Chapter 202: You Sure You Have No Injuries???

Words : 1046 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Chapter 202: You Sure You Have No Injuries??? The shuttle landed without ceremony. No flags. No medics rushing forward. No sirens or system-wide announcements. Just a smooth touchdown in the middle of the temporary base camp set up outside the testing grounds—a spread of tents, blinking towers, and flat dirt patches packed with exhausted staff and students. A low-ranking officer walked up to the ramp as it lowered, clipboard in hand, expression neutral. He didn’t ask questions. Didn’t greet anyone. He just stepped aside as the students filed out one by one. No one pushed. No one spoke. They were too tired, too bruised, too busy trying to understand how they were still breathing. The air here felt sharper. More real. Like the weight of the forest had stayed behind. But the silence hadn’t. The camp buzzed softly—voices, movement, the hum of mana scanners being wheeled between rows of stretchers. Students lay in makeshift recovery pods, bandages glowing faintly as spells held cuts together. Some were eating quietly. Some were asleep, sitting up. Some stared at nothing at all. Ethan stepped down near the rear, eyes adjusting to the open sky. It felt wider than before. His boots hit the dirt, and he exhaled once, slowly. That’s when the medical staff noticed him. At first, just a glance. One of the nurses did a double-take, then checked something on her tablet. Another healer frowned slightly as he saw the group behind Ethan—Sera, the twins, and Mei. They didn’t look injured. Not badly. No blood, no torn uniforms, no limping. Just calm. Too calm. A clipboard was handed off. Someone made a note. Then one of the nurses walked over. She looked to be in her early thirties. Hair tied back. Eyes are sharp but not unfriendly. "You," she said, tapping her screen once. "Ethan Nocturne?" "Yeah." "You’re listed as part of the last evac team. Protocol says I need to scan you for residual mana strain and battlefield trauma." He nodded, followed her to the closest scanning tent. Inside, it was quiet. Lit by soft blue light from the mana monitors that lined the walls. A padded bench sat near the back, already sterilized. "Sit," she said. "Shouldn’t take long." Ethan sat. She ran the first scan—just a baseline vitals check. His pulse, mana alignment, and internal temperature. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then she frowned. Ran the scan again. Still nothing. She leaned in and checked his forearm. "No cuts? No bruising?" "Not really," Ethan said simply. "Any spells used? Didn’t you fight with bronze-class beasts?" "Yes, but I didn’t suffer any injuries during the fight," he said. "After that, we just moved around a lot. Helped students get out." She gave him a look. Not rude. Just... confused. "You’re clean," she muttered. "No damage. Mana core looks stable. Too stable." He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?" She didn’t answer. Just tapped her tablet and stepped out of the tent. A few seconds later, someone else stepped in. This one wore a slightly higher badge—probably a supervising doctor. He didn’t speak right away, just glanced at the readings on the screen behind Ethan. "Not even a scratch," he said. Ethan stayed quiet. The man looked at him for a second too long, then walked back out. Outside, the nurse was already talking to another assistant. Ethan caught a few low words. "No readings. No pressure loss. It’s like he didn’t even fight." The other woman whispered something back, glancing toward the tent. Then they both went quiet as Sera stepped up to the entrance. She didn’t say anything either. She just stood there. Not blocking, not glaring, but the kind of still that made people stop talking. The twins arrived right after—one on each side of the flap. They leaned casually, but no one missed how close they stood to Ethan’s exit point. Inside the tent, he stayed seated, back straight, fingers laced in his lap. A moment later, Mei entered from the side path. She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t pause. She just walked in, handed him a sealed envelope with no label, and left the way she came. Ethan looked at it. Didn’t open it. Just tucked it into his coat. The nurse came back in again, pretending not to notice anything odd. She cleared her throat, then looked down at the screen. "Well, your check-up’s clear. You’re good to go." "Thanks." He stood. Outside, more whispers. Some staff pretended not to stare. Others didn’t bother. One of them—probably a junior officer on logistics duty—leaned over and asked, "Do we know what rank he is?" The older assistant shook her head. "Nothing confirmed." "But he just walked out with four girls like that?" Another voice muttered, "They weren’t even hurt. Not one of them." A third added, "That girl with the healing gloves—she’s not even listed in the candidate pool." "Who are they, then?" Nobody answered. Back near the supplies tent, Ethan slowed his steps just enough to check the rows of students being treated. He counted again. Most made it. A few empty stretchers at the far end. Folded down. The tags on the side are already marked. He didn’t need to see more. He turned back toward the exit line that led to the debrief tent. Sera walked beside him. The twins trailed behind. No one said anything. They didn’t need to. The whole group had moved like this for most of the day, together, but without showmanship. Efficient. Quiet. That silence said more than any story would’ve. At the debrief checkpoint, a tall woman with a sharp jawline glanced up from her desk. She blinked once, adjusted her headset, and then looked at her screen. "Nocturne... Nocturne..." Her voice trailed off. She checked twice. Then three times. "Your file’s locked," she said finally. "System won’t let me log your entry. Not without override codes." Ethan said nothing. The woman cleared her throat. "Alright then. I guess you’re done." Behind her, another staff member whispered something too soft to catch. But as Ethan turned, a third muttered under their breath— "That’s not a normal student." He heard it. But didn’t react. Not with words. Just one glance. Then he just turned and walked back with the ladies.

Chapter 202: You Sure You Have No Injuries???

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