Biohuman

It was barely even sunrise when a knock came to Lee Seng's door. Lee Seng broke from the little sleep he had finally got and looked over to the door. Another knock came to the door. It was quiet. Whoever was at his door didn't want to wake the rest of the patrons at the tavern.

Lee Seng pulled the sheets off and walked over to the door. He unlocked it and opened it, rubbing his eyes. He was in boxers as he noticed a hospital worker standing in front of him. The hospital worker was out of breath. They looked like they were in a hurry to get her. Their hair was a bit out of place. Their eyes sunken like they had stayed up way too late.

"Finally!" The worker let out a sigh of relief. "I've been trying to get a hold of someone and thankfully you woke up! Come with me to the hospital! Your friends are out of surgery!" Lee Seng's eyes widened and the worker turned. "I'll wait for you at the front!" They ran off, leaving Lee Seng to turn and throw on the same clothes from the night before. He slipped on the slip-on shoes and grabbed the keys and shut the door behind him.

Lee Seng ran to the front. The worker was standing at the open door with Tae-in. They ushered him forward and he rushed out of the tavern all the way back to the hospital.

Lee Seng and the worker pushed through the doors. The worker quickly made their way over to another door and the worker pushed the door open and ushered Lee Seng in. Lee Seng quickly moved in and looked around. Hushed voices talked as Lee Seng made his way into the large room.

"Thankfully they came in when they did… I fear if they didn't then—"

"Sir." A woman's voice cut through the man's sentence. "I think they're here." The man cleared his voice and footsteps slowly moved towards Lee Seng. A nine-tailed Fox Spirit man with a three tailed Fox Spirit woman stepped into view. The man wore a doctor's outfit and the woman wore a nurse outfit similar to the worker who took him here.

"I only managed to wake up this one. I fear the others were… too tired." The worker spoke up. The man nodded.

"My name is Dr. Gar'ew. This is Head Nurse Violet." Gar'ew introduced themselves. "The surgeries on your allies have been completed. We did our best to put them back as they were according to human biology."

"Are they okay?" Lee Seng asked.

"They are fine." Dr. Gar'ew replied. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled a small crystal out of his pocket. "Are you aware this was in your male friends' body?" Lee Seng studied the crystal. It was black and blue. It shimmered with an intense energy.

"Can I hold it for a second?" Lee Seng asked. Dr. Gar'ew nodded and handed it over to him.

'Identify.' Lee Seng thought. His eyes glowed bright as he spun the crystal. 'It's definitely Ritsuka's… It radiates his energy.'

[Soul Crystal]

'A soul crystal? What does it do?' Lee Seng wondered.

[Stores energy within the body that creates Soul Crystals. These crystals can be built over time, pushing the user's soul value higher.]

"Any idea what it might be?" Dr. Gar'ew asked. "It's certain to say, I haven't seen anything like this before. Is it something related to Biohumans?"

"Mmm, this is something that totally belongs to Ritsuka." Lee Seng looked up. "I think it's better if we keep this near him than us."

"Interesting…" Dr. Gar'ew nodded. He pulled out a notebook and scribbled in it. "I've spent the last fifteen years learning about Biohumans. They're such an intersting phenomena. Is it true it came from an injection serum?" Lee Seng nodded.

"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded. "Are there other Biohumans here other than my friends and I?"

"Yes." Dr. Gar'ew nodded. "Biohumans have been coming to Daros with the Foxes. I've been trying to learn about Human physiology and the introduction of Biohumans has somewhat altered human physiology."

"Doctor, I think you're getting off track." Head Nurse patted him.

"Oh, yes…!" Dr. Gar'ew chuckled. "I'm getting into research that doesn't need to be talked about right now. I'm sure you're more worried about your friends' conditions. Why don't we go see them?"

Dr. Gar'ew and the head nurse led the way through the hall. They stopped at room 124. Nurse Violet turned around and motioned at the door.

"Miss Elizabeth is in here." Nurse Violet told Lee Seng. She opened the door and let Lee Seng through. Liz slept peacefully on the bed. A breather mask was on her, hooked up to nothing. Lee Seng could tell energy was shimmering. Oxygen was being provided to her while a magical shimmer constantly scanned and healed her.

"Is this the first time you're seeing technology such as this?" Dr. Gar'ew asked. Lee Seng nodded. "I'm sure you can see some resemblance to the Earth Realm's technology."

"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded. "Where's the bright energy coming from?"

"It's coming from the bed, itself." Head Nurse Violet answered. "It monitors and heals accordingly. If anything were to happen that's outside of the bed's uses, it'll give us a ping." Lee Seng nodded. He stood next to Liz and looked at her. She was bandaged up. Her hair neatly moved aside.

Liz's quiet breaths went in and out. Lee Seng's Energy Sight was telling him nothing seemed wrong. He looked away, nodding.

"What about Ritsuka?" Lee Seng asked.

"He's in the next room." Head Nurse answered. "This way." She led Lee Seng to the next room and slowly opened the door. Ritsuka's Soul Crystal shook in Lee Seng's hand. Lee Seng ignored it and entered the room and stood next to Ritsuka. He checked Ritsuka's Energy and noticed all was well.

"Here ya go, buddy." Lee Seng whispered. He handed Ritsuka the Soul Crystal and watched it melt into Ritsuka's body. Ritsuka shimmered and the voice in Lee Seng's head spoke.

[Soul Crystal fully charged. Soul threshold has been pushed to the next rank.]

'What's that all about?' Lee Seng thought. He shook it out of his mind and turned to the two hospital workers.

"They're all in good health. They need plenty of rest and hopefully they'll wake up soon. We will continue to watch them and make sure everything is fine. Fluids will go through them, so they aren't starving or thirsty in the mean time." Dr. Gar'ew explained.

"Sorry if we made it seem so urgent." Head Nurse Violet apologized. "Miss Elizabeth was acting strange earlier. I guess everything got better after giving her a dose of stabilization pills."

"We'll continue to monitor them. If anything urgent happens, we'll send someone over to notify you." Dr. Gar'ew added. "Thank you for coming in. I hope you can rest assured knowing your friends are in wonderful hands." The doctor and the head nurse bowed in unison and Lee Seng nodded.

"Thank you, doctor and head nurse." Lee Seng smiled.

Lee Seng made his way back to his room, unlocking it and closing the door behind him. He slipped his shoes off and rubbed his eyes.

'Thank goodness they're okay.' Lee Seng tiredly thought. He set the keys on the table and pulled his shirt and shorts off. Lee Seng waddled over to the door and locked it before getting back into bed. He let out a yawn as he pulled the sheets over him and shut his eyes. 'Thank God they're okay…'

A golden light appeared in the darkness. Ritsuka looked up and watched as his dark world illuminated. The golden sun stood tall in the sky, revealing the water all around Ritsuka. His reflection and the sky reflected off the water, showing an endless scape of sky and sun.

The waters glimmered with black and blue energy, sparkling as Ritsuka turned around. The golden sun grew larger. It was coming for Ritsuka. Ritsuka braced for impact but only felt a warm, familiar embrace.

[Soul Crystal fully charged. Soul threshold has been pushed to the next rank.]

"Who's that?" Ritsuka whispered. A large black and blue crystal floated down to Ritsuka. "The Soul Crystal… What're you doing here? I thought… Lee Seng charged it…? How?" Golden wisps fluttered around the crystal. They happily embraced Ritsuka as they fluttered around him.

"What're you guys doing here?" Ritsuka asked. The wisps spoke gibberish as they flew into the crystal, melting into it. The crystal grew with shades of gold and silver. Ritsuka reached for it and touched it. The crystal cracked and poured into Ritsuka. Ritsuka watched as his energy became stronger.

"I think I broke into B-rank…" Ritsuka whispered. The shield appeared in front of him. Ritsuka watched as the shield began to crumble. "It's… pushing its limit? Now? Brother and sister mentioned something like this happening but I never thought any of my weapons would push their limit anytime soon…" The shield pieced itself back together, growing into a heart-shaped shield. Black and blue veins stretched to the large empty socket in the middle of the shield. Red energy exploded into the socket. The red eye glimmered before fading.