Oath of the Survivor

Kyle frowned as he looked at the results of the scan for what felt like the hundredth time.  He had a side-by-side comparison pulled up from the scan he’d run nearly two months ago, when he’d first noticed the impact of the rogue mana in his body.  Back then it was easy to see the issues as they’d taken form; typically, as he absorbed ambient mana from the atmosphere it flowed smoothly through his body along a set of pathways, ultimately circulating through to his center where the cycle would continue. 

With the introduction of the wilder mana in the air, the flow was sped up in some parts during absorption, causing backups and blockages in some parts of his body while others flowed much too quickly, resulting in minor but accumulating internal damage.  REGENERATION was a great answer to this problem, enhancing his body’s natural ability to heal these small injuries almost as quickly as they occurred.  This put his worries out of sight and out of mind – he felt a small drain on his mana reserves as his skill worked, but with the excess of mana flowing into him it refilled faster than it drained. 

When he looked at his new scans, he realized that he had made a big mistake.  I’m smarter than this.  Not even fresh graduates would have missed a periodic check for progress.  This was a big reason that many doctors were advised against treating themselves, even with the advent of mana-based healing methods.  Just because a patient felt fine with healing energy flowing through them didn’t mean that everything was working as intended, especially in the realm of delicate internal medicine.  He kicked himself mentally again, knowing he should have established a plan to check this more regularly. 

And done what? He asked himself, finally coming to a conclusion.  The reality was that he had a lot of other priorities, and it wasn’t like he had the support of a hospital system to fix anything that came up.  Should he have checked it more?  Absolutely.  Was there a learning here?  One hundred percent.  Was it worth crying over?  Definitely not.  Sighing, he looked back at the most recent scan that C.H.A.D.D. had provided. 

Where before the rogue mana surged wildly around his body, it now cycled much more consistently, with pulses of intensity coming in regular intervals.  The mana pathways through his body had also undergone changes – at first Kyle thought that it was some sort of scar tissue present, but the reality was that his old channels had grown to accommodate the chaotic mana, leaving a thicker and more robust channel in their place.  This network also appeared to have a higher degree of flexibility, flexing along with the pulses without adding as much strain to his body. 

That wasn’t to say that this left him with no internal damage, but it was significantly mitigated compared to how it had been – reducing the need for REGENERATION and keeping his mana reserves high during his normal daily activities.  This on its own would be concerning, but it paled in comparison to two other major changes in his body. 

The first of these was his skin.  While it looked normal, the properties of his skin had changed.  At the subdermal level his skin had begun to take a weave pattern, creating an interlocking mesh that was on one side flexible, but on the other significantly harder to tear.  That was the cause of his surprise when the ant’s barbs had caught him – it scratched the top layer of skin but had a much harder time damaging the subdermal layer. 

While a major benefit to his ability to survive the wasteland he found himself in – Kyle wasn’t sure exactly what to think about the change.  It was unlikely to be just an effect of cycling this new mana, but he couldn’t put his finger on what else it could be.  Somehow it had fundamentally changed the way his body was replicating cells, something that was by all understood science impossible.

This was even more concerning when taken in the context of the second major change – his nervous system.  Additional nerve ganglia had condensed around different parts of his body.  This was primarily in his lower back near his hips and at the base of his neck going to his shoulders, but the scan also showed the presence of additional visual ganglia behind his eyes.  Kyle didn’t entirely know what to think about the changes, but he knew that if his physical body had undergone these changes his core likely had as well.  It had been a while since he’d entered meditation to check his status, and the worries piling up around him made it much more difficult than he expected to block out the world and see his internal condition. 

As before, the structure slowly came into the view of his mind’s eye – a large seven-armed spiral with a core in the center.  Immediately, he saw something was off.  Several of the arms that represented his core attributes were significantly brighter than he’d remembered them, and his breath caught as he focused on the bright center, words again appearing in his mind.

KYLE MAYHEW.  ARTHRO-HUMAN CHIMERA, HEALER.  LEVEL 37

VITALITY: 125

ENDURANCE: 125

STRENGTH: 45

DEXTERITY: 89

WILLPOWER: 94

INTELLIGENCE: 136

PERCEPTION: 139

FREE ATTRIBUTES: 24

While the growth of his Strength, Willpower, and Intelligence was where he’d expected it to be he was absolutely shocked at the numbers he saw in Vitality and Endurance.  His Perception and Dexterity had also grown substantially.  Breaking down the stat growths, he realized that whatever an Arthro-Human Chimera was, it gave triple the attributes in Vitality and Endurance, and double the values in Dexterity and Perception compared to what he had experienced as a human.  What’s more it appeared to be applying retroactively, adapting as his body was undergoing these changes.  I’m going to be the strongest unemployed person in Central Authority history. 

If it was a concern before, it was assured now.  Well-regulated and widely understood classes and abilities were at the core of the Central Authority’s philosophy.  It wasn’t enough to just be able to perform a function, it was also critically important to be able to follow instructions and develop as needed to serve the whole. 

He was already way out of bounds for his skill selection and attribute distribution during his time in the wild, with virtually no hope for advancement within Central Health.  With these recent changes he’d stepped into the realm of full-blown deviance.  Unknown quantities were dangerous, and he was a true rogue element at this point.  A healer with one healing skill, enough vital energy to rival frontline soldiers, with Perception as his highest attribute?  Completely off the charts. 

As he looked at the attributes, he noticed something he’d previously overlooked.  At the center of any awakened person was a skill node that allowed for translation – largely unnecessary in the Central Authority, but convenient to have.  It was still present, but another skill node had appeared in the center as well.  Focusing on it, words once again appeared in his mind: ADAPTIVE ANATOMY: 0/?

He had no idea what that meant, but for it to be within his core and not situated with his other skills was highly unusual.  Just what I needed, something else that makes me a freak.  Kyle exited meditation and looked at the body of the fallen ant.  He briefly considered trying to butcher it, but gave up the thought pretty quickly. 

That carapace had been incredibly difficult to damage, and he just didn’t have the tools available to remove it without burning a lot of energy and time.  Beyond that, something was clearly wrong with the creature internally as a result of its quick growth.  He really hadn’t needed to do much outside of breaking the shell for it to expire, and he didn’t want to risk eating something that could be contaminated.  Lastly… this thing had been eating people.  In hindsight the other beetles may have been doing that too, but this was different. 

How could he in good conscious eat a creature that was sustaining itself on the bodies of fallen humans?  He shuddered as he remembered the sight of the piled bodies.  Once again, his intrusive thoughts returned to remind him of all that he’d lost and the uncertain future ahead.  It was so tempting to just try to give up and admit that he wasn’t equipped to handle the end of the world.  What shame is there in not surviving an apocalypse? 

This time though, Kyle was prepared.  I’m still here because I want to be here.  If there were people here, there are people out there that could still use my help, deviant or not.  My grandfather’s legacy - my family’s legacy – will be defined by the people I can still help and the work I can still do.  I am here for a purpose and I won’t quit until that purpose has been accomplished.  The words felt hollow at first as he reflected on them, but soon they won out and replaced the intrusive ones. 

It was a simple mantra, but it helped him to center himself on what he could control.  There was time for grief and time for worry, but he knew he couldn’t let it define him.  Dusting himself off, he stood up and took stock of his circumstances.  He still had a good amount of meat, his armor was damaged but still at least partially functional, and outside of some nasty scarring on his left side he had largely recovered from the injuries in the last fight.  At least there’s some perks to being a chimera. 

Looking at the sky, Kyle estimated he still had a good four or five hours of daylight ahead of him, plenty to continue to progress into the city and hopefully find some effective shelter for the evening.  “C.H.A.D.D., anything else coming our way I should be aware of?” 

[NO, DR. MAYHEW.] 

“Are you sure?  Wouldn’t want any confusion between ‘large’ and ‘very large’ problems.  I’d even be interested in hearing about small problems come to think of it.” 

The drone floated closer to him, [DR. MAYHEW, WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SUMMARIZE OUR CURRENT PROBLEMS IN A VERBAL LIST OR SHOULD I SEND A MEMO?] 

Grinning at the drone’s newfound sass, Kyle responded. “Maybe we can hold off on that for a little while.”

~~~

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