Full of surprises.

As doc got to work, Lucille takes me back to my room.

"Is there anything I can get for you on the way?" Lucille asked.

"You got anything that'll speed up my recovery process?"

"Check this out." She smiled as she wheeled me down the hall.

******

"You've been looking through this place for a while now don't ya think?"

I call out to Lucille who's currently waist-deep head first in a literal pile of what looks like random plants.

" Sorry," she popped her head out.

"I could've sworn it was around here somewhere, knowing doc he probably moved it again."

"I'd give you a hand but ..... you know." I shrug my shoulders.

Lucille snorts and immediately covers her mouth while turning bright red.

"I- I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh." She hastily apologized.

"Relax, it was a joke. What are you looking for anyway?"

"There should be a black box with gold dragons on it around here somewhere."

"You mean that box over there."

I nod in the direction of the box in question which is sitting on the counter three feet away from her.

"Found it!" She yelled excitedly.

"Could've sworn I found it, but ok."

She opened the box and inside were five golden-colored beads each of them glowed with a mysterious energy.

"The hell are these?" I asked.

"These are medicinal pills created by a country in the east. They call them "Qi nourishment pills." It'll cut your recovery time by a substantial amount."

"I've heard about these when I was younger, got a chance to use one but it was a low-tiered pill."

"Well you're in luck, these happen to be of the highest quality."

"Are you sure it's alright for me to take these?" I ask her. Remembering that even the low-tiers are pretty expensive.

"I mean... I know I asked for equipment and everything, but why are you guys helping me? What's in it for you?"

She closed the box, placed it on my lap, and stood directly in front of me.

" I don't have emotions." She said.

"Huh?"

"I said I don't have emotions. love, hate, sadness, guilt. I feel none of those things. I am an artificial human. Biomechanical. More machine than organic."

"Uhh... your point?"

"My point is even though I can't feel emotions or experience them I can still read them and understand their importance, and ever since I was created all I've ever seen on the faces of every person I've ever met is fear, anxiety, and depression. Every man, woman, and child on this planet has feared the Army of Despair ever since they appeared 200 years ago and will probably continue to do so."

She grabbed my shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes.

"That's what I thought until the world saw you and your family stand up to them, you showed every human out there that the monsters they fear so much can bleed, you gave everyone hope for once. And for that, we will do anything in our power to help you so these few pills are nothing."

She turned me around and wheeled me to my room.

"Also, Doc made like millions of those things."

******

"Are you going to need help with anything else?" Lucille asked.

"I'm fine, I'm gonna be in here for a while until my body is back at 100%."

"No problem, I'll still check on you regularly though."

"No problem."

She sets the black box on the dresser and leaves the room closing the door behind her.

I close my eyes and take a minute to breathe, as I do flashes of my family being killed appear in my head. Each of them adding fuel to the fire.

I open my eyes and walk over to the black box.

"Shit forgot to ask her to open it," I say.

Pissed at the fact I forgot something so simple

I was about to call Lucille for help when an idea suddenly came to me.

"Been a while since I tried it," I mused.

"Hope I'm not too rusty."

I focus on the mana in the air just above the box and push with my mind, when I do, the top to the box flips open revealing the Medicine inside.

" 'Slitty."

Channeling my mana I use it to crush all the pills into a powdery cloud which I inhale, I

close my eyes and focus on circulating my internal energy. The pills were showing an immediate effect, rejuvenating my body and closing my wounds, as I was checking my body I see just how severe my injuries were. Honestly, had I not trained my body to be harder than steel a single swing from Michael's blade, or any of the sins for that matter, would have cut me in half.

"This might take longer than I thought."

I practice the breathing technique my father taught me. By gathering mana from my surroundings and absorbing it into my body I'm able to permanently boost my physical and healing capabilities.

All of the mana inside my body and surroundings started to be absorbed by the cells that make up my body. I focus on running mana throughout my entire body in waves starting from the cells in my bone marrow to my hair follicles and skin cells, every part of my being absorbed mana.

Now if any other person saw this scene they'd probably think I'm suicidal and say something like.

"YoU cAnT aBsOrB eNeRgY fRoM tHe aIr iT's tOo PoLlUtEd."

"yOu'Ll DaMaGe YoUr MaNa VeInS."

But as my cells eat up more and more mana I start to sweat a sticky black substance, which is a mixture of leftover waste that's built up in my body and polluted mana particles exiting through my pores.

"Ugh.."

Forgot about the smell.

"I must've been unconscious for a while."

Since I do my breathing technique multiple times a day my body doesn't usually produce this much but...

" OOF, Smells like rotten eggs and skrag ass!" I scrunch up my nose.

As I concentrate on circulating my energy, letting mana fill in the new space, I noticed that there were some changes in my body.

First of all my physical abilities seemed to have risen.

By a lot.

Before... the fall of city 8, though my power was nothing to scoff at, my growth was a little on the slow side, not slow enough for me to end up as a weakling but slow enough for me to be frustrated, but now I could feel my body healing and growing stronger, my bones, veins, and muscles bulged, compressed and hardened as they were reconstructed and reinforced with mana, strengthening them. My organs and skin hardened to an unbelievable degree. Had I fought Michael and his generals with this body I feel like I'd have at least a 40% chance of taking at least two of them with me.

Still not good odds. And that's still not even counting their released forms which would skyrocket their power to a completely different league altogether.

"Stronger. I need to get stronger."

Strong enough to completely and utterly destroy each one of them with ease.

But there was also the more pressing issue of the three suspicious-looking orbs floating in the depths of my body.

They were positioned with one on the right, one on the left, and one in the middle.

The one on the left was a blood-red sphere, the one on the right was a deep blue, while the one in the middle, which was also the largest, was a pitch-black color.

I've never seen these before so how in the hell did these get inside my body without me noticing.

As I approached the orbs the red one suddenly released a terrifying ominous energy wave, it felt dark, corrupted, and negative. It was enough to make me break out in a cold sweat, but weirdly, I knew it meant no harm. Just as soon as the energy wave started it immediately stopped as though that monstrous power was a lie.

I approached the orbs once more and this time the blue orb released a wave of energy and even though it was just as powerful as the energy released from the red orb instead of feeling dark and corrupted, it felt light and pure. But like the red one as soon as it started it was over.

"Why does this mana feel so familiar?" I question myself.

I finally stood before the orbs and the large black sphere gave off a soft golden light. Lines of strange runes began to form from the golden light, and even though it was my first time seeing them, I somehow understood what each character meant and their purpose.

"I have so many fucking questions," I say to myself.

********

Two months later.

Lucille is giving me a final check-up.

"How is this possible? With the number of severe injuries you took, even after using the Qi pills, you shouldn't be fully healed for at least another two or three years." she looks at me in disbelief.

"I guess I'm just built differently." I joke.

She leads me to doc who had been locked in his lab for the last two months.

"Ah Malcolm, I see you've healed up remarkably fast since the last time we met." Doc says as he gives me a look over.

"I honestly have no idea what happened" I lie. Even though I know I should tell them the truth for some reason I still don't fully trust them.

"Strange indeed." he says as he starts applying metal braces to my arms.

"What are these for Doc?" I ask confused.

" I've finally finished building you a pair of arms."

"Fuck yeah! Let's get these babies on." I cheer.

"It's going to take a few hours will you be fine?" he asks cautiously.

" Yea I'll be good doc."

"Are you sure? It will be excruciatingly painful. I could give you a sedative."

"I'm fine. Really" I reassure him.

As he attaches the parts I start to circulate my magical energy once more as I glance into the depths of my conscience I stare at the black orb that has shown no other type of reaction after two months.

" What do you do?" I ask it, Knowing it wouldn't answer.

A few hours later doc and Lucille finish installing the arms.

" Now you may not be able to lift your arms for a few weeks and even after that you may be a bit clumsy using these at first but with some physical therapy and practice, you'll get the hang of it... In.....no-" she trails off as I lift my arms to check them out.

They're a shiny metallic black with a super sleek look. I make fists and wiggle my fingers, I hop off the table and start to do push-ups.

" These arms are amazing, they feel so natural." I exclaimed.

" I gotta give these babies a test run." I start to head to the warehouse that doc uses to test weapons.

As he leaves Lucille looks at doc with disbelief.

" Normally it would take a person months, if not years, to get used to using their artificial limbs but he did it in mere seconds, not only that but he's fully healed in only two months after having multiple fractures, breaks, torn muscles, and lacerations, internal bleeding, etc, etc." she exclaimed

"Oh and don't even get me started on the operation, most patients describe it as the worst pain they've ever felt in their life but he didn't even make a sound or even grimace once!" she ranted to doc who had an amused smile on his face.

" I give up.." she sighs as she follows Malcolm down the hall.

"This man defies all existing medical knowledge."

" Indeed he does." doc chuckles.

"Indeed he does."

​

I stand in the center of the warehouse and focus.

"Are you ready Malcolm?" doc asks.

"Ready!" I call out.

Doc starts the training program and a pool of silver started to form on the floor in front of me it was about ten feet wide by the time it stopped, suddenly a golden ball flew in and hovered over the puddle after a short while the silver puddle started to reach up towards the ball eventually the puddle formed into a silver statue in the shape of a person, even though it didn't have a face.

"I call it The Doppelganger." doc explains

" As you progress through the levels of the simulation, the A.I. will start to learn your attack pattern and fighting style and will use it against you."

"Holy shit." I exclaim.

" And as it learns more about you it will gradually start to look like you."

"Meaning the more it looks like me the more it knows how I fight." I finish.

"correct." doc smiles.

[Initiating level one]

I get into my fighting stance as two golden lights appear where the doppelganger's eyes should be. It cocks its head to one side before charging me, as I raise my spiritual power to hit it, the red orb starts glowing brightly, and as my energy surges through the roof my fist blasts through the doppelganger.

"Of course he destroys it with one punch," Lucille mutters under her breath.

"Holy shit!" I yell out.

"Looks like I know what the red one does now," I say to myself as I get ready for the next level.

[Initiating level two]

This time after the doppelgänger formed it assumed my fighting stance. We move at the same time charging each other head-on, and as I raise my power higher a bright red pattern appears on my arms as I attack, and as my fist and the doppelgängers collide the mana in my fist surges and explode like a cannon splattering the doppelgänger everywhere.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Lucille screams.

"How did he do that? What was with the red pattern? Did you program them to do that doc?"

"No, I did not." He states fascinated.

" Lucille can do me a favor and start a scan I want to try something."

" Ok Malcom we're gonna try something different here, I'm gonna upload another person's fighting style into the doppelgänger. Would you mind if I analyze the prosthetics while you train?"

"Bring it on doc." I say.

Mostly because I want to see just exactly how strong I've become now.

[Initiating level 47]

This time when the doppelgänger formed it resembled a woman, even though it still didn't have a face, and when it assumed its stance it arms morphed into blades I raised my power I high as I could as it charged me. As I jump to dodge I shoot directly towards the ceiling which, by the way, is like 180 feet from the floor, with ease.

"Let's see what else I can do" I laugh for the first time in a while.

As I'm coming back down I see the doppelgänger moving to intercept me, so while raising my power to its limits I drive my fist into the floor creating a shockwave that sends it flying backward, but I don't stop there I move behind it, so fast I leave an afterimage, then hit it in the area where its face is supposed to be creating another shockwave that not only blasts it to pieces but also blows a hole in the wall a hundred yards away.

At this point, Lucille stopped talking. she just walks to a corner and starts banging her head into the wall over and over again.