"Well I'm not sure if it was luck or skill but you somehow managed to avoid any permanent damage." The doctor said as he examined my arm. He twisted it slightly making me jerk away.
"Ow!" I griped and cradled my arm. I was in the on-campus hospital laying in one of the examining rooms beds. Baset quickly ferried me here when my arm started bleeding bad. Thanks to her insistence I was quickly seen and the doctors there were able to retract my bone claws heal up the puncture wounds mostly.
"Suck it up!" Baset growled. As she glared at me from her spot against the wall. "What would even posses you to attempt something like this with your limited knowledge of magic?!"
"Well even considering that all he got was two puncture marks through his knuckles and a case of mild blood loss I'd say he did pretty good. I've seen more experienced do a lot worse." The doctor said.
"Nonetheless it was still incredibly stupid!" Baset snapped. I groaned then looked up at the doctor.
"So what's the next step?" I asked. The doctor walked over to a cabinet in the room and pulled out two foam boards and some gauze.
"I'm going to immobilize your arm while it heals." He walked back over and started tending to my arm. "Regardless of the end result you did very well with this sort of body modification. After a few days the pain in your arm should go away and you should be able to use those bone claws without any discomfort or injury thanks to your mana acting as a healing agent and even corrected the small mistake of not creating a opening for your claws to come out of."
I nodded and watched while the doctor took care of my arm. After he had it immobilized and wrapped tightly the slight throbbing feeling in my arm dulled to a numb ache.
"Okay. You are free to go." The doctor said. "Though if you have any further discomfort after a few days them please come back."
"Thank you." I said.
"Yes thank you doctor." Baset turned and headed put the door. "Follow!"
'Well shit I'm in trouble." I thought as I followed after Baset.
We were only on the first floor of the hospital so it didn't take that long to get to the entrance. On the way I noticed that every exam room was occupied with some student that was injured or sick with something. In fact the while hospital seemed to be full. It was surprising enough to hear that the collage had a on-campus hospital, finding out that it was usually at full capacity on a regular basis was another thing.
When we exited the front door I saw that Baset's steed carriage was waiting for her. The drive quickly hopped out of the front and rushed around to open the passenger door of the carriage. She hopped inside and motioned for me to follow. I did without any complaints and sat down on the seat across from hers. The drive hoped back in the front and opened the partition.
"Drive around." Baset ordered.
"Of course M'lady." The drive replied then shut the partition. The carriage pulled off and we rode around in silence for several minutes. Baset stared out the window watching the night scenery pass by. She looked lost in thought but somehow Still angry.
"I'm in serous trouble aren't I?" I asked. Baset didn't respond or even make any indication that she even heard me. She just kept staring out of the window. I sighed, leaned back in my seat, and cradled my arm.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened?" Baset said calmly. "At best irreversible nerve damage and at worst you could have lost a arm."
"I know…" I grumbled. "But everything worked out and I gained some valuable experience for later."
Baset's head turned so fast I thought I heard her neck snap. The look of astonishment and pure unbridled rage she shot me could have melted steel. She opened her mouth to speak and them promptly closed it and took several deep breathes before she finally spoke.
"You mean you plan to try this again?" Before I could answer her question her eyes widened in realization and she let out a sigh. "Of course you're planning to try again. Thanks to the mana manipulation spell, enchantment and utility spells don't work on you so the only way you can create a system would be to create it out of flesh…"
"It's not like I have a choice, as I stand now, me trying to use my mana for anything is way too inefficient. If I'm cautious and careful I can…."
"Cautious and careful are not going to cut it!" Baset cut me off! "I know this might not be apparent to you but splicing is very dangerous for a experienced veteran let alone a brainless newbie!"
"I'm not an idiot, I knew it was dangerous. But the basic way won't work with me and I figured it was better to try with something small rather than just jumped into trying to make a system and end up dying from internal bleeding." I argued.
"Something small?!" Baset snapped. "Creating a extra bone in you hand would have been small, creating a tail would have been small. Creating two bone claws that pop out of your knuckles is not small!"
I grunted and rolled my eyes. Baset glared at me then sighed and looked out the window. We continued riding around the campus for more several minutes neither of us saying anything. I closed my eyes and focused on my mana.
'If she isn't going to take me home the least she can do is let me practice.' I thought.
"Chase…" Baset said softly. I reluctantly opened my eyes before I was able to sense my mana. She was staring at me, her eyes glowed with a sad light. "Chase, you are a talented splicer but you are young and historically young and talented splicers have the highest death rate. You have a bright future ahead of you and as a Paragon I refuse to have any of my students die in my class. So I forbid you from doing any more work on your system."
"WHAT" I screeched and tried to stand in the carriage only to lose my balance and fall back in my seat.
"Calm down Chase!" Baset ordered.
"You can't forbid me to do anything!"
"I know that, the deal you have with the dean makes you more valuable to the collage than even me." Baset replied. I stilled.
"How do you know a about that?!" I demanded. Baset chuckled and pointed at my farm crystal.
"A young splicer from America with no idea about the basic ideas of magic, naturally you won't have a mana system. You also have a undiscovered star farm crystal and because of your lack of magical knowledge and mana control you are behind everyone else. Naturally the dean would lock you down before you realized how valuable you are." Baset explained.
"Fuuuuuuck….." I groaned and ran my hand through my hair.
"That is why I don't want you to try and make your system as you are now. You are nowhere near as studied in human anatomy or proficient in magic to even attempt this. Trying will only get you killed."
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're my student. The greater your accomplishments the better it reflects on me." Baset said with a smile. That smile turned serious and she pointed to my left arm. "You were able to do that with only a limited understanding of both magic and mana manipulation. I can only imagine what you can do once you learn more."
"So basically you want to use me to elevate yourself higher?" I asked.
"Is that any different from what you and anyone else in my class want to use me for?" Baset countered.
"Touché." I said.
"One year. I want you to wait for one year before you try to construct your mana system. In that time I want you to expand your understanding of magic and come up with more applications for flesh attribute manipulation and not just on yourself, on others and evos as well."
"How will this help me?"
"It will give you experience and make you more comfortable with manipulating mana in that fashion and decrease your mana consumption with that attribute." Baset explained. "I hope that within a year the knowledge and experience you gain will be enough to offset the mana you waste because of the mana manipulation spell. Hopefully the difference will be equal to that of whatever mana system you create."
'Fuck why does that make sense?' I thought.
"Of course I won't make the classes any easier for you. Adversity is the flame that forges the strongest steel." Baset said with a smirk. I frowned and resisted the urge to flip her off.
"Great. Thanks." I said sarcastically instead. Baset's expression turned more serious again.
"Don't worry, with your talent, creativity, and ingenuity and the girls knowledge and tenacity my classes won't be too difficult for you."
"Thanks…" I muttered shyly and looked away. Baset smiled softly then knocked on the partition.
"Yes ma'am?" the driver said after he opened the partition.
"Team one's dormitory." Baset said.
"Yes ma'am." The driver said then shut the partition. The carriage turned around and headed off.
"I'll wait a year." I said. Baset smirked.
"I know. You aren't stupid, just feeling pressured." She replied. I grumbled and relaxed back into my seat. The rest of the ride to the dormitory took about forty-five minutes. Both Baset and I sat in silence until the carriage came to a halt. The driver rushed around to open the door and I climbed out.
"Don't just sit on you laurels Chase. Expand your knowledge and use that creativity of yours to give yourself a leg up." Baset said then snapped her fingers and the driver closed the door and drove off.
'Fuck I'm tired….' I realized as I watched Baset's carriage drove off. Taking a quick moment to check my mana I realized that I gad probably around five to eight percent left and that was being drained slowly to heal my arm.
CHASE KINGSTON!" Iris screeched. I jumped and spun around to see both Iris and Jane standing at the front door. Jane looked relieved to see me where as Iris was pissed.
"Do you gave any idea what time it is? Lady Jane was worried sick!"
"Sorry Tri-clops!" I shouted back and held up my injured arm. Both their eyes grew wide and they rushed over to check on me.
"What happened?" Jane asked. Her hand hovered over my arm, too afraid of hiring me further to touch it.
"I'll tell you tomorrow." I replied and patted then on the back. "Right now I'm exhausted…."