Chapter 86 – Friends

"Yes, I am the new student."

"Hmm, well I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to throw some random student into my class halfway through the year, but depending on where you're at, you've got a lot of catching up to do. Sit. Let's figure out where you are."

The teacher brought out a wooden chair and placed it near his desk. Dream nodded while taking a seat. He also took out his book.

"How far through the book has the class gotten?"

"3 quarters. In fact, we've already done some live practice with patients in the hospital. That's the point of this class after all. But we don't allow failures who will only botch things or make mistakes. In the next two weeks, if I don't see that you are either caught up with us or at least competent, then you'll leave this class. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Good."

*Ding, Ding, Ding!*

The bell rang, signifying the end of lunch.

"Since you have much to do in these two weeks, you'll only follow along with us while reading the book. If you need help, then you can either find a willing student or come to me outside of class. At the end of this week, I'll check-in and make sure you're on track. At the end of next week will be your test. Today, get started reading. There are many empty seats, so take one."

"...Okay."

Since he had outlined everything he needed to do, Dream had no questions. He stood up and went up to the top desks, taking a random seat that was most likely to be empty.

At the same time, people began to enter the classroom. Though even after the bell rang signifying the beginning of class, there still weren't more than 30 people in the classroom. The teacher stood and began class.

"We have a new student, his name is Dream. He's going to be spending his time catching up since he was recently admitted here. Anyway, today we're going back to the hospital. Dream, you stay here and focus on reading. Or wander. I won't be here to monitor your progress, so do what you wish."

As he spoke, the class began to get up and leave the room, Dream watched, a bit baffled that the teacher was actually going to just leave him here. He eventually spoke up.

"...Uhh, can I go to the hospital with the class?"

"Only if you can stay out of the way. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I can."

"Then let's go."

The teacher walked out with the class, and Dream followed behind. 

The best way for him to catch up to everyone's standard was to see exactly how they did things. Though he could just have Sophia give him the data from the book, he wanted to do things himself. Healing was an interesting topic, after all. 

The class actually left the school and headed to another nearby Spire. The sign said that it was the hospital, and it was very spacious since it needed to fit plenty of people. They walked into it and were immediately met with a big lobby of people. 

The class just kept walking and went up a few floors before coming into a ward. There were many curtains around rows of beds, most of which had somebody on it. Dream could smell blood and dirt. Overall, it definitely didn't have the usual sanitized scent of earth hospitals. Though since everybody in this world was more powerful, it removing the incessant need for cleanliness.

"Oh, you guys are here. Go find your lead doctors, they have plenty of tasks for you guys."

A man who seemed to be a supervisor found the class and came over. This clearly wasn't their first time doing this. He quickly gave them directions and went back off to do his own thing. All the students also split off into groups and headed every which way. 

"...What do I do?"

Dream just stood there. He didn't have a lead doctor. 

"Mara! Take Dream with you."

"..."

The teacher shouted out a name, and a girl who was walking away froze. Dream turned to the girl who he was now apparently supposed to go with. The girl also turned to him, but only glanced before turning back around and walking off again.

"She's shy, so don't expect her to say much. Just go with her and keep to yourself."

"...Sure."

Dream nodded and walked in the direction she left. He soon caught up and just trailed behind her, not saying anything.

They eventually tracked down a doctor, who saw the girl and lit up a bit.

"Mara! There you are. Come and...Who are you?"

An old man spoke to her, but saw Dream trailing behind Mara and looked to him curiously. 

"I'm a new student in the class. The teacher put me with her."

"..."

"A new student huh? Not every day that one comes in the middle of the year. And that bracelet. Right when he comes back as well..."

"Sorry?"

Dream tilted his head and queried as the old man mumbled under his breath. He actually heard everything, but he was surprised that this old man might have a connection to Riddick.

"N-nothing. Anyway, we have much to do. My name's Merlin. I'm not sure how skilled in healing you are since you're new so you can just follow along. I was just about to head out to check up on a new patient. Come."

Merlin waved them along, to which they followed. After walking a bit, they came upon a bed with a groaning man in it. 

"Alright, so what seems to be the issue?"

Merlin and Mara came to different sides of the bed while Dream stood by Merlin. When Mara got to the man's side, she immediately created a three-layer magic circle in her hand and pointed it to the man. Dream watched her while the man described to Merlin what happened.

"I...I got caught off-guard. Damned crawlers. They went straight for the gaps in my armor. I think they were poisonous too. We barely saw them coming. "

"He has severe lacerations and puncture wounds on the abdomen and legs. An infection is also spreading from those wounds. Those crawlers were indeed poisonous."

Mara gave her diagnosis and Merlin nodded. After she spoke, she created two two-layered circles in her hands, placing them on his leg and abdomen where the wounds were. They began to slow their bleeding.

While they were doing this, Dream had also scanned the man's entire body. They were right about the infection, but he wondered if they knew how bad it was.

'The poison is already near his heart and lungs. I'm not sure what kind of poison this is or how sturdy this guy is, but I would say that he's going to die within the next several minutes if that poison isn't stopped.'

[He won't die. It looks like his immune system along with whatever Mara is doing is helping. He also hasn't lost enough blood for it to be lethal. But yes, I'm curious as to the nature of that poison.]

As Dream had an inner monologue, Merlin looked to Mara. She noticed his gaze and got confused, but soon perked up and brought out yet another circle, hovering it over the infected wounds.

"...This poison is a lethal variant. Solidification?" (Mara)

"Correct. Go and get the antidote. You have 44 seconds." (Merlin)

"Right."

After they exchanged words, Mara stopped her circle and darted off. Dream was confused until the man began to wail out in pain.

"Arghh!!"

"Hmm?"

Dream took another look at the man, scanning him. He saw that the poison traveling through his veins began to stop flowing. It even began to solidify into a solid crystal substance. The veins from the wounds all the way to his heart and even his lungs were seized, preventing blood flow and even the movement of muscles. The man became partially paralyzed.

'...Amazing. I've never seen a poison like this before. It's pretty genius, the way it solidifies inside the veins like that. It would kill any normal person with a fraction of what this man has been infected with.'

[It has truly an odd synthesis, this poison. The poison is actually supplied with its own mana. The mana keeps it in liquid form, and when the mana runs out, it crystallizes. It even expands slightly, like ice. His vascular system will be severely damaged for a while. Though he'll still survive given his strong physique and mana level.]

'Hmm, though if someone were to act now, he could be spared much recovery time. Anything I can do?'

[It would hurt, but if we broke up the crystals then he would be greatly helped. At least until Mara comes back with this antidote.]

'How would we do that? While using a magic circle.'

[Hmm. Maybe if we used sound waves to shatter them. I'll give you the sequence for it.]

Sophia began to give Dream some data about the formation of runes into a two-layered magic circle. He nodded and walked up to the man who was seizing.

"I have something that might alleviate the problem, at least until she comes back with the antidote."

"Are you confident in your method? I'm not opposed to you helping, but if you aren't certain, then I would recommend refraining."

"I am confident."

"Then go ahead."

He nodded and began to form the magic circle in his hand. He put it over the chest of the man, then the circle activated.

*Vvrrrrrrr*

"Ahhh!!!*

The circle caused vibrations that moved through his body, breaking up the crystals. This was obviously extremely painful, causing the man to yell out. 

Merlin was startled by the yell and thought that Dream had hurt the man somehow. He was about to intervene and stop Dream, but as he looked into his body, he saw what Dream was doing. He was then startled once more, seeing the effectiveness of what he was doing.

"Shattering the crystals with sound? How is that possible?"

"If used right, sound can do some miraculous things. Though it's not like I'm solving the problem. The crystals will still have to be removed with whatever antidote you guys have. But this will at least prevent him from receiving so much damage."

"I've never seen such an application before. This is brilliant. Have you had experience with this poison before?"

Merlin looked to him with excited eyes. Dream just scratched his head.

"I've had a little bit of experience. I honestly found this method by chance. It's worked rather well."

"I see that..."

"I have the antidote."

Mara arrived and brought up a bottle to the man's mouth. He drank it and within a few seconds, his face began to ease. Dream could see the antidote being processed rapidly and distributed through his bloodstream. 

"...How did the antidote work so quickly?"

Mara spoke up after a while, confused. Merlin smiled.

"That's due to this young man right here. He used a brilliant method to shatter the crystals, allowing the antidote to flow and have increased effectiveness. Usually, it would be obstructed and have to slowly break past the crystal barriers, but he removed that obstacle. This will also greatly speed up this man's recovery. He could be healed within a few days."

"...Oh."

Mara nodded and fell into thought. Merlin turned back to Dream.

"What is your name? I don't think I've heard it."

"Dream."

"Well, Dream. I don't know what importance you place on that spell of yours, but on behalf of this hospital, I would like to request the sequence. This is only one of many that get poisoned, and its application would help many people. You would of course be compensated properly for such knowledge."

"Oh, I mean, I guess. I have no issue with that."

"Great! After this class ends, I'll bring you to my office where we can discuss it further. For now, we have more people to help."

Merlin turned to the man and told him that a nurse would be with him shortly to dress the wounds. After that, the three left and moved on to the next person.

The next patient wasn't in nearly as bad of a state than the man before, only having flesh wounds. Though Mara still went up and did her diagnosis as well as use a healing spell. 

Dream watched from across the bed and copied every circle she made. Through her, he was able to see where they were at in the class. He wouldn't need to worry about looking out of place.

Other than the three-layered diagnosis circle, most of the spells were one or two-layered. He also saw some runes in the three-layer circle that weren't in the sequencing book. He figured that Mara was ahead, probably in the intermediate class given her expertise.

For the next 3 hours they moved around from patient to patient. Aparently this class was much longer than the others. Good thing he didn't have any classes after this one. 

Eventually, the teacher called them all over and dismissed everyone. They could stay and continue to help or they could leave, whatever they wanted to do. Since Dream needed to talk with Merlin, he stayed.

Dream went and found Merlin along with Mara.

"Okay Dream, come with me."

Merlin led them up a few floors and into his office. They all took a seat.

"First of all, good job to both of you. Looks like despite being a new student, you still have some expertise in healing."

"A little bit. I don't think I've gotten to her level though."

Dream pointed to Mara next to him. She just said nothing while Merlin smiled.

"Well, Mara is a bit of a special case. She's been under my tutelage since little. Truth is, she's far ahead of the rest of the class."

"...Then, why is she in it?"

"If you haven't noticed, she's a bit shy."

"Granpa..."

Mara shrunk a little in embarrassment. Dream nodded knowingly.

"I wanted her to make friends, but even after so long, she struggles. But after today, I've got an idea. Since Dream is new and needs a bit of help with the spells and techniques, Mara, why don't you pair up with him during classes and such? You can be in charge of teaching him."

"B-but-"

"I wasn't asking. You, young lady, need to start making friends. That is, if Dream here would be open to the idea."

Merlin looked to Dream, who was still wondering how they suddenly got on the topic of making friends. Though since it was technically one of the reasons he was here as well, he didn't really see anything wrong with the idea.

"Uh, sure. Always happy to make friends."

"You hear that, Mara?"

"..."

"It'll be fine. You two can find each other during lunch and this class and go over things. I'll let your teacher know. Until then, let's discuss this spell of yours, Dream."