Chapter 3: The Bronze Breakthrough
The air in the training chamber of the hidden Vanguard facility was sterile, tasting of ozone and filtered mountain air. Stanley stood in the center of the room, stripped to the waist. His skin, already toughened by five years of grueling labor at Miller Heights, was a map of scars and hardened muscle—the physical manifestation of the "Goose-Skin Stage."
In front of him, resting on a pedestal of cold alloys, was the Void Relic. The irregular black box seemed to pulse with a low-frequency hum that resonated with the very marrow in his bones.
"The manual is inside," Dr. Amara said, her voice echoing off the metallic walls. She stood behind a reinforced glass observation panel, her fingers flying across a holographic interface. She didn't look at him, maintaining that icy "cold shoulder" that had defined their relationship since his return. "But the Relic is locked to your Qi signature. Right now, your Qi is like stagnant water in a blocked pipe. If you can't force a breakthrough into the Muscle-Tempering Stage, that box is nothing more than a paperweight."
Stanley stared at the box. "And if I fail?"
"The back-pressure of the Qi will rupture your internal organs," she replied without looking up. Her tone was sharp, but Stanley noticed her grip on the tablet was so tight her knuckles were white.
Stanley closed his eyes. He didn't think about the billion dollars or the Vanguard's ancient war. He thought about the five years of silence. He thought about the old man who had saved him, and Sarah, who had treated him like a shadow. He felt the stagnant energy in his limbs—the "Goose-Skin" that had protected him from the sun and the steel.
He reached out, placing both hands on the matte-black surface of the Relic.
Boom.
A surge of raw, violent energy erupted from the box, traveling up his arms like liquid fire. This was the technology of the defector doctor—a bridge between the ancient cultivation of a thousand years ago and the cold, synthetic reality of the present.
"Redirect it!" Amara's voice crackled through the intercom.
Stanley roared, his veins turning a faint, glowing blue beneath his skin. The "Goose-Skin" began to shed, peeling away in thin, translucent flakes to reveal skin that looked like polished bronze. His muscles began to ripple and compress, becoming denser and more efficient.
Suddenly, the lid of the Void Relic hissed.
[BIOMETRIC MATCH: MAJOR STANLEY MCCAIN]
[STAGE: MUSCLE-TEMPERING (EARLY)]
The box unfolded, revealing a suit of liquid-metal under-armor and a weathered, crystalline book. Stanley gripped the manual. He didn't look like a construction worker anymore. He looked like the first soldier of a forgotten era.