(Rodova Military Academy, Genetic Awakening Chamber)
Just one week before the final exams, Leo and Su Yang were escorted by Major Hen toward the Genetic Awakening Chamber to receive their fifth and final Genetic Awakening Shot.
Unlike the earlier injections, the fifth shot carried the heaviest dose, designed as the final gamble to awaken whatever dormant potential still slumbered deep within their bloodlines.
After this, their Genetic Awakening would be considered complete, and the ceilings of their futures as warriors would be sealed— for better or worse.
*Step*
*Step*
As they made their way toward the chamber, Hen walked a few paces ahead, casting sharp glances over his shoulder at the two boys trailing behind him, his face curled into a frown as the tension between Leo and Su Yang was impossible to ignore.
"What's going on between you two? Why are you walking ten feet apart?" Hen asked bluntly, his tone more curious than accusatory.
However, Su Yang offered no response.
He kept walking with his gaze fixed forward and his jaw rigid with unspoken anger.
While Leo only shrugged, his face unreadable, his gray eyes distant as if the question itself wasn't worth answering.
Hen frowned but didn't press the matter. Friends fought sometimes. It wasn't his business. And besides, they had bigger things to focus on today.
—-------
Inside the Awakening Chamber, the military doctors already seemed to be waiting for Leo and Su Yang to show up, as they prepared their dosage shots.
Without ceremony, Leo and Su Yang were guided into adjacent pods— their usual ones which they had used all year.
Leo caught a glimpse of Su Yang looking at him through the transparent glass, his golden eyes angry, while his muscles remained taut like coiled wire.
'What?' he mouthed, however, Su Yang only angrily looked away and did not offer more words or looks, as the doctors injected them with the serum shots simultaneously.
—---------
(Su Yang's pod)
The moment the serum entered his bloodstream, Su Yang felt it.
A firestorm ignited inside him, tearing through every vein, every bone, every fiber of his being just like it had several times before.
His muscles spasmed violently as his bones elongated slightly, his entire skeletal frame creaking under the intense, brutal transformation.
He gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out, even as the pain hammered him without mercy.
He could feel his body changing— his lungs expanding, his limbs thickening, his core strengthening in ways that defied explanation.
His mana circuits, once narrow and strained, were widening by the second, becoming wider and more robust.
Somewhere deep within his mind, flashes of unfamiliar memories surfaced— echoes of warriors from his prestigious bloodline.
New memories, new instincts, a raw new skill weaving itself into his very consciousness.
When the stabilization systems finally slowed the serum's rush, Su Yang lay still, his heart hammering against his chest, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to his forehead.
As he seemed to have survived it.
He had evolved.
And he had gained a lot from the fifth shot.
—---------
(Meanwhile in Leo's pod)
At first, Leo's body reacted similarly to Su Yang, in the sense that his pulse skyrocketed, his muscles stiffened, and pain wracked his every cell.
But then, something different began to happen.
Something not written in any academy handbook, or the recorded history of Genetic Awakening in general.
A strange, unnatural pressure bloomed in the center of his torso, not in his heart, not in his lungs, but in the empty space nestled between his diaphragm and his ribs.
It started as a tight knot of heat, barely noticeable at first, but within moments, it blossomed into an unbearable storm, a vortex of energy so dense and violent that it felt as though the very fabric of his body was being torn apart.
The pod's stabilizers whirred urgently, adjusting their systems to contain whatever anomaly was unfolding, but the pressure only grew worse.
Leo's vision blurred, his chest heaving painfully as his body instinctively tried to fight the transformation.
Because he could feel it— something alien, something ancient, something building itself inside him.
He could feel a new organ forming.
It throbbed painfully at first, consuming mana like a black hole, weaving itself strand by strand into his very being and embedding itself into his core.
Pain lashed through him with every pulse, but Leo held on grimly, clenching his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his own palms, blood dripping into the pod's fluid suspension system.
He could feel the new organ syncing with his natural heart, refining the volatile serum flooding his veins into something pure, something terrifying.
As from that moment onwards, he suddenly experienced rapid improvements in every physical and mana related aspect of his body.
His muscle fibers improved in quality.
His bones strengthened.
His lungs expanded in size and many such qualitative changes occured to not just his body but also to his mana circuit, which became smoother than ever before.
—---------
Meanwhile, outside the pods
Major Hen hovered over the monitoring panels, his eyes narrowing as he watched the data streams.
Su Yang's vitals were elevated but within expectations.
But then, as he looked at Leo's panel, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.
[Warning: Mana Heart Formation Detected]
The words blinked furiously across the screen, flashing red again and again.
Hen's stomach dropped.
Mana Heart?
What even was a mana heart? He had never heard of it before.
He tapped the screen frantically, pulling up the academy database, but there was nothing useful, except Sparse theories and Unverified legends.
None of it prepared him for seeing it happen live.
"What the hell is happening to you Skyshard?" Hen muttered under his breath, anxiety gnawing at his chest.
He could only pray Leo survived it.
Because no medical textbook in the universe could guide them now.
—---------
Inside the pod
Leo exhaled slowly through gritted teeth, feeling the newborn Mana Heart synchronize with every beat of his original heart.
The pain hadn't disappeared— it simply became something he accepted, something he wore like a second skin.
However, despite the searing pain that wracked his body, Leo could feel it— the undeniable change coursing through him.
The blood flowing through his veins grew heavier, richer, more potent with every heartbeat, while the mana threading through his circuits became sharper, denser, almost electric in its vibrancy.
It was as if his very existence was being reforged at the most fundamental level, purified beyond the natural limits of mortal flesh.
'What is this? What is this feeling?' Leo wondered, gritting his teeth as an unnatural heat bloomed fiercely near the center of his chest, radiating outward like a second sun.
His Mana Heart roared into full activation, pumping raw mana alongside blood with every synchronized thrum, the two streams intertwining and nourishing each other with terrifying efficiency.
It was overwhelming.
It was agonizing.
But it was also exhilarating.
Because deep down, Leo knew— this power wasn't something that could be given or inherited.
It was something he was birthing within himself.
As the final pulses of the Awakening Serum settled, and the chamber's alarms gradually faded back into a low hum, Leo remained lying silently within the pod, his gray eyes half-lidded but burning with a new, unshakable intensity.
He wasn't fully sure what he had become or what was the reason behind him unlocking a new organ during his final awakening, however, what he did know for sure, was that he had never felt stronger than this ever before.