NOVEL WEB Chapter 373: Venom and Suspicion
Alexis moved with practiced efficiency toward a specialized storage unit that I hadn't noticed before. The metal container looked like something you'd find in a high-security laboratory, complete with temperature controls and biometric locks. She placed her palm on the scanner, and after a soft beep, multiple compartments slid open to reveal rows of carefully organized vials. I always forget how much money we really have. My office is still relatively empty while the girls basically have a workplace in theirs.
Each vial contained different colored liquids - some clear, others with distinctive hues ranging from amber to deep green. But what caught my attention were the labels. Instead of the simple chemical names I'd expected, these bore complex scientific nomenclatures that meant absolutely nothing to me.
"Micrurus fulvius, Bitis arietans, Centruroides sculpturatus," I read aloud, stumbling over the Latin pronunciations. "Alexis, what exactly are these?"
She carefully selected several vials, arranging them on her workstation with the kind of reverence typically reserved for handling explosives. "Those are the scientific names for various venomous creatures," she explained, her voice taking on the clinical tone she used when discussing medical procedures. "Eastern coral snake, puff adder, Arizona bark scorpion. I've also got some Apis mellifera - that's honeybee venom - and a few others."
I stared at the collection of vials, each one containing what amounted to concentrated death from some of nature's most dangerous creatures. The logical part of my mind immediately began cataloging the risks, while my survival instincts started sending warning signals that this might be taking our resistance training too far.
"Alexis, this seems like a significant jump from half a gram of capsaicin powder. Are you sure this is safe?"
She looked up from her preparations, and I could see the combination of professional confidence and genuine concern in her expression. "Rey, I understand your hesitation, but I've calculated everything precisely. These will be microdoses - just enough to push your current resistance skills to their limits without causing permanent damage."
She gestured toward me with a slight smile. "Besides, you have to remember your physical advantages. You're what, over 6 feet and probably two hundred and 60 pounds of muscle and dense bone structure? The same dose that could seriously harm one of us would have a much more manageable impact on your system."
There was logic to her reasoning. My body had become extremely powerful over the last 2 years. Combined with my existing Pain Resistance and Poison Resistance skills, I probably had a better chance of surviving this experiment than most people would have surviving a standard medical procedure.
"Plus," she continued, pulling on latex gloves and preparing syringes, "I'll be monitoring you the entire time. The moment I see any indication that your body is being overwhelmed beyond safe parameters, I have counteragents ready."
I trusted Alexis completely. Her medical expertise had literally saved my life multiple times, and she understood my unique physiology better than anyone else in the world. If she believed this was the right approach to improving my survival capabilities, then I was willing to take the risk.
"All right," I said, beginning to unbutton the custom-tailored shirt that Camille had made for me. "Let's do this."
The fabric was expensive and perfectly fitted, designed to accommodate my build while maintaining a professional appearance for public functions. If Camille saw me damage it, she would likely kill me on the spot. I folded it carefully and set it aside, then I presented my exposed my left arm.
As I presented my arm for the injections, I noticed Alexis pause for just a moment, her cheeks taking on a subtle pink coloration that hadn't been there during her clinical explanations. The reaction was brief but understandable.
With the exception of Sienna, my relationships with the other three hadn't progressed beyond the emotional intimacy, mutual care that had developed over time and kissing. A fact I'm sure Sienna brags about to the other 3 behind my back.
But right now, medical necessity took precedence over personal dynamics. I kept my arm steady and my expression neutral as Alexis began her work.
The first injection was the coral snake venom. The needle went in smoothly, and I felt the slight burn as the liquid entered my bloodstream. Alexis immediately moved to the second syringe, containing the puff adder venom, then quickly continued with the scorpion and bee venoms.
"How do you feel?" she asked, settling into a chair positioned where she could observe me closely while monitoring her equipment.
"So far, just the normal injection sites feeling tender," I replied honestly. "My Pain Resistance and Poison Resistance are already starting to work, but I can feel them having to work harder than usual."
She nodded, making notes on a tablet. "That's exactly what we want. Your skills are being challenged, which should force them to adapt and strengthen."
For the first twenty minutes, the effects were manageable. I felt a general sense of unease and discomfort, like the early stages of food poisoning combined with the muscle aches that accompany a fever. My Enhanced Physical Recovery was working overtime, and I could feel my body's natural healing processes accelerating to combat the foreign substances.
But as we approached the thirty-minute mark, the neurotoxins began to assert themselves more aggressively.
The world started to take on a strange, hyperreal quality. Colors seemed more vivid, sounds became amplified, and I found myself becoming hypersensitive to every sensation. My heart rate increased noticeably, and I could feel sweat beginning to form despite the comfortable temperature in the laboratory.
"This is where it gets interesting," Alexis said, checking my pulse and blood pressure. "The neurotoxic effects are starting to peak. How's your coordination?"
I tried flexing my fingers and found that fine motor control was becoming more difficult. "Getting shaky," I admitted. "And everything feels... intense."
"That's normal. Your nervous system is being challenged, which should help strengthen your overall resistance to neural interference."
The next hour was a blur of increasingly uncomfortable sensations. The hemotoxic venoms began to affect my circulation, making me feel alternately hot and cold. My muscles cramped sporadically, and breathing became more labored as my respiratory system worked harder to process oxygen.
Through it all, Alexis remained calm and professional, monitoring my vital signs and making adjustments to her equipment. Her presence was reassuring, a stable anchor in the chaos of physiological upheaval that the venoms were causing.
Around the two-hour mark, everything reached its peak intensity. The various toxins seemed to be competing with each other for control of my nervous system, creating a symphony of conflicting signals that my body was struggling to manage. My skills were working at maximum capacity, but I could feel them adapting and strengthening under the extreme pressure.
"You're doing great," Alexis said, though I could hear the concern underlying her professional composure. "All your readings are within acceptable parameters, even if they're at the high end of those parameters."
By the third hour, I could finally feel the tide beginning to turn. The hemotoxic effects started to fade first, allowing my circulation to normalize and my breathing to become easier. The neurotoxic symptoms took longer to subside, but gradually the hypersensitivity and coordination problems began to improve.
And then, like a switch being flipped, I felt the familiar sensation of my skills evolving before getting a notification from my system.
System Notification: Pain Resistance has increased to Level 3
System Notification: Poison Resistance has increased to Level 3
The relief was immediate and dramatic. The residual discomfort from the venoms faded to background noise, manageable and easily ignored. My coordination returned to normal, and the strange intensity of sensation settled back to baseline levels.
"Did it work?" Alexis asked, leaning forward with barely contained excitement.
"Both skills advanced to Level 3," I confirmed, flexing my arm and marveling at how normal I felt after what had just happened. "The improvement is significant. I can barely feel any residual effects from the venoms now."
Her face lit up with genuine happiness at the success of the experiment. But then, something shifted in her expression. The professional satisfaction was replaced by something more personal, more intense. A grin spread across her features that I recognized from previous occasions when she'd been presented with interesting medical puzzles or unique physiological phenomena.
"Excellent," she said, but there was something in her tone that made me wary. "In that case, let's prepare for the next experiment."
I held up a hand, still catching my breath despite the improvement in my condition. "Whoa, timeout. I know I'm feeling better, but I just spent three hours getting poisoned by some of nature's most dangerous creatures. I need a few minutes to fully recover before we start anything else."
Alexis blinked, and the intense expression faded as quickly as it had appeared. She looked almost embarrassed as she realized how carried away she had gotten.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Rey. You're absolutely right. I get so focused on the research possibilities that I sometimes forget about the human element." She set down the equipment she had already started preparing and moved her chair back to give me more space. "Take all the time you need. I can get a little... overzealous when I'm working with unique physiological cases."
Before I could respond to her apology, the distinctive sound of the main door opening echoed through the penthouse. The familiar voices of the other three women carried down the hallway, accompanied by the rustle of shopping bags and the general commotion of people returning home after a long day out.
"We're back!" Sienna's voice called out, though it carried the soft, almost hesitant quality that characterized most of her communications.
"Rey? Alexis? Where is everyone?" Camille added, her tone carrying the playful confidence that made her the most outgoing member of our group.
I stood up from the chair, intending to go greet them and help with whatever they had purchased. But as I reached the doorway of Alexis's laboratory, I found myself face-to-face with all three women who had just entered the main living area.
Sienna was the first to notice my state of undress, her eyes widening slightly as she took in my bare chest and the obvious signs that I had been through some kind of physical ordeal. Despite her naturally shy demeanor, I could see her gaze lingering appreciatively on my physique before she caught herself and looked away with a deepening blush.
Camille's reaction was more direct, her eyebrows rising as she took in the scene with obvious amusement. "Well, well. It looks like someone's been having an interesting afternoon."
Evelyn, despite wearing the blindfold that she always put on before entering the penthouse, seemed to sense the shift in atmosphere immediately. Her head tilted slightly as she processed the sudden silence and the tension that had filled the room.
But it was what happened next that really caught my attention. All three women turned their gazes toward Alexis, who was still standing in her laboratory doorway wearing her lab coat and safety glasses, her cheeks still flushed from our earlier interaction.
The look that passed between them was unmistakable. It was the kind of expression that suggested a shared understanding had been violated, an unspoken agreement that had been broken in their absence. The smiles on their faces were friendly enough, but there was an underlying current of accusation that made me distinctly uncomfortable.
I found myself standing there half-dressed and confused, caught in the middle of some kind of dynamic that I didn't fully understand. The way they were all looking at Alexis suggested that my state of undress combined with her obvious embarrassment had created an impression that wasn't entirely accurate, but which apparently violated some kind of arrangement they had made among themselves.
"So," Camille said finally, her voice carrying her usual teasing tone, "did you two just continue with the resistance experiments, or is there another reason why Rey is standing there without his shirt on?"