Lukas was looking in the mirror and he was shocked at what he saw. His skin was smooth and seemed to almost glow. His black hair was lustrous and silky with a visible sheen that seemed to almost glisten int he light. He lifted his shirt and his previous thin and almost malnourished body was now sporting a set of abs that would make a life long weight lifter jealous. He felt the strength flowing through his body and he was absolutely dumbfounded at what stared back at him.
He was handsome now. The kind of figure almost every female would want. He had muscles, but they were balanced not bulging. It was definitely still him, but simply improved to a phenomenal degree. He took time to flex and move in front of the mirror as he observed the changes. I didn't disturb him. I wanted to let him enjoy this moment. Finally after a little time he stopped admiring his new looks and he walked over to his bed. He grasped the end of it and simply lifted and the bed came off the ground almost without any effort at all.
"Do you like the changes?" I asked innocently.
"Amazing. I'm stronger and I can move easier. I can think faster also I think." was all he could say.
"This is just the beginning." I told him.
"I am going to use the nanites to give you some more stuff later tonight also. I want you to be able to lay down again when we get ready for the new addition. They won't be as painful I think." I told him.
"I hope not. That was really painful." Lukas said as his stomach suddenly growled.
Lukas left his room and went to the kitchen where everyone was getting ready for lunch. He had missed school today and yesterday so he would eat here today with the ladies who ran the orphanage. As he entered the kitchen one of the ladies turned around and when she saw Lukas she dropped the plate she was holding which shattered on the floor. The loud sound grabbed everyone's attention and they all just stared at Lukas. Their eyes were wide and they looked completely shocked.
"Lukas is that you?" Several of them asked all at once.
"Ah yeah it is me." Lukas said simply.
"What happened to you? You have become so handsome." The younger lady asked as she went to get a broom to clean the mess she had made.
Thinking quickly, Lukas said "I had an awakening. It was a small breakthrough., but I can now absorb Essence in small amounts."
"You can use Essence now?" all the ladies gasped.
"It is only a little bit and I can only use it to enhance myself. I can't affect things outside my body." he told them.
The ladies gathered around Lukas and marveled at the changes in his body. They touched his hair and one of them even lifted his shirt and gasped as she saw the eight pack of abs that Lukas now had. Lukas moved away and began to fix his plate as his face flamed red from the embarrassment of the attention he was getting from the women he had known his entire life.
Lukas took his plate and sat at the table and the ladies sat down to eat also. They kept stealing glances aa the now handsome young man. All of the women were older than him and the attention was making him uncomfortable.
"I've never heard of anyone awakening so late in life." one of them mentioned out loud.
"What do you plan to do now?" He was asked
"Ah I am not sure." Lukas told them. "I was quite shocked also and I am not sure exactly what happened either."
If I had still had a mouth I would have smiled at Lukas's predicament. He was the center of attention of five ladies ranging in age from the mid twenties to the late fifties. This was a little much for him too take in. After all he was only sixteen years old. He had never been the center of attention and the only female he had ever been close to and talked to was Thea. This attention made him squirm in his seat. Meanwhile he was the center of the conversation of the five ladies and they kept marveling at how he had changed.
Lukas ate his meal in a hurry, but even after going back for seconds he was still hungry. It was on his fourth trip that they began to comment on his appetite. He realized then that he had eaten more than he ever had in his life.
"Your body is enhanced and it will take a lot of fuel to keep it going now." I speculated. "You have to restore the energy the nanites used to reform your body. After you regain your energy you shouldn't have to eat this much, but you will need more fuel than you did before."
Lukas thought that this made sense. He finished his meal and finally he felt full and satiated from the lunch. Making excuses that he still didn't feel a hundred percent he made his way back to the room and once again he locked his door.
"Ok what do we do now?" He asked me.
"I used nearly half my power to make the nanites. I don't want to exhaust my energy again, but I want to try to give you three different things. I am limited I discovered to only skills and items. I want to give you the ability to fight in case Jared comes to cause trouble. Go ahead and lay down on the bed and we'll start with the skill I'm going to give you." I explained.
I went through my list of combat skills and the list was exhausting. I needed something that would be a benefit to Lukas, but wasn't reliant on something external. I could give him guns and marksmanship, but they would be hard to explain at this time. Swords and melee weapons were out also as this world didn't produce great weapons. Everyone used their own ability to enhance weapons they used so they weren't of a great quality compared to what I was used to.
That simply left a form of martial arts. I thought about it and once again science was the answer. I had played many games with martial arts and there was one game that had a martial arts system that combined the best moves of all martial arts. It created its own martial arts system that was literally the best combat system ever designed. I prepared Lukas and directly transferred this skill to his mind.
Lukas was amazed at the knowledge he had just gained. After a few seconds he had absorbed the knowledge and he knew how and where to land a punch. He understood the nuances behind striking your opponent and he could identify the weak points on a body. He realized that not just his hands were weapons, but so were his feet, knees, elbows, palms, the edge of his hands, and even his own head. The knowledge he gained included striking, grappling, joint locks, and even debilitating and killing blows. He was even slightly frightened at the knowledge he had gained.
Lukas stood from the bed and he began to move through some exercises to practice his moves. He was clumsy at first, but with his improved body and mind it didn't take long for him to adjust and he began to move fluidly from technique to another. As he moved it became more graceful and seemed to flow like water from an explosively powerful strike to a graceful block or a dodge. He leaped and rolled as he moved and he was amazed.