'I am alive.' Oliver said in his mind.
The pain he was feeling from his whole body was proof. If he were in a dream, he would have woken up.
'Was the explosion the cause? Did it bring me back to this time?' Oliver thought back to the time he used the coin artefact Root left him.
'I supplied it with more than ten million litres of blood. I am sure of that.'
Root said the artifact's maximum capacity was 100,000 litres. Anything more would cause it to explode.
In the last battle, Oliver filled the special space in his body with all the blood from the battlefield. His blood sac, as he calls it, was limited to 10 million litres. He used all the blood he could control from the battlefield, along with what he had in the blood sac, thus overloading the coin artefact beyond common sense.
The resulting explosion was just as spectacular. It quickly wiped out the demon king and his army.
So, assuming that it interfered with space-time itself was reasonable.
'Anyway, let me observe the condition of the body.' Oliver, who was suspended in the stem cell therapy fluid, thought.
His young body was in awful condition. The lack of exercise caused it to shed all its muscle. He was practically a walking skeleton wearing a skin cloth.
'I was a real sh*t head, wasn't I?' Oliver thought as he recognised the disappointing condition of his body.
'No wonder I was bullied.'
'I should use this chance to direct some of the stem cells to my muscles.'
The school was already paying for his treatment. Thus, he decided to maximise its effectiveness.
Oliver was suspended in a transparent vat filled with murky fluid. The fluid was the base that held his body upright. Various robotic arms with tubes surrounded him, spraying the stem cells into the wounds while moving through the fluid.
Using his blood control ability, he began to circulate the stem cells that had been sprayed onto the wounds to other parts of his body.
The redirected stem cells were a great resource to strengthen his body.
'Now that I think about it. I wasn't great at using my ability in the past. I had to train hard for years to truly master it and unlock its full potential. But now, it feels easy. My experience of using my ability didn't seem to have disappeared. That's great.'
'Does that also mean that I am retained by blood sack size?'
Oliver was excited.
He immediately focused his mind to peer into the space within.
The blood sac, as he calls it, is a space that exists in his body. It worked literally like a sac to store all the blood he collected. Once the blood is stored in the sac, it transforms into something that Oliver can freely use. Thus, the strength of his ability was greatly dependent on the size of the blood sac.
While peering into it through his mind, Oliver saw a red ball floating in his mind. Immediately, he was disappointed.
The ball-shaped stuff was the blood sac, and it was smaller than a normal football. The volume was about 2 litres.
'F*ck.' He screamed in his mind.
Although his experience transferred over, the blood sac was still the same.
'Well, what was I expecting?'
Oliver immediately shook off the disappointment.
'There was no reason to be disappointed. If it was the past me, it would have taken a lot of trial and error to fully understand my ability. But the current me knows everything I need to know to strengthen it and increase its size. My ability has infinite potential. With enough blood, maybe I can grow to beyond the maximum of my previous life.'
Others used to look down on me due to my inability to use mana. Now I can confidently say that I can prove them wrong.'
A confident grin appeared on his face.
While thinking seriously, he suddenly noticed something peculiar with the blood sac.
Oliver's eyes focused.
'The coin?'
When he peered into the center of the blood sac, he noticed a spinning coin at the center. It looked the same as the coin Root gave, but at the same time, it was not really.
The coin Root gave was a silver one. But the one he was seeing was golden.
It seems to have changed the colour and luster. However, the intricate and clear unintelligible writing and symbols on it looked similar.
'Did it come along with me? Did it hitch a ride on me?' Oliver was perplexed.
Nothing! Absolutely nothing should have been able to enter his blood sac except blood. Now, a coin is chilling inside.
Oliver was not without reason to be confused.
'It also evolved from a silver coin to a gold one.'
More confusion.
'Maybe there is an explanation for everything. I don't need to think about it right now.' Oliver said to himself and went back to controlling blood and stem cells to heal him.
—
After a while, two people walked into the infirmary. The headmaster and the lady were standing in front of the vat Oliver was in, observing the change in his facial expressions through the murky liquid.
"Dr. Lark, is he conscious?" The headmaster asked the physician treating Oliver.
"He is not. Anesthesia is an important part of suspended stem cell therapy. No sane person would want to feel the pain of nerves and cells being repaired. It would be worse than torture." Dr Lark responded.
In his mind, there was no chance that Oliver could be conscious.
"Are you sure?" The headmaster's eyes twinkled when he looked at the large transparent vat as he asked.
"Absolutely."
"Then sorry that I have to break it to you. That guy is conscious."
"No chance." Dr Lark said and promptly looked at the tablet he was holding.
It was showing the vitals of Oliver.
"There was no change. The steady heart beats of sixty per minute. Stable blood pressure and even EEG…" Suddenly, he paused.
The EEG was showing abnormal brain activity.
"But the anaesthesia… When did he wake up? It shouldn't be possible. The pain would be similar to a hot knife cutting into the flesh. How can his heartbeat remain normal through it?" Dr Lark mumbled in disbelief.
Although it was hard to believe, he quickly calmed himself and decided to pump more drugs.
However, the headmaster noticed it and immediately stopped him.
"Don't, I think he is almost healed." The headmaster was a retired S-rank with the ability to control lightning. He could feel the electrical impulses Oliver was generating and gauge the condition of the body.
Dr Lark didn't even try to contradict this time. Even though his mind said it was impossible, he checked the instruments.
As expected, the kid was indeed completely healed. An injury which would have taken an entire day to heal was completely healed within a few minutes.
*Sigh* Dr Lark gave up on trying to find reason.
Occasionally, there were people like that who completely defied common sense.
"Pull him out, I want to talk to him." The headmaster ordered. He moved to a chair nearby and sat down promptly.