Kael sat on one of the many beds in the school clinic. He scanned the number of beds around him—there were over a dozen—but all except his own were empty.
He guessed that students did not usually visit the clinic on a normal basis. Unlike him, who had no idea how the school laws were enforced, other Grade Ones clearly did, and with that knowledge, they avoided getting hospitalized by the higher-ups.
Another reason, Kael assumed, was the nurse who worked on him. She had long yellow hair, a youthful and striking appearance, and a well-proportioned body. More importantly, she possessed the ability to heal others simply by laying her hands on the wounded part of a person for a few minutes, completely restoring them.
With someone like her around, the academy was bound to have minimal patients.
But this wasn't what bothered Kael the most. He stared at the system before him, which displayed the experience points (EXP) he had gained from the recent battle.
He had learned two things from his fight against the group of Grade Twos. The first was how much stronger he needed to become.
Even with his advanced speed and strength, he had only managed to defeat one of them, and that was thanks to luck and the element of surprise. Otherwise, he had been too weak to break through Elliot's armored skin or evade Aldric's wind attacks.
The second thing he learned was that he could gain EXP from defeating enemies. The more EXP he earned, the better his chances of leveling up—and leveling up meant getting stronger.
Kael realized that if he was going to survive at the academy, at least until he found his friends, he would have to do everything possible to grow stronger. That meant leveling up as quickly as possible.
'According to my calculations, I just need to win a battle against two more opponents. But the question is—how, especially in a one-on-one fight?'
---
While Kael sat on the bed deep in thought, Mrs. Alistair remained outside in the waiting room with Jeremy. Her face looked baffled, as if she were suppressing laughter, having just heard the story of how Kael had ended up in the clinic.
"Are you kidding me? Hahaha! Even if he just woke up and got an explanation of how the world has changed, seeing a Grade Two should be enough to make him turn tail and run. And yet he only has the ability to increase his normal human capabilities by not more than three times!" Alistair laughed again. "I like him already. He's just like you were before."
Jeremy reddened, folding his arms tightly. "He's a disturbance. If I hadn't stepped in when I did, he would have gotten more than a broken hand."
"Broken hand?"
The tone of her voice made Jeremy glance at her suspiciously. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Alistair adjusted her glasses slightly. "Did you just say he had a broken hand?"
Jeremy nodded, confirming her suspicion. Her expression instantly changed.
"That's amazing. When I checked him, all he had was a wounded fist. He was completely healed—even down to the bones."
Jeremy's throat went dry. Within a few minutes, Kael had healed his broken fist. This realization hit Jeremy hard, and he immediately understood what Alistair was getting at.
This wasn't just a simple ability one could call Grade One. But there were two shocking revelations for the pair.
Jeremy was fixated on the fact that Kael possessed two abilities—one being his enhanced physique, which surpassed that of a normal human, and the other being his ability to heal himself from even severe injuries like broken bones.
Alistair, on the other hand, having more experience, understood the greater danger in this. In the current world, only one family was known to possess such a distinctive ability. It was one of the families that governed the new world. If Kael's self-healing ability was discovered, the consequences would be dire and unending.
She felt the need to warn him. Rising from her seat, she offered Jeremy a fake smile.
"Go back. Class will be starting soon."
Jeremy hesitated for a moment but eventually got up and left the waiting room.
---
Alistair returned to the patient room and found Kael sitting upright, lost in thought. She approached him and sat on the bed next to his, grabbing his attention.
"Kael, how are you feeling now?"
Kael hesitated before replying, "Good, but a little exhausted. Thanks for healing me."
Alistair's grin widened. "I don't think you should feel like that, Kael Auron, because all I did was merely complete your healing. You healed the bones in your body all by yourself—which is more of a bad thing than a good one."
Kael's throat went dry. He had suspected something like this might come up, which was why he pretended to have been fully healed by her powers after discovering his self-healing ability.
While Kael worried that having two abilities was the reason for her confrontation, he didn't realize Alistair had other concerns.
"You have a self-healing ability, and I would advise you to keep it a secret," she said.
"I don't understand, ma'am. Why should I keep it a secret?"
Kael was utterly confused. Her statement had caught him off guard.
"I see you didn't get much explanation about what happened to the world since you're only a Grade One," Alistair said, letting out a brief sigh before continuing. "When humans first awakened, chaos reigned. A minute after the Wave, animals mutated into beasts, and humans died like flies. Fortunately, some of us began to awaken too. But humans were still uncontrolled, ungoverned. This led to infighting among ourselves, which allowed the beasts to gain the upper hand.
"Luckily, a few families rose to power. These were mighty factions of humans with unique abilities that set them apart from everyone else. Thanks to these families, we were able to rebuild our shelters and establish order."
"There are six of these families, and one of them possesses the self-healing ability you have. If they find out about you, Kael, it will bring nothing but bad luck."
Kael sat silently, absorbing the information slowly.
'This is bad.'
The initial excitement of discovering his self-healing ability quickly turned into apprehension. He now understood he would have to protect this secret with his life.