Chương 35: Revelation

The next week passed by in a blur. Grim had come to learn that the official name for what she'd been referring to as energy was actually called Aura. And she'd fully drained hers, even gone past that and tapped into her vitality. She wasn't sure how bad that was, but she'd probably taken a few years off her life from the way Phil explained it. She believed him, she'd only been able to wake up long enough to eat something or hobble to the bathroom, the rest of that time was spent sleeping.

Her memory around when she'd first gotten to Phil's place was spotty, but she was pretty sure she'd passed out again. She was only awake now because Phil had gotten worried enough to call in a doctor, somebody he knew back from his days as a Witch. At the moment, both of them were in another room arguing loud enough she could hear them clearly from her bed.

"No, no. I owe you, I get that, but this isn't comparable. I don't know who exactly fucked with her head but there's only so many people who could've done that and any one of them could flay us alive if they caught wind of what we know," A woman's voice yelled, her voice was stern and unyielding. They didn't have a nurse at her old school, but if they did, she'd imagine that was what she would sound like.

"You miserable old cow, when did you start caring about being flayed alive? You didn't when I dragged your ass out of that nest. I could've left you and nobody would've said a word."

"I get that, I really do, but as far as I'm concerned, the favour is repaid. Her aura was so damaged I had to give her a Die, just to start trying to fix her."

"And? I gave up my advancement for you! I'm stuck like this because of you. Just tell us what's going on."

"I'm breaking the law just by not reporting she's an unregistered S-""Fuck the law, the law is what got everyone killed, or have you forgotten? The easy life got to you. You forget where you came from." The next words she heard were too quiet for her to make out through the door. She tried to get up so she could eavesdrop better, but the movement gave her a subtle reminder that she was incredibly injured.

That didn't deter her though, and by rolling herself a little she was gaining momentum to get herself off the bed. Right before she righted herself, the door creaked open, and she threw herself back down into the bed and did her best to pretend she hadn't been trying to get up.

"Looks like someone's feeling better," the woman said.

"My name is Doctor Lalok, and I've been the one treating your injuries. Would you mind telling me what happened to cause them? You were suffering from a critical amount of Aura strain."

"Well, I raided a Gate World and found a secret mountain that was hidden by an illusion."

"A challenge? Did you complete it?" Doctor Lalok asked curiously.

"Yeah, and then the mountain blew up, and I used up all my "Aura" trying not to die. I met a snake-lady. Oh, also, I'm blind."

"You're blind?" Phil asked.

"A snake? Seriously?" She asked at the same time." Whoa, whoa, one at a time. I still feel like my head's split in two."

"[IN MY STRENGTH]" the Doctor said as she touched Grim's temple beside her eyes. Her sight instantly came back, but only in one eye. A certain amount of horror touched her mind as she actually internalized that she could not see. She'd been aware of it before but if there was anything she was good at, it was stuffing down those feelings until some nebulous "later" date arrived. With her newfound sight, she saw that Doctor Lalok was a lot smaller than she'd imagined.

The brutish school nurse she'd been picturing in reality was a small, delicate-looking woman who stood just taller than Phil. She looked young compared to Phil, but she knew she couldn't trust appearance to gauge age, not with the existence of advancement. She was pretty as higher-ranked often were, but her face was marked with scars as if she'd been doused with acid. Surely she'd have been able to get that fixed somehow, so the fact it hadn't said something about her.

Grim held the woman in higher esteem afterwards, if she ever got that strong, she'd want to make the same choice. That the Doctor was currently glaring at her with murderous intent marred that respect a little, but at least she'd hear her out. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"It's not permanent, you're borrowing my sight for the moment. I did this because I want you to understand how serious I am when I ask you this next question," The Doctor said.

"Did this "Snake Lady" as you called her, go by Seir? Was it the White Snake?" Grim's heart dropped. She had no idea why this was so serious, and she got the feeling Doctor Lalok already knew the answer to this question. She might've lied otherwise, but she got the sense that lying was the test in and of itself. Was she willing to lie to cover it up was the actual question she was trying to answer.

"Yes." The Doctor turned to Phil, who looked clueless. He clearly hadn't heard of her.

"What have you gotten yourself into? This girl is trouble, if you knew what was good for you, you'd wipe your hands clean of this."

"If I knew what was good for me, you'd be dead right now." The two stared at each other, both speaking to each other in a look Grim had no idea how to read. She'd never had that kind of history with anyone. The Doctor was the first to break eye contact as she looked down and sighed.

"Fine, fine. You're right," she looked at Grim again.

"Well, clearly you're alive, so the meeting couldn't have been too bad. What did she want?"

"Uhh, a seat, I think? She asked if she could sit next to me. Why do you ask? What is she?"

"A seat? She didn't ask you to do anything for her? Bring anything back?"

"No, she just grabbed Hazel, and I stabbed her in the throat for that, but she just apologized and gave me a gift."

"A gift? You didn't take it, did you?" She caught Phil smirking before Doctor Lalok glared at him. He looked to be overjoyed that someone else was dealing with her bullshit.

"A better question to ask is what kind of gift, of course the little terrorist took it," Phil added. The Doctor looked on the verge of tearing her hair out as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Grim decided to answer before she had a stroke or something.

"It unlocked the other rewards when I ranked up to D. I took Boon casting but I didn't really have time to use it yet on account of me getting blown up very shortly afterwards," Grim explained to the both of them, much to their mounting horror. Doctor Lalok paused for a long moment before answering, "Our records on the locked options are small, there's been others, but they did not take poisoned gifts from the White Snake. What you've done is give her a way to visit you at any time you're in a Gate World.

That's enough of a risk on it's own. You could get an entire team of Witches killed, most encounters with the Snake don't go as well as yours did. In fact, most end up dead and harvested for their Dice to grow her power." Grim paled. That was not good.

"What... is she?"

"We don't know for certain, but many speculate she's a glitch in the program. Theirs a whole protocol you're supposed to follow if you meet her. Your Witch should have briefed you on it before entering your first Gate World." Grim thought back to that day and remembered Arcadia saying something about that, but she hadn't been paying him much attention. She'd tuned out after ten minutes of him explaining common sense rules to her. Maybe he should have led with that instead of"Don't run with your knife pointed up".

"Must've slipped my mind."

"You know what, it's not my problem. Just try not to get anyone else killed, alright? With that done, let's get into what Phil so generously brought up decade-old wounds to get for you. You mentioned Hazel before, is that what you've been calling your little hitchhiker?"

"I mean, that's what she calls herself, but yeah. What about her? You might have to come back tomorrow if you want to talk to her. The first thing I tried to do when I woke up was summon her, but it feels like she's gonna need another day." The doctor waved her hands, no, "That's not going to be necessary, Phil here has attested on her behalf that she isn't currently dangerous which I must mention could change at any moment.

What I feel is more pertinent to know is not the fact that you got an S rank from a mere E rank Die. While extremely rare, there are individuals who have gotten so lucky before. What is an impossibility, is that you can use it. The amount of Aura a Boon takes drastically increases from rank to rank. The fact that you've summoned her not once but seemingly with regularity is an anomaly. An anomaly I wanted to find the answer to, which unfortunately - for me - is information in hindsight I should not know."

"So? What is it? What's wrong with me?"

"Someone very powerful has used a mind-altering Boon on you, and what's most alarming," she paused.

"They're still powering it."