The Power Of Radiation

Mark had never experienced such luxuries as graded nutrient fluid. A basic, used capsule like the one he and his parents had in the Berlin mega city had both a time limit, no AI system's help and only used a water based mixture to cool the engine and processor. A normal family with an intermediate VR capsule would only ever use C grade fluid and the only ones using A or B grade fluid would be the extremely wealthy and incubation chambers for the babies of better off families. This conditioning through childhood resulted in benefits like a longer lifespan, increased intelligence and even a higher-grade ability even though this hasn't been totally proven due to the lack of easily accessible S grade fluid. These fluids are made by processes of turning mutated plants and animals including other chemical and additives to create a liquid proven to help humans reach their fullest potential.

Hospital Geneva was one of the most famous and wealthy hospitals in the world and had a certain amount of access to S grade fluid from both their government and private donors who used the hospital exclusively for their family such as UN officials and B+ and A grade heroes. All together this led to the hospital having a surplus of 25 capsules of S grade fluid each year which when stored properly could last indefinitely. Mark alone had used up a startling amount of fluid. This entailed 5 capsules of A grade fluid that was allotted to him for the first day and the AI giving him 22 of the 25 S grade nutrient canisters the hospital had on hand. These would normally be reserved for extreme cases and even full body molds when a wealthy patient needed their whole body replaced at the end of their age cycle. This was a common practice among the top 1% but came with a cost of the performance of the new body and a weakening of the gene structure. This leads to children of high level people being more and more pampered due to how any children needed to be conceived before this first restructuring to have a chance at any super power rank beyond C.

Carl was shocked and appalled at this. One, the waste of such a precious resource of the hospital and the other is how this situation even came about in the first place. The AI has certain standards when creating a VR world and a change needing such extravagant fluid is unbelievable to everyone with proper knowledge of the processes involved.

Mark knew nothing of these difficulties or even the changes happening inside his body. He was in a deep state of REM sleep induced by whatever was in the pink water he drank earlier. If someone from the outside were to examine the pink water they would discover it was a glutinous mix of naturally forming chemicals, liquid radiation and mutated genes. This volatile and violent construction should not be able to consist naturally and even less be consumed because of all the side effects. There is a reason people live in safe and non-irradiated cities and not in the mutated wasteland outside. The main cause of this is how random radiation still is harmful to the human body. While many people have super powers that were originally developed from radiation exposure, this is over generations and only 33% of the population was even able to survive the initial exposure to Igor Karma's tested radiological agents.

Mark's sleep was peaceful but his body was not. His DNA was being ripped apart and minced by the pink water and then combined and realigned in a never-ending cycle thanks to the S grade fluid. A usage of even the slightly lesser A grade fluid would have resulted in Mark's body going into shock and organ failure even while he was still asleep in the VR capsule.

The changes in the DNA had altered Mark's genetic structure into something even the greatest of scientists and mental super humans would not be able to comprehend. The overall physical changes due to the restructuring were centered around Mark's Brain with now pink lines of DNA changing the function and processes of his mental abilities. The second largest physical change was to his eyes as they gradually were mutated into a sinister look of dark pink/purple and only the pupil left unchanged.

The effects of this change could only be understood by Mark when he wakes up and examines his new body. The remainder of the changes to his DNA came in the form of untapped mutations and coding in his DNA which was lying dormant and could one day be reactivated by a stroke of luck or misfortune in Mark's life.

Mark gradually woke up, the next morning, feeling like the night after his graduation party. His sense felt fuzzy and at the same time more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e than he has ever been. This resulted in a scary mish mash of feelings and sensations that made Mark feel like he has been reborn. Mark then smiles to himself thinking that he was way too excited to get to Stone City today and experience his new life as a doctor. This sense of happiness and energy quickly faded due to a simple reaction an hour after Mark woke up. Vlad then woke up from his normal sleep in the traveling tent next to Mark's.

Vlad grunted his normal "good morning" as Mark had come to expect over the past few days. Vlad then glanced over at Mark to see if he was really awake due to Mark being known by now as a heavy sleeper. Vlad's eyes went wide with shock and he started stammering like he was another person, flinching back from Mark screaming at the top of his lungs "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!".