The 9th Level 5/Genetic Enhancements

This chapter seems a little off to me, I might make some edits later on

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A black credit card is a luxurious card that is practically made for the rich. In order to even have a chance at getting one, you need to spend at least $200,000 - $500,000 per year. On top of all that, you need an invitation from someone else who has the black card.

Giving something like that over to someone is akin to handing them a blank check as the card has no spending limit. But this is exactly what Kazumi needs right now, an unlimited source of funds for her technology.

But first, she need to heal those broken bones of hers. In front of the frog-faced doctor, she used elementalization, causing the flames to cover her entire body and heal all the wounds on her. Kazumi lifted up her legs and jumped off the hospital bed.

"Nnnn~ much better! Hey doc, where is my uniform? Hospital gowns aren't exactly the most fashionable cloths ya know?"

"Ahem! Just take a seat, a nurse will bring it to you shortly."

.

.

Two days later, Saten can be seen walking towards her apartment with a bag of groceries in hand. As she approaches her room, she saw a black-haired girl wearing Tokiwadai uniform laying against the wall.

"Oh hey! You are...Himura-san, right? Or should I call you 'Cinder' now?"

That's right, Academy City has officially recognized Kazumi as the Academy City's 8th level 5 Esper, granting her the codename of "Cinder". She has replaced Mugino Shizuri as the 4th rank amongst them. Eventually, the story of her power spike from level 3 to level 5 without the use of the Level-Upper got out to the public, causing her face to be plastered onto the news every singe day.

"There's still hope, you know? Becoming an esper I mean" Kazumi ignored Saten's greetings and got straight to the point.

"Huh..?" Saten was stunned for a moment before smiling and shaking her head. "I already came to terms with being a level 0. Many people that I care about got hurt because I was chasing after some stupid ability! I'm sorry but I'm not interested in becoming an esper anymore" She hurriedly walk past the girl and reaches for the door. Kazumi smiles

"Are you sure? I could make you a level 5 right here right now if I want to. All I want in return is your loyalty." Saten's body freezes up. She thought of what she told her little brother before coming to Academy City, that she was going to become an esper.

"This...this isn't funny, you know." Saten answered, her whole body is shaking uncontrollably.

"You've heard about my power spike, right? Unlike the Level-Upper, the power that I offer you has no side effects." Kazumi huffs and walks past Ruiko." If I don't see your face by the time I get to the first floor, I will take it as the sign of your refusal."

"W-wait!" Ruiko practically threw the groceries inside her apartment and ran after Kazumi.

.

"Sooo...." After walking through the streets of Academy City in awkward silence for several minutes, Ruiko finally spoke up. "Why me?"

"Huh?"

"Out of the hundreds of thousands of level 0s in this city, why me?"

Kazumi turned to Saten with a smile on her face

"Do you remember what you said to Uriharu at the hospital?"

"Huh?"

==FLASHBACK==

"I'm sorry, Uriharu, for putting you through all this." Ruiko said while enveloping Uriharu in a hug.

"...you don't have to, Saten" Uriharu said

"But I am. I came so close, so close to losing something far more important than some stupid ability!"

==FLASHBACK ENDS==

"You threw away the very reason you come to this city for the sake of your friends. I was impressed."

"I-I meant what I said!"

"I know, I know~"

"Oh right, one more thing. Everything that happens today needs to stay between us, alright? Not even your precious Uriharu can know about this."

Saten nods.

After a few more minutes, they finally arrived at a seemingly abandoned research center.

"You sure this is the place? It looks abandoned."

"Never judge a book by its cover, Saten." Kazumi types in 5-7-4-6-9 into the keypad as the door opens.

The interior of the research center is dark with almost no lighting. Saten instinctively held onto Kazumi's shoulders as she looks around with a comedically scared expression. The duo walks in front of a seemingly ordinary wall until a small hatch opens, revealing a small levitating metal ball with a mechanical red eye on the front.

It scanned Kazumi's entire body.

[ACCESS GRANTED]

The metal wall in front of them split into thousands of white cubes, revealing a secret underground passage way.

"Woah!"

"Those are graviton panels designed for future construction work. Perfect for hiding a secret base, right?"

They walked through several other layers of graviton panels that Kazumi placed just in case before arriving at a laboratory filled with technology that no man in this world has ever seen before.

"First things first," Kazumi clapped her hands twice as a green, tornado shaped fruit encased in a glass box was lifted up from a trap door on the ground.

"Now eat this"

"You want me to eat this...thing?"

"Well you want the powers, don't you? I should give a fair warning though, this fruit literally tastes like crap." The glass case splits into two, Kazumi gestures Saten to eat it. "It's all yours."

Saten grabs the fruit and gulps

"Come on Saten, get it together! You can do this!" She takes a deep breath and bit down onto the fruit.

"BLEEEEH!" Saten's face turned blue out of disgust and immediately spits out the fruit.

"I warned you~"

Kazumi grabbed a bottle of soda out of a fridge. Saten snatched it out of her hands and gulps it down like she didn't drink anything for a whole month.

"PWAH! That's much better!"

"So, how do you feel?"

"I feel...huh, surprisingly nothing." Saten said, feeling a bit dissapointed

Kazumi pressed a few buttons on the panels attached to the wall, the entire room starts to be reconstructed by graviton panels as the advanced machinery are nowhere to be seen The lab has been turned into a gymnasium.

"I-you know what, I'm even be surprised anymore." Saten said with a deadpan face.

"Pretty convenient, right?" Kazumi claps her hands, "Now, use your ability just like when you had the Level-Upper."

Saten nods and concentrates, trying to bring forth the Esper ability she once had with the Level-Upper. Her body was suddenly surrounded by strong winds that eventually formed into a tornado around her body.

"WOAH! I-I HAVEN'T EVEN RAN THE CALCULATIONS YET!"

"That's enough, Saten." Kazumi dispersed Saten's tornado with a flame-coated stomp.

"You noticed right? Unlike most Esper, our abilities do not need calculations to manifest. By eating that fruit, you have summoned the entirety of your 'Personal Reality' into the physical world."

After a long pause, Saten smiled at her sheepishly.

"Ha...let me put it in a way you would understand."

"This is our every-day Esper" A hologram of a mannequin pops up on the palm of her hands

"And this," she then drew a circle inside of its head and labelled it as 'personal reality' "is their personal reality. By performing calculations as a medium, they are able to interfere with the laws of nature using it and bring forth their abilities."

"Now this is us" She drew a large circle with a mannequin in the middle. "By eating this fruit, our personal realities have manifested into reality as it constantly interferes with the laws of the world. We no longer require those useless calculations to manifest our powers, we ARE power."

She then drew a much larger circle outside of the existing one.

"There is an evolved stage to our powers but that's for another time. For now, try to figure the abilities on your own. I'm always available if you have questions." Kazumi said. "Congratulations, you are now the 9th level 5 Esper of Academy City."

After seeing Saten off, Kazumi comes back to the laboratory and presses a few buttons, the futuristic machines emerges from the walls once again.

"Are the preparations for my enhancements finished?"

[AFFIRMATIVE]

A human-sized metallic pod rises up from the floor and attaches itself to the machinery.

[I MUST REMIND YOU THAT THE MODIFICATION OF ONE'S LINEAGE FACTOR IS STILL IN ITS EXPERIMENTAL STAGE. THE ESTIMATED SUCCESS RATE IS 80%.]

"I understand the risks, proceed with the modifications." Kazumi said as she takes off her cloths.

[UNDERSTOOD]

[CONFIRMING MODIFICATIONS: EXOSKELETON, ENHANCED STRENGTH, ENHANCED STAMINA, ENHANCED VISION, ENHANCED IMMUNE SYSTEM, INCREASED BREAST SIZE, ETERNAL YOUTH, EXTENDED LIFESPAN]

[SYSTEM SCAN INNITIATED]

[0%....24%....58%...70%...99%....100%]

[SYSTEMS ALL GREEN]

The pod's door opens automatically as Kazumi lays down and puts on the oxygen mask.

[INSERTING ANESTHESIA]

A green gel-like liquid started to fill up the tank, completely submerging Kazumi. Sleeping gas is then mixed in with the oxygen supply to put her to sleep so that she won't feel the painful process.

Slowly but surely, Kazumi felt a wave of grogginess swept over her as she falls into a deep slumber.

10 mechanical arms with large needles attached to them inserted themselves into Kazumi's brain, arms, legs, stomach, and spine.

[MODIFICATION INITIATED]

[ESTIMATED TIME: 2 DAYS 10 HOURS 59 MINUTES 30 SECONDS]