Chapter 70: Freakish System

Chapter 67

"Oops..."

Orion said the word with a calm face.

He had wanted to make a sheepish expression, perhaps one filled with shock or embarrassment, but it seemed that no matter what situation he found himself in while in the Origin State, the only thing he could feel was calmness.

Nothing else.

Not embarrassment, nervousness, or even the slightest trace of panic.

It was as though all his other emotions had been forcibly suppressed, leaving behind nothing but an unnaturally composed state of mind.

Orion was beginning to realize that the Origin State was not something he could simply activate and deactivate without consequences. Its effects on his mental state were far more profound than he had initially imagined.

Still, that wasn’t his biggest concern at the moment.

The nurse was still standing frozen in place, staring at him as though she had just witnessed something straight out of a nightmare. Her entire body trembled, and her lips quivered as she struggled to form words.

"I k... kn... knew it!"

Her voice came out in broken, terrified gasps.

"Y... you’re a devil!"

Orion blinked.

"Help! He’s truly a devil!"

With that final scream, the nurse turned around and dashed out of the room as though her life depended on it.

Orion watched her retreating figure, wanting to sigh at the situation.

Unfortunately, even that simple action came out far too calmly and composedly, without the slightest trace of the frustration he would normally have felt.

He turned his head toward the reflective surface nearby and examined himself, and after looking at his reflection for a moment, he became more than certain that the figure staring back at him was clearly not a devil.

If anything, in the Origin State, he looked even more angelic than before.

His appearance had been transformed into something almost unreal, with his pure white hair, rainbow-colored eyes, and overwhelming aura of majesty. In fact, rather than looking like a devil, he looked more like some kind of god.

Orion stared at his reflection for another moment before deciding that he had seen enough. Knowing what was about to happen next, he immediately deactivated the Origin State.

His snowy white hair gradually returned to its original black color, while the mesmerizing rainbow hues in his eyes disappeared, leaving behind his familiar, clear grey eyes.

The transformation was complete, and Orion once again looked like the young man he had been before activating the Origin State.

Well, at least he looked normal enough now.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t say the same for the nurse who had just fled from the room.

Orion barely had time to settle himself before he heard hurried footsteps approaching from outside. Soon, the doctor from earlier appeared at the doorway, accompanied by several other nurses.

This time, however, the group included male nurses as well, and their expressions were considerably sharper than those of the usual hospital staff. The doctor himself had a serious look on his face.

"The devil is residing in here!"

The nurse’s terrified voice rang out from somewhere behind them.

Orion watched as the group entered the room, their eyes sweeping across the surroundings as though they were searching for some dangerous intruder.

However, they didn’t find any devil.

They didn’t find a white-haired monster with rainbow-colored eyes, either.

Instead, what they found was a young man calmly picking up the food that had been scattered across the floor and placing it back into the container before setting it on the table.

The young man looked perfectly ordinary. His hair was black, his eyes were grey, and his clothes were the same blue patient robe he had been wearing all along.

There was nothing particularly threatening about his appearance.

Orion finished arranging the food before turning to face the group, a faint look of surprise appearing on his face.

"What is it, Doctor? Has Lady Katherine come by?"

He asked the question as though he had absolutely no idea why so many people had suddenly barged into his room.

The doctor stared at him, unable to find anything to say for a moment.

He had been prepared for a potential threat. After all, he might be a doctor by profession, but he was also a Level 4 individual. He wasn’t weak by any means, and he certainly wouldn’t stand idly by if a dangerous being had appeared inside his hospital.

However, the idea of a devil residing in a hospital room was preposterous.

He had initially assumed that the nurse was simply frightened by some thief or suspicious individual who had somehow entered the room. Perhaps she had seen someone with an unusual appearance and allowed her imagination to run wild.

Still, the nurse had been far too shaken to dismiss her claims entirely.

She had insisted that someone with white hair and rainbow-colored eyes was inside the room, so the doctor had decided to come and investigate the matter himself.

Yet, upon arriving, he found only Orion.

The young man who had been admitted to the hospital yesterday.

The same young man who had miraculously awakened far earlier than expected.

And, apparently, the same young man who was now calmly packing up the food that had been dropped on the floor.

The doctor felt a little embarrassed, but his expression soon darkened as he turned toward the trembling nurse.

"Nurse Iryn, where is the white-haired devil you mentioned?"

The nurse was immediately pushed forward.

Iryn stumbled slightly as she found herself standing at the front of the group, her gaze landing on Orion.

The moment their eyes met, she shivered uncontrollably. Then, without hesitation, she raised a trembling finger and pointed directly at him.

"It’s him!"

The people around her raised their eyebrows and turned their attention toward Orion, examining him from head to toe.

His hair was black, not white.

His eyes were clear grey, not rainbow-colored.

His clothes were blue, not white.

There was absolutely nothing about him that matched the description Iryn had given them.

For a moment, the nurse froze.

She could feel the disbelief radiating from the people around her, and their expressions made it painfully clear that they thought she was seeing things.

Honestly, given the evidence in front of them, she couldn’t exactly blame them for thinking that way.

But she hadn’t imagined it!

She had seen him!

She had clearly seen the young man transform right before her eyes!

His hair had turned white, his eyes had become rainbow-colored, and even his clothes had changed completely, as though some kind of magic had taken place.

How could she possibly have imagined something so vivid?

Iryn hurriedly began explaining herself.

"I... I swear! His hair really turned white! And his eyes... his eyes turned rainbow-colored! Even his clothes changed! Everything turned white, just like some kind of magic!"

She spoke faster and faster, desperately trying to convince the people around her.

But the more she explained, the more unbelievable her words sounded.

A person’s hair changing color was one thing.

Their eyes turning into a rainbow was another.

But their entire appearance changing in the blink of an eye?

That was simply too much for the others to accept without evidence.

The people who had followed her exchanged doubtful glances. Some looked at her as though they were beginning to question her sanity, while others simply seemed irritated that they had been dragged into such a ridiculous situation.

Orion remained silent throughout the entire exchange, merely watching the proceedings with a calm expression and occasionally glancing between the doctor and the nurse.

He didn’t feel particularly guilty about what was happening.

After all, what was he supposed to do?

Admit that Iryn was telling the truth?

Absolutely not.

He had no intention of revealing his strange nature or the abilities he had recently acquired to a bunch of people he barely knew, not until he understood everything himself.

For now, maintaining a low profile was the best option.

Eventually, the doctor seemed to lose his patience and waved his hand, dismissing the people who had accompanied him.

"All right, that’s enough. Everyone can leave."

The other nurses and medical staff didn’t need to be told twice. They had already seen enough to conclude that there was no white-haired devil in the room.

One after another, they turned around and left, leaving only the doctor, Iryn, and Orion behind.

Iryn watched them go with a desperate expression before turning toward the doctor, her eyes filled with pleading.

"Doctor, I swear I’m telling the truth!"

Her voice trembled as she tried one last time to make him understand.

"He really did change into a different kind of person earlier! Someone completely different from the person standing here now! I’m not lying!"

The doctor shook his head, stepped closer, and gently patted Iryn on the shoulder.

"Nurse Iryn, you’re dismissed for a week."

Iryn froze.

"...What?"

"And when you resume next week, make sure you have your eyes thoroughly examined and treated."

The doctor’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t interested in hearing any further explanations.

Iryn’s mouth opened.

She wanted to argue, defend herself, and insist that she wasn’t crazy, that she hadn’t imagined what she had seen.

But what evidence did she have?

The young man standing before them looked perfectly normal. His appearance didn’t match her description in the slightest, and everyone who had accompanied her had seen the same thing.

There was no proof to support her claims.

Worse still, the doctor appeared to be growing increasingly annoyed.

In the end, Iryn had no choice but to swallow her words. She lowered her head reluctantly and nodded.

"...Understood, Doctor."

However, before leaving, she couldn’t resist looking at Orion one last time.

The young man was watching her with a small, warm smile, a harmless smile that seemed perfectly ordinary.

Yet, for some reason, it made her eyes twitch.

Iryn’s expression stiffened, and she muttered under her breath, just loudly enough for the words to be heard.

"That child is no child... He must be a devil incarnate. He really has everyone fooled..."

Orion’s eyes twitched.

The doctor’s eyes twitched as well.

Of course, they had both heard her. How could they not? Iryn hadn’t exactly been quiet about her final remark.

For a brief moment, the room fell silent.

Orion maintained his smile, while the doctor looked as though he was reconsidering several things about the situation. Iryn, meanwhile, finally seemed to realize that she might have said something she shouldn’t have.

Still, she didn’t stay long enough to find out what might happen next.

She quickly turned around and left the room.

Only after the nurse had disappeared from sight did the doctor turn back toward Orion and clear his throat.

"Sorry about barging in like that."

His tone was considerably more apologetic now.

"We were only responding to a report from one of the nurses. I hope we didn’t disturb you too much."

Orion shook his head lightly.

"It’s fine, Doctor. I understand."

The doctor nodded, and after exchanging a few more words with Orion, he finally took his leave, closing the door behind him.

Only when Orion was certain that the doctor had gone did he allow himself to relax, letting out a small sigh of relief.

That had been another close call.

Seriously, how many times was he going to have to deal with situations like this?

First, there had been the incident with the beds and his telekinesis. Now, he had nearly caused an entire group of hospital staff to believe that a devil was residing in one of their rooms.

And all of this had happened before he had even figured out how his new abilities worked!

Orion rubbed his forehead.

There was absolutely no way he would allow anyone to discover the full extent of his unusual nature and powers until he had a proper understanding of them himself.

He needed time.

Time to explore the Origin System.

Time to understand his abilities.

And, most importantly, time to figure out exactly what had happened to him during his Reawakening.

Until then, he would keep everything to himself.

He had no intention of revealing his secrets just because someone happened to catch a glimpse of something strange.

With that decision made, Orion returned his attention to the system interface.

His gaze moved back to the list of Origin skills.

The third skill on the list was still locked, and the same was true for the remaining skills displayed below it.

Orion narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had expected there to be some kind of requirement for unlocking additional skills, but he hadn’t anticipated that so many of them would be inaccessible from the beginning.

Just as he was wondering what he needed to do, a system message suddenly appeared before him.

[System Message]

[Host, there are three ways to unlock additional Origin skills and features.]

[1. Obtain your first Origin Summon to unlock certain Origin skills and features.]

[2. As the host reaches higher levels of power, more features and skills of the Origin System will gradually become available.]

[3. Complete Origin Level Quests to gain access to Origin Tokens and unlock additional features and skills.]

[Note: Origin Tokens can evolve skills, abilities, and even talents themselves, provided that a sufficient number has been collected.]

Orion calmly read through the message before picking up one of the baked buns in his hand and taking a bite.

He chewed slowly, then reached for the milk and gulped down a mouthful.

These were the same food items Nurse Iryn had brought earlier, before dropping the tray in her panic. Fortunately, not everything had ended up scattered across the floor.

Orion continued eating as he contemplated the system’s explanation.

Unlike before, he was no longer freaking out over what the system could do.

He had begun to accept it for what it actually was.

A freakish system.