Chapter 41: Superhuman I

  Marcus was trapped in a dark, burning hell. He could not remember what exactly happened, only an every growing heat and then fire running through his body. He had felt this pain before, on the day he had touched the monolith, only this time it did not stop. Marcus had lost any sense of time in the dark void of his own mind. He could not see, hear or feel anything, only pain existed in this world.

  Why was he even still alive, or was he? Was this hell, had he died and this was the everlasting punishment sinners had to suffer? No, he decided.

  The pain was constant but it also meant his mind could not rest and continued to work on this situation. I think, I feel, that means I still have a brain, a body that can feel pain.

  I’M STILL ALIVE. He decided.

  Janette watched Marcus’ body inside the tub and checked the temperature for the hundredth time or so. His body produced stupid amounts of heat, enough to heat a small house, and they had to regulate the water to keep him from bursting into flames. Keep him from dying, Janette thought.

  Kou was next to her and looked at the clock. “Over 24 hours, If I’m right two or three days should be the maximum time for the Game Changer to take effect. Of course nobody has ever seen the third Fighter ability before, so we can not be sure.” Janette felt helpless and lost. Marcus was suffering, she was sure, and she could not do anything about it. She reached out and poured some water over his head. “What if you are wrong?” She said, watching the water drip over Marcus’ closed eyes. “I’m not.” Kou said with a firm voice.

  Achara came into the room and brought a sleeping bag and some food and water. “If you are not willing to leave him alone, than at least rest a bit. We will look after him.” She put the stuff down and Janette gave into their demands. She had no appetite and only drank some water, slipped into the sleeping bag and closed her tired eyes, just for a moment. She believed Kou, he was smart and informed and cared about Marcus, too. And yet, she could not free herself from the fear of losing Marcus.

  When sleep finally came, she dreamed of the world being flooded and she was trying not to drown. Marcus stood on an island with a volcano and told her to join him. He was burning but laughing without a care. She pulled him into the water but the fire did not stop. With a jolt of panic she woke up. Ten hours had passed but Marcus was still the same.

  “….c…...r…...eat…..a whole boar.” Marcus knew the voice. Sound trickled into the ocean of nothingness and the pain slowly faded away. Marcus felt light and warm and with a soft breath he opened his eyes. “How do you even eat a whole boar, I mean physically.” Kou’s voice. Marcus’s eyes slowly became clear and he saw water and people sitting around him. “He is awake!” Janette spoke but he could not see her. Then her face came into view and many hands lifted him out of the water.

  “No need to cry.” Marcus said with a weak voice to Janette. “I’m not crying, I’m just really hungry that is all. Because of you I lost a lot of weight, what are you going to do if my boobs get smaller? Cherry will be mad.” Janette spouted nonsense and continued to cry while they dried his body and gave him water. Marcus did not feel bad, with every moment that passed he felt stronger and his energy returned quickly. But he was thirsty and now that he thought about it really hungry too. “I’m hungry.” He said, putting his thoughts into words and seconds later food appeared in Achara’s hands.

  While Marcus ate, the rest checked his vitals and told him what happened over the last three days. “Three days? It felt a lot longer to me.” Marcus said. “You were conscious the whole time?” Kou asked with a surprised voice. Marcus nodded and finished his meal and asked for seconds.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “We, well I had the theory that you got a Game Changer.” Kou said and Marcus nodded. “That would make sense, I spent my crests only minutes before it happened and I should have passed the threshold for the third ability.”

  Marcus’ recovery was as fast as his former decline. Half an hour out of the water and he was moving around, testing his body. “I think I want to go to the training room.” He said and the rest looked unsure what to think of this. “Okay I will bring you there and make sure you don’t do something stupid.” Janette said and pulled him towards the door while the others were still trying to keep up with the events. Janette took Marcus’ hand and lead him to the elevator. Once they were alone she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Her face was pressed against his chest and a lot of pain left her body.

  “ding” the elevator reached the target floor but Janette did not move. “I’m sorry, I made you worry. I’m good now.” Marcus whispered and she finally let go.

  Once in the training room, Marcus stretched and moved his body but for now he could not feel any difference to his normal state. He was excited, a passive ability was a big deal, it could drastically change one’s combat performance. Achara and Kou showed up too, “We would like to join, too. If that is alright.” Achara asked and Marcus smiled. “Of course, I might need to pick your brains for ideas anyway. Right now I don’t feel any difference.”

  They went through a whole array of tests and movements, from exhaustion to punching power and Anchor stability. Nothing. “Okay, when the Elemental Mage gets their Mana Boost they fall in a coma like state for two days. Paladins also have brain related problems before their Light Soul activates. In your case it hit your whole body so we can expect it to be something that effects all of you.” Kou said who had spent hours researching the topic over the last days.

  Marcus looked at his body and tried to come up with some passive effect that would fit his vision of his class. There was one thing they had not checked yet, durability. Maybe he got a passive increase to the toughness of his body. “Has somebody a knife?” he asked and Achara pulled a small knife from her hips and gave it to Marcus. He put the blade to his arm and made a cut. It was not deep and he had to use more force than you would think but “I think this is about normal for my amount of vitality he said disappointed.”, “Your idea of normal is not normal. That blade is wicked sharp, just touching it is enough to cut yourself.” Achara said. Janette’s eyes were glued to the cut on his arm and she pulled his arm up. “You can’t be serious.” Marcus followed her eyes and looked at the cut. There was no cut.

  With trembling fingers he made another cut a few centimeters from the first and everybody watched as it closed in a few seconds. “That is unreal!” Kou shouted. The implications hit Marcus’ brain and nearly made him fall over. He made an impulsive choice, turned the knife and stuck it in his upper arm, about three centimeter deep, “Arghh.”.

  Janette stared at him “You moron!” but Marcus pulled the knife out and everybody watched the wound. “6 seconds.” Kou counted and started to laugh like a maniac. “You have rapid regeneration! That is absolutely insane! No class has something even remotely similar. Automatic quick healing! PASSIVE!” Marcus could not believe it. Kou was right, this was unheard off.

  “No jokes. This alone might be enough to move the Fighter into the top ten.” Achara said and Marcus agreed. If this got public it will change everything. The only other class that could tank and heal was the Blood Knight and they had restrictions. “You are going to be famous Marcus.” Janette said and punched him against the shoulder. “The original Beefcake!”

  Afterwards they spent more time testing his new regeneration. Cuts, bruises, burns, he even cut off a bit of a finger to see if it would grow back, it did. “Okay enough stabbing the man.” Kou stopped the procedure that had started to go out of control.

  “One thing we should check” Janette had brought a gun and without a second hesitation put a bullet into Marcus’ chest. “HEYYYY!” Marcus shouted but Janette did not flinch and instead inspected the wound. “Tss it barely went in. You are already too tough for small guns.” And she was right the small dent from the bullet was already gone. Janette left and got one of her rifles and this time she aimed at his leg. “I don’t know.” Kou said but Marcus nodded, he knew what Janette was testing. She shot and Marcus clenched his teeth, the impact sucked hard.

  “This time the bullet at least got in, but look at this, it is coming out again.” The bullet fell out of the wound and the wound closed in a few seconds. “That confirms it. Small stuff gets pushed out but if something large is in the wound, you can not heal.” Kou said and Marcus agreed. Ultimately this was good, or stuff could get stuck inside the wound but it also meant this could be exploited as a weak point. But still, never in his wildest dreams had Marcus imagined to gain such an OP ability.

  The only one who looked even more pleased than him, was Janette.