Sitting in the X-Ray room, I listened to the deep ambient noises of the machinery. I took note of a few things in the room that I was sitting in. Things such as smaller equipment sitting on a counter, as well as the labels on the machinery surrounding me. It was all completely custom. I had originally thought that they simply used the same equipment that I was used to on Earth, but this was not the case.
Yui walked over to me, holding a chest plate. It appeared to be made entirely out of Lead, which would make sense, considering I was about to receive an X-Ray. The chair I sat in was also reinforced with lead bars. The inhabitants of this world seemed to understand radiology. I was noticing a lot of parallels between this world and Earth.
"Hey, you should probably put this on. It will protect you from the harmful radiation emitted from this machine. When you're all set to go, give me a holler, and I will flip her on!"
"Alright, thanks. Let me get this on, one sec."
I put the lead chest plate on. It was quite heavy. If all armor was as heavy as this, then Mayumi must really be strong to move as quickly and efficiently as she did earlier. Perhaps heroes were just much stronger than I was. Maybe, if I joined this camp, I could become strong too...
I situated myself in my chair and extended my leg so that it hovered in front of the machine. When I had situated myself comfortably, I gave a thumbs up to Yui, and she nodded.
"I'm ready when you are Yui."
"Sounds good! Hang on a sec, this will only be a moment."
Yui flipped the machine on, and it started to hum. The machine began to spit out its ionizing radiation, piercing my leg and projecting an image of its inner workings onto the screen. Yui took a look at the results, as did I. Our suspicions were confirmed. The fracture was nothing more than an ankle fracture. This was a relief, it meant that my recovery time would be greatly reduced.
"Ah! See that, Yukio? You seem to have fractured your Lateral Malleolus. It's the bone connected to that little bump on the side of your foot! This is not a severe injury. It should take no more than a week to recover fully."
Did she say no more than a week? Back on Earth, such a fracture would take up to 3-4 weeks to completely heal... perhaps the genetics of the people in this world were also altered. If this was the case, I could be at a severe disadvantage, if my genetics had not updated. However, there was only one way to find out.
"A week? Sounds good! Anything I should do while I recover, Yui?"
"Well, considering it's not a severe fracture, I'd say you can resume normal activity, with the exception that you'll have to wear a boot for a while to keep your ankle from moving around during the recovery process. However, try not to strain it too much. No hero activity for a week!"
"No hero activity..?"
It seemed as if Yui thought I was a hero. I wondered what would cause her to jump to such a conclusion. Perhaps it was the series of events that took place before I arrived. From the way Mayumi described it, it sounded as if I was battling the monster alone, and being bested in my battle. I corrected Yui.
"You are a hero, yes, Yukio?"
"Well actually, I'm not..."
Yui had a look of shock on her face. She looked at me as if I was a maniac. She had every right in the world to assume so, considering I was found outside, alone, in a "forbidden" flower field, with no weapons or armor.
"You're not a hero!? What are you, suicidal? Why were you roaming around outside alone with no weapons? You should know that this place is infested with monsters!"
I couldn't tell Yui the exact truth, as I myself didn't quite understand it either, and if I tried to persuade her to believe me, it wouldn't work. Regardless, I tried my best to bend the truth, to make it sound like I wasn't blatantly lying to her.
"I'm not entirely sure how I ended up in the flower field. I woke up there. There's not much more to it than that, unfortunately. As I'm sure you've heard, I probably suffered some memory loss from the monster attack."
"Memory loss? I see... Mayumi must have forgotten to inform me of this..."
"Heh, how ironic."
"But worry not, Yukio! Perhaps we can find ways to re-trigger your memories. It's been done numerous times before for others in similar situations."
Despite Mayumi assuming that I suffered from memory loss, she seemed to have forgotten to mention it to Yui! It was quite comical, but it also served as a good lie to cover my tracks. It worked, and I was free from suspicion for now. I glanced at my leg and looked at my slightly deformed ankle. I could tell now that it was fractured. The bone seemed to have shifted positions slightly, and it hurt when I tried to move it.
"Well, looks like I won't be going that far for a week. That sucks..."
"Hey, don't worry about it, Yukio. Now that you're here with me, I'll take good care of you. Okay?"
Yui gazed at me and smiled. She seemed to be fascinated with my physical features. I admit, I looked a little different than the people in this world, but my features shouldn't be that blatantly obvious, right? To be honest, I hadn't even looked at my face yet. For all I knew, I could have changed in appearance. That's when the idea hit me.
"Hey, Yui. Could I borrow a mirror? Just for a minute."
"Sure! There's a wall mirror in the room across the hall, you can borrow that. When you're finished, come back here so we can get that boot on you."
"Thanks, Yui! I'll be right back!"
"mm!"
I exited the room and walked across the hall. I entered the room which Yui had pointed to, and flipped on the light. I walked in front of the mirror and analyzed my appearance. It was at that moment, that I realized my face had completely changed...
"...holy shit."
My proportions were about the same. I was still tall and slender, about 6'2, but my facial features had changed drastically. My eye color changed from blue to become Hazel, and my hair was redder than before. All of my acne had completely disappeared, and my jawline was seemingly perfect. To put it narcissistically, I was gorgeous. I understood now why Yui and Mayumi gazed at me the ways they did.
"How did this happen? I was ugly back on Earth, but here, all of my insecurities vanished! You know what, I'm just going to accept it, and not jinx it. If I get too full of myself, it's all gonna come right back..."
I took a few more moments to check myself out. Not to boost my ego or anything, but simply to gauge how I had changed, and in what ways. So far, the only difference that I could see, was my new face. Suddenly, Yui called out to me.
"Yo! Yukio! The boot's ready for whenever you come back!"
"One second Yui!"
I left the room, shut the door, and turned around. As I began to walk through the halls, I could hear voices coming from another room. Although eavesdropping was frowned upon on Earth, I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation. When I listened in, a few keywords stuck out to me.
"So how much longer are you gonna be in Theta?"
"Eh, not too much longer. I'm probably gonna be switched over to Epsilon in a few days. I heard there's a monster outbreak near one of the towns there, and they need assistance."
"Oh! Good luck out there Maxime! I have faith in you, but I'm saying this coming from a mother's perspective. Be safe!"
"Your concern is greatly appreciated, Aiko. I'll be sure to check in with you when I come back to Theta."
A monster outbreak near "Epsilon"? Could this be another camp? If it was, perhaps these camps used the letters of the Greek Alphabet to identify themselves. Anyway, I had little time to spare listening in on the rest of this conversation, I had to return to Yui.
I made my way back into the X-Ray room and sat down in a chair. Yui walked over to me, holding a boot in her hand. It was similar to the one you'd receive on Earth when you suffered a leg/foot injury, except this boot, was disguised to look like a piece of armor. To be honest, it was kind of cool.
"Okay, let's see if this one fits you! It's okay if it doesn't, I've got plenty of them in the back. Here, try this on."
I slid my foot into the boot, and it snugly wrapped itself around my ankle. The inside was padded, so it was a comfortable fit. Surprisingly, Yui had accurately guessed my foot size on the first try.
"So, how's it feel? Too big? Too small?"
"It's perfect. Thank you so much, Yui. So, will I be able to walk around in this, without pain?"
"Well, I can't guarantee your pain will be entirely gone, but it will definitely be diminished. Here, walk around for a little bit and let me know how that feels."
I came to my feet and took a few steps. I could definitely tell that the pain had subsided, but not entirely. Regardless, the boot helped to secure my foot, preventing further bone damage. It seemed to be working, and it wasn't hindering my movement at all.
"It feels really nice, what is this boot made of anyway? It looks like a regular piece of armor, yet feels like a soft shoe on the inside. It's like...morphing with my movements."
Yui giggled and walked over to a counter. She took a few notes on her clipboard, before looking up at the wall, and thinking for a moment. When she was finished thinking, she put her pen down, and walked over to me, smiling.
"I'm glad it's working for you. The boot is actually a custom design made by me. It's supposed to learn the features of your foot and adapt to it, allowing for maximum comfort, as well as preventing further damage to your foot. It also breathes incredibly well and allows for freedom of movement without jagged motion."
Yui was incredible. She had invented this all on her own, and her invention was working wonders. She seemed to be proud of herself. Despite probably using this on numerous people before me, she was happy to see that it continued to serve its purpose.
"That's pretty incredible Yui. I appreciate this, so much. So, tell me, are you a hero? Mayumi was telling me about the Hero Camp, and I was wondering if you were a part of it too."
"Of course I'm a hero! Most people at this camp are heroes who were stationed here for the month. Each month, we rotate camps, in order to keep things fresh and to give heroes a chance to familiarize themselves with all parts of the world!"
So that's how their system worked. Every month, there would be an official rotation of camps, and all the heroes would switch to a new location in order to gather as much field experience as possible...
"Interesting... if you don't mind me asking, what kind of hero are you, Yui?"
"I'm glad you asked! I'm a Medical Engineer, meaning I'm both a nurse and an engineer/inventor. If anyone is injured, I'll be able to heal them! I also help invent new technology for heroes to use in battle."
Damn, Yui did it all. If Mayumi set the bar high, Yui was shattering it. She seemed to have full mastery of her medical equipment and even invented new technologies for others to use. Perhaps each hero specialized in their own field of work, rather than being strictly bound to combat...
"They call me, "The Genius Nurse"!"
"Excuse me, the what?"
"Oh? Perhaps you forgot how the Hero System worked. Allow me to remind you, Yukio!"
Ugh, now both Yui and Mayumi assumed I was suffering from memory loss... despite how annoying it was, I had to accept it, as it was my only safeguard against suspicion. Yui then explained to me how the Hero System worked.
"When one registers to join the Hero Camp, they will be put through tests to decide their strengths, weaknesses, and rank. After completing the test, you will be assigned a role, things like combat, medical, defense, etc., and a rank within the Hero Camp. The stronger you are, the higher you will be ranked."
It seemed like a classic EXP-based system that you would see in a video game. The more quests that you completed, and the stronger that you became, the higher your rank would move. Perhaps this system worked differently for all occupations, as I assumed it would be hard for a nurse to top the charts...
"Also, when you become a hero, you will be given a Hero Name that represents your abilities. It serves as an alias for when you're called upon by the Hero Camp. My hero name is "The Genius Nurse". If you join the Hero Camp, you'll be given a name too!"
The Genius Nurse huh? Despite how cool the name sounded, it also sounded like fuel for the ego. But Yui seemed to have no ego, she was very humble and caring. Perhaps she really was a genius nurse, considering she invented all of this equipment on her own, and had full mastery of it. I wondered what my name would be if I joined this camp...I inquired Yui.
"How does one join the Hero Camp? I'd like to check it out."
"It's simple. The Hero Camp's HQ is located in Camp Alpha, near the center of the country. When you arrive there, you can enter their HQ and apply for the hero placement test. There, they will test your physical and mental abilities, give you a role and rank, and a name!"
"How far away from here is Camp Alpha?"
"Well, it's about 80 miles west of here, but we can take you there through our railway system. All of the camps are connected by railway, so it should be no more than an hour ride to get to Alpha from here."
So this world used the railway system. It seemed efficient enough, but not as efficient as air travel or travel by automobile. Regardless, I accepted it, as it's what they had.
"Thanks, Yui, I'm thinking about joining the Hero Camp. Do you have any tips for me?"
"Well, joining the Hero Camp is a wonderful idea. However, there isn't really much I can say to you in terms of tips, as each test is different based on what you write down as your desired role. Just try your best, and make sure you understand what you're getting yourself into!"
Desired role? Ah-ha, I understood now. When you applied to join the camp, you're able to write down which kind of hero you want to become, and they will test you in that specific field. Well, if this was true, this meant that I would have to carefully consider what I really want to do in the Hero Camp.
"I see, thank you for everything. What should I do now?"
"Well, you're free to rest in Camp Theta until you heal, there's a lot to do here day-by-day. In a week or so, we're going to be rotated again, so when that day comes, you can board the train back to Alpha, and head to the HQ to take the test."
I see, so each month, trains from Alpha would gather all of the heroes from their camps, and return them to Camp Alpha, and from there, the heroes could re-supply themselves with gear, and head on a different train to a new camp.
"Perhaps I'll do that then, Yui. I'm just glad that my injury isn't as severe as a broken leg. That's a huge relief to me."
"Me too, a broken leg would require a few extra weeks of healing time... but regardless, try to not strain your foot, okay?"
"Understood."
Yui and I continued our conversation for some time, and we got to know each other. Yui was interesting to me, and I appeared to be just as equally interesting to her. We were lost in conversation, chatting about general topics as the minutes went by.
But before we could conclude our discussion, frantic footsteps could be heard running through the hall. Then, the doors swung open. Mayumi entered, with a concerned expression.
"Monsters! 3 of them, approaching the camp! They're LARGE too! Yui, keep your patients safe, the combat team will try their best to apprehend the threats!"
"Shit, really? Okay, I'll lock down the facility, be careful out there Mayumi! Do you know what kind of monsters they are?"
"Two Malice Foxes, each at threat level 3 and a VERY large Tiger Frog, threat level 5. This will take most of the heroes in the camp, so I'll be in active combat for a while."
"Be careful Mayumi!!"
Mayumi unsheathed her sword and shifted her glasses up on her face. Then, she looked at me with a face of despair. Why was she glancing at me the way she was? Only when she spoke to me, did I realize what was going on.
"Yukio, that tiger frog that I killed earlier? I think this is the mother. It probably found the corpse of her child, and is after the camp now..."
"Oh no... how much larger is it than the one that almost got me?"
"About three times as large. It's taller than the camp walls, meaning we're going to need multiple heroes to take it down... we might lose a few soldiers in this battle, so be prepared for casualties, Yui..."
Yui looked at Mayumi with an expression of sorrow. It appeared to me that she had dealt with deceased bodies before... she understood what was about to go down, and was preparing herself mentally...bodies left half-eaten, body parts scattered about, it was the unavoidable harsh truth of the monster race.
Camp Theta...was under attack...