Soren caught the morning train back to campus.
His mom had packed him warm Dumplings wrapped in cloth for breakfast . He ate them while watching the city slowly waking up through the window.
**[Feeling emotional?]**
*Maybe.*
**[Your parents are good people. Don't waste that.]**
*I won't.*
The train slowed at his stop. He grabbed his belongings and stepped onto the platform.
Campus looked different now. He could see details he'd missed before, his senses were sharper. He noticed the scratches on the railings, cracks in the concrete, the way students moved in patterns like flocking birds.
Ten percent integration did that. Made the world crisp.
He headed straight for the training facilities.
The building was massive, divided into sections by enhancement type. Artificial heart users trained in one wing while DNA mergers occupied another. Each area had equipment designed for specific abilities and training.
Soren found the biological enhancement gym and stopped at the entrance to take a look.
Inside, dozens of students moved through drills. Some ran obstacle courses. Others sparred under instructor supervision. All of them had that sharper movements, better reflexes compared to normal human. They all have different dim coloured glow on their eyes that tracked too fast.
"You're late."
He turned. A woman in a black training suit stood with her arms crossed called at him. Short dark hair. With scars on her knuckles. Her eyes were yellow—wolf DNA, probably.
"Sorry, I—"
"Don't apologize. Just don't be late again." She looked him up and down. "You're Cross. Right? The insect merger."
"Yeah i am Soren Cross."
"I'm Instructor Vale. I run the biological enhancement program." She gestured toward the gym. "You've got ten percent integration, which puts you above average for a first-timer, but you're still weak. We fix that."
He asked.
"How?"
She responded immediately with a hint of small smirk.
"By making you suffer." She walked into the gym. "Come on."
He followed.
Vale led him to a section marked as"Speed Training." Equipment lined the walls—treadmills, reaction boards, motion trackers and other small obstacles that help to check and exercise one's reaction and reflexes.
"Tiger beetle DNA gives you enhanced perception and speed," Vale said. "Your brain processes visual information faster than normal humans. But your body can't match that speed yet."
"How do I fix it?"
"Training. Lots of it." She pointed at a treadmill. "Get on."
He climbed onto the machine. It looked standard, but when Vale tapped a control panel, the belt started moving fast. Too fast.
"Run," she said.
He ran.
His legs burned within seconds. The world slowed around him as his enhanced perception kicked in, but his muscles screamed. He could see each step before he took it, he could calculate the exact moment his foot would hit the belt—but his body struggled to keep pace with what his brain wanted.
"Faster not enough," Vale called.
The belt sped up.
He pushed harder. Sweat dripped into his eyes. His lungs felt like he had swallowed burning coal.
**[Your neural processing is compensating, but your muscle fibers need to adapt.You are too slow for yourself.]**
*I noticed.*
**[Keep pushing. Pain means growth. This is the only way you will get stronger and you have to suffer more than others cause of your unique integration.]**
*Easy for you to say.*
Vale tapped some buttons and increased the speed again.
His legs blurred every inch of his muscle screaming. The gym around him stretched into streaks of color his vision got little blurry as his perception tried to make sense of the velocity. But his muscles they failed miserably.
His foot caught wrong.
He stumbled, hit the belt, and the machine launched him backward. He rolled across the floor and slammed into a wall. With his making a sound.
"Ahhhhhhh." And thud.
Vale walked over and looked down at him. "You okay?"
"Not dead yet," he gasped.
"Great . Get up. We're doing it again."
He groaned but clenched his fist and climbed to his feet.
They spent next two hours on that treadmill. Two hours of running, falling, and getting back up. By the end, he could barely stand. He was too tired even standing straight felt like lifting a mountain.
"Not bad," Vale said. She didn't sound impressed. "You've got potential. But potential means nothing without hard work and determination."
"Got it."
"Tomorrow, 06:00 AM. Don't be late. Again "
She walked away, leaving him alone with his burning legs and bruised body, condition of his pride were no different.
**[That was pathetic to watch.]**
*Thanks.*
**[But you survived. That's something.]**
He limped out of the gym and headed for the showers.
The hot water helped. Not much, but enough. So ye can stand properly.
He stood under the spray and let his muscles unclench. His body ached in all over the places.
**[You need to build up gradually. Your integration percentage is only ten percent—your body's still mostly human still new to foreign abilities and capabilities.]**
*How long it will take until I can push higher? And grow stronger and how much I will grow by doing this.*
**[Max 40% but even a slight improvement takes time Weeks. Maybe months. Depends how hard you train.]**
*And at forty percent?*
**[You'll unlock new capabilities.]**
*Like what?*
The system paused.
**[Better training methods. More efficient integration techniques.]**
That wasn't a real answer, but Soren didn't push. The system had its secrets. He'd learn them when it mattered.
He dried off and dressed. His legs still felt like jelly in moving plate.
A message blinked on his phone.
**Lyra:** *Heard you started training. How'd it go?*
**Soren:** *Brutal. You?*
**Lyra:** *Same. Want to grab food?*
He hesitated. His body wanted sleep. But Lyra asking meant something important. He knew she is not the kind who likes to beat around the bush.
**Soren:** *Cafeteria in 20?*
**Lyra:** *See you there.*
The cafeteria was full with evening crowds.
Soren grabbed a tray and loaded it with protein blocks and vegetables. His body needed fuel to burn to train and most importantly for recovery.
Lyra sat alone at a corner table, already eating. Her movements were precise, sharp. Black panther traits showing through even she was only eating vegetables.
He greeted her and sat on the chair across from her.
"You look like you got hit by a transport truck ," she said.
"Feel like it too."
She smiled. "First day's always rough. My instructor made me climb walls for three hours without any breaks."
"How high?"
"Fifty feet. Without gear."
He whistled. Shhhhhh. "Black panther DNA?"
"Yep. Enhanced grip strength, better balance, night vision." She picked at her food. "I can see in the dark now. Everything's sharp and clear, but little void of colour."
"That sounds pretty useful."
"It is. But it's also weird." She looked at him. "How about you? What's ten percent tiger beetle DNA feel like?"
"Fast. Or slow. Depends how you look at it."
"Cryptic."
"My brain processes things faster, but my body can't keep up yet. So everything feels stretched out while I'm moving like normal."
"Sounds frustrating."
"It definitely is."
They ate in comfortable silence. Around them, students talked and laughed. Enhanced humans living normal lives between training sessions. It's only the few of the occasions in whole day when they can rest.
"You hear about the rankings?" Lyra asked.
"What rankings?" Soren gave a very confused expression.
"Monthly combat assessments. They rank all biological enhancement students by performance." She leaned back. "Top ten get access to advanced training facilities and priority for missions outside the city."
"Missions?"
"Yeah. Hunting mutant beasts, protecting supply convoys, clearing infected zones." Her eyes gleamed. "Real combat experience."
Soren's pulse quickened. "When's the first assessment?"
"Three weeks."
Three weeks. That wasn't much time to prepare and train properly. He thought.
**[You're thinking about it.]**
*Of course I am.*
**[You're barely functional. You can't even run on a treadmill without falling. And you are thinking about fighting with this body.]**
*I've got three weeks.*
**[That's not nearly enough time to—]**
*Watch me.*
Lyra was watching him with an amused expression. "You're doing that thing."
"What thing?"
"Where your eyes go distant and you're clearly having an internal conversation with yourself."
He blinked. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. It's cute." She stood and picked up her tray. "Train hard, beetle boy. I want competition in the rankings."
She walked away with that predatory grace. No one can resist but dangerous.
**[She likes you.]**
*Shut up.*
**[Just saying. The way she looks at you—]**
*I said shut up and she got Panther DNA, she looks at everyone that way, like we are her prey or something.*
The system's laughter echoed in his mind.
He finished eating and headed back to his dorm.
Jake was already there, lying on his bed with one arm over his eyes.
"You look dead," Jake said just lifting his arms enough to see without moving his whole body.
"Feel dead too."
"First training session?"
"Yeah."
"Same." Jake sat up. His shirt was soaked with sweat. "They made me run circuits with weighted gear. My second heart kept trying to compensate, but my natural heart couldn't keep pace. Thought I was gonna pass out and meet my ancestors."
"But I didn't." Jake grinned. "We're gonna be monsters by the end of the year."
"If only we survive till the end of this year."
Soren collapsed onto his bed. His muscles protesting against him.
**[Sleep. Tomorrow's going to be worse.]**
*Thanks for the encouragement.*
**[Anytime.]**
He closed his eyes and let exhaustion pull him under.
Outside, the city hummed. Inside, his body worked to adapt broken muscle fibers rebuilding, neural pathways strengthening, DNA weaving deeper into his cells.
Ten percent was just the beginning.