Sizzle... sizzle...
White smoke rose with an intensely acrid smell. The steel rebar clasped in Jack's hand, as he stood nearly four meters tall, melted away in an instant like a frozen ice pop dropped into boiling water.
"No abnormalities in the Betcher's gland. All right, that's the last test done. Thanks for your hard work."
"Yahoo! Congratulations, Boss Jack!"
Jack himself barely reacted to the news that the tests were over. Black Essence, who had been fussing around him the whole time, danced with delight instead, even diligently wiping away his sweat.
Meanwhile, Zuo Ci looked over the data on his clipboard and nodded in satisfaction.
A month had passed since Jack's surgery.
Normally, the Astartes augmentation procedures should have been an extremely lengthy process. After all, the operations were so dangerous that they had to be performed slowly, one at a time.
But through sheer, monstrously strong willpower and the excessive healing Zuo Ci provided, Jack had endured all the operations in one go and successfully integrated every gene-seed into his body.
Of course, this approach had side effects. Without enough time to adjust, and with these gene-seeds coming directly from the Emperor and the Primarchs, they still retained some of their instincts.
Simply put, their relationships mirrored those between the Primarchs. And because half the gene-seeds really couldn't stand the biggest, yellowest one, they had already launched a great seed rebellion inside Jack's body.
The biggest problem this caused was pain. A lot of pain. Excruciating pain!
Even Jack, a man who could endure round-the-clock agony equivalent to broken bones throughout his entire body, had passed out from the pain. It had taken him a full month to recover enough to barely move.
"By the way, Jack, are you really sure you don't want me to balance