James looked at his wrist out of habit. However, instead of a watch, he saw the skin on his wrist. He didn’t have a watch with him in the hospital with him, so he didn’t have it in the dungeon either. Thus, he didn’t know what time it was. He estimated he’d spent at the very least half an hour running through the dungeon, but he couldn’t tell how much time he’d spent in the magic circle that choose the item for him. Though, from the fact that John was waiting for him probably meant that it couldn’t have been too long. Probably. John himself was an enigma. Maybe he’d been in there for hours and John sat patiently waiting for him to come out. He really hoped that wasn’t the case

“Anyways, I should wake up.”

James rubbed the head of the bear cub again and told it it had to go inside his card again. He’d have to test whether or not he could bring the bear to Earth, but he was inside a hospital. Now was not the time.

The bear was sucked back into the dungeon card, and James left the dungeon.

He woke up, and turned to check the time. It had only been half an hour. It seemed like no time had passed at all in the magic circle. James didn’t know how that worked, but he didn’t think about it. This was James’ new strategy: if you can’t figure it out, don’t think about it. That way, you’ll save yourself time and headaches.

As James was musing about his dungeon diving experiences, a nurse walked into his room. James switched from thinking about how the dungeon worked to how he was going to pretend like the dungeon didn’t exist.

“How do you feel?”

“Uhhhh…everything’s aching a bit. But it’s not unbearable.”

The nurse nodded.

“Considering the injuries you sustained, that’s good. At least we don’t have to put you on medication now.”

As a matter of fact, James’ injuries had already been fully healed, because he had taken some potions in the dungeon. However, he had no way to explain this, and thus acted like he was still injured.

“Uh, do you know where my phone is? Is it in my pile of stuff?” James nodded his head at the heap of ripped cloth.

The nurse searched within the pile, and pulled out a a phone. Its screen was completely smashed, and it was beyond repair.

“Ah.”

It wasn’t too surprising that his phone broke, considering the ferocious fight that had occurred against the demon bear.

Damn, I should have put it in my storage bag, thought James. But, it wasn't a huge loss. It was less than 10 goblins, $1000 dollars.

The nurse put it down on the table. “Did you want to call someone?”

“Uh, yeah. I’d like to call my parents.”

“Okay. We have a phone here that you can use.”

James gingerly dialed in his mother’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey, mom. It’s me.”

“JAMES!! Are you okay? Are you hurt? The bear didn’t ”

After James spent 20 minutes listening to his mother crying and telling her it was okay, she finally regained enough composure to speak.

“How are your injuries?” asked Papa Lu.

“Yeah, I’m in stable condition now,” James said in Mandarin. “I won’t have any long lasting effects, although I think I might need crutches or something for a while.”

This was the truth: he was already fully healed. Not wanting to worry his parents more, he shrugged it off and made it sound as small as possible.

Then, his sister May was put on the phone.

“Hey,” she said. “I’m glad you’re okay”

“Yeah, thanks.”

There was no sibling banter today, no joking. However, that didn’t bother James.

He and his family talked for a while on the phone, until James brought up the TV interview. He got their permission to appear on TV. Eventually, the call came to an end, and James hung up.

He smiled. It felt good to have family and friends that stood behind him. For some reason, he thought of Ayla, who had told him she was on the run. He didn’t know anything else, and he didn’t even know if he’d meet her again.

“No, I probably will. After all, there aren’t that many dungeon explorers,” he thought to himself.

James handed the phone back over to the nurse.

“So, when do you think I can be released?” asked James.

“You bruised your coccyx, in other words, your tailbone. So, when that heals up, and you can sit down, we’ll let you go. That should only be a few days. However, because of your fractured leg bones, you’ll be using a wheelchair for a month or two.”

James nodded. He wasn’t surprised about this. Without Ayla, he would’ve died on the spot. The doctors had taken a look at him only when the worst of his injuries, his bleeding caused by the potential releasing pill, had already been dealt with. That left primarily bone wounds and bruises, which James would now have to spend 6 to 8 weeks to “heal.”

He thanked the nurse, who eventually left.

James wondered what it’d be like to be in a wheelchair for 2 months. He didn’t want to bother, but there would be no explanation as to why he miraculously healed multiple broken bones in a day.

“Hopefully, they won’t take a look at my wounds again until a while later. My bones are already fully healed. I don’t think I have to worry though – they already put the casts on.”

James had casts on his right arm and leg, which he’d broken. Then, he had a sling on his left arm and a small brace on his left leg. These two were only sprained or hairline fractured, and would heal more quickly.

James ate the hospital lunch, and then watched some television in the afternoon. At one point, someone came in asking if he could call his parents to get permission for a TV interview. He told him he’d already gotten permission.

About half an hour later, the TV reporters came in. James was interested by the cameras and microphone setups they had. The downside was that it made the small room even smaller. Then, a man walked into the room.

This was Paul Anderson, the man who he’d seen on TV and was reporting for him. James had seen his face before on the daily news channel. He was kind of shocked to meet someone famous, even though he knew even more famous people, like Jack’s dad and all of his senior explorers, who owned massive companies that were an excuse for their dungeon earnings. But, he’d met the people first, and then found out that they were famous.

“Hello. My name is Paul Anderson and I’m a news anchor for Sea Bee Esse News.”

“James Lu.”

“Yes. I, uh, would’ve shaken your hand, but…”

One of James’ arms was in a sling, and the other was in a cast.

“No worries.”

“Alright, that’s good. Shall we start the interview, then?”