Chapter 40 | Consequences

Leon woke with a splitting headache. Light filtered through the window, too bright against the dull throb behind his eyes. He lay on his back, staring up at the white ceiling panels of what was the medical wing. The sharp scent of antiseptic filled his nose, bringing back the uneasy feeling he always got around medical rooms.

His memories were foggy, mind still unable to recall the details. He remembered completing the balancing beam with that impossible save, then making his way through the cargo net and spear throw. 

The sprint through the mud field came back to him in fragments: the burning sensation spreading through his limbs, the strange steam rising from his skin. But after removing his helmet at the finish line, everything blurred into a haze of confused sensations and muffled voices.

Leon tried to sit up, but his body protested; his limbs felt heavy and unresponsive, as though they belonged to someone else. Some parts were completely numb, while others burned with a dull, persistent ache that seemed to reach down to his bones.

What the hell happened to me out there?

He shifted his head to look around, and even that small movement sent fresh waves of pain radiating from his neck. 

Beside him, Nyra sat in a chair, her head resting on the edge of the bed as she slept. Her chestnut hair fell across her face, obscuring parts of her features, and her breathing sounded quiet and peaceful.

He watched her in silence for a brief moment, not sure what he was feeling. Something in the stillness tugged at him, a strange vulnerability in seeing her there, waiting for him. 

It wasn't something he had a name for, only a weight in his chest and the uneasy thought that he was standing on the edge of something he didn't understand.

"Ahem," Leon cleared his throat, not knowing what else to do.

She stirred for a bit, then propped up and fixed her hair.

"I'm awake, I was just closing my eyes for a bit," she said, flustered, a slight flush coloring her cheeks.

"Right—" Leon started, a hint of amusement breaking through his discomfort.

"How do you feel?" she asked, changing the topic.

"Been better," he answered honestly. "What happened?"

He tried to get up again, but his muscles refused to cooperate.

Nyra stepped over to the medical bed and slid her arm beneath his neck and shoulders. With a gentle touch, she lifted and supported him, helping him sit up. She rearranged the pillows behind him before easing him back against them.

He felt a bit awkward about needing the help and her touch, but Nyra didn't seem to mind.

"That's what I want to know," she said after she got back to her chair. "You freaked everyone out earlier." 

There was something in her tone, concern wrapped in forced casualness.

"How long was I out?"

"A few hours. It's about to be dinner time," Nyra said, then asked again, "So, what happened?"

Leon scrunched his eyebrows, straining to remember the details. The effort sent another shot of pain through his skull making him press his palm against his forehead.

Nyra jumped to her feet, her eyes wide with sudden panic.

"I'll go get someone," she said, her voice carrying a slight tremble that surprised him. Before he could protest, she was already heading for the door.

When she left the room, he noticed a notification blinking in the corner of his vision. He focused on it, and a prompt appeared:

Detected increase in Body Saturation.
Adjusting user profile.
E-rank Saturation > D-rank Saturation.

Is it because of what happened? he wondered. Status

Leon Ezra
Condition: Strained  CRI: Normal  Nanites: Normal
Minor Deviation: Fatigue, Nutritional Imbalance, Initial Cellular Damage

Mana System
Absorption Sys: Normal
Mana Reservoir Lvl: Low
Absorption Rank: C
Saturation Rank: D

Leon stared at the readout, trying to make sense of the changes. Saturation had improved. Whatever had happened on the course had given his body the push it needed to get to the next rank.

Knock Knock

Before he could respond, a medical technician walked in with a datapad in hand. He stayed standing at the foot of Leon's bed, scrolling through information on his datapad without making eye contact.

"Recruit Ezra," he stated. "You will stay in med bay tonight and report back to your training group tomorrow morning. Dinner will be brought to you in a few minutes. Any questions?"

A lot actually

"What happened to me?" Leon started with the most general one.

A slight furrow appeared on the technician's eyebrows, but it disappeared a second later, his face returning to neutrality.

"You experienced catastrophic mana feedback. Most likely from overloading your nanites with mana and attempting to integrate it into your body beyond safe parameters," the technician said, his clinical tone suggesting he was reciting rather than explaining. "Are you able to remember details of what happened?"

"Ugh... I think so... it's starting to come back to me," Leon said as fragments of memory began reassembling themselves. "I remember receiving a prompt that my CRI was shutting down combat mode, but I don't remember ever activating it."

The technician looked at his datapad and started to fiddle with it, tapping notes as Leon spoke. Most likely documented what he’d said. 

"Elite operatives with complex methods are able to trigger their combat mode without explicit commands," the medical technician explained. "The threshold for such activation varies based on individual conditioning and augmentation quality."

Leon listened as the technician elaborated. According to him, Leon's CRI must have detected his vitals, hormone shifts, stress level, and interpreted his environment through the visual cortex to determine a combat situation. 

The method he had triggered was a complex one that allowed the CRI to push the limits of his nanites to assist the user. However, the user also needed to meet a standard threshold and resonate through the set of instructions for the method.

It must have been when I was synchronizing my breathing at the balance beam.

"You must have triggered it unknowingly through your response patterns. We strongly recommend not utilizing your combat mode until your body can sustain that type of stress. Continued misuse can cause permanent cellular damage and possibly death," the technician finished, his tone making it clear this wasn't merely advice.

"When would my body be able to handle it?" Leon asked, thinking about Phase 3 of training.

The technician paused, his fingers hovering over the datapad.

"We are not sure. Your case is... atypical," he said carefully, still keeping his head down. "Most recruits can't spike their absorption rate so dramatically in such a short timeframe. The tests show everything is stabilizing, but your system was severely strained due to not being conditioned for rapid absorption, processing, and utilization of mana at that intensity. After some rest, your baseline functions should return to normal, but—"

The technician hesitated, then seemed to decide against completing his thought.

Leon nodded, still processing everything, then looked around the empty room.

"Where's Nyra?" he asked, noticing she hadn't returned.

"Recruit Rae was sent back. The Warcenturion only permitted her to stay until you regained consciousness," the technician said, finally looking directly at Leon. There was something in his expression—a flicker of curiosity or perhaps concern—before it disappeared behind his professional mask again. "If that is all, remember to report back to your training group tomorrow morning. You will be exempt from physical exertion for one day."

With that, the technician turned and left, leaving Leon alone with his thoughts.

Warcenturion? Why would a Warcenturion care about me waking up?

The question lingered in his mind, but more pressing matters came first. He opened his method file and reviewed the instructions for Aetheric Combat State, seeing it  in a new light.

"This thing might kill me," he muttered to himself, the reality of what had happened sinking in. If he had pushed any harder, his system might have collapsed. "Disable Aetheric Combat State."

Warning: Aetheric Combat State cannot be reactivated without a complete boot-up sequence after deactivation.

Proceed?

Leon paused, weighing his options. Disabling the method would put him at a significant disadvantage against other recruits, especially in combat training. But the alternative was risking another feedback episode that might do permanent damage. He confirmed the deactivation with a mental command.

Status: Aetheric Combat State (ACS) disabled.
Reinitialization protocol required for reactivation.
Note: All nanite operations suspended during boot sequence.

He sighed, staring at the ceiling. Phase 3 would be challenging enough with functioning augmentation. But at least he was still alive, and his improved absorption and saturation rankings might partially compensate.

His dinner arrived, plain and packed with nutrients for recovery. As he ate, he tried to make sense of everything.

What exactly did I do out there?

The question followed him into sleep, where his dreams were filled with blue-tinged flames and the sensation of burning from the inside out.