Chapter 9: Volume 2 Episode 3
When Lin had bought the apartment, he had asked for one with a basement located underneath it for his 'night-time activities.' Then, the lab rats we're moved from his previous apartment to his new one with the help of some trustworthy workers from his family, personally handpicked by Richard.
The ten member elite team did the job smoothly and quietly without a hitch. They had already paid the guards of the academy to keep quiet. Lin had also asked for noise cancelling equipment to be installed which they had done as well. As all of the setting up had been done, he was once again ready to start working again.
In the basement, there were a number of lab rats present, all of whom were kept in bullet proof containers. The basement, which was already exceptionally large, had an extra hidden floor beneath it, just in case it was needed.
The see through containers which kept the experimental subjects, were similar to an operating room. They were spacious, easy to clean with a self cleaning system, and well-lit, with overhead surgical lights, viewing screens and monitors.
After putting on a surgical gown, Lin proceeded to move towards one of the unconscious test subjects. He had asked Richard to collect Gifted bloods and he had gotten about five hundred samples as of late. It was more than enough for Lin's experiment. He looked at the test subject for the day. He had already been infused with the fire magic blood. Lin had planned to test out the water magic on him. The test subjects before had been tested successfully and had completed the dual power procedure, but there had been a problem that Lin couldn't solve: the subject was always in constant body pain. They appeared to not be in a state of constant suffering and he had to put down all of them as a result. As a result, he thought of adding a new potion to the procedure.
As he looked at the new potion he brought, Lin thought about the problem at hand. The subject suffered from pain, but he didn't find any internal injuries inside the subject's body. He had searched intensely for any perforations and any blood poisoning but didn't find any. So the pain should be mental. So what to do about pain that existed in the brain?
Simple. Painkillers.
Now, these painkillers aren't actually like the painkillers in the original world. It was a different style of potion that hardened the mind every time it is injected directly into the blood. The side effects of using it for more than 3 shots per day is that it affects your ability to feel not just pain, but all types of feelings. In short, overdosing of the potion results in a person devoid of emotions. That is why he grabbed another potion which was equivalent to Stimulants, the 'Happy Potion', which is usually recommended to be taken with the painkiller potion to balance the effects. Like the stimulant drugs in the original world, they increase activity of the central nervous system and the body and have sympathomimetic effects.
As the transfusion process began, Lin began slowly injecting the two new potions into the subject's blood stream during intervals.
After testing the transfusion process, he had now been able to shorten the period of the process from five days to one day as it was enough for just a test. After a few more hours, he stopped using sedatives and waited for the test subject to wake up.
Soon enough, the subject opened his eyes slowly, and looked around the room. He seemed to be lost and confused, but Lin didn't care about that. He was looking for any reaction of pain or any other problems the subject had been feeling. After observing the subject for another two hours, he filled the container with sedative gas which made the subject unconscious again. As Lin finished up today's experiment, he got up and left the basement. He would be doing the same test for a few days to ensure that the potions are safe.
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"Dude, did you hear? The School tournament is about to start… and it seems that the freshman can also participate in the competition if they want to."
Lin was walking by some students in the hallway when he heard the students talking about the upcoming tournament.
The Evantel Tournament. One of the most watched school tournaments in all of Korea, reporting a record high 12 million combined viewers last year on MeTube. And it was said to increase even more this year according to various analytics. But the main reason Lin was interested in the tournament is because of the rewards obtained. The first three in the ranking will be given all of the resources to help them advance three complete levels from their current magic level. As it happens, most students at the age of fifteen are usually between level six to level nine, with some at level ten. The level system is based on the Power, Endurance, and versatility of their magic. However, the level system, while it does help in simplifying into categories, it is not used to assign students into classes. It also includes potential, which is considered to be most important, to assign students into different classes, due to the fact that some students despite awakening later than others may still have more potential than those who awakened at an early age.
Lin, who is currently at level six, thought about the tournament while making his way into the classroom. Truthfully speaking, he wouldn't stand a chance in advancing considering even the freshman would have levels higher than him as of now. But Lin had used just a few months to jump six levels for what most people use years to do. Plus, he still used transfusion to make his blood more magic induced to speed up the process. And now that he was close to completing the dual magic experiment, he could advance even faster than before. He could even reach level ten at the end of the tournament.
While having higher levels do help to decide the winner for the most part, how you use your powers is also a key factor to winning, which can help in defeating an opponent of a higher level than one's own.
"Maybe I should apply just in case." Lin whispered to himself.
The homeroom teacher came into the class at the time, and asked the students to not talk.
"Students, in the coming week you shall be having a one-on-one match amongst each other. Knowing combat techniques is an important part of your curriculum. It is essential for you to know when to use force and how to use it well. Now keep in mind that it will just be a friendly match, nothing more nothing less. If I see anything more than that, don't come crying to me when you get suspended. As soon as the teacher finished speaking, the classroom erupted into banter, talking about the fights that are going to be happening. Everyone was excited about using their powers and showing off.
It was truly going to be an exhilarating experience for everyone in the class, with some looking forward to it more than others, but for entirely different reasons.
Kenta, who had been humiliated before, thought that this would be a good opportunity to get his revenge, but was still cautious if Lin would still count it as a breach in compromise. He didn't know what he would think of, as it came down to how Lin felt in the end.
Luke, who was gloomy this whole time now looked a little more interested in the ongoing banter, as he too wanted to show off his powers to everyone else. But as he thought about it he couldn't help but look towards Lin, whom he had previously been harassing. He didn't know why Lin hid his powers or how powerful he was, and it made him wary.
As for Lin, well he considered it to be a good use in training himself to handle human opponents since he had only fought wild beasts during his training in the last few months. The closest he came to what could be called a human opponent is when a test subject tried to break free during the dual power procedure due to intense pain and he tried to stop him. But even that couldn't be counted as one as the test subject wasn't in the right headspace. This was his chance to finally face true combat.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone