"Aar…"
Darkness swarmed his vision.
"Aaron…"
His body burned like fire as he felt the world bending on itself, turquoise particles consuming his vision.
"Aaron!"
The boy's eyes burst open, his head flying upward, nearly hitting the person who stood above him square in the chin.
Light blurred his eyesight as he slowly opened his eyelids, his gaze falling over a familiar hospital room, one he had already seen before.
This time, however, dozens of machines were hooked up to his body, running dialysis, filtering his blood, and providing other essentials.
Even his breathing wasn't his own; a metal machine hooked up to his mouth regulated it, switching between deep and shallow breaths in a steady rhythm.
Panicking internally, he clawed at his face and ripped off the metallic cover that clung to his lips, allowing him to breathe fresh air.
Finally breathing on his own, he could feel sharp pangs of agony coursing through him with each movement of his lungs, the aftermath of inhaling the Oblivacis' fumes.
With his eyes adjusting to the surroundings, he turned his head to the side, noticing Cam's worried face staring back at his own.
Underneath her eyes, dark circles drooped, a sign of her stubborn watch over the boy's slumbering form.
W-What the hell happened…
Turning his head downward before she could speak, he noticed the blanket covering his legs ended rather abruptly.
Confusion stirred in his mind as he gently tried to pull at the sheet, only to realize that all the muscles in his body were in tatters.
His arms were numb and lifeless, his fingers barely responsive, even when all his strength was poured into it.
Frustration overcame him at his helplessness, the irritation at the Naelith's power having such severe backlash chided him.
Even after all that training… I'm still so weak…
Cam, who had been watching silently, walked over and, without saying a word, lifted the cover that he had wished to move, allowing him to see his legs.
His left leg was scarred to no end, burnt skin hastily reattached with stitches, while anything that could be salvaged was healed using magic.
In all, it would heal with a few gruesome scars that he could show off in a bar when reminiscing about the old times.
However, what awaited him on the right side was far worse than any story could remedy.
The entire area beneath his knee was gone, reduced to a stub without a sliver of flesh or bone left intact.
His entire right leg had been amputated due to the extreme damage he had endured when the Oblivacis had ripped into him.
Aaron's body shook for a moment, absolute despair settling over the boy's mind as he thought about his life.
There would be no more adventuring, no more running, no more hunting; everything he had known would change after today.
Taking a shaky breath, he inspected the rest of his body, his left shoulder a mess of stitches to hide a gruesome crater left in his flesh.
Around the rest of his body, there were similar injuries, whether it be pieces of his body being mangled or completely gone.
Throughout the entire process, Cam only watched sadly from a distance, her own thoughts kept to herself as Aaron came to terms with his appearance.
As she observed him, she noticed a flicker of enthusiasm appear on his face for an instant as he spotted his blade resting beside the bed.
Thinking he must've been happy to at least have his weapon after that encounter, she sighed, not realizing the true reason for his paced happiness.
She watched as he opened his mouth, his grainy and ruined voice coming out slowly.
"Cam… Is there anyone in earshot…"
There was a lengthy silence as she contemplated his words, confusion slipping into her mind; however, she disregarded it, answering him calmly.
"No."
Her response garnered a look of relief from the boy as he spoke again, the strange tinge of joy returning to his expression.
"M-My body will heal…"
As he spoke, he tilted his head towards where his sword rested, but his thoughts were far from what Cam assumed.
He remembered a dark space, red eyes filled with malice, and a merciless hand wrapped around his neck.
His words had confused Cam; however, as he continued, her eyes widened in surprise.
"I-In Sea Fallen… m-my neck… it was crushed…"
He paused to cough, the machines spiking as his pulse exploded into a burst of incomprehensible numbers that even science couldn't explain.
"Y-Yet… the Ghostship fixed it… I don't know how… I don't know why…"
The boy's voice ceased, seemingly lost in the wild sounds of the machinery that filled the room.
Inside Cam's mind, however, things clicked faster than she could speak, memories of her battle against the King of Wishes surfacing before her.
Sea Kings themselves never spoke about what the Ghostships granted them, nor about their specific abilities; however, she had witnessed the power of that man in person.
When she had cut his arm off and stabbed him through the chest, the wounds simply vanished, erased as if they had never happened.
It had been so long ago, and the memory had been repressed throughout the years, so, as she trained Aaron and worked with him, she never made the connection.
Wielders of the Ghostships had powerful regeneration surpassing that of the best healers in the world.
In retrospection, it made total sense, for of course these mystical figures wouldn't simply die from a wound.
They were humanity's ultimate weapons, chosen by the divine to fight against the monsters of hell that rose from the sea—even if the public didn't know the whole story.
And now, when faced with a child who was bonded with a never-before-seen vessel, one that seemed more ancient than anything she had ever seen in this world, she understood in full what it meant to be different.
While losing an arm to her would spell the end of her career, to someone like Aaron Grimstall, as long as he was alive, he would regenerate.
Opening her mouth to speak, she realized that no words came out; instead, the blond boy had regained his own voice, replying quietly.
"I-I don't know how to start the process on my own… I've always had—"
Widening his eyes in realization, he cut himself off, which Cam considered strange, but as he continued, she shrugged it off.
"I-I've never lost something this big b-but I think it'll regrow if I absorb something powerful…"
Looking into the woman's brown eyes, he saw a tinge of hope flicker by.
Deep inside, Aaron knew that he had only survived the neck injury thanks to Penelope's overflowing mana at the time, and such a powerful force was not common in this world.
But he had faith that one day, whether it takes him his entire life, he would fix himself and return to his full strength.
No, not just his previous strength—he would become stronger.
When he regained full mobility, he wouldn't just be the same Aaron as before.
Regardless of his situation or the despair he felt, he would persevere, for he still had a mission to complete.
I'll save Eleanor…
Breathing heavily, he felt the feeling beginning to return to his arms, allowing him to remove the medical equipment hooked up to him.
Raising his voice to the max he could achieve in his broken state, he addressed the joyful Cam, who stared at him silently.
"W-What was my penalty for failing the first mission?"
Bracing himself for the terrible start to his way to the top, he watched the brown-haired woman's expression shift from confusion to near laughter as she spoke quietly.
"When we found you… You had a tooth of that terror embedded in your leg. Therefore, I congratulate you on passing your first mission."
Her words hit Aaron like a sea terror; the sheer absurdity that his limb was traded for this success shocked him to no end.
Furrowing his brow slightly, he realized with a concerned look that she wasn't done speaking, nervousness and anticipation making his injured body tremble.
Listening to her speak again, the words flowed out of her mouth in droves.
"Aaron Grimstall, ranked first in the world with one thousand points. Five hundred gifted for Oblivicis sample, three hundred for mission completion, two hundred for heroics."
The blond boy's mind raced as he heard everything he had been given, the words first place echoing deafly as he stared blankly at the woman.
With his mind in chaos, a sudden realization nipped his rising excitement in the bud, replaced by a creeping uneasiness.
With his broken and battered arms, he reached up to his forehead, wiping his face slowly before asking the woman a question he should have asked before anything else.
"W-What is today's date…"
His words made the woman pause before responding in a neutral voice.
"October 1st."
Aaron's breath caught in his throat as he compared the exam dates in his head with Cam's words.
Without any time to interject, she finished her answer.
"The second part of the exam has already begun, with you being the only challenger not actively undertaking it."