Senseofbeing
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Chapter 70 - Skin Reforging
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 17:10:40 +0000 UTCA week after the incident
Alaric couldn’t fathom how a week had passed already since he and Rennard had been ambushed by the werewolves. The city had attributed the monster attack to the shapeshifters and launched a thorough investigation but couldn’t uncover any more details.
That was expected — the shapeshifters were no amateurs and had been planning this for a while. What was unexpected, though, was the subsequent attack on The Sanctum of Radiance.
According to the reports, another horde of simians commanded by three cloaked figures had rampaged through the Sanctum. The monster horde had ravaged many sections of the building but couldn’t breach or damage the secured vaults.
Fortunately, no officials were injured during the attack; they evacuated safely with the guards shielding their escape. The monsters were dispatched with ease—they weren’t that powerful.
However, the three mysterious figures had vanished from the scene. The city had attributed the attack to escaped shapeshifters who had evaded capture earlier. After all, it was already clear that they were skilled beastmasters and responsible for the previous attack on the city.
Alaric had his own theory. The Church had other enemies—the Witches. His intuition urged him to believe the witches had played a role in this; the timing was too convenient.
He speculated that if someone had been monitoring his fight with the werewolves that day and witnessed the witches saving him, they might suspect some kind of connection between him and the witches.
To eliminate that risk, the witches had assaulted the Sanctum of Radiance afterward. It wouldn’t be unnatural for witches to target a Church establishment, albeit a very risky move. But these witches were powerful enough to escape unscathed.
Of course, none of this could be proven. It was all speculation on his part. He had hoped the witches would reach out after a while — it was the best time to do so since Edgar was not around — so he could ask them directly. However, they hadn’t made any attempts at contact.
This led him to believe they were content with observing Alaric from a distance. The witches had only revealed themselves to save him from certain death.
On that note, when he relayed everything that had transpired that day to the count, his father’s expression didn’t falter in the slightest. Even when Alaric divulged his suspicions regarding the witches.
Alaric knew countless calculations were unfolding in his father’s mind at that moment, but the count hadn’t disclosed any of them to him.
The count had rebuked him for acting recklessly and endangering his life but hadn’t delivered the punishment Alaric had expected. Fortunately, Rennard wasn’t really punished either, even though the sergeant had shouldered all the blame.
His father had the wisdom to grasp the situation completely. If they hadn’t stopped to help the helpless city people, the werewolves would’ve attacked them en route to the estate.
A confrontation with them that day had been inevitable either way.
He studied the new runic bracelet, which the count had swapped for the old cracked one after three days. For a powerful artifact, these runic bracelets weren’t very durable. He chuckled in amusement.
A familiar presence pulled him out of his musings — it was Edgar. Finally, I’ve been bored out of my mind.
Without Edgar, Alaric hadn’t been allowed to train alone in his usual spot. So he spent his time delving into The Howling Expanse and continuing his bone, blood, and muscle reforging sessions.
Even though he eagerly wanted to reforge his skin and lungs, it wasn’t an option inside the estate.
The young child of a count couldn’t be seen wandering around in filthy clothes. Not that we could do so inside the Whispering Woods either.
There was no way to teleport back to his room, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to trudge back to the mansion covered in grime.
“I’ve been gone for only a week, and I hear you’ve already stirred up some trouble,” his mentor said with a cheeky smile, extending his hand.
Alaric ignored the joke. Instead, he grasped Edgar’s hand and said, “Took you long enough to get back. You missed all the fun,” before vanishing.
***
“So, you think they were witches, and they saved you and Rennard from the beastmen?” asked Edgar.
Alaric had shared his thoughts with Edgar regarding the events of that day, even though he was certain the head butler had already scrutinized all the reports. After hearing his speculations, Edgar adopted a thoughtful expression, as if immersed in some deep thought.
“If that’s true, we owe the witches a big one.” The head butler clicked his tongue. “And they never fail to collect on their dues.”
Alaric had anticipated as much and was prepared to entertain any reasonable request they might make — so long as it wasn’t illegal or truly abhorrent.
After a few more rounds of clarifying questions, Alaric finally settled down and retrieved the brownish, marble-sized pill - the peak-grade skin-reforging pill he had procured from The Argent Flask.
By now, he was fairly familiar with how pills and elixirs functioned in this world. Wasting no more time, he ingested the pill and concentrated on optimizing the digestion process by channeling mana into his stomach.
Unlike his previous experiences with pills and elixirs, the skin reforging pill slid down his throat smoothly. So far, he wasn’t experiencing any pain, burning sensations, or unease—neither in his stomach nor elsewhere.
But he was wise enough to know it was only a matter of time before the pill revealed its true nature. He braced himself for any sudden shifts—changes in awareness, temperature fluctuations, vivid hallucinations—but nothing happened.
When ten minutes passed with no reaction, a grim thought crept into his mind. Have I been scammed by that store manager?
No sooner had that thought surfaced than a wave of electricity surged up his spine from his core, spreading through his entire body. Alaric gritted his teeth, fighting to maintain his awareness as it threatened to separate from his body.
The chill rolled in waves, getting stronger each time, battering against his senses. Here we go!
The insides of his body hollowed out, a cold void swelling until it pressed against the boundary of his skin.
However, instead of fear, he felt exhilarated. Experiencing new states of consciousness was half the thrill of the reforging process.
He envisioned his skin stretched across his body in vivid detail. With his heightened senses, he discerned its rough texture, suppleness, and form, encasing him like an intricate tapestry.
Everything else faded as these sensations consumed his mind. Soon, he perceived his awareness shrinking, the wall of skin rushing toward him, expanding in size.
The outermost skin cells unraveled, unfurling as they expanded. It was exhilarating to observe the delicate web of nerve endings, oil and sweat glands, and hair follicles embedded deep within.
Finally, he peered into a deeper layer—fat, connective tissue, and larger blood vessels sprawling beneath.
By now, he was shivering - the chill that gripped his body had turned icy cold. Every hair follicle bristled from the cold. Goosebumps rippled across his flesh. A few moments longer, and his awareness would sever completely from the rest of his body.
Before that could happen, Alaric channeled a drop of energy from his solar plexus chakra to boost his mana control and activated [Restorative Flow] to aid the reforging process.
Immediately, a warm current of energy seeped into his ice-cold skin, dulling the pain significantly. His awareness plunged deeper, revealing countless damaged skin tissues riddled with microtears and inflammation.
A moment later, the pull of gravity separated him from the intricate network of cells, blood vessels, nerve endings, hair follicles, oil and sweat glands, connective tissue, and fats.
Insights cascaded into his mind, and he sank into a blissful state. It was fascinating—this elaborate network of blood vessels, fat, and sweat glands that performed countless functions while appearing as something passive.
But bliss never lasted long. A tremendous itching sensation crawled through his skin. It wasn’t painful — just maddeningly irritating.
The irritation wasn’t on the surface but woven between the layers, where no nails could reach. The temptation to stop the reforging session and scratch himself raw was overwhelming.
But of course, he harnessed his willpower to the limit and pressed on, absorbing every morsel of insight.
The itching mutated, morphing into sheer agony — like a razor-sharp blade scraping the skins off of his bones. Skin cells, blood cells, and sweat glands disintegrated and reformed, again and again, in a relentless cycle.
He was teetering on the edge of losing control. But Alaric had learned his lesson from his muscle-reforging experiments. He didn’t hesitate a second longer — he channeled a drop of heart chakra to fuel his healing skill.
The ripple of green healing energy intensified, radiating a brilliant glow as it accelerated the mending of his skin. Then, something unexpected occurred — his partially reforged blood and muscles absorbed the healing energy and assisted in stabilizing the process.
Hmm… that’s interesting. The thought drifted to the back of his mind almost as soon as it surfaced.
The worst of the pain was finally over — the healing energy coursing through his body was fulfilling its purpose. After a while, time blurred, and he lost all sense of how long he had remained in that state.
When his awareness returned, his skin felt taut, denser, yet more supple. Most noticeably, it emanated a faint glow, a sign that it had been deeply nourished.
The layers of his skin were now interwoven with a barely discernible current of electricity. How this would affect him moving forward, he wasn’t sure—but he was eager to find out. Alaric exhaled and opened his eyes.
Now, let’s see how effective this session was.
Skin Reforging:
Reforging Progress - 5%
Mana Infusion Potency - 4%
Once again, he was pleasantly surprised by how much he had advanced. By infusing a touch of chakra energy and activating his healing skill, he had managed to expedite the reforging process.
I wonder what Edgar and my father would think of this?
Initially, Edgar had advised him to reforge only three to four aspects of his body—anything more would be reckless. Spreading his focus too thin would hinder his progress. Besides, the process itself was highly resource-intensive.
Alaric knew arguing with him would be pointless. Instead, he had rationalized that using the pills and elixirs he had acquired from the Tutorial Rift as an excuse to reforge more aspects might sway Edgar’s opinion.
Edgar had remained skeptical, but when Alaric demonstrated his rapid progress, the head butler could no longer refute him. In the end, he had simply accepted that Alaric was a generational talent.
Of course, Edgar still didn’t know that Alaric intended to reforge all seven aspects of his body. He chuckled at the thought.
“I don’t understand you, kid,” Edgar grumbled. “Every time you reach this close to decimating your body, and yet, you always emerge stronger. And now you’re laughing about it.”
Alaric’s grin widened as he reached for the stick Edgar extended toward him. “It’s a family secret.” He knew Edgar didn’t believe a word of it, but it was amusing to tease him a bit.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Edgar replied, waving the stick in the air with a mischievous glint in his eye. “I suppose I’ll also keep quiet about the gift I procured for you on my trip.” He let out a winning smile.
Alaric stopped, his hand hovering just short of the stick. “Wait… what gift?” he pressed. “Come on, tell me!”
Edgar’s smile widened as he offered the stick once more. “I’ll tell you later. First, get that stench off your body. You need a bath. Right now.”
Oomph…somebody’s mood is sour.
Alaric conceded to his request and grabbed the stick. He really couldn’t fault Edgar’s logic. It was always better to receive good news while feeling fresh. They disappeared into the wind.
Comments
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapters! :-)
Some Guy
TFTC
