Lowly Ascent

An explosion resounded in Carc; it came from a tall building with a circular roof.

In the room of the explosion, smoke was clearing up as Cain waved away the smoke near his face.

His eyes glowed brightly as he stared at the finished product before him.

Cain only had two more viruses from the vault he hadn't used, as well as the two from Edmund's corpse, the Elder in the Union.

Of the four viruses, three weren't that important to Cain. They were either viruses that couldn't be used for body modification or didn't meet his standards, so he just gave them to the research division, who were ecstatic to see such rare and unique pathogens.

That left only the virus in front of him, which, to Cain, was the second-to-last piece of gaining real immortality.

Cain realized that the immortality he had was good, but it didn't mean he was actually immortal; he could still be killed.

Living forever with his current body was possible, but it would become useless if he was killed. Although Cain was powerful, he also believed that there would always be someone more powerful, like Numineer, for instance.

This led him to spend more time researching how he could perfect his body, which led him to this current experiment involving the virus and the consuming virus for support to allow him to augment himself without dying.

His body was still in a delicate balance and without the balancing properties of the consuming virus, Cain would end up like his experiment.

Nonetheless, he was ecstatic about the success of this experiment. The explosion was a surprise, but he was working with volatile materials, and with the influence of his syndicate, he could easily replace his equipment now.

The reason for Cain's uncontained happiness was that this virus was something similar to Animum and complemented it perfectly.

Like Animum, which turned people into mists of blood while keeping them alive, this virus also affected the nervous system and could be combined with multiple other viruses he already had combined with his DNA.

Cain dubbed this virus the Nerve Web Virus. It completely changed the human nervous system and could fuse with the Cravus Renaltic Virus.

What it did was make it possible for his consciousness to be precisely controlling his body; it was as if the nerves could function as the brain itself.

Not only would this give him faster reactions, but it would be possible for Cain to live for a time without his brain, like a headless chicken.

Throughout the body, the nerves would bundle and become tiny brains that could act independently from the main one.

The transfer and organization of information would be maximized as Cain would be present in every part of his body.

Human brains reside in the head, acting as a main hub, but Cain would be able to have his consciousness split throughout his body having many hubs.

Imagine being able to have separate tasks all being meticulously done at the same time. Being able to juggle while computing multiplication or fighting someone while calculating their every movement before it happened.

The downsides didn't even matter, they were minor anyway. Before the virus fell into Cain's hands it was the pet project of one of the Union Elders.

Said elder successfully minimized the side effects of minor blood clotting due to the presence and size of these nerve clusters.

Of course, years of training would be required to get used to such a body and perfecting it but this isn't the reason Cain wanted this virus so badly. He planned to combine this with another virus that Yonio was personally developing.

Yonio has recently been attempting to create a super soldier serum that causes the augmenter to have regeneration beyond logical levels.

It was to act like stem cells that could become whatever cell is needed but this virus can reproduce at a rapid pace and heal any damage done to the body.

Already with the longevity virus Cain had a slight healing factor but even enhancing it and using Animum, a major would take days to heal. 

So Cain planned to acquire this virus from Yonio when it was completed and make his own modifications before he made the serum housing the two viruses fused with the consuming virus.

He will then use this serum to evolve his body into something he could only call beyond the bounds of mortality.

The combination of all his viruses will make him un-killable; if he loses any piece of his body, he could turn the lost part into mist and use it as an attack or rebuild his body with it.

He would no longer require himself to take over another body unless he fully turned into mist.

Cain would also not have the weakness of death upon losing his brain, as the Animum virus's mist can act as a nervous system temporarily due to its properties, he can then recover his brain and lose nothing in the process like memories and information which the brain houses.

Additionally, he could store some of his memories in nerve clusters. 

With the Cravus Renaltic combined with these mini-brain nerve clusters, their capacity, and operating efficiency will also rise beyond what they were supposed to be capable of.

Overall, combining all these viruses into one body will create a body that simply can't be killed. If gets hurt in any way he can simply reconstruct himself. If his entire body is destroyed, he can just become a mist and gain another body through possession.

However, there is one weakness Cain can't overcome: other viruses. Cain's body is in a delicate balance, and he always has had a weakness in bacterial and viral attacks.

Usually, a plague bearer has a virus that protects them in some way from such attacks, but Cain's only defense is manipulating the microorganisms around him to intercept them, which is straining and ineffective.

His hope now lies in the consuming virus, no longer just for its balancing ability, but also for its ability to consume anything, he hopes to be able to unlock its secrets in the following years.

With the experiment finished Cain stored the nerve web virus. He only now has to wait on Yonio. In the meantime, he plans to gain full control of the city.

Taking over the underground was extremely profitable and gave Cain all the resources he could want.

The one problem is that Cain doesn't need these resources but manpower. He doesn't have enough manpower to achieve a level where he can affect the Kingdom or anything beyond Carc for that matter.

If he could gain control of Carc itself, he could slowly induct its people. He could create a paradise for contaminants and even recruit them!

Creating a faction such as this will put him at a level where he can have some effect on Netherane, but the real goal is to continue the effect he has on his zealots.

Cain was stunned when he heard men begin to think of him and recognize him as a god, but this misconception is perfect for controlling them.

'I don't know who went into the ancient texts and learned about religion but I must say I am thankful!'

Religion is a powerful tool, and Cain was not going to squander it. His plans now include creating a religion that spans all across Netherane, with people who were ready to do his bidding.

He was not against becoming a god; he is soon going to have a body of one at the very least, and it will be so much easier to get zealots to commit mass genocide than simple loyal soldiers still bound by morals.

With a path ahead, Cain took the first step.

He exited his laboratory to start the acquisition of Carc and the beginning of the end for Netherane.