Gangrene is death of a body tissue due to lack of oxygen or blood, it might even be caused by bacterial infection and usually the most common procedure to deal with it is to cut off the infected body part, in fear that the poison or gangrene that accumulates in that body part poisons the whole body.
And from the way Andy's hand looked, it would seem this was the case.
Daarun then recalled his army days, when he saw how many of his companions lost their limbs or even huge parts of flesh on their body due to gangrene. And now, even without war, a student's hand seemed to be suffering through the same problem.
"Teacher, don't worry. I can feel every bit of it." Andy explained with some embarrassment. "The art I am practicing is the claw arts and the hand going purple is one of the side effects while practicing it. Nothing more than that."
"This? I don't recall other techniques having such a massive side effect… Young man, are you overdoing it?"
"Teacher, believe me… I might have strained a bit much during practice, but nothing is wrong with my hand. Its truly just a side effect."
Daarun still didn't believe his words and tried pinching Andy's hand to see if he reacts.
And he did, crying in pain asking why Daarun did it. But he fell into contemplation instead. 'The skin over his hands is too strong.'
"So you can feel it, good then. Your hand seems to be in the shape of a claw, so i can see what technique you are practicing and I will read it in detail this time to see if you are lying." Daarun said, insinuating that he won't leave Andy alone if he was lying to him. But then he asked something else.
"There is another matter I wanted to confirm… I did see the hand motions, but did you use mana while fighting Adam?"
"No sir, I didn't… The original plan was to hold him down and tackle him in the stomach. But I never thought that his flesh would be…" Andy paused, looking a bit embarrassed. "His flesh would be so weak."
Andy was surprised when he grabbed Adam, he did find it odd at how soft his flesh was, but he was too distracted to focus on that simple feeling. His goal was to take down Adam in one blow and he succeeded.
And to check whether he was speaking the truth, Daarun asked,"Grab my hands without the mana application."
He felt his grip strength and as Andy said, it really did seem strong enough to pinch off the flesh of someone normal.
But it was not over yet. Just to see if Andy was lying about the mana application part, Daarun asked him to use it this time, but Andy paused a bit. Struggling.
"What… you can't?" Daarun asked with some annoyance. He had tried to save this kid before and knew his past. How Adam tormented him and how powerless he was. So seeing him struggle, Daarun thought that the attack Andy used had mana behind it, which would explain his grip strength.
But Andy shook his head, but knowing that explanations won't work. He took a combat stance and activated the combat art.
And as he did, his nails which had been cut not so long ago grew at a fast rate before stopping after reaching five centimeters in length.
"Usually this happens when I use it… So even if I wanted to, I can't use it in a simple spar." Then Andy looked at the table and stabbed his finger into it. Causing his nail to penetrate the table, leaving a centimeter deep hole into it. "And it's dangerous."
Daarun was horrified to see the attack power of Andy. He took his hands once again and checked the durability of the nails.
"These are purple as well… and with that attack power. Anderson, you can already be considered a White star."
Daarun understood why the previous scene in the sparring arena happened.
Before anyone knew it, Andy, one of the worst students in his class, had already reached White star rank, or at least white star attack power and durability. While the rest of the student body remained oblivious of his existence.
"What?... Sir?"
"I can't know unless I check myself, but from what I see. You are A white star Hunter already." Daarun said with surprise, not even believing his own words.
The signs to him were obvious. The one sided pummeling of Adam who was used to sparring and had advantage over Andy with his experience.
The weird way Andy's nails grew, as before Andy's nails would grow non-stop until he got tired and sometimes they grew and curled like snails.
But now his nails grew in a straight line and stopped after reaching a particular length. Which was a proof that Andy, in a sense, had leveled up and his ability had mutated to suit his requirements.
"Me… a White star? And Andy felt the same. No, he found it unbelievable.
Just a while ago, he was worrying about not finding a sparring partner due to how weak he was, but now suddenly he was one of the few white star hunters in his class?
How odd is that?
No, it would be better to say he can't believe it.
But the face of teacher Daarun and then recalling how easily he took down Adam, made him think otherwise.
'This is too sudden.'
"How long were you training for?"
"This… a total of three weeks on the claw arts, six weeks for body training. I started the 2nd day it was released."
"Then I can say, you are very compatible with those techniques, keep practicing."
Andy recalled the countless humiliation and beatings he received from not just Adam, but even teachers who laughed at his efforts.
Even when he was ganged up and became a scapegoat due to Luvi's cowardice, he who had thought the life would be getting better due to the training techniques, lost some of his hope. Considering how powerless he was in front of his opponents. But the next day, he got a message from his friend and became aware of the combat arts.
And the same friend also suggested a perfect combat art for him.
Then out of nowhere, that same friend knocked on the door and asked. "Sir, I was wondering how long it would take? Others outside are starting to wonder what happened."
Luvi lied as always, the others are not looking for answers. They were instead looking and threatening Luvi over what happened just now. Saying that Andy got lucky or he somehow cheated.
The thought of Andy winning fair and square never even formed in their heads.
This is what Luvi wanted, let them think it's all luck. But then he wondered, what was taking so long for the two inside.
It was why he found an excuse and entered Daarun's office. And the scene he saw baffled him a bit.
A smiling Daarun and an equally confident Andy, then there were the nails of Andy which gleamed with purple glow.
'Fuck… those poisonous fangs are out.'
Luvi can only say how lucky Adam was, if those poisonous lady fingers stabbed his body, then his injuries would have started to rot if not treated properly.
But why was Andy taking out his nails at this moment?
"Luvi, I am having a private talk here. Go outside and wait. Say to others, that there was no foul play involved."
Daarun ordered, a bit annoyed by Luvi's breach of privacy. But Andy stopped Daarun from kicking out Andy, telling that he didn't mind Luvi from being here.
Though the other reason was, he wanted for Luvi to be the first to know that he is already a White star Hunter.
And Luvi was surprised to learn all of this detail, then sweating a bit, thanking his cautious mind for not joining Andy in his little sparring match.
"Bruh, you reached White Star ahead of me. Party tonight!!"
Luvi joked with him about it, then wondered how this small event exceeded his expectations. He did read that the awakened abilities would mutate depending on the technique one masters. But he didn't know the mutation would be so high for Andy.
Usually, it's rare for someone to have their ability mutate so early. Reaching White star only increases your control and effect of an ability, nothing more. But there are always rare cases like Andy.
'The plan will go perfect with this now.'
As for what his plan was?
It was simple. Like before, he is going to prop up Andy and let him attract all the attention. Soon people will ignore him or stop bothering him.
And even if they did, it would usually be low level goons who won't' dare act out in the open due to Luvi's little recording gadgets.
So he will be protected in the class as well as outside.
But there was one thing Luvi wanted to do before any of that. "Andy, wouldn't it be better to hide your achievements for now? Let them think you are still weak before messing them up in the intercity hunter competition?"
It would be better if Andy hides his abilities as he would attract more enemies his way and when he bursts out with potential, the people would have no choice but to reconsider their prior prejudice during the tournament.
This would also result in the highest shock value during the tournament. And Luvi knew that if needed, teacher Daarun would accept his suggestion. As at the end of the day, it all depended on the student if they wanted to expose their achievements.
So he thought this plan might work.
But what he didn't expect was Andy.
"Why would I hide it?... I don't want to act like a pig."
"Ah!"
'Fuck.'