Chapter 12 - Alchemy versus Cultivation

"Were you training again? You have recovered very fast, but you really have to tone it down a bit. Not that I know anything about you cultivatorss," the doctor laughed, as he raised his grey eyebrows and sat on the stool to talk.

He was Doctor Cris Ainsworth, who was in his forties. He always carries a medical chart on his hand, had rectangular-rimmed glasses, grey hair, wore a white medical coat, and exuded a professional aura.

Cris had visited his room three times, and had shown himself to be an accommodating and approachable person. At first, Carl thought his doctor was a type of healer mage, but it turned out it was most likely someone from the association that healed him.

"Will I get discharged soon?" Carl asked.

"Everything seems fine, and you are recovering much faster than we'd expected. So I don't see why not." Cris said.

"…"

"But we decided to have you till morning for monitoring."

"I'll be discharged tomorrow then."

"Yes, I already sent the virtual medical certificate to the academy," there was a little pause for a while and it looked to be something important, "I also emphasized you need rest for two more days, so don't go straight to class."

Carl spat out a sigh of relief.

Cris smiled.

He had talked with the youth enough to know that he wasn't a bad boy. He had a tough life, but he seems to be working hard at earning back what he had lost. Seeing him sweat buckets and hearing the stories in the floor when he was doing his rounds, he couldn't help but admire this fat boy on room 564.

He also looked up his profile, and medical records, and saw that he had been sent to the academy's clinic more than ten times for physical injuries in his first year.

The youth also had no parents and close relatives to call in case of emergency, only the teachers in the school. It was not hard to imagine the boy's life growing up.

He also learned that he had been brought to the hospital in a state of shock and with serious injuries in his body before he was assigned to the patient. Some mages who introduced themselves from the Mages Association had taken care of him with healing magic, but Cris knew cases like school bullying usually won't stop.

"For now, you need to rest. And do whatever the training you were doing," the doctor said, showing a warm smile, while thinking in his mind, 'This is the only thing I could to help this youth.'

The hospital had saw many heavy-injured patients everyday, even mages and acolytes who had suffered their injuries from monster raids and other dangerous missions. At the bare minimum, he'd like to never see someone so young treated like a bag of meat just because of other people thinking they were superior due to their magic.

Hearing the doctor, Carl felt a little touched for some reason, completely speechless.

He did not say it directly, but it looked like the man knew his problem at school.

"We really don't have to perform tests on you again, so just rest, okay?" Cris said.

Carl knew that this doctor was a kind guy but it seemed like he had been pushing himself hard everyday. He seemed tired and sleepy.

Cris finally stood up and left the room, after Carl nodded.

Carl showed a faint smile on his face when looking at Cris' back. He couldn't help but admire him, and felt a strong drive to get stronger as soon as possible. It was only right that way.

--

The night quickly passed.

Even at nighttime, Carl did not neglect training. After stuffing himself with hospital food, he started his body workout at 7, and proceeded to meditate at 11 pm.

After this, he took a quick shower once again, and stretched his body.

He could not see the changes in his body that he wanted to see, but overtraining himself wasn't also a good idea. The stress of a breathing technique was helpful to expand his pool of mana, and his physical attributes, but too much could lead to a damage of his internal organs.

With his current level, he had to be very careful of this.

'I might be using a simple breathing technique, but breathing technique isn't supposed to be extended and abused. One wrong move, and I might be putting my body to jeopardy.'

Dawn came. The nurses doing their rounds found the fat boy training and meditating in his room once again, and couldn't help but laugh.

Pant, pant, pant, pant.

Carl had been given permission to go out in his room, so Carl had decided to visit the park just outside the hospital.

Starting from 4:30 am, he lapped the outer perimeter of the hospital once, and arrived back in his room to do his workout routine.

He ended his workout at exactly 5:30 am, and entered a state of cultivation immediately. He was currently holding on to his knees while bent over and panting out heavily. His heart felt like it might explode at any minute now, but it was enduring a lot better than his first try at meditation with this body.

Once he regulated his breathing, he then grabbed the bottle of hospital water they gave him with the food last night and satisfied his thirst. Unluckily, it was only half-way filled, and it didn't suffice.

Click.

Carl knew what time it was, breakfast. So he spat a sigh of relief. He turned his body around and saw a female nurse pushing a food cart enter.

This was Nurse Yuna, one of the nurses that come to his room once in a while. She was quite young, who seemed to be very new to the job. She has a nicely-tied black hair, a small face, and an okay figure.

"You work too hard," she suddenly said, "are people trying to be mages really need that much training?"