David was pretty much occupied with his thoughts.
As he was observing his surroundings and thinking, not really listening to what Mu Chen was talking about.
His face steadily and gradually changed from his normally lazy expression to that of a serious one.
Although he was a bit grateful that he didn't truly die but being suddenly thrusted into an unknown and unfamiliar world made him feel a bit of fear.
He couldn't help but recall a saying he had seen from one of the books he had read. 'Suffering a fate worse than death itself' his heart clenched as he struggled to calm his rolling emotions.
At first he was still in denial as something straight up from fantasy wouldn't just happen to anyone. In fact, he had a tiny bitty sliver of hope that this was all a staged act but as he continued to observe his surroundings, the hope was crushed almost immediately.
Owing to the fact that the technology being used in the laboratory is of one even he couldn't hope to identify according to the standards being used on earth. And although he couldn't claim to have seen one, he was a sucjer for techs and have made his own research on the popular ones that existed.
The equipment were in different shapes and sizes, small and compact, completely different from his knowledge. This made him understand that the current technology used in this world is way more advanced and very different than those used on earth.
The Evolutionary Pod in which David and everyone of the teenagers came out from were technologies David hadn't heard of while he was still on Earth.
The pod seemed to have been programmed to implant and stabilise the conditions of the body after the implants.
Gazing around in awe, he couldn't help but wonder if he was in the future or maybe he really was in an entirely different world.
Suddenly,
David felt a little tap on his ribs, frowning, he look sharply to his left side. Almost impulsively glaring at the person who had hit him.
"Sorry, but you were not really listening, and Mr Mu Chen's looks alone is enough to tell anyone that he doesn't tolerate nonsense from people so..."
The boy who poke Dave's ribs with his arm explained himself before Dav could react, as though he could predict he was going to be glared at.
He looks a bit older than Dav, and also taller than him by a head but with a pretty decent features.
Dav glared at the boy, the corner of his mouth twitching. Wishing to release the words just at the tips of his tongue.
Saying nothing for a few seconds, only to release a sigh.
"Thanks a lot genius."
Dav replied sarcastically while looking away from the boy. He was not really in a good mood right now. He turned his attention towards the Asian man in front of the crowd who was busy explaining things that doesn't really make sense to him.
"By the way, I'm Nihyuh , from sector B-15 Ferris Strong hold."
After a few minutes of silence, between the two, the boy whispered. Introducing himself to Dav while leaning close to his ear.
Dav groaned inwardly. From his knowledge, he already assumed what kind of person the guy is - A talking machine, the best way to avoid them is to keep quiet
So David just ignored him. Trying his best to understand the words coming out form Mu Chen's mouth.
After a bit of rest and observation, his brain had finally settled from the ringing pain and he could finally comprehend bits and pieces of the memories he had inherited.
From his memories, although most of the teenagers in the underground laboratory were from different races some were from the same sectors or different sectors.
As this world had being rampage by the REBs and Atomic Bombs, humanity had no choice but to build different sectors and strongholds in the safe zones to protect themselves from further extinction.
There are many several sectors built in a single stronghold. Their names are based on the level, standards and grades of their economic status.
The rich folks occupies the sector A-00 to B-15, meanwhile F-90 being categorized as the lowest sector in the federation which some people like to call the slums.
But from his memories, Dav was sure they weren't going back to the sector no more.
He wasn't sure why though.
"...Some of you might feel indignant due to the fact that you were forcibly taken away from your parents, guardians, or from your comfort zones and then forced into the operation and transplantation but I assure you that only those with little knowledge to non about the institution and the benefits to be gained would feel that way."
Some of the youths were still hateful of the institute but listening to Mu Chen's words, they couldn't help glancing at each other. While others who were well aware of the benefits, puffed up their chests with pride. They were still teenagers after all, something like having a edge over their mates is quite satisfactory.
David was a little confused at first because he doesn't really recall anything from the past relating to any institute the mister at the front talked about it seemed he yet to inherit everything but he recalled the original owner of the body being taken away from his parents.
From his memories, he realised the real owner of the body whose name is also David doesn't really care much about his parents since they too don't really care about him because he had been chosen by the representative of the institute when he was much younger because of his strength which was almost twice as strong as kids his age instead of his elder brother.
And to the normal families living in the shelter, every household has to release a child at least 16 years old to 19 years of age to the institute to train them into a powerful figure in order to protect the border from the invasion of the REBs.
To the normal and ordinary families of the stronghold, being chosen was no different from a death sentence since in the past few years, majority of the kids chosen In the past rarely came back at all.
No message, no calls, nothing! It was as though they had died or had being wiped off from the surface of the earth, no parent would want that for their kids. Leading some of the families to believe or assume that they are died. Not knowing that they actually got it completely wrong.
Only the truly desperate ones gamble on the off chance that their kids survived the hellish training, it would bring endless glory to the family.
The wealthy families of the stronghold has some information about the institute and the operations the kids would go through. They are also aware of the fact that the success rate of the implantation is not absolutely assured but that wasn't enough reason to deter the influential families from sending their kids to the institution voluntarily.
They had witnessed and also tasted of the power to be gained from every successful implant. They couldn't careless, as they would nurture the kids in the arts of combat and soak them in serums as they grow up to increase their chances of survival.
Dav frowned deeply as he seem to be remembering somethings but he continued listening.
"I won't say much more other than this on that matter. Now, each and everyone of you that has undergone the Xeno transplantation would feel sore through out your body. The process of transplanting the genome into the body is an extremely exhausting and stressful procedure to the human body and genes.
The genomes transplanted successfully with the use of catalyst TY-13, stretches the genetic limits of the human body."
Mu Chen paused, staring at the young ones before him. As the teenagers recalled the pains they and passed through, most of them frowned in displeasure and a bit of fear. It was a traumatic moment they really wished to forget.
He continued in a slightly sad tone as he appeared slightly dazed. Although, not everyone could hear the sadness in his tone. But he was certainly not sad because of the lives lost. He was just a bit sad that he had lost potential helpers.
"Those who had failed the experiments died due to the fact that their body couldn't handle the stress given to it. Their genetic codes couldn't accept the shear amount of strength from the genome resulting to gene overload, which also resulted to death or they died due to a very simple fact, they couldn't bear the pain."
Mu Chen said while thinking back to what he saw on screen, how those whose body couldn't handle the load their body had endured through during the transplant, would feel their body dissolve at a rapid pace because their Genetic codes had been tempered with resulting to their Genetic codes breaking down rapidly or simply implode.
Turning them into a pile of sticky black blood. With their cries of pain echoing through out the room. But that was simply the least painful death one could hope to encounter in this line of work.
Fortunately, The pods used are soundproofed by the Generic Association since they were the ones who built the underground laboratory in accordance to the order provided by the Military.
Since the Generic Associations were provided materials by the Military to fund their experiments, they could only succumb to them. Well, maybe.
"Hm?!"
David's eyes opened wide abruptly to this revelation.
According to Mu Chen's words, he had finally confirmed that the world he had reincarnated to is completely different from Earth and he was not dreaming neither was he hallucinating either.
Although, on Earth, genetic codes could be read and even replaced but only on animals and plants.
The greatest Genetic Engineers on Earth only scratched the surface since the best they could achieve through Genetics is to make the human body a little stronger than normal, resistant to a few negligible virus and diseases, changing eye Colors but they could never successfully change the structure of the human body.
And since the real owner of this body died even before the process ended.
He died only because he couldn't bear the pain.
David couldn't understand, he couldn't help but furrow his brows. Could the pain be that unbearable to the extent one could die from it?
Dav thought. But what he doesn't know is that even he could die from the pain and wouldn't even last through half of the process.
The other candidates whose family could afford to buy the serum from the Genetic Association at a very expensive price would ingest the catalyst annually from young.
Although it wasn't a secret that ingesting the catalyst regularly and annually from the age of 5 would reduce the risk of dying from the pain by about 30 percent depending on the amount taken through out the years making it very expensive for those who aren't wealthy impossible to acquire it repeatedly. Even Dave only had the diluted form of the serum 3 times since his family weren't all that well off.
Assuming the original owner of this body died during the transplant, his body system should have been failing by now or something according to what he heard. His soul is already occupying the body which should have caused him.yo die a second time but he only feels his body extremely sore which is quite the norm.
Dav concluded that his soul had invaded the body a few seconds after Dave died from the pain. He couldn't help but feel extremely lucky.
"Now, I would like to talk about your talents. Talents are divided into different grades and are also given different treatment. Your talent would depend on the amount of days the soreness in your body persists. The lesser the time the soreness fades, the higher your talents. And it's divided into five different phases. The highest grade,
Five stars - 0 seconds to 10 minutes. Those are the absolute genius. We haven't had those in a few decades anyway so I doubt anyone of you would be among them.
The second grade is a
Four Stars talent - 10 minutes to 1 hour. Those are the rare geniuses and I hope to see most of you become one.
Three Stars - 1 hour to 1 day. A bit more than one than one third of your population would be a 3 star talent.
Two Stars - 1 day to 1 week, above average.
One Star - 1 week to 1 month. I hope you don't reveal your self or you might just suffer a fate worse than death in this institute."
Mu Chen paused to catch his breath.. The students exploded into various whisper.