Timeless Assassin - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Genetic Awakening (First Shot)
The sharp prick of the needle barely registered at first as it felt like a quick sting—no different from any other injection. But within seconds, a foreign sensation spread throughout Leo’s bloodstream.

It started as an icy chill, rushing through his veins like liquid nitrogen, surging from the injection site up his arm and straight into his chest as he shivered involuntarily, a deep, instinctual reaction to something far beyond his body’s natural equilibrium.

Then—his pulse skipped.

*Thump.*

His heartbeat faltered.

*Thump.* *Thump.*

A second of silence followed, like the entire world had paused—and then his heart slammed back into motion, hammering violently against his ribs.

His breathing hitched, his muscles tensed, and an overwhelming pressure spread through his entire body.

“Dose Administered…. Pod closing…. Clear” The military doctor beside him said, as he took a step back.

*HISS–*

A sudden hiss of air filled the pod he was sleeping in as the automated bindings activated, ensuring his body remained still as the transformation began.

Within moments, the reinforced chamber sealed shut with a mechanical clang, cutting off the outside world and enclosing him in a sterile, pressurized cocoon of medical-grade fluids, nanite-infused oxygen, and a constant influx of vital nutrients.

This wasn’t just an awakening. It was a controlled evolution where his body was about to be rebuilt from the ground up, and to ensure that he had all the necessary nutrients to facilitate this transformation, he was sealed in a pod that had everything within it that one could hope to sustain life.

———–

Stage 1: Genetic Reconfiguration (30-60 seconds)

About 30 seconds into the shot being administered into his arm, the unbearable burning began.

At first, it was subtle. A tingling sensation beneath his skin, like a mild fever creeping through his bones. But it intensified rapidly, escalating into a full-blown inferno that roared inside him.

His bones ached—no, they stretched. As every cell in his skeletal structure expanded, reinforcing itself, growing denser and stronger.

His ribs felt like they were widening, his spine elongating as his entire frame recalibrated to accommodate his evolving genetic structure, and the genetic pod compensated immediately.

Thin, transparent tubes connected to his skin pulsed as they flooded his bloodstream with calcium, phosphorus, and specialized stem cells, reinforcing his bones so they wouldn’t splinter under the sudden change.

His muscles shredded and rebuilt in real time, each fiber tearing itself apart and regenerating stronger than before as protein-enriched biofluids surged into his system, ensuring his body had the raw materials it needed to keep up with the transformation.

‘Fucking hell–’ Leo cursed as he grit his teeth, this wasn’t just painful.

It was like his entire existence was being rewritten from the molecular level, and it felt unbearable to say the least.

———

Stage 2: External Changes (60 seconds – 3 minutes)

The first thing to change was his hair.

His once neatly trimmed dark strands grew rapidly, lengthening by inches within moments, cascading down the nape of his neck. His eyebrows thickened, darkening slightly, while a goatee sprouted along his chin—where only smooth, clean skin had been minutes before.

His fingernails sharpened, hardening slightly, as if his body was adapting for battle in ways beyond just brute strength.

Then—his eyes burned.

The sharpest, most intense sensation of all.

His pupils expanded, dilating unnaturally, while the whites of his eyes darkened into a slight silver hue. His irises—once a deep black—turned a shade of dark gray, a color that seemed almost metallic under the sterile glow of the pod’s lights.

And then, something more terrifying happened.

His vision changed.

For a moment, his sight flickered—like a screen adjusting its resolution—before sharpening into crystal-clear hyper-awareness.

It wasn’t just that he could see more clearly.

It was that he could perceive depth, detail, and motion in a way he never had before.

The top of the pod was a completely opaque glass that stopped 96% of the light that came through it, however, even though it was practically impossible to see through that glass, Leo could vaguely perceive the movement of the doctors in the room through it, after his vision improved.

The flickering lights inside the pod, the micro-movements of the nutrient fluids around him, the faintest vibrations in the enclosed chamber—he registered all of it at once, as he felt his perception shift fundamentally.

But before he could even process the change—

———

Stage 3: Genetic Memory Unlocking (3 – 30 minutes)

His mind snapped open like a floodgate breaking under pressure, as knowledge, instinct and experience flooded into his mind.

It felt extremely odd, as although it was new knowledge that he had no access to before today, it somehow felt like old knowledge, that his body somehow always instinctively knew but had forgotten?

It was knowledge acquired over generations of trauma to the bloodline, whereby, knowledge gained by his ancestors at their emotional highs and lows was passed down to him as instinct.

Random bits of information, such as how to survive if you are swallowed alive by a dragon?

Entered his brain, which felt confusing to say the least, however, as Hen instructed, Leo did not fight it, and instead let the knowledge flow as it desired.

“All the most powerful beasts are territorial…. They will mark the area under their control to warn other predators to stay off their turf.

Always check for such marks when entering the wild—”

“Darkness is not your ally and it never will be.

You are a surface dweller who has spent the majority of your life in the sun and don’t have an inherent understanding of darkness like those born in it.

There are worlds where the sun doesn’t shine.

World’s where generations have never seen a ray of light, yet they hunt, survive and thrive in such an environment.

You think you have mastered darkness? You don’t even know what true absence of all visible light looks like”

“Time is the greatest equalizer in this universe. You want to rule over this universe? You start by becoming stronger than time”

Leo heard a weird voice ringing in his head, that sounded like him, but also did not.

The words it uttered made no sense when heard without context, however, Leo could feel the emotion behind it.

The regret behind the speaker speaking those words.

To him, it almost sounded like the speaker had lost someone he loved to the wild beasts, and someone loved to darkness, which was why he was warning someone to not make the same mistakes.

However, before Leo could dwell more on what the voice wanted to convey, the main event finally began, as knowledge about skills he had never practiced before began flooding his head.

His brain registered flashes of combat maneuvers, hand-to-hand sequences, advanced dagger techniques, movements that felt both alien and intimately familiar at the same time as he felt his horizons broaden on how to approach a fight.

He instinctively understood the mistakes he was making with [Parallel Processing] and why it was taking so much out of him with every use, as [Parallel Processing] was actually supposed to be a technique where the cost of activating it had to be supplemented using mana and not his body’s stamina, however, he was apparently trying to run a house using toy remote batteries, which was why he was left so drained after each use.

However, the more knowledge that his brain gained, the heavier his heart felt, as an irrational pain of sadness and betrayal spread through him.

TRUST NO-ONE

BE ATTACHED TO NO-ONE.

THE ***##@&# MUST ALWAYS BE FREE—

Leo heard someone screaming in his head, as the boiling of his blood finally reached a fever pitch.