Hugh woke up from being unconscious to a bright white light. It blinded him, making him close his eyes back up.
"Oh, you're awake."
A feminine voice filled his ears. Her voice was a bit rough, indicating that she was not young. Hugh opened his eyes slowly, his pupils constricted, trying to adjust to the bright light.
What he saw first was the face of a youthful girl in her early twenties. She had black hair tied up into a bun, and her skin was silky smooth. Her eyes were a clear blue, and her lips were naturally pink without any lipstick. He immediately sat up from his seat, but his stomach ached in pain as he moved too fast.
"Aghhh"
Hugh held his stomach in pain. He remembered Aric's attack towards his gut, making his face contort in pain and anger.
"Be careful now, kiddo. I haven't healed that yet."
He looked at the person with the rough voice. It did not match the youthful and beautiful face that was in front of him. She wore a white doctor's coat, and a white curtain surrounded them. The walls were painted green and white, giving him a peaceful and relaxing feeling.
He realized now that he was in a hospital, and this woman was his doctor. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her face, confused and intrigued at the contrast.
"Forget it, kid. I'm way older than you think I am."
"Ah I-i"
Hugh struggled to speak to his doctor. He was embarrassed to have come off as rude to her. Seeing that Hugh was distressed, the doctor chuckled.
"I'm just messing around with you, boy."
She put her hands towards his broken foot and grasped it with her warm hands. Hugh could feel a warm feeling emanating from the point of contact where she touched him. He could see the black and blue bruises started to lose their color at a fast pace.
"I must say I am impressed at today's youth."
Hugh's eyebrows raised, not knowing what she was talking about.
"You regained your consciousness too fast."
As she said that, her eyes immediately became sharp as she looked at Hugh's eyes, scrutinizing his reactions.
*gulp*
Hugh gulped, anxious at the sudden interrogation. He did not know what she was talking about, but he can infer from her statement that his recovery speed was abnormal. It was only natural to think that the Fat God System caused this.
He did not know what to do, so he avoided her eyes, afraid that his secrets will spill out. She seemed to have retracted her gaze as Hugh avoided his eyes. He was thankful that she did not press any further.
*smack*
"Okay, that's done."
She smacked Hugh's legs, making him wince in pain. He only realized a second later that his leg did not hurt as bad. He looked at his leg and saw that it looked good as new. He stretched it up and felt no discomfort from it, which made him smile in marvel at the miracle.
The doctor nodded to herself, satisfied with her work. She walked towards the bed and placed her hands on Hugh's belly.
Hugh was still amazed by her power to heal. It gave him a sense of wonder at the limits of human Desire. Hugh guessed that she must have been at least in the fourth advancement because she was able to work here in Wolfram academy.
"What's your name?"
The doctor looked at Hugh's belly while she asked the question.
"Hugh."
She moved her hands towards a different part of his belly as she continued the conversation.
"I only asked because you are probably going to visit this place more in the future."
She stopped her hands and looked towards Hugh while she waited for an answer.
"I hope not."
Hugh honestly did not want to be beaten up every day. He wanted to be strong enough to defend himself and maybe be the one who was dealing the damage.
"Oh, you will. You seem like the troublesome type."
She continued to heal Hugh's body. Hugh did not retort because he did not believe her.
After a few minutes of her putting her hands around Hugh's body, he was finally fully healed. He moved every part of his body and found that he was full of vitality.
"Most students would take a day or two to be fully healed, but you only took a few minutes. Is that part of your Desire?"
"Yeah."
Hugh had no choice but to confirm her guess. He had no way to explain it, and he was grateful for her work, so he told her the truth.
The doctor looked at Hugh's body once again until she turned around to leave. Before she left, Hugh looked at the nameplate on her chest.
"Thank you, Dr. Heidi."
She did not turn around as she waved goodbye to Hugh.
"Don't get into too much trouble, mmkay?"
The white curtains closed, leaving Hugh all to himself. He laid down on the bed and thought about the fight with Aric. If he had more time on his armor, he would have held his ground against him. If he knew how to move his body better, he would have given Aric some hits.
It became apparent that he still needed to work on himself. He had to work on his body even without the system's orders. He could start by learning some essential martial arts or something of that kind.
He sat up from his bed and opened the curtains as he went outside the partition. He was one step away from opening the curtains until he heard a voice.
"Hey, is that you, Hugh? Are you there? I thought I heard your voice. Are you here in this place too? Me too!"
An annoying voice came from the bed next to his. A white curtain separated it, so Hugh opened it up to see where the talkative voice came from; it was Bob. They had not seen each other since the first day of school, even though they were neighbors.
Bob was lying on the white bed with his hands on the back of his head, as comfortable as he could look. Hugh did not think that he would meet him again in this place.
"It is you, Hugh! It's so good to meet you. It has been a long time, right? Maybe not. I think it has only been a few days."
Once Bob's mouth talked, it was hard for him to stop. Hugh was forced to listen to his long speech until he ran out of breath, which gave him the chance to speak.
"Hey, Bob. What are you doing here?"
Bob looked at Hugh and gave him a weak smile.
"Nothing. Just a check-up."
Silence filled the hospital room, and only the smell of rubbing alcohol filled their senses. Hugh felt awkward, and he still had a lot to do, so he turned to leave. Before he could, Bob seemed to have remembered something.
"Oh right! Hugh! I heard that you fought with two people and won against them, is that right? Are you that strong? Wow, I wish I could be that strong."
Hugh creased his eyebrows and turned to face Bob, confused at his words. It only took a second for him to realize what he was talking about.
"Are you talking about Veer?"
Hugh walked near to Bob as he listened closely for his response.
"Yeah! I got the pamphlet in my chair. It said that a fat guy from class A defeated two guys. That's you, right? You're the only fat guy in your class, right?"
Hugh bit his lip. It looked like even the other freshmen classes got the pamphlet from Veer. This made him anxious because this was another liability he had to worry about, along with Dempsy and Aric.
He was worried that Veer would somehow discover his secret and spread it all over the school. At that point, he would truly be doomed.
He needed to improve his armor ASAP. With good enough armor, he would not be forced to use his transformation every time. That would severely minimize the chances of his transformation being found out.
The plan he had in mind was to eat more materials even if the system did not give him the mission. The only problem with this plan was that he did not have any money to buy the materials.
He had to think of another way to get the materials. The thought of stealing from Oxyiel's Materials crossed his mind, but he quickly perished the thought. That was idiotic, and he would not even know how he died once he tried that.
How did the factory even get the raw materials? That question flashed in his mind and inspired him. In one of Professor Kain's lectures, he had talked about the dungeons controlled by the school.
If he could go there, he could mine the materials himself.