[The Next Day]
"Ugh..."
Sollivan opened his drowsy eyes and slowly lifted his head from under the worn-out blanket, greeted by the intense cold of the air. His eyes, marked by dark circles, trembled slightly, and with a faint groan, he tried to get up, but felt an overwhelming heaviness restraining his body.
"Huh..." He raised his unusually warm and strangely sweaty hand to touch his forehead, feeling an excessive heat. "Am I sick?"
He let out a heavy sigh and thought about the previous day, which he had spent entirely consuming medicinal pills. ’I got too excited, but even if I took a lot, basic pills aren’t harmful to health.’
"Ah..."
He groaned loudly again and involuntarily curled up due to the sharp pain that suddenly stabbed his stomach.
*Grrr!*
A sickly growl came from his stomach, giving him a bad omen. He moved as quickly as he could, pulling himself toward the wheelchair that Noctis had brought, but he couldn’t. His strength gave out, and he became helpless. His body burned with intense heat, and he sweated profusely, as if his physical condition worsened with every passing minute.
His vision suddenly became blurry, and his ears started ringing loudly. His chest tightened, and his breathing became heavy, producing a strange wheezing sound.
"What’s happening?" He could no longer understand what was going on, and this began to terrify him. What increased his fear the most were the strange and powerful movements in his intestines.
Quickly and with a trembling hand, he grabbed the armrest and tried to pull himself up again, but to no avail. "Help me!" he commanded in a shaky voice.
Noctis appeared behind him and pushed him, but this only made things worse, as Sollivan lost his balance and fell off the bed. He rolled a bit before lifting his head. He looked at the ground hazily before groaning, opening his mouth wide, and beginning to vomit violently.
A thick, sticky liquid of a distorted color came out of his mouth, like a lump of mud. Unwilling to stop, his vomit, filled with black clumps and strange fleshy parts, spilled onto the floor, staining it and leaving a foul smell.
"Huh..."
His eyes widened, and he barely managed to keep his breath. He stared at the vomit beneath him but didn’t have time to think about what it was because he started vomiting everything inside him again.
"Huff..."
"Huff..."
After vomiting three more times, the stabbing pain in his stomach stopped, and he felt a bit lighter, regaining some of his strength. Exhausted and weary, he lay on the floor next to his mess and stared blankly at the ceiling.
The haziness in his eyes faded, and the ringing in his ears stopped. After lying down for a long time, he regained his mental clarity and physical balance. With the help of Noctis, who had been hovering around him fearfully earlier, he returned to sitting in his wheelchair.
He adjusted his position and covered himself well before staring at the large, sticky pile of vomit with fear and confusion. "What is this? Was something like this inside me? All that blackness and bloody color..." He quickly calmed himself.
"No, my physical condition is fine, and I don’t have any fatal internal injuries. On the contrary, I feel energetic..." His thoughts suddenly stopped, and he opened his mouth.
"Wait, did I break through the first level of body strengthening?"
"No, it can’t be? But?!! Only during a breakthrough does the body expel impurities in the form of vomit or sweat."
He fell silent for a moment and thought carefully before wondering. "But this is excessive? Even after breaking through five levels of body strengthening in my previous life, I only expelled half this amount of impurities in total. Could it be that my accumulated injuries are the cause, or is there something else?"
Despite his happiness at breaking through the first level of body strengthening, his confusion and questions left him unable to express his joy, and he remained seated in astonishment.
Grrr!
His stomach growled again, but this time it was to let him know how hungry he was. Not wanting to exhaust his mind further, he stopped thinking and went to wash himself. After cleaning the dirty floor with Noctis’s help, he went to prepare his breakfast.
He took out a kilogram of meat, some potatoes, and onions, and prepared a rich and hearty meal. Because he had spent a lot of time cleaning and cooking, his hunger increased, and his stomach refused to stay quiet.
As soon as the meal was ready, he began eating quickly. He stuffed the meat and potato pieces into his mouth hastily, not caring about their heat or taste. Within five minutes, he had finished the entire plate.
He looked at the dirty plate with a bit of leftover meat broth and sighed in disbelief and astonishment. "I’m still hungry." The amount he had eaten was quite large, and usually, he would divide this amount over the entire day, but now it barely satisfied his hunger.
He hesitated for a moment due to his confusion, then returned to the hearth and prepared a soup from wheat flour, the remaining potatoes, and some spices. After emptying the pot, he patted his stomach with satisfaction and happiness.
After satisfying his stomach, his mental clarity and usual calm returned. He sat back comfortably and contemplated the dirty dishes and utensils on the table, then complained loudly. "If my appetite stays this open, I’ll suffer a lot because of my low budget."
"I only have two kilograms of meat left. I need to eat them quickly before they spoil, and I also need to buy more ingredients. But I’ll leave that until Devlin comes." He fell silent and stopped bothering himself with trivial matters.
He narrowed his eyes in confusion and wondered.
"How did my body expel all those impurities? This is unnatural. Also, even if the world of body strengthening is simple and easy, breaking through the first level in one night is still excessive. Even in my first life, it took me five days of rigorous physical training and a few strengthening pills."
A small, sarcastic smile appeared on his face. He raised his head and looked at the ceiling with strange eyes, then laughed. "I didn’t think the speed of my training would make me feel such fear." His smile faded before he sighed in relief.
"I’m really a fool. How can I compare my current self, who possesses primordial blood, to my past self, who focused on building energy and didn’t realize the potential of the body?"
’According to what’s said, the higher the quality of blood, the easier it is for a warrior to strengthen their body, and they’ll gain double the benefits with less effort. Thinking about it, this is true. When I stimulated my blood and took the pills, I benefited from their medicinal properties to the fullest extent. More precisely, I was able to absorb all the medicinal efficacy in them, which is something impossible for an ordinary person who would only benefit from fifty percent or even less if the pills were poorly made like the ones I have.’
Ordinary humans couldn’t digest pills as effectively as he could, so they resorted to auxiliary methods like physical training and breathing techniques that helped them digest the accumulated residues in their bodies and also stimulated their personal potential. Because of this, even humans without any techniques could break through body strengthening levels through hard daily work alone. But no matter how hard they worked, they couldn’t surpass the fourth or fifth level in their lifetime, due to their lack of strong foundations and training techniques.
He raised his hand and scratched his chin, and without hesitation, he stimulated his blood and felt the pleasant warmth spreading throughout his body. He couldn’t stimulate his blood all the time, but he wouldn’t have a problem doing so for a few hours. And so far, he was still ignorant of how it worked. His blood was very ordinary and no different from other humans, but when stimulated, he felt a significant difference from his human identity.
As he thought, he raised his hand and slapped his forehead foolishly. "Isn’t this the secret that’s been bothering me? My primordial blood improves my physical structure, even if only slightly, as I’ve read. It must have been what pushed me to expel all those accumulated impurities."
As soon as he said this, he felt a great sense of relief and was no longer afraid of any bad outcomes or side effects that might happen to him. Calmly, he took the second bottle of basic pills. He relaxed in his seat and ordered Noctis to keep an eye on his surroundings. After clearing his mind and ensuring his blood was stimulated, he began eating the small pills like candy, consuming two every fifteen minutes.
He monitored the subtle changes happening to his body and quietly felt his strength and lightness increasing at a slow but noticeable pace.
The world of body strengthening consisted of ten levels, but most trainees stopped at the seventh or eighth level, and some even stopped at the fifth level, as it was the minimum requirement to attempt breaking through the world of opening meridians and officially becoming an Arcane master. Also, because physical strength didn’t increase much after the sixth level.
The benefits humans gained from strengthening their bodies included increased organ durability, enhanced endurance, and improved healing abilities. They needed less time than ordinary people to recover from injuries, and even some fatal injuries for ordinary humans were considered normal for them. But this only applied to people above the fifth level.
From time to time, he stopped to take short breaks. Because of this, he didn’t finish the entire bottle until seven hours had passed. He felt the faint warmth in his stomach left by the last pill until it disappeared, and then he opened his mouth and exhaled a long, misty breath.
He raised his hand and clenched his fist, which had become slightly stronger. ’I’ve reached about a quarter of the way to the second level. But...’ He looked at the bottle of basic pills and sighed in disappointment.
"These pills aren’t very useful anymore, and the warmth they emit has become fainter. It seems I also benefited from the remnants of the vitality-enhancing pills, which is why the wave of warmth I felt before was so strong."
However, his disappointment didn’t last long and quickly turned into happiness. He was satisfied, extremely satisfied with the changes happening to him, or rather, the unexpected miracle that turned his life around overnight. He wasn’t greedy or hasty, and he wanted to take things slowly, climbing step by step. Although he was currently very excited, which made him do some things impulsively without taking enough time to think about them.
After contemplating his miraculous changes, he summoned the black book that was the cause of everything. He felt its rough cover and looked at the gem in its center with lost eyes. He opened it aimlessly and looked at the blank pages, wondering in a soft, confused voice. "You’re not something simple."
"..."
Sollivan turned his head and looked at Noctis, who had suddenly appeared beside him. He frowned and asked.
"What’s wrong? Why are your emotions so chaotic?"
Noctis stared at the book in his hands for a moment, then looked at his face and conveyed his thoughts.
"You’re saying the book scares you?"
After receiving confirmation from Noctis, Sollivan felt a bit of astonishment before calming him. "Relax, this book is a powerful treasure, and your senses must be wary of it." Despite saying this, he felt a bit of curiosity, and several questions about the book and its origins came to mind.
’I’ve read many legends about the powerful Arkanith treasures on the continent, but there’s no mention of anything like this book, or any book in general.’
Powerful and legendary treasures weren’t uncommon in his world, and they were generally called Arkanith treasures. There were several folk tales and local legends that spoke of some of them. Books and records also received their share of praise among the treasures. Among the most famous known treasures in the Golden Lion Empire was the Shattered Sun Shield, rumored to be in the Emperor’s possession, but no one could confirm this rumor.
"I don’t need to think about this. I don’t care about its origin as long as it doesn’t harm me in the future." Despite his words and wishes, he wasn’t naive enough to think things would go smoothly. He had some concerns about his big secret, but he didn’t let them disturb his peace and aspirations.
After clearing his mind of all chaotic and random thoughts, he ordered Noctis to disappear and looked at the book in his hands. He contemplated its details carefully again and touched its cover gently, as if handling something precious to his heart. He felt the simple connection between him and the book and tried to stimulate it and communicate with it, but he received no response, or rather, he felt like he was talking to a deaf wall.
After a long period of one-sided communication, he lost hope of getting a result and sighed in slight disappointment. After getting tired of contemplating the book and wanting to hide it, he felt a strong wave of thoughts entering his head, or rather, instructions. His eyes widened, and his head rang with intense pain. A small drop of blood fell from his nose, but he showed no discomfort and remained seated steadily, staring at the book in shock.
He truly didn’t expect to get an answer, and his attempts were just casual experiments. He sorted through the thoughts that entered his head and reviewed their content carefully before exhaling in astonishment and happiness. He looked at the book in his hands, its gem glowing faintly and differently than usual, then quickly reached out and grabbed a random book from the table.
He calmly remembered the simple feelings and instructions he received and directed some specific thoughts to the book through their connection.
Vibration!
The book in his hands shook, and its black cover, filled with engravings, became extremely dark and smooth, with no features on it, and even the gem in its center disappeared.
Sollivan looked at his black, hazy reflection that appeared on the dark cover like a mirror of evil. Without hesitation, he pushed the book in his hand into the cover, and mysteriously, the book entered through the cover and disappeared without leaving a trace. His eyes widened further, and he quickly pulled his hand back. Had he not known this would happen, he might have jumped in shock.
He slowly reached out again and hesitantly inserted his hand into the cover. An intense, sticky coldness spread around his hand, teasing his trembling fingers. His body shivered, and after freezing in place for a moment, he pushed his hand further in until his arm almost completely disappeared.
He aimlessly moved his hand stuck in the book until he suddenly felt something solid touch the tip of his finger. He grabbed it firmly and quickly pulled his hand out, looking at it in fear. After ensuring it was unharmed, he exhaled in relief. He contemplated the book he had pulled out, and all his confusion and fears turned into deep happiness. At the same time, he felt intense fatigue and a faint pain in his head.
’This is exhausting, but amazing at the same time. I didn’t imagine the book had such a large storage space inside. However, using it is very exhausting for my weak self.’
According to the instructions he received, he could retrieve the items he inserted by thinking alone, but he couldn’t do that and had to shove his hand in and do it manually. He didn’t expect his mental strength to be this low. Even before, when he communicated with the book, he felt great danger. Had the communication lasted more than a second, his head might have exploded.’
Sigh!
"This explains a lot."
Sollivan’s mental strength wasn’t truly low; on the contrary, it surpassed that of ordinary people and early-stage Arcane masters in the world of opening meridians. This was due to two factors: first, he had reached the peak of the early stage of the world of opening meridians before his vein was destroyed, so he retained a large portion of his mental strength. Second, his lineage changed, and he obtained primordial blood, which significantly increased his mental and spiritual strength.
’Thinking about it, I believe my mental strength has improved slightly due to the strong memory I gained after my blood changed. Does the primordial blood flowing in me have something to do with the soul? Perhaps this explains how I successfully cast the Well Seal without being harmed. Also, I’ve heard that contracting with monsters requires a strong soul.’ He narrowed his eyes in confusion and thought carefully about his theories.
Mental strength was closely linked to the soul. It was said that the mind was the gateway to the soul and the exit of the body, making it the connecting point that completes the human body. Although these were just sayings with some truth, increasing spiritual strength also increased mental strength, and vice versa.
Sollivan stopped thinking and returned the book to its place. Before stretching his stiff arms and shoulders from sitting too long, he yawned tiredly, and his eyes teared up slightly. In a tired voice, he sighed.
"I’ve exhausted myself with training and thinking today. My physical strength has improved, but given my overall condition, this won’t be very useful in the first and second levels."
He pushed his wheelchair without Noctis’s help, and unlike usual, it was very easy. He didn’t feel like he was exerting much effort. Happily, he thought as he remembered the bad streets.
"Moving around will be easy now."
Although he had Noctis, who could merge with the wheelchair and drive it automatically, he didn’t want to do that now due to the suspicions it would raise with the change in his wheelchair’s color and shape. People in the poor neighborhoods were very curious and would observe anything closely to discuss in their gossip sessions.
After aimlessly wandering around the room and spinning in place several times, he opened the door and checked the narrow alley, which was beginning to darken. He looked at the muddy puddles that were starting to dry and saw some dirty water channels. Then, he remembered he hadn’t emptied his bladder since morning.
In a voice full of disappointment, he sighed.
’Again.’ Due to his physical condition, the thing he hated doing the most was going to the bathroom and taking care of nature’s call because of its difficulty. So, he usually endured it until he reached his limit.