The Jacombi Juice bath, which had once filled me with disgust, now seemed like the purest spring for sacred cleansing.
A deep sense of accomplishment washed over me. I had done it again—I had grown stronger. It wasn't the dramatic boost in my physical stats that thrilled me most, but rather the increase in my chances of survival in this unpredictable multiverse.
Still, one step at a time. First, I needed to get out of the tank filled with that slimy substance. Even if it no longer disgusted me, being covered from head to toe in sticky goo was far from pleasant. Unable to bear it any longer, I splashed ten liters of clean water over myself.
Thankfully, I didn't have to go far. Having a spatial inventory made things much easier. It could store practically anything—even an entire lake, if I wanted. Which, incidentally, is exactly what I did once in Nanda Parbat. I stole their sacred pond right under the nose of the League of Assassins' leader.
Risky, yes, but worth it. It was proof that I planned ahead; you never know where you might end up in this chaotic world. Water is life, and when your existence revolves around survival, a supply of fresh water is priceless.
Less than a minute later, I was clean, dressed, and ready for a thorough examination.
"Are you alright? Feeling dizzy? Seeing things? How do you feel?" Dr. Rao fired off questions the moment she saw me.
"Like I've been born again!" I replied eagerly.
"I have to—"
"Stop!" I said, raising a hand and cutting her off mid-sentence. "Let me guess. You're about to say you need to take my blood for testing, right?"
"Exactly." Kavita nodded briskly and pulled another syringe seemingly out of nowhere. Does she have a bottomless pocket or something? How does she fit so much equipment in there? Maybe she has her own personal inventory and just isn't telling me. Suspicious...Still, it didn't change the fact that taking my blood with an ordinary syringe was now impossible.
The last time Pamela had tried, she was so exhausted that she resorted to chlorokinesis just to draw a few drops. But that was before I took the Lazarus Elixir. I doubted even her plant-based powers could penetrate my skin now. When I explained this, Kavita's face fell. Still, she insisted on getting a DNA sample. It made sense—if I ever received another serum, she'd need to study how compatible my altered body was with the next formula. In the end, I had to bite into a vein on my wrist myself. The blood flowed just long enough to fill a small vial before my regeneration kicked in, sealing the wound instantly.
That was the remarkable part. My regeneration rate had now exceeded forty points, which meant my body healed forty times faster than an ordinary human's. It wasn't instantaneous, but the process was visible to the naked eye—a wound closed and vanishing in seconds. My survival odds had increased dramatically, and it felt good knowing that death was no longer an immediate concern.
Still, regeneration was just the start. The real breakthrough of Dr. Kavita Rao's serum—the Lazarus Elixir—was something far greater. Yes, my physical abilities had nearly doubled. My strength, endurance, and agility were far beyond human limits—greater even than what Dr. Erskine's Super Soldier Serum had achieved. Yet, somehow, the Lazarus Elixir went even further. It pushed my body into a new evolutionary stage.
It was strange, though. Ra's al Ghul had bathed in the Lazarus Pit for centuries, yet he never attained this level of power. When I fought him in Nanda Parbat, his form was impressive—faster, stronger, more resilient than any human—but still a shadow compared to what I had become after taking the Erskine serum. So how was it that the Pit had such an overwhelming effect on me? The answer was simple. Purity.
Ra's had never purified his so-called sacred waters. I had the advantage of Poison Ivy—Pamela—who had completely removed every impurity that polluted the Pit's rejuvenating essence. She separated the corrupted residue from the source itself, leaving behind a substance so potent it could be considered the pure elixir of life. No wonder the contrast between Ra's diluted version and mine was so stark.Now, in purely physical terms, I was nearly twice as strong as Captain America. But again, the physical transformation wasn't the most important change.
"Life Energy." The term appeared in my status window, revealing a new fundamental statistic. It represented the essence of all living beings, determining both vitality and longevity. More intriguingly, it had a hidden mechanic—an exchange system. If necessary, I could trade a portion of my lifespan to heal instantly from wounds, even near-fatal ones.
According to this new stat, my lifespan had increased by more than a thousand years. One thousand years of life. It was staggering. Me—a mere human—now possessed longevity comparable to the divine races. But in my current world, numbers didn't mean security. A thousand years meant little when beings like Darkseid, Thanos, or the Anti-Monitor could erase civilizations in seconds. Even surviving a single year here was a monumental achievement.
That's why what interested me wasn't the lifespan itself but the ability to exchange it for survival. The concept fascinated me. If I were mortally wounded, I could sacrifice a few decades—or even centuries—to instantly regenerate. It sounded costly, but when faced with death, a few lost years seemed like a fair trade. As long as my brain wasn't destroyed instantly, recovering from almost any injury was now possible.
In the best-case scenario, I'd never have to use it. But if forced to choose between longevity and life, there was really no choice at all. Survival always takes priority. So long as I was alive, I could always find more ways to extend my life—decades, centuries, even millennia. That was the true blessing of adaptation: the ability to survive.
When I checked my system again, I noticed I'd received five new stat points. Predictably, I assigned all of them to Intelligence. It was always my favorite stat—the one that couldn't be raised through physical exertion or battle experience, only through free points.
[Status Window]
[Name: Alex Reath
Race: Perfect Human
Age: 21
Life Energy: 1386
Strength: 233
Speed: 184
Agility: 183
Endurance: 272
Intelligence: 99
Wisdom: 106
Charisma: 42
Regeneration: 41
Combat Mastery: 28
Fencing Mastery: 20
King's Wives: 7
Resistance:
Poison/Toxin/Virus/Bacteria – 19%
Free Points: 0
Achievement Points: 0
Skills:
Passive – Player's Mind, Super Soldier
Active – Pheromone Control
Achievements:
Batman's Apprentice, Great Harem King, Sage, Sword Master]
The stats were truly something to behold. But my focus always returned to that one number—Intelligence.
Right now, it stood at ninety-nine. Just one more point, and it would hit the elusive three-digit mark. I couldn't help but wonder: what would happen then? Would new abilities unlock? Would I gain insights beyond human comprehension? Perhaps a pleasant surprise awaited me at that milestone.
Either way, I was confident I'd get another opportunity to find out. After all, survival in this multiverse wasn't just about power—it was about adaptation, learning, and sheer will to live another day. And in that regard, I was well on my way to becoming unstoppable
.
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.
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Thanks for reading. Saw a phone dropped on the road on my way to home and my smartass decided to drop it off at the police station.