Seed of Titan-Chapter 226: Accidental Reforge

The ward’s doors suddenly slammed open, and a group barged in, heading straight toward Drai’s cell.

"Move!" the female officer leading the group barked as she shoved the two sweating guards out of her way. She then keyed in her access card, but the cell door refused to open, so she took out a glowing blade and slashed the door a few times.

As a large part of the door toppled, a gust of hot steam hit the group.

Even though the leading officer was wary of what she’d find in the steam-filled cell, she still went in while shouting, "Private Drai Varz! Cease whatever you’re doing or we’ll be forced to take you down!"

"I’m not doing anything, Ma’am," Drai’s voice sounded from the steam.

The woman knew the logical thing to do was doubt these words. Yet somehow, she could feel the sincerity behind them, perhaps due to the oddly calm delivery.

Soon, the cell cleared up, and the woman finally saw the youngster. She instantly blushed and hastily averted her gaze, for the man standing before her had a perfectly sculpted body like those of ancient gods, and fully naked at that.

"W-What did you do?! And where the hell are your clothes?!" she questioned amid her flustered state. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Drai scratched his head awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how he should explain the mess he had just made since it was due to his reckless assimilation. In fact, he was also surprised by how potent it was. Not only was he put in agony for hours, all his clothes along with his restraints had also been torn apart by the burst of energy released by his body at the end of the process. But the most shocking thing was his physical transformation—he had grown larger, his proportions had been altered, and even his voice was slightly lower in pitch.

"You better cover up! We’re bringing you out for questioning!" the woman ordered before storming out. She then instructed her subordinates to escort Drai to the interrogation room and left the ward first, still with a flustered look.

As the soldiers entered the cell, Drai took off the now damp bedsheet and wrapped it around his waist. Then, two of them grabbed him by his arms, and Drai didn’t resist as they dragged him away.

After Drai and his escorts left, the two guards finally sighed in relief.

"Did you see him? He looks a lot different from the guy in the viral clip. Is he really Monster?" the short one said.

"He is. Didn’t you hear what the Lieutenant called him? ’Drai Varz’, that’s Monster’s name."

"So what happened to him? You think the ruckus he made was because he’s been evolving all night?"

"Don’t ask me, man. I’m just human—I don’t know what monsters do when they’re in detention..."

Both of them fell quiet. As they eyed their surroundings, they wondered if they had to clean up the mess or were allowed to leave since this was unprecedented.

***

"I fail to understand how you can still make a joke in this situation, Private. Four levels in one night? Really?"

Strapped in his chair, Drai sighed as he looked at the lady with blonde, curly hair sitting across him, the same one who intruded his cell earlier. He figured he’d admit a bit of the truth since Ailem would probably come to verify his answers, but apparently the truth was too much to accept. If he knew it would be like this, he would rather make up a more normal excuse instead, like having his skills go haywire for some unknown reason.

"I’m being serious here, Lieutenant Stacy," he muttered weakly, longing to return to training.

"Then you must think I’m an idiot. The fastest level up in record still has the span of several days. It would make little sense even if you leveled up twice a day, let alone four times."

"If I didn’t tell you about this, nobody would know, right? Maybe this isn’t as rare as you think and no one ever bothered to report it."

"Maybe, but I think it’s more likely that you attempted to escape and failed, and this level up thing is just a poor excuse."

"Why would I make a poor excuse if I really wanted to lie?"

"I don’t know. Maybe because you’re dumb? Guys with your build don’t usually use their brains a lot, you know?" the lieutenant mentioned while glancing at Drai’s pronounced pecs and chiseled abs.

"Well, that’s a pretty rude assumption," Drai said before slumping into his chair, sulking a bit. Her remark reminded him of an unpleasant memory, namely the moment when he found out how low his intelligence attribute was right after his awakening.

Silence ensued. While Drai was sulking, Stacy was contemplating how she should handle this matter. It was no secret that Drai was particularly cared for by their big boss and his one-eyed captain. She worried that she’d be put in a bad light if she somehow made a careless decision.

Thus, she eventually said, "It’s too late of an hour to reach Captain Ailem, so I’ll put you in a maximum security unit for now. If I have to guess, your doting Captain will probably come to see you tomorrow."

Drai still wasn’t in a mood to reply, so he kept silent even when he was escorted down the hallway into a lift that went down. It was only when he saw his new cell and the item inside it that he finally opened his mouth.

"You’re kidding me, right? I did nothing to deserve this."

The soldiers around him completely ignored his protest as they strapped Drai onto the slanted metal bed that nearly filled the extremely small cell.

"Sorry, but I can’t risk you causing another disturbance. Just so you know, if you weren’t such a favored recruit, I’d rather beat you into confessing before sending you to the ER," Stacy said while standing just outside, unwilling to enter the cramped chamber.

"How about you just do it? I actually prefer that too," Drai replied, his visible eagerness baffling Stacy, who decided to shut her mouth lest she get provoked and do something she’d later regret.

Soon, the group left the cell and the door closed, leaving Drai alone and thoroughly bound on the apparatus, his eyes and mouth completely covered.

’What a shitty situation... I guess that was pretty reckless of me. I should’ve just assimilated after I got out, but who knows when that’ll be. I don’t think Uncle Alancho would’ve warned me if I only had to stay here for a few days.’

After settling himself into this novel situation, Drai pondered over the results of the assimilation earlier.

’Looks like I used too much essence since I jumped four levels in one go. The stat gains were horrible as expected—I really don’t know why I decided to go with it. I still ended up stronger, but I don’t think it’ll be worth it in the long run. But damn, what a skill...’

Even with his eyes bound, Drai could still conjure the System screen, so he went to his stat page and opened the skill he obtained from the assimilation.

[Skill: Humanity’s Finest – Initial Integration]

[Description: A unique skill obtained by assimilating a tiny sample of human essence.]

[Effects: Refines the user’s biomechanical structure to better achieve mechanical efficiency, aiming for unparalleled motion fluidity, perfect synergy between intent and physical action, and optimal force transmission.]

Although this was Drai’s second time reading the skill’s details, he was still impressed. During his short release, he already felt a small part of its effects from the smoothness of his gait and a few other motions. But what he really wanted to test with his renewed constitution was his combat techniques.

’If this skill is really as good as I think, I might just be able to master a lot more techniques without taking too much time. From its name, I’m sure this is the beginner version, which makes me wonder how much more essence I’ll have to assimilate before it gets upgraded...’

As he envisioned the presumably wonderful applications of his new trait-like skill, his eyes grew heavy, and before long, he fell asleep.

The following day, unlike what Stacy had predicted, no one came to see Drai. This meant that nothing was preventing the lieutenant from keeping Drai in his unpleasant new cell and restraints, which ended up lasting for days.

Stacy didn’t particularly enjoy punishing Drai like this, but she deemed it essential to ensure the talented young man didn’t turn into spoiled brat. Besides, there were already talks among her peers of how Drai would be let off easily just like all the other times, so she felt compelled to prove them wrong.

Meanwhile, Drai had already accepted his fate and chose to make the most of his time, mostly by practicing his moves through image training. Since he was unaccustomed to such mental exercises, he found it difficult at first. But as the days went by, his visualizations became significantly more vivid, so much that he could even recreate his past fights with remarkable accuracy and alter them at will.

And because of this newfound preoccupation, a part of him was disappointed when Stacy came to his cell one morning and informed him of his release.