In a room full of medical devices. A nurse held a transparent glass tablet displaying the patient's information while looking concerned, facing a man who has his head lowered and eyes closed.
She thought it might be too hard for the patient to accept the sad fact that some of his memories are gone while having a hand placed on her chest, feeling empathic.
Meanwhile, on Quin's mind:
'Q: How does a web novel's protagonist gets their memory when they are just transmigrated?'
'A: Who knows? Maybe it was all automatic. Nobody told me that a course taught how to do it.'
As Quin entertained himself by imagining disco music blaring in his brain and having his divided consciousness do question and answer, his neurons are being affected by his thoughts, forming random sequences that worked like a password generator.
It is activated to let bits and pieces of remembered senses to be gathered in the hippocampus to generate memory while receiving a scan with his perception, saving it in his crystal.
He let half of his consciousness do the work, while the other reads the information collected.
One by one checked out and listed important information that will be used soon.
'Hmm, let's see. It says the planet is called Andora, and I'm at the smallest of its three continents.' Checking memories like watching crappy movies, he skipped the majority, only staying at relevant parts.
'Here, it says the name of the place is Theyrhiel, occupied by three allied nations... I cannot retrieve the specific names... It seemed like I thought them unimportant.
'Let's just call them Allies.'
As he kept on rapidly skipping some parts, he found one being repeated over and over.
He brought it up for viewing.
A prominent memory surfaced, showing what appeared to be an important event in his life.
It showed a skyscraper with a Freelancer's Guild written on its holographic facade and a half-metallic and half-transparent card being held by his hand.
'Good to know that I have a job! Though, I hope it is still there after I get discharged.' While puzzled about why this memory is so important, he thought it might be because it was his first. He noted it down for later inquiry.
'How come there are no memories that are related to the family? Don't tell me this guy is also an orphan.' Quin flipped through the rest of his normal memories and gathered enough information to handle the next conversation.
'Oh, there you go, a basic language pack. Now I can understand what she was saying without using my void instinct to translate.'
As he raised his head and restored his sight, he noticed the concern in her bright eyes and figured out in an instant what she thought of, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. 'Girl, you sure have a rich imagination. Don't blame me for taking advantage of it.'
He expressed a melancholy smile as he stared at the window that is displaying his medical history and vital signs.
"Mr. Wells, if you're feeling bad, you can tell me. We can stop the process and have it done when you think you are ready."
Following his eyes, she looked at his vital signs, dejected and puzzled, thinking that she might have said something that triggered him.
Mouth twitching, Quin sighed.
"No, I can handle it. We can continue where you stopped."
He had his hands placed on his lap, showing a posture of attentive listening, waiting for her to continue.
"Okay, as long as you think you are fine, sir." She made an unnoticeable shrugging motion while removing her gaze from his vital signs.
She brought up the tablet in her hand while making a sitting down motion, transforming and flipping the square tile from the floor into a chair that she can sit on.
"Let's start with your name."
She taps the tablet, allowing it to project a holograph that showed what looked like a checklist, showing his personal information.
"Quin Wells, carry on."
He responded with a slight roll of his eyes.
'Hmm, check.' Focusing on the procedure with a straight face, she went down his information.
"Is it day or night?" She asked.
"Day," Quin answered.
Check.
"Where are you?"
"A hospital in Theyhriel."
Check.
"What country?"
"I don't remember."
Quin responded fast while showing a bitter smile, observing her raised eyebrow at his answer while smiling inside. 'Yes, that's right. There is a problem with me not even remembering the name of the country I am staying in... As long as you get doubtful about it and think, that's already enough.'
'Besides, I do not think anyone would guess someone taking over his parallel self and putting it under suspicion. Who would believe it? Occam's razor, right?' His thoughts ran wild while tilting his head.
The nurse examined the note, then tapped the tablet, allowing her to write a remark stating:
Partial memory loss might be more severe than expected.
Suggesting trying a deep memory recovery procedure.
The patient does not appear to be having problems with his brain function.
He has an active firing of neurons than normal, showing a good amount of conscious activity without stress.
Putting the last part in bold words, she did a slight nod.
After sliding her fingers down, her pupils constricted as she read a part of the information that looked unexpected.
As she confirmed that she had not read wrong, she asked in a straighter posture.
"Occupation?"
"A Receptionist in the task completion section of the Freelancer's Guild," Quin answered as his eyes brighten.
'Oh, now that is something that I know. Only, why is she surprised?' Quin was puzzled. 'Is it because my work is quite important or the place I'm working at was the one that was special?'
Noticing his puzzled expression, her eyes avoided his sight and moved them down to the information, browsing everything from the end.
After she found the information she was looking for, she relaxed instead and faced Quin with squinting eyes.
"I apologize for my sudden gaffe. I can only read the detailed information as I enter your room or near your presence as per the privacy law governing medical situations."
Pointing at the tablet and explaining her behavior, she told Quin about the hospital's notification from his information.
"As shown, in this information, there will be a specialized agency affiliated with Freelancer's Guild that will visit you in 2-3 days that will do routine checks for confirming the true or false of the accident and determining if you are eligible for having your medical expenses paid by them."
Standing up and allowing her seat to return to the floor, she tapped the tablet and closed the holographic projection.
"In the meantime, they will be responsible for all the tests that you are taking. Now they just need to access the video record of our cognitive test procedure and continue from there."
Preparing herself for leaving the place, she faced Quin and asks, "Is there anything else I can do for you? All your vital signs are recovering well, starting from the time I started observing them."
'That's it? something's off.' Quin squints while contemplating the matter.
He shook his head, showing he did not need any urgent help for now. Quin lay back down on his bed and then asked a question that he is concerned about.
"How long am I going to be staying in the hospital?"
The nurse tapped the tablet and searched for the estimated recovery period and projected it in front of Quin.
'Seven Days and 5-20 Hours.'
Noticing him removing his gaze from the projection, she tapped the tablet, turning the projection down.
"Is there anything else, Mr. Wells?"
She asked for the last time, as she put both hands on the tablet, holding it up on her chest.
"That's all I need. Thank you for taking care of me."
Quin tapped the side of his bed, which showed a sign that looked like a person jumping on top of a box, turning on a holographic projection near him.
Staring in a daze at what looked like an entertainment program, he has focused his concentration on absorbing and digesting the rich vocabulary he is hearing from the speaker and the one he got from his memory.
As if hearing him say thanks was unexpected, the nurse squinted her eyes and portrayed her smiling mood.
She walked out of the room, allowing all the decorations to change back to a comfortable one with the movements of the walls and the floor.
She does not need to remind him how to call for help, since the monitoring will judge and notify them in an automated manner.
Watching her leave from the corner of his eyes, he arranged the things that he thought he can do in seven days of staying in the hospital.
This will be his current safe zone after he passes the special inspection hurdle.
It will be a convenient place to collect information about the planet from different demographic perspectives, considering this is the only place they have the possibility of gathering while not getting any suspicion.
A novice village of sorts.