Ti ticked by, minute by minute.
The chanical arms worked thodically, occasionally swapping tool heads from within the portal:
Sotis it was a nozzle spraying atomized catalysts, sotis an emitter releasing specific-frequency energy waves, and sotis a pipette extracting microscopic tissue samples.
Cogboy had already pulled out a crude data-pad redeed from the shop for 50 coins—essentially an electronic notepad with scanning and recording functions—and was recording every single detail.
Tax Bro and Schrödinger Bro went from initial shock, to numbness, and finally, they started yawning.
"This is more boring than watching a Servitor get oiled..." Tax Bro muttered softly.
"But it's very effective," Schrödinger Bro said, staring at Zeke's bare arm. During the chanical arms' work, silver light would occasionally flow beneath the skin of his arm, and his muscle definition seed to... actually beco slightly firr.
At the fifty-eight-minute mark, the chanical arms stopped working simultaneously.
They slowly retracted, the tool heads withdrawing into the arms, and all three retreated neatly back into the gear-filled portal.
The portal began to contract, the complex chanical phantoms inside gradually fading.
In the final mont, Zeke thought he saw an extrely blurry logo made of light flash deep within the portal.
The shape of the logo... looked like an abstract brain surrounded by a cog?
The portal completely disappeared.
The countdown reached zero: 00:00.
[Basic Physique Enhancent (Type I) Modification Complete.]
[Vessel bone density increased by approx. 12%, muscle efficiency increased by approx. 15%, basic maximum stamina increased by approx. 8%.]
[Mild tabolic acceleration activated; wound healing speed estimated to increase by 5%.]
[Adaptation Period begun. It is recomnded to avoid extre weight-bearing or high-intensity combat for 24 standard hours to allow the body to fully integrate the enhancent effects.]
[Current Type I Enhancent Completion: 1% (Will naturally increase as the adaptation period progresses and through vessel activity).]
The force field immobilizing his body vanished.
The numbness from the injection site on his neck also rapidly faded.
Zeke tried moving his fingers.
He could move.
He slowly sat up on the bed.
His first sensation was... lightness.
Not that his body weight had decreased, but it felt as if so invisible burden had been lifted from his body.
Every movent was smoother, more effortless.
Although Zeke had long since realized the realism of this ga, this physical enhancent—this most visceral sensation of gaining power—still left him deeply astonished.
He clenched his fist.
His knuckles let out a faint crack, but it wasn't the sound of bones; it was his tendons and fascia adapting to the new tension.
He could clearly feel the strength radiating from his palm.
"How does it feel?" Tax Bro asked impatiently.
Zeke didn't answer directly. He got out of bed, walked over to a pile of building materials in the corner of the dormitory, and bent down to pick up a tal plate that previously required two people to lift.
The plate felt heavy in his hands, but... he could hold it.
He took a deep breath, engaged his core, and actually lifted the tal plate over his head!
Although his arms were trembling slightly and his face was a bit flushed, he had actually lifted it! (TL/N: I guess who wouldn't want to test their strength a little after an enhancent? even after reading the recomndation)
"Holy shit!" Tax Bro's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "That's fucking called a 'slight increase'? System, you call this slight?!"
Zeke set the plate down and panted a few tis, a smile appearing on his face. "It feels... amazing."
He rolled his shoulders. "Right now, I feel like... I could punch a cow to death. Of course, I an the degraded grox they breed in the Hive cities, not a Khornate Juggernaut."
Cogboy leaned in with his data-pad. "The phase penetration technology, the non-invasive skeletal enhancent, and the energy signature of that portal earlier… This is absolutely not existing Imperial technology! It doesn't even look like known Xenos tech!"
Zeke shrugged. "If the ga system gives it, we take it. Anyway, it's better than getting snatched by the chanicus and shoved full of augtics. I don't want to wake up one day and find half my brain replaced by a Cogitator array."
His words drew a burst of laughter from several other players in the dormitory who had been secretly watching them.
Zeke walked to the dormitory door and shouted outside: "Anyone want to test my strength? Tug-of-war?"
Three players imdiately rushed over; they were all fence-sitters who hadn't decided whether to get the enhancent yet.
Soone dragged over a tough vine, thick as a wrist, that had been collected earlier while chopping down the jungle.
Zeke grabbed one end, and the other three players grabbed the other.
"Three, two, one, pull!"
Both sides exerted force simultaneously.
The vine instantly pulled taut!
The three players gritted their teeth, digging their feet into the ground and hauling backward with all their might.
Zeke dropped into a horse stance. The muscles in his arms contracted fully for the first ti since the enhancent, his veins bulging slightly.
He could feel the force transmitting through the vine. The combined pulling power of three adult n—before the enhancent, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds.
But now...
His heels felt like they were nailed to the ground. His body leaned back slightly, his arms as steady as hydraulic pistons.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds!
The faces of the three opposing players were flushed red. One of them slipped and nearly fell.
The vine began to move slowly toward Zeke!
"Holy shit! We really can't pull him!"
"Zeke is a beast!"
"A hundred coins! This hundred coins is fucking worth it!"
Zeke let go at the right mont. If he kept pulling, the vine might snap, and he already felt a slight soreness in his arm muscles. This was a normal reaction during the adaptation period; he couldn't overdo it.
But the results were plain to see.
A person who had just completed the Type I enhancent had overpowered three unenhanced adult n in a test of pure strength!
"The system didn't lie." Zeke shook out his arms. "Although the description says 'slight increase,' a 'slight' increase by Warhamr universe standards translates to a qualitative leap for vessels that were originally just ordinary humans like us."
He looked at the crowd of spectating players. "I suggest that anyone with spare cash consider getting the Type I first. Whether it's for future exploration, combat, or... well, moving bricks and building houses, it's useful. But rember, the modification takes an hour. It must be absolutely safe. It's best to have soone watch your back."
He paused, then added: "Also, based on how I feel, this enhancent isn't instantaneous. There's an adaptation period."
"Don't go looking for a fight right after the enhancent. Take it easy first and let your body adapt."
Once he finished speaking, the players erupted.
"What are we waiting for! I'm going right now!"
"I have enough coins! I'm getting one too!"
"Wait for ! Let's go together! We'll watch each other's backs!"
"Fuck, I should've enhanced earlier! If I had this strength back in the industrial zone, I could've stolen a few more chunks of ore!"
The crowd surged toward the dormitory area like a tidal wave.
Soon, the faint silver-white glow of portals lit up one by one inside the cubicles, and chanical arms extended.
The dormitory was filled with a cacophony of voices:
"What the fuck, this needle in the neck feels so weird."
"Don't move, don't move! The ga system said you can't move!"
"Bro, your expression looks so peaceful, did you die?"
Zeke, Tax Bro, Schrödinger Bro, and Cogboy retreated outside the dormitory.
Watching the bustling scene inside, Tax Bro rubbed his hands together. "I'm getting one too! It's just a hundred coins!"
Schrödinger Bro nodded. "I'll enhance too."
"But I want to look at the Psychic Talent Screening first... If my psychic potential is high, maybe taking the Psyker route would be more suitable."
Cogboy, however, was still frowning at his data-pad. "The technological origin is too complex. It doesn't align with the logical frawork of creating gene-enhanced warriors in the Warhamr universe. But the modification process itself is safe, highly efficient, and harmless. I advise all personnel to complete the basic enhancent as soon as possible. It is the fastest shortcut to increasing the overall survival rate of the Chapter."
In this dog-shit Warhamr universe, power was the prerequisite for survival.
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