Chapter 9: 0.9%

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Jamar: "Brad got a B-class unique ability named Earth Skin. It's an interesting ability that allows him to change his body parts into the same composition as the material he touches. If he touches metal, it turns to metal, if he touches stone, it turns rock hard."

Seed Labs classify the Super Human's abilities from A to D, class A being the top rank ability and class D being the most common ability. 

Rayner: "So what, you mean to say my Body Enhancement of the same rank is no match for his ability?"

Jamar: "You know that the assimilation rate is directly proportional to the extent you will be able to use your abilities, right? He started weeks ago at 12% and you're at what? 0.9%? What do you want me to say? That he'll beat the shit out of you? But don't worry, you got me."

Rayner: "Do you know any of his weakness?"

Jamar showed his white teeth in a big smile: "All abilities have weaknesses."

Rayner: "What's his weakness?" he asked hurriedly.

Jamar: "How would I know?"

Rayner: ??????

Jamar: "You should already be grateful I told you so much because I don't want your sorry ass making me look bad for losing to a trainee of a different instructor."

Rayner showed a dark expression.

Jamar: "Who told you to stop training while talking? Keep moving!!"

In the following days of training, Rayner asked Jamar to double his training menu in an effort to push his assimilation rate. Jamar agreed. Rayner just finished his training today. It is now 19:00 and Rayner is lying on a bed in the infirmary, unable to move a single muscle due to exhaustion, his arms covered in bandages, every muscle felt like it was being torn apart, throbbing at each breath he took. Teresa is now giving him a massage to help ease his tense muscles. As a lab assistant, she was not only responsible for doing tests on his body but also for taking care of him.

He was physically exhausted, the difficulty of the training increased daily. It felt like that son-of-a-bitch Instructor was trying to kill him. He was beating him like a horse, he would only get a one minute rest in between intense exercises. His breath was being forced out of his lungs. Just when he felt like he had adapted slightly to the training, Jamar immediately adjusts the difficulty. The day would always end in him damaging his body all over and feeling the urge to vomit his intestines out. He only later knew that Instructor Jamal was known all over the facility as the Mad Jackal. He did not think he would encounter anything more difficult in his life after everything he had been through but the Mad Jackal seemed to find joy in proving him wrong everytime. There was always something to look forward to in their training. However, mentally, he couldn't stop wondering what he was doing wrong. He was sure he did everything he could in the weeks of training, but looking at his watch showing 0.9%, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Teresa as if reading his mind, said: "I think you're on the right path. Your vitals are normal; in fact, the average values have had significant increases over the week. You might not have noticed it, but Jamar has been steadily increasing the g-force in the gravity training room daily. Normally, your body should not be able to handle it, but it has adapted well to those conditions. Your cell activity has also shown significant improvements. You should know that many of my colleagues are quite eager to dissect you."

Rayner: "Haha. They better wish I never find them. And yes, I know. I can feel my improvement. But why, why won't the damn rate increase?" he complained frustratingly.

Teresa: "You don't really have to keep looking at the rates, you know? Gene study only started to make giant strides a few decades ago. Every step of what we do now is a foot towards the unknown. There's so much more of what we don't know, and we keep discovering interesting things each day. For example, yesterday, we discovered that injecting gene factors in an isolated cell would result in that single cell proactively attacking other cells with said gene factor, increasing the chance of cell mutation but ending in the death of the subject..."

Teresa was a soft-spoken person; however, when getting into her favorite topic of gene technology, she immediately transforms into a talkative machine, tending to get a bit too passionate. Rayner got to know this when he got closer to this beautiful bespectacled lab assistant whose appearance was hidden with her long bangs.

Rayner: "I get what you're saying, but can you please stop rubbing my abs? My whole body is still aching from all that training, remember?"

Teresa, hearing this, hurriedly pulled her hand away, shyly turning her head away. 

Another week passed, and it was finally the day for the combat competition.

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