Sean winced slightly, as the water ran down his body, the small patches of bruised skin that was yet to heal, burning like fresh wound to alcohol, under the constant running of the hospital's sterilized water.
It seemed even though he had accelerated cell regeneration and healing factor, his body had pushed itself into dealing with the more grievous and life threatening injuries, while storing energy to keep him running, since he refused rest... Almost like it had a mind of its own.
Sean was more than fascinated by this survival mechanism. He was more or less certain, that this had to do with what beast his genes had been enhanced with.
It was like the said genes had carried lifetimes of experience, utilization, survival and adaptation, and passed it to him, slowly printing them into his own biology and muscle memory.
He was not surprised by it, since this was one of the known perks of Genetic Enhancements, and also oddly why some people did lose their minds and become beastial themselves should the enhancement succeed, but they turn out to be weak willed.
Reading about it however, and experiencing it, were two completely different things, thus his fascination. This perk was what had driven his actions in the pit, and what had helped him survive against those beasts, when his body was just reacting on instinct, or rather, several generations of gene coded, survival evolution.
As fascinating as it was however, he wasn't particularly a big fan of it, especially since it made him almost a little too feral, or so he saw it.
What he did know though, was that his case wasn't unique... at least, to an extent. This odd dissonance, was a result of his body, still trying to integrate seamlessly with the beast's genome.
But as far as he knew, this only happened at the second phase of an enhancement sequence, which was the integration phase, something that should have taken months... a month at the very least, before it started, and even Elysium was not exempt to this.
Rich or poor, for better for worse, the human body was at base, still the human body.
The first phase of the enhancement, the infusion phase, usually lasted about two to three months, depending on the person, one month at the very least, and weeks at the extreme shortest amount of time.
In this time, despite the gene recalibration already being finished during the enhancement protocols, the body still underwent a series of mutations, and controlled evolutions... As controlled as it could be, without good enough gene therapy.
All this was saying that for that duration, his body would be, or should have been under constant stress and rewiring, where even the network of neural pathways in his body, would undergo a restructuring, before the integration phase.
He would have needed to constantly visit the hospital for gene therapy, so with the advanced biotechnology of the world, some unwanted mutations could be removed, lest one risked turning into a fleshly abomination.
Now however, that he was experiencing what was clearly an effect of what only happened during the integration phase, he was at a loss for what his stance was.
He sighed deeply under the warm shower, his hot breath fogging the glass.
Even with all the body heat and stress, rather than a cold shower, Sean had instead, opted for a warm, almost hot water bath.
Even though by biology and homeostasis, he knew he would have done better with a colder temperature to cool off, especially since his new body did not seem to be a fan of large amount of heat, it was hard to change his habits on a fly.
Back on Earth, he had always preferred a hot bath to a cold one for reasons even he didn't know, and even though his brain told him otherwise, he still wanted to feel that pleasure of what he loved doing.
At the very least, this grounded him somewhat. No matter how much things had changed in the span of this ten to twelve hours he had been in this world, he was still Ellis Jonathan, as much as he had come to being Sean Storme.
After he felt satisfied, he walked out of the bath, to the bathroom mirror.
'This hospital truly is luxurious' he thought.
He took in his appearance as he stepped into the light of the mirror. It would be weird and awkward if after being in this body for so long, and still don't know what he looked like. Maybe someone could hold his picture against his face, and he wouldn't be able to tell that, that was him.
It certainly wasn't for self indulgence. Not at all.
His lips curled up faintly, nodding in satisfaction to what he saw.
"Not bad," he mused.
Staring back at him from the mirror, was a young man with platinum white hair, and depending on the lighting, could even be mistaken for a light sheen of blonde, just like his previous hair color.
A handsome face, one up to par or even better than his previous looks, dark circles under his eyes, which he gracefully ignored.
Sean grimaced lightly. He wasn't closing his eyes to sleep anytime soon. Not like he could, even if he wanted to.
He had a toned physique, that bellied years of training and workout, a physique that outclassed his previous in so many ways, he even felt jealous.
"Well, it's mine now," he chuckled dryly.
On his fair skin were faint purple blooms, that stung slightly upon touch, as well as little tears and scratches, that were yet to heal.
Finally satisfied with his self indulgence, he quickly got dressed into a clean hospital robe that had been prepared for him, and left the bathroom.
As he walked back into the hospital room, he noticed some new additional faces, plus the air seemed charged and electric.
The lackadaisical Devon, seemed to have a scowl on his face, and even Richelle didn't seem all that pleased by the new arrival.
Leaning on the wall by door, was a man with olive colored hair and deep green eyes, wearing a smug, entertained grin on his face.
And standing respectfully to his side, not in the least bit intimidated like Drew was, from the suffocating atmosphere, and electric undercurrents of the three adults, was a handsome young man, who looked fifteen too, just like Sean... At least in appearance.
Looking at him, Sean felt he was familiar... like he knew him from somewhere. But it was basically impossible. He had only been in this world for hours, it was impossible for him to have such familiarity with anybody. He had almost dismissed it, when his sluggish brain, immediately kick-started gear.
Brown hair, brown eyes, an expression that was both warm and yet distant, here in Morales research hospital, plus this world...
There was no mistaking it, it truly was him!
'Main Character of "Evolution Is The Way To Mythic,"' Sean mused internally. 'Thorne... Thorne Hiddleston'