A mission worth dozens of lives had finally ended. In some ways, it was a true triumph, for despite the dire situation, Adam had managed to win, but... such a victory had a significant price.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Jena asked, nervously biting her nails. In front of her, in the center, was Adam, lying in a medical pod.
Silvana glared at her.
"I'm the one who should be asking you, you know?"
Jena sighed heavily.
"I know, but I can't say anything yet. In fact, Adam could either wake up in a few hours or slip into a coma. His injuries were on the verge of being critical..." Jena muttered, directing her eyes to Adam's left arm.
She had to spend the whole night stitching the pieces of flesh back together to make it look like a hand again.
The healing solution was able to quickly heal Adam's burns and cuts. Jena used special remedies to make sure Adam had no scars, but that didn't mean he was completely healthy.
His body needed some kind of reboot. If he opened his eyes he could go to training tomorrow and a week later on a mission, but there was no telling when that would happen.
...
At the same time, Adam opened his eyes, but he saw not medical equipment and Jena with Silvana, but a starry sky as well as a massive snow-white tree. The Evolution Tree continued to grow, absorbing the energy coming out of Lock into itself. Everything was happening very fast, as if in rewind, especially for Adam. In fact, his mind was trying to reach a moment in real time, three days after the battle with Brass Puppet.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle. The Evolution Tree became a few meters taller, but the main focus was on the branches - two special ones appeared among them. There were runes carved on them, occasionally flashing due to the energy flowing through them.
On the left branch was drawn the sign of a needle, while on the right branch was drawn the sign of a claw. [Your first Order received the first Trait!]
[You have received the second Order!]
[Your Nexus can evolve to open a second Trait!]
Adam wanted to find out more about this but was led away by a trembling Lock, or rather, one of the keyholes.
[Create the first Key to open the first keyhole!]
[To create the Key you need the following things:
1) 10,000 Neutral Genes - for the shape.
2) Ten First-Rarity Level Artefacts - for the key.
3) Midnight Crystal - for a motion]
Adam's eyes went wide. He was only able to collect 1,000 neutral genes because Damien had sent him to Golden Mission solo. It wasn't likely to happen again soon, and even if it did, he would need ten Golden Missions in solo! It was impossible that so many resources would be allocated to a single Phantom!
'Midnight Crystal... What the hell is that? Although, I should probably be more worried about the ten artifacts. It looks like I need months to get it all together, and that's just for one key. Damn, no wonder Damien is so strong if he went through all this.' Adam pondered with a complicated expression. Then, Adam shook his head and finally looked at what new abilities he had gained. His eyes opened wide, filled with delight, doubt, and soon, acceptance.
"Well... Now, all that's left is to get out of here, right?" Adam turned around, directing his gaze upward.
At the same moment, a white flash blinded Adam, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut hard, closing them.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Silvana and Jena talking about something, but soon they noticed him and smiled happily. Even Silvana didn't hide her emotions, after all, she wasn't a robot and had been worried about Adam during his mission.
Jena immediately opened the pod. She, though tentative, hugged him tightly while the water flowed down.
"Adam! You're awake! We were just talking about you yesterday that you might go into a coma, but it's all over!" Jena exclaimed happily.
Adam turned around slightly confused. He looked at his hands, then at his body, and finally touched his face.
"Oh... Unbelievably, I feel even better than before the fight. Jena, you did that, didn't you?" Adam asked, amazed.
Jena blushed, shyly turned away, and muttered, "Yes... It wasn't easy, but for your sake, I was willing to do even something more difficult!"
"Khm." Silvana coughed as her gaze traveled below Adam's waist, "I don't want to ruin the moment, but I think you should get dressed, and we could all meet for coffee in a couple of minutes."
Adam only scratched the back of his head with a slight smile. Gradually he was starting to get used to this sort of stuff, because when things got serious, embarrassment didn't bother anyone, but in normal life, it was back to normal again.
...
"Hmm... So it's not just that Jena healed all my wounds, right?" Adam asked, stirring about ten sugar cubes into his cup of coffee. For some reason, he wanted as much sugar as possible, and Adam decided not to resist the urge.
Silvana nodded.
"You unlocked your Lock and got rid of the chains, so you've gotten a lot stronger. You're still a long way from the level of the Second Rank Phantom, but now you're officially a K1 moreover, you're also an Extra one." Silvana explained. Then, she sighed heavily.
"Normally, I wouldn't say that, but today is okay. In just under a month, you've made it this far, and that's impressive. However, you have to realize that the constant death-defying situations played a big part in it... I don't know if that's good or bad, but Phantoms are like metal, they harden and become stronger only under high pressure."
Adam shrugged.
"I guess I just get lucky and unlucky from time to time, just like most people. I'd still have to fight my Beginning Monster, one way or another."
Adam was about to take a sip, but suddenly, his eyes opened wide as if he remembered something important. "The engine... Where's Brass Puppet's heart? I had it in my hands, that's for sure!" Adam exclaimed as if he had lost his treasure.
"Don't worry. I have the engine in a special container. The Research Department wanted to take it away, but I didn't let that happen since it was your personal booty that the missions department didn't order." Silvana explained and opened a picture on her tablet.
Adam grinned contentedly. He wanted to have the engine, he wanted to remember this victory, for that day had split his life in two again.
"By the way, besides your physical stats getting better, you must have gotten new abilities as well, right?" Silvana raised an eyebrow, looking intently at Adam.
"Sure."
"In that case, you'll probably want to test them in action. I'm sure, on an occasion like this I can get us assigned a chamber in the virtual zone."
"Of course! I'm ready to do that right now!" Adam exclaimed with excitement as silver threads flashed deep into his pupils.