Disclaimer: The chapter contains some explicit content. Reader’s discretion advised!

  ***

  Arthur sat cross-legged on his bed, but his consciousness was not inside his body and focused on somewhere else. Instead, it was deep inside the Spear of Heaven, suspended in the vast digital space like a bird drifting through an endless sky.

  The SOH’s digital world unfolded around him in shades of pale blue and silver, multiple diagrams and formulas were floating like constellations around him as the Guardian AI projected line after line of simulation data.

  For the past few hours, he had been engrossed in the same task, developing new varieties of serum which would be able to drastically improve the physiology of millions of humans which in turn would save them.

  Millions who currently slept in hibernation pods, suspended in an appropriate location of the massive ship. Millions whose bodies had been mutilated, twisted, or mutated by the Chimerians’ experiments. Millions whose lives balanced on the thin edge between life and death.

  The process in creating the serum was extremely difficult even with all the simulations the Guardian AI had run. It would have been easier if he had live subjects to experiment on. But Arthur had lived through enough horrors and vowed never to let his pragmatism turn into monstrosity and experiment on humans.

  So, seeing there was no way out, there was only one option left for him to try. He ordered the Guardian to create synthetic human clones without any consciousness by copying the genetic map of the hibernating humans.

  “Guardian,” Arthur said calmly within the SOH’s digital space, “Create a few synthetic clones of these humans, copy their genetic maps exactly but make sure they don’t develop any consciousness.”

  The AI responded immediately. [Affirmative. Generating synthetic templates.]

  One by one, countless tubes materialized in one of the labs inside the SOH, each containing a featureless humanoid body as Arthur’s projection appeared there and watched the whole process. Their organs formed, then bones and muscles started to cover them at a rapid pace as if they are being 3D printed. They were perfect biological replicas down to mitochondrial structure and chromosome count, but with empty minds.

  Arthur exhaled slowly, steadying his focus. “Let’s begin.”

  …

  The first few hours were extremely important and vital.

  Even with the Guardian handling computational modeling, bio-simulations, and chemical stabilization analyses, the first batch of serums were extremely volatile. Some combinations made the synthetic organs rupture instantly. Others caused cellular rejection, hyper-regeneration spirals, or catastrophic mutations.

  One synthetic body melted from the inside out, another exploded as its bones grew too dense too quickly, and a third turned into something vaguely chimeric.

  “This won’t work,” He muttered seeing the result. “Current parameters yield a 0.2% success probability.”

  So, Arthur mass-deleted each failure, and steadied his focus in improving the serum.

  Since everyone's genetic makeup was different he had to be extremely careful while creating the serum as a common serum might cause a different reaction if injected in multiple subjects. So, he had to customize them according to the person who he was giving the serum to.

  After destroying multitudes of synthetic templates, he rubbed his chin. “We’re missing a compatibility bridge. My physiology adjusted to external stimuli by undergoing evolution… but they can’t survive that kind of leap. Their bodies need something to stabilize the strain.”

  He paused, then his eyes sharpened.

  “Prepare genetic samples from dragon bloodlines.”

  [Processing.]

  “And splice in a controlled fragment from my own genome.”

  The Guardian hesitated for the first time. [Commander integration of your genome would result in unpredictable outcomes.]

  “That’s why we’re testing on clones,” he said quietly. “Do it.”

  Though he had used his gene, the serum won't just give one his adaptive evolution power, but by taking it they would get an extremely watered down version of his ability. Even though they would not be able to instantly adapt to anything, if exposed to harsh conditions for an extended period of time they would slowly gain resistance to it, and that too was limited to only resistance without increase in strength. Still that was overpowered in a sense, on top of having dragon bloodline.

  The next attempt took far longer.

  Arthur watched molecular diagrams swirl around him as gene sequences recombined, the AI testing millions of permutations per second while Arthur adjusted stabilizers and cellular regulators manually.

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  After several hours of destroying multiple synthetic bodies he finally saw a bit of success as one of the bodies showed a positive response after experimenting using the newly improved serum made by combining his and a dragon’s genome.

  The synthetic woman floated in a chamber of healing gel. The serum spread through her system slowly, reinforcing the cell walls, stabilizing the dragon-bloodline infusion, and weaving Arthur’s genetic fragment into her DNA like a faint watermark.

  Her body trembled for a few moments, then it stabilized. Though the process was slow and would take multiple months for the serum to be absorbed fully so as to not harm the people who were already in a precarious position.

  A long breath escaped Arthur’s lips. “There we go… finally.”

  Guardian’s voice softened slightly. [Success rate is at 89%, Commander. Physiological enhancement is stable, neural activity remains dormant and no rejection has been detected.]

  After a few more hours he finally developed a perfected and tuned version of the serum nearing 100% success rate, and it just needed a bit of tweaking before injecting them in the people.

  …

  What followed was mass synthesis of the serums.

  With the help of the Guardian, he mass produced more than six million serums each having been customized to the specific person, as each subject had their unique genetic markers. Though it might look like it would take a lot of time to customize the serums, they just needed a minor adjustment, and it was handled by the guardian during the synthesizing process while Arthur oversaw compatibility.

  Hours blurred as vial after vial materialized in ordered rows.

  By the time the last container locked into place, it had already been more than sixteen hours since he started to develop the serum.

  “Let’s test the first live subject,” Arthur said.

  He ordered to try the serum on a single subject first, though he had taken into consideration everything he still didn't want to take the risk of injecting the serum to everyone only for it to have a negative reaction and thus killing everyone.

  A hibernation pod slid forward. Inside rested a young woman, her body frail and visibly damaged and deformed from forced mutation. The Guardian injected the serum discreetly through the IV drop, and for a moment nothing happened.

  Then her brainwaves spiked once, sharply. Arthur tensed, but the spike settled into a calm, steady rhythm after only a few seconds.

  The woman’s withered skin regained color. The twisted muscles began re-forming, and her bones knit themselves back into proper shape.

  Arthur let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “…Good.”

  He then ordered the Guardian to start the mass administration of the serum.

  [Mass administration commencing.]

  Rows upon rows of pods lit up as the serum entered each one and Arthur personally observed every reading in real time using Technopathy.

  The process was completed within a few minutes and the subjects were in stable condition. The transformation first started with fixing the deformity and then followed the transformation of their physiology, the subject’s muscle density started increasing exponentially, with their bone frameworks reinforcing, and organ efficiency rising. Their cellular quality improved with each second as new and improved cells replaced damaged structures.

  Arthur’s brows knit. “…At this pace, they’ll all reach at least Grandmaster-level in physical stats after the serum is fully absorbed.” Which was terrifying if one considered their number which was in the millions. Arthur felt he needed to be careful while introducing them to the world, as there could be people who might not be well intentioned among these people, but that was a problem for the future him.

  For now, this was a victory. Arthur withdrew from the SOH letting his consciousness slip back into his physical body.

  …

  He opened his eyes inside his room in Avalon.

  Outside the window, he observed the sky had softened into the warm orange hues of early evening of the next day. The breeze carried the faint scent of the ocean, and the city lights were just beginning to turn on.

  Arthur stood up, stretched his body and left his room. His footsteps echoed softly as he crossed the hall and arrived before Selene’s room. He knocked lightly, and when he received no answer, he stepped inside.

  The sound of running water filled the room, he figured Selene was in the shower.

  Arthur considered leaving and coming later but before he could turn around, the bathroom door clicked open letting him see a breathtaking view.

  A veil of steam drifted out, and Selene stepped through it, her purple hair clinging damply to her skin. She wore only a towel wrapped loosely around her body and used another, smaller one to dry her hair. Her golden eyes met his immediately as soon as she stepped out of the bath.

  A slow, mischievous smile curved her lips.

  “What?” she asked casually while wringing water from her hair.

  Arthur stared for a second longer than intended which Selene noticed, and her smile deepened.

  She tossed the hair towel aside, crossed the room slowly in a seductive manner, and without warning she straddled his lap after pushing him on the bed, settling against him with an effortless confidence that made him hold his breath.

  Her lips brushed his ear as she whispered in a seductive and teasing tone, “So… do you like what you see?”

  Arthur let out a grin, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pinned her down on the bed. “Like it? Selene, it’d be a crime to say otherwise.”

  That made her giggle as she leaned closer to his face, their lips almost touching.

  Arthur’s fingers curled gently at her thigh and supported her neck with another hand, and the air grew warmer between them.

  He could feel her hot breath on his lips, and their lips met a second later. The towel slid down slightly from Selene’s body which made him pause for a second to appreciate the view, making Selene blush but she didn’t resist.

  The world outside faded from their perception, and the room grew cozy and warm.

  …

  Two hours later, Arthur and Selene stepped out of her room fully dressed.

  Selene smoothed her dress lightly and glanced at Arthur with a small smile tugging at her lips. “Ready for tonight?”

  Arthur offered her his arm. “As long as it’s with you.”

  She rolled her eyes, but the faint blush at her ears betrayed her.

  Together, they walked down the corridor, ready for their long-awaited date in the heart of Avalon’s illuminated night.

  ***