Chapter 345: Play of Illusionists

11:00 PM, dressed in a tracksuit, Jyorta entered the Red Building, taking the flight of stairs hidden in the corner. He scaled the height equivalent to four storeys before arriving on the second floor, walking towards the nursing ward.

The corridors were silent, the sounds of his footsteps resounding loud and clear, echoing after every step. The sounds were jarring to the senses, making him imagine scary scenarios he had witnessed in horror movies.

It was late into the night, the corridors only lit with the bare minimum light. Jyorta swallowed his saliva in nervousness, hearing the sound clearly, realising the fear he was feeling.

'It is a normal corridor, nothing unusual, nothing frightening.' He tried his best to calm himself, picking up pace without realising. Soon, the sounds of parlous laughter echoed in the corridor, originating from the nursing ward.

Followed by the laughter was a flurry of discussions, the contents calming him down. If it was just the laughter alone that resounded in the corridor, then the only way for Jyorta to keep his cool was by using his false persona.

He was still reliant on them, using them in many situations. Even though he was training to mentally firm himself, such a task wasn't something easy or could be finished in the span of a few months. Still, he was making some progress, so he wasn't averse to the notion of depending on his false personas.

He arrived before the nursing ward and knocked on the door twice, waiting patiently as he noticed the sounds of laughter die down. It was followed by the faint sounds of wind before the door creaked open, the voice of a nurse resounded, "Come in, Jyorta Bone."

'They already figured out my identity. Even though they are only Wave Controllers, I couldn't even sense their probing. I still have a lot to learn.' Jyorta sighed as he entered the nursing ward, noticing three nurses seated next to each, facing the door.

Jyorta cordially bowed towards them before facing the nurse lady, Vaika, "Ma'am, I obtained Regen."

"Congratulations!" Vaika laughed as she clapped, "That was fast. I thought you would need at least another month to obtain it."

"It was thanks to the rewards," Jyorta flashed a wry smile, relaying the reason across. The eyes of the three nurses flickered once as they understood what he implied. They didn't continue on the matter as Vaika cleared her throat, "So, you got it this morning?"

"Yes, ma'am." Jyorta nodded, "It has already fully assimilated into me."

"You are fast indeed," Vaika nodded in praise, "Then, I'll teach you the basics."

Jyorta felt bad about lying, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. The matter about him obtaining 1,00,000 Credits unofficially was only known to Madam Mary in the military academy. So, he couldn't act like he obtained it before.

From what he was informed, Madam Mary told him that she would make some arrangements in the records, tampering with some details. Thankfully, there were many departments in the military academy and information sharing between each was limited.

The only individual who checked and passed the information available to each department was Madam Mary, so tampering with the data was easy. So, in the official records, he had obtained the Unranked Skill Regen today. As for the Trait of Severability, he hadn't obtained it officially yet.

The person in charge of implanting the Traits in the students was in charge of all the Traits. The number of students who came to obtain the Traits daily was quite high, and he was a character that didn't mingle with any staff.

So, the chances of him talking to other staff about the topic was none. It was also not advisable to leak the details of the student's secrets, so there was no risk of any information leakage. On the other hand, Jyorta took precautionary measures himself. It was also thanks to Madam Mary's inputs that he knew they would be rewarded for their rescue efforts.

Regen needed anywhere between a couple of hours to 2 days to assimilate fully into an individual. The duration usually varied for all sorts of reasons. When he obtained Regen, it took him around 10-12 hours for the assimilation to complete.

So, Jyorta took the same time before proceeding to visit the nurse Vaika. That was also why he didn't visit her at 4:00 PM, the time when her shift began.

'Haesha probably didn't finish the process yet.' Jyorta looked at the nurse, Vaika, watching her communicate with the other two nurses. When they finished communicating, the other two nurses got up and occupied seats on the farther side of the nursing ward.

Vaika stood up and picked the tray with medical tools situated near her, placing it within a shelf on the wall. Clanging sounds of metal echoed as she arranged the tools within the shelf, the intensity of the sounds becoming higher and higher.

Jyorta felt confused, glancing at the other two nurses to notice their expression of amusement. He felt a chill in his heart as he spoke while stammering, "Do I have to lacerate myself?"

"Why?" The nurse Vaika spoke without turning, her head buried in the shelf, busy with her task, "What made you think of that?"

"I mean," Jyorta calmed himself before he spoke with hesitation, "Regen can heal. And, to practice its use, aren't injuries required? So, I thought I would have to injure myself and use Regen to heal it later."

"There won't be any need for you to injure yourself," The nurse Vaika spoke, her tone calm. But for some reason, Jyorta's heart began to thump faster, the pores on his skin prickling as sweat oozed out.

"The best way to use Regen is to regrow your limbs?"

"Regrow my limbs?" Jyorta felt something odd in the statement, becoming alert as he immediately stood up. But, the moment he tried to retreat, he noticed his legs fail to move. When he looked down, he noticed his feet had fused with the floor, the shoes he had worn had disappeared at some point in time.

"Kekeke," A shrill laughter echoed, increasing in pitch without every utterance before turning into shrill screeches. The nurse Vaika turned around, pulling out something from the shelf, the appearance frightening Jyorta.

Carried in her hands was a humongous scissors, the blade alone spanning her hand's length. She cackled as she made clipping motions with the scissors, the metallic sounds reverberated threateningly, making the scissors seem heavy while the blade deadly sharp.

In the place of her face was the head of a Floating Spider, its mandibles clicking ferociously, seemingly intent to sever Jyorta into pieces. A grating feminine voice resounded from the Floating Spider head, "Your only way to survive is to regrow your limbs while we sever them to feast upon."

"kekeke," Followed by a loud screech, the nurse (?) walked closer and closer, "Every minute, we will sever a limb. You win if you can regenerate enough until we fill our bellies. Otherwise…guess our hunger won't be satiated."

"Kekeke," The other nurse landed beside Jyorta, "Sister, I feel this prey would survive. I'll bet his left leg on that."

"Argh," Jyorta shouted, unleashing his psychic arm before infusing it into the scissors, expending a great deal of psychic energy to make it his Refined Object. When the nurse tried to click it once again, Jyorta made it spin, slipping it out of her control. Before he could continue with the pace, the nurse calmly caught hold of the scissors, using her psychic arm to negate his refinement, turning it into her Refined Object instantaneously.

"So that's why you took out all medical tools from my vicinity," Jyorta growled, struggling to move but failing to do so. His legs refused to budge no matter what.

"Smart as usual, Jyorta Bone." The nurse (?) screeched, "But this time, you weren't smart enough."

The nurse (?) cackled louder, bending to her back as her voice resounded exaggeratedly. She lifted the scissors, clamping it manically in her exaggerated pose when Vaika's voice resounded, "Ouch, my back! I sprained it."

Everything changed, the figure of the nurses with the head of the Floating Spiders disappeared, replaced with their actual figures in the place. The nurse Vaika winced in pain as she straightened her back, unleashing her psychic arm before healing the injury.

She then looked at the figure of Jyorta Bone standing at the entrance in a dazed expression, "Come in, Jyorta Bone."

Everything from before had been a hallucination, with him stopping at the entrance to the nursing room. On seeing that everything was normal, Jyorta patted his chest, calming his thumping heart. The sounds of his heartbeat were audible to the extraordinary senses of the three nurses.

Jyorta noticed that the three nurses were seated in the same position as before, the same as when the door opened and he saw them. The only difference was the nurse Vaika standing a couple of steps forward, massaging her back.

Jyorta sighed in relief as he took a step forward, slipping as a result before slamming face-first on the floor, screaming in pain. His scream was ear-piercing, like the siren of disaster announcements. His body wriggled while the thumping sounds of his heartbeat turned louder and louder, echoing in the ears of the three nurses.

"I have been sealed in this pitiful body for a millennium. Now, thanks to your folly, the seal has been broken. Kekeke, now suffer my wrath, puny mortals."

An earthworm drilled out of his body, taking a step forward as it became a snake, slithering a little as it grew horns and scales, evolving into a dragon. The size of the dragon continued to balloon, soon filling up the room as its scaly eyes looked at the three nurses, "As thanks to breaking my seal, I will graciously learn the methods to use Regen from you."

"Pfft," The nurse Vaika began to laugh, gazing at the right of the entrance, "Can't you think of a better line than that?"

In the place she had directed her gaze, Jyorta's figure appeared, letting out a wry chuckle as he scratched his cheek, "It was all of a sudden, so I couldn't think of a batter scene."