"I’ve over done it," said Nero as he lay flat on his back, entirely unable to move his legs - or most of the rest of his body for that matter.
"You think!" exclaimed Bella as he put a ration pack in Nero’s hand.
With great difficulty, Nero brought the food to his mouth and munched it down, yet that did not lessen the pain in his body, or his immense hunger either. Nero had already gobbled down way more food than he normally ate, yet his hunger showed no signs of abating, so much so that they had requested for a nurse!
Yes, it was not his sudden inability to move, nor the incredible pain running through his body which caused him to request for a nurse. No, it was the amount of food he ate without feeling even the slightest bit of relief.
Even Nero realised that this was abnormal, as was the sudden collapse of his body. His state went well beyond what normal exhaustion or fatigue should have brought about. Since he had no idea what was happening, he called for some help. In the meantime, he kept eating.
A few minutes later, a couple of soldiers came running with a stretcher. They picked up Nero’s body and quickly placed him on top.
"This is going to be so embarrassing," Nero muttered out loud, but nobody cared about how embarrassed he felt. In fact, the severe condition of his body only went on to show exactly how abnormal his achievement of running those fifty laps were.
Not a single one of them, first year or fifth year, would be crazy enough to try that, yet Nero had achieved it. So what if he became paralysed right after? The academy doctors would fix him right up!
What Nero did not know was ever since he started running those laps, Renald had submitted a report about him upon noticing something unusual. As it happened, similar reports had already been submitted by Isabella, as well as a few other professors, all of whom had noticed an anomaly.
It was not his character, or his strength. It was...
The journey from the mess to the doctors was not long, barely a few minutes. Even so, those few minutes without eating somehow made the pain in Nero’s body much worse, making him realise that the situation might be far more serious than he originally anticipated.
The soldiers, noticing how severe Nero’s situation was getting, rushed him into the emergency room.
"Well, well, well, I thought you’d wait a few more days before you come to see, but I guess you just couldn’t wait, could you?" asked a familiar voice.
Nero, of course, recognised the voice but couldn’t believe it. He must have been hallucinating due to the pain. Yet the very next second, Dr. Iris showed up in front of him with a wide grin and gleaming eyes.
"You never fail to disappoint," she said as she observed his body as if she was looking at a treasure.
Nero opened his mouth to explain his symptoms to her, but before he could she simply tapped his temple and caused him to fall unconscious.
When he woke up, Nero had no idea of how much time had passed, but his body was no longer in pain. Well, it was in pain, but it was the familiar kind - the pain of sore muscles and an overexerted body. It was no longer filled with that previous, abnormal pain, and it wasn’t paralysed either.
"You know, even my past boyfriends didn’t put this much effort into seeing me so frequently. Maybe that’s why our relationships didn’t work out," Dr. Iris said as she walked up to Nero, her tone filled with teasing and her expression as if she was in the best mood in the world.
"Dr. Iris, what are you doing here?" Nero asked as he tried to get up. There were no shooting pains and no issues, so he got up without a problem.
"Saving your life, as it turns out," she answered and began poking his body, ending soft pulses of aether into his body. "Do you even know what happened to you? Any idea what you just did?"
Nero softly stepped off the bed and tested his legs. Though they felt weak, they had no problem supporting him, for which he was grateful. Turning to Dr. Iris, he focused on her question rather than her presence.
"I’m guessing running a hundred kilometers is not the correct answer here."
Iris rolled her eyes and flicked his nose, before offering him a few pills and a glass of water.
"Well, that’s a part of it. I see in your file that a lot of your professors have reported you unconsciously showing an abnormally high aether sensitivity. Do you know what that means?"
Nero furrowed his brows. This was something he genuinely hadn’t noticed. He was aware of the fact that his aether sensitivity had improved - that was the whole point of being baptised in Vitracil. But he had no idea how that could cause problems, or what he had done to cause the problem.
Seeing Nero’s uncertain expression, Iris grinned with even more excitement.
"You know, I was slightly doubtful when I transferred over to the academy, but now I’m 1000% sure I made the best decision! Where else on this planet would I find an Initiate who artificially almost entered the Arcanist state?"
The excitement and enthusiasm in Iris’ voice was genuine, as she was overflowing with energy. Nero alone, in just a few months, had presented her with numerous interesting challenges the likes of which defied common sense! She could not wait to see what other surprises he had to offer.
"How is that possible?" Nero asked, genuinely unaware of how such a thing could have happened.
"Do you understand what the Arcanist state is?" she asked.
Nero nodded.
"The Arcanist state is a state that all Arcanists are able to enter. It is a state of heightened physical and aetheric power which allows them to, for a short period of time, wield far greater strength than they normally do," he said, providing a textbook answer.
Iris chuckled, amused by that answer.
"Yes, you’re right. Allow me to elaborate a little more on this matter. The ’Arcanist State’ is actually a state of being supercharged with aether. It basically rapidly expends the aether within an Arcanists body, resulting in a far more powerful output than normal, thereby producing greater physical strength as well as resulting in stronger abilities and spells.
"This is a state only Arcanists can enter because above that rank, it becomes pointless and below that rank the body cannot take such intense concentrations of aether. Now, normally , when Arcanists enter that state, they use the aether already present within their bodies to do so.
"However, it seems that you, during your attempt to create a superhuman feat of running one hundred kilometers, started to rapidly absorb external aether in your body to supplement your strength. You must have been desperate to prove yourself if you didn’t even notice. Well, you succeeded - and you also succeeded in poisoning yourself with aether and overburdening your body due to the exertion.
"By the way, while you were being treated, Sergeant Renald came by. It seems there was an oversight. Since, after yesterday, he informed you that the time for you to complete your drills will be fifty minutes, and today you completed your laps in fifty four minutes, it doesn’t count as finishing your laps in time. Since you were unconscious he let you off, but you better be mentally prepared for the next time he sees you."
Nero struggled to keep up with all the information being dumped on him. He had artificially entered the Arcanist state? His fifty laps didn’t count? What?
Seeing Nero’s dumbfounded expression, Iris enjoyed the situation even more.
"I’ll explain the details to you in full, but the gist of the situation is that you need to learn to control aether better. Don’t treat this as a shortcut - your body cannot handle you entering the Arcanist state as it is right now. Attempting a repeat will result in the same situation where your body shuts down due to aether poisoning, and slowly destroys itself.
"This is no joke, and it’s not something you can overcome on your own. Unless you have a competent doctor on hand, such as myself, then stopping the aether poisoning and reducing the after effects will basically be impossible. In truth, the only reason you survived as long as you did was because of your already formidable body. Had you been any weaker, you would have died before even reaching me."
Nero calmed his confused mind and focused on what Iris was telling him. Very quickly he honed in on one distinct possibility - at least according to the doctor’s words.
"Do you think that if my body were even stronger, I’d be able to sustain the Arcanist state?" he asked.