The extraction point was a makeshift helipad in an abandoned parking lot, surrounded by car carcasses fused to the asphalt. The rhythmic thrum of the helicopter blades sliced through the rust-heavy air, kicking up a grey dust that clung to Raven's sweat.
He could barely lift his boots off the ground. The weight wasn't just exhaustion; it was as if gravity had decided he no longer belonged in this world. Sarah walked beside him, rifle in hand, but her gaze never left the way Raven moved. He looked like a statue trying to learn how to walk.
"You're leaving footprints in the concrete, Raven," Sarah remarked, her voice low under the engine's roar. "What kind of 'stone' did you turn into back there?"
"Don't know..." Raven grunted, his tongue feeling heavy. "All I know is if I fall now, I'll need a crane to get back up."
An hour later, they didn't head to the barracks. Sarah guided Raven deep into the bowels of the Division, to a sector he had never seen: Sector Zero. It was a cold place, smelling of hospitals and sterilized metal, where Division scientists dissected the biological mysteries of the Awakened.
"Instructor Sarah's report indicates an alteration in tegumentary density," a man in a grey lab coat said, not even looking at Raven. "Step onto the platform, 204."
Raven climbed onto the industrial scale. The digital display took a violent leap. 142 kg. The assistant nearby took a step back, double-checking his tablet.
"Yesterday he weighed 82. Director, his bone structure... it hasn't increased in size, but the scanner shows the minerals in the tissues have changed. It doesn't look like organic calcium anymore."
"Activate the rigidity. Just the arm," the scientist ordered, approaching with a tungsten test probe.
Raven closed his eyes and concentrated. The effort was brutal, as if he were trying to bend an iron bar inside his own veins. With a dry metallic snap, his forearm changed. The dull grey of the stone was gone. In its place emerged a texture of Brushed Steel, dense and cold, which didn't reflect the room's light.
The scientist pressed the probe hard against Raven's wrist. The instrument's metal groaned, but Raven's skin didn't even mark.
"It's no longer hardened keratin or calcification," the doctor whispered, passing a magnet near Raven's arm and feeling the slight pull. "It's an unknown metallic alloy. Sarah, you said he was hit by hot resin?"
"Directly on the arm," Sarah replied, arms crossed. "His stone skin would have melted. This... new thing didn't even heat up."
"Interesting. But he's exhausted. His metabolism isn't keeping up with the weight of this shell." The doctor made a cold note. "He's like a high-performance engine mounted on a plastic chassis. If he tries to use this for too long, his own weight will crush his organs."
Raven felt his arm grow heavy as lead the moment the metallic skin receded. The Sector Zero doctor was still droning on about "molecular density," but his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.
Suddenly, the blue interface—visible only to Raven—exploded before his eyes with a cold glow.
[SYSTEM: COMPATIBILITY UPDATE COMPLETE] > [ALL RANK D SKILLS HAVE BEEN CONVERTED TO RANK C]
Steel Skin (Active): Level 1 [RANK C]
Dense Strides (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Muscular Output (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Structural Resilience (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Steel Reflexes (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Predator Instinct (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Insect Exterminator (Unique Passive)
Kinetic Efficiency (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Tissue Regeneration (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
Sensory Vigilance (Passive): Level 1 [RANK C]
[WARNING: ENERGY CONSUMPTION EXCEEDED CURRENT BIOLOGICAL LIMITS] > [INITIATING HIBERNATION MODE FOR STABILIZATION...]
Raven's legs simply stopped working. The metallic clang of his body hitting the testing platform was the last thing he heard before the world went black.
"Raven!" Sarah shouted, but the sound was already too far away.
On the top floor of the Division, Sarah didn't wait for authorization. She stormed into the room and threw the thermal case onto Augusto Brandt's desk. The dry thud of metal against wood shattered the office's silence.
"Three Rank C cores, Your Majesty," Sarah quipped, her usual sarcasm sharp. "The kid didn't just survive; he seems to have evolved his ability again. He's in the Medical Wing now, blacked out. His body collapsed—fainted just to stabilize itself."
Brandt opened the case. The black glow of the cores reflected in his lenses as he checked the preliminary data on a side monitor.
"Initial report states his body density shows an absurd weight increase in a short time," Brandt said, his eyes turning icy. "How is this possible? What happened to you out there?"
Sarah pulled out a chair and sat down, crossing her legs with visible disdain for the office bureaucracy.
"What happened was that his body underwent another mutation," Sarah said, gesturing toward the cores on the desk. "It seems the more he trains and the more challenges he faces, the stronger he gets. I knew he had potential, but I didn't imagine it was at this level."
Brandt raised an eyebrow, skepticism etched on his face, but was interrupted by the persistent beep of a message notification on his desk console. He slid his finger across the hologram, opening the field report attachment from the Sector Zero research team.
"He took down nine Rank D spiders with ease," Sarah continued, ignoring the Director's distraction. "And immediately followed up with the three Rank C ones right there in front of you. Alone. Without a scratch that his steel didn't ignore."
Brandt scrolled through the combat data. The grainy footage from Sarah's body cam showed Raven punching through carapaces as if they were made of glass, moving with an economy of motion that bordered on perfection. The silence in the office grew heavy.
"Nine Rank D and three Rank C... in sequence?" Brandt muttered, closing the report. "This isn't just resilience, Sarah. It's biological efficiency. If this data is correct, the maintenance cost of this kid is near zero compared to the damage he prevents."
"Exactly," Sarah stood up, walking toward the door without looking back. "The 'Kid' delivered what your 'Heroes' can't. Now, send the recovery supplements to his wing. He's going to need fuel if you want him to keep doing the heavy lifting."
Brandt didn't respond immediately. He just watched the door close before turning his eyes back to the monitor showing Raven's vital status, slowly stabilizing.
"We'll see if he can handle the pressure of Rank C," the Director said to the empty room before digitally signing the promotion.
While silence dominated Brandt's office, the capital's North Sector roared under an artificial storm. The sky above the cracked overpass wasn't black, but a constant electric blue caused by air ionization.
Kael, the Division's golden "Ace," walked calmly over the smoking debris of three Iron Mantises. Arcs of high-voltage electricity still lashed the air around his fists, snapping against the melted asphalt. His white and gold uniform seemed to repel dirt through pure magnetism.
"How boring," Kael yawned. He closed his left hand, and a 100,000-volt discharge dissipated in a flash that would blind an ordinary human. "Does the Government really think these Rank B insects need my attention?"
Beside him, Maya Torres (Rank B) sheathed her daggers. The metal blades glowed a glowing orange, and the air around her rippled with distorted heat. She didn't create loud explosions; she manipulated fire like a scalpel, turning the creatures' joints to ash in seconds.
"There were five, Kael. You fried the power grid of three blocks to hit three targets, while I incinerated the other two by hitting their vitals. Brandt is going to deduct the infrastructure damage from our bonus. Again."
"The public loves a show, Maya. No one feels safe if there isn't a lightning bolt lighting up the sky," Kael smirked, fixing his hair while static electricity made small pops against her face.
"The Director is more worried about the balance sheets than your light show," grumbled León Varela (Rank C). He deactivated his ability, and the massive translucent Kinetic Plates protecting the group vibrated before vanishing. "I heard he found a replacement. A 'hero' who can kill groups of Rank C monsters without destroying the entire environment like you do, Kael."
Kael stopped walking. The electric glow in his pupils intensified, his irises merging into a pure, unstable white.
"A hero?" Kael let out a dry laugh that sounded like a short circuit. "The Division must be desperate if they think a meat shield replaces what I do."
He walked to the center of the crater where the asphalt had turned to glass under the heat of his lightning. Amidst the ashes of an elite monster, something had resisted the temperature. Kael reached down and revealed a black pearl, the size of a marble, pulsing with a violet light that seemed to suck in the surrounding brightness.
Upon touching it, a sensation of absolute cold surged up his fingers, fighting the electricity running through his veins.
"Interesting..." Kael murmured, closing his hand over the jewel. "This has class. The kind of thing you don't find in lab reports."
"What did you find there?" León asked, wiping sweat from his face.
"Shell scrap," Kael lied, sliding the pearl into his inner pocket. "Let's head back. I want to meet this rookie who's saving the Director pennies. If he's as tough as they say, it'll be fun to see how long he lasts before my bolt burns right through that metal of his."
Hours later, in the Medical Wing, Raven opened his eyes. The ceiling was an annoying white and the silence was absolute. He stretched, feeling his joints pop with a dry sound. The sensation of being a concrete block was fading; his nervous system was finally stopping its fight against his own mass. He was still heavy, but now his body felt... right.
The panel beside the bed showed the final data from Sector Zero: 110 kg. Stabilized.
Sarah was leaning against the door, chewing gum with her usual boredom.
"Awake, Atlas? Thought I'd need a crane to get you out of there, but looks like your cells stopped throwing a fit."
"Just tell me breakfast isn't grey paste in a tube," Raven grumbled, sitting on the edge of the bed. The high-density mattress yielded firmly under him. "What did the butchers in lab coats decide?"
"That you're a productive anomaly. The Director wants to see you. Try not to put a hole in the hallway; maintenance takes it out of the bonus."
Raven stood up. With every step, he felt the firm pressure of his feet against the floor, a stability he never had before. He walked to Brandt's office with a cynical calm, feeling strangely balanced despite carrying 110 kilograms under his skin.
In the office, Brandt and Helena were waiting. The Director wasted no time with preliminaries.
"You are officially promoted to Rank C, Raven. The field report was... profitable. I signed your promotion a moment ago."
Raven sat in the guest chair. The metal gave a slight groan, and he settled in, crossing his arms with a long sigh. For the first time in years, the constant pressure of "surviving the next minute" had vanished.
"Good, I've finally become an intern with experience," Raven said, looking at Brandt. "But what about the rest of the deal?"
Helena turned the holographic terminal toward him. "Your family is already at Fortress 04. Full move, house with perimeter security, and no leaks. Your new Rank C salary transfer has already been automated."
Raven looked at the images. His mother was in a kitchen that was truly impressive compared to what they used to have, and his brothers were fighting over a video game in a living room that didn't smell like mold. In the corner, his grandmother sat in a comfortable armchair, accompanied by a private nurse adjusting her pillows.
He felt a click that wasn't pain or anything physical: it was the weight of years finally lifting off his shoulders. The sacrifice finally made sense.
"They look good," Raven murmured, closing his eyes for a second to absorb the scene.
"Don't get used to the peace," Sarah interrupted from the back of the room. "Tomorrow the training doubles. You've stabilized your weight, but you still move like you're 80 kilos. If you miscalculate a punch with this mass, you'll go through a wall you weren't supposed to. You need refinement."
Raven opened his eyes and looked at her, exhaustion and relief mixed into a lazy cynicism.
"Training?" He let out a short laugh. "I thought after my performance I'd get a few days off."
The crack of Sarah's smack against the back of his head echoed in the room. Raven, completely relaxed by the comfort and exhausted from the previous energy collapse, didn't have time to activate his steel skin. He massaged his neck, looking at her with indignation, but the half-smile remained on the corner of his mouth.
"Vacation is for the dead, kid," Sarah said, her expression unchanging. "Tomorrow, at six. Don't be late."
Brandt simply nodded, dismissing him.
END OF CHAPTER 8