Chapter Eleven
"Hey, Seira… Listen, do you… Maybe want to go on a date this Saturday?" Shinwoo asked nervously. Seira looked at Shinwoo, seeming surprised for a moment. Then she smiled and nodded, saying nothing more. The two blushed and then went their separate ways. Shinwoo had to get home to do his homework. He had been told by Frankenstein to test his Biomass Manipulation over the week.
Frankenstein had told him that he could gain knowledge by touching people with the requisite knowledge. So he had already grabbed Ikhan's hand and copied his knowledge of hacking. He had tried it on several of his teachers. His head was fairly bursting with information on numerous subjects, now. He had tried to do it on Frankenstein when they met in his office.
But… Unfortunately, all he got was a bad burn on the palm of his hand that seemed to be leaking a foul energy that stunk to Shinwoo's sensitive nose, but nobody else could smell. He had used his Biomass Manipulation regeneration to extradite the healing process, but it was still very slow. The whole day had passed, and he hadn't fully healed yet. The palm of his right hand still burned and smelled bad.
Frankenstein told him that this was the result of his weapon. He had hoped never to use it on a human, especially Shinwoo, but that occasionally the weapon acted independently of Frankenstein's will, and that even his strong will was not always enough to control it. Furthermore, he advised Shinwoo not to try that again. At first, Shinwoo was afraid that Frankenstein was angry, but he assured the young Biouser that he wasn't, simply worried for his safety.
However, he had gotten almost the entirety of all his teachers' knowledge on their subjects, and now was heading home to do his homework with the confidence that came with having the level of knowledge required for a doctorate in some of the subjects. He was now fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Esperanto and German, and several fictional languages that Ikhan knew along with several computer languages that he didn't need.
Shinwoo couldn't think of any feasible use that he could have for Elvish, Dwarvish, Adunaic, and the three branches of Valarin, all languages invented by JRR Tolkien. But, it couldn't hurt to know them. So Shinwoo simply copied all of the knowledge that Ikhan possessed.
It seemed kind of like cheating. But he had been ordered by Frankenstein to use his powers over the week to test their limits, if any. He was told to run the same distance that he had run on Sunday, and to do 1,000 pull-ups with each hand, 1,000 pushups with each hand and 1,000 sit-ups every night. He was told to do it and time how long it took to do the regimen, record it and give the recording to Frankenstein on Sunday to see his improvement.
He expected there to be somewhat significant improvement over the course of the week. If there wasn't Frankenstein would double the amount that Shinwoo had to do the next week.
So Shinwoo did his running, practiced jumping to see how high he could jump as ordered by his master. He was ordered to do 500 jumps on each leg, then 500 on both legs. The right leg he could jump 10 feet in the air. The left, 8 feet. Both legs allowed him to jump 15 feet in the air. It was only Monday, though, so he continued his regimen, then went in to do his homework.
Finding that his homework was remarkably easy, now, he finished it in less than a half hour, and then looked at his watch It was only 1830h. He had a while to go before he had to go to bed. So he decided to head to Frankenstein's house. He could either get in some training, or if his friends were there, he could hang out with them.
When he got to Frankenstein's house, he rang the bell and waited for a minute before Raizel came to the door, opening it and allowing Shinwoo in without a second thought. Shinwoo walked in to see that the others weren't there. Rael, Regis, Seira, Raizel, Raskreia, the three modified humans, and Frankenstein were all there. Frankenstein smiled cheerfully.
"Shinwoo… Good to see you… I'm actually glad you came over. I have a new test for you. This Sunday, you will be fighting Rael instead of me. True, he's relatively young for a Noble. But he is very experienced with assassination techniques. His specialty is in speed and silence. If he wanted, he could likely kill a man ten times in ten different ways before they even noticed they were dead."
"What!? I have to help this filthy human train!?" Rael demanded angrily. Frankenstein smiled.
"I expected you would say that. But you haven't got an option. You are living under my roof, and you are required to pitch in where I request you to. Shinwoo, your objective is not to defeat Rael, but to grab him and hold him for long enough to copy his knowledge of fighting.
"Keep in mind that he will not make this easy. There are a million ways that he could break away from you."
"What!? Why should I allow this human access to my fighting skill!? The Kertia Clan invented assassination techniques!"
"Indeed, why should you? I will give you a weapon of my own invention. It is a blade, and you can use it in this fight. Don't worry, Shinwoo, your hand will grow back. Rael, you are not allowed to use your Soul Weapon in the fight. Even I would have trouble fighting against a completed Soul Weapon…" Frankenstein said.
"Now, sit down, please. Have some cookies. I just made a new batch a few minutes ago."
"Wow! Thanks! I'm actually really hungry… I…" Shinwoo began. Then he calmed down and sat down, eating the cookies, making sure to be as neat as possible. He had realized recently how grating it was on Principal Lee to see his house becoming a mess. And Shinwoo was sure that even if Frankenstein couldn't kill him, he could still make him wish he were dead.
"Shinwoo, I'm impressed… You aren't spilling any crumbs on the floor. What's the occasion?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo sighed.
"I… Don't know… I just don't want to be killed by you, really."
"Oh, Shinwoo! You wound me, ahahahahaha!" Frankenstein laughed. But Tao, Takeo and M-21 just sighed. Shinwoo was more on point than he even knew. Frankenstein had been known to get very annoyed about anyone messing up his house.
"I look forward to seeing how you do this Sunday when you fight Rael."
"And if I refuse, Headmaster?" Rael asked, still seething from the thought that he might have to give up his hard earned skill. He wouldn't make it easy. He would fight his hardest. But he also didn't know what kind of power Shinwoo really had. He had seen Shinwoo show some real skill in martial arts. But never knew just how extensive his ability was.
"Well, I can't make you do it, I suppose. I'll just have Regis fight him. You can just wash dishes that day." Frankenstein said. Rael growled. Him? The leader of the Kertia Clan? Lowered to washing dishes? Of course, his brother had done it willingly. Rael was still surprised that Rajak had consented to such a degrading task. But it was either that or risk having his skill stolen.
Of course, maybe if he taught that brat a lesson about true power, power that one could only be born with or never comprehend, maybe then he would stop chasing after Seira, who, far from deserving her, should not even have the right to look in her direction.
"I will train with him, Headmaster. I have the right to cut his hand off if he tries to grab me, right?" Rael asked. Frankenstein nodded.
"Then I consent to training this brat."
"Excellent. I'm sure that even if he doesn't manage to steal your skill, your talent will be invaluable in his improvement. I ask only because I will be busy this weekend with Master. I have to give him a… Checkup… He is becoming weaker even faster than before and that worries me."
"Of course, Headmaster, Noblesse-nim. I will pray for your good health."
"Ahahaha! Rai! You really have a fanclub here, don't you!?" Shinwoo asked loudly, laughing hysterically. Raizel blushed slightly. The others looked slightly surprised, except for Rael, who was outraged at Shinwoo's apparent disrespect.
"How dare you address the exalted Noblesse that way! He has put his life on the line for you more times than you know! You will treat him with the respect that he so rightly deserves from the likes of you! You…"
"Rael Kertia… Shinwoo is my friend. I neither ask nor require thanks of any kind from him."
"Y-yes, Noblesse-nim… My apologies…" Rael muttered, turning a light pink.
"Oh, my… Is it that late already?" Shinwoo asked, checking the clock, standing and kissing Seira on the lips before hurrying to put his shoes on.
"Thank you very much for having me this evening, Headmaster Lee…"
"Um… Y-you're… Welcome…" Frankenstein said, shocked at his sudden departure, and how politely he was behaving. Shinwoo would have to check his computer to see if he had any money of his own. He knew that his father wasn't exactly poor, and that the money was set to transfer to Shinwoo's ownership upon his father's death. But without a body, how could anyone prove that Seong was dead?
Shinwoo ran into his, or rather, Principal Lee's apartment and went onto the computer, going onto his banking site, logging in, and checking his banking and checking account. When he did, he was shocked that it said that he had 2,547,809,778 Won in his checking account. He went on another site and checked. That made him one of the wealthiest people in the world. He transferred 500 million to his savings account so that it could gain interest, and then yawned, looking at the clock.
It was almost 2200h. He threw on his pajamas, used his biomass manipulation to cause his teeth to clean themselves, absorbed some meat in the fridge that was starting to go bad, and used it to make his skin harder to pierce and his muscles stronger and himself faster. Frankenstein had given him a book that he had read cover to cover several times.
The book had said that although his body would modify itself, now that he had Biomass Manipulation to accommodate any eventuality. If he got burned by a match or a lighter, or even a flamethrower, he would probably never get burned again because his body would begin to fortify itself against such damage. However, he could also consciously will his body or brain to become stronger. He could imbue himself with just about any power imaginable.
"Over time, Principal Lee said, he could even become resistant and potentially immune to his Dark Spear. That meant that eventually, he would be completely indestructible. With that thought in mind, but also the knowledge that he would never be able to take part in a martial arts tournament again. It wouldn't be fair. He was already far beyond most martial artists. Now, he would be unstoppable.
The next day, Shinwoo woke up on time again, stretched, went out and did his morning run, running even further than he had the day before, did his pull-ups, pushups and sit-ups, and jumps, finding that in all of them, he was even more capable than the previous day. Recording his improvements, he ate a small breakfast of sausage and eggs and went to school.
When he got there, finding that he was once again early, he went to Principal Lee's office, knocking, heading in and sitting down with Frankenstein and Raizel.
"Shinwoo, I'm curious to see how you've improved. I know it's only been two days since your training, but I've never given anyone Biomass Manipulation before, or seen anyone with it. So I'm very curious to see how quickly it works."
Shinwoo nodded and handed over his notebook with the results. Frankenstein looked over the three days. His eyebrows went up slightly. Shinwoo had improved faster than he had expected. The first day, he took 30 minutes to do 16.7 kilometers. The second day, he did it in 20 minutes. The third day, he did 25 kilometers in 27 minutes.. All of his exercises had improved.
"I'm impressed, Shinwoo. You're improving rapidly. I expect you to be running 50 kilometers in 30 minutes by Sunday, now. Now that I see you're capable of it, it shouldn't be an issue. I also expect 5,000 of each on each hand and 5,000 sit-ups. Start recording how much you sleep, and try to wake up half an hour earlier. See how far you can go without sleep."
Rael seemed to be laughing, although he was trying to hide it. He just found it funny that Frankenstein was demanding all this from a simple human.
"I'll make you a bet, human…" Rael said with a nasty laugh.
"What's the bet, Rael?" Shinwoo asked.
"I bet you that you can't double Principal Lee's expectations by Sunday. If you do, I have to willingly let you copy my fighting skills."
"And if you win?"
"If I win, you have to break up with Seira and never even talk to her again…" Rael said with a mean smirk. Shinwoo thought for a moment. Seira seemed worried. And then, her worries were confirmed when Shinwoo accepted the dare.
"Deal… But don't you dare go back on your word."
"Shinwoo… Are you really willing to break up with me over a simple bet?" Seira asked, looking hurt by Shinwoo's willingness to take up the dare.
"Of course not. I'll win. There's no way I can lose. Biomass is anything biological. Rats are biological, and there are billions of them in the sewers. If I go down there, I can collect all the rats in one fell swoop, and get a lot of biomass."
"I… I'm just worried. I believe in you. But that's a lot of improvement to make in less than a week. But… I do trust you. I love you, Shinwoo…" Seira said, embracing Shinwoo and kissing him gently, standing up and joining hands with Shinwoo, going to class with him.