Chapter 36: Biotic Awakening
The final database completion came from an unexpected source—a brief encounter with an asari information broker who'd been impressed by my reputation as "Omega's Defender." Just a handshake, a conversation about defensive strategies, and the proximity to another powerful biotic mind pushed my Asari genetic understanding over the threshold.
[ASARI BIOTIC HERITAGE DATABASE: COMPLETE]
[GENETIC ANALYSIS: 100% SUFFICIENT FOR ACQUISITION]
[GENE ACQUISITION AVAILABLE: COMBAT DROP (4% PER ASARI) OR FRIENDSHIP (100% BAR) OR DATABASE COMPLETION REWARD]
[DATABASE COMPLETION REWARD: AVAILABLE NOW]
[ACQUIRE ASARI BIOTIC HERITAGE?]
I stared at the notification, feeling the weight of approaching transformation. This wasn't like other genetic integrations—biotics fundamentally altered how someone interacted with the universe itself, granting access to dark energy manipulation that bordered on magic.
"Do it. Whatever the cost, I need this power. The Collectors won't be stopped by conventional weapons."
"Acquire," I commanded mentally.
The integration began immediately, but unlike previous gene acquisitions, this one burned. Cellular structures throughout my nervous system began rebuilding themselves, creating pathways for energies that human biology was never meant to channel. I collapsed in Solveli's laboratory, convulsing as my brain developed entirely new neural architecture.
[ASARI BIOTIC HERITAGE (RARE) INTEGRATING]
[WARNING: FORCED BIOTIC AWAKENING IN PROGRESS]
[ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME: 12 HOURS]
[CAUTION: PROCESS EXTREMELY PAINFUL]
Solveli's scanners went wild as they tried to catalog changes that violated every law of biological development he understood.
"This should be impossible," he muttered, reviewing readings that showed my nervous system rewriting itself in real-time. "Humans can develop biotics, but it requires element zero exposure in utero or surgical implants. You're forcing biological biotics through genetic integration."
The pain was indescribable. Every nerve ending felt like it was being rewired with molten metal while my brain struggled to accommodate sensory input it had no framework to process. I could feel dark energy fields around me—the constant presence of mass effect manipulation waiting to be shaped.
"This is agony. But this is what it takes to become something that can face Reapers on equal terms."
Miranda knelt beside me, monitoring my vital signs while her own biotic abilities let her sense the chaotic energies building in my system.
"His neural pathways are completely restructuring," she reported to Solveli. "Bioelectric activity is off the charts. He's essentially developing a completely new sensory system."
Twelve hours. Twelve hours of screaming as alien genetics forced human biology to accommodate powers that had taken the asari millions of years to evolve naturally. When it finally ended, I lay exhausted in a pool of my own sweat, but I could feel it—the mass effect fields that permeated all space, waiting for my will to shape them.
[ASARI BIOTIC HERITAGE (RARE) SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATED]
[NEW ABILITIES UNLOCKED: BIOTIC PUSH, BIOTIC PULL, BIOTIC BARRIER]
[MASSIVE POWER INCREASE: +500 MP, +30 WILLPOWER]
[WARNING: ABILITIES REQUIRE EXTENSIVE TRAINING FOR COMBAT VIABILITY]
[NEW SKILL TREE UNLOCKED: BIOTIC ABILITIES (NOVICE 8%)]
I sat up slowly, feeling the universe differently than I ever had before. Every object around me existed within mass effect fields that I could theoretically manipulate. The sensation was overwhelming—like suddenly developing a new sense organ without the neural conditioning to process its input properly.
"How do you feel?" Miranda asked.
"Like I can feel gravity," I said, struggling to articulate the alien sensations. "Like the space between atoms is alive."
I reached out tentatively, trying to access the new abilities the System had unlocked. A glass on the nearby table trembled, then slowly lifted into the air—shakily, barely controlled, but definitely responding to my will.
The assembled witnesses—Miranda, Solveli, even Aria who'd arrived to observe—applauded the demonstration. But I knew this was just the beginning. Raw power without technique was useless, maybe even dangerous.
"I have the potential for biotic abilities, but zero training. Right now I'm a toddler with a loaded gun."
Miranda took charge of my training with the kind of clinical precision that had made her one of Cerberus's most effective operatives.
"You have raw power from the gene," she explained as we began basic exercises in a secured training room. "But zero technique. Asari children spend decades learning to control their biotics. You're trying to compress that education into weeks."
We started with fundamentals—push, pull, barrier. The most basic manipulations of mass effect fields that formed the foundation of all biotic combat. My progress was unnaturally fast thanks to the System's acceleration of learning, but I was nowhere near combat ready.
"Every attempt is like trying to write with my feet. The power is there, but the control is nonexistent."
During one particularly frustrating session where my biotic push sent a training dummy flying into the wall instead of simply knocking it over, Aria appeared to observe.
"Stop thinking like human," she said bluntly. "Asari biotics flow like water—emotion, intuition, grace. You fight like Krogan and think like Salarian. To be biotic, think like Asari."
It was a perspective shift that helped enormously. Instead of approaching biotics as a weapon to be aimed, I began treating them as an extension of emotional state. Calm focus for barriers, directed anger for pushes, gentle curiosity for pulls.
Slowly, crudely, I began integrating biotic abilities into my combat repertoire. A biotic push to stagger enemies before closing for melee. Barriers to absorb incoming fire while repositioning. Pulls to disrupt enemy formations.
[BIOTIC ABILITIES SKILL: NOVICE 8% → 15%]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: +400 XP FROM SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE - 2200/4500 TO LEVEL 9]
[NEW SYNTHESIS OPTION AVAILABLE: REQUIRES ANALYSIS]
That night, I practiced alone in our quarters, making small objects float while trying to understand the incredible forces I was learning to manipulate. The sensation was intoxicating—literally reshaping reality through will and emotion.
Miranda found me creating a small biotic field that held us both in a gentle embrace of dark energy, mass effect fields making the air itself feel alive.
"You're literally evolving in front of me," she said, wonder clear in her voice. "It's beautiful and terrifying."
"This is what it means to become something that can fight Reapers. Not just enhanced strength or speed, but the power to manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe."
"I'm becoming something that can fight Reapers," I said, maintaining the field around us. "That's the only thing that matters."
The System displayed information that made my breath catch:
[SYNTHESIS OPTION AVAILABLE]
[ASARI BIOTIC HERITAGE + KROGAN WARLORD'S LEGACY = "FURY CONDUIT" (LEGENDARY)]
[REQUIREMENTS: 1 ADDITIONAL ASARI GENE COPY OR 1 ADDITIONAL KROGAN GENE COPY]
[ESTIMATED COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS: +300%]
[WARNING: SYNTHESIS WILL CREATE UNPRECEDENTED BIOTIC-BERSERKER HYBRID]
[PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILITY: UNCERTAIN]
The possibility of legendary synthesis hung before me like a promise and a threat. The fusion of Asari biotic mastery with Krogan fury would create something the galaxy had never seen—a berserker who could reshape reality itself.
But at what cost to my sanity? To my humanity?
I dismissed the notification for now, focusing on the present moment. Miranda's warmth beside me, the gentle flow of biotic energy around us, the feeling of having gained power that might actually matter when the real war began.
Tomorrow would bring new training, new challenges, new choices about how far I was willing to go to protect the people I cared about. But tonight, I allowed myself to feel the satisfaction of another milestone reached.
I was no longer just an enhanced human with genetic advantages. I was becoming something that could stand against ancient intelligences and the harvest of civilizations.
The question was whether I'd still recognize myself when the transformation was complete.
Outside our window, Omega continued its eternal rotation, unaware that one of its residents had just taken another step toward transcending the limitations of baseline humanity.
The Reapers were still coming. But now I had the beginnings of power that might actually be able to stop them.
The future remained unwritten, and I was becoming strong enough to help write it.
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