[Vigor]
Was probably the most incompatible Bio-Contact for Claude simply from the description of it.
The advantage of stamina and vitality was something that could be covered simply through his ability as an Immortal.
If he went by what he lacked the most at the moment, the offensive power of [Heat] would fill that gap sufficiently.
And if he had wanted to increase the chances of him becoming more 'unkillable', however possible that might be, the protection of [Iron Skin] was also the better choice of the three.
And yet Claude had chosen [Vigor], which only uses for him was to give the overall enhancement and increased upper limit to his muscles, skins, and bones that the other two procedures also gave in general.
But he had his own reasons for this decision.
His first and main reason for it was to have a 'cover'.
.
The inexhaustible stamina and enhanced self-healing capability of [Vigor] were all things that indirectly overlapped with his Immortal abilities.
In the most dangerous of situations, Claude would more than likely resorted to the use of 'Save & Load' to get himself out of it. And that would continue to be fine for as long as there were no witnesses.
However, the possibilities of such conveniences happening every single time had proven to be unreliable as of his recent situation in Sector-07.
'I didn't notice the surveillance on me during the exam... Luckily I didn't get into a situation that requires me to Load, but...'
Even thinking about the possibility of his abilities getting exposed right there and then had sent a wave of irritation in his mind.
With the current mankind being actively in search of any solutions to help them survive against mother nature, getting found out would more than likely mean a repeat of his last imprisonment.
[Vigor] would provide him with a limited form of outer cover and explanation to his stamina and self-regeneration in times of trouble.
Times where he would be forced to use 'Load'.
To that end, Claude had decided to give up on getting the most out of his Bio-Contact.
For him, actively seeking power for himself came second to having a higher chance at survival and freedom.
Getting captured one more time because of his immortality would mean that he had failed to survive once again.
'Well, be that as it may...'
With the first and main reason for choosing [Vigor] being formed purely through his own reasoning and condition. His second reason was simply his personal curiosity.
The Inner Force.
.
The information on [Vigor] had described the source of its vitality to be something likened to a gentle inner force that could be used as another layer of enhancement when a Combat Ursa entered its battle state.
This written description of the inner force might have been the self interpretations of people who had been initiated in [Vigor] since long ago but, real inner force did exist!
The various media adaptations of ki or inner force in Claude's past era had all come from the same origin!
'Will it be the same inner force like the special ability of those crazy Immortal Daoists?'
Unlike the prideful Vampires or the peace-loving Sages in Immortals history, every Daoists that Claude had had the chance to meet in his rather long life could all be described with one word.
Eccentric.
However, that special ability of harnessing and manipulating the Ki inside their bodies had made them the most versatile if not the deadliest Immortal during times of war in Claude's opinion.
'Though I doubt the ability from the lowest tier of Bio-Contact can be compared to the real thing. But if the nature of it is truly similar, I might be able to take some sort of inspiration from what I've seen them do.'
In truth, Claude was sure that [Vigor] wouldn't be able to compare to the real thing even if it did have similar effect. Otherwise, the people of this Era would have all had chosen [Vigor] instead of the other two.
'Daoists Inner Force all have highly offensive capabilities. With [Vigor] not being known for its offense, the 'gentle inner force' described is probably a derivation of them with limited uses...'
"Hey, we're here."
Claude was suddenly interrupted by the Commander's voice in the middle of his pondering.
.
.
The two of them had arrived inside a wide basement floor under the Main Tower.
After their last talk, both of them had gotten on the same elevator that he'd arrived in, and gone down together past the ground level into the basement area of the tower.
The interior of the basement facility was rather unique, with various physical equipment and testing devices installed in almost every space in the room.
It looked more like a high-end athletic gym than a laboratory, except for one thing.
.
In the center of the room, there was a reclining seat with many injection tubes attached to both the armrests and back support of the seat.
"..."
"What? You didn't think you simply have to swallow the ingredients did you?"
"I must say that I was sort of hoping that would be the case... That seat brings me a very unpleasant and familiar feelings of deja vu." Claude grimaced inwardly.
"Right, you're an amnesiac... Have you recovered some memories?" The Commander asked half-heartedly.
"Doubtful..."
"All of the necessary ingredients need to be mixed properly and in their correct ratios before the final solution is ready for the taking." He explained,
"Once that's done, they CAN actually be consumed orally, but the result of such action will significantly lower the success rate of the procedure."
"Through decades of experimentations, we have found that the best way to integrate the solution into the body is by injecting them in several specific spots and with the correct sequencing."
"Now sit." He commanded at the end.
"...Alright."
Claude slowly walked forward to approach the center seat.
*CLANK* *CLANK*
Once he was properly seated, the cuffs and locking mechanisms of the seat automatically activated, restraining both his arms and legs in-place.
"..."
"...It's to prevent any excessive twitchings during the injection."
"Sure..." Claude relented.
"Listen, the procedures for each Bio-Contact varies but the steps are generally the same. We inject the solutions into the receiver's body, and then we'll force that body into a state that can become the catalyst for the solutions to work."
"For example," The commander pointed at one of the device in the corner of the room.
"In the case of [Iron Skin], after taking in the solutions, one will have to get all parts of their bodies beaten up evenly and with the right amount of force that tenderizes your skin, meat, and bones just enough for the solutions to react. And all those must be done under the environment of increased gravity."
"That device right there is specifically designed to carry out such process."
'Hmm... The procedures act as the catalyst that tricked the lethally harmful effect of the main ingredient into its supposed function that is the source of the original beast's power.'
'The 'poison' can be triggered by certain conditions of the human body to then turned it into nourishment that reforms the body at a genetic level.'
Claude nodded to express his understanding of the process to the Commander.
.
"Now for [Vigor], the procedure is the simplest of the three. See that thing there?"
The Commander pointed at another end of the room where a certain high-tech looking hamster wheel shaped treadmill stood in place.
"After the injection, you will need to run at full-speed with your entire body in that thing, understand?"
"Move your arms, waist, and head as you ran. Oh, and wear the mask inside the treadmill too..."
"The main condition that triggered [Vigor] is extreme fatigue. It's the lack of oxygen throughout your whole body where you'll still be required to move even without one. Hence the mask."
"[Vigor] has the most straightforward method, but the process is a gruelling self-torture where you force your own body to break down little-by-little by not getting enough oxygen."
"That's why it's the procedure with the lowest demand and success rate. With how it's still the lowest-tier of Bio-Contact in the end, the effort is just not worth it to some people when they heard about the process."
The Commander positioned himself right in front of the seated Claude as he folded his arm,
"At this point in time, the assisting staff usually asked the receiver one last time to confirm their choice. This is your last chance to choose your Bio-Contact."
"How long should I run and deprive my body of oxygen?"
"...Until the solution is triggered. You'll be the first one to notice it, it's that obvious."
"Then please get it ready." Claude nodded giving his affirmation.
"Alright." The Commander turned towards a nearby computer and pushed a couple buttons that automatically filled the injection tubes with deep red-coloured liquid.
"!"
Claude could feel several spots in his body that was pressed against the seat getting poked by the injection needles one-by-one. And not long after, the liquid slowly passed through and entered his body unobstructed.
After another couple seconds, all the supplied solution was emptied and had been successfully transferred into Claude's body.
So far, aside from slight nausea, Claude hadn't felt anything else.
"Step 1 done." The commander rechecked the stats in the computer screen before announcing.
Like last time, the cuffs locking Claude's arms and legs in-place were removed automatically, freeing him from the injection seat.
"Quickly get in there and run. Before the harmful effect of Combat Ursa's heart kicked in and killed you."
"...Right."
.
.
Half an hour later.
Claude had been running at full speed inside the enclosed wheel-shaped treadmill straining his body with all his might for the whole period.
Observing from the outside, even the Commander was inwardly astonished at the time it required for the activity to exhaust Claude.
'What monstrous stamina... And this is him before undergoing any Bio-Contact.'
.
Inside the treadmill, Claude had already started feeling the agony of not getting enough oxygen for his body when he's forcing it through strenuous activities.
*pant* *pant*
His breathing got shorter and shorter while becoming more and more rapid until, at some point, he didn't even feel like his respiratory system's working anymore.
"Urg..."
'How much longer...'
The monotonous running form he'd done all this while that included the movement of every single part of his body had also started to move independently from his brain, which was subsequently, already incapable of having clear thoughts.
And when his consciousness started fading away with his organs shutting down, something miraculous happened.
*thump*
A beat.
*THUMP*
In his moment of extreme physical distress, he suddenly felt something similar to an outside force that started to reconstruct his nearly broken body back into shape.
These 'outside forces' that seemed to have hidden itself everywhere inside his body suddenly burst forth all at the same time, reconstructing the cells and broken parts starting from the ones nearest to it.
Torn muscles began to regenerate and get sewn back together. His cracked purplish skins with signs of cyanosis started to shed themselves everywhere as his body gave birth to newly formed outer layers.
From his brain, bones, to other internal organs, all of them experienced the same feeling of rejuvenation that elevated them to a whole new level.
The whole process had a certain degree of similarity to his Load function except with every parts of him getting strengthened and not reverted.
Claude could feel some parts of his very being getting rewritten with something outside of his control. Becoming less and less human by the second.
.
.
*CREAK*
Before long, The door to the cylindrical treadmill opened with a creak. Showing a figure with lean muscles all over his body, not wearing any apparel on him.
"...How do you feel?" The Commander asked him with arms still folded together.
"Complicated... But never better." Claude smiled.
At a glance, there was no noticeable difference in his outward appearance from before he completed the Bio-Contact.
But only Claude himself could feel that every fiber of his being had stepped on to a whole other level.
Muscles, skin, and bones.
With his current state, performing the same moves with the same mass of muscles would probably yield him almost thrice the strength of his previous self.
And more than anything else, he could feel the strength of his heart and the capacity of his lungs had multiplied a couple times over.
The upgrades to these two organs had probably outperformed everything else.
'Stamina...'
These little details hadn't escaped Claude's notice, especially since he'd been trained to have full control of his body that, if he wanted, he could shift slightly the position of his vital organs during critical moments.
And the most unexpected gain to him this time was undoubtedly,
'So this is the so-called inner force!'