Medical Malpractice

"The water temperature adjustment is complete!"

"Third test, begin!"

Kirinji Tenjiro watched Lin Nan shuffle toward the hot spring and sit down, wearing an expression like he was badly constipated. Lin Nan cautiously extended a foot toward the water.

"Hey! Can you hurry up?"

Lin Nan stared at the steaming hot spring before him, steeled himself, and gradually began lowering his foot faster.

Just then, Kirinji suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him hard. "Stop dragging your feet!"

Splash!

"Waaaaah!"

Wrapped in a bath towel, Lin Nan reflexively leaped out of the pale pink water, sending a steaming splash flying over six feet into the air.

He had only been in the water for an instant, but his exposed skin was already turning faintly red.

"Kirinji! Are you trying to kill me? I treated you like a friend, and this is how you repay me!" Lin Nan ran to a nearby bucket, scooped up a large ladleful of cold water, and poured it over himself.

"Idiot! The water contains a high concentration of Reishi that repairs injuries and Rei-Power, so of course it feels a little hot! If you can't stand the heat, how can you soak in a hot spring? You won't get treated like this!" Kirinji walked over to a small stool and sat down, pursing his lips in disapproval.

"Kazuo! Kazuhiro! Take him into the hot spring. Make sure he stays in for at least sixty seconds!"

"Yes, sir!"

After their two synchronized replies, the pair of muscular, sharply defined men came around from behind Kirinji, wearing comically small round glasses.

"You have to soak all the way through for a hot spring to feel good! Let them hold you steady, and enjoy yourself!"

The two burly men slowly approached. Lin Nan took a good look at them and saw they were big enough to swallow him whole. Without hesitation, he spun around and bolted.

"Enjoy myself? What the hell! If you can't adjust the water temperature, stop running a business under the guise of a hot spring! This is the third test and you still haven't figured it out? Watch out, someone might sue you for fraud!"

Kirinji raised his brows in confusion. "Fraud? What a strange thing to say."

Kazuo and Kazuhiro chased Lin Nan from behind, shouting as they ran, "Lord Lin Nan, please stop running! Big Brother Kirinji is right. You have to get used to the hot spring's temperature to appreciate its wonders!"

"Wonders, my ass! Look for yourselves! The water's bubbling like crazy—it's about to boil! Anyone who wants to soak can do it themselves!" Lin Nan kept running, clutching his bath towel as he circled the pool with the two burly men.

His injuries hadn't healed, but he was still no slower than the well-built Kazuo and Kazuhiro. After several laps around the pool, they still hadn't managed to catch him.

Lin Nan was still protesting when he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kirinji Tenjiro, who had been sitting on the small stool, was gone.

Thud! The tall, imposing Kirinji grabbed Lin Nan by the arm and handed him over to the two assistants who had caught up.

"I told you, that's just what happens when Reishi gathers, you scaredy-cat. Take him to the pool, and make sure he's completely submerged!"

Kazuo and Kazuhiro each took hold of one of Lin Nan's arms. They nodded and headed toward the steaming pool.

"Who are you calling an idiot? The water's obviously too hot! Don't you have any scientific integrity?! Glug, glug..." Lin Nan continued to protest, but his voice was quickly muffled by the water.

It was a small pool intended for testing, so Kazuo and Kazuhiro had to stand outside it, pressing down hard on Lin Nan's shoulders and holding him under.

Lin Nan flailed wildly beneath the water, but lying at the bottom, he had nothing to brace himself against. For a while, he couldn't break free of their hold.

When Kirinji Tenjiro saw that Lin Nan had finally settled "peacefully" into the pool, he lifted his head and contentedly stroked his pompadour. "That's more like it. You have to be completely submerged to get the full treatment..."

"Huh? Waaaaah! Big Brother Kirinji! Big Brother!"

Before Kirinji could finish, he heard Kazuo and Kazuhiro cry out in terror.

"What's wrong with you two? Why are you panicking..." Kirinji followed the sound of their shouts with his eyes, but the reprimand died in his throat.

Kazuo and Kazuhiro stood on either side of the pool, raising their arms in alarm and staring helplessly at Kirinji—

All the skin and muscle had vanished from their forearms. Only damaged tendons remained, hanging on to their bones!

"How... How did this happen?" Kirinji's pupils contracted. Then he suddenly realized something and hurriedly ordered, "This is bad! Get that kid out of there!"

Only then did he realize that Kazuo and Kazuhiro's hands were ruined. He immediately used Shunpo to reach the pool, then pulled the motionless Lin Nan out from the bottom as fast as he could.

Lin Nan's eyes were shut, and he wasn't moving. His breathing was ragged, and his entire body was as red as a demon's.

Kirinji Tenjiro glanced at the three of them, the grass stem in his mouth falling to the ground. "This is bad..."

Kazuo and Kazuhiro held up their forearms, now little more than skeletons. As if they were used to their ghastly appearance, they turned to Kirinji and calmly asked, "Big Brother, what do we do now?"

Kirinji stroked his chin. "You two can't help right now. I'll use Kaidō on Lin Nan to stabilize his injuries, then I'll take care of you."

They nodded, moved aside, and quietly waited for Kirinji to finish what he was doing.

Kirinji went over to the unconscious Lin Nan and clicked his tongue in puzzlement. "Strange. How did this happen..."

The light abruptly vanished, and the dim corridor appeared before Lin Nan once again.

"...I'm back here again? Wasn't I just soaking in Kirinji's hot spring?" He scratched his head and looked around in confusion.

"Just as I thought. The test must have gone wrong again." Lin Nan thought it over and figured out what had happened. He couldn't help sighing. "I had a feeling he was unreliable. Guess I was right."

He looked around the corridor again. "So I lost consciousness again. Maybe the trigger for coming here is losing consciousness or falling asleep? I wonder if I'll be able to enter and leave at will while I'm still conscious."

The strange display powered on again. Lin Nan studied the text on the screen, but none of his skills had improved significantly.

"I've been in so many fights, but these attribute points haven't changed. So they're not experience points; they're probably something like proficiency. Too bad I didn't have much time to play games before. I'm not sure how to raise them..." Lin Nan nodded almost imperceptibly. "Otherwise, that fight with Iwamoto should've raised them at least a little, right?"

He opened the video playback with practiced ease and checked the recordings.

"There's footage of Kirinji kicking me and grabbing me? This..."

What about my dignity? What happened to a system having manners?

That said, Lin Nan still carefully studied the footage of Kirinji's Shunpo and compared it with the Shunpo he had learned from Iwamoto.

"Thunder Swift Tenjiro really lives up to his name. Even in slow motion, it's obvious he's not only faster than Iwamoto, but his movements are much smoother, too."

Kirinji's "video lesson" was naturally on a level Iwamoto couldn't match. Lin Nan watched the two short clips of him for barely a dozen seconds each, replaying them seven or eight times, before a notification appeared: Shunpo proficiency +1.

Shunpo: Beginner; Shunpo proficiency: +1; Total Shunpo points: 2.

"Huh? This..." Lin Nan was about to complain that the point increase made no sense, but the next few lines made him swallow his words.

External Reishi detected...

Adjusting Reishi absorption rate...

Activating bonus attribute: Reiryoku Affinity (increases affinity with all types of spiritual power, learning efficiency increased by 200%, Rei-Pressure growth efficiency increased by 200%)...

Shunpo proficiency reached 2 points, activating Shunpo skill [Shadow Step Stealth]: When Shunpo is activated, afterimages are left behind for a short time to confuse opponents;

Rei-Power level increased...

"Reiryoku Affinity" attribute bonus, Rei-Power level increased...

Current Rei-Power level: 14...

Rei-Pressure Shell repair complete...

Rei-Pressure Shell activated;

Rei-Pressure Concealment function activated...

Lin Nan could hardly believe his eyes. "Why did all this random stuff suddenly pop up..."

Kirinji Tenjiro spent the entire night without sleep or rest. As dawn broke in the east, he wiped away his sweat, straightened up, and stretched hard.

He had set up two layers of Kaidō barriers beside Lin Nan's bed, constantly maintaining his bodily functions to prevent any unusual changes. Another layer of Kaidō was ready to repair any minor breaks that appeared in Lin Nan's skin.

"That kid's vitality is seriously incredible."

After more than ten hours of treatment, Lin Nan was out of danger. His breathing was steady, and the redness had faded from his body.

"But why are his symptoms different from Kazuo and Kazuhiro's?" Kirinji narrowed his long, slender eyes and murmured to himself as he looked at Lin Nan sleeping in the bed before him.

Lin Nan was still asleep, while the skin all over his body kept splitting like a snake shedding its skin, crackling as it peeled away.