42 Chapter 42: Discharge (1/2)
A few days later, I was finally discharged from the hospital and allowed to return to school. Once again I was reminded of the difference between reality and controlled environments. The boundary field in the school's arenas ensured that we would be kept alive no matter what, and no injury would be fatal. I wasn't sure how the enchantment, but no matter how serious the injuries, the people who suffered severe wounds within the boundary field would always recover in the matter of hours.
The boundary field seemed to have a special effect on containing and restricting the types of injuries the people within sustained.
In contrast, reality did not have such safety devices. There was no boundary field to limit the types of injuries we suffered and prevent it from becoming fatal, and as such, life-threatening injuries sustained outside would require more time to heal than those acquired in the boundary field. I honestly wasn't sure how it worked, but hey, let's just ascribe it to magic.
The moment I returned to school, Alicia was the first to greet me.
”I'm very sorry!”
”Eh? Why are you apologizing?” I was caught off guard by her apology. Alicia bit her lip, and lowered her head.
”My society members have caused you a lot of trouble.”
”Huh? No, they didn't. I was the one who decided to save you guys.”
”Ah…no, I'm not talking about Elliot, Nicholas and Jin Hao.” Alicia realized I had no idea what she was talking about. ”I was referring to Bei Pan Zhe, Lavender, Daisy and Dan Xiao Gui. The party you originally set out for the rescue mission.”
”Oh, that reminds me.” I had completely forgotten about that. A week spent in a coma would do that to you. ”How are the refugees? Are they all right? I hope they made it to Jing Tian City safely.”
”They are definitely all right. The four of them did their job properly. Even so…what they did to you was inexcusable!”
Now the memory of what happened was coming back to me. I frowned when I remembered the last conversation I had with them, what with Bei Pan Zhe rudely hanging up on me when I called him with Adrian's phone.
”What happened? They were supposed to back me up, but they never came. And when I tried to contact them, they cut me off.”
”That's…” Alicia looked glum. ”They abandoned you.”
Where did I hear that from? Oh, right. Allison told me that when she called me right after the mission, before she requested me to reinforce Alicia's party.
I later learned from Alicia, as well as Dong Fang Yue Chu, about the charges brought against them (now I remembered Allison mentioning those to me), and their motives. They even recorded their dialogue with the device and used that as evidence against them in court. I wondered why they were stupid enough to openly discuss their plans when they should have known that they received a recording device.
Speaking of recording devices, I learned that Allison had retrieved mine from my glasses while I was hospitalized, to acquire the mission logs and other stuff in it. A good chunk of it was also used as evidence against my original party members, and to tally my kills. Apparently I also earned cash for each monster I killed, and with over hundreds of monsters to my name, I was practically a rich man. If only I could convert those into prestige points…
”It happens,” I muttered after getting the story from Alicia. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They tried to murder me because they were jealous? The girls didn't want me to get near Alicia, and Bei Pan Zhe was envious of me attracting her attention? What kind of logic was that?
”I'm sorry! I'll keep an eye on my members and make sure they don't do something as horrible as this again!” Alicia promised, bowing frantically.
”No, no. It's not your fault. It's not as if you can control them like puppets.” I waved my hand dismissively. ”I appreciate the thought, though.”
After assuring her a few times, I headed for my classroom, where Harvey waved at me.
”Vice-President Richard!”
”Don't call me that,” I told him as I approached him.
”Yes, Senior Richard.” I didn't complain about that, so he continued. ”The protection period is over this week.”
”Don't worry about it,” I assured him with a grin. ”I already have an arrangement with Thunder Hammer Society.”
After I was discharged, with Dong Fang Yue Chu's help, I was able to contact Thunder Hammer Society. The moment I told them I would be accepting their challenge, they immediately changed their format to a one-on-one, as opposed to a team battle.
I understood why they changed their minds. They were aware of my reputation of team-killing the other party, and didn't want to risk it. After all, just like the Iron Fist Society, they would lose a ton of prestige points by getting team-killed. About five times as much, but obviously it varied depending on the opponent. I received more prestige points and went higher up in ranking if my opponent was stronger, and less if he or she wasn't that strong.
That didn't stop people from ”grinding” by picking on a ton of first-year students or weaker societies since you can accumulate prestige points and matchmaking rating, so the more you challenge, the more points you could gather.