Free Web NovelChapter 19: The Boy Who Lived
Valeria continued watching. She wouldn’t get an answer until Luke cleared the rift, which shouldn’t take too long.
Her eyes stayed glued to the illusion displaying Luke’s battles. As he went deeper into the cave, the spiders moved in larger groups.
’Spitter Spiders are easy as long as you bait their mucus.’
Valeria thought to herself, as if telling Luke their weakness.
Luke adapted quickly surprising Valeria and leading to a swift defeat of two spiders.
Valeria had completely forgotten about her job to evaluate all students as she continued to watch the man she was married to get hit by mucus balls; yet the pain never slowed down his pace.
Eventually, she watched as he stepped on a bug. Her face winced slightly, it didn’t take a genius to realize his mistake, but it was easy to avoid.
’He really is still a newbie, but how does he know Frost Spike. His family was in debt until we got married and they weren’t even an explorer family.’
Luke continued his slaughter of the rift’s spider population, before ending up in a large cavern. Spider eggs covered the entire perimeter.
’Wait a minute. That’s the boss room, he should have entered the nexus? Don’t tell me...’
That’s when the giant spider crawled out from behind the eggs, its furry body shocking both Luke and the professors in the room.
"Wait, that’s the Spitter Queen. Look at number 687."
Every professor turned to watch the illusion, all witnessing the battle between the giant spider and Luke.
"This shouldn’t be happening, every rift is thoroughly checked before being assigned. There shouldn’t be a boss. No academy student would be able to take down a F-Rank boss alone, especially with a F-Rank sized amount of mana." Professor Kreiser needlessly explained to the other professors, all of whom turned towards Valeria.
She couldn’t hear the conversations, her eyes blinklessly stared at the display. Even in the face of death, Luke didn’t panic. He observed carefully and launched calculated attacks, but even a D-Rank spell wouldn’t do much to a boss with only a few casts.
A professor left the display room, quietly slipping out the door.
Valeria watched as the spider swiped Luke across the cavern, leaving him crawling on the ground. She wanted to close her eyes, nervous for a fate that seemed more than obvious, but they stayed open. He hadn’t given up hope and neither could she.
Her hands clasped together in her lap.
Frost Spike slammed into the lodged spear, knocking it loose. She held her breath as the spear pierced through the monsters skull, leaving it limply resting on the spear. Then everything started to disappear and the nexus room appeared.
She couldn’t wait any longer, ignoring the other professors who seemed more stunned by his survival than worried about his injuries.
Her arms moved faster than they had since she became paralyzed, the wheelchair drifted around corners, navigating the maze of the offices attached to the rift park. Valeria only stopped when she reached the room with the healers.
She knocked on the door, before preparing a note.
A middle-aged women opened the door, only to be met with an outstretched fist with a note in its grasp.
Immediate medical attention needed at rift 687.
***
When Luke opened his eyes he found himself lying of the ground, an unfamiliar woman was leaning over him. She shouted something, but he couldn’t hear her.
A bright green light washed over him. His rib popped back into place, the burning pain slowly quelled, and the bruising faded away.
All the fatigue he had accumulated had vanished, making his only problem the lack of clothes covering his body.
Luke looked around, not just at the woman who had healed him, but the crowd that had gathered around him. He couldn’t care less about the professors and staff, what mattered was Valeria who sat a few steps in front of the crowd.
Her usually distant expression seemed so soft. Through his eyes she seemed worried, yet the confidence of an SSS-Rank never disappeared.
Acting on instinct, Luke flashed her a cheeky smile.
The tension left her face as Luke stood up.
The silence was broken by the healer who was standing next to him.
"Boy, you need to come with me to the infirmary. Nobody has ever finished the practical in your state before. Did you fight a boss or something."
Every professor felt the blood drain from their faces, as they anxiously stood nearby.
"Don’t tell me." She looked at the leather book in his hands.
"You must have had a party, right. Did anyone else survive."
Luke shook his head. The healer’s expression turned grim.
"That’s too bad... the academy has never made this kind of mistake in my 30 years working here and it cost us the lives of future explorers."
Luke was confused for a second before realizing there was a misunderstanding.
"Excuse me ma’am, but you must have misunderstood me. I cleared the rift solo."
The healer’s expression seemed to cycle between relief, shock, and confusion. She ultimately ended the cycle on shock.
At this point the crowd had grown from a small group of professors to students that had finished their practical. Among them were a few high nobles that Luke recognized, but had no reason to engage with.
"I-I see dear. Well let’s head to the infirmary, you need some rest. Did you gossiping idiots hear that? Scram, I have a patient to take care of."
The sea of students and professors parted. Luke and Valeria followed the woman through the crowd and back to the infirmary.
When they entered, Luke found it looked just like a normal school nurse’s office. The healer motioned for him to sit on a nearby bed, which he complied.
"Does anything still hurt?"
He shook his head, the healing spell had mended him back to his peak state.
"I’m sure you are confused about what just happened, as am I. Just know that your feat has never been seen before, the academy will provide you with adequate compensation, I am sure. By the way you can just call me, Amanda."
He was about to thank her, but a beeping interrupted him.
A small crystal ball on her desk started to glow vibrantly, she touched it and a voice came out from it.
"Is the student with you, Amanda?" A gruff male voice came from the tiny ball.
"Yes, headmaster. His injuries have been taken care of."
"Good, don’t let him leave. I will be there shortly."
