Hugo opened his eyes within the capsule, unable to see anything but the same blood red liquid in front of him.
“You’re awake. Be sure to put on the mask before stepping out. It’ll keep the serum inside your body while you workout.”
He listened before feeling an object beside him. It was the mask, which he slipped over his face.
He didn’t need to actively breathe with it on, the serum resting in his lungs and circulating with the help of the mask.
After that, the capsule opened and allowed him to climb out, the serum flowing off his body.
That’s when his eyes widened.
He noticed that he had a lot more energy, like he had been running on fumes all this time and finally got acces tot he most pure fuel his body could attain.
“Your body is transforming by the hour. The benefits you’ll see very soon will be much more exaggerated. So long as you continue to follow my instructions.”
Hugo nodded in response, happy to see the results. It was quite fascinating to him.
As he did every day, he let Eve scan his body before engaging in the workout she had planned.
Except now, it’s difficulty had risen by a magnitude.
Sprinting a marathon, deadlifting a thousand pounds, pullups with half that chained to his waist.
Every part of his body was put through exertion he had never experienced before. It almost felt like he didn’t have enough time in a day to do it all, even though every minute was spent pushing his body to his limits, like he was trying to kill himself with his workout.
But despite all that, it took 20 hours for him to reach his limits, barely enough energy left to get a deep scan before walking back to the capsule.
And so the process repeated.
For the first time he was working out for more time than he slept, all thanks to the serum that had magical effects on his body.
8 hours of sleep, 20 hours of pushing the limits of humanity.
But just as fast as the improvements came, after a month of that process, they started fading away.
Hugo could feel his body change in real time. When the second month of his transformation came, he felt his strength start to wane, his body start to shrink, and his energy start to dwindle.
His body got weaker, and the workouts changed correspondingly. The pain and discomfort also increased as he started to feel sick instead of simply tired.
It felt like his body was killing itself, as it was in fact doing. It was only now that those effects were manifesting in full force.
Yet he was urged to continue anyway, simply doing as Eve instructed, entrusting her with his life.
The weakening continued like that for 5 months in total.
Until one night, everything coalesced.
……
…
“The genetic transformation is coming to an end.”
Eve muttered while looking at Hugo within the capsule. She couldn’t see the changes in his genetic material directly within the capsule, she would need a deep scan for that. But the signs were showing rather clearly.
In just 5 months, he had become yet another completely different person.
From a lanky man at 6 foot 3 inches who had never done any significant physical activity in his life, to a 300 pound monster in human flesh capable of matching some of the greatest athletes ever known. And now he was back down to 200 pounds. He was almost like a normal man his age, although he had actually grown taller, hitting 6 foot 6 inches.
Yet he couldn’t look more different from a normal person now.
Underneath his pale skin were thousands of strands of muscle. His tendons looked like steel threads, and every blemish he ever had was wiped away like they were nothing more than specks of dirt.
Eve smiled when she saw his bald head. His hair was already regrowing, but now it was much thicker and healthier.
Yet those small changes couldn’t compare to what had happened on the inside.
While pushing through the threshold, Hugo’s body was burning energy like a combustion engine, unceasingly, and with atrocious volume. To hit the threshold in the first place required one to put their body under so much stress that their body would effectively kill itself, and Hugo had done just that.
But becoming a superhuman meant that through the cancerous genetic mutation, the body restructured itself in a way that could accommodate the extreme level of stress as if it were normal. This meant that now, Hugo could go and do the most intense workout Eve ever had him do and he would breeze through it like an ordinary athlete on a cool jog.
That’s what it meant to be superhuman, and this newfound ability was reflected deeply in the transformation of the organs.
One of the first things Eve did was take advantage of Hugo’s muscular atrophy that had begun as a result of the genetic breakdown. As the muscles disposed of themselves, the Serum simultaneously induced genetic changes that resulted in massively increased muscular growth. The weak shell was shed, and the new muscle was grown back in its place, aided by an overdrive in testosterone production, as well as some injections of other growth hormones. Hugo’s body had to be supplemented even with the Serum.
This led to a top down reconstruction. First, in regard to the cardiac muscles, Hugo’s heart was now 50% bigger than previously. It pumped that much more blood volume with every beat, and was even slightly redesigned by the Serum with some of Eve’s optimizations. And since the heart was bigger, the lungs were slightly smaller, yet denser. The alveoli were generally the same as before, except they had regrown in much denser quantities. Cursory calculations indicated a 300% increase in the total amount while retaining the same size. And this extra density was taken advantage of with the extra blood flow provided by denser capillary presence around the lungs, as well as the increased blood flow from the heart. To match all of this, the blood vessels throuhgout the body were made thicker, capable of expanding and contracting while retaining their integrity so they didn’t burst from the increased blood pressure, while also being able to operate at incredibly low blood pressures.
The skeletal muscular system was next. These were much easier to redesign, or at least redevelop. With enough nutrients and hormones, along with some accommodating genetic material, Eve was able to dispose of all the old muscles and grow new ones in their place. She let them whither off layer by layer and regrow with 180% the density. The fiber distributions were also optimized, slightly favoring strength over endurance as the cardiovascular system was so effective at the endurance portion. Lactose, which built up during exercise, was also broken down and cycled so fast that it may as well not be there due to the increased hormones. This also tied into a greater regenerative ability. And while all this was happening, she took advantage of the free space and coated Hugo’s bones with a specially concocted high entropy carbide ceramic, making them nigh indestructible.
Eve wasn’t one who didn’t learn from nature around her, however. Nature could screw things up just as well as it could optimize things, and Eve knew how to cherry pick. Taking from all the centuries of studies surrounding lizards, axolotls, and other regenerative species, she managed to infuse a minor regenerative ability into Hugo. Disregarding the fact that she could simply clone organs should he ever need them, on the fly Hugo’s body would be able to steadily, though slowly, move toward restructuring and rebuilding damages organs. The most important function this afforded was allowing the body to keep itself alive for longer periods after injury. No longer would anomalies fester and get worse. The body would actively attempt to repair itself instead of just survive.
For non-life threatening injuries, however, Hugo’s healing factor was boosted by 550%. He’d heal visibly, taking a day instead of a week to heal, or a week instead of months. Negative immune reactions were also dampened, while the bone marrow, responsible for blood cell production, was allowed to flourish given thicker and denser bones.
Then, there were the metabolic organs. The stomach was given thicker linings and stronger acids, along with an optmized pick of a gut microbiome, that allowed foods and fuel to be broken down with blazing speeds and the highest efficiencies. No longer would nutrients be wasted, and no longer did it take so long to gather them. As a result, the intestines were also shrunk and optimzed since their role was compensated for.
After that was the liver, which had a crucial aspect of its design fixed. The human body could only synthesize so many amino acids and proteins, which is why it needed a variety of food. Eve redesigned Hugo’s DNA in order to do away with that restriction. Now, his body could synthesize just about anything it needed. The liver was a crucial part of that process, which had its synthesis speeds boosted significantly.
The kidneys were similar. They became the perfect filters and disposal machines. They kept the body squeaky clean with even greater fervor.
The sensory organs naturally couldn’t be left out. The rods and cones within Hugo’s eyeballs were made slightly denser. Retinol production and cycling was boosted, resulting in greater light sensitivity. Hugo’s ears were repaired after years of wear and tear, while the neural sensitivity around the organ in the ears was amplified. The same thing happened in the nose and mouth, resulting in better smell and taste.
Eve went over the list of changes multiple times, as if reaffirming to herself how great they were. She wasn’t sure if Hugo could be classified as a regular human anymore. He was a level greater, genetically far different even if similar. Perhaps he was still technically human by the definition of species. But if he were to sire a new line, they’d eventually outgrow and outpace the rest of the human race. And she did factor in reproductive capability. She even designed a template for females should it ever be used.
However, even these impressive enhancements didn’t truly separate Hugo from everything else.
There were plenty of animals that could match the most exceptional humans in certain aspects. Gorillas were far stronger, cheetahs were far faster, gazelles were agile, lizards had greater regenerative ability.
There were plenty of examples, and thus, the one thing that made humans better than all of them was their intelligence.
And this is where Hugo had always shone. Except now, even that was enhanced.
Neural matter operated on electrical impulses, which from Eve’s perspective, made optimization almost too easy. It was only Hugo’s reservations about cybernetic modifications that limited her options.
Supplementing neural white matter, dendrites, and axons with fibers of superconducting materials, as well as well as coating them to provide electrical shielding, would automatically amplify electrical transmission speeds within the brain and body by several times. This would also, by default, increase the intelligence, thinkning speeds, and creativity of a person by accommodating much stronger electrical impulses.
But she wasn’t allowed to do all that, at least not completely. Besides the fact that such technology hadn’t been developed yet, the operation even if it was would be incredibly invasive, not to mention artificial. It wasn't in line with what Hugo wanted.
But she could settle. She may not be able to turn all Hugos’ neurons into superconducting fibers, but she could electrically shield them and boost transmission speeds. She could also modify the neural highway of the spinal cord. Crude simulations of these changes showed an increase in response times by a minimum of 400%. The only variable was how fast Hugo adapted to his own body.
And it affected more factors than just reaction times. But those couldn't be numerically codifie as much, so she just waited to see.
Eve became proud of her work as she watched Hugo’s transformation. Everything about him was now beyond the pinnacle of the human species. He could be classified on an entirely different level. However, despite all that, he was only amazing in regard to functionality.
The foundation was as solid as could be. All limits on his potential had been lifted. His talent was higher than any other.
But compared to superhumans, he was lacking.
As she had said before, he would become the worst superhuman. The tall monument of strength that he had created had come crumbling down, having being built for that very purpose.
He was now remodeled in Eve’s perfect image, but all of this was merely the first step on an even longer road ahead of him.
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The Steps to Heaven.
Another realm of strength to climb, and he was sitting at the rock bottom of that realm.
Yet it was all by design. Because to her, there was one thing even more important than strength, more important than the Steps to Heaven.
It was something only she knew about since she had created the concept after studying superhumans. All superhumans confused this concept thinking it was synonymous with the Steps to Heaven, but they couldn't be more wrong.
And it was the game itself that was beginning to enlighten them. In that sense, Hugo was even farther behind than he thought.
Now though, it was finally time to push him forward.
Once his body settled itself, she would work with him for just a bit longer before letting him out into the wild.
She quite looked forward to what would happen.
……
…
*Psh*
The capsule opened, allowing Hugo to step out.
“You’ve been asleep for 82 hours. Take it slow.”
“...Blegh…”
Once risen out of the liquid, he puked all of it out of his lungs.
Now though, it was no longer blood red, but dark black.
After coughing a few times, he caught himself and stood, stark naked.
Eve had put him to sleep one last time as the transformation finally ran its course. It was no different from a coma, but his body had revived itself once the genetic anomalies had disappeared.
In that time, all of the Bleeding Edge Serum had been absorbed by his body, and all of the waste had been expelled to create this black filth.
What he had done was shed every layer of his body, being reborn completely anew. Before, Hugo had been 32 years old. And while he was technically still that age, such a thing was now incapable of measuring any amount of his abilities. In fact, from the deep scans Eve had taken, he may as well have stopped aging entirely.
Most superhumans were like that, though not to the same degree.
After stepping out of the liquid, Hugo teetered unsteadily, moving his limbs around as if they were foreign. His eyes also squinted. He could tell the lights were dimmed, yet they still seemed bright.
Most alarming though was the feelings shooting through his body. Moving his fingers and arms made him realize that not only did they seem foreign, but he could move them with far more ease. It was like something else was moving it for him. The instant he even thought about moving, he moved. The time it took for his brain to process and send the signals down his body was a fraction of what it was before. It was uncanny.
He also felt clean and healthy. There wasn’t a single thing he felt wrong about his body. Not the slightest ache, no weird feeling in his gut, none of the daily discomforts that every human ignores throughout their life.
He felt perfect.
It felt like he could do anything. He almost felt stronger than before, even though he most assuredly wasn’t.
Eve stood across from him, taking in every inch of her creation with a smile.
“How marvelous. Every bit of you far surpasses the rest of humanity. Every bit of you.”
She looked down with a smirk, causing Hugo to click his tongue.
“How improper.”
“Please. I’ve seen everything. Now, let’s walk you to the deep scanner. I’m going to take one last look at you before giving you your next workout cycle.”
“Mm.”
Hugo nodded and stood from the capsule, his legs twitching as he took his first steps. He could barely seem to control himself. He’d need to relearn how to walk, for as long as that took.
Once both legs were out, he stood straight with his arms elevated. He was balanced, but his brain was so active that he overthought things and fell off balance. His arms shot out for a hold and knocked into the capsule so fast he didn’t even realize what happened until his knuckles dented the metal.
“Hm.”
He grunted a little, looking down at reddened patch of skin on his fist. There wasn’t even a bruise even though he had deformed steel.
“Take it easy. I’d help you, but I haven’t finished developing my physical body yet. So just take it one step at a time.”
“Your own body?”
“From the ground up. It’ll be mostly synthetic, incorporating a few biological elements. No matter how I design it though, I need the fabrication tech to build it. Until I develop that, it stays a mere design.”
Hugo listened while gradually walking over to the deep scan pod.
After spending some time climbing in, the scan came and went quickly. Eve processed the results as she then moved Hugo into a workout.
With a harness, he stepped onto a treadmill and started with a walk. That went on for around an hour before Hugo smiled.
Although difficult at first, walking was still walking. It was easy, and his body picked back up on it. Gradually, he started moving faster, finding that his hips could twitch with such strength that his leg felt like it wanted to fly away. But just as quickly, he was able to reign it in and manage the intensity. His brain warmed in concentration, reconfiguring everything he knew about physical activity.
From a walk to a jog, and then a jog to a run. He moved faster and faster as he rewrote his neural pathways, the treadmill adapting to him.
He watched the speedometer on the machine rise.
10mph…15mph…20mph
24mph…27mph…30mph
33mph…37mph…40mph
“Hah!”
Hugo let out a small laugh as he far surpassed his previous record. Or, he should say the previousl human record. No ordinary human had ever run so fast, and to him, what used to take all his strength and technique was now only mildly exerting.
In his euphoria though, he took an awkward step, his gut instantly falling as he realized he lost his footing.
He was flung in his harness, sparing him the pain of getting throw into the other machines behind him.
He recovered, planting back on the still treadmill. That’s when he noticed that he didn’t feel even slightly tired. He almost wanted to start breathing heavy out of habit, but stopped himself when he realized that the run felt no more exerting than a cool walk.
It all felt so easy. It took so much more for him to even get tired. Even at his peak strength before, he couldn’t breeze through something like that.
And he knew he had so much room to grow. He couldn’t imagine how much stronger he could get. Doing what he did before seemed almost easy now. Surpassing that by another several magnitudes would be the only thing that could give him a challenge.
As he went on another sprint on the treadmill, Eve spoke.
“You said you wanted to reach the first Step before entering the game. Give me three weeks, and I’ll have you there. Then, you’ll enter the Ascent with a year and a half handicap. At the very least, the others will have paved a way for you.”
“Alright. What do I need to do for the first Step?”
“The Focus Step requires you to achieve a high level of mind-muscle connection. This will be done through the next training cycle I’m going to give you. It’s rather straightforward, so it’ll only take a few weeks whereas new superhumans will usually take 2 years.”
“Why so fast?”
“Because you’ve already achieved that high level. You just need to realize it. Your body is brand new, almost literally. You’ll need to relearn it and find your new limits. Once you do that, the first Step will come automatically.”
“Very well.”
He nodded and continued to run. It almost felt impossible to reach his new limits since they were so high, but he knew Eve would find a way.
The oxygen content in the gym was now so low that any ordinary person would pass out and die given enough time inside. But he was working out with it, not to mention the thinner atmosphere.
That’s how efficient his cardiovascular system was now.
His heart could also achieve a far higher bpm than before. Working out at a bpm of over 300 was like an ordinary person working out with a bpm of 170. Not to mention how his heart was 50% larger and stronger, moving that much more blood with every pulse, and his lungs that were able to fuel his blood with unrivaled efficiency.
So it took over an hour of extreme exercise for him to start breathing with any kind of labor. From then on, he started working with all kinds of resistance, anything to make him tired.
It was only after 10 hours had passed when he started to feel tired. And that’s when he started to realize just how far his body could go.
There were plenty of machines that precisely targeted even the most obscure muscle groups through the body. Those were only used for specialized training, but there was no reason why Eve couldn’t have Hugo use it in order to realize his limits.
Everything was built for a superhuman, so he was able to use as much weight as he could handle. Still, despite being weaker than his former self, his endurance was far higher than other superhumans. The level of stress he could put on his body couldn’t be compared. He’d sooner tear his muscles off the bone before they got tired.
However, all that activityb still burned a lot of fuel, almost as much as he was burning before his transformation. The laws of thermodynamics still applied. He couldn’t output more energy than he took in and stored.
For that, he needed to use serums.
The serums he used were specialized liquids composed of a singular complex amino acid and dense glucose compounds. The amino acid he was given was a special concoction by Eve, one that his body could synthesize into any other acid or protein he needed. Gone were the days of eating a variety of foods to get all the necessary nutrients. He could now ingest the simplest of organic fuels and his body would take care of itself perfectly.
As for the glucose compound, that was responsible for his energy. In a small vial there were 2000 calories worth. If he downed those like shots, he’d get more than enough fuel for himself.
Of course, such simple fueling methods was only temporary. Just because the body could do something didn’t mean it was efficient. Eating normal foods would still be the most efficient for energy and nutrient gain due to their variety, but for now, Eve wanted Hugo’s body to work for everything it did. She wanted it to put those new abilities to the test.
Like that, another few weeks passed. Hugo continued to do insane workouts with seemingly little effort. It was almost like rehabilitation from an injury.
But soon enough, Hugo hit that Step.
It was one day when Eve was having him do some mobility training. Flexibility, technique, and coordination was just as important as sheer strength was.
That day, while pulling his foot behind his ear, Hugo suddenly jolted.
Eve noticed his change even before he did. The suit around his body was able to pick up on surface level neural activity throughout his whole body.
And for a moment, she saw his entire nervous system light up, like lightning was shooting down his spinal cord and through all his limbs.
Once the spike in activity subsided, he slowly unraveled himself and felt his body.
“Amazing. No wonder the Steps are so clear. Each step is merely a new stage in the body’s evolution. Each one has clear biological markers.”
“Yes, that’s exactly correct. Now, it should feel like every inch of your body is connected.”
“Mm.”
Hugo clenched his fists. Each little muscle through his fingers and palms contracting independently from one another.
He was amazed. He didn’t think his body could get any more coordinated or precise.
Eve clapped.
“Congratulations, Hugo. You’ve reached your goal in a measly 18 months. Those 18 months may have been filled with daily pain beyond your wildest dreams, but you’ve surpassed it all. I’m rather proud.”
“Well it was only possible because of you.”
“Don’t mitigate your achievement here. My existence was a matter of fact, a constant. Your willpower was what got you through it. There are extremely few people capable of doing what you just did. Now, not only are you one of the smartest men in the world, but also one of the most physically able. By the time you reach the end of this road, I have no doubt that you will be the most powerful creature on the planet, and that’s just biologically. With a few cybernetic modifications, I could turn you into an unkillable entity capable of toppling countries alone.”
“Let’s start with the game first. Those countries will have no doubt expressed their desire to devote resources to my game, not to mention the corporations. How much money has been sunk into the game so far?”
Hugo asked curiously, taking a seat at a nearby table.
Eve pulled up a screen for them both to look at.
“Approximately 2.1 trillion dollars have been spent on the game, and that number is rising by the day. That isn’t even counting the money being spent on projects to mimic your technology, which would easily double that.”
“Not surprising. The applications for this technology could be used for just about anything. They probably think I’m an idiot for devoting all of this to a game.”
“Little do they know this is one more step toward your plans for world domination.”
“Shut it.”
Hugo retorted with a smile, leaning back and watching the screen flicker with numbers and news articles.
This was the first time he was hearing about the outside world in 18 months. It was finally time for him to emerge once again.
And yet it felt awkward. He almost itched to workout, like not doing so was wrong.
Eve saw this and chuckled.
“Relax. With your body the way it is, you could do nothing for a month and not lose your progress. You’re beyond human now. Don’t shackle your mind with those limits.”
“I know. It’s just a matter of rewiring my brain a bit. It’s hard to shrug off everything I just did so easily.”
“You seem to be perfectly fine.”
“You know I’m not.”
“...”
Eve was quiet in understanding.
What Hugo had done was nothing short of traumatic. In order to cope with what he did, he was forced to shut his mind down. There was little thinking to be done, because if he thought about anything, he would get in his own head and risk himself quitting.
Nobody had ever done what he did in such a short amount of time, not even the best superhumans. But it came at a cost to his sanity.
He would need to spend some time mentally recovering until he could properly operate socially again. Only Eve could see that in him.
“Alright, spend the next week going on nature walks or something. You can now leave the house. My only condition is that you do no workouts for the next week while you recover. You’ll need to force yourself to slow down if you want to know what it used to feel like.”
“Sure. I think a trip to the headquarters would be nice.”
“Then I’ll arrange the shuttle. Your Heads have been waiting for you too. I’ll call them and have them meet you. It’s time to talk to someone other than me.”
“Mm.”
He nodded while walking out of the gym.
From there he went to his room where he threw on a proper set of clothes. He had been living in that suit for 18 months, so when he put on a shirt and pants, it actually felt uncomfortable.
In the end he had to wear some soft sweats and a loose shirt in order to feel any kind of ease. And after slipping on some cushioned running shoes, he went to the garage where the shuttle was waiting for him.
Only the richest could afford a shuttle, and this one was manufactured just for him. He entered the hatch that spanned the entire side of the car, almost clipping his head on the top, and sitting down on one of the couches inside while a table appeared to serve a drink.
The AI onboard spoke.
“What can I get for you today, sir?”
“Something sugary, please. I need something sweet to stimulate my taste buds.”
“Coming right up.”
It spoke as the hatch closed, the shuttle lifting off and flying out of the garage.
It flew across the ocean, heading to the Megacity where his headquarters was stationed.
He watched the ocean currents as he flew, taking several deep breaths and attempting to mentally prepare himself to see his Heads.