Back to the Arctic

Verlin lay down on his bed and let his mind return back to normal. He immediately entered superspeed mode. Letting himself move at normal human speed was doable but agonizing. It would take some time to get used to. After resting for 2 hours in superspeed mode, he returned back to regular human speed and started looking through his phone. And he saw a message from Chloe asking him to meet her tomorrow afternoon.

Verlin contemplated for a while before agreeing. It's not like he had anything planned, plus he doubts he would be in any danger. Plus, he was rather curious as to why she wanted to meet him. He dropped his phone beside his bed, opened his window, and flew outside towards the Barren Arctic. He was going to take another look at the penguins. Instead of flying on earth, he went towards the atmosphere and soon entered the vacuum of space.

Verlin looked at the satellite that had been monitoring his movement, and seeing that it didn't point towards him, he figured it had been tracking him using the phone they gave him. Verlin looked at the sun that was shining on him at the distance and decided to stay in space a bit longer. Although He could feel himself getting stronger on earth, it was more exaggerated in space. Not to mention, it was extremely comfortable here.

Verlin wasn't sure which type of kryptonian he was. There were many different types, but according to his calculations, if his strength increases up at a constant rate of 3.5%, it won't even take 3 years before he could move an earth sized planet. Verlin had a slight smile on his face as he started flying to the Barren continent. In a couple of seconds, he was already in the atmosphere above the continent. He flew down and hovered about 200 meters above the penguins.

At this height, the penguins wouldn't be able to notice his appearance. But verlin could smell the fish in their breath from way up here. Verlin slowly floated down to the ground, and as he observed the penguins. As soon as the penguins noticed him, they also observed him, but from what he could understand from them, they were mostly curious as they started to get closer to him. Verlin looked at the giant penguins. Some of them started poking him with their beaks. Seeing that they were harmless, Verlin used X ray vision and microscopic vision to try to find any abnormalities in their bodies. But he couldn't find anything. Verlin shook his head. It wasn't like he knew anything about biology in his previous life. Maybe this is just how the penguins on this planet were.

As Verlin was about to take off and return to City A, He could hear penguins screaming and running away. He turned his head towards the noise and saw a polar bear attacking penguins on the other side of the colony. The polar bear was about 6 meters tall standing up, Verlin flew over and saw the polar bear decimating the penguins. But verlin wasn't gonna attack it. It was just how nature works. After a couple of seconds, Verlin noticed the polar bear didn't stop after killing more than 10 penguins. The polar bear wasn't killing them for food. It seemed like It was just going on a rampage.

Verlin could hear the heart of the polar bear beat 3 times every second. When Verlin appeared in its sight, the polar bear immediately attacked him. But because Verlin was in the air, all it could do was roar in incompetent rage as its bloodshot eyes stared at Verlin. Verlin used his infrared vision on it. And could see the entire body of the polar bear heating and using more energy that it has in its reserves. At this rate, it won't take long before it dies. Verlin descended to the ground, and as soon as he landed, the polar bear swung its arm that was almost the size of verlin himself, trying to smash Verlin into the ground, But when it's claw landed on Verlin, it Penetrated right through Verlin.

Verlin remained unmoved on the ground, except he had blood over him. Thankfully, his force field kept it away from his clothes, but the polar bear had a hole in its paw. The polar bear let out an agonizing roar but didn't stop as it kept swinging its claws at Verlin, trying to slap him away. After a couple of hits with its paws, it stopped. Not because it was tired but because its arms were broken. Verlin decided to put it out of its misery. He walked towards the polar and floated up towards its chest and pushed his hand against its chest, instantly turning the polar bear into a blood mist. All this happened in less than a second. So the polar bear wouldn't have realized how it even died.

Verlin looked in the direction the polar bear came from, and about 40 km away, he could see another dead polar bear, but it seemed this one was killed by the rampage polar bear because it's neck was twisted. Verlin decided to collect blood samples from both polar bears and find a difference in their DNA. Maybe then he can figure out why it mutated. Verlin flew up and looked around and saw an abandoned human settlement 300 km to the east, Verlin flew there and arrived in less than a minute, got 2 containers, and then flew back to where the rampage polar bear died, he looked and the blood mixed with snow and scooped a chunk of it with a container, then he flew towards the polar bear with a twisted neck and the first thing he noticed between the 2 polar bears were the difference in size, the one with the twisted neck was about 4 meters tall standing and the rampage polar bear was 6 meters standing. After noting the difference, Verlin opened up its body with his hands and took a containers worth of blood out of it.

After he took the blood samples, he carried the containers and headed towards City A, but didn't go to space because he wasn't sure how the blood samples would react there. But that means the trip would take longer. He realized the maximum speed he could go on earth without causing a disaster was about mach 40. Anything above that would carry a storm of dust and rocks behind him. The journey was smooth, and he got back to the house in 10 min.

When Verlin arrived, he entered his room through the opened window and dropped the containers. He could hear several heartbeats in the house. He used his X ray vision and saw a few people working on an empty room. He figured they were fixing up his lab, like he requested. Verlin went downstairs and went to the training room to meet Rachel. When he walked in, he could see Rachel throwing punches at a punching bag.

He took a seat on a bench to the side and said,

" Don't you have a job or something?"

Rachel wiped the sweat off her forehead, looked at Verlin, and said, " I used to, but I had to take an indefinite paid leave to watch over someone."

"Well, you are welcome. By the way, what do you know about the Barren continent."

"Eh? It's a dangerous and cold place. We used to send expeditions over, but the animals there aren't very friendly, especially the penguins. They look cute, but those things would poke a hole through humans like paper. We figured it wasn't worth the investment and stopped exploring it." Rachel said as she started doing high kicks on the punching bag.

Verlin thought back to when the penguins were poking him. He just thought they were curious. It seemed they were trying to kill him.

"What about the polar bears? Has the expedition run into any 5 meters and above standing?"

"Above 5 meters? It's not possible their height is maxed at 4.5 meters. Why are you so interested in the Barren continent, all of a sudden?"

"No reason at all, just a little curious." Verlin decided to change the subject. "What type of martial arts is that?"

"It's just regular kickboxing. What wanna learn?"

Verlin thought for a while before nodding his head. Seeing Verlin agreeing, Rachel walked towards the boxing ring,smiled, and said, "How about a little spar, you know to gauche your skill level."

Verlin stood up from the bench and followed her to the ring and said, " Alright."

When they were both in the ring, Rachel continued, "Don't hold back."

Verlin was confused and said, "What do you mean,Don't hold back? Skill wise or Strength wise? If it's the latter, I'll tell you right now, you and this beautiful mansion will cease to exist."

Rachel also heard Verlin could lift in excess of 10,000 tons, but she still wanted to know the difference between them. So she said, " Both, but don't kill me or destroy the mansion."

Verlin smiled and said, "Alright then, it's your funeral."