The laboratory lighting began to increase gradually.
Rilley opened his eyes shortly afterward, although it took him several seconds to understand where he was. He was not in his room, nor was he lying on his bed. He was still seated in front of the laboratory's main desk, with one arm resting on the metallic surface and several reports displayed on the nearby screens.
The previous night, he had continued reviewing the data from the reinforced regenerative serum, the projections for «Compound U1», and the first projections for the genetic restoration treatment. At some point, he had simply fallen asleep there.
His hand moved almost automatically toward the cup of coffee beside the desk.
It was empty.
Rilley stared at it for a moment, still not fully awake. Then he reached toward the nearby coffee maker, took the pot, and refilled the cup with the strong coffee he had prepared during the early morning.
The first sip carried the intense bitterness he expected.
That rough and familiar sensation finally cleared his mind.
Only then did he try to stand.
The result was immediate.
A stiff discomfort ran through his neck and down toward one of his shoulders. Rilley closed his eyes for a moment, breathed slowly, and carefully straightened his back. His spine cracked with the movement.
He had slept in a bad position. It was not the first time it had happened.
However, something felt different. Despite the muscle pain caused by his posture, his body did not show the deep exhaustion he would have expected after spending the early morning working. The heaviness that usually accompanied his movements had diminished. His breathing remained stable, and his sensitivity to the laboratory lighting was considerably lower than it had been during the previous days.
The reinforced regenerative serum was still acting inside his body.
Rilley remained motionless for several seconds while organizing his thoughts.
Then he narrowed his eyes slightly. The image in front of him was blurry.
He blinked several times, expecting his vision to adjust after waking up, but the distortion remained. The lines on the screens blended together, and the data projected in front of him lacked its usual clarity.
For a moment, he thought his contact lenses had shifted while he slept.
That would not have been especially strange. He had returned to the laboratory far too tired to remove them, and although it was not a recommended habit, it was not the first time something like that had happened.
Rilley slowly stood and walked toward the laboratory's private bathroom. After washing his hands, he leaned toward the mirror and carefully removed the first contact lens.
The difference was immediate.
Half of his field of vision recovered a clarity he had not expected.
Rilley remained still for several seconds before removing the second lens. The distortion disappeared completely.
In front of him, the reflection in the mirror became perfectly sharp. He could distinguish every detail of his face, the small lines on the metallic surface of the faucet, and even the letters printed on one of the containers placed at the far end of the sink.
His vision had worsened since his last eye exam, forcing his contact-lens prescription to increase for the fourth time that year.
But now it had improved.
The contact lenses, designed to compensate for a deficiency that no longer existed, were precisely the reason he had woken up seeing everything blurry.
Rilley held both lenses in the palm of his hand for several seconds before looking back at his reflection.
The improvement was not limited to his eyes. His skin remained pale, but it had lost part of the sickly pallor that usually accompanied him. The change was not especially striking at first glance. Even so, under the bathroom's uniform lighting, he could perceive a slightly healthier tone on his face.
He also examined his hair more closely. The silver tone still predominated, but it was no longer completely uniform. Among the light strands, a few ash-gray sections were beginning to appear, slightly darker than the rest. The difference was subtle, almost imperceptible to someone who was not used to seeing him frequently.
Rilley ran a hand through his hair while evaluating those changes.
There had been no sudden increase in his height. Nor was there exaggerated muscle development or any physical alteration comparable to the more dramatic transformations he knew from the comics. His body did not seem to have become something different overnight.
And precisely because of that, the result seemed more important to him.
The reinforced regenerative serum was not forcing a radical change, but something more progressive.
The correction of his eyesight was the clearest sign, but not the only one. The reduction in light sensitivity, the partial recovery of his skin tone, and the subtle changes in the pigmentation of his hair all pointed in the same direction.
Everything indicated that his organism was responding acceptably to the formula.
The reinforced regenerative serum would have produced improvements by itself, although more slowly. The ultra plus rays had already served a different function during the compound's manufacturing process, helping stabilize the formula before storage and application. Once stabilized, the serum did not need to be activated in order to work inside the body.
The controlled exposure to ultra plus rays during the procedure had served another purpose.
To accelerate the process.
Thanks to that, certain results that would normally have taken longer to appear were beginning to manifest only a few hours later.
Even so, his organism had not fully recovered yet. This was not a sudden transformation, but the beginning of a much broader process.
His body was temporarily correcting part of the genetic anomaly.
Rilley turned his attention toward the watch he had left on a nearby shelf.
"Sophin, begin a complete ocular analysis."
[Request registered.]
[Beginning evaluation.]
A faint light passed over his eyes for several seconds while the watch collected the necessary information.
[Evaluation completed.]
[The previously registered visual deficiency has been corrected.]
[No anomalies have been detected in the cornea, lens, or retina.]
[Sensitivity to intense light sources has decreased considerably.]
[Controlled exposure to ultra plus rays continues to accelerate the regenerative process within estimated parameters.]
[Recommendation: suspend the use of corrective contact lenses.]
Rilley released a slow breath.
"Register the change and compare it with the results obtained before the serum application."
[Order registered.]
"Also show the general medical report."
[Night monitoring completed.]
[No severe adverse reactions have been detected.]
[Temporary genetic stabilization remains within estimated parameters.]
[Progressive improvements have been recorded in several bodily functions.]
[The regression projection remains incomplete. An additional observation period is required.]
Rilley reviewed the data carefully.
Melanin production was the most important detail.
The defect inherited by the Glass family was not a common form of albinism. For generations, his paternal bloodline had carried a particularly intrusive genetic anomaly. It did not merely reduce pigmentation in the skin, hair, and eyes; it also interfered with healthy chains and slowly deteriorated other functions of the organism.
Low resistance to solar radiation was only one of its most visible consequences.
Progressive degradation of vision, skin irritation, vitamin D deficiency, bone fragility, and certain cardiovascular problems were all part of the same set of complications. With each generation, the condition seemed to become more severe.
Rilley knew that better than anyone.
If he had not intervened, the models projected severe visual loss for him before the age of twenty-five and a much more pronounced physical decline as time passed.
That was why the results in front of him could not be treated as a simple cosmetic improvement. His body was organically and progressively correcting a flaw the Glass family had spent decades trying to resolve.
Rilley lowered his gaze toward his hands.
He already knew that the genetic repair achieved so far was temporary. The reinforced variant of the cellular regeneration serum could stabilize certain flaws, reduce deterioration, and partially correct some effects derived from the hereditary anomaly of the Glass family, but it did not permanently rewrite the organism's genetic inheritance.
Sooner or later, without periodic application or a more stable maintenance mechanism, regression would begin.
What he still needed to determine was how long that improvement could be sustained, which functions would regress first, and how much time he would truly have before the anomaly began to manifest strongly again.
Rilley looked at the displayed data once more.
"Sophin, update the continuous monitoring initiated after the application of the first vial of the reinforced variant."
[Request registered.]
"Add the visible changes recorded this morning. I want comparative tracking of vision, pigmentation, light sensitivity, skin response, metabolic stability, cellular regeneration, and any variation related to the Glass family's genetic anomaly."
[Parameters registered.]
"Use my current data as the new reference point, but preserve all previous records to measure the evolution of the process."
[Order registered.]
"No authorization for additional synthesis, no external transmission, and no access for the pharmaceutical branch."
[Restrictions confirmed.]
"Treatment classification."
[Awaiting designation.]
Rilley remained silent for a moment before answering.
"Genetic restoration treatment."
[Treatment registered: Genetic Restoration Treatment.]
[Restricted access.]
[Status: internal validation.]
[Primary test subject: Rilley Glass.]
The name was simple, but sufficient.
This was not a passive record. Rilley was using his own body as the first test subject to determine whether the reinforced variant of the cellular regeneration serum could become an applicable treatment against the hereditary anomaly of the Glass family.
At another time, perhaps that would have been enough for him to send the data directly to his father. The possibility that such a treatment could help contain a condition that had affected the family for generations was too valuable to ignore.
However, that same importance demanded caution.
The data from the first vial was promising, but still not enough to apply it to others. Rilley did not know exactly how long the stabilization would last, how quickly regression would progress, or which functions would be the first to show signs of deterioration once the effect began to fade.
Much less could he guarantee that the same procedure would work without risk on Relly or any other member of the Glass bloodline. Charlotte would also require a separate evaluation, since her hereditary condition did not share the same genetic origin.
Rilley remained in front of the mirror for several more seconds.
He had made a mistake by exploring «Compound U» too hastily. He did not intend to repeat that mistake with something that directly affected his parents' lives.
The genetic restoration treatment could become an answer for his family. Perhaps even something much greater. But not yet.
First, he needed data.
Then, stability.
Only after that could he consider applying it to anyone other than himself.
Rilley closed the report and looked away from the mirror.
Recovery had begun.
Now he needed to observe how long it could be sustained.
A few minutes later, he left the laboratory's private bathroom dressed in simple clothing. He wore a light shirt under a dark jacket, comfortable pants, and carried a briefcase containing important documentation and items he would need throughout the day.
As he walked toward the elevator, he glanced once more at the contact lenses stored inside their case.
He would probably never need them again.
The elevator doors closed in front of him.
"Sophin, show me my schedule."
[Schedule available.]
[Temporary responsibilities assigned during Dr. Curtis Connors's absence.]
[Internal report review: four pending.]
[Material requests: seven pending.]
[University laboratory supervision: scheduled for 10:00 a.m.]
[Graduate student meeting: scheduled for 12:30 p.m.]
[Unanswered administrative emails: twenty-three.]
Rilley remained silent for several seconds.
"Twenty-three?"
[Confirmation: correct.]
"How many arrived after Connors began his vacation?"
[Nineteen.]
Rilley released a slow breath.
Of all the responsibilities he had to assume during Dr. Connors's absence, that was probably the least pleasant.
Not because it was especially complicated.
He simply preferred spending his time inside a laboratory rather than answering administrative messages about budgets, inventories, and university requests that could have been resolved through a conversation of only a few minutes.