Ares woke up with a bulging headache, a dull throb that made even the thought of lifting his head an act of monumental effort.
His stomach churned, and a wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm him.
"Ugh, what happened?" he groaned, his voice raspy.
He tried to recall the events leading up to this moment. The hall, the superiors, Liora's explanation of the Heart Core, Vhala….. And then the gas. Always the damn gas.
Then, a sharp, searing pain shot through his chest, making him cry out.
"Argh!"
He instinctively clutched his chest, fingers digging into the thin fabric of his uniform. The pain was deep, visceral, originating from somewhere near his heart. It wasn't a surface wound; it felt like his very core was being torn apart and forcibly stitched back together.
After a few agonizing moments, the intensity subsided, leaving behind a persistent, aching throb. It was bearable, but a constant, grim reminder.
He lay there for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only five minutes, letting the waves of pain and disorientation wash over him before he finally mustered the strength to sit up.
Now he remembered. The Heart Core fragment. The insertion.
"Are they just going to keep gassing us like lab rats every time they want to do something?" he muttered, bitterness lacing his tone. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, his feet hitting the cold, sterile floor.
He scanned his surroundings. The room was familiar, yet different. It was similar in its stark, white design to his previous shared room, but noticeably larger.
Four beds were spaced out, meaning he potentially had three roommates… if anyone else had been assigned here. Two simple metal tables painted white that you can see your reflection from it, each with two chairs, occupied a corner.
A sudden thought struck him. He fumbled through his pockets. Empty.
"My phone," he whispered, a knot of unease tightening in his stomach. "Didn't I… didn't I have it with me before the assembly?" He distinctly remembered having it.
"Did they take it from me while I was knocked out?"
Suddenly, the door creaked open, revealing a familiar, reassuring face. Jones.
"Jones!" Ares felt a small wave of relief.
"Ares! You're finally awake!" Jones strode in, his usual stoic expression softened with genuine concern.
Before Ares could react, Jones pulled him into a rough, bone-crushing hug. It was meant to be comforting, Ares knew, but it felt more like being squeezed by a friendly bear.
"Y-Yeah… Ugh… It's good to see you too, man," Ares wheezed, patting Jones's back.
"Could… keuk… you maybe release me? Ribs… protesting…"
Jones immediately let go, almost dropping Ares onto the ground in his haste.
"Ah, sorry! Force of habit. It's just… you've been out for two full days, man."
"Two days?!" Ares stared, dumbfounded.
His mind reeled. Two days. Wiped from his existence. What had happened in that time?
Jones nodded grimly. "Yeah. And boy, have you missed a lot." He gestured to one of the tables. "Sit down. You look like you're about to fall over."
Ares, still processing the two-day gap, numbly followed Jones and slumped into a chair. Jones sat opposite him, leaning forward, his expression serious.
"So, what exactly did I miss?" Ares asked, his voice still a bit hoarse. "Apart from apparently donating a chunk of my lifespan to dreamland."
Jones ran a hand through his short, dark hair and the other through his beard.
"Well, first things first. Have you had any… weird sensations? Headaches, sure, but specifically pains in your chest?"
Ares nodded slowly. "Yeah. Woke up feeling like someone tried to perform open-heart surgery with a rusty spoon. It's better now, but still aches."
Jones let out a sigh.
"Okay, well… there's no easy way to say this. Basically, we all now have a fragment of Vhala's Heart Core lodged next to our hearts." The words hit Ares like a physical blow.
He felt a chill creep down his spine despite the dull ache in his chest. Vhala. The Serpent of Disaster. The monster that had devoured his mother. A piece of that was inside him?
Instinctively, he ripped open the top buttons of his uniform. There, stark against his skin, was a thin, surprisingly neat surgical scar running vertically down the center of his chest. It was already healing, but the implication was horrifying.
Jones saw the look on his face. "Yeah, they opened you up, Ares. Sliced right in and inserted a piece of that damned core. Said it was the only way for us to access this 'Mana Force' they were blabbering about."
Ares traced the scar with a trembling finger. His body, violated. A foreign object, a piece of a world-ending catastrophe, now a part of him.
He felt a strange energy, a faint hum resonating from deep within his chest, a subtle warmth that was definitely not his own. It was a parasitic power, forced upon him. But even as disgust and anger warred within him, a darker, more pragmatic thought surfaced. Power. This was power. Unasked for, invasive, but power nonetheless.
"Two days," Ares repeated, his voice dangerously low. "So, while I was unconscious, they… operated. What else happened?"
Jones leaned back, his brow furrowed. "After the gas cleared and they carted us off, we woke up in individual recovery rooms. Medical droids, the usual creepy stuff. They monitored us for about a day. Lots of tests. Painful ones. Then they moved us into these new shared dorms yesterday."
"Us?" Ares glanced around the four-bed room. "So, you're my roommate?"
"Yep. Me, you… and them." Jones jerked his head towards the other two beds.
Ares followed his gaze. On one bed, Sylvie was curled up, fast asleep, her breathing even. Her usual sharp, defensive posture was softened in slumber, making her look almost… vulnerable.
On the other bed, Nia was sitting cross-legged, perfectly still, eyes closed as if in deep meditation. Her silver hair seemed to catch the faint light, and even in her stillness, there was an air of coiled energy about her.
"Sylvie was out like a light when they brought her in. Nia… Nia was awake within an hour of the transfer. Said she felt 'tingly'," Jones said, a hint of unease in his voice when he mentioned Nia.
"She hasn't said much since, just sits there. Honestly, she still creeps me out."
Ares understood the sentiment. Nia was an enigma wrapped in a layer of unsettling smiles and unpredictable power.
"So, this Mana Force," Ares said, bringing the conversation back to the core. "Have you… felt anything? Used it?"
Jones shook his head. "The superiors haven't given us any instruction on it yet. Just told us to 'acclimate.' Some of the participants who woke up earlier yesterday were trying to… I don't know, 'activate' it. Lots of grunting and straining, but nothing happened. A few fainted. One guy's nose started bleeding."
Ares frowned. Typical. Throw them into the deep end with a volatile new power source and offer zero guidance. He focused inward, trying to sense the fragment in his chest. The hum was still there, a low thrumming vibration, like a caged beast. He tentatively reached out with his own mana, trying to touch it, to understand it.
The moment his mana brushed against the Vhala fragment, a jolt, like a static shock, coursed through him. It wasn't painful, more… surprising. And with it, a faint whisper in the back of his mind, not words, but a sense of raw, untamed potential.
Interesting.
"They did give us one thing though," Jones said, interrupting Ares's internal exploration. He tapped the side of his own head. "New interface. Apparently, the core syncs with our existing hunter systems, but adds a new tab for 'Mana Force.'"
When a person starts to use mana in span of six months to a year, an edible orb is given to each hunter, the orb is then digested and an interface visible to only the hunter who ate the orb, however, it can still be seen by others through the use of an Analyzer, an machine able to identify how strong a hunter is.
However, there is a limit to what the analyzer can do, it can only measure up to S-rank, But there have been instances where an Analyzer has been nearly or completely destroyed due to the strength of others power.
Celeste was also part of this as the analyzer nearly destroyed due to how much power she possessed.
Leon's case was surprising. The analyzer melted in an instant when analyzing his power, no explosion, nothing. And others too also emerged.
Ares did have an Inteface but he hasn't used it for months after giving up as he was still stuck in D-rank no matter how he tried.
Ares blinked. "Interface? How do you access it?"
"Just… think about it. Focus on the core's energy and 'request' a status. Similar to the way we called our interface using mana."
Closing his eyes, Ares focused on the thrumming in his chest. He imagined reaching out to it, not with mana this time, but with intent.
Status.
A translucent red screen shimmered into existence in his mind's eye, overlaying his vision.
[Participant 148: Ares]
[Rank: D (Provisional)]
[Condition: Stable. Minor surgical trauma.
Vhala Core Fragment - Integration: 17%]
[Mana Pool: 120/120 MP]
[Mana Force: Locked (Integration Incomplete)]
[Skills: Basic Mana Manipulation, Hand-to-Hand Combat (Proficient)]
[New Trait Acquired: Vhalic Resonance (Passive) - Increases affinity with raw energy, slight regeneration boost when exposed to ambient Mana Force.
Integration 17%?
Locked?
So, the power wasn't immediately accessible. That made sense. His body was still adapting. The Vhalic Resonance trait, however, was intriguing. A passive boost was always welcome.
"See anything?" Jones asked, noticing the flicker in Ares's expression.
Ares nodded.
"Yeah. Says my Mana Force is locked. Integration at 17%."
"Same here, almost," Jones replied. "Mine's at 19%. Sylvie's was 22% when she checked before passing out again. Nia… Nia hasn't said what hers is." Of course, she hadn't.
The door creaked open again, and Nia uncurled herself from her meditative position, landing silently on her feet. Her green eyes, unnervingly bright, fixed on Ares.
"Awake, are we, Ares-kun?" she chirped, a small, enigmatic smile playing on her lips. "Did you have sweet dreams of serpents and power?"
Ares met her gaze, a flicker of annoyance passing through him. "Something like that. How are you feeling, Nia? All 'tingly' still?"
Her smile widened. "Oh, more than tingly. It feels… familiar."
Before Ares could press further, Sylvie stirred on her bed, groaning. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, her dark hair disheveled. She blinked, focusing on Ares, then Jones, then Nia.
"Ugh, what… what time is it?" she mumbled, then her eyes widened as memory returned. She clutched her chest. "The core… it's still there."
"Morning, sunshine," Jones said dryly. "Or, well, day three of our enforced nap for Ares."
Sylvie's gaze landed on Ares. "You were out for two days? Lucky bastard. I've been awake for most of yesterday. The ache is… persistent." She looked surprisingly pale.
Suddenly, a loud, obnoxious siren blared through the room, making them all jump. It was followed by Kendrick's amplified voice, dripping with his usual brand of sadistic cheer.
"Gooood morning, my precious lab rats! Or should I say, good afternoon? Rise and shine! Hope you're all feeling… enhanced!" A chorus of groans could probably be heard throughout the facility.
"Now that most of you have had a chance to recover from your little… upgrades," Kendrick continued, his voice echoing from hidden speakers,
"It's time for your first official 'Mana Force Acclimation Session'! How exciting! Proceed to Training Hall Gamma in fifteen minutes. Don't be late! Tardiness will be… energetically discouraged."
The announcement ended, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.
Ares exchanged a look with Jones. Training Hall Gamma. Acclimation. This was it. The next phase of their torment, or their ascent, was about to begin. The Vhala fragment in his chest seemed to hum with a strange, almost eager anticipation.
He didn't know whether to dread it or welcome it. Maybe both.