"Just now... there's no mistake, that was definitely him."
A woman appeared out of nowhere.
The mysterious woman stood a few meters from where Nova lay unconscious. Her gaze was fixed on the boy lying with a body full of wounds, tattered clothes, and dried blood all over his body.
"Fortunately, its power wasn't as strong as that time. I really didn't expect it to appear this quickly!"
"From the beginning, I was forbidden to interfere, but... There's no way I can't interfere now. He's severely injured. I have to help him a little. At least... this is what I can do."
The woman knelt beside Nova's body. She could clearly see how severe his condition was—burns covering almost the entire surface of his skin, cracked bones despite being reinforced.
"These wounds... Too deep and too many for a child his age."
Suddenly the woman's eyes glowed, and at that very moment—
The deep gaping wounds on Nova's face and body—slowly began to close. The torn edges of the wounds fused back together, the burned skin regenerated rapidly.
The dried blood clinging to his skin began to disappear—not cleaned, but reabsorbed into his body and reprocessed into new blood. His skin color, which had been slightly pale, slowly returned to normal.
In a very short time, Nova already looked much better. There were still small scratches remaining—superficial wounds that weren't too dangerous.
"Alright, done. It seems I have to go home now. It looks like someone is going to come here!"
In an instant, the woman vanished from there.
"Strange... I clearly sensed the presence of something—or someone—very powerful near here a few seconds ago. But now... there's nothing!" It turned out that person was Nova's father—Nolan.
"Was that just my imagination?"
While he was still lost in his thoughts—
His eyes caught something in the middle of the road.
"Hah! Nova!"
Nolan ran toward his son.
Nolan knelt beside Nova, his hand immediately checking the pulse on his neck—searching for signs of life with his fingers.
*Still beating... thank goodness!*
*Wait... This presence... There's no mistake!*
*Think about that later, let's take him to the hospital first!*
Klang Hospital,
"Uhh... Where is this?"
Nova opened his eyes slowly—his eyelids felt heavy.
"My body... Feels very painful... but I can still move a little."
"Am I in a hospital now?"
When Nova tried to sit up, his room door opened.
"Hah?! Nova?!"
The person who opened the door was his mother—Hanah.
Without hesitation, she immediately ran and hugged Nova tightly.
"Thank goodness... thank goodness... thank goodness..." Her voice trembled. "You're finally awake, Nova. Finally... Mother has been so worried."
"How do you feel now?" Hanah asked without releasing her embrace. "Does anything hurt? Do you feel dizzy? Can you see clearly?"
"Ah, sorry, Mom... My body still feels very painful. Can... can you let go of the hug first? I'm having trouble breathing."
"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Hanah immediately released her embrace quickly, her hands "Mother was too... Mother was too happy that I forgot you're still recovering. Forgive Mother."
"It's okay. I understand."
The room door opened again.
A female doctor entered. Her familiar face immediately smiled with relief when she saw Nova already sitting on the bed.
"Oh, you're awake, Nova?" Anna—Ena's mother and the head doctor at this hospital—said while smiling. She approached the bed while her eyes immediately checked the vital monitor beside the bed.
"Your vital signs look stable. That's very good."
"Did I look like I was still asleep just now?"
"Haha, you're right," Anna laughed lightly while sitting in the chair beside the bed. "You're still as talkative as always, huh? That's a good sign—it means your brain didn't suffer permanent damage from oxygen deprivation."
"So, how do you feel now in detail? Because... your father found you lying on the road to school. Your condition at that time was quite—no, very severe. Especially on your back which was full of burns."
"And what was most worrying at that time was... there were so many foreign toxins burning your system from within. Very unusual toxins—not normal biological poisons, but something... different. Toxins with supernatural properties that I've never seen before in my career."
Nova listened with a calm expression.
"What's strange," Anna continued while observing Nova's reaction, "even though the toxin was very strong—a level that should kill an adult human in seconds—the organs inside your body still looked fine when I did the scan. No permanent damage to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, or other vital organs. That was very... Strange."
"I successfully removed all that toxin with a special detoxification technique that took days," she continued while crossing something out on her clipboard. "So for now your condition is stable and there's no immediate threat to your life."
"Yeah... my body still feels painful though," Nova answered while moving his hand slowly.
"That's very normal," Anna nodded while noting something on her clipboard. "Considering you just woke up after lying in a coma for a full month. Your muscles experienced mild atrophy from not being used, your nerves need time to adapt again to conscious movement."
"A month?!"
"Yes, exactly a month. Why, don't you believe it? Look at the calendar on that wall. It's already November 1st now. Your father found you on October 1st."
Nova turned his head to look at the calendar hanging on the wall. And it was indeed true. One month had already passed.
*A month... a full month I was unconscious... what happened during that month?*
"The coma you experienced was most likely caused by too much foreign toxin in your body. That toxin attacked the central nervous system, causing a temporary shutdown to protect the brain from further damage. That's actually a good protective response from your body—like a computer entering safe mode when a threat is detected."
"What makes me very curious is... Why weren't your internal organs completely destroyed or even damaged? This is very—VERY—strange for a supernatural poisoning case like this. Especially since you're only twelve years old with an immune system that shouldn't be as strong as an adult's."
"But there's something even stranger," she continued while leaning back in her chair. "When I did X-rays and CT scans to check your bone condition—I found something very unusual."
Nova swallowed unconsciously. *She must have found the changes in my bones...*
"I feel the bone structure in your body has been strengthened by something. Not natural strengthening from exercise or normal growth—but strengthening that comes from an external agent. Your bone density is about three times higher than children your age. That's equivalent to the bone density of professional athletes who have trained for decades."
"Do you know something about this, Nova? What happened before your father found you lying on that road?"
Nova fell silent for a few seconds.
"Ah... that..." Nova finally spoke in a slightly hesitant tone. "I also don't really know what happened. I just... I just remember something strange happened when I was on my way to school, then suddenly I lost consciousness. After that... I don't remember anything until waking up here."
*There's no way I can tell her that I used poisonous vampire blood to strengthen my bone structure with a crazy technique that even I don't know how I could do it. And if I tell the real story, she definitely won't believe it, right?*
"Alright then," Anna finally said while standing from her chair. "I won't force you to tell something you don't want to tell!"
"For now, what's certain is you still can't stand and walk normally—your leg muscles experienced atrophy and need physiotherapy to return to optimal condition. So you might have to stay in this hospital for a few more days—maybe a week—for further observation and recovery therapy."
"Then, I'll leave now, Nova. There are other patients who need to be examined. If anything happens, press the button beside your bed and a nurse will come."
"Nova..."
"Yes, Mom?"
"Do you want to eat something?" Hanah asked while standing. "You must be very hungry after a month of not eating anything. Mother will go down to the cafeteria and buy delicious food for you. Is there anything you want?"
"Yes, Mom. I'm very hungry," Nova admitted honestly. "My stomach feels empty and a little nauseous now. Anything is fine, as long as it's delicious food and plenty of it."
"Alright, Mother will go down for a moment to buy food," Hanah smiled then walked toward the door. "Mother will be back quickly. Don't try to get down from the bed, okay? Your leg muscles aren't ready yet."
"Yes, I understand. Be careful on the way."
The door closed, leaving Nova alone in the quiet hospital room.
Nova let out a long sigh while laying his body back on the bed. His eyes stared at the plain white ceiling.
"Haah... Hey, Dad, how long are you going to keep using that spiritual disguise power of yours? I know you've been here all along."
"Hah?! You... you can see me?!"
That familiar surprised voice came from the direction of the chair near the window—a chair that appeared empty to normal eyes.
"Very strange... You haven't even awakened your power—but you can already detect my hidden presence?"
"Usually only people with special powers or those who have awakened their powers, and even not all people who have awakened their powers can detect me!"
Suddenly, Nolan's figure appeared.
He sat in the chair near the window.
"Yo. How are you?"
"You already know yourself, right, since you've been here since I woke up? Why are you still asking something that's already obvious?"
"Haha, that's just small talk," Nolan laughed a little. "But seriously, I'm really curious. What makes you able to see—or more precisely, sense—my presence?"
Nova fell silent for a moment, his eyes staring at the ceiling while thinking.
"Maybe... maybe because I'm your son? The same blood, a strong genetic connection? Maybe that makes me able to sense your presence even though you're hidden?"
"And for clarification," Nova continued while glancing toward his father, "I can't really see you like normal people see physical objects. What I sense is more like... a presence? An aura? Something that's there but not visible. Like you know someone is in a dark room even though you can't see them."
"Sensing presence without seeing, huh?"
"Speaking of that vampire... What really happened with the vampire you fought, Nova?"
THUMP!
"Ah... don't be so startled," Nolan smiled slightly seeing his son's clearly visible reaction. "I could tell about the vampire because when I found you lying on that road, there was still a residue of the vampire's spiritual presence clinging around the area."
"But the vampire itself was completely not there—only the remnants of spiritual aura that were slowly disappearing." Nolan looked at Nova. "I guess you must know, right? What happened to that vampire? Where did he go? Or... what did you do to him?"
Every supernatural creature leaves a unique energy trace or spiritual presence like a fingerprint.
Vampires or other supernatural creatures can actually eliminate their spiritual presence if they want to and have time to do it—the process requires concentration and energy. But because that vampire died by suicide in a tremendous unplanned explosion, he didn't have the chance to erase his traces. That's why Nolan could sense the remnants of his presence in that area.
After being silent for a while, Nova finally opened his mouth and began to tell his father what he remembered.
"I see..." his face showed no expression until Nova finished. "So that vampire brought you into his own dimensional realm? A private dimension separated from normal reality, that's what you felt, right?"
"Yes, more or less like that," Nova nodded slowly. "The place was like a very dark and vast forest. No end, no visible boundaries. Like a labyrinth with no way out."
"And that dimensional realm... was made from all the humans he killed? Land from the ashes of their corpses, trees growing from their blood?"
"Yes... that's what he told me."
"So he was the one who caused the case of hundreds of people mysteriously disappearing in the last few months... The Sage must have already suspected there was a powerful vampire operating in this area, but they probably didn't expect he had reached a level where he could create a personal dimension."
"And you... how long did you spend in that dimension? Time in separate dimensions usually runs differently from the real world."
"I don't know for sure. I can't be sure because there was no sun or clock there. Just the darkness of night."
"And you fought against that high-level vampire with... pure physical strength? Without awakening special powers?"
"Yes... At that time... When I was hit by the explosion from that blood creature, I suddenly felt like I lost consciousness, but... I also felt my body standing up by itself. After that, I really don't remember anything."
*Moving by itself? Is that some kind of subconscious state?*
"I see. One more thing I want you to answer. What did you do to strengthen your bone structure? Anna said your bone density increased three times from normal. That's not something that can happen naturally or by coincidence."
"That..." He fell silent, trying to find the right words. "I don't really understand why I did that at that time—why that crazy idea came into my head in the middle of the battle. And honestly, I'm a bit lazy to explain it in detail because... because it's very complicated and even I'm not sure how I could do it."
"But the point is... I used that vampire's poisonous blood to strengthen my bone structure."
"Hah?!"
"You used vampire POISON to strengthen your bones?! Do you realize how dangerous that is?! Do you know how many people died just from getting hit by a drop of vampire blood?!"
"I know it's dangerous. But at that time... at that time I had no other choice. I was already severely injured, poison had entered my body in large amounts, and I would have died if I didn't do something drastic."
*Using poison to strengthen bones... did he do that accidentally in a critical condition, or did he really know what he was doing?*
*And how could he use vampire poison to strengthen bones without dying on the spot? What should have happened is he would have died right then because children's bones are still very fragile—much more fragile than adult bones—and can't withstand supernatural poison that strong, right?*
*The process he explained... it's like a poison adaptation technique. How could a twelve-year-old child who has never received formal training perform a technique at that level instinctively?*
*This is too strange. Too unreasonable. It seems he doesn't really understand how or why he could do it either—like his body moved with memory or knowledge he shouldn't possess.*
*There's something very unnatural about this son of mine... something that even I, as his father, don't fully understand.*
Right when Nolan was lost in his thoughts—
The room door opened with a familiar sound.
"Ah, dear, when did you get here?"
Hanah's voice was heard as she entered with both hands carrying plastic bags containing several food boxes.
"Eh? Just now, only about a minute or two ago. I heard Nova was awake so I came immediately to check his condition."
"Really? Thank goodness you could come quickly," Hanah smiled while carefully placing the food bags on the side table. "Nova must be happy his father came."
"Alright then, Nova," Nolan said while standing and starting to walk toward the door. "I'll go home first, okay. You also seem to need to stay here for a few more days for total recovery and physiotherapy. Don't push yourself too hard."
"Already leaving?" Hanah asked while opening a food box. "Don't you want to eat first? I bought plenty."
"No, thank you," Nolan shook his head while smiling. "The house is empty now, right? Lunar and Noah are still at school, you're here taking care of Nova. It's better I go home to watch the house!"
"Hm, alright then," Hanah nodded. "Be careful on the way. Don't forget to eat lunch later."
"Don't worry," Nolan waved his hand while opening the door.
After his father left, Hanah walked closer to the bed with a gentle smile.
"Alright, Nova," Hanah sat in the chair beside the bed while opening the food boxes one by one. "It's time to eat. You must be very hungry after a month of not eating anything. Do you want Mother to feed you?"
"Hey, I'm not a little kid anymore, you know!"
"Hey, what do you mean you're not a little kid anymore?" Hanah laughed in an amused tone while ruffling Nova's hair. "You're only twelve years old! That's still very young!"
"Yes, yes, I'm still small according to Mom's standards. But I can eat by myself. Look—my hands are still functioning normally and can hold a spoon."
To prove his statement, Nova moved both his hands—opening and closing his fingers.
"Alright, alright," Hanah relented while handing the fried rice box and spoon to Nova's hands.
Nova began eating the fried rice heartily.
"Mother is so happy... You're okay and can recover like this, Nova."
"Sorry if I made Mom so worried like that."
"It's okay. You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. What's important is you're still alive, still healthy."
*I'm wondering... what really happened with that vampire? Why is my memory of that moment so blurry and unclear? And... who healed my severe wounds? I'm sure... I'm sure my condition should have been far worse than what Anna saw.*
*There are too many things that don't make sense. Too many coincidences happening. And... and why do I feel like something is missing from my memory?*
"What's wrong, Nova?"
"Ah, nothing, Mom," Nova quickly answered while refocusing on his food.
"Really? Your face looks like you're thinking about something heavy."
"Yes, really nothing."