Jack slowly stirred awake and was startled to realize he wasn't at home in his own bed. The entire day before rushed back to him causing him to nearly have a panic attack. 'Deep breaths Jack' he thought as he slowly inhaled and exhaled. He must have been in shock the previous day to have been so calm.
*RUMBLE* Jack bent over at the discomfort in his stomach. After the events of the day before he felt like he could eat an entire cow. Sadly, today he'd have to suffer through whatever was in those nutrient packs. Shuffling over to his kit, Jack unhooked the two latches of his box to go over what he had.
'21 nutrient packs, three water bottles- one somehow self-refilling, a survival knife with flint and magnesium, and this junk right here…' Jack held an assortment of parts that were rubber banded together. The katana he'd chosen didn't even come whole. It seemed he'd have to put it together.
Jack hadn't noticed before, but it seemed that someone had changed him out of his hospital gown and into cargo pants and a tough canvas-like jacket. 'Looks like they did this when they put the weird watches on us'. Remembering the watches, Jack suddenly realized he still had his gene pack. Unzipping one of the pockets in his cargo pants, he pulled out a black metal vial. Jack suddenly had a scary thought. 'Do gene packs go bad? I mean we do kind of EAT them…'
Jack didn't want to find out, so he had to make sure he was secure before using it. The soldier from before did say he should only use it when he was sure he was safe. The door of his tent unzipped, and Jack stepped out. Quickly scanning his surroundings, he didn't see anything. Actually, Jack hadn't seen any animals at all since coming here. 'Well, if this world really is terraformed, I guess that means they forgot to bring some birds or something.' Jack's assumption couldn't have been more wrong, but it was all he could come up with now.
After looking around and seeing the location he'd chosen the night before, Jack was kind of proud. 'Damn I'm good. I should have been on one of those survival TV shows.'
Even in the day it was hard to see his tent. He'd set it up as close to the rocky hill as possible. In fact, it was a few feet up the rocky slope. He'd found a level spot and set up there. Ironically, he hadn't seen how good of a spot it was in the dark. If he walked away, he could see that the hanging vines and moss covered most of his tent.
With his worries about finding a safe place taken care of, Jack retreated to his shelter to see what was so important about these gene packs. Unscrewing the metal stopper, Jack was surprised. 'This is a pretty nice storage container, maybe I can use it for something later.'
His surprise disappeared when the terrible smell coming from the vial in his hand hit his nose. 'Oh my god, what the hell is in here?!'. At this point, Jack was really wondering if whatever was in the vial had gone bad. Gathering his resolve, Jack tilted the vial back and drank it in one gulp.
He instantly felt bile rise in his throat as the gross sludge hit his tongue. He forced it back down and swallowed the disgusting solution. A shudder racked his body from the experience. He really didn't want to do that again.
Finally done with the vial, Jack twisted the top back on hoping to get rid of the smell. Sadly, the smell was stubborn and wouldn't leave his nostrils even with the source gone. 'THAT was one of the worst experiences I've ever had'. Now that the hard part was done, Jack waited for something to happen. The wrist band was supposed to activate when foreign DNA was detected.
He stared at the black wrist band waiting for something to happen. It didn't. Even after a few minutes nothing happened! 'Don't tell me it really was bad… And I just drank that for no reason…' Suppressing another shudder, Jack was getting tired of all of this. Just as he'd given up on the gene pack doing anything, his wrist band showed a blinking red dot in the middle.
Not knowing what to do, Jack went with a guess. His actions not at all influenced by the LitRPG's he'd read. "Uh… open notification?"
Nothing happened. Slightly embarrassed, Jack tapped the dot with his other hand. Instantly a screen like the one he'd seen previously appeared with the words "Beneficial genetic material detected. Would you like to integrate new material?"
Jack tapped the big yes button and the screen vanished. 'Was that it? Do I have superpowers now?'. Jack tried doing a pushup to see if he really had gotten any physical enhancements, but before he could push himself back up, his body was wracked with a burning sensation causing him to collapse on the ground.
A searing fire blazed through his body which quickly turned into a freezing cold. Shivering, Jack realized he couldn't move his body. Fear and pain equally fought for dominance in his mind. The cycle continued over and over again. Fire and ice waged a war inside his body, or at least that's what it felt like for Jack. The pain was so unbearable that he eventually lost consciousness.
For the second time in that day, Jack woke up. Everything felt weird. The world was brighter…? No. more detailed…? Not exactly… Jack couldn't quite place it, but everything looked… better. Now that he thought of it, everything FELT better. Deeply inhaling he felt like he'd just taken a breath of pure oxygen. The energy surging in his body made him feel reborn. That was until a piercing pain in his abdomen altered him to the fact that he still hadn't eaten anything.
Quickly tearing open one of the nutrient packs, Jack drank it down in two gulps. Then he went for another, and another, and another. Only after the fourth pack did Jack felt like the knife in his stomach was fading. 'Holy hell. I'm such an idiot. I should have eaten something before taking the gene pack'.
Jack stood up. Aside from the slight lingering sensation in his stomach, he felt great. He probably hadn't felt this great in his entire life. Now he was sure he got something out of the pack. Dropping down onto all fours, Jack proceeded with his earlier test. He was going to do a pushup. With no effort whatsoever, Jack easily pushed himself up. Pulling one arm behind his back, Jack proceeded to do one arm pushups with no difficulty.
At this point, he couldn't keep it in. A dumb grin grew on his face, and he started laughing out loud. Pushing with everything he had, Jack shot back up to his feet and nearly fell over backwards. ONE ARM. It had only taken him ONE ARM to do that!
Jack was ecstatic, completely forgetting about the torture he went through to get to where he was now. Today marked the first day on his journey to evolution! Jack looked to the tent flap with the desire to find out just how much he'd improved. Unfortunately for him, he'd soon have the perfect opportunity to find out just how much stronger he'd become.