Drake had a semi-circle spectacle in front of his eyes. For Lee, the fact that he was a bookworm, was unknown. His surprise to see two of the academy's best disciples was evident on his face.
"What a pleasant surprise. I never expected to see the champion with two of the finest students of the academy."
Jake and Mira could not help, but feel shy at this comment. What Drake said was actually true. Those siblings were two of the finest students in the history of the academy.
"We came here with Lee by the instruction of the Guild president."
The mentioning of his brother's name partially faded the smile on Drake's face. Jake began to narrate why they were here. Drake was aware of the wild explosions and destruction that occurred in the city, but he never thought that Lee would be involved in the battle. When Mira told him how Xavi found Lee in the rubbles and ruins, the books in his hand almost fell down.
Drake scanned Lee as a whole, with a deep frown. He was surprised as well as concerned about him from all the narrations, as he was a person with enough potential to raise the academy to great heights.
"Follow me quickly."
Drake did not show the patience to hear the narration to its end, as he turned away and walked. His words were unexpected, and caught them off-guard. Without wasting a second, they promptly ran behind Drake.
---
Medical room of the academy.
An old woman was sleeping while leaning on the table in front of her. Her chin had slipped down from her palm, but she didn't know. She had her head in between her V shaped arms. Her peaceful slumber was disrupted when Drake kicked the door, which opened with a-
*BANG*
She literally jumped up from her seat and glanced around with her sleepy eyes. Her wrinkly face attributed more sluggishness to her actions. When her eyes picked up a blurry, but familiar figure walking towards the beds, she ran her right hand over the table and took her spectacles.
"Professor Drake."
She called out his name as she had already deduced the identity of the person without glasses. But, she frowned as she saw Drake being furiously quick. Standing up, she walked at him.
"Lie down quickly."
Drake quickly inspected all the five beds there, and pointed at one, and commanded at Lee. He did not hesitate or delay to promptly do what he was told. Seeing all these, the old woman neared Drake.
"Dolly, give him a thorough check-up immediately."
The woman was confused and surprised. It has been over a decade since Drake had called her by her name. She remembered that the last time he addressed her as Dolly was when she was having a deathmatch with another professor. Without raising any objection, she came near Lee and raised both of her hands over him.
"&$*@%^"
The script was alien to him. It was not their common language, nor any other Lee knew of. He assumed that there is a greater powerful source from which magic is acquired. The time she took to chant was only a second, and a horizontal halo ran around Lee's body. After a second, the halo slowly began to dissipate.
[Lee, there is nothing to be worried about. This is an ancient language called 'Arachno'. It is also called the Language of Magic. Most chants and spells were originally in Arachno and was later translated into layman language.]
It was not the language that caught Lee's attention, but a moment of split-second where the old woman had her eyes completely white. Her pupils disappeared for an instant and then appeared again. For a normal human, this would have been imperceivable. But Lee saw this clear as a sky.
[The speciality of the spells in Arachno is not their explosive strength or shorter chant length, but direct integration of the host with the spell. What she used was a chant to observe your whole body like a sheet of paper in sunlight. It is like seeing you as a skeleton and a mass of muscles in a blink. The spell means no harm, and it cannot detect the changes made to your body by the system.]
Dolly retracted her hands and crossed her arms in front of her. She rubbed her chin, as she looked at Lee as a whole.
"What did you find?"
Dolly raised her eyes after a second, and replied to Drake.
"I cannot see why you brought a perfectly healthy man into the medical room. He is perfectly fine."
Drake was relieved and confused. From the account of the siblings, Lee had fought a being which killed a lot of cultivators in a short timespan. But as he was certified fine, the professor pushed all his concerns to the back of his head.
"Professor Drake, what was the reason you brought this man here?"
When Lee was about to leave the room with the professor and the siblings, Dolly raised a question. Drake replied that Lee had fought a band of bandits today, and only returned to the city late night.
'Liar.'
Dolly was able to tell that it was a fabricated story, as Drake made it up at that very moment. He stuttered and glanced all around him, while avoiding direct eye contact with her. She let him go as she found him struggling with his creativity.
---
Walking down the stairs, Drake was not concerned about Lee, and freely chatted with the siblings. Jake and Mira were happy to share their mission experiences. As Lee was all ears to the unending tale of hardship and adventure, the hourly notification came up.
=====
7 A.M.
32655 Essence harvested.
=====
The event that followed was never within Lee's expectations.
*GROWL*
For someone who was asleep for over a day, Lee was super hungry. The walk from Guild to the academy and the run to the Medical room was all tiring, and Lee was losing his grip over the ravaging stomach. At last, it sounded its desire to devour out loud, and three pairs of eyes turned to him.
"Lets go to the cafeteria"