Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 63

James opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the pain of the light piercing his eyes, as well as the pain that throbbed on his head. As his memories rushed back into him, he slowly took account of everything that had gone on and tried to make sense of where he was.

After mouthing off to Dwight, the bully had hit him with a sucker punch. Dwight's size was not just for show, and that punch had packed a lot of power in it, sending James on an unplanned date with the ground. The force of head meeting stone had knocked him unconscious, that much was certain. Now, as he opened his eyes once again against the light, prepared for the accompanying pain, his mind caught up.

He was lying on a soft bed, in a rather plain, white walled room. The room was rather devoid of anything else, save a few medical machines, and an empty chair near the bed he was laying in. He had walked past the room a few times during his time in school but had never actually been in it before today. James was in the school's medical room.

"I see you're finally awake." A voice pulled his attention towards the doorway, and James moved his head to look at the origin of the voice. He wished he hadn't as the movement drew another wave of pain through him.

"Unfortunately." James groaned, easing himself into a sitting position. The voice belonged to an older man, perhaps in his 60s, who was dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt. He had on a set of AR glasses, and appeared to be glancing at something in his hand. James instinctively tried to trigger his own, only to realize that his glasses were no longer on his head.

"Where are my-" Before he could continue, the man offered him a smile and pointed towards a table next to the bed. Atop it sat James's glasses, and his earbud.

"Those were rather nice, I figured you didn't want to be sleeping with them on." The man continued to grin as he sat in the chair beside the bed, waiting patiently for James to put on his own AR glasses. Once James had, the man directed his attention to an AR screen he had projected in his hand.

"Now, I have some good news, and some bad news for you." He pointed at the screen, which showed a complete scan of James's brain. There were areas that were highlighted, though James couldn't quite make out the words on the screen. Likely privacy features the man had activated on it.

"Good news first." James needed some good news, he had just been sucker punched and knocked unconscious by Dwight. He could go for something to cheer him up before he heard more bad news.

"Well, while you have a slight concussion, the swelling in your brain is dying down, and you are going to be alright." He flicked the screen, pulling up what appeared to be a recording. "Additionally, since we have direct footage of the assault on you, we have placed the young man who attacked you on a suspension." The screen was showing footage from James's viewpoint, capturing the entire attack, and the moment Dwight swung at him, the bully's face a mask of anger. The world then rocked back and forth, before settling on the ground, to show an adult running towards James as Dwight and his friends took off running away. The footage was from his AR glasses.

That was good news. Finally, James wouldn't have to worry about Dwight picking on him anymore. Of course, there was still Rick and the others, but Dwight had been the biggest issue. However, James was curious, and slightly perturbed, that they had the footage from his AR glasses. He was certain no one other than himself could access his pair, and what's more, he definitely hadn't been recording…

"One of the teachers on his way into work received an unsolicited feed, with a message denoting a student was in trouble. He rushed over, listening to the conversation that led up to the confrontation, and reached you just after the bully landed that first punch. It's a good thing too. Judging by that look, the bully had a lot more planned for you than just a single punch."

It had to be Xander, or whoever Xander had assigned to watch over James during the day, to make sure he wasn't breaking the NDA. James grimaced at the thought. The developer had just saved James from what probably would have been an even more painful encounter and solved one of his bully problems. However, James wasn't about to excuse the developer's own bullying actions. But, at the very least, James figured he could put the shrine to Yarx somewhere other than in the mouth of a toilet mimic, like he had been planning. Perhaps, atop the toilet mimic instead. One good deed, after all, didn't simply wash away all that Xander had done.

"Alright, so what's the bad news?" James wasn't going to have long term damage, and Dwight was gone from his life for now. What could the bad news possibly be?

"Well, for one, your jaw is going to hurt something fierce for probably the next week." James moved his mouth up and down slowly. What did he mean? James couldn't feel any pain at all.

"But it feels-"

"- I applied a temporary pain blocker on your mouth. I couldn't apply one to your head, because I don't like applying such chemicals directly near the brain itself. When the blocker wears off in about an hour, you'll feel the pain. And, I can promise you tomorrow it is going to hurt even more, what with the swelling and bruising."

James lifted his hand to his jaw and could feel a patch directly atop his jawbone. He knew what pain blockers were, special patches that directly injected nanites to block the pain signals being sent throughout the neurons from returning to the brain, completely blocking out any discomfort or pain. However, as the man mentioned, such methods had a limited amount of time. Apparently, it was actually counterproductive to completely eliminate feelings of pain for the body, as it allowed people to use and abuse the injured part of the body, slowing the repair process. So, when the blocker faded, James was certain he would be in for a world of hurt, which would likely limit any vocal activities he partook in. Which was fine, because he rarely spoke aloud outside of the virtual world anyways. Eating and drinking though, was going to suck.

"Anything else?" James asked, noticing it seemed like the man before him still had more to say, but had paused as James processed what he had been told.

"Well, I'll be sending you home today. I managed to contact your parents, and they agreed on allowing me to escort you home. It seems they are out of the city currently for work, meaning there was no one to take you home." The man raised an eyebrow, and James felt his eyes harden for a moment. He was 17, he could take care of himself, and he could definitely make his own way home. He was also certain the man was thinking ill thoughts of his parents, which James couldn't stand.

James's thoughts must have shown partially upon his face, as the man raised his hands, palms outwards, towards James, in an almost apologetic manner.

"Don't get me wrong James. Your parents explained the situation to me, and I see no issues with that. Also, I get it, you're 17, you can take care of yourself. However, as a caretaker, it wouldn't be right for me to send you home, on your own, after receiving head trauma like you did. I am simply going to take you home, so that I can ensure nothing unexpected happens to you before you make it to your house."

James felt his facial features relax, and he nodded at the man, offering his approval and acceptance of the situation. "Thanks." He mumbled, pausing as he searched his slightly throbbing mind. What was the name of the schools assigned medical staff again? "Zack?" He said the name with the slightest question in it.

The man offered him a smile and nodded. He stood, extending a hand to James, offering to help him to his feet.

"No problem James. Now, how about we get you home?" James nodded and started to follow the man, who had begun making his way out of the office into the halls of the school.

"Oh, and you can call me Z."