Evolution - Komatsu City IV

I feel a strong need to explain this so people will understand. Last chapter I wrote "colder than even Dante's version of Cocytus". I can guarantee some people didn't understand what this analogy meant, so I'll explain it. Dante is referring to Dante Alighieri, author behind The Divine Comedy. Cocytus is the frozen lake in which Satan is trapped, as it is described in the aforementioned poem.

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Once they were back at the bus, Ryo couldn't help but plop down in a seat. Even if it wasn't really that much, he had been losing blood and he was really tired. Shizuka immediately got to tending his wounds, making all the girls blush madly when they saw Ryo's bare torso. Shizuka, who was right in front of him couldn't help but run a hand through his abs on instinct.

"Shizuka, I get you, I really do" Ryo said while looking at her with a helpless expression. "But could you do that after tending to the wounds, please?"

"Awawa... y-yes" she said while blushing madly. She didn't even realize she was doing that, but she really enjoyed it.

After a few minutes, the wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. Everyone was eating a hot meal prepared by Shouko, who was intently looking at Ryo. Ryo, feeling a bit uncomfrotable under the glare of the girl, looked at her and signed.

"What is it?" he signed and said so everyone could understand. Shouko waited until she had swallowed her food, even though she didn't need to, to answer him. "I want to learn close combat as soon as possible"

Ryo was a bit shocked by that, but he thought about it and decided that the sooner the better. He just realized that sometimes he wouldn't be around to protect them, so they needed to be able to protect themselves.

"That's fine then, me and Hiratsuka will teach you" he answered. He then looked at Saya and Kururu, who were eating. Kururu was still relatively cold, but she had opened up to them a lot too. She just had a hard time showing emotions. "You too, Saya and Kururu"

"Hey, hey, what about me!" Karma asked, very excited at the prospect of learning under him. Ryo looked at him and smirked. "What were you expecting, Karma? Of course you will train with us too"

After their meal was ready, Ryo realized that night was settling in. He drove the bus towards a two story house and parked there.

"We're sleeping here tonight" Ryo stated before getting off the bus, followed by everyone else.

Once inside, he fond a comfortable couch and plopped down on it, yawning and thinking of nothing but sleep. It had become a sort of unspoken rule that, whenever he was really tired, Shizuka would act as his pillow. And that night wasn't the exception.

*

A normal human, to fully heal from a simple scratch, would usually take 3 days to a week. Ryo's cuts were relatively deep, about once centimeter into his flesh. Yet it took him only one day to heal completely, and that was without resting.

"I knew that we had gotten stronger but... this is just too much" Hiratsuka said when she saw him remove the bandages and have a completely healed scar on his chest and arm. Rika seemed to have other thoughts in mind. "My oh my, that body should be forbidden"

Ryo smiled wryly seeing the reaction the girls had. But his thoughts got serious quickly. They hadn't found a single car from before 2005 in the entire city, which made him think that they were searching in the wrong place. But then a thought crossed his mind.

'I don't need the old cars... but the parts in them'

He mused the idea while donning the new clothes Kururu had brough for him. Ever since Miku had taken the girl to talk, she began behaving like a maid of sorts, answering when talked to and doing everything that was asked of her. Ryo was genuinly worried about whatever Miku had told the girl, but he also couldn't being himself to act against it -she did seem livelier than before, after all-.

It was at that point, when he was finally recovered, that he remembered probably the most important thing he had to do. It was something totally unrelated to cars, weapons and even going back to search for the others, but directly related to him.

Searching inside the pocket of his pants, he took out a crystal that looked a bit more vibrant than the one from the Shoveler. It was the same rotten-ish, green color, but had a brighter tone. Obviously, it was the Crystalized Virus that Ryo took from the Licker. He immediately checked it with

[E-1 Crystalized Virus (Unstable): The crystalized form of the virus, belonging to an evolved zombie. Because the evolution of the zombie it belonged to was rushed, it is relatively unstable and would be detrimental for a normal human to consume it. It will bring a person to the next step in Evolution.]

It was surprisingly little info, but it was more than enough for what he needed to do. Looking up from the Crystal, he looked at the girls and nodded.

"I'll do it, so please tie me and watch over me" he said terminantly, once again showing he wouldn't take a no for an answer and would do it regardless of their opinion. They couldn't do much but accept it, since they might've done the same in his situation. "Ok... let's get this done with"

A few minutes later, Ryo was tied with a chain to a couch. This was something they did just in case something went wrong, but they were pretty sure that it would be alright. Ryo looked at Hiratsuka, who had the crystal in her hand and was supposed to feed it to him.

"It's ok. Do it, Kitsu" Ryo said while smiling warmly at her. Seeing her worriedly approach him and carefully move her hand towards his mouth, he couldn't help but want to tease her.

As soon as her hand was close to his lips, he took the crystal into his mouth... together with her fingers. Hiratsuka, seeing and feeling her finger in his mouth, blushed heavily and quickly removed her hand.

"Y-You idiot!" she said while she hurriedly backed away. Ryo was chuckling uncontrollably for a few moments until he finally calmed down.

As if it was a sweet, he ate the crystal and realized it didn't really have that much of a taste at all. If anything, it was slightly sweet when compared to the Liquid Virus. Soon after he swallowed, his temperature lowered.

It was pretty much the same as it had been before, when he drank the Liquid Virus, but this time it didn't cause him any pain nor did it seem like he would faint at any moment. The biggest difference though would be that his temperature remained low, without spiking back up. It was nothing more than a huge discomfort in his entire body. Only when he reached the stage of his pores feeling like they were pierced by a needle did he feel a slight pain.

In just a matter of minutes, the entire process was over. Ryo, who had closed his eyes to focus on remaining calm, opened them and found something that made him extremely happy.

[Host consumed an E-1 Crystalized Virus, reaching the First Stage of Evolution.

All Stats +10 - Strength +2 - Agility +5 - Intelligence +5 - Dexterity +2 - Charisma +5 - Unlocked ]

'Cryokinesis?' was the first thing Ryo thought when he saw his rewards. Ten points in all stats didn't feel like much, but when he considered the fact that he was already stronger than everyone, it did make sense -besides the individual raise of each stat-. Immediately, he checked his stats.

[Name: Hashimoto Ryo

Level: 5

Strength: 50

Agility: 54

Intelligence: 52

Dexterity: 50

Charisma: 56

Skills: ]

Seeing his stats, Ryo's mind was in disarray. Only when seeing the actual numbers did he realize how exponential the jump in power was. His body felt stronger and easier to use, but seeing actual numbers shocked him a bit. Besides that, he focused on .

[Cryokinesis: The path of evolution lead the user to develop the capability to manipulate his own body temperature. The lowering of temperature can still be dangerous to the user if it is suddenly used, but the user's body will adapt to the lower temperatures rapidly and with ease. In advanced stages of evolution and under proper usage, the skill can create ice or even freeze a person if the user touches them. The only way to strengthen the skill is consuming more of the virus.]

Ryo's thoughts when he read that weren't about how powerful, stupidly irrational or awesome such a power was. He immediately had one simple, childish thought.

"Hey, I'm fine already" he said to everyone that was watching him. The girls sighed in relief seeing such a thing, while Karma and Yugo wondered what exactly had changed. Unluckily for them, they would find out soon.

Once the girls unchained Ryo form the couch, he approached Yugo and Karma. They had a bad feeling and they wanted to retreat, but it was too late. Ryo immediately lowered his temperature as low as he could. The process felt instinctual, as if it was something he could always do. A second later, his hands were on their neck.

"Cold, cold!" "Let go, it's too cold!" Karma and Yugo yelled when they felt how cold his hand was. It felt almost like a cube of ice in the shape of a hand was pressed against their necks. Yugo had had enough of it. "Please just let go!"

Ryo immediately let them go while laughing his ass out. The girls who didn't understand what had happened, opened their eyes wide in shock when they heard Ryo's words.

"Do you know what Cryokinesis is?"

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Yeah... basically, he can lower his temperature as far as his body allows it until it adapts to an even lower temperature. The only problem with this is that he can't really lower his own temperature that much until he levels up the skill and, as said, the skill only grows stronger the more virus he consumes. As for the science behind it, wait for next chapter or simply think of it like this: His brain developped the capacity to lower his temperature for self-preservation. There are many animals who do this, Ryo just takes it all the way.