Chapter 23: Choice
"Hah huh..." Tracy was cheerfully humming a melody while spoon-feeding Ryan on the side while Jacob recounted what they did in class.
"We talked about the difference between mana and radiation," he said, his whole body dripping with listlessness.
"The difference between an awakener also called an ability user (radiation user), and a mage or magician (mana user)," Jacob's hand clenched hard, his knuckles turning white as the things he saw yesterday kept replaying in front of his eyes.
Tracy, in a good mood, said, "Just read the textbook."
Jacob nodded depressingly and read, trying to come up with a good explanation of what happened.
He scratched his head in frustration and read absentmindedly; he had never been a fan of thinking or studying in his past life. It's not like he'll suddenly be good at it.
"Both possess supernatural abilities yet draw their power from different sources," he read out.
Mana is a root substance that exists alongside the other fundamental forces of physics and is found in nature everywhere.
It can be used to create magical formulas, and it is powered by a chant to bring out its raw elemental power.
Mana has been used by a select few since the beginning of time, a natural power of the planet Talus.
"The Tower of Magic conducted much research to simulate and plant an artificial mana heart, which ended up in failure."
Jacob resumed speaking, his voice lacking passion.
"Radiation is an energy drawn straight from 'The Destroyer,' a star that existed thousands of years ago outside of the solar system, even before Talus existed."
"It could manifest as an ability most suitable for the user, limited by the potential that differs from one another, as too much radiation in one's body can become harmful."
Although mana and radiation exist at the same time, they do not oppose or bond with each other.
"A mana user cannot use radiation, nor can a radiation user use mana," Jacob said.
"There are a couple of differences between mana and radiation, and one of those glaring differences is that when a magician dies, their mana heart would shatter and be destroyed; the mana inside their body would vanish."
"Likewise, when an ability user dies, the radiation inside them will just leave and re-manifest once again in the air."
"Mana is a regenerative power, while radiation is a never-ending source of energy."
"In other words, the radiation that was released as fire, water, or any type of ability would go back into the air," Tracy concluded, stuffing the last strawberry into Ryan's mouth.
"The teacher said that this would be on the exam, so make sure to remember."
Ryan nodded, still munching on the strawberry.
The nurse entered, clapping slightly and putting on a polite smile. "It's time for young master Ryan to rest."
She politely, yet not so forcefully, kicked the two outside, leaving Ryan alone.
'Ah, how annoying. How much do I have to do this for? ' Tracy thought.
Tracy and Jacob left; the smiles on their faces dropped, and they left in different directions as if they didn't know each other.
"Ha." Ryan closed the book that was stuffed in his hand and looked up.
A silhouette of a human with a silver aura and dull silver radiation seeping out of his eyes appeared silently in the hospital room.
The radiation flowed into his meridian, toward his vocal cord, in a smooth, fast manner, indicating that he was at least an S-class.
He heard a low thud and asked, "What... is that?"
He failed to see what had fallen; he could only see a weird object devoid of any form of energy.
Noah asked, "The body, how should I get rid of it?"
Fortunately for Ryan, he wasn't able to see the gruesome scene of the strangely entangled corpse.
"Destroy. The... F- face. and-. use. it. however you like," he said. "It's the corpse of an A+ class, after. all."
Noah nodded, and the faceless carcass disappeared.
Putting down the book in his hand on the table, he got up from his hospital bed and opened the closets containing medical supplies and clothes. He pulled a suitcase from within.
In it were two types of syringes: a red one and a blue one.
The blue one is the antidote, and the red one is the drug.
Born and raised in the confines of the underworld, devoid of light, hundreds of orphaned children were put into extreme situations and raised as perfect pets for their masters.
A type of surgery was performed to raise each one of them to their highest potential in the shortest period possible, with a shorter life span as a result.
They were fed drugs that made them feel dull and unresponsive.
Made of an extremely addictive substance that exists and is on the verge of extinction.
That could only be cultivated in a dark, mana-rich environment.
They would be sold at high prices and customized to the buyer's preference.
The usual practice is to inject your 'pet' with a drug at regular intervals.
However, some owners would inject themselves with the antidote and feed their blood to their pets, making it so that they would forever remain the panacea for their pets.
Not receiving the drug dose would make them go through pain, depression, desperation, and finally die a gruesome death, even until their bones rotted; their consciousness would persist.
However, the person in front of him was different; neither did he receive a short life span due to the surgery nor was his mind destroyed due to the drug, but still he couldn't live without it.
Ryan picked up the two syringes, one red and one blue.
Noah looked hesitantly at the two syringes. His eyes fixated on the red one that slipped out of Ryan's hand and rolled to his feet.
"Your. choice."
Noah kept hesitantly staring at the red one before clumsily stretching his hand, holding the blue syringe in his hand, and looking at Ryan nervously.
Ryan didn't move, so Noah took the syringe and slipped out of the room.
Ryan looked at Noah's retreating, disappearing back, and sighed.
For some reason, he felt the need to give this character a choice. He sighed again. It seems like it's one of the perks he got.
Noah was a character who lived to be a side villain, dying at Hiro's hands.
Although he is an S-class character and a necromancer at that, he was the weakest compared to other S-rankers and naturally stood no chance against an EX-ranker.
A side character who died in the middle chapters of the novel.
He was a character who appeared briefly and died easily as a low-tier villain. A low-tier subordinate of Astin, or, to say, he was Astin's pet soldier, was killed by Hiro's hand.
The only character Hiro cried for.
Besides the fact that he had to deal with Astin, along with inheriting Hiro's body, he also inherited part of his emotions, though not burdensome.
Ryan climbed back into his hospital bed. Since he came to this world, the thing he found himself doing the most was sleeping.
It seemed this was one of the inconveniences this body brought with it.
He closed his eyes and started moving the radiation as usual, trying to become faster and stronger.
He had broken into the C-rank, but he was still too weak to compare.
Before he realized it, he drifted back to sleep.
***
Tracy was busy doing her nails when her roommate abruptly entered, throwing herself onto the bed and saying, "So how was your progress?"
Tracy felt a huge displeasure at her question and annoyedly threw the pillow at her, saying, "That guy is so innocent it's getting on my nerves."
Her roommate then said, half mockingly, "If it's hard for you, why don't you just give up?
"The ocean is overcrowded with fish; it is bizarre why you are still clinging to him." Amanda asked, trying to be poetic, her amber eyes gleaming with interest, "Is he as innocent as he seems?"
Tracy nodded and said, "I promised I'd get one of the top three as my boyfriend. If I can't get Damien or Astin, I'm going to get Ryan."
"Well, good luck with that," Amanda said, half mockingly.
Tracy was annoyed again and threw another pillow at her. "It's all your fault that he's stuck in a hospital bed right now, and I have to take care of him, making no progress."
Amanda raised her hand in defeat and yawned, "That has nothing to do with me. It's the other five's idea to launch that surprise attack. I was just doing my part as a teammate so I could win."
Tracy said, "Even so, you shouldn't have gone so hard on him. You undoubtedly were enjoying it."
Amanda shook her head, making a serious expression. "That guy is totally scary when he's angry. I thought I was going to burn to death. Hahaha."
"Cough… I even acted like I didn't know you," Amanda grumbled, and then tried cheering her on. "Well, at least you two are together alone in a hospital bed, having some time with only the two of you doing..."
"What time, when Jacob is everywhere," Tracy yelled in indignation.
"Ah ha." Amanda nodded and said pitifully, "That's tough."
Silence filled the room as Tracy rolled herself in a blanket.
"I have an idea." Amanda jumped up, her amber-colored eyes shining.
___
Opening his eyes the next day, Ryan was met with Tracy's beaming aura.
She happily said, "Good morning. I see you have been recovering well."
She sat down on a stool beside the bed and started unpacking the breakfast she brought for him.
Ryan looked around and asked, "Where's Jacob?"
Tracy shook her head and said, "I didn't see him today. We didn't have class today since the teacher suddenly canceled it. I came straight from the dorm room to bring you breakfast. I cooked it myself."
Tracy, before he could say anything else, started stuffing him with food, humming happily.
"It's. delicious," Ryan said.
Meanwhile, Amanda was standing in front of the boys' dorm building, wearing a hat, putting on a crooked mustache and eyeglasses, holding binoculars, and looking like that sort of creep.
She was biting her nails.
'I've heard from the nurses that he will be discharged the day after tomorrow. So, I'll just beat up Jacob so he won't show up tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and you can ensure a date with Ryan.' Amanda, recalling her plan from yesterday, felt disappointed.
She sent a dejected message to Tracy: [Beating Jacob Operation had failed.]
[I've been monitoring the target's room, and unfortunately, according to eyewitnesses, Jacob hasn't left his dorm room since yesterday. I've interrogated his roommate, and it seems he has been down for some reason.]
Typing once more with much disappointment, she sent another message:
[He's probably sick. So, it's your ideal time to ask Ryan out. Roger.]