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Chapter 11 – Reality Check
The aftermath of the Tier 5 battle weighed on Adrian like an invisible anvil. Every muscle screamed in protest, every breath he drew felt like he was inhaling molten iron. He had pushed himself to the edge of survival, and the truth was brutally obvious: he was nowhere near the level required to even graze a Tier 5 Gene Master. His Nano-exoskeleton, the culmination of countless hours, materials, and painstaking micro-adjustments, had been pushed to its maximum, and even then, the enemy's strikes had left him staggering.
Beside him, Amy was sprawled on the ground, chest rising and falling like a metronome keeping time with her exhaustion. Her own gene upgrades were formidable, but even she had barely managed to dodge the worst of the enemy's attacks. For a moment, the two of them simply lay there, staring at the debris around them: shattered rocks, scorched earth, and the lingering aura of energy that made the air shimmer.
Adrian finally broke the silence. "Well… that was… enlightening," he muttered, voice hoarse. His attempt at humor sounded more like a wheeze. "By enlightening, I mean I am ridiculously underpowered."
Amy let out a dry laugh, one that carried both exhaustion and exasperation. "You think? We nearly got flattened in under two minutes." She shifted slightly, wincing from the ache in her legs. "I hope you realize the academy doesn't give out participation ribbons for 'Not Completely Dead'."
He smirked weakly, which quickly faded as he glanced at his own hands, examining the minor bruises and scorch marks from the battle. "Yeah… reality is not exactly forgiving."
Humor aside, Adrian's mind raced. The fight had been a disaster by conventional standards, but as his polymath brain analyzed the battle, his curiosity ignited. He could still see patterns, understand strategies, calculate the potential outcomes if he had made even a single different move. His absorption speed for genetic material, enhanced by his hybrid gene module, allowed him to process each strike, each energy waveform, each tiny micro-expression from the enemy faster than any ordinary cadet could. Even in failure, Adrian could learn exponentially.
Amy noticed his gaze, a mixture of calculation and quiet awe. "Stop analyzing for once. We could have died."
"Exactly," Adrian replied with a grin that was almost manic. "Which means every failure is pure data. Raw, untapped, delicious data!"
Amy groaned, rolling her eyes. "You're insane. And why do I let you get away with talking like this? I swear…" She let her sentence trail off, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
The quiet moment stretched as the sun dipped lower in the sky. Shadows from the shattered terrain stretched across their exhausted forms, painting the battlefield in gold and crimson hues. Adrian shifted onto his side, careful to test the limits of his gene-enhanced muscles and tendon fibers. Every movement was precise, calculated, each joint supported by the adaptive nano-suit that had evolved from their earlier designs.
He could lift himself effortlessly, even after the brutal ordeal. His strength had increased exponentially with each gene lock upgrade. With the enhanced dung beetle gene, he could now lift an absurd 3,000 times his own weight—more than 195 tons—but only in controlled bursts. The spider genome allowed for instant spatial awareness and reflexive agility, letting him dodge projectiles and traverse vertical terrain with ease. The tadigrade gene had given him near-immortality in micro-terms: cellular regeneration that allowed him to withstand injuries that would have ended an ordinary human.
And the sixth gene, still a mystery to most around him, hummed silently beneath his skin, attuned perfectly to his personality, mentality, and mental acuity. It amplified every thought, every reaction, every instinct—making him, in some sense, an extension of his own genius.
Yet, despite all this, he still had not touched the ceiling. Tier 5 opponents were untouchable now, untouchable then, and would remain so until Adrian had the materials and resources to advance his genes to the next lock. The harsh reality gnawed at him, a reminder that power, no matter how extraordinary, always had ceilings. And these ceilings… were designed to humble even someone like him.
Amy stirred, breaking his thoughts. She sat up slowly, stretching her arms and letting a satisfied sigh escape. "You're thinking too much again."
"I'm processing," Adrian corrected. "There's a difference."
"And what is that difference?" Amy asked, arching a brow. "Because from where I'm standing, you look like a human-shaped data terminal."
Adrian laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe… but a very handsome one." He tilted his head, assessing his reflection in the shattered fragments of glass from nearby debris. His face, sculpted with symmetry, clear eyes, and an effortless charisma, reflected the persona he had cultivated in this new world—a mixture of his original human traits and enhancements from his polymath genetic package. He had the physique of someone who trained rigorously, with fine muscle definition that didn't look bulky but screamed efficiency and lethal potential.
Amy snorted. "Handsome, huh? Don't forget you nearly died ten times in a row today. Handsome won't save you from a Tier 5."
He smiled, letting the humor defuse the tension. "Fair point. But, you know, the scientific method is on my side. We survived, we learned, and we'll evolve."
Her gaze softened. "I remember when we were kids. You always said something like that. Always the optimistic one, even when I got mad at you for your… let's say 'creative experiments.'"
Adrian's mind flickered back to that time—another flash of their past. He could see the small, mischievous boy he once was, hiding in the corner of the schoolyard, mixing random chemicals in empty soda bottles, always fascinated by the way things reacted. And Amy, young and furious, would scold him endlessly, though secretly she admired the brilliance that lay beneath the chaos.
"You know," she said, a small smile tugging at her lips, "I promised you back then something."
"Hmm? What's that?"
"You promised you'd make me your waifu." She said it with such seriousness that Adrian couldn't help but laugh, the sound echoing across the battlefield.
"I remember," he replied, trying to sound serious, though a blush threatened to betray him. "And I plan to keep that promise… someday."
Amy rolled her eyes, shaking her head but clearly amused. "Some day, huh? Better make it sooner than later. You're already too much of a genius for your own good."
The moment of levity passed, leaving a comfortable silence. The battlefield was quiet now, a testament to the magnitude of the fight they had endured. In two weeks, they would officially join the Academy. The thought was both thrilling and terrifying. Adrian's mind already raced with calculations: how to optimize his genetic modules, how to gather resources efficiently, and how to integrate his polymath knowledge into his training.
He shifted subtly, testing the limits of his enhanced muscles. The dung beetle gene allowed him to lift massive weights, but he also noted that the integration of the sixth gene gave him unprecedented control over those abilities. The spider genome, tadigrade regeneration, immortal jellyfish reverse-aging, African elephant silent movement, and the newly refined sixth gene all harmonized in a symphony of potential. Each gene complemented the others, creating abilities that could overwhelm even the most skilled opponents—if he learned to use them wisely.
A flicker of curiosity passed over Adrian. "We survived the fight… but next time, we won't just survive. We'll adapt. And when we do…" He let his gaze drift over the horizon, determination settling like armor around him. "Next time, I'll see exactly what a Tier 5 can do—and I'll make sure we're ready."
Amy looked at him, her eyes reflecting a mixture of respect and exasperation. "You really are something else, Adrian. Sometimes I think you enjoy making life harder for yourself on purpose."
"Maybe," he replied, grinning. "But hey, it keeps things interesting."
They stood together, two young cadets at the precipice of a vast, uncharted world, their pasts intertwining with their futures. Both exhausted, both determined, both aware of the enormous gap they had yet to bridge. And somewhere deep within, Adrian knew the first step wasn't just survival—it was mastery. And mastery required more than brute strength. It required intelligence, cunning, patience… and perhaps a little chaos.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of blood-red and gold, Adrian's system pinged quietly in his mind:
[GENE LOCK 2 – COMPLETE. TIER 1 UPGRADE IN PROGRESS. CURRENT ABILITY MULTIPLIER: 3,000x baseline.]
He smiled faintly. This was only the beginning.
The battlefield was quiet. But the universe was not.