Chapter 35 – Evolution

The week has passed by fairly quickly, and somehow, I've survived another five days of high school without any major incidents. It's finally Friday again, which means computer science club after school, which means... extra Luna time!

I'm almost finished with my workout in my room, currently on set three of my jumping jacks. My thighs are burning, my calves feel like they're made of concrete, and I'm pretty sure I'm developing a new and innovative type of muscle fatigue that science hasn't discovered yet.

Mid-jump, a thought crosses my mind: It's been so long since I've seen stat increases.

I barely finish the thought before the familiar dings echo in my head.

Ding! Your Strength has increased by 1

Ding! Your Dexterity has increased by 1

Ding! Your Endurance has increased by 1

I stumble mid-jump, nearly face-planting into my carpet. "Are you kidding me?"

But before I can even process it, another notification slams into my consciousness.

Ding! You've completed the quest: From Rags to Average

Rewards:

Holy shit.

I stare at the notification, my brain temporarily short-circuiting. I finished it. After weeks of dragging my ass out of bed at ungodly hours, forcing myself through workouts that made me question my life choices, and dealing with muscle soreness that made me walk like a geriatric penguin, I actually finished it.

I can feel that the system is ready to show me a new popup, and I will it to materialize.

Quest Reward Obtained

Body Enhancement: Optimized Body

Do you wish to enhance your body now? User is advised to find a quiet and safe location. The upgrade may take up to an hour to complete.

(Note: The user may feel pain during the upgrade and will smell after the upgrade concludes)

[Yes]       [No]

Pain. And I'll smell.

I stare at the notification, processing this information. On one hand, pain bad. On the other hand, permanent optimization good. The cost-benefit analysis practically does itself.

I check the time: 5:50 AM. My sisters won't be up for another hour at least, and I just need to make sure Mom doesn't need the bathroom first. It would be peak Adam Gray luck to start some kind of supernatural body transformation and have someone need to pee halfway through.

I head out into the hallway, still slightly sweaty from my workout, and find Mom just emerging from her bedroom, her long green hair somehow looking perfect despite the fact that she literally just opened her eyes. I swear, she could wake up from a coma and still look like she's ready for a photoshoot.

"Oh, hello dear, you're up as early as always," she laughs, that deep maternal sound that makes my chest feel warm and full.

The earlier rush of excitement I felt dims slightly as I look at her. There's something about Mom that just... calms me down.

"Yeah, good morning Mom," I say, offering her a small smile. "Will you need the washroom? I might need to be in there for a while."

She raises an eyebrow, a small smile playing at her lips. "Oh, I'll just need it for a quick second."

She disappears into the bathroom, and I hear the tap running. True to her word, she emerges just a few minutes later, looking even more put-together than before. I don’t understand her magic. "Okay, I'm fine now honey, go ahead." She says gently, laughing as she ruffles my hair. She heads downstairs to start preparing breakfast and lunches for everyone.

The earlier excitement comes flooding back as I walk into the washroom. Right. Body enhancement. Possibly excruciating pain. Let's do this.

I lock the door behind me and turn on the washroom fan, just in case the "smell" warning was understating things. Then, I strip off my workout clothes and fold them neatly on top of the lid, because even in the face of supernatural body modification, I maintain my organizational standards.

Finally, with all my preparations complete, I sit down in the shower stall, feeling slightly ridiculous.

I take a deep breath and mentally click [Yes] on the upgrade notification.

For a few minutes, absolutely nothing happens.

I sit there, naked in my bathtub, feeling like an idiot. The fan hums above me. I can hear Mom moving around downstairs, probably pulling out pans and ingredients. A car drives by outside.

"What the hell," I mutter. "Is the system bugged or—"

Then I feel it.

It starts somewhere deep inside, maybe my heart? I can't quite tell. A tingling sensation, subtle at first, like when your foot's been asleep and blood starts flowing back into it.

The tingling spreads outward from my core, flowing through my body like ripples in a pond. My arms, my legs, my fingers, my toes, everything starts to tingle. It's not unpleasant, just... weird. Like every cell in my body suddenly remembered it has nerves.

"Okay, that's weird," I whisper.

Then comes the itching.

Oh God, the itching.

It's like millions of ants decided to throw a rave on my skin and inside my muscles. Every inch of me itches: my arms, my legs, my back, places I didn't even know could itch. My organs are itching. I didn't even think that was possible. What is happening to me? Why do my lungs itch?

I clench my jaw, resisting the overwhelming urge to scratch at... everything. And right when I think the itching might actually drive me insane, it stops.

Then comes the pain.

It's not sharp, thank god, not the kind that makes you scream or pass out. It's more like a deep, warm, dull pain, similar to how your muscles feel after a really hard workout, except magnified several times over and affecting every single part of my body simultaneously.

My expression twitches, but I stay still, closing my eyes. I keep my mouth firmly shut, staying silent throughout the process. The last thing I need is for someone to hear me and think I'm dying in here.

I focus on my body, trying to sense what's actually changing. It's... honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, it's not pleasant, let's be clear about that, but it's not unbearable either.

The pain courses through me: my muscles, my bones, my organs, my everything. I try to detect any dramatic changes. Are my bones shifting? Is my skeletal structure realigning? Are my muscles bulging?

Nope.

Nothing dramatic happens. My bones stay where they are. My muscles don't suddenly inflate like balloons. My chubbiness remains tragically unmoved. I just feel... the sensations. The tingling, the itching, the warm dull pain radiating through every part of my body.

It's bizarre, experiencing something so intense while feeling absolutely no external changes.

The pain continues for ten minutes. And I'll be real, I'm getting really sick of it. The novelty of "experiencing supernatural body optimization" has officially worn off, replaced by "please make this stop, I have regrets."

Then, suddenly, all the sensations start fading.

The pain recedes like a tide going out. The itching gradually disappears. The tingling becomes fainter and fainter until it's gone completely.

Ding! Quest log updated.

I slowly open my eyes, taking a cautious breath.

And that's when the smell hits me.

Ew.

I was so focused on what I was feeling inside my body that I didn't notice what was happening on the outside.

Black liquid drips from my skin. Not blood, but something thicker, darker, more viscous. It's sliding down my arms, my chest, my legs, collecting in dark puddles around me.

And the smell. The smell. It's like sewage had a baby with a dumpster fire and then that baby died and rotted in the sun for a week.

"Gross," I whisper, reaching for the shower controls.

I turn on the shower and immediately crank it as hot as I can stand. Water cascades down, and I start scrubbing at my skin like I'm trying to erase evidence of a crime.

The black liquid is slimy and viscous, but thankfully, it dilutes in the water, getting pulled down the drain without clogging it.

I scrub myself, probably using half a bottle of body wash in the process.

Thirty minutes later, the smell finally dissipates, and I'm confident I've removed all traces of whatever nightmare substance my body just expelled.

I turn off the water and step out, wrapping a towel around myself. My reflection stares back at me from the mirror.

I look... exactly the same.

Same face. Same body. Same height. Same everything.

I turn, examining myself from different angles. Nope. Nothing's changed. No miracle six-pack, no sudden cheekbone definition, no magical height increase.

I'm about to feel disappointed when I realize something.

I'm not tired. And I'm not sore.

I literally just finished my workout right before this, did three sets of everything, and I feel... fine. Better than fine. I feel energized, like I just woke up after a perfect night's sleep and had an espresso.

I flex my arms experimentally. No soreness. I do a quick squat. No burning in my thighs.

"Holy shit," I whisper to my reflection.

I rush through my skincare routine and style my hair, checking the time. 7:15 AM.

The upgrade didn't take the full hour. Either the system was being conservative with its estimate, or I'm just incredibly efficient at sweating out mysterious black goop.

I open the bathroom door and immediately get punched in the arm.

"Washroom hog!" Selene's pink hair bounces as she playfully punches me a few more times. "I need to pee!"

She's doing this thing where she's hopping from foot to foot, which I find absolutely adorable.

"Sorry, sorry!" I move out of her way quickly.

She darts past me into the washroom, and I head back to my room, my mind already racing.

I don't have time for my morning run now. The realization makes me slightly anxious, I've been doing my morning routine for so long that deviating from it feels wrong, like I'm breaking some sacred contract with myself.

But I shrug it off. I'll just jog to school. And it's Friday, so after computer science club, I can go for a proper run. Maybe I'll even do a second workout today, since I feel so damn energetic.

The rest of the day breezes by in a blur.

School is school, teachers are talking, and students pretend to listen. But I feel different somehow. Maybe it's just the placebo effect of knowing I'm "optimized" now, but I swear I'm more alert in class, less tired.

Finally the school day ends, and I make my way to the computer science club room.

The room is as impressive as always, though honestly calling it just a "room" feels like calling a mansion just a "house." This place is ridiculous.

And there, sitting at one of the computers in the back corner, is Luna.

She's wearing her signature oversized purple hoodie today, her long silky purple hair cascading down her back. She's hunched over the keyboard, completely absorbed in whatever she's coding, her cute face scrunched up in concentration.

I make my way over and drop into the seat next to her.

"Hey," I say.

She jumps slightly, turning to look at me with those big violet eyes. A small smile appears on her face.

"H-hi, Adam," she says softly.

And just like that, my Friday is complete.