The sound of pressurized air escaping was loud as the object opened and expanded outward, revealing a two-meter-tall cylinder, streams of a thick white mist moving around it.
Lyn snorted, causing the others except for Reed to turn and look at her, wondering why she had suddenly broken the silent atmosphere.
Dryan's face gained a look of understanding as he moved his gaze between her and the object a few times.
The surface of the cylinder moved to the side, revealing its contents to the outside.
In it was a man with no hair on any part of his body, and completely nude.
Lyn groaned and closed her eyes, she could faintly hear a giggle as she turned her head away.
The man inside the cylinder watched the happenings in silence, then moved his arms to grab the edge of his container.
Reed walked forward and supported his chest as he started to raise his leg.
"Easy there, one step at a time."
The man stumbled as he tried to take a step, but Reed's hand kept him steady. Slowly, the man moved each of his limbs, regaining precise control over each part of his body.
He increased the intensity of his movements, and soon, he was jumping about and throwing punches into the air.
"How do you feel?" Reed asked with a book and pen in his hands. "Any pains? Stiffness? Strange feelings?"
"No-cough." The man cleared his throat. "None, woah!" The man's was deep, deeper than what he remembered.
"Bigger change than I expected." Reed murmured and wrote something in his book, and the man in question nodded and let out a hum in agreement.
"Why is he hairless?" Bell questioned, and Lyn, still looking away, asked another one. "Can you get him dressed before any further testing?"
Reed chuckled and tossed a ring at the man, who caught it, took some clothing out of it, and started to dress himself.
"A bit of a side effect I'm afraid, but his hair will grow back, don't worry about that." Reed answered Bell's question as the man put on his shirt.
"Even his eyebrows and eyelashes?" Bell questioned further, horrified by the idea of losing her hair.
"Yes." Reed said. "I have taken your fears into account and acquired some materials that will help with that." He said as the man finished dressing himself.
"I'm done." He called out, and Lyn let out a sigh a relief as she turned and looked at the man.
"Thank goodness." She said, and Dryan nodded in agreement. "I don't deny that you have quite the body, but I'm not interested in men." He said, and received a glare from the man who had put on his clothes.
"But if you want..." Dryan continued, despite the increasing intensity of the glare he was receiving. "I can introduce you to a few ow!" His sentence was cut short by a slap to the back of his head, courtesy of Tonathan, who had maintained his silence so far.
"Not the time." He said, and received a huff in response.
The now familiar of sound of moving doors stopped any response that Dryan was making, and he turned to see what had made the sound.
Four more rectangular objects emerged from the walls, each identical to the one in the middle of the room, all of their cylinders open, waiting for a person to enter them.
"Strip down and enter any one of them when you're ready, the process will activate five seconds after you enter the pod. The process will take 4 hours and eleven minutes. You will be unconscious for all of it, and I will bring you out, any questions or objections?"
Lyn raised her hand.
"Yes?" "Can't you have Bell bring me out?" She asked, not very comfortable with the idea of being seen naked. "I can." Reed responded with a tone that Lyn recognised.
She tsked.
"Can you at least bring me out a few minutes earlier than the others?" She asked another question. "That's fine." Reed responded with a nod, and Lyn let out another sigh of relief.
Reed looked over the others, but none of them seemed to have any questions, so he hummed.
"Whenever you feel like it." He said, and turned to the door leading out of the room.
"Let's go Ghran, we need to test your new limits."
Ghran nodded and followed.
When the door closed behind him, Bell and Lyn looked at the two males in the room in unison.
Dryan spoke first.
"You take that side, we'll take this one." He grabbed Tonathan and pulled him to a wall.
On the other side of the room, Lyn put up some curtains on a few poles that hadn't been there a few moments ago.
Bell looked at her with wonder.
"You have a lot of things, don't you?" She remarked.
"Reed thinks about every scenario, and I'm not complaining." Lyn answered calmly as she continued her work.
Dryan looked at the curtains being put up, then looked at Tonathan who was in the process of taking off his shirt.
He shook his head.
'Let's get on with it.' He thought as he started removing his clothes as well.
A minute later, all of the covers were closed, and the people inside them unconscious.
A liquid with a light green tint emerged from the top of the chamber and started filling it.
And as that was going on, Reed had started his tests.
He tested running speed, jumping height, maximum weight lift, reaction time, etc.
After all that, the two of them had an unarmed combat session for a few minutes.
Reed was impressed with the improvement that Grhan was displaying, and he made that fact known.
"Much better than I was expecting." He said, and Grhan responded with a nod. "I feel light, like I had been wearing weights all my life, and they were removed." He remarked. "This wonderful feeling... I can't describe it." He said, looking at his palm.
He made a fist and turned his head up, closing his eyes and trying to find words to describe what he was feeling.
"It is... freeing, like I have woken up from a good sleep, but a dozen times better relaxed."
He opened his eyes, and looked at Reed, who tossed a knife at him.
He grabbed it and looked at his boss, who made a 'go on' gesture.
He looked at the blade, then laid its edge on his forearm.