Chapter 448 - 448 Thorough Examination

Knowing that it would be pointless to put up any more resistance, Avery went along with Doctor Raiti.She practically skipped down the halls of the Intrepid until the two of them made it to her lab.

It was one of the larger facilities onboard the ship, per her request, but it was still significantly smaller than what she previously had.

Still, all of her equipment was packed inside and in someway it was upgraded since she had spent most of her money from selling her old base on the latest technology, reagents, biological samples from rare species.

Avery even noticed that she had a few animals in enclosures. No doubt she was studying their unique characteristics.

"I'm so excited. This is why I can't stop researching anatomy of living beings. It's all so fascinating. Things are always changing in ways that seem impossible. Even someone I've already examined before can hide such secrets I don't yet understand." Mercedes said with an unmistakably exuberant energy.

Ever since receiving Avery's scans that showed his body had changed in unforeseen way thanks to the augmentations she had given him, she had been desperate to study him.

Under normal circumstances, people's body structures did not rapidly change.

Mercedes was an expert in bionic enhancements, but even she had never seen anything like what Avery had undergone.

The augmentations she had given him had certainly strengthened his body. Yet, after leaving her lab, he had continued to become stronger by all conceivable metrics.

Denser muscle mass, higher bone density, improved blood circulation, and faster neurotransmission across the entire body. It was as if his body was fully reconstructing itself to become the ultimate form of a human. Perhaps maybe even beyond that.

What was going on with Avery was far too fascinating for Mercedes not to want to study it. Which was why she had uprooted her entire life just to have the chance.

"Okay, go ahead and sit over there. I'll begin with the least invasive sample collection. Frist hair, skin, saliva, and then blood."

A bit ominously, there was just a single chair waiting in the middle of the room.

There was nothing around it either, which made it feel unnatural with all of the advanced technology in the room.

Of course, since Avery had approved the design of this lab, he knew that there were actually compartments under the floor in several places where equipment could rise up out of the ground as needed.

Nevertheless, it still felt a bit eerie as he sat in the surprisingly comfortable, but almost unnaturally cold chair.

"There might be a slight sting, but bear with it." Doctor Raiti said once she had finished preparing and came over with a device to pluck out hairs.

She took multiple samples from Avery's head, arms, legs, and chest. Thankfully, she did not insist on taking hairs from more sensitive areas. At least for now.

"Now open your mouth. I'm going to take a swab from your cheek."

As soon as Avery opened his mouth, Mercedes shoved a thin, rod-shaped item into his mouth.

He felt a slight pressure against his cheek, that quickly ramped up until it became pretty forceful.

"Your skin really has gotten far tougher than a normal human. I had to use a setting normally meant for bahnens to collect a proper sample."

Avery could tell that her mind was already racing at the possibilities of how he had become like he was.

After collecting the sample from his cheek, she had him spit into a tube and then pulled out a very sharp syringe made out of an ultra-dense metal.

Normally something like this would be used for collecting blood from animals with armored scales, or incredibly dense skin.

The fact that she had prepared something like that for Avery spoke volumes about just how tough his body had become.

Fortunately, the syringe went into his arm without any trouble, and Mercedes was able to pierce one of Avery's veins on the first try.

Typically, a robot would be doing things like this, but Doctor Raiti insisted on doing it manually herself. Perhaps she enjoyed the hands-on approach, or it was possible she just did not want to entrust this work to a machine.

"Normally, I would need to apply something to stop the bleed. But you're already healing at a remarkable rate."

She watched closely as the small hole in Avery's arm was already closing up at a visible rate.

The bleeding had stopped in less than ten seconds, and now new flesh could already be seen covering the small wound.

Within only a half minute, there was no evidence remaining that Avery's skin had ever been pierced.

"I know that I'm the one that gave you the organ that allows for rapid healing and regeneration, but it shouldn't work that fast. Ooh, I almost want to skip some steps and get right to the advanced imaging scans. But no, I need to wait for now. Looking at your blood and cells comes first." Doctor Raiti said, an almost feverish look in her eyes as she stared at Avery.

She told him to wait for a little bit while she examined the samples that she had already taken from him.

This was only the beginning though. There was still quite a bit more for her to go through before she was finished checking over Avery unusual body.

"That's quite the response."

"Even two hundred degrees hardly does any damage."

"The protein structures have shifted drastically."

"As I thought, its not just a change in strength. The DNA is different than before."

"This is amazing! How does this work? When did such a change occur? How is it possible in the first place?"

"I've never seen an anomaly like this before. He can't even really be considered human anymore. This shouldn't be possible."

While he was waiting, Avery could easily hear Doctor Raiti's enthused mumblings and occasional exclamation when she discovered something true unexpected.

However, none of what she was saying made him feel any better. Especially the last part about him not really being human anymore.

'There's no need to feel nervous. None of the medical pod scans ever came back with there being anything wrong with me, and I feel perfectly fine. The only reason I had brain damage was because I caused it with an ability I don't fully understand or know how to control. I guess that's part of what makes me not a normal person anymore though.' Avery thought, trying to keep himself calm.

He had already known that there was something strange going on inside of him. But getting checked out by a true professional and listening to scarps of her mutterings without context certainly was nerve racking.

Eventually, she seemed satisfied with the test that she had run and came back over to Avery. Though, she had left several pieces of equipment still running to complete more thorough studies.

"So, do you want the good news, or the bad new first?"

Hearing Mercedes said this so bluntly honestly shocked Avery. While she may have been a doctor, she was clearly more of a researcher. Her way with people was the absolute worst.

Avery was at least somewhat used to her already, so he just took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"The bad first, please."

He figured that there was no point in putting it off. Denial typically did not help make a problem better.

"Sure. It's honestly not much, and its really only bad depending on your point of view."

Doctor Raiti then explained to him that his DNA, cells, and basically every fundamental building block of his body had changed from that of a normal human's.

It was as if he had gone through millions of years of mutations, but only ones that were astoundingly beneficial.

"If I had to sum it up, you're becoming what might be considered the perfect form of a human. The absolute limit of possibilities. And this is just what I've gotten from examining your skin, blood, and hair. I expect to find similar results from your organ functions and brain activity. Although, I'm sure that you've noticed these changes yourself.

"You're probably stronger, faster, think more quickly, never get sick, can stave off sleep for far longer, heck you probably need to go to the bathroom less. Does that ring any bells?"

Listening to Mercedes, Avery understood what she was getting at.

It was hard not to notice everything going on with him.

He could go for days without much rest easily enough, and he hardly ever had to expel waste from his body anymore.

His ability to extract energy from food had obviously become more efficient.

'I've also gained a bunch of weight, but it's all from muscle mass. I asked Ezra to arm wrestle with me, and while I lost, I'm almost as strong as him. A physically augmented bahnen.'

Avery nodded his head and told Doctor Raiti that she was mostly right. There was little doubt that all of his bodily functions were vastly superior to that of the average person. Exceeding what the arguments he had received should have accounted for.

"The real problem is that I don't understand how all of this came about. It's not normal for a person's body to undergo a metamorphosis like this." Avery said, fear of the unknown creeping into his voice.

"Ah, I actually have some ideas on that front. It most likely has to do with that special organ I crafted for you. That little thing allows for the production of cells not found in humans. I believe that that is the key to the shift in your body's structure."