Chương 206: Volume 2 - Chapter 27 - Regrowth

The next morning started the same way most of Thea's did—quiet, early, and familiar. Just like the days leading up to the Assessment—though they already felt like a distant memory—she woke up alone in her room, the soft lights of the ship cycling up to mimic dawn. Her body moved on autopilot as she rolled out of bed and stretched, easing the stiffness from her limbs with the same old routine James had drilled into her back when she was barely old enough to stand on her own feet.

She'd skipped it yesterday with Kara around, but now, with the room silent and still, she fell back into the rhythm like she'd never left. Pushups. Core holds. Breathing work. Some meditation. Nothing flashy—just solid, reliable movement and routine. Afterwards, she headed for the shower. Steam rolled around her as she stepped under the hot spray, letting the warmth sink deep into her muscles. The massage jets pressed gently against her back, loosening whatever tension her stretches hadn't shaken loose.

For a few precious minutes, her thoughts wandered freely.' Going to the arcade with everyone yesterday was… honestly so much fun,' she mused, eyes closed.' We need to make sure Corvus and Desmond come next time too. Not just for fun, but for training too. Their builds still need optimizing, but I can't really do that without getting a better read on what they need...'

The Runepriest's revelation—that all those video games she'd played growing up were covert training programs designed by Terra to prepare citizens for Integration—still hadn't fully settled in.

It was quite literally like learning that your favorite hobby had been secretly building you into a super-soldier all along. The scope of it was… hard to wrap her head around. But it had changed everything. Her mind drifted back to their hours inside Wildmaws —the simulated arena game where they'd sparred, tested builds, and worked through tactics in ways they couldn't in the real world for hours on end. It had all culminated in her final matches with Isabella.' She's a goddamn monster…

'the thought came with a smile, unbidden and honest.' Even with double my current Strength, and full use of my Precognition, I still couldn't even get close to beating her using the Throatcutter.' She'd wanted to get more time in with the glaive—her personal weapon of choice—but hadn't gotten much chance during the Assessment. The evening had been a perfect opportunity.

But after switching to a more realistic stat spread—double Strength, something she might feasibly hit in Tier 1—Isabella had wiped the floor with her. It wasn't just brute force either. Isabella's close-quarters instincts were truly terrifying. Every parry, counter, and feint had seemed so damn natural to her. Like her body already knew what to do before her mind did—almost the opposite of Thea, whose mind generally knew what to do, before her body did.

It hadn't helped that the Throatcutter was such a complex and intricate weapon—having three distinct weapon styles built into the same weapon—and Thea had never really trained with something quite like it before. And yet… she had figured that with double her current Strength, the muscle memory of tens of thousands of hours of similar-ish weapons—at least the individual modes of the Throatcutter—and having the entirety of her Psychic Precognition on her side, she could at least give Isabella a run for her money.

But it hadn't even been close, really. Isabella had only ended up facing a few close calls, and none of them had ever been serious enough to actually be fatal. Surprisingly enough, however, that fact, instead of frustrating her, had the exact opposite effect. It was motivating. And thoroughly comforting, in a strange way. Isabella wasn't just some rival to outmatch, which Thea definitely intended on doing at some stage—she was also Alpha Squad's battering ram. Their unstoppable wall of pain.

She smirked, eyes still closed under the shower spray.

"Can't be upset about her beating me. After all," she thought, letting the warmth of the water melt into her bones and muscles,"Isabella's in my squad." The day had carried on with them heading back to the squad's dorm, grabbing a shared dinner, and, once Corvus finally returned from his seemingly all-day Squad Leader meetings, with Thea breaking down the lesson she'd gotten from the Runepriest for the rest of the squad.

The only one not physically present was Desmond, who was still stuck in the medical wing getting his leg fixed—a process that, apparently, would take another two or three days. Instead, he listened in through a datapad, making sure he didn't miss anything important. Thea had gone through everything she could remember: Psykers in general, Inheritances, Resolve, Presences, and basically the entire session she'd had with the Runepriest from start to finish.

The only parts she had deliberately left out for now were the full details of the Fireball demonstrations—she wanted to wait until everyone was physically present before having the Sovereign play the recordings; she had double-checked beforehand that they were available—and the existence of the Voidborn.

Just explaining the Inheritances and their general effects had been enough to make the rest of the squad realize just how dangerous Psykers truly were—and enough for Isabella to smugly brag about her new Anti-Psyker Passive Ability, only for Lucas to immediately remind her that she had almost thrown it out.

That had sparked a defensive rant from the Offensive Heavy, claiming she had "only considered it very, very briefly" and "never actually intended to get rid of it, because she wasn't stupid," which in turn had led to the very first full, unfiltered eye-roll from Lucas that Thea had ever witnessed.

She had also skipped over the exact percentages tied to the Inheritances, knowing that Kara, at the very least, would catch on to the missing fractions—and she wasn't entirely convinced the squad needed to know that particular piece of information just yet.' I'm still not sure if it's even something I needed to know…

'she muttered internally, leaning her head against the cool wall of the shower.' But whatever. I know now, so I'll just have to deal with it if it ever becomes an actual problem.' Pushing the thoughts and reminiscing about the previous day aside, she finished up her shower, threw on a fresh set of the standard-issue UHF uniform and made her way to the shared living room, where she found Corvus and Karania already sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast.

"Morning, Thea," the two of them offered almost in unison.

"Good morning," Thea replied, heading for the food printer and ordering herself a healthy serving of pancakes—because honestly, what else would she even want? For breakfast, she always preferred the smaller, sweeter pancakes instead of the larger savory ones she liked for lunch or dinner. It just felt right.

"We should head to the medical deck today," Karania suggested, glancing over at Thea, who immediately nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, definitely. I wanna get rid of this jaw and arm already. I'm used to them by now, sure, but every time I catch my reflection, it still freaks me out for a second. Takes a moment to remember it's actually me," Thea said, tapping her metal fingers against her metal jaw with a faint grimace.

"And if a full regrow like Desmond's takes two to three days, you guys should definitely get started sooner rather than later," Corvus added between bites of his own breakfast—small, sweet pancakes, which Thea personally considered an excellent life choice. He let out a heavy sigh, slumping a little in his seat.

"Meanwhile, I'll have the pleasure of doing more paperwork today. Apparently the idea of a real break just doesn't exist if you're a squad leader. Although, Major Quinn did say this'll be the last batch before classes start, so… if the Emperor wills it, I might get some rest after all..." Corvus raised his glass of water like a solemn toast before downing it in one go, earning sympathetic grins from both Karania and Thea.'

I definitely don't envy him,'Thea thought as she grabbed her freshly made pancakes from the food printer and plopped down next to Karania at the table, digging in.' The whole Squad Leader thing just seems way too involved and bureaucratic for me... no thanks.' Breakfast continued comfortably for a little while longer, mostly filled with casual chatter and the gentle clink of cutlery against plates. Eventually, Corvus started to get up, but Karania signalled for him to leave his plate.

He pushed his empty plate towards Karania with a thankful nod and stood, letting out another resigned sigh.

"Well, guess I better get going," he said, stretching his arms over his head.

"Might as well get a head start on this paperwork before it completely buries me alive."

"Ah, before you go," Thea quickly interjected after swallowing her current bite of pancakes, "at some point I wanna sit down with you and go over your build. I have some ideas I think you might like and have some questions about where you intend to go with it and all that." Corvus paused briefly, then nodded.

"Sure thing. That sounds good—just let me know when you're good to go." He turned to leave again, but Thea hurriedly added, "And, uh, there's actually something else, too. Some more… personal questions I wanted your input on, if… if that's okay?" Both Corvus and Karania immediately turned to look at her, their eyebrows raised in near-perfect unison. Thea's cheeks flushed at the sudden attention, and she quickly shoved another forkful of pancake into her mouth, chewing hurriedly to cover her awkwardness.'

Real smooth, Thea. Real fucking smooth…' Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"I mean, it's nothing urgent or anything," she mumbled once she'd swallowed enough pancake to speak clearly.

"I just wanted to ask your opinion on some… things. Y'know, like just stuff." She could practically feel Karania's curiosity radiating from beside her, but there was no way she could elaborate—not with Kara sitting right there. Especially since more than half the questions she had were directly about Kara's own weird behavior, along with the Runepriest's unsettling comments regarding Thea's own supposedly "strange behaviour." After a moment, Corvus simply shrugged and gave a reassuring nod.

"Yeah, no problem at all. Just message me after I finish with all this paperwork, if it's not time-sensitive." Thea quickly nodded, relieved.

"It's really not. Thank you, Corvus." With another nod and a casual wave, Corvus stepped away from the table and headed out, the door sliding shut behind him. Karania immediately leaned closer, a playful glint in her eyes." Personal questions, huh? Something I should know about?"

"Nope!" Thea shot back instantly, shoveling more pancakes into her mouth to avoid any further interrogation.

"Just… stuff." Karania chuckled lightly, thankfully letting the subject drop. Instead, their conversation drifted comfortably back to the previous day's events in the arcade, discussing their thoughts on what they had learned, what Karania's opinion was on Lucas' progress, where and how to continue preparing him for Masters' challenge and when, exactly, they should go to the arcade just for fun.

Once Thea finished the last bite of her pancakes, the two of them cleaned up quickly, before heading out together towards the medical wing, ready to finally get rid of their cybernetics and fix up their Blueprints…

"Since this is part of the post-Assessment treatment, you are free to choose any of the available options, free of charge," the Medic explained, standing beside Thea's bed in the clean, softly lit private medical room.

"You can get your cybernetics replaced with other versions, opt for bionics, request a cloned implant, or go for a full biological regrowth. Normally, the prices would range from least to most expensive in reverse order—biological regrowth being the cheapest option, while high-quality cybernetics are the most expensive." Thea tilted her head slightly, curiosity tugging at her.

"How much would it cost for me, at Tier 0, roughly speaking?" The Medic gave a thoughtful nod, clearly used to this question.

"It depends on what exactly you're going for, of course," she said.

"But if we're talking about baseline replacements with no extra bells or whistles, then a full biological regrowth would run you about 500 System Credits per body part. Like your whole arm, for example. Bionics and cybernetics would cost more, closer to 1, 000 to 1, 500 Credits depending on complexity. Arms and legs tend to be cheaper since they're the most common replacements, while organs are more expensive. Everything else falls somewhere in between." Thea nodded slowly, mentally filing away the information.'

That's... a lot pricier than I expected,'she thought, eyebrows furrowing slightly.' Especially considering that full equipment licenses for weapons or armor weren't much more than that, and those were already way out of reach for most Recruits before the Assessment…' As if reading her mind, the Medic continued, casually waving her hand, "That said, there isn't really a 'Tier 0' pricing option. The System doesn't treat Tier 0 as a real tier—it applies Tier 1 standards across the board.

Same restrictions, same costs." She gave an apologetic shrug.

"You do get paid like Tier 1 Marines too, though, with a little bonus for still being 'technically Tier 0.' It's meant to balance out… though honestly, it makes it way harder to actually compete with full Tier 1s." She trailed off a little, a sheepish flush creeping into her cheeks when she realized she was rambling.

"Ehh, anyway!" she quickly corrected herself, clearing her throat.

"As for recovery time, bionics and cybernetics usually take just a few hours for the surgery. Cloned replacements are second longest—somewhere between half a day to a full day. Biological regrowth takes the longest, around two to three days, typically." Thea listened carefully, weighing the options in her mind.

As much as the time investment for biological regrowth sucked, it still sounded like the smartest choice long-term, if one could afford spending the time—cheaper, fully natural, and no ongoing maintenance costs. Plus, she wouldn't have to worry about potential downsides like she might with cybernetics or bionics—while they were tough and supposedly EM-hardened, they always came with the same warning: avoid EMPs at all costs.

Nothing electromechanical could ever be made truly, fully immune to that kind of interference. Even the best designs had weak points, and she'd seen too many game scenarios to ever fully trust anything made of circuits in those instances.

'Until I can get some proper high-Tier cybernetics that actually give me more than just a few percentage points in Strength,' she thought, echoing the conversation she and Karania had shared earlier on the way to the medical wing.' I'll just stick with natural, thanks.' Karania had been completely set on regrowing her lost arm biologically. With her bio-based abilities and how weirdly integrated she was with her body's chemistry through all of her Abilities, it made perfect sense.

"I'll go for the biological regrowth for my jaw and arm, then," Thea said aloud, firm in her decision. The medic nodded without hesitation, tapping briskly on her datapad.

"Very well. I'll inform the surgeon. Shouldn't take more than an hour to get everything prepped. We're trying to push through the post-Assessment treatments quickly, make sure all of you Recruits are ready for the next round of classes and digital ops." With a friendly smile, she turned and exited, leaving Thea alone in the room. Thea sighed and settled back into the bed, pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was.

'Alright,' she thought, glancing at the sterile ceiling.' No speaking for a couple days. I'll be stuck in here healing with nothing to do. The real question is, what am I going to fill the time with…?' Just as the Medic had promised, Thea was put under about an hour later—though not before signing a release form confirming that, yes, she had enough saved Attribute Points to sync a new Blueprint after everything was done. A formality, but a very important one.

When she woke again, her cybernetic jaw and hand were gone.

Instead, she felt an uncomfortable, almost itchy sensation where the fresh biological tissue was beginning to regrow. The first doses of the regrowth serums had already been administered while she was under, and she was given strict instructions not to try speaking, no matter what, to give her jaw the best possible chance of forming properly. There was still some risk, they had told her. Regrowth procedures weren't flawless, especially for complex structures like jaws and hands.

That's why the medics would be checking on her every few hours, monitoring everything closely. She wasn't allowed to leave her room until the process finished either—the regrowing tissues had to remain completely exposed to air, free from contamination, and the rest of the ship wasn't nearly sterile enough to guarantee that.

So now, confined to her tiny, ten-square-meter room deep inside the medical wing, with nothing but the gentle hum of the aircon systems and the occasional soft beep from nearby monitors for company, Thea found herself facing a challenge she wasn't exactly used to. No missions. No fighting. No training. No running. No surviving.

A truly terrifying idea: Simply having to sit there, trapped with her own thoughts, with barely any distractions to pull her mind away from the endless spirals it tended to slip into when left unchecked. But barely any distractions didn't mean none. And Thea, being Thea, wasn't about to waste time just staring at the ceiling.

'Might as well finish reading all those tech docs... and the stuff the Runepriest sent me,' she thought. And so she did. She spent the first entire day burning through her backlog, starting with the weapon and armor tech-documents she had gathered: Her Gram, Caliburn, Icicle, Spectre, and Throatcutter. She re-read the manuals she had already finished once, just to catch anything she might've missed.

After that, she moved onto the publicly available documentation for the UHF—standard AR-303 assault rifles, the basic military loadouts, Light to Super-Heavy armors, grenades, utility gear, whatever she could get her hands on, really. Every system. Every detail. She made sure to absorb it all, or at least as much as her mind could handle in a single day. When the second day rolled around, she dove into the Runepriest's notes. The ones she was supposed to have before the Assessment had started.

The ones that might've made a huge difference if Void-born interference hadn't gotten in the way.

'Those would've been a massive help…' she thought with a frustrated huff, slamming the file closed after finishing her second full re-read. They had covered a large portion of what the Runepriest had told her about Inheritances and the Awakening during their recent lesson, but had also included some starter tips and introductions to the world of Psykers as a whole.' Stupid Void always fucking things up. I swear, if I ever find out how to punch that stupid plane—or dimension… thing—I fucking will.'

She had also spent a few hours listening to the UHF news station, courtesy of the Sovereign—Thea had scribbled out her request for some distraction on her datapad, and, as always, the ship's always attentive AI had delivered without delay. It was the first time in her entire life she'd actually sat down and listened to any kind of official UHF news broadcast. Surprisingly, it had grabbed her attention a lot more than she'd initially expected.

There were segments on the latest tech innovations, updates on the various war fronts across the galaxy, celebrations for new colony milestones, interviews with high-ranking officers—it was a strange mix of propaganda, real information, and occasional bits of entertainment, all bundled together in a neat, professional package.

"—and in breaking news from the Western Fronts today, UHF forces have achieved a decisive victory over the Stellar Republic, securing full control over the Folunim Sector. Admiral Reynard Tulius, one of the commanders overseeing operations there, had this to say about the remarkable efforts of our brave servicemen and women:' The success on the Folunim Front is due entirely to the relentless courage and commitment shown by the Marine Corps, Armoured Division, and Naval fleets working in perfect unison.

They've faced tremendous resistance, but through truly exceptional teamwork and heroic sacrifices from our men and women in the UHF, they've finally broken through enemy lines, captured the key strategic points that the Battlefields relied on, and ultimately secured our victory. I have never been more proud to serve alongside each and every one of these heroes.

This win will reshape the dynamics of our struggle at the Western Fronts, providing a crucial foothold deeper into Republic territory—'" The news had even featured an interesting tidbit about Terra's role in the overall Galactic War, something that Thea hadn't really spent much time interacting with or thinking about at all since Integration.

"—In other important updates, Terra has issued a public briefing to all Factions regarding recent System developments: According to data collected across the entirety of human space, System Events have noticeably increased in frequency over the past decade. The recent three years have seen an even more drastic increase, with frequency increases of over 10, 000% being observed in certain, highly contested areas.

Terran Officials strongly advise that all Factions make these Events a top strategic priority going forward, highlighting their potential to provide significant System-sponsored rewards that could meaningfully impact the ongoing war effort to come.

"Terra's official statement concluded with the recommendation: ' It is imperative humanity as a whole take full advantage of these System Events. Their rewards are important and powerful enough to influence entire Battlefields and even Sectors, and actively pursuing them will provide critical advantages in the conflicts ahead.'" Still, despite the thoroughly intriguing information she managed to pick up along the way, after just a few hours, Thea felt fatigue creeping in.

She hadn't really known just how draining it was to simply sit there and listen, absorbing endless streams of carefully polished words without being able to move or react much. So, eventually, she tapped out another quick request on her datapad, asking the Sovereign to turn it off. Silence reclaimed the small, sterile room, leaving her alone with nothing but the quiet hum of the ship around her.' I'll have to make sure to listen in on more news in the future though… maybe while I do my morning workouts…?'

With all the easy distractions out of the way, she found herself staring at the ceiling again—only this time, it wasn't because she had nothing left to do. There was only really one thing left to do with the two days she still had at her disposal here for her to do: Build Crafting.

Now knowing that a lot of Abilities from the games she had played, if not all of them, had some kind of mirror inside the Allbright System, she could try to map out more exact, realistically creatable builds for herself and the rest of the squad. It was the perfect time to nail down more complete recommendations for Karania, Lucas, and Isabella—specific Abilities and System builds that would fit their styles like a glove. Plus, she needed to start sketching early ideas for Corvus and Desmond too.

She couldn't get too detailed yet without having talked to them properly about their plans for their builds and their future, but if she had something ready to present, she'd have a much easier time adjusting and choosing the correct setups for them later. Thea cracked the knuckles in her last remaining hand lightly and pulled up a new slate on her datapad, her mind already racing.

'Time to get to work…'