Posted by Through the process of creating his Venas Aker was also able to break through the Body Conditioning Level 2 Muscles and he felt as if though his strength had increased dramatically. Aker immediately pulled out his sword and began swinging it around as he danced through the foyer. His speed, control and strength were remarkably different and if he was to face either the Fire Ape or Wind Wolf again, he felt like he could win against either with half the effort he previously had to expend.
Aker ran through the duel wielding set as he visualized the fight with both the Fire Ape and the Wind Wolf. He was now able to keep up with the speed of the Wind Wolf, albeit just barely and the strength of the Fire Ape was no longer as domineering.
Aker was fully concentrated on his practice and understanding his new found strength as well as trying to understand how his new Venas would affect his fighting abilities that he didn’t notice as the guards brought a fighter in on a stretcher. The fighter had just finished his fight in the arena and was on the brink of death. At this point if it was the normal doctor on duty Senior Brother Fenton, he would have just given the fighter something to ease his pain and waited for his death.
Aker continued swinging his sword, slashing while defending. Attacking while dodging, these were the fundamentals of the sword style that Aker was trying to learn and perfect. Vance had only taught Aker some basic moves and some small combinations and allowed Aker to practice and learn at his own pace and to create his own style. Vance only made sure that Aker’s form and techniques were good instead of teaching Aker any specific sword style. When Aker had first learned how to fight with the knifes, due to the short length of the knifes he was forced to attack and defend simultaneously, that fighting style and tendency was also reflected in Aker’s sword.
Normally prisoners were not allowed to have weapons unless they were in the arena as the prisoners could easily turn on the guards and workers within The Pit, however, Vance had made an exception for Aker and none of the other guards dared to question it. Vance had made a compelling argument about Aker being allowed his weapons while in his cell when he put his boot into five guards breaking their arms and legs. Now all of the guards avoided Aker like he was the harbinger of death for fear of offending that devil Vance.
“Hey is the doctor here?” the guard asked casually as he didn’t really care about the life and death of a single prisoner.
“Sort of, I’m the doctor on duty today.” Aker replied back as he stared at the injured fighter ignoring the guard all together.
As the guard heard Aker’s words, he couldn’t hide the amazement on his face at the idea of this little boy being the doctor on duty. This guard had of course heard about Vance telling everyone that Aker was allowed to use his weapon outside of the arena, however since he was off of work and out of the foyer before Aker started his medical duties each day he had no idea that Aker was an apprentice doctor.
The guard looking around and not seeing any one else was left with the conclusion he could come too, that the Aker must be the doctor.
“Not sure what you can do about it but this fighter just took a beating in the arena. I suggest you give him some pain medicine and make his death easy.” The guard offered his unsolicited opinion on how Aker should handle the injured fighter.
Aker gloriously ignored the opinion of the guard as he walked up to the barely conscious fighter who was now laid out on one of his tables. Aker first checked the breathing of the patient and saw that his breaths were shallow as he struggled to breath. He then proceeded to check his pulse by hand while he inspected the multiple wounds. Surprisingly Aker didn’t see much blood from the patient which suggested to Aker that he fought against an opponent that didn’t use a sharp object. Since Aker had learned both modern and ancient medicine at the same time, he tended to blend the two as he diagnosed and treated.
“What did he fight?”
“A Mountain Crushing Bear, it was a particularly big one too.” The guard didn’t hesitate to answer Aker’s questions.
Aker nodded his head understanding the situation. Earth Bears like Wind Wolves did not focus on using their claws but tried to incapacitate their enemies via impact blows. For the Wind Wolf it would launch itself at its prey with its hard fur while the Mountain Crushing Bear used its nearly indestructible paws to smash.
Aker then examined the fighter and found that he had internal bleeding in his abdomen. He had also determined that the fighter had a collapsed lung based on his shallow breathing and the slight tint of blue on his skin. While the fighter had other injuries the internal bleeding and collapsed lungs were the two that required immediate triage.
Without hesitation Aker cut into the side of the medium built fighter at his ribs and inserted a tube and in one motion pushed the tube up and toward his lungs. Immediately air and fluid gushed out and within a few seconds the man was taking a big deep breath indicating that his lung had inflated and his breathing had returned to normal.
With his collapsed lung fixed Aker then grabbed a surgical knife and made a large incision in the abdomen as Aker began doing exploratory surgery looking for the source of the bleeding. Immediately Aker found multiple open blood vessels which he began sealing with his heating device and within a few minutes had completely stopped all the bleeding. After stopping the bleeding Aker removed the pooled blood and then stitched the now unconscious man back up. He slapped some balsamic fluid on the wound and then started pumping fluids to hydrate and help in his recovery. After about twenty minutes the man was calmly resting on the table no longer in critical condition.
As Aker worked on his patient the guard stood to the side mouth agape in disbelief. He had brought patients here for years and never once had he seen a patient who was at death’s door and not only knocking but stepping through the threshold come back unless it was Dr. Life & Death working.
Some of the doctors might not have even wasted the pain medicine on this guy as they would have figured he was a goner anyways and he would be comatose within a few minutes. To watch Aker pull the man back from the jaws of death was inconceivable, and not only did he manage to save the man he did it in just a few minutes. From the time he first saw the patient, diagnosed and then treated him it had been less than thirty minutes. Aker’s accuracy and precision when wielding the surgical knife and heating tool were beyond reproach.
“I think he should be fine…. I think in the future we should check out the patient before we declare them dead don’t you think?” Aker turned to the guard and finally acknowledged the earlier statement made by him.
“What?” The guard was confused at Aker’s question. He was still lost in the miracle he had just witnessed and wasn’t sure what Aker was talking about.
“Aren’t you the one who told me to give him some pain medicine and just let him be? I understand he is just another prisoner to you but to me he is a patient. As long as he is in the medic station, I’ll do everything in my power to save his life just like all doctors should….in the future if you don’t know what you’re talking about you probably shouldn’t talk….” Aker narrowed his eyes and glared at the guard who suddenly felt a cold chill run down his back. Aker who tended to laugh and joke with his teachers and Kara had unknowingly started to develop a killing intent with others.
The apprentices within the kitchen who had tried to ask Aker about how he did his cooking were so scared after talking with him for a second that they didn’t show up for a couple of days. One of them even stopped working in the kitchen all together. Little did these apprentices know that Aker actually wanted to talk to them. Everyone in the kitchen knew to keep their distance from Aker and so no one would even make eye contact with him any more…. everyone except for Kara who seemed immune to it.
In the case of the apprentices Aker wanted to talk and be around them and they felt intimidated the pressure of his gaze caused them to run like he was a ghost. For this guard who Aker actually felt a slight bit of hatred for it felt as if though a mountain was trying to crush him.
This guard had crossed a line with Aker. When Aker first heard the comment by the guard he was extremely upset…. how many patients have ended up dead because of this guard? How many times has this guard decided of his own volition that nothing should be done? How many times has he influenced the doctor or convinced someone that it was fine if they didn’t do anything?
Someday it could be himself laying there unresponsive and the last thing he would want is an idiot who didn’t know what he was talking about to tell the doctor that they should just give him an easy death.
“I uuuu…nnderstand….” the guard stuttered back as he tried to respond. As Aker’s eyes tore through the guard and the sneer on his face showed his disdain the guard understood that he didn’t want this boy or his guard Vance to be angry with him, he was genuinely scared. It would be best if he just avoided Aker for the foreseeable future.
The guards tended to act tough with the prisoners but it was infallible that there were certain prisoners that all of the guards feared and dreaded. As the prisoners fought and survived, they all began developing a thick killing intent that the guards had grown accustomed to, however, there were some that made your soul shake as you looked into their eyes. For some reason as the guard looked into Aker’s eyes despite his small stature, he gave the impression that he was dangerous.
The guard quickly ran off and as he did so Aker didn’t release the sneer and bit of anger he felt for the guard.
As the day went on more and more patients ended up in the medic station. Each of the fighters entered the medic station with varying level of injuries and Aker completely healed them all. In a couple of cases he had found a few of the fighters had illnesses and were carrying long term injuries that were affecting their health.
For those with illnesses he was able to diagnose and begin treatment for them. In some cases, using some of the ancient medical practices such as acupuncture and medical massage therapy. For some of the fighters who had been in The Pit for a while who had injuries that were beginning to affect their very abilities and as such could cause them to lose their lives Aker completed a couple of minor and major surgeries.
By the afternoon of that day all of the fighters in The Pit as well as the guards and just about everyone else had a new nick name for Aker……”Little Doctor Life”.