Chapter 90: Easy?

He devoured everything and licked the juice left on the plate. Riven didn’t know where the appetite came from; maybe all the beating had done something to him.

Malum gave him another plate filled with meat, and he ate it all, only stopping when something in him felt as if it would burst. But then, the next moment, his gut tightened, and he could almost feel the food being digested, the aura squeezed into his body.

Riven sighed after that. He scowled. If his training was only eating to get aura, then wouldn’t that be the best?

But it wasn’t even one second after he thought that when Malum did another thing.

He brought out a mushroom. The mushroom was slightly bright red and slightly blue with dotted black.

“Eat this.”

Riven looked at it, then to Malum. “There’s no way that is not a poisonous mushroom. Why are you giving me a poisonous mushroom?”

Malum scowled.”It’s to complement the food you ate, boy. Eat it! Do you think I would intentionally kill you?”

Riven gave him a flat look.”No, you won’t.”

Malum coughed.”As I said earlier, it’s to complement the food you just ate. Everything is designed to make you stronger.”

Riven stretched out his hand to take it, because he knew Malum might just end up shoving it into his mouth if he didn’t. He stared at it silently, and then with a grimace, he threw it into his mouth and began to chew.

“Huh?”

The mushroom was surprisingly good. The flavor was sweet and fresh, and the flesh was soft. Riven nodded. He could even imagine having some of it in his pocket as snacks.

Maybe Malum wasn’t that bad.

He stretched out his legs to relax, and it was then that he felt it. A sharp pain in his stomach that felt like something pierced his intestine.

He looked up at Malum sharply, but the man just shrugged.

Riven opened his mouth to speak, but instead he vomited a mouthful of blood. He began to sweat, his stomach suddenly on fire as if something was twisting his internal organs together.

And then his sweat changed to blood, flowing from all the pores in his body.

Malum nodded to himself. “I forgot to mention. The mushroom isn’t poisonous to humans, but it’s very dangerous to Practitioners, as it reacts with aura and turns into an acid that will eat through your insides and turn it into bloody mush.”

At this time, Riven couldn’t speak again. He only stared at Malum, his eyes dizzy, and then he collapsed and everything went blank.

He walked out of the pool this time, and Malum was still sitting where he was with the dirty plates that Riven had used earlier.

“You are even faster this time, Riven. Seems your body is adapting to this. Good. It’ll serve you well.”

Riven crossed his arms on his chest.”This is going to keep happening, isn’t it?”

Malum tilted his head as he pretended to think about it.”Maybe. I can’t say. Alright, yes.”

Before Riven could say anything else, the air shifted, and Malum was in front of him once again. His fist came down like a hammer and shattered Riven’s head.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

Five days later.

Riven walked out of the pool, his hair plastered to his head wetly and his robe dripping droplets on the ground.

Malum patted the floor in front of him, and Riven sat without resistance.

It had been five days, and he knew that no amount of complaining or resistance would stop Malum from doing whatever he wanted.

The man had smashed all the bones in his body during those five days. His flesh had been torn and ripped. He had carried wounds that he didn’t expect to survive.

But each time, Malum would throw him into the pool, and he would walk out healed and whole. Time had become something that didn’t exist—just pain and the wetness of the pool.

“I will tell you the reason for this current training,” Malum said.

“The body itself is resistant to cultivating aura. If not, why wouldn’t we just take in all the aura we can and advance through all the stages? It’s because the body is against it.

“Each time you advance, you become less and less human, becoming something more. That’s the essence of the Practitioners—reaching for something beyond mortal constraints. So what I’m doing by breaking you and melding you is to create new flesh, healed straight from the pool that’s filled with aura, and I’m forcing your body to adapt at an astonishing rate.”

Riven swallowed. He understood what Malum was saying. Each time he came out of that pool, it was as if his body was—no, it was—growing stronger. His bones were harder, and his perception had increased.

Even his Sigil. It was as if it had gotten harder somehow, more stable. It was as if his body was a forge and Malum and the pool the hammer.

Malum continued.”If you can keep this up, then you will break through to level three just in time.”

Riven frowned. “If it’s that easy, then why isn’t it more popular?”

Malum paused. “Easy?”

Riven coughed. “No. I mean, if it’s guaranteed to produce results, why don’t people do it? The pain, it’s temporary. It’ll wash away in the pool.”

Malum stared at Riven for a long time before he began to laugh, clapping his thigh. “Interesting! Interesting indeed! Riven, you are surprising me all the time. I’ve thought about it well—the reason why you didn’t faint from all the beatings you got from me.

“That’s not even beating. For all the near-deaths you’ve had, and yet your eyes remain open with light in them. I’ve thought about it, even with all your grumbling, you didn’t run as I expected.”

Malum paused. “I’ve come to the conclusion that you are even more insane than me. You are a monster, and I shudder at the thought of releasing you back to the world.”

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