Project Reforge (1)

Lock sat alone in the library room, holding a small book in his hands. Estevan left shortly after he gave him the training plan. 

[Project Reforge] 

A project made to increase one's power to its utmost capacity. The training has proven to be very lethal and dangerous. 

'Even the cover page is already ominous,' Lock thought. 

Lock took his time and browsed the book carefully. He made sure to not miss any details, no matter how big or small. 

As he continued reading the book, his expression turned grimmer. The training procedures were nothing short of flat-out torture. It includes what they call "body reformation," which is the destruction of the body and its repair. 

That way, the body will come back stronger than ever. It is similar to how muscles work once you workout. Your muscle fibers form small tears. Given enough time to heal, they'll come back even sturdier and stronger. 

Lock couldn't help but subconsciously tighten his grip on the book as he went further. He didn't even notice that he was already on the last page. 

He slowly put the book down as he calmed himself down. The price for power was not light. He chose this, therefore he must do this. 

***

After Estevan left, he vanished again for a few more days. When he returned, he informed Lock that they would now commence the training. 

He wasn't surprised by this. Actually, he had already been preparing himself these past few days. He made sure to be in his best condition before conducting this gruesome procedure. 

When he showed up at the destined location, he was yet again surprised to see new faces. There were two new elves present beside Estevan. 

One of the elves was a girl wearing some sort of lab coat with huge round glasses. The eyebags beneath her eyes were very noticeable. Beside her was a man wearing some sort of armor with many accessories strapped on. 

Lock approached them carefully and analyzed them secretly. cold sweat forming on his forehead as he got even nearer. 

When he got close enough, the two elves started examining him as well. The female elf didn't hide this as he circled Lock curiously, but the other guy stood silent on the side. 

Lock can feel the hidden danger emanating from this man. He was sure of it. 

'He is strong.' He silently thought. 

After a while, the girl finally left him alone and started scribbling on a clipboard. The guy, on the other hand, only nodded and closed his eyes. 

"Well, that's odd," he thought. 

Estevan only sighed, as he expected this scenario. He clapped his hand, which caught Lock's attention and started his introduction. 

"Ehem..  This didn't go as planned. This girl here is called Valentine, while that dude over there is called Valorian. Valentine specializes in just about everything that includes the physical body of a person. That also includes body strengthening. Now Valorian is a veteran hunter. He knows a sh*t ton of information about monsters and wilderness survival." Estevan said as he pointed at Valentine and Valorian. 

"Oh, yeah, they're siblings as well." He added. 

Lock's eye widened for a bit before eventually returning to normal. 

'Now that Estevan said they're siblings, they do have the same hair color and eye color.' He thought inwardly. 

"Huh, where'd that guy go?" Estevan said out of nowhere as he looked around as if trying to look for someone. 

Lock got confused and was about to ask what was going on when a voice suddenly cut him off. 

"Im here"

Lock immediately jumped back and brandished his axe out of instinct. This made the siblings nod in approval after seeing his performance. 

In front of Lock was a dark-cloaked individual. He was covered from head to toe and barely gave off an aura. He was like a shadow. 

Estevan only laughed his ass after seeing Lock's reaction, which earned him a glare. He didn't delay it enough and started to introduce the dark-cloaked individual. 

"This one is named Erebus. He is a professional assassin." Estevan said this while wiping tears from his eyes. 

"Ive worked with these guys before and I trust them enough to include them in your training." 

"The training will be cut into four different types. Each training will last for 1 month only due to the situation of the kingdom.  The first training will be body strengthening. I'm sure you've read the book I gave you, so you know what to expect. Valentine is free to do whatever she wishes in your body as long as it will make you strong." Estevan explained with an unexplainable expression.

It was hard for Estevan to hand out Lock to Valentine. Afterall he had taken a liking to the boy. Not only that but he knew how crazy Valentine's experiments were.

"Two, I will train you in advance combat, weaponry, tactics, etc. The third will be instinct training, sense training, and all that stuff. Erebus will handle that one. Last but not least is hunting and survival in the wilderness. You will finally test out how much you've learned and how much stronger you've become." 

Estevan snapped his fingers together and said,

"Now shall we begin?"

And thus Lock's four months of torment began. 

***

Body strengthening. 

Valentine appeared kind-hearted and gentle, but that was too far from the truth. The very first day Lock and Valentine trained, he almost died. 

Valentine wanted to start with his organs first, but for that to work, he needed a sufficient amount of resistance against drugs. And by drugs, I mean poison. 

She literally uses materials that aren't particularly consumable or edible for humans to consume. To make things worse, she mixed them into more potent concoctions. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" 

Screams can be heard echoing in the hidden lab as a boy covered in blood and black substances trashes around while being tied to a metal table. Needles and several other contraptions were buried deep in his skin. 

That boy was Lock. Today marked the start of Day 2. Frankly, Lock has already lost his perception of time. The moment Valentine got her hands on him, and with no restrictions, her real personality showed. 

She immediately strapped him to the table and drugged him with various substances, concoctions, and eventually poisons. Yes, poisons—not just one, but multiple at a time. 

Some made him nauseated; some made him bleed nonstop; but those were the mild ones. The real ones made him lose skin, blind him temporarily, burn his skin, boil his blood, and even suffocate him.

These were done in a matter of two days. There were more to come, and Lock didn't know if he had the strength to do it. He was slowly losing his mind in this world of pain and agony. 

But whenever thoughts of giving up entered his mind, he would feel disgusted and feel like vomiting. Perhaps his will couldn't accept that he would die such a pathetic death, or rather, it cannot rest until it has managed to prove itself.

Hours became days, and days became weeks. The longer he spent in that hell hole, the more the experiments became inhumane. 

After the first week, his blood was already resistant to all the poison Valentine gave him, so the scientist didn't hesitate and started tempering his organ as well. 

How do you ask? Simple: electric shocks, burning, physical trauma—you name it. Valentine made sure to never miss a single procedure. By the end of it, his organs had gained enough resistance to snap a knife in two. Can you believe that? 

The second week passed by in a flash, but not for Lock. With his organs tempered, his body regeneration increased, and this basically opened the pathway for more experiments. 

"How wonderful!"  Valentine screamed in ecstasy as she hammered Lock's bones to dust, the echoes of the hammer drowning out his screams. 

Even so, Lock never hated her or despised her. He chose this, and he was only to blame. This was the path he picked, and thus he must suffer the consequences. 

With the constant destruction and regeneration of his bones made them stronger each time. 

CLANK! 

Then the hammer broke in two. The bone tempering was finally over. Valentine only smiled and hummed herself as she prepared the tools for muscle and skin tempering. 

Thoughts ran wild in Lock's mind. Who was he? Where was he? What was going on? He only bit his lip, but he didn't feel the pain. There was blood, but no more pain. 

Before he knew it, Valentine had started planting orbs in his body. Explosions echoed in the underground lab as Lock's muscles and skin flew everywhere. His screams were muffled by the sound of an explosion. 

His muscles were destroyed, then regrown, then destroyed again. His skin burned, corroded, and was cut. Then it all stopped. 

The dark finally engulfed him.

***

<Status> 

Name: Lock 

Age: sixteen and four months old.

Species: Human

Affinity: Void

Talent: N/A 

Condition: Healthy

Stats: 

STRENGTH: 16.3

SPD/AGI: 16.7

DEXTERITY: 12.7

CONSTITUTION: 18

CHARM: 7.2

SPIRIT: 9.7

MAGIC: 9

SKILLS [+]