Jack first scanned the image to see if there were any more changes or glitches beyond what he saw a bit ago. Not seeing anything at the moment he opened a new section to write himself some notes and began journaling.

I have found myself in what is claimed to be a medical facility. The one person that I have seen so far has claimed that they found and brought me here due to my exposure to some kind of magical malady. I am unsure of how much to trust them on this matter as my status screen does not show any kind of curse, illness or other negative attribute. On the other hand my status screen is having some strange issues it is possible that whatever kind of problem they claim that I have doesn’t show up as something of its nature normally would. Just like for whatever reason my class is showing up as questions marks rather than as the that I am. I also have to add that something feels off but I can’t determine exactly what is wrong. Right now, it is simply that niggling sensation of having forgotten something in the back of my mind. Hopefully I will be able to soon figure out just what is causing that feeling.

Outside of that however there is still the case to consider. Whoever had attacked me in that alleyway likely had something to do either with Dilacy’s disappearance or has some idea of what happened to her. At least that is my current guess based on the combination of their statement as they struck me and the fact that they did not outright kill me. If this guess is correct, then I should try to see if Dilacy is being held somewhere in this facility as it is possible that whatever was done to me was also done to her.

If she is here somewhere then it does bring up the question of if the staff are even less trustworthy then I already feel. As one of the things the doctor mentioned earlier was contacting next of kin. If she is here then why did her parents not know about it if they do indeed contact relatives.

It was not too much later when Jack heard a knocking at the door. Dr Trovihn had returned from wherever he had gone to talk to his coworkers. Jack stood and walked over to the door waving at the doctor through the window. It looked like this time the doctor was not alone but was accompanied by two people in some kind of guard uniform.

Tilting his head in a questioning manner Jack indicated the two new people in a silent question. Seeing this Trovihn greeted Jack and answered the unspoken question. “Hello again! Good news, we are all set to start getting your preliminary tests done here. So if you would be kind enough to accompany me we will take a short walk and get started. Ah? These two? These two are Terrance and Penny. They are some of the security staff of our institution. As I mentioned earlier what you have been exposed to has on some occasions caused severe aggression or other irrational behavior. So, they will be joining us both for your and my protection. Just in case.”

With that there was a clicking sound as the door unlocked. Dr. Trovihn and his companions stepped back to allow Jack to exit the room. It was clear from their body language that they were just waiting for Jack to either try to attack or run past them. To be fair, Jack had certainly considered the possibility as he was more then a little wary of his situation here. All the information that he was receiving was only coming from one source with no way for him to get outside conformation to prove or disprove what was being presented.

Shaking himself from his thoughts Jack knew his best choice in this situation was to follow along with what they wanted for now. He would also need to keep in mind that what he was getting shown would likely not be everything but rather things that supported the beliefs of the employees as well as keep his eyes open to see if Dilacy was here like he had theorized. Before heading out of the room the doctor handed Jack a small chalkboard and a piece of chalk to allow for Jack to be able to talk.

As they started going Dr. Trovihn started to engage Jack in small talk “So… you said earlier that you were working on some kind of case? Was it a wooden case or something or what type of cases do you work on?”

No, I’m a private investigator. I try my best to help out people who really need it. Well, and get paid for it. I was and still am working on a missing persons case. A young lady that was supposed to meet with her parents had disappeared and couldn’t be located or divined at all. Jack corrected him.

“Oh? A private investigator? That’s a pretty unusual job. So, I’m guessing you are good at divination magic then?” inquired Dr. Trovihn in curiosity.

No better at that then anything else really. I suppose it comes with the territory. Jack paused to write and try to look into the rooms that they had passed.

Eyeing him in confusion Dr. Trovihn prompted him “How is not being better with divination part of the territory as an investigator? It seems like those two things would really go hand in hand.”

Jack responded a little confused at the Dr.’s question. What? Oh, yeah it really is. Its why most private eyes are at the very least budding diviners. Not all, but a good number are.

“Then why did you just say that it goes with the territory that you are not good at divination magics?” Dr. Trovihn prompted again.

Oh! I meant for me, not all private eyes. I mean my job is a private investigator but that’s not what I am in terms of a magic user. Just like many detectives probably wouldn’t classify themselves as diviners. Jack tried to explain as he realized what they were getting at.

Dr. Trovihn asked curious, “So what would you classify yourself as then magically? Also, wouldn’t you still also classify yourself by your job? I mean I do consider myself a doctor along with the other aspects of who I am.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Well, to be honest I’m not really sure. I have been having some memory issues from about the time that you brought me in. Not sure all of what is affected but that is one of them. I am pretty sure whatever happened to me in that alleyway has done some kind of damage that I’m hoping will clear up here. Jack replied, lightly touching the back of his head as he thought about the alley.

After a few minutes of walking down various corridors they passed through a large room that had a number of tables chairs and couches. The room had at least seven other people wearing the same gown that Jack was currently situated in as well as at least twice that amount of security. There was one person wearing the same style robes as Trovihn so Jack assumed that she was a doctor just as he was. While the room looked peaceful overall with the patients playing a number of board games or reading and chatting Jack noticed that all of the guards body postures was tense as if violence could break out at any moment.

Taking a closer look at the patients it looked like all of them were in amazing shape physically as well as many of them carrying scars that indicated familiarity with combat. If the standard person that was brought here was someone coming from a background like what that suggested, then it went a long way to explaining why there were at least two guards per patient. In addition while almost everyone was human there were a couple other intelligent species mixed in as patients. Which suggested that whatever caused the people to be brought here could affect more than one species.

Jack and his minders passed through the room without pausing and back into another narrow passage and Jack went back to trying to peer into the rooms that they passed. Most of them were similar to how his own was with a blind on the inside of the window there was one however without even a door on the front. Glancing in as they were walking by he saw that it looked to be a room for religious services. The symbol on the wall wasn’t overly familiar to Jack. He knew it was some Agier but he wasn’t sure which one, though he felt that he had seen it before somewhere. While religions venerating various Agier as living gods was a huge thing on Surdyl Jack had never been overly religious himself. At least not until the Great System had come into his life. Making a mental note of it he put it out of his mind for right now.

After a while they arrived at what looked like a fairly standard doctor’s office. There was an open door on the far side of the room that looked to lead out to a large training or testing ground of some kind. As soon as they stepped into the room Dr. Trovihn turned toward Jack and spoke. “Okay, we are going to be testing a number of things starting with standard bodily health. So, we will be doing weight, temperature, blood work. All of that kind of thing. After that we will be using the other room to do a couple of mana tests, so this should allow you to check your mana passages like you were talking about earlier. In fact, we are going to also examine the mana passages that you don’t use as well. Some of our previous studies with this have shown that the affliction seems to root itself in the crystalized mana passages of a person.”

Alright sounds fair enough. Jack wrote and hopped up to sit on the table, putting out his arm for the doctor.

A bit later after having gotten the preliminary testing done the doctor looked at the results and told Jack. “This can’t be right. I’m sorry we will need to do those tests one more time to make sure.” Before doing all of the tests a second time. Dr. Trovihn set the results down side by side to check the differences. After just a bit he turned to Jack and asked “Just how are you alive right now, much less walking about and talking to me like you are?”

Jack had a silent half laugh escape at the doctor’s incredulity and scribbled. The same way someone normally is. I mean how else would I be?

Frantically Trovihn protested. “No, you don’t understand. These results are showing you should be dead. Especially if you were sustaining yourself on mana in some way. Your heartbeat is way below what it should be to supply blood to your body properly. Not to mention the fact that it seems like you haven’t eaten or hydrated properly for at least a couple of days.”

I don’t feel any different then I normally do. And yeah I have been too busy to properly eat the last few days. So that sounds about right on that end. But it doesn’t bother me too much I can endure such a thing without it being too detrimental. Jack responded trying to get the doctor to settle down.

Taking some deep breaths Dr. Trovihn calmed himself slightly and spoke. “I’m going to call a couple more people to assist as once we are out in the training area, we are not only going to test your mana passages as we had originally planned, but I’ll need to do a couple more tests to see how this is even happening.”

Sure? I don’t see too much of an issue with that as long as you aren’t too invasive. Jack accepted the doctor’s instance on testing as at the moment he didn’t really have any recourse. Their shock and what seemed like concern for Jack’s health did soften Jack’s bias against them, at least a little.

With Jack’s acceptance Penny was sent off to go get another guard or two to assist while the doctor ran tests in the training area. When she returned with another security officer everyone headed out into the large training area that Jack had noticed earlier.

Jack was halfway expecting to feel magic wash over him as they stepped through the portal based on how the doctor had talked about using mana in the area. However, from what he could tell there was still no ambient mana in the atmosphere in this room just like the rest of the complex that he had seen so far. The room was covered in a dark metal on every surface with a crystal sitting on a pedestal over in one corner. Near the crystal was also a raised platform with some kind of mat sitting on it. There were also several targets sitting propped up on the wall behind the door that could be seen now that they were in the room proper.

So, what do you want me to do here? Jack jotted down and showed to the Dr.

Seeing the question Trovihn began to explain. “Once the door is closed there will be a few things that we will be doing. Up first is the crystal in the corner. It’s the same kind of crystal that is used in schools to help students check their aspects and determine good potential paths to focus on going forward in life. Up next then is the mat which will be examining your crystalized pathways when you do some basic mana channeling. Finally, we will use the targets for you to see if anything in particular has changed in your active use of magic. Internal or External doesn’t really matter too much. Other than that, I brought in these tools right here that I am going to hook up to your body to keep an eye on your vitals to see if there are any changes as we introduce mana into the area. Normally this wouldn’t be too big of a concern but with how your vitals in there were indicating you should be dead I have no idea what will happen. That should be about everything. Did you have any questions yourself before we get started?”

Jack shook his head in response. Seeing that the doctor grinned and indicated to Terrance to shut the door. As the door sealed shut with a hissing sound Dr. Trovihn said “Well then let’s get to work.”