Chapter 120 - Body Enhancement

Cassius looked around but couldn't locate the source of the voice. He looked down at the mark on his right hand and instantly understood. He immediately opened the box and took out a faintly quivering heart. It belonged to a Blood Race so it was extremely resilient. Even though many days had passed, it still had some vitality in it, though it had shrunk significantly in size and was currently about two-fifths the size of a normal human heart.

Holding the heart in one hand, Cassius walked to the center of the private room. He stood before a chest-high stone pillar with two rotating, open palms at the top. He observed it for a moment before placing the Blood Race's heart between the hands.

Whoosh...

A gust of wind blew from nowhere, and a small vortex of black mist materialized on the stone hands. Moments later, the airflow dissipated, and the heart had vanished.

The deep voice echoed in Cassius's ear again. "Two units of dark essence have been extracted. The following items are available for exchange:

Beast Blood (Crow): take the voucher to the Daybreak Hospital at Black Rain Manor for a blood injection. This blood enhances agility, but carries some risk for failure (1.5 essence).

Blue Mercury (Inferior): take the voucher to the Craniotomy Clinic at Black Rain Manor for a craniotomy. This mercury affects the enemy's blood and the user's eyes (2.0 essence).

Howling Mouth (1 piece): take the voucher to the Arthropod Hall at Black Rain Manor for a grafting surgery. The Howling Mouth, taken from a dead Sound Demon, can produce sonic attacks (1.6 essence).

Tendara Burning Poison (Knowledge): administered in the Baptism Chapel, this poison causes a unique burn that water and wind cannot extinguish. It is doubly effective against dark creatures (1.2 essence).

...

10. Power of the secret soul: can be used to enhance three dimensions of physical attributes. Examples of such attributes include but are not limited to strength, speed, and defense. It can also improve the Secret Techniques mastered by the marked-one simply by imagining themselves practicing the Secret Technique when using the power of the secret soul. The power will circulate through the body thousands of times, accelerating the process and achieving instantaneous enhancement (Reminder: two essences for one unit of secret soul)."

Cassius was rooted in place, processing the information in his mind. He contemplated each option, from the first to the last.

After mulling over all of his options, he came to the conclusion that the various supernatural Dao listed at the beginning weren't the most marvelous, but the last one—the power of the secret soul! By simply imagining himself practicing the Secret Technique, the power of the secret soul would circulate within his body and accelerate the process!

This was the true training accelerator. The power of the secret soul could allow an ordinary person's body to instantly grasp Secret Techniques by transforming their physique into the most suitable form for it. Although combat techniques still needed to be learned, the physical foundation was already there. So long as they diligently practiced, mastery of it wouldn't be difficult.

He considered the other rewards but quickly lost interest. In Cassius's opinion, the Dao of the supernatural seemed somewhat deviant. While they were able to provide formidable combat power early on, they were dangerous and had significant drawbacks. Not to mention, there were risks involved with undergoing surgery to gain power.

Plus, even if it was successful, the ability would be skewed. One would only temporarily gain combat power when activating the ability, but in every other aspect, they wouldn't be any different from an ordinary person. At the end, the drawback from using the ability also wasn't merely inconvenient; it was crippling!

For instance, the beast form in the Werebeast Sect lasted only about ten minutes during combat, after which, the person would be weakened and need a long time to recover. Otherwise, ordinarily, they'd also likely be shot dead before they could even move, thus begging the question: was whipping out a gun faster or undergoing a transformation?

Then there was the Mercury Sect, with craniotomy side effects that caused daily headaches. Overusing the ability might even knock you unconscious. And don't even bother mentioning the Dark Sect! Only one organ in the entire body could be enhanced with dark creature powers, with the additional risk of occasional backlash.

Those Dao weren't even in the same league as the Covert Martial Arts, which emphasized physical breakthroughs that aimed for comprehensive and well-rounded power. Cassius was currently at the pugilist level which focused on physical strength but supposedly, the later stages would involve mysterious aspects of the mind, such as force, aura, and willpower.

With such a clear and noble Dao before him, naturally, he wasn't going to choose the other strange and perilous options. Without hesitation, he exchanged all the rewards for the power of the secret soul.

"Exchange confirmed: one unit of power of the secret soul."

The voice in Cassius's ear gradually faded, replaced by the sound of pattering rain. He surveyed his surroundings. At some point, black rain had begun to fall into the chamber. Cassius looked up at the ceiling, where a layer of dark gray mist hung like low-lying clouds.

The rain fell on his head, sliding down his hair. That iciness couldn't be the product of some illusion; it was real rain.

As the raindrops hit his skin, Cassius felt something burrow into his body. At first, it was barely noticeable, but as the rain intensified, more and more of that presence seeped in, becoming increasingly substantial and easier to sense. It was a small, warm current.

Its form was oddly similar to lingering attachment energy, except lingering attachment energy was extremely cold. This current felt warm and was like hot blood flowing through his veins. Was this the power of one unit of secret soul?

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The rain in the chamber abruptly stopped. Cassius opened his eyes and looked around, only to find the ground completely dry, with no trace of the rain that had just fallen. Had that all been an illusion?

Ignoring this, he sat cross-legged next to the chamber wall. Having completed the offering, the stone pillar in the center slowly began to close its rotating hands, eventually clasping them together. The spacious chamber then fell into silence.

Cassius's mind quieted as he began to think back to him practicing the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts. Like a reflection in a clear mirror, the memory of him practicing the special movements, breathing techniques, and stimulating medicine from Elephant Soul surged in his mind.

He reviewed them in his mind two to three times before the power of the secret soul within him seemed to sense something and exploded, spreading throughout Cassius's body like mist. A warm feeling engulfed him.

In the next second, he furrowed his brows tightly as a faint prickling sensation emerged on his skin. It was as if dozens of needles were piercing his body. The prickling grew stronger, and the number of needles increased until there were ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand...

Cassius's entire body began to tremble slightly, as changes that would have taken months or even half a year were completed in an instant. His once pale skin turned crimson, and sweat poured from his glands, drenching his black clothes. A sizzling sound seemed to be coming from his flesh, like his whole body was roasting in a furnace.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the pain stopped. Cassius immediately opened his eyes and shook his body. His skin, muscles, and bones all began to crackle, and his physique grew a full size bigger.

He twisted his neck, his joints cracking crisply. As he examined his body, Cassius noticed that Twilight's body had grown two to three centimeters taller, and his muscles had begun to bulge. If he was considered weak and scrawny before, his current form looked like he could at least put up a fight. Cassius instinctively glanced at the upper right corner.

[Wind Elephant Fist Incomplete: Elephant Herd 67.3% (Total Three Stages)]

[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Bug Bite 43.2% (Total Three Stages)]

Wind Elephant Fist was lit up, while Elephant Soul was dim, indicating that Cassius had not regressed from his pugilism stage, only that his physical prowess had been suppressed since he was in Twilight's body. There was a small, flickering, illuminated entry underneath the dim Elephant Soul entry.

[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Prickling 5.1% (Total Three Stages)]

This was where Twilight's body was currently at in terms of his training.

After some careful analysis, the peak of the Federation's fifth stage was revealed to equate to the peak of the amateur stage—roughly the equivalent of the mid-professional level. The current stage of Elephant Soul was slightly higher, just above the peak of the Federation's fifth stage.

Previously, Twilight's physical prowess hovered somewhere between the Federation's third and fourth stages, just above the peak of stage three. This meant that one unit of power of the secret soul had directly boosted physical prowess by two stages! It was truly the best training accelerator.

Physical prowess wouldn't usually increase this dramatically just from one unit of power of the secret soul. The main reason it did was because Cassius had trained in the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts which was specifically designed to enhance physical strength. Using the power of the secret soul to accelerate this training yielded surprisingly good results!

Pa! Pa!

In the chamber, Cassius stood with his feet apart. One foot was forward while the other stood firmly back. His entire body's center of gravity lowered, he held his fists up at his sides, like a boxer. A sense of solid and powerful strength immediately welled up within him.

With a

swoosh

, Cassius's fists struck out like javelins and swiftly sliced through the air. A faint whistling sound could be heard. After completing a simple set of boxing techniques, he retracted his fists and his breathing gradually calmed down.

Cassius's ability to control his sudden enhancement in physical prowess with relative ease was because he had once mastered an even greater strength; it was just that simple. If it were an ordinary Hellsing, it would have taken them at least half a month to a month just to get used to the power. Not to mention, their combat techniques may not even be able to keep up with their physical prowess.

Pushing open the door, Cassius left the chamber and walked out of the Baptism Chapel. He opened his umbrella and began walking back to his residence. His heart was pounding, not just because his strength had been restored, but because he had confirmed just how effective Black Rain Manor's enhancement truly was. According to the information he had obtained earlier, the legend of Black Rain Manor was rooted in ancient history. There might be traces of it in every era.

Despite the fact that the Black Rain Manor would sometimes disappear, Cassius felt his mood lift. By using a legendary antique to return to the past, it was very possible the original owners that he replaced were weaker. If his strength plummeted, he might not be able to handle the situation at hand. Fortunately, Black Rain Manor could prove to be extremely valuable since he could quickly regain his strength by completing missions. The Black Rain Manor was going to prove beneficial to Cassius in future time-travel missions when he went to fulfill the previous owners' lingering attachments.