Universal Power System

Mako's mind raced with questions and confusion. Vampires? Immortality? The revelations from the video log left him stunned, unable to comprehend the implications of what he had just heard. He knew his great-grandfather was a brilliant scientist, but this revelation was beyond anything he could have imagined.

The truth about aliens and there being many different lifeforms across the galaxy was common knowledge at this point; however, it was completely unexpected for Mako to hear that mythical creatures from ancient human history also existed and were used to create the Universal Power System.

Seeking answers, Mako decided to delve deeper into the video log, hoping to find more information that could shed light on what exactly his great-grandfather had researched from vampire blood and how did it all tie back to his system.

He resumed playing the video, his eyes fixated on the holographic projection of Lionel Grey.

"As we delved into the secrets of vampire physiology," Lionel Grey continued in the recording, "we discovered that their ability to enter an eternal slumber during times of severe trauma was a remarkable survival mechanism. The body shuts down, allowing resources to be redirected towards healing and regeneration."

"The World Leader had tasked us with many goals that the Universal Power System had to achieve and one of these goals was to adapt a survival mechanism for the user of this system in case of severe trauma or injury," Lionel proclaimed, his eyes shining with excitement.

Mako's initial shock began to subside, replaced by a spark of curiosity and determination.

If his great-grandfather and his team had made such groundbreaking progress and really did finalize this serum to work exactly like they mentioned, did this mean that Mako was indeed immortal?

Mako knew that all of his questions would get answered just by watching the complete recording. He decided that it would be best to watch the remaining footage completely before forming any thoughts and opinions that would drastically change how he would plan his future moves because it seemed as if he was receiving brand new shocking information every 5 seconds.

Mako resumed the video log

"I and my team are pleased to state the U.P.S. AI has completely learned how to synthesize and produce the serum using the chemical components found within the complex human body and the AI has been successfully integrated into the system." Lionel Grey announced.

After the massive statement, Lionel Grey proceeded to stand back up from his chair and move back a bit so that his whole body was in the frame. Once he had done that, he snapped his fingers and the projection of a simulated human brain appeared in front of him.

"As you may all know, Vampires are said to be immortal because they don't have any causes of natural death. They don't develop diseases, nor do their organs deteriorate. It is because of this that vampires view themselves as such higher-class beings; however, even they can't escape the fury of time as they still grow weaker as they age." Lionel Grey began to explain.

"It is in vampire culture that a vampire be placed under eternal slumber once they have gone past their peak in order to maintain their peak physical condition and pride and continue to live on as a sleeping corpse, but they can choose to go and wake from eternal slumber much earlier or after that time frame." Lionel Grey continued.

"So after I and my team had made the discovery and reproduced the synthetic version of the component responsible for putting vampires in eternal slumber, our chief genetic engineer, Abdullah Khan, reengineered the serum to only work on humans but also tweak a few things so that it would more fit our purposes." Lion Grey finished as the holographic image of the brain in front of him start to light up.

"This is the real result of using this serum on human trial number 578. As soon as the serum was administered, the whole body relaxed and all functions including brain and heart function reduced themselves to 5% functionality." Lionel Grey said as the brain that was once colorful and full of activity suddenly became dull again with only occasional dim bursts of color.

"Almost immediately, all of the energy inside the body moved towards the cells to activate the dormant healing factors to start regeneration and healing. Through our tests, we were able to determine that only was this effective for physical injuries but mana-related injuries as well and the rate of healing was almost 10 times faster than the person's natural regeneration and healing rate." Lionel Grey said as the holographic image changed from the brain to an image of several cuts made on someone's arm.

There were two identical arms and through a timelapse, it showed how the natural regeneration of a level 2 ability user to heal the wound was 3 days while leaving behind a permanent scar while the other wound healed in just over 7 hours with no scar to speak of.

The projection turned off after the demonstration and Lionel Grey proceeded to walk back towards the camera and take a seat again.

"This mechanic has been termed 'Deep Slumber' by our chief genetic engineer and here are a few things that should be addressed to truly understand its complete functionality," Lionel said as he sat down.

"Firstly, we couldn't store the serum inside the system due to limited space and preservation issues which is why the system will start producing and storing small amounts of this serum once it had bonded with a host. There is a limit to how much the system can produce and once it has achieved that limit, the serum will be stored in the spinal fluid of the host where it would remain dormant and unreactive until needed," Lionel began explaining again.

"Secondly, once the host has entered and successfully recovered from Deep Slumber, they wouldn't be able to return to it for the next thirty days as the system would need to produce more serum for the effect to take place," Lionel added.

"And lastly, we have installed a regulator inside the system itself which it can use to remove some of the serum from the host's body if the body is receiving external help and recovering faster than anticipated, thus reducing the time of Deep Slumber," Lionel Grey finished speaking.

After he had explained everything he let out a long sigh which showed that he was really tired and that this was a sigh of relief that a project was finally finished.

"We apologize to the World Leader as this didn't meet the exact criteria that he wanted, but rest assured that I and my team are researching more effective methods but still wanted to integrate this one into the system just in case the situation worsens and the system is needed in battle." Lionel Grey said right a the end just before ending the video log.

"End Video Log 3390," Lionel said.

[Video Log #003390 Ended]

Mako sat there, stunned by the revelations contained within the video log. The existence of vampires and their eternal slumber, the development of a synthetic serum replicating their abilities, and the integration of this mechanism into the Universal Power System—it was all overwhelming.

Not only did he learn everything he needed to know about the Deep Slumber mechanic, but he also got to learn a lot more useful information.

For starters, vampires totally exist now, and Mako was determined to find out more about them. As a kid, Mako had no hobbies other than just reading and he used to read a lot of ancient novels discussing many of the myths and fantasy creatures riddles in humanity's ancient history and culture.

There were so many things that Mako wanted to learn about and now he couldn't wait to hear the verdict of the military commanders who will decide whether he would get admitted into military school or not.

Other than that, Mako also learned about another member of his great-grandfather's team, Abdullah Khan who was mostly responsible for all the genetic and biological elements of the system and this led Mako to wonder which team member had backstabbed his great-grandfather and sold off the system.

From the video logs he had been able to see so far, he knew of two other members besides his great-grandfather, and both of them were included in the final message his great-grandfather sent him stating the decedent of one of these families could unlock the box and gain the system so these two were clear.

Mako wondered who the traitor might be and what it mean for him when he eventually found out.

Mako pondered on this for a while and in the end decided to just deal with that problem when it faces him and not to sweat about it too much.

"I can't believe so many human trials had to be used to perfect every aspect of this system, I have really been taking this whole thing for granted, huh?" Mako said to himself as he remembered the human trials part of the video log and this made him remember the weight of the responsibility that was entrusted to him.

He knew he had to become a lot stronger if he wanted to truly compete and make a difference in this complex and powerful world that he had only begun scratching the surface of.