The Vis-Crystal had about the same attractiveness to Zalan as shiny object had on a curious child. It's red light radiated subtlety as Vis particles were slowly diffusing into the liquid surrounding it. Vis had healing properties, but can't be used on unawakened people as the Vis would just pass through their body and diffuse off into the atmosphere without being absorbed. Unawakened, like Amanda, were like Vis repellents and required a special mineral concoction to heal which had the same effect on their bodies as what Vis has on awakeners.
From the Vis absorbed by Zalan from the atmosphere, he felt as if his core would form soon. All that he had left to do was to absorb the Vis crystal before making a breakthrough and officially becoming a tier one awakened.
As a safety precaution, the hospital marked the needles so if they ever fell down or got removed accidentally, the nurses could come reattach it. Zalan stood up and dusted himself off before reaching towards the machine. Despite the distance being very close, Zalan could just barely reach it.
'At least I don't have to stack books this time' He thought whilst eyeing the different panels beneath. There were several knobs and buttons, each different colour size making the bottom of the black box seem like a mosaic piece thrown together by a blind man.
'I can't fidget with the various buttons in case one of them kills me.' He thought whilst gazing at the different options. As beads of sweat formed around his forehead from anticipation of acquiring the crystal and Amanda or the nurse returning, he quickly made a decision. Zalan figured the knobs controlled the flow rate and concentration of minerals, and so looked only at the buttons. There were several green ones, a few reds, and one black one.
'Since they only need one button to release the crystal from within, I have a hunch it's the black one' Zalan thought as he prepared himself to press it.
'Please don't be a call button, please don't be a call button, and more importantly please don't kill me!'
Zalan raised his outstretched trembling finger. He felt his heart skip a beat as the a clicking sound could be hear. At the top, the crystal floated in the liquid still radiating red light, but the liquid level receded and the machine made a mechanical noise. Zalan looked at the glass doors of the machine slowly receding before the crystal was ready to be grasped.
"YES!" Zalan screamed before reaching the crystal. Immediately after being in contact with it, he felt a tingling sensation as Vis began flooding his system like iron-fillings attracted to a magnet.
Slowly but surely, Zalan's felt the tingling throb his head. Zalan calmed himself as he endured the pain. Finally when it receded, Zalan felt himself to have a clearer head.
He then sat down on the bed in a meditative pose and began consciously absorbing the Vis from the Crystal. After about 5 minutes or so, Zalan felt he had accumulated enough Vis and began the process of compressing it into a core. Starting with the particles in his extremities, he imagined the Vis slowly condensing near his heart. Intricately pulling more particles from around his body and the Vis crystal, the pressure was building up as a white mass began to form. Zalan focused on one past push.
Ring!
A melodic sound like a bell's chime rang throughout the room as excess Vis got flushed out like a damn bursting from Zalan's little body. The wave caused the lights to flicker and hospital instruments to malfunction for a second before return back to their original state. 'Finally Tier 1!' Zalan thought.
The first thing he noticed was his heightened sense. The chatter from different parts of the hospital ward became much clearer as he could make out what the people next door were saying. Most of which were worried screams a result of his little 'incident.'
Ignoring all the different commotion, Zalan was closely examining his body and felt like he could lift the bed he was standing on. Quickly standing up, he did a few practice punches before returning the crystal to its place. Surprisingly, the crystal hasn't changed at all. It shone in the same red hue as when it was found originally. Satisfied, when everything was back in place, Zalan ripped the IV off of his arm and patiently waited for the nurse to come back.
Moments later the door shot open as a worried Amanda and a Nurse ran in. It was the same Nurse that was standing with Amanda earlier. Upon seeing Zalan in a perfectly fine condition, Amanda's tense facial expressions slightly eased, whilst the nurse's became more tense. Her tense expression soon dissipated to be replaced by shock.
"Tt—tier 1" she said after sensing Zalan's Aura.
"H-how is this possible?".
Now shaking, the nurse slowly took a step back to calm herself and sat on the sofa present in the room. Now it was Amanda's turn as she comprehended what the Nurse had just said. Being that she didn't have the ability to sense Vis fluctuations, she could only tell from the Nurses reaction that her son has done something unbelievable.
"W-what?" She muttered while turning to look at Zalan.
"I'm a tier 1 now" Zalan said with a grin forming on his lips.
"B—but you are only 3 years old….".
Amanda's words were trailing off as her face turned several shades paler. She also slowly stumbled backwards and took a seat beside the Nurse with a frozen expression still.
'This is quite comical' Zalan thought as saw the familiar scene of shook people staring at him again.
"Let's go home." Zalan said.
Finally breaking the silence, he hopped of the bed, walked towards Amanda, and patted her hands before walking towards the door. Looking back the scene of light blue room with 2 women still sat there staring at the bed before turning to glanced at the crystal one last time. As Zalan was done taking the view in, he chuckled as he turned around and walked right out the door.
By the time Amanda has come to her sense, Zalan was long gone.
"ZALAN! WAIT!"
****
On the train ride home, Zalan could only hear the quite hum of the engine and the chattering of people around him as he gazed out at the grass planes they were passing. No familiar voice of Amanda talking to him about random things.
'District C is quite beautiful' he thought whilst gazing across the fields seeing different farmers working to harvest a variety of different crops.
Sitting in Amanda's lap he turned back to look at her, and found Amanda to be studying him closely again with the exact same facial expression when she first discovered he could talk. Additionally, Amanda was muttering under her breath something as well. Before, he wouldn't have been able to catch it, but his enhanced sense now let him pick what Amanda was saying.
"Monster…monster….monster" she repeated over and over again.
'I think she's gone crazy.'
'Just wait till Alex finds out. He's going to destroy the whole field!'
Zalan chuckled as he turned his attention back towards the peaceful planes, letting the quite hum of the train rock him to sleep.