'Hehe… chicken wings…' Cain's thoughts from his dream surface to his consciousness as he slowly woke up. 'Huh? Where are my wings? Noooooooooooooo, why must my dreams be so realistiiiiiic…' He lamented when he realized everything was just a dream. He dismisses the sound-proof magic circles over his ears, peeling off the leaf that covered his eyes.
Cain checked the time while propping his back against the bedpost. 'It's 2pm… nice. 19 hours of sleep, I think that's a new record. ….dang it Rex, must I really vocalize everything?'
—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (8ms)
Rex: Yes.
Cain: …no.
Rex: Yes.
Cain: No.
Cain: take it or homework.
Rex: :Pain:
Cain: Hehe, jk.
Cain: I'll only do it occasionally but don't expect me to do it all the time.
Rex: Fine…
Bob: :popcorn:
Dresil: :popcorn:
Cain: Dresil, got food?
Dresil: On its way.
Cain: Sweet thanks
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Cain yawned and stretched his arms while waiting for Dresil to deposit his breakfast. A few portals open, dropping some meat skewers and assorted fruits onto leaf mats that emerged from the blankets. Cain leisurely ate while creating a clay cup and filling it with water. After downing the water, he refilled it with water then transmuted it into Mtn Dew Code Red; his favorite soda.
'There's not much time left today… should I just do some quick experiments? Chances are I'll need to go to dinner with the party so I can hear Jared's master's answer from him…' Cain pondered the rest of his schedule while eating. 'How's Athena doing?'
Cain used SRI to peek in on the Bow Storage dimension; a yelp followed by a scream came flying out. "Don't you know not to peek on a lady who's eating?!" Cain immediately blacked out the portal then transmitted to her [Ok, ok. Just wondering how you were doing with the metal since it's been a few days.]
"Oh… I'm almost done, maybe a day or two more…" Athena's mumble barely registered in Cain's ears. [Alright, I'll come back tomorrow then to check up on you.] Cain's transmission only received a dismissive "Yeah, yeah." from Athena. He sighed and closed the portal to let her "eat" in peace.
'Ah… I forgot to ask her if she'll be fully repaired then. Meh, that's for tomorrow I guess.' Cain ate the last of the skewers that Dresil brought then looked around the mats, searching for any more food. '...guess I need to work now.' He protested while tossing the blankets to the side.
Cain reluctantly left the comforting confines of his memory foam mattress and stretched his legs and back to get the blood flowing. Dresil stored the memory foam mattress away with Bob's help after cleaning the crumbs left from Cain's breakfast. Cain waited for her to merge into his clothes then used SRI to create a portal to the campsite he always trained at.
Dresil unmerged from Cain's clothes, setting up her usual chair to binge anime on. Cain wandered to an open area to sit and searched through the tag database for people to experiment on. 'I guess I have to just use normal criminals, but that means I'm limited to non-lethal experiments… Dang, that limits a lot of my options. I guess I'll just do bones then.'
Cain selected a random prisoner with a lengthy sentence then opened a portal to peek in on their cell. After converting the prisoner's mana into his own, Cain fed his mana throughout the prisoner's body, dubbed Subject 1, mapping it out and searching for a usable bone. He selected the tibia (big boi known as the shin) due to its size.
A mana model of Subject 1's tibia appeared before Cain, mimicking the original in real time. He started with minor fractures. Not too deep, not too small. Using the same method used to heal the hearts from two days ago, Cain used the subject's stem cells and his mana to aid in regenerating the bones.
Cain simulated all sorts of fractures, using his mana to create spiral fractures, stress fractures, multiple fractures in different spots, fractures that branched off into more fractures, and any other types he could think of in that moment. Cain placed a sound-proof magic circle over Subject 1's mouth, preventing him from screaming and alerting the guards.
He switched from the tibia to the femur, to the bones in his arms, to the small segments within the fingers and toes, and the vertebrae within the neck and back. Because the bones weren't teleported out of Subject 1's body, Cain got experience repairing the nerves and regulating the blood flow (if a fracture nicked a vein) he would need to heal a broken bone perfectly in the field.
After completing his run of tests using fractures on Subject 1, he continued to do the same to Subjects 2-7. Once he finished his run of experiments on Subject 7, Cain could finally repair any fracture on any bone with no lasting side effects, long term or short term. This was valid no matter where it was located or how difficult and intrinsic the fracture may be.
Cain moved on to breaking bones on Subject 8. He started with a clean break on the femur, a singular yet big bone perfect for beginners. This break occurred perpendicular to the cross section, meaning it was the nicest, freshest break that could happen to a bone. After mastering this, Cain continued to diagonal clean breaks.
The cut of each of these breaks had no protruding edges and the separated surfaces were smooth, thus leading to easy healing. The diagonal break occurred with varying degrees to the cross section of the bones. After the diagonal break, Cain moved on to a messy break. This break caused the two pieces of bones to fit like a puzzle piece.
He struggled in this area due to the precision needed while healing. Cain had to switch to Subject 9 to continue the next set of breaks: fragmented breaks. These would commonly appear if a bone were to be smashed by a hammer. Multiple fragments splitting off from the bone on top of a major break at its center. Cain used subjects 9-12 to test a variety of fragmented breaks in multiple different areas, but concentrated around the vertebrae and the limbs.
Cain took a 5 minute break to eat some snacks then reconvened with complete fragmentation. These were cases where the bone was completely shattered with no major piece left unscathed. It took Cain numerous tries and subjects to perfect this run due to the management and healing of the other parts around the shattered bone.
After completing the run of experiments on Subject 21, Cain took a break to analyze his experience and findings then did an overall review on Subjects 22-27. Cain completed his review over healing different types of damages to the bones, yet he didn't feel fulfilled.
Thus he scrutinized every detail during the review, looking for mistakes or possible moves that wouldn't work in the field. He spent the next hour perfecting these flaws on Subjects 27-31, only stopping once he was completely satisfied that he had enough experience and knowledge to prevent and react to unexpected situations. [1]
"Hey, Dresil, what time is it?" Cain asked as he plopped down on the cold stone. The sun had set long ago, unbeknownst to Cain. Rex's tattoo dimly lit the mountain stones, keeping Cain warm despite the time and high elevation. "It's 7:14pm, Master. The party called you about half an hour ago. You were busy at the time so I told them you'd join soon." Dresil replied after pausing her anime.
"Crap, I'm really late then. You ready to leave right now?" Cain asked while abruptly standing up. Dresil nodded then merged into Cain's clothes as he made a portal to the Adventurer's guild and joined the party for dinner. Bob dismissed the mortals over Cain's airways and Rex's tattoo slowly dimmed to its usual black.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Cain greeted the party as he took his seat. "No worries." Victoria replied; Jared and Veronica gestured towards their cups of beer. Cain transmuted it into Root Beer then looked around to see if anyone else wanted some too. "Oh, Cain, my master said she wants to see you tomorrow." Jared said after chugging his soda.
"Sweet. Did she say where and when we're going to meet?" Cain replied while gesturing for a waiter to come by and take his order. "Yeah… uh.. About that. She said to find the place yourself and you have until noon. Sorry, I tried to persuade out of this, but she insisted." Jared stated while lowering his head slightly.
"No problem then. I'll be there at noon." Cain said while copying Jared's memories of today then sending it to Dresil to sift through. Once she found the location of Jared's master, Cain sent pulses of mana to that location and the area around it until he tagged her. "You sure?" Jared timidly asked as Cain searched for his master.
"Yep. Oh, can I get 5 orders of steak and 3 of lamb? Thanks." Cain directed his attention to the waitress he gestured over early that just came by. Seconds before she arrived, Cain had tagged Jared's master. Seeing his carefree attitude, Jared dismissed his worries and continued to eat.
The party finished their meals around the time Cain's food came. "If you guys want, I can open a portal to the inn right now." He stated while eyeing the plates of meat. "Really? We can wait for you to finish though." Victoria courteously asked Cain for confirmation, making sure that they wouldn't be seen as treating him like a taxi.
"Yep. I still have somewhere to go after this anyways." Cain replied. "Ok… The people from the Mage Tower have been confirmed to come by to escort us in two days if you want to tag along." Victoria hesitantly left, then stated before leaving the table. Jared, Jacob, and Veronica followed after her; with Veronica casting glances towards Cain.
Cain created the portal to the inn in its usual spot, to the right of the exit of the guild, when the party was a few meters from the exit. Cain finished his meal then opened a portal back to the mountains to continue his experiments. The warmth from Rex's tattoo kept Cain from freezing as Bob reestablished the portals over his airways to prevent altitude sickness.
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1. Cain can now heal any bone w/o any long or short term side effects. No matter the damage it experiences, the damage it causes to its surroundings, or where it is located. His healing proficiency in nerves, organs, and veins went up slightly because of that last part.