The Cyborg System-Chapter 62: Just Desserts

On waking, Lenny was disappointed to see no notifications waiting for him. He figured the system might reward him for his efforts, despite not technically winning his battle and levelling up. The drawback for using his stamina was still in action, recovering slowly. The skill sure put Lenny in an awkward situation. What he really needed to do was increase his base stats as quickly as possible, rather than relying on it, either through levelling or the remaining enhancements available to him. It would be no use completely depleting himself against a strong foe, then getting wiped out by a scavenger. However, today would be the final day before the expedition and the likelihood that he would have the energy to take on any spirit beasts with his current stamina level was incredibly low.

"System, stats..."

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[Name: Lenny Hope]

[Ability: Transmogrification]

[Strength: 17]

[Speed: 16]

[Stamina: 5 of 13]

[Perception: 8]

[Spirit: 22]

[Health: 19 of 25]

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He felt a sickly feeling in the pit of his stomach but assumed it must have been some sort of side effect of the poisoning ability. He’d have to look into killing some prey beasts with a poison ability, when he got the chance, to add it to his hidden affinities and increase his latent resistance. Even if he couldn’t get the available upgrades in time, though, as long as he could get some of the raw materials from his roommate before leaving, he could always upgrade on the go.

There were still a number of muscle stimulators available, and though each only gave a small stat boost, their impact was cumulative. Once he could acquire both of the deltoid and the left pectoral stimulator, he’d be sitting at a clean 20 strength, 19 speed, with an additional 2 points in his perceived health too. It was a shame a power source was required, making it not practically possible to implement muscle stimulators on the smaller muscles. Perhaps as he filled out a little, or if he found an alternative smaller power source than the little batteries, other options would become available to him. While there were still lower body, abdominal and lat muscle enhancements, these were currently greyed out, suggesting he would need a higher spirit level too. Though the calf stimulators were technically available to him, the requirement was two scavenger tier cores for only a plus 2 in his speed stat. It made sense that both of these would require upgrading at the same time, to avoid making him run unevenly, but this seemed like a relatively high cost for a small reward.

Lenny yawned. His roommate was still asleep. There were several marks all over his body, not being cured by a healer at the time based on the non-critical nature of his wounds. Still, he’d need his rest to recover properly.

Lenny considered James’s ability carefully. Really, a utility ability like portalling would have been invaluable to his team. It was a shame he had never thought to ask him. They were really a team of attackers, with little cohesion or ability to boost the overall performance of their team, save for his ability to recharge the other’s essence. While this would be a useful skill, especially for keeping Harry in the fight, he still considered himself to be more attack-focused based on his now above average stats even without Adrenaline Rush, not to mention his fists of steel and growing combat proficiency. Well, at least as far as Hand-to-Hand Combat went.

Several times, he had considered dropping out of Melee Arms, but the chance to spar with spirit weapon users and gain some extra EXP was too much of an opportunity to miss. Maybe he just hadn’t found the right weapon yet? After all, he felt quite proficient with the black shuriken he had gained on his first solo trip to the Jade Garden. It was a shame there was nothing quite like it in the training hall. Though the somewhat blunted throwing daggers were close, it turned out judging the tumbles of the blade was far more challenging than simply throwing the multi-bladed shuriken.

Considering the strengths of his team, he remembered the red sash boy, Ollie. He reminded Lenny of himself, before he had discovered his ability. He really had been a small fish in a large pond before unlocking his transmogrification. And that reminded him, he needed to go see Master Berg before leaving. He still didn’t know what he was going to say to him—the truth? Or some version of it? "Well, no time like the present..."

*

Lenny did not know if Master Berg would be in his little dojo on the corner of campus or not. Perhaps he would need to go to the reception to find him, but Lenny liked his chances. His instructor seemed to enjoy training above all else, and wasn’t getting the same kind of workout in as his students when instructing them what to do.

Travelling down the s-shaped ramp that headed towards the porta cabin, Lenny could hear a banging. It was solid noise with a heavy thud, so he knew instantly that someone was training inside. He knocked on the door, opening it up and was surprised to see not just Master Berg, but Vee also.

Berg finished off throwing a combination on the bag. Vee copied. Then Berg turned towards the door, wiping beads of sweat off his forehead.

"Should I come back another time?" asked Lenny.

"No, stay." He bent down and picked up an organiplastic water bottle and took a small drink. "You fought well yesterday."

"Yes," said Lenny.

"First things first, I’d like to congratulate you. Despite your loss, several members of staff were impressed."

Lenny nodded.

"However, it was clear that an ability of some form was being used. So the question is, what ability? Speed? Hardening? Maybe something else?"

Lenny paused for a moment, thinking. "It’s easier for me to show you." He approached Master Berg and grabbed his arm. Lenny could feel instantly that he had a massive amount of essence. Trying to activate his spirit drain, it felt a little like sucking up a river with a straw.

"What are you—?" began Master Berg, but then, he felt it. "You’re draining my essence?"

"Yes," said Lenny, releasing his arm.

"So, you have some kind of spirit leeching ability?"

"Not quite," he grabbed his arm again, this time, giving some of his own essence back to Master Berg. He could feel it, slightly uncomfortable, as his body exceeded its usual limit. One of the giant snakes on Master Berg’s sprang to life, jumping off his body and curling onto the floor.

Lenny stepped back, wondering what he was doing.

"Don’t worry, I’m just getting rid of some of the excess essence," said Berg. "So, you’re a spirit leech and battery? Interesting... I have never heard of an affinity like this."

"No one has," said Lenny.

"Then how did you acquire it?"

"I don’t know... I think I’ve always had it," Lenny lied, not wishing to go into the details of the system and the information that was still hidden from him till certain conditions were met.

"I’ll have to add this to your record. However, I do not recall you using such an ability in the fight? How were you able to move so fast and hit so hard?"

"It’s a skill I have. For a limited time, I can increase my physical prowess, but the drawback is harsh. I don’t fully understand how it works."

Berg nodded. He was not entirely sure he would have believed that the young man had such an ability, if he had not experienced it for himself.

"Before you go, each of the 6 groups of combat disciplines gets to put forward one student from their class to participate in the tournament at the end of the year. I would like that to be one of the two of you." Berg let the words hang there for a moment.

"Why?" said Vee. "Shouldn’t it just be the strongest students?"

"Well, the reasoning is two-fold. For one, they want to see a variety of different disciplines on display in the tournament. This gives the crowd and each of the disciplines something to get excited about and someone to root for. Also, bear in mind that the tournament will allow spirit weapons and armour, something which we do not allow during your regular ranking matches. Considering this, there are those who excel in this more realistic but dangerous form of combat that do not necessarily rise to the top when fighting with blunt tools. I believe that is one of you two."

Lenny nodded. However, the problems were apparent from the start. The very nature of a tournament meant multiple matches, and that was therefore not something he could use his Adrenaline Rush skill for consistently. Not without a chance to recover.

"Once your unknown ability is reported," said Berg. "You will need to be interviewed by the school. They will have lots of questions for you. I suggest you cooperate, but you do not need to be a guinea pig in any tests you do not wish to participate in. Do you understand?"

"Of course," said Lenny, wondering about what challenges lied ahead. A quick body scan would reveal Lenny was not like other students. The infrared irises, the muscle stimulators, the steel plating on various bones. There was no way he could submit to being studied in a laboratory without giving away everything he could do.

"I will wait until you have left for the beast planets to file my report. This should give you some time to prepare your thoughts. You will not be brought in for questioning until you return. Oh, and one more thing."

Berg went off into a corner and unzipped a duffle bag, pulling something out, before handing them over to Lenny. Looking at it closely, Lenny could see a pair of old gauntlets that were black in colour with a red trim. He looked a little confused, not fully understanding why he was being presented with them.

"I told you to go all out and try and hit me clean that day in practice. I did not realise you were holding back. Had you not done so, that strike would probably have landed clean. You read my movements well and predicted where I would move. Here’s the promised reward."

Lenny said thank you and bowed slightly. Prey tier gauntlets if he remembered correctly. He was excited to scan them and find out what enhancements they offered, but doing so here might look strange, so instead he thanked Master Berg and took his leave.

"What do you think?" asked Master Berg.

"I can’t tell if he’s dangerous or harmless or some combination of both," replied Vee.

He nodded in agreement.