Lowly Ascent

The first month at the academy flew by for Cain. He hurried between classes, studying late into the night in the library, and teaming up with Luna for missions after school.

They started with simple jobs at first, but after their first mission, they knew they had to take it slow.

The Jobs entailed delivering medicinal supplies to clinics, healing some patients, and more. But as their skills improved, they also took up more challenging assignments.

Soon Cain and Luna gained a reputation among their classmates. 

Even with this reputation, it didn't seem to help Luna with her status as an outcast. It even led to Cain being avoided by his classmates. 

Cain didn't seem to mind, they couldn't stop him from his genius being known. It had been a short time, and he was known for his academic knowledge and held the title 'Emerald Scholar' due to his appearance.

He enrolled in the 3rd year, and a month had passed, yet it was close to the school's summer break.

Cain planned to use this break to learn more, not just about diseases but also more practical things like medicine and botany, maybe even weapon skills and mercantile skills, to become more self-reliant.

Through his time in Free City, Cain had improved.

He started meditating to have more control over the bacteria in his body and could even give commands to reinforce certain body parts. 

It was a way of improvement by a famous Augmenter, Cain would focus and enter a heightened state, feeling the bacteria writhing inside him. Then locking on he could gain control the more he practiced. 

Cain knew all this thanks to his expanding knowledge.

John even believed Cain could reach peak Grade 2 by the time he graduates!

But the surprises didn't end there.

The analysis of the bacteria John gave him had been completed. Cain was cultivating it now and mutating it for augmentation. 

He coined it 'Cravus Renaltic'. The disease affects the brain by consuming spinal fluid or even gray matter in some extremes. It causes intelligence to dwindle and even memories to be forgotten, giving the victim amnesia.

Cain was reversing this so that the bacteria give him almost perfect memory, but it would also increase his intelligence and brain function. He planned to accomplish this change by finding loopholes in how the bacteria worked.

He ended up finding such a loophole after almost a week, he figured that augmenting his body to create excess brain fluid from stem cells could fix the issue. 

Of course, he planned to acquire the stem cells and some other bodily resources using an 'augmentation concoction', a term used for bacteria in a serum to support the main components of the serum. These bacteria were harmless and good for the body. 

Cain also planned to do this for the Zimo virus. Since Zimo ate away at the flesh and such, Cain just needed to eat an excessive amount of meat to complete this process.

Through this process, the bacteria all provided for each other and the main component bacteria, which led to positive traits without the negative aspect of having to consume things to keep the pathogens at bay, like Cain's case. But this was temporary.

…

"Wakey wakey, Cain. Wake up, we're here. This mission isn't going to complete itself!"

Cain awoke to see a beautiful Luna. She was as bright and beautiful as the moon with wavy silver hair.

In these few months, her family had made her undergo an augmentation. She was given a low-mid rank augmenter body called 'Beautiful Scholar'.

Darius didn't care much for augmentation, it wasn't his main study. If this wasn't the case he would've had Luna take some serum in the middle grades at least!

The serum made Luna's body healthier, gave her more endurance, and also aided in brain activity, all having a positive effect on her looks, hence the name.

It was expensive and rare to make since it was an overall enhancement. If Luna's master wasn't a high-ranking Plague doctor like Darius, she and her family could never have afforded such a thing.

Darius was like John and was a peak grade 3. He had also been nominated to be an elder of the Union council, of which all members were grade 4's.

These Grade 4's held absolute power in Free City, and the council was made up of 5 of them.

They each had lived for thousands of years due to an augmenter recipe allowed for council members, and they were thought of as gods by the people of Free City.

Darius was a 'grandson' of one of them and would replace his 'grandfather' when the time came. This gave Luna a huge provider for her advancement as a Plague doctor, hence her now being a beauty.

"Alright, I'm up. What's the mission again?" Cain rubbed his eyes. 

Luna's voice was like a lullaby, almost sending Cain back to sleep. "Bandits trying to steal some of this year's harvest."

Cain and Luna were relaxed. They had done missions like this thousands of times and had gotten bored of it, but to fund their dinners and lunches at the school's restaurants, this was the way. The food was worth it. 

They were playful on the way to get information from the farmers, and after they scouted and discovered the area where the bandits were set up, they began an apathetic slaughter. They've gotten used to this, but this was what the Union wanted in their youths.

Cain's pulse quickened as they crept through the underbrush, the robber's camp coming into view. His muscles tensed, ready to spring into action.

Luna met his eyes, her face set with determination. She raised her hand, holding a bag of pink medicinal dust, and gave him a subtle nod.

Cain's lips pulled back into a grin. He took out his own bag of powder, his was deadly.

On Luna's signal, they struck as one. The forest lit up in a haze of pink as Luna's medicinal cloud swept through the camp.

It was then Cain's turn, and a purple wave rippled out in all directions, seeping into the earth. The toxin spread through the soil and water, invading the men's bodies from below.

Shouts and coughs erupted throughout the entire camp as men stumbled from their tents.

Their cries turned to gurgles as blood exited their orifices and they foamed at the mouth. They dropped convulsing to the ground. It was over in seconds.

Cain let out a long exhale, his lips stiffening his grin. "Too easy." He met Luna's bright eyes, she nodded and together they descended to claim their prize.

The pair then looted the area and headed back to the school.

During their time with these missions, Cain and Luna got even closer than before. They spent every day hanging out and fooling around. Since neither of them had friends, they cherished their friendship.

Cain's grin stopped and he thought for a while before asking, "Tomorrow we have off as well. You want to do a grade 2 mission?"

Luna was surprised. "But aren't those for groups with high achievements?! No one is going to want to join us."

"They will let the two of us do the mission. We have a good reputation, and our masters are respected, they will let us!" Cain was determined.

"I don't know," Luna's voice sounded pessimistic.

The missions posed danger, too deadly for most Grade 1's. But Cain was a veteran Grade 2 now, and Luna herself had advanced as well. They would be fine.

After convincing Luna, Cain jumped for joy as they set off for home.

...

Upon their return, Cain handed in the mission, got their reward, and it was straight off to dinner. 

While they ate, they talked about their recent research, what they were up to, the news, and even things happening at school. 

After they ate, the pair walked for a bit before parting ways and walking home. Like usual.