19 A Glimmer of Hope

Miles looked at the documents again and again. He couldn't believe what he was reading. It mentioned the same condition he had. Because of the dormant ancient genes, he wasn't able to awaken them. He grabbed the papers and kept reading.

[The dormant genes are harder to awaken because they carry great potential. It is like moving a small boulder and moving a mountain. It is easier to move the boulder, but the force it could create is a lot lesser than moving a mountain. Dormant genes are mountains, and if moved, one will awaken powers surpassing others.]

"This makes sense." Miles nodded his head excitedly and kept reading with hope.

[But moving the mountain is still a task that requires great strength. It is not something a punny medicine can achieve.]

"Is this person talking about Superpower Awakening Serum?" Miles was confused.

The Superpower Awakening Serum was created by Mother AI for humanity. It was considered a miracle rather than a gift. The question is, though, is the medicine mentioned more advanced than the Superpower Awakening Serum?

[I have created other medicines that can help my subjects fight back against the abominations. Yet, the effects of these were too potent.

The body medicines can only be used by the Athenas and Demons. The Athenas, thanks to the crazy training they do from birth. The demons, due to the super-strength they were born with.

As for my other medicine, it can only be used by the Tribe and Monks, as their potent effects grievously injure others who were not trained well—but at this juncture, I have no time for training.]

"Athena, Demons, Tribe and Monks? What are they, functions? Countries?" Miles looked at the paper with questions.

[The body medicine was key to success. It allowed the body to evolve. Along with powers, they grow together. However, in the case of dormant genes, the evolved body will be the stimulant that will push the medicine and awaken the genes. But it still takes too much time. I will have to find another way.]

"I finally found it!" Miles screamed with excitement. "Coin, I finally found a way to awaken my powers!"

"I am glad you are able to achieve your dream, buddy!" Coin said with the same excited voice and called him, "You should take a look at this too."

Coin beckoned him to the giant computer. From the way he phrased it, Miles understood that Coin already saw the same things on the computer. He walked towards the screen and looked at the text.

[The experiments are successful. These things are beyond science. The way they merge is beyond my comprehension!]

"What does it mean?" Miles asked when he read the text on the screen. It was something important, that was given, but the meaning was still blurred. He couldn't understand what the writer was talking about.

"It is the last entry. After this text entered, the owner of the room left, and never came back. I don't know what it means but it seems important." Coin gave his opinion.

"Other than that, I found records that seemed rather odd to say." Coin paused for a while before continuing "It seems that this room was created before the gigantic portal opened to Earth. And that there were 'others', suffered by the hands of the monsters before humans.

Furthermore, records show some kind of entities living here in Portal World before the great invasion of the monsters to our world. Hell! Even before monsters invaded here. But they had perished and lost the war against the monster race."

"What does that mean?" Miles then thought of the obscured things mentioned in the papers that he just read, but he dispelled the thought immediately.

"Can't say."

Miles was also unsure, so he gave up on the thought and went back to the folders. He looked at the round object he set aside before and removed the cloth. Beneath the clothing was something that made his mouth agape.

Miles looked at the monster orb.

It was shining with a weird pink mist and electric blue. It was beautiful.

There was a rose-colored sky inside the orb, and blue-colored bolts of lightning were flashing through it.

Miles brought his hand to the orb, but it then floated and flew to his hand before he could do anything.

A small spark left the orb and made a tiny cut on his pinky. The blood dripped to the surface, and then something happened. It slipped through as if it was absorbed by it.

Then, the sky inside the orb changed into a red color. The orb then started to melt into fluid, surrounding Miles's body.

Miles panicked, wanting to get rid of the fluid but to no avail. He could do nothing to stop the fluid spreading all over his body.

The fluid was red with blue drawings cowering it like bolts of lightning in the ominous red sky. At this point Coin also noticed something was amiss.

"Miles, what is going on?" Coin asked.

"I don't know. I found an orb and it cut my finger. When my blood fell on it, it melted and started to cover my body." Miles summarized what was happening. He explained calmly because he realized the fluid wasn't trying to choke him.

"I'm... not uncomfortable either. It had this kind of soothing effect."

"Sounds like Psychic Orbs when they turned into items. You also have to drip your blood and record your brainwave imprint." Coin second guessed

Miles also thought of it, but he had never seen a wristwatch forcefully covering the body.

"I think it is a Psychic Armor, but I don't know how it changed on its own without you charging it." Miles thought out loud.

"It must be the lightning element, no it can't be. Each orb can only have one element. But the armor shows attributes of both Psychic and Lightning elements." Coin said.

Lightning element orbs could be used without the help of AI charging them. That is why they were extremely expensive. But the armor on Miles' body had the defining characteristics of a Psychic Orb.

"What do you think it is, a rare orb?" Miles asked. This was something they had never seen before.

"It may be, or something related to the last entry." When Coin said that, ideas flashed in Miles's mind. Merging? Merging the things that science can't explain. What can it be except orbs?

'The owner, the person who left this room, found a way to merge the orbs? It can carry the attributes of both elements? But how did he do it?'

"Is there anything related to it?" Miles asked Coin.

"Nothing except the last entry. There are logs about experimenting on Monster Cores, and things I cannot understand because of insufficient data. I don't know if they are related to this or not."

They did not dwell on it further and moved on to the orb.

"Can you see the level of the Orb?" Miles asked. He could do nothing if there was no record of merging. He could only try on himself, but he didn't know where to start.

"You gonna like it." Coin said and continued.