Chapter 85: A Loser's Bedtime Story!

Kenji's POV:

It was, currently, the 6th night of Walpurgisnacht as I was staring aimlessly out at the blue moon through the window next to my bed. I was currently in the infirmary on the second floor. They wanted to run some more tests to see if there was anything else wrong with me before they threw me out tomorrow.

I have absolutely no hope left for the future. It's just like back then, only this time instead of my cultivation it's my legs. In my current state I can't even work as a tester anymore. The academy will kick me out on the streets to fend for myself as soon as we get back. In my current state, I don't think I can even defend myself should it ever come to that. I will be at the mercy of any I might encounter as I will be forced to beg on the streets in order not to starve.

Such were my thoughts as I started hallucinating the boss floating outside my window. He tried to enter, but it seems like he didn't realize that the window was closed as he smacked face first into it while trying to enter. It wasn't until he opened the window, I realized he wasn't a hallucination.

"So, how you feeling brat number 3?" He said, as he stepped through the window.

"Like I have no future." I said as I stared blankly at him.

The boss may be amazing, but even he can't have a way to fix a broken spine. The physicians said that fixing the damage to my spine would prove too complicated for any healing methods or treatments due to the complexity of the nervous system. Any cures or treatments for my condition do not exist, especially now that they have administered the healing potions.

A healing potion is a medicine that speeds up the body's regeneration. They had to use one on me in order to save my life, but as a result of that, the area between my severed nerves was filled in with flesh, while my body ended up adjusting to the injury and completely shut down the nerve endings connecting to my legs. There for it would be pointless to even ask him.

"Puberty is ruff but keep at it! I hear it usually ends around your age!"

"It's not puberty! It's my legs!"

"What about them?"

"Boss, haven't you heard? Or I guess you wouldn't."

The man has been a complete mystery to me since we first met. All I really know is that he is a great master magician from the magic continent. Why such a man would even bother teaching at our academy is already beyond me. He probably just taught us on a whim to pass the time. I'm not even a mage, much less a student. Why would he bother caring if I got crippled?

"You know, ever since our camping trip in those mountains I have had this thought. That if I could prove myself to this guy, he would take me in as a disciple, but now I see it was stupid of me to even think that."

In my depression I started ranting about all my pent-up frustrations. I just couldn't hold it in anymore now that it was all over anyways.

"I worked my heart out despite not even being a mage. I studied until bags started forming under my eyes. I gave it my all every day, just so he would take notice. This tournament was my final chance, but it was all pointless in the end."

"Wow! your right that was stupid! Have you even tried asking this guy?"

"What would be the point! I'm crippled now!"

"Have you given up?"

"…"

"How about I tell you a bedtime story then?" He said as he pulled out a big book.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who was me who lost a leg in an accident! It had been crushed during a cave in by a mountain of rubble! So, the little me found a solution! If I don't have a leg, then I should just make one! And that's just what I did!" He said before he pulled out a short mechanical leg covered in enchantments.

"But then one day, a sad old group of lizards bit off the little me's arm! What was I to do? Well, building another limb seemed too expensive! That's when the little me had a great idea! Why not just take it from an enemy? And so, the little me used the flesh of a dragon to make a new arm!" He said before he pulled out a rotting and scaly arm.

"But then, a group of mean and hungry old spirits came and ate the little me's other leg! I was so conflicted! Making or taking a new limb seemed too boring! So, I asked my brother for help, and he said, 'Why don't I just make one for you instead?' And so, he made me one from mud and dirt!" He said, as he pulled out a jar of earth and used some unknown method to make the dirt take the form of a leg.

"Then finally a big douche bag appeared, and I lost my entire body! The little me's soul struggled and fought until eventually there was nothing left to fight! But with nothing left to do I was so bored! Then I had a great idea! Why not just make a new body using the stuff I took from the douche bag? And that's exactly what I did! I used his douche energy to make the little me a better body than before! The End!" He said before closing the book on his lap.

"What?"

"Brat! Can you tell me what the moral of this story was?"

I was so confused, as I was sitting in my bed covered in the different limbs he had thrown at me while reading his story. I didn't know how to make heads or tails of what he just said.

"You are such a meathead! The moral of the story is to never give up! Even if it might seem impossible, there is nearly always a way forwards or at least a way around it! No matter where you are or what happens, it is never over until you yourself have given up! So, have you?"

"Boss!"

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I looked at the boss sitting in the window. My precious master, kicked me out the moment I lost my power, but if he is saying what I think he is then…

"Boss, please! Would you take this fool as a disciple?!" I tried to kowtow, but I forgot that I couldn't move my legs and ended up falling out of the bed.

"What? Wait, am I that guy you were talking about?"

"Uh? Yeah, who else did you think it was?"

"I thought you were talking about Whitebeard!"

"So, you won't?"

"Sure, why the hell not! HEY, YOU WIMPY BRAT! YOU WANT IN ON THIS?!" He yelled.

Soon after, a purple haired girl with bandages around her head opened the door. It was Aiko. The boss had apparently noticed her listening through the door.

"Yeah?" She said while nervously fidgeting with her hands.

"Okey dokey!" He said as he pulled out a longsword, he used to tap me on the shoulders with.

"I now dub thee, Sir 'Meathead'! And no takesies backsies!" He said before teleporting next to Aiko.

"And you shall hence forth be known as lady 'Wimp', master of eavesdropping! Also, no takesies backsies!" He said as he dunked her in a bucket of water.

"Wait! I think I did that wrong! The sword goes with both! Ah, who cares! Hey kids! You can now use my last name if you want to, though it will usually just earn you a kick in the teeth if you go around showing it off!"

"What? Wait, what was your full name again?"

"Oh, that's right! An introduction is in order!"

Just then his body started changing as his appearance altered. His bones started crackling as his body started shrinking and morphing into another person. Before us stood a girl slightly smaller than Aiko wearing the boss's clothes. All his scars had disappeared, and his skin was flawless. His face looked more or less like a more feminine version of his illusionary face from when we first met, but it was soon covered by a white mask with a number of enchantments painted on it. She was rather small for her clothes as I could see her flat chest through the collar of her shirt.

*Bonk*

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I screamed as I could feel the oh so familiar yet still excruciating pain of that black stick.

"You were making fun of me for being short right now, weren't you!" He said as he looked ready to bonk me on my head again.

"NO, I WASN'T! I WAS JUST CONFUSED!" I said as I begged for mercy, while wondering why nobody was coming in to check out what all the noise we were making was.

"Bos-! I mean, master?"

"You can call me whatever!"

"Boss, why are you disguising yourself?" Aiko asked.

"Ah! Well, I injured myself helping a playboy out of a pinch and needed to lay low as an educator for half a year!"

"…?"

"That explanation only raises more questions! But I think she meant why are you using illusions to look like that?" I interjected.

"This isn't an illusion. This is my true form."

"…?"

As usual, I failed to follow the boss's lesson.

"For you see my Meathead disciple! Your majestic and kindhearted professor Sunam Xon was actually the great and mysterious Nox Manus! Also, a woman!"

"What? Wait, isn't that just your name spelled backwards?!"

"That's just lazy."

We said as we gave him a suspicious stare.

I refuse to believe the boss who has never shown a hint of femininity outside of his gags to be a girl. I would bet my last possessions on this being part of some prank. I only hope it's not just some weird way of turning us down. I don't know what I would do if he suddenly showed up tomorrow and told me to just forget about it.

"Well, it worked so far! Plus, they are looking for someone with tits, not balls! A quick flash of my new wang would be enough to chase them away!"

"I still don't believe you! I mean, if this is your true form then why didn't it show when the principal dispelled your illusions back then?"

I'm not an expert, but through my studies over the last year I know that projecting multiple layers of illusions over the same target would be almost impossible to do due to the interference between the individual spells. Hence, once the principal dispelled the illusion magic last semester, he shouldn't have been able to hide his true form.

"And that's why you're a meathead! Which reminds me!" He said as he walked towards me and stabbed his little hand into my stomach.

"…"

I was stunned. I could see Aiko trying to tear the boss off me as I could feel something moving in my stomach. Was he regretting taking me in as a disciple? Then why didn't he just say so? After building me up like this. This hurts so much more than if he had just rejected me outright.

"You. Could. Have. Just. Said. No." I muttered, as I could feel blood coming out of my mouth.

"BOSS! STOP! PLEASE!" I could hear Aiko beg as she was pulling on the little boss's frame to no avail.