A few minutes later, the nurse assigned to Sonny's daily checkups entered the room, but her eyes soon widened in shock as she took in the scene before her.
"Oh my gosh! What happened here?"
Sonny lay sprawled on the floor, surrounded by a half-liquid substance. His hospital gown was stained with it. As the nurse drew closer, her heart sank as she realized the liquid was his own vomit.
She dropped the medical chart onto the bed and quickly pressed the emergency buzzer then screamed at the receiver.
"Please, someone get in here as soon as possible!"
Within seconds, another nurse and a doctor rushed into the room, their faces set with alarm. The doctor frowned as he looked at Sonny before shifting his gaze at the nurse, Hannah.
"What happened here?"
"I don't know. He was fine this morning. But when I came in, he was already like this."
"For now, let's relocate him back on the bed. One, two!"
On cue, both Hannah and the doctor carefully lifted Sonny and placed him back on the bed, while the other nurse prepared the necessary materials. During the process, the edge of a medical chart left on the bed scratched the back of Sonny's hand, causing a slight tear in his skin. But no one noticed.
"Give me that," the doctor instructed, extending his hand.
Nodding, the nurse quickly handed him the stethoscope. After placing the instrument in his ears, the doctor carefully examined Sonny with extreme focus. However, despite his thorough check, he found nothing unusual.
'That's odd. Aside from his body feeling a little warm, there's nothing wrong. Could it just be a fever?'
Reaching that conclusion, the doctor let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Just days ago, the Hunting Guild Association had instructed the hospital to give special attention to this particular patient for some unknown reason. Naturally, the doctor had been on edge, terrified at the thought that something serious might have happened.
Given that this was the best medical facility in London, such a request made sense, if the patient was someone of great importance.
But what would he tell the Association if something had gone wrong?
And more troubling still, why was this boy, an ordinary youth by all appearances, so important to them?
'Could he be an Awakened?'
Was that such an unreasonable thought? Not really. There was a high mortality rate for those who challenge the Tower, so most injured Hunters who managed to survive were rushed to this hospital for immediate treatment.
Perhaps this fellow was one of those special individuals.
The doctor straightened, slipping the stethoscope from his ears with a soft click. His gaze lingered on Sonny's pale, sweat-slicked face.
"Monitor his temperature and keep a close watch on his vitals. I want updates every hour." He paused, shifting his gaze to the foul-smelling puddle of half-digested food on the floor. "And clean up this mess while you're at it."
"Yes, doctor. Right away."
The doctor left the room with the nurse in tow, leaving only Nurse Hannah behind. She pressed a hand to her pounding chest, steadying her breath.
By a stroke of fortune, the problem turned out to be something trivial like a common fever.
Even though they weren't family, no doctor or nurse ever wished harm on those under their care.
This hospital, especially, saw its share of severely injured patients every day. At the very least, she prayed she'd never have to watch another one of hers worsen on her watch.
"Whew..."
Now somewhat calmer, Hannah drew a steadying breath and turned her attention to the mess that needed cleaning. She was just about to decide where to start when her eyes caught drops of dark liquid staining the floor.
"Oh my…"
Blood.
The trail led back to the patient's hand, which had slipped off the side of the bed. For a heartbeat, she froze, then rushed over, her fingers trembling as she searched for the source of the bleeding.
She gently turned Sonny's hand over, scanning every inch.
"What... is this?"
There was blood, clear evidence it had flowed, but not a single wound to be found. Frowning, she wiped his skin clean, only to confirm what her eyes already told her: that there was no cut or puncture. If it wasn't for the blood, she would have thought it was inside her head.
'Could his injury have healed that quickly?'
But that didn't make sense, did it?
With that unsettling thought, her heart hammered again as she leaned in closer and studyed Sonny's face.
But he remained motionless, lost in a sleep so deep it felt as though nothing in this world could reach him.
† †
A week later, Sonny had nearly made a full recovery. By then, he had spent ten days in the hospital.
From what he learned, his survival was nothing short of a miracle. After all, with nearly every bone in his body crushed by that Furiataur, no one should have recovered in just a few days. Under normal circumstances, he would have died or at best, been crippled for life.
But it seemed the Lady Goddess was watching over him. To Sonny, however, this wasn't that impressive.
Given all Awakened could heal at a much faster rate than Dreamless, him as a Sleeper should be able to do the same. Although he was a little bit puzzled when he learned about his condition.
It was strange. During his battle with the Furiataur, he didn't feel that much pain when he was released from the creature's monstrous grip. Perhaps this was because of the adrenaline coursing through his body at the heat of the moment, making him insensitivity to his broken bones and deadly condition.
After a bit of thought, he realized it no longer mattered.
'It shouldn't be a problem for me to leave the hospital now, right?' Sonny wondered as he stretched his stiff body, feeling a little bit relieved.
Though, if anyone knew about his Innate Ability, they would have questioned why he stayed in the hospital for so long.
Couldn't he have just used his ability on himself to recover faster?
Naturally, there was a simple answer. It wasn't as though he was too shallow-minded to consider that solution and he didn't enjoy staying in the hospital in the first place. Who would, after all, enjoy such a dull experiment? The hospital was a place for the sick and terminally ill, he had no business being here.
Truthfully, if he could have healed himself, he would have done it already.
But he couldn't.
Why not? As it turns out, a few days ago, while experimenting with the SnapWarp's camera feature, Sonny had taken a picture of himself and tried to boost his body attribute stats.
Yes, according to Warp's explanation, it was possible to alter the properties of anything captured with the camera feature. For example, if he took a picture of an adult male, he could adjust attributes like reducing his speed, increasing his muscle mass, or even altering other parts of his body —making his head bigger, for instance. And, of course, let's not forget about his trouser snake.
From this alone, the ability had a great number of uses depending on how he used it. And depending on the specific target of capture, no EP would be exhausted to create an effect!
However, there was one troubling setback: he couldn't use it on himself for some reason.
Frustratingly, every time he tried to boost one of his attributes, an "error" message flashed across his phone screen. And when he asked Warp about it, the digital assistant replied in a nonchalant voice, "Sorry, Master. You can't use that on yourself because of your shackles!"
In the end, it was his [Shackles] that ruined everything.
Not only did the skill prevent him from leveling up, keeping him forever stuck as a Level 0 unless he found a way around this, but it also stopped him from using his Innate Ability on himself to grow stronger. Worse yet, since he couldn't level up, he had no way to raise his stats through the usual means.
Thankfully, his only saving grace was that his skills didn't follow the same leveling rules as his rank and attribute stats. At the very least, he could still improve the skills he would learn in the future.
Nevertheless, it was still a bloody predicament he'd ironically found himself in.
He had the power to manipulate reality, yet couldn't use it on himself.
What a damn joke.
Still, as he'd told himself before, it didn't matter that much. There was plenty of time ahead, plenty of chances to find a solution. But first, he needed to leave the hospital and officially become a Hunter. And since he was fully recovered, he could walk out anytime he wanted.
No, come to think of it, it almost felt like both the hospital and the Association wanted him gone in the first place.
Really, it'd be a waste to spend that much money on hospital fees for a measly Level 0 like him.
To begin with, one of the special perks Level 5s enjoyed was having the government cover all their health expenses, thanks to their grand importance in challenging the Tower.
Of course, as far as Sonny was concerned, that was a luxury happening in another cosmos.
So, he figured it wouldn't be such a bad idea to leave the hospital right about now.
While he was in the middle of getting discharged, a young nurse suddenly came running toward him in a hurry.
"... Hah—!! ... Hah—!! ... Wait, Mister Sonny Redgrave, are you really leaving the hospital today?"
"Um... yes?"
Hannah. She'd been the nurse in charge of him since day one.
Her face fell into a rueful expression at his confirmation.
For a fleeting moment, Sonny stiffened at the sound of Redgrave. Apparently, he still wasn't used to people calling him Mr. Redgrave. Just one of those small, nagging struggles that came with adopting a new identity.
Sometimes, he wondered if what he'd done was really the right choice.
Was it truly okay for him to keep living like this?
But what could he do now?
It wasn't like he could undo it, even if he wanted to. So, he might as well leave things as they were and keep moving forward.
A few seconds later, Sonny snapped out of his reverie and refocused on the nurse, tilting his head like a curious penguin.
What did she want with him so badly that she ran all the way here?
Hannah hesitated for a moment before pulling out a small memo pad and pen.
"Would it be okay if you gave me your contact number?" she asked.
"My contact number?"
"Yes... only if you're comfortable with it."
Maybe there were test results that needed to be sent later or something. Sonny didn't think much of it. He took the memo pad and pen and jotted down his number.
Hannah accepted the memo pad back from Sonny, an elated smile lighting up her face.
She bowed her head as well.
"Please take care of me from now on."
"Um... Okay, I guess?"
Flushed, she spun around and hurried off somewhere. Sonny watched her retreating back, tilting his head from side to side, this way and that way.
Then it hit him.
'Wait, hold on... Did she just ask me out?'
He blinked, feeling like an idiot for missing the signs.
But really, could he be blamed here?
Who expects to get asked out in a place like a hospital? All he'd been thinking about was getting discharged as soon as possible. Naturally, he wouldn't expect anything of the sorts and on top of that, it wasn't like he had any experience of the sorts to take reference from too.
Well, she was a cute nurse and polite, too. Sonny mulled over that thought as he left the hospital, his mind feeling unusually light and refreshed.
Of course, his AI buddy didn't let it slide and made sure to tease him relentlessly on his way out.