20 Evolution
{ 7:00 AM - Plane's Cockpit | Dandi Forest }
As result-evaluations finished in the Dandi forest and the new Shikas were being given basic health checkups on the ground.
In the cockpit of the plane hovering 3000-meters above the forest, two people were having a wild discussion.
"Boss, don't tell me that this boy is your love child or something?"
Judy looked at the image playing on the hologram and asked her boss.
Some time back, the boss had asked the Head Supervisor, Ms. Mandy, to back down and leave the boy alone.
"What the heck!? There is a limit to your jokes."
*cough...*
"Okay! Then tell me why did you save that boy? Do you think, he might be the one?"
"Hmmm-? I wonder"
"Boss, enough with the suspense? Tell me?"
"Look at his assessment for the first test"
Judy did some gestures in front of the hologram and a file with Vikram's past achievements opened in front of her eyes.
"What-?? D-minus assessment?? Awakened less than a week ago?? This is impossible-!", Judy couldn't trust her eyes.
"... There must be a mistake-! How did he even clear the exam with such trash assessment?", she objected.
She had been working long enough with the association to know that the new AI, code named VANI, didn't only evaluate the score but also considered the potential of the candidates.
VANI's assessment was basically considered prophecy level in that aspect.
Association had used these assessments to separate the trash with diamonds in the rough and hadn't gone wrong even once in the last few months of trials.
Moreover, the Shika exam was created specifically for candidates with C-rank assessments. Thus, she couldn't make sense of Vikram's trash status and his passing of the exam.
"... How is this possible? This doesn't even make sense?", she cried; hoping for her boss to wake her from the dream.
"That's what is amazing about this boy, don't you think? How can he cheat the AI when he only awakened less than a week ago"
"You think that he somehow fooled the AI, but that is impossible?"
"Well", the boss paused for a second, "... I don't know about that, but there is definitely something weird, my intuition is never wrong about it."
"So what do you want to do now? Do we consider him for the Entry ticket?"
"Bring him to me first? I will evaluate him personally. Keep his file under a higher level of security for now-!"
*****
{ Home - Sector 19 | Zone Y }
At around 6:00 PM in the evening, a dark SUV appeared in the dimly lit streets of Sector 19.
As Vikram got out of the car sent by the Shika Association's branch manager, he had a slight frown on his face.
Throughout the meeting with the character named "Boss", Vikram felt like he was being secretly observed and evaluated for something.
On top of that, he genuinely felt annoyed at the gargantuan strength of the branch manager which he was deliberately oozing out in order to intimidate Vikram.
'Aah, I just hope I receive the decided compensation and an explanation of what is going on. I don't like being in the dark''
He sighed helplessly as he had no way to force the branch manager of Zone Y's Shika association to act according to their deal.
He sighed again as he stopped in front of his house.
As he looked at the fancy two-story house in front, his mind inadvertently went to the huge castle he used to live in once, and then the very next moment, he remembered the rundown shack he had gone to a couple of days back because of Avi's influence.
'Ah sh*t, here we go again', he thought remembering the cringe moment of affection with a 12-year-old girl a few days back and shuddered.
*ding dong...*
He waited for Maya to open the door with a contemplative gaze, '... Now that I have got rid of Kane, should I just throw her out?'
'... but why did Kane want me to save a random girl from slum who didn't have long to live anyway. Was he a pedo perhaps?'
Before he could reach a conclusion the enforced steel door opened silently and a barely 5' girl was standing behind the door with a bright face that visibly turned darker with his body coming into view.
She was frozen in time at the sight of her brother that had come home in tattered clothes and with a missing arm.
"BHAIYA-!!! OMG, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAND-!! *cough... cough... cough*"
"So loud and disgusting", he turned his neck to face sideways and away from her face.
His last word was spoken in a low voice that Maya didn't hear due to her own coughing.
Right then, using his right hand to block his ear, Vikram somehow avoided being deafened by Maya's roar as his face distorted to show annoyance.
Huge snowball-shaped teardrops started sprouting out of her eyes and in a matter of seconds, her dress was wet from neck down.
She remained frozen in place before Vikram asked her to let him inside.
"huh-?", she couldn't react when Vikram simply pushed her aside and went inside the house.
"Tch. I need a bath first-! Oye, can you order some food, do something useful for once", he groaned as he disappeared to the first floor and closed the door behind him without even looking back at Maya.
He was annoyed and hungry.
*dhuk dhuk! dhuk dhuk!*
Maya still hadn't reacted until a couple of minutes had gone by and when she came to her senses, she ran back to Vikram's room all frightened and her heart beating like an EDM.
But when she reached his room, she found out that the door was locked from inside and she could faintly hear the sound of shower running.
"Bhaiya-! Let me in. *cough* Tell me what happened *cough... cough*"
She screamed through her sick lungs but heard no response from the other side.
She felt the taste of blood in her mouth, but she didn't stop shouting.
In a matter of a minute, her health deteriorated by many folds but Vikram was enjoying a hot steamy bath without a single wrinkle on his forehead as if her health was of no consequence to him.
*sob... sob*
She fell in front of his door as she kept sobbing and beating her hands on the door. By the time Vikram finished his bath and exited the shower, her hand had had multiple lacerations with warm blood oozing out of them.
She banged on his door again, this time without saying a word. Due to her weak constitution, she didn't have much energy to begin with, but after twenty-minute of shouting, her neck had swollen to an unmedical degree.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Vikram said annoyingly as he saw the splatter of blood on opening the door.
Maya looked up; her tears that had dried up were irrigated by the sudden onset of monsoon once more.
"STOP IT-!", he shouted, "... Listen, I'll say this only once. I'm not your broth- hick!"
Vikram felt his blood start to boil up suddenly as his tongue hardened and air stopped entering through his windpipe.
*thud...* With his mouth still stuck open ajar, he fell to the ground and started whimpering like a fish out of the water.
"Huff! Huff!", in the next moment his lungs started to expunge all the air that was inside his body and his eyes started to narrow down on the text that appeared in front of his eyes.
[ Reached Saturation Point ]
[ Breakthrough: Body (high) level ]
[ Transformation Rate: 120% ]
[ Build up Tensity is beyond host's threshold level ]
[ Host will go through an expedited Evolution ]
[ Recommended to find a suitable location for the breakthrough ]
After hearing the notification, Vikram realized what was going on.
"huff! huff!"
With a lot of effort, he tried to straighten up and sit in a cross-legged position but his body didn't listen to his will.
'Dammit! I really had to go through Evolution now of all times.'
'... It is only been a week since I awakened for Goddess's sake.'
He complained in his mind as he struggled to sit straight up.
Looking at her brother struggling to sit, Maya quickly cleaned the blood from her hands by wiping them on her dress and started helping him.
*whizz... whizz*
Not minding the unrequested help, Vikram started channeling the gene-power in his body, however, he was suddenly faced with a challenge he hadn't planned for in advance.
"Dammit! I don't have a Gene Technique to go with my evolution"
He regained the ability to speak and breathe normally because of being able to move gene-power inside his body, but he wasn't out of danger yet.
He couldn't help but lament his misfortune for not having prepared for such a scenario in advance.
For Shika(s), a Gene Technique was as important as their life, and every Gene Technique differed slightly based on the experience of its creator.
Gene Techniques were very important in the grand scheme of Gene cultivation, the choice of a technique directly affected the growth potential of Shika in his cultivation journey.
There were specific Techniques that were helpful for certain kinds of mutations. The Gene Techniques of the most influential families fell in this category.
There were other common Gene Techniques that didn't give any specific mutation-related benefits but could be cultivated by everyone despite the type of Mutation and age of Shikas.
Vikram's original plan consisted of using Shika Association's Technique, but he had yet to receive his license as well as the copy of the Technique that was given to every association member after they passed the Shika Exam.
According to his calculation, he shouldn't have needed the Gene Technique for another week and that's why he hadn't hurried the branch manager for it, if he had known about it, he would have asked for Gene Technique this morning itself.
"Mmhmmm! Aaghhh!"
Vikram groaned in pain once again as the gene-power inside of him started to act out and move violently. He felt like countless needles were pricking his skin all over his body.
"*cough...* Bhaiya *cough* Can't you use the *cough* Prana Breathing that you taught me!"
Maya said with tears in her eyes. She had heard Vikram's cries earlier but didn't know what else to do or speak. Even then, despite the injury of her neck, she somehow managed to remind Vikram about the Prana Breathing technique.
As if a bright bulb was suddenly lit, Vikram's mind started to analyze the possibilities in his head at lightning speed.
'Didn't Akashvani call Prana a superior gene-power?'
'Also the parasites said that the Animus Unity Manual was a document of experience!'
'What if Prana Breathing is also a Gene Technique?'
'Dammit! I don't have any other way except try it out'
"Oye, help me to the training room", he hollered at Maya.
She looked like she had lost a large portion of her life already, but he didn't care about her life and death as long as he could get help.
Without even making a single noise of complaint, she stood up and helped Vikram move to the training room.
After putting him in the room, she immediately ran to the kitchen and brought a bunch of food and water and put it in front of Vikram who was already deep into a meditative state.
~Good Luck Bhaiya! I know you can do this!~
She said in a hushed voice as she went to the door and closed it.
She sat beside the door staring at her brother from the distance and started praying to the Goddess to let her brother successfully evolve.
[ End of Volume 1 ]
