Chapter 22: Physical Transformation

His gut was telling him to go with [Kinetic Reinforcement]. He didn’t like that he was relying on his instincts to guide his skill choices so far, but they hadn’t led him astray so far.

Congratulations, skill [Kinetic Reinforcement] (Uncommon) acquired

Biting the bullet he chose [Kinetic Reinforcement]. Typically, when he learned a skill the details of how to use it were ingrained into him. It made activation much quicker and easier. However, it seemed like [Kinetic Reinforcement] was not like normal skills. Julius had expected to learn how to apply kinetic mana to strengthen his body, but not this.

It started as a warm flow of kinetic energy suffusing his body, it felt good. For about a few seconds at least. Then it felt like fire ants were crawling up and down his body. It didn’t hurt at first, just more uncomfortable than anything else. However, it soon felt like the ants started to eat him from the inside out. Molten lava was ripping through his veins and his entire skeletal structure felt like it was being broken down and rebuilt from the ground up.

Julius tried his best not to scream out loud, but it was too much. He shoved his bloodied and dirty shirt into his mouth to muffle his cries. To any observer, it would look like Julius was having an exorcism being performed on him. His back was contorted and arching backward, as he clawed the rock writhing in pain. He tried to use [Restoration] but the pain magnified even more and quickly stopped. It was by far the worst pain he had experienced, his entire being was broken down and reconstructed before his very eyes.

Despite that, Julius could feel his body becoming stronger, more flexible, and more dense. What was interesting, was during that slight moment when he activated [Restoration] he could feel his body respond to it. The pain increased, yes. But the process accelerated and used the energy being supplied by [Restoration] to make further improvements to his body. It swiftly returned to its prior pace, but Julius got the impression that [Kinetic Reinforcement] wanted more life mana. As if once it got a taste of it, it wanted more.

He froze and began contemplating. He knew that this might be a pivotal point in his advancement. Would he continue to go with the standard process? Or would he take a gamble? He had no evidence to think that using [Restoration] would provide him with superior results. However, he did know it would for sure cause him significantly more pain.

Julius didn’t even hesitate. In this world, power meant freedom. It became clear to Julius that he needed to become more powerful if he ever wanted to have a say. A moment of pain for even a small possibility of a lifetime of freedom? It was an easy choice. He immediately activated [Restoration], feeding [Kinetic Reinforcement] with as much life mana as he could.

He was not the most talented, his affinities said as much. Most of his accomplishments were because of his previous memories. He knew that there were some options for gaining power that he could never have access to. But pain? If all it cost was a bit of physical pain, then he wasn’t willing to back down. Physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional torment of being too weak to save your loved ones. It was an opportunity he wasn’t willing to pass him by. So he gritted his teeth and let the pain in, welcoming it with open arms.

The pain twisted throughout his body, mana molding it to its desires. [Restoration] was aiding it, providing it with additional life mana to infuse into his flesh and bones.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain started to subside and dial back. It was still there but compared to before it was bliss. Julius just laid there, not able to move a single finger, it was like he had just gotten run over by a cement paver. His only movements were slight twitches and spasms from the lingering pain. He couldn’t do anything but lay on his back panting in exertion, feeling immeasurable tiredness. The soreness on top of the exhaustion from the day’s events pushed him over the edge and lulled Julius to sleep.

When he woke up he was still sore but could at least move. He thought about activating [Restoration] but the memory of the increased pain held him off. He hypothesized that [Restoration] would have positive benefits to whatever was being done by [Kinetic Reinforcement] but he didn’t know for certainty. It was a calculated risk he was willing to make.

Steeling himself, he activated [Restoration]. The wave of life mana instantly shot through him. He could feel much of the soreness start to dissipate until all that was left was an uncomfortable itch under his skin. It was like wearing itchy underwear that was three sizes too small, but around his entire body.

Suddenly, the smell hit him. Akin to rotten eggs and moldy cheese. It was all around him, suffocating him in its foul odor. Grabbing his nose to squeeze it shut, he felt something on his hands and face. He discovered that his skin was covered in a transparent film of black tar. It coated him from head to toe. It was definitely where the smell was coming from. And it was absolutely rank.

He climbed down from the shelf and made his way toward the small pool of water below. Julius tried to remove the disgusting muck attached to his skin, but it wasn’t coming off easily. The water helped a bit, but after a couple of minutes, scrubbing it off with his fingers wasn’t working. He didn’t have anything to scrub himself, so he decided to use a flat rock he found lying around.

I mean, it’s kind of like a pumice, if I think about it, Julius thought to himself.

Julius viciously scoured his skin with his rock, making sure there wasn’t anything left on it. The pool was already becoming black, contaminated by the tar-like substance. It took almost half an hour until he was completely clean. Or at least as clean as he was going to get without a proper shower. The biggest problem was his clothes. His pants were soaked in the substance and even after scrubbing them for a good while, they still smelled like the back alley of a nightclub. He ditched his shirt, he could go without a shirt. But he didn’t want to go completely native, so he bore with it and put his nasty pants back on, praying he didn’t catch any unfortunate disease on his private parts.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Now that he was “clean”, he noticed how different he felt. His skin was much stronger and more pliable than it was before. When he was scrubbing, he noted how aggressively he was able to exfoliate his skin without tearing or bruising it. He barely felt the rock on his skin even though he was going to town on it. He also felt more dense, like his bones became steel rods but at the same time he never felt so light in his life. It seemed like [Kinetic Reinforcement] had lived up to its name.

He wanted to check out his status to see if the changes he felt were reflected in it. Surprisingly, there were a lot of notifications that he missed.