Chapter 5: Experimenting (2)

Caleb was opened to a new world of possibilities! As a geneticist, Caleb has been involved in gene play for quite some time and one thing to note about the human genome is that many sequences seem redundant. They appear to have no function at all. Years of research have been carried out on these sequences to determine their purpose but to no avail. 

However, right before him was such a sequence that turned out to be hidden genetic codes for extraordinary effects. Thinking thus far, perhaps the reason why these sequences appeared useless in earth humans was due to them not needing them for any particular reason. Another reason could be the environmental conditions. Earth is devoid of any magical energy and that may be the deciding factor between the two human species.

[Strength parameters]

[Bone toughness: Off]

[Skin toughness: Off]

[Tissue durability: Off]

Looking at the different parameters that fall under [Strength] gave him a general idea about how the classification of strength is based and how others may be stronger while others weaker. However, he still made a mental note to collect data on the magical energy and everything else of importance. 

Caleb proceeded to edit and turn on the genes that make up the [Strength] classification. 'This should increase my physical strength by a large margin.' He thought as he felt the familiar discomfort. However, unlike the change to his eyes, turning on these genes that have been "Off" since birth introduced him to a sensation of pain he had never experienced before.

"Arrhh…..!" 

He screamed in pain and fell over the bathroom floor. His muscles spasmed, bones creaked, and his skin morphed horrifyingly. Bones broke and tissues were torn and rebuilt on a molecular level. Gritting his teeth, he bore the pain within. Subtly, the magical energy around him drew into his body without him being aware. After about 3 minutes of nerve-wracking pain and spasms, his body relaxed with sweat all over his body.

His breath came out heavy and steamy. Slowly the pain he felt decreased. 'Point to note! Never make multiple chances at once.' Caleb told himself and stood up slowly. He looked at himself in the mirror again and didn't see any obvious changes to his body.

He looked back to his status panel and his stats

[Stats]

[Strength: 72/100] | [Strength: 123/500]

[Speed: 88/100] | [Speed: 98/120]

[Perception: 45/50] | [Perception: 50/60]

[Mana: 500/500] | [Mana: 302/500]

From his stats, he noticed not only his strength had increased, but his speed and perception limits had also increased. 'The focus was on the strength, but it seems strength also affects my other stats too. I should have taken note of how strong I was before I increased my strength.'

Caleb looked for something in the bathroom he could use to measure his strength. He made his way to the wall the mirror hung on and took a stance to deliver a punch.

"Here goes nothing. Hopefully, I don't hurt myself too badly" he mumbled before throwing the punch with his right fist.

~BOOM! ~

The walls of the bathroom shook briefly before stopping. Although he held back, the force of the punch still made such an impact. Looking at the point of contact between his fist and the wall, there was a huge fist-sized hole in the wall with cracks all over the wall that spread to the mirror on the wall too. The force of the delivered punch was almost enough to shatter the mirror.

'Interesting…' Thought Caleb. "At least the pain wasn't as bad as I imagined." He backed away from the wall and looked at the rest of the bathroom. All the walls showed signs of cracks! Throughout the night, he wasn't aware that the lights in his room and bathroom were off. Since he could see as clearly as day, that didn't matter.

"….!" He looked at his fist and marvelled at what he was now capable of. His skin showed no signs of forming a bruise. His skin's durability had proved its effect. He could feel his bones' toughness increase. With a wide grin on his face, Caleb made his way to the bedroom. The sky was still dark and with no way to tell the time, He moved unto his bed to lay down.

Various thoughts and ideas roamed his mind. 'My perception limit also increased; this could be due to the skin also being a sense organ, but my mana capacity remained the same. However, it decreased a fair amount.' Caleb's brows furrowed as his brain sped up to analyze what he was seeing.

'Did the punch utilize mana? No… The quantity of mana had dropped before I threw that punch… 

'Wait, could mana also be used to power my punches? I have a lot to experiment on.' Using everything he read about the novels, the games he played, and the animes he watched, he mulled over the matter and came to a likely conclusion.

'Mana is also a form of energy. But the energy utilized for the changes may have been from mana. This could mean my mana capacity will determine the changes I can make. Also, is this the limit or could it be pushed further?' 

As these thoughts and various others went through his head, his eyelids gradually closed as he once again went to sleep.

...

Moments ago

A figure clad in black, hiding in the shadows not far away from Caleb's room heard a heavy thud that drew his attention. Since Caleb did not turn on his light crystals, he was unsure if the sound originated from Caleb's room or the other rooms of the building.

A few minutes after not hearing any other sound, the figure withdrew his gaze and went back into the shadows.