Chapter 7- Test Subject

At 5 years old, Dubs gained consciousness for the first time in his life.

He opened his eyes, to see a short hunched over man, wearing glasses and a white lab coat, rubbing his hands together.

He had brown hair that reached all the way around the sides of his head to form sideburns and a beard.

Dubs emerged from an egg shaped incubator, with all sorts of knobs and settings. This was only one of hundreds in a line of these machines, that spanned down the room. The majority of them were closed, however the open ones lay empty, while the closed ones seemed to glow a variety of colors.

"It has been over 50 years since I began working in the experimental sector of Lardis, and not once have I met such a capable test subject..."

The man grinned with pleasure, and approached Dubs.

"We have undergone thousands of trials. We tried running radiation through adults, your mother included- however this always failed. Why was it that the adults could never handle magical radiation? I theorized that it was due to the lack of exposure that they had been under throughout their lives, which caused their immune systems to reject any magical radiation that came into their bodies. That was what lead to the development of the incubation unit you see lining this room! I predicted that if we were to begin radiation as early as possible, that this would increase the likelihood of survival! And Voila! We have our first success!"

The man took a drink of water and continued his victory speech

"Your mothers last wish before she died was that we give you enough humanity to call you by your name. Very well. Test subject 0324, you shall from here on out be known as Dubs. However, do not believe for even a moment that giving you the humanity to call you by your name exempts you from your duties that were assigned to you at birth. Yes, that is right. Every man has to work to eat, and your job is nothing else but to remain here as a test subject, continuing to advance our understanding of magic."

Dubs may have gained consciousness, but he was hazed. One might think that, this being the first time he had heard human language, that he would have been completely unaware of what the doctor was saying- however that was not the case.

Dubs had been under incubation for all different types of magical radiation over the past 5 years, ever since his father was executed. Not only his mother, but his sister as well died from the magical experiments. His sister was also put into an incubator, however due to the same reasons as adults, she was unable to survive the extreme levels they put her under, and she died as a result. For Dubs, though, the magical radiation had accumulated across his body, increasing his senses as a human.

Inside the incubator, Dubs had begun to understand language unconsciously, and gained an acute sense of taste and smell, even while he was inside the incubator.

The radiation had initially caused much stress to his muscles as well, however as a result of the continuous tearing and reparation of his body, he had become physically stronger than a normal human as well.

The doctor paced back and forth considering his options.

"Hmm this is the first success we've had on the incubated units. What experiments should I run on him first? I suppose a physical test would be a good place to start." The doctor looked at Dubs. "Can you understand me?"

Dubs opened his mouth and a gargled "Yes" came out of his mouth, along with a large amount of fluid.

Dubs began to spit and throw up all over the floor until his mouth had been emptied, and repeated his answer. "Yes." he said clearly this time

He stood up and began to stretch his arms out. "Where are we going, mister?"

"Hoh! To think you'd understand me so well, and to be so well mannered at that! And that you'd even be able to stand on your own and move about after 5 years of being cooped up in a highly radiated incubator! You are truly a marvelous subject. Well, let us begin with the physical strength analysis. Follow me."

Dubs followed the man, and skipped along carelessly as he was lead down a corridor with a number of offices and lab areas. Coming to the end of the hall, the man unlocked the lab and entered with Dubs.

"Now, go ahead and lay down on the table there, I will begin the experiments shortly."

The "table" was actually equivalent to a medieval torture device, except that it didn't stretch out the body. It was a wooden slate with iron shackles where the hands and feet would be bound, and neither the doctor nor Dubs seemed phased by this.

Dubs got onto the table and asked, "Should I lock up my hands in these slots? And my feet down there?"

The doctor was a little shocked, but smiled wildly, partially in disbelief that the child was not only indifferent to the experiments, but rather seemed to be cooperating with them.

"Mm yes allow me to do so". The doctor chained Dubs down and pulled out a scalpel. "This might hurt a bit, but it is all for the sake of furthering our progress, so hold out for us, wont you?"

The doctor stuck the scalpel onto Dubs finger, and made a slicing motion along it. To his surprise, rather than cutting open the flesh of the boy, the scalpel broke in two as he scraped Dubs flesh, as if it were made of diamond.

"What on earth..." The doctor exclaimed. He took out a scalpel that was made of steel, a much stronger material, and with much effort and hacking he was able to create a small slit on Dubs' finger.

A small amount of blood edged out, and the doctor was amazed at the physical resistance of the boy.

"Hmm, I must find out if this physical resistance is limited to his fingers only, or if he had any weak points."

Days of cutting and slicing later, the doctor had examined every area of Dubs back and forth, and discovered that he was physically strong in every area.

"With the steel scalpel, after much effort I could only scrape him, and this was true for every area of the boys body. How did magical radiation cause him to become so physically strong? I am not sure, but the next question I must answer is this: I put him under the influence of every type of magical radiation, to an approximately even level. How resistant is he to magical skills?"

There were 6 classes of magic, and from each class there were a number of ways to use these magical skills. There were also ways to combine abilities from multiple classes to create unique spells and skills, so the possibilities were endless.

Among these classes were Dark, Light, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.

Light magic included both the use of physical light and light energy, as well as the elements of life and biological uses.

Dark magic included stealth skills, the manipulation of dark energy, and the manipulation of nonliving things such as necromancy and other motion related skills.

The other 4 branches were used to control their respective element, and any abilities that formed from such an element.

The doctor spent the next 9 years toiling and putting Dubs through all forms of magical spells. He discovered that Dubs had gained a complete and utter resistance to every element of magic, and even when the highest levels of knights came in to test their strongest abilities on him, they were rendered completely useless

. The existence of Dubs was kept top secret even among the government, and only the high ranking nobles knew of what was taking place, along with the few people who had been present at the court hearing of Dubs father, Frederic, 14 years before. As such, the empires citizens had no idea about the experiments.

To the average empire citizen, magic was something that only the powerful knights were allowed to have, and obtaining it was extremely dangerous.

Dubs, who had started out eager to find out what experiments he would be put under, had become much more intelligent over the years. He was no longer the curious little boy he used to be, but rather became someone who logically analyzed everything.

"It hasn't been too terrible living in these quarters for the past years, due to my resistances to pain and damage, but I think its finally time I should get out of this place. At the next chance I get I'll deceive the doctor and make my escape. I need to figure out where my place is in this world. Where did I come from? Why was I born into this lab? What are things like outside the lab? From what I know, my mother and sister died due to going under the same experiments as I did, however I need more information. The next opportunity I get i'm going to take."

The doctor left for the day, and Dubs sensed an aura he had not recognized before.

"An unrecognized aura, eh? I wonder if someone new has come to test out their skills on me. There is one- no, two people."

The metal door to Dubs containment room unlocked and slowly slid open.