeant in the final, he decimated the latter. Meanwhile, Keesha was chewed out by the instructor for finishing fifth and a poor performance.

"The past few days have been the fucking worst," Keesha said. "First, it was that asshole’s blackmail. Then, I hit my toes when I woke up; my slides broke; I spilled my morning coffee, and in the afternoon, I was so excited to try caviar for the first time, and that shit was just salty and smelled like fish. I mean, why do those shows make it look like the most delicious thing in the world when it tastes like shit?"

Evelyn held tightly to Keesha’s arm, reassuring her.

"And that damn instructor: doesn’t he know people have bad days? How dare he yell at me?"

"Girl, quiet; he probably can hear you."

"I don’t give a f —"

Evelyn put her hands over Keesha’s mouth before looking around. She sighed in relief when she saw no one, then walked faster, forcing the group to pick up the pace to keep up. Meanwhile, Zane ignored the jovial Tom, who was celebrating finishing third, and approached Evans.

"Are you alright?"

Evans also performed poorly, barely holding on to tenth place and keeping his spot in the Elite Class.

"I-I’m fine."

Zane frowned. "Are you training with James?"

"...Yes."

"How is that going?"

"Draining and a waste of time."

"Then, why do you keep going?" Tom Nguyen asked.

"What else can I do?"

"You know you can say no, right?" Zane added. "You don’t have to listen to your family for everything — especially if it’s detrimental to your own well-being."

"It’s not that simple."

"If it’s about money, you now have the means to preserve your lifestyle even if they cut you off financially."

"Um, that is true, but it’s not just about that."

Zane looked at him for a moment and did not push further. "If you’re running out of options, you can try using the tournament’s result to your advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"No parent wants to see their kid’s grade suffer because of another’s influence, right?"

"That’s right. If I blame my poor performance on James, they might back down. If this works, I’ll treat you to a meal."

"Alright."