A very small magic circle appeared at the tip of Berger's fingers when he waved his hand. Following that, the crystal vial containing the Body Cleansing Essence Oil hovered right above the wooden tub, and its contents were emptied.
Adam watched the transparent liquid fall into the wooden tub with anticipation. The essence oil soon began mixing with the mana-infused distilled water and the citrus extract.
Beside the tub, Berger had already got out a few parchment papers and feather quills. With another wave of his hand, the parchment papers started levitating around him and the quills began magically writing the entire process on their own.
Very soon, the mixture of mana-infused distilled water and the citrus extracts began thoroughly expanding the pores on Adam's body, causing him to scream in agony.
"Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!" The youth's eyes rolled back from the extreme pain. If the pain was already so bad at the beginning, he couldn't imagine how worse it would get later.
"Hold on, boy." Berger had a calm expression on his face. He snapped his fingers and a bright magic circle lit up above Adam.
Rank 2 Spell: Ease Emotions!
As soon as this spell was cast, Adam's pain-filled expression calmed down. Although the pain was still there, his mind was tricked into believing that the pain had been alleviated.
Such was the might of the spells from the School of Enchantment!
Despite the feeling of pain having been reduced to a large degree, Adam continued to struggle while gritting his teeth. The water solution had opened the pores on his skin, and the Body Cleansing Essence Oil was slowly seeping in.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})A few minutes passed and Adam continued to withstand the terrible pain. Berger circled the wooden tub, his eyes shining with brilliance from time to time. The feather quills continued to write down notes on the hovering parchment papers.
Steam began to rise from the surface of the water—which had now turned bloody—and it looked like the Body Cleansing Essence Oil had reached some sort of barrier. It could no longer penetrate further inside Adam's body.
But right at that moment, Berger instructed his adamantine golem, "Now!"
The golem poured 5 pounds of sanguine leeches into the wooden tub. These leeches were extremely minute creatures. They were attracted by the blood that had been leaking out of Adam's pores and immediately swam toward it.
These leeches were strange creatures, very similar to moths. They would recklessly charge toward the sight of blood and bathe in it. However, the very same blood would become the reason for their demise.
Within moments, the leeches penetrated Adam's body and continued to bore further inside. They passed through the flesh, the muscles and tendons, and finally the bones. But by this time, they had already perished one by one.
Blood was their source of sustenance as well as their cause for departure from life.
"How fascinating!" Berger exclaimed. "To think that such unassuming creatures would have such an effect. The herbalist who taught the boy really is a genius. I wonder if she's from the Uriel Continent. Or perhaps…"
"Aaaaggggghhhhh!!" The pain Adam was withstanding increased tenfold. The innumerable sanguine leeches, although now dead, were able to dig extremely minute tunnels inside his flesh for the Body Cleansing Essence Oil to seep further in.
The essence oil's potency had increased tremendously as it thoroughly nourished Adam's skin, flesh, muscles, tendons, and even bones. Slowly, they began to restructure in the most optimal way the youth's body would allow.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The bloodied water released large amounts of steam as it began to evaporate. Adam's body continued to intensely tremble from the pain. His eyes had already rolled back, but the pain had kept him conscious.
Right when he felt that he wouldn't be able to take it anymore and pass out, Berger's voice drifted into his ears. "Endure it, boy! Remember what you said: No pain, no gain!"
With that, he brought his hands together, resounding in a loud clap, and two more magic circles appeared above Adam. It was the same spell that the old gnome had used earlier.
Adam's eyes gained clarity and he screamed in his heart, PERSEVERE! I MUST PERSEVERE!
"Haaaahhh!!" He clenched his fists and roared to the skies. The liquid in the tub began to decrease rapidly as it was heated. Large amounts of steam were produced and it enveloped the entire second floor.
Adam's body was very muscular and bulky as he had gone through strength training earlier in his childhood after he had found out that he had a gift for spell-casting.
But now, with the help of the Body Cleansing Essence Oil, his physique was instead shrinking!
The youth's body was going through a wonderful metamorphosis as the essence oil transformed it from the inside out.
His bones were strengthened, and his muscles and tendons were remodeled, becoming more compact. Although his muscles had now shrunken and become smaller, in truth, they contained tremendous power.
The quills continued to furiously write down the entire process on the parchment papers. Just from this simple operation, Berger was able to learn quite a lot of things concerning the human anatomy.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})But more than that, he was tremendously inspired! It was guaranteed that his future experiments would be much more exciting and bear unexpected fruits if he implemented what he learned just now.
Another dozen minutes later, the water in the tub had completely evaporated. Edward, at some point, had already woken up and was intently looking in the direction of the wooden tub.
But he couldn't see much because the entire floor was enveloped in steam. However, Berger could see everything clearly. He couldn't help but laugh loudly.
"Hahaha! Interesting, very interesting!"
Edward was about to ask the old gnome about Adam, but suddenly the steam parted and a lone, naked figure could be seen getting out of the wooden tub.
The moment Edward's eyes landed on this figure, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Adam slowly got out of the tub and stood firmly on the ground. His height had increased slightly, but his physique was the most prominent change. Earlier, he was bulky but now he was lean.
The muscles on his body were defined, almost as if his entire body had been sculpted by a masterclass sculptor.
Adam clenched his fists and could feel the immense power coursing through his body. He couldn't help but grin widely.
"All that pain and suffering… It was worth it in the end!"
