Chapter 21: Price of stupidity

Seeing no way out of his situation, Eric just let himself fall under the baths water once again, at least there his screams wouldn't be audible and hopefully, he wouldn't die.

Entering under the water, just like the first time, at first started that soothing and comfortable massage, but right now even that was painful because he was over sensitive.

Just like that, the pain and torture started once again. But this time since his body was still delicate after the first tempering it got, the torture and pain he felt were more than double or triple of the first one.

Trying to take his mind off the pain, he tried to remember the times he had gone through such pain, but even those cases were rare, really rare.

There were only four or five cases, and that was including his death.

But his mind was once again brought to reality from the horrifying pain his body was going through. All his tries were useless in front of that pain.

He couldn't think of anything else besides his pain, maybe if he thought about his hateful half brother and Tina he would be able to divert his mind.

But that would just make things worse because then he would lose that little control he had over his mind.

There was nothing he could do, besides experience all that pain and torture, but the worst had yet to come.

For a moment he remembered that this wasn't the last of the Potion bottles he had emptied in this bath.

No this was just the second of them, he had later thrown 5 more bottles, but if with only two bottles he was experiencing something like this, he didn't want to imagine how five would feel.

He didn't want to even think of it actually, but his mind had already found a way to escape the torturous pain his body was going through.

Subconsciously his mind was going through the thought of what would happen later, it was sure that all this that happened until now would be a walk in the park.

But at least this somewhat lightened his pain at the moment, it made this tempering seem less bearable physically at this moment.

At the same time, it destroyed his mental fortitude for what was coming next.

At least he had two minutes to prepare himself before the last tempering happened. While it didn't look much, for him it was life important.

By now the bath was more filled with that stench and black matter than it was with water. It was truly behind his comprehension.

The first time he did such a thing the bathwater just changed color, it took a dark shade of gray, but this time the water was filled with that black liquid.

Not to mention the stench that was coming from it. It was disgusting, probably if he could, he would have thrown up numerous times.

But now wasn't the time to think about it, he had to think of a way to prepare himself, and he didn't seem to find any other choice besides the other two types of potions he had in his inventory.

He didn't want to squander those life-saving potions on this case just because of his stupidity, but there didn't seem to be any other way.

He had to use those if he wanted to be able to survive this stupid error that he made.

But there was another problem regarding that, he couldn't use his hands at all, and even his teeth, and lips were numb, so he had to think of a way he could drink those potions.

Well, he thought of a way but its success would depend on the fact if he could concentrate that much or not.

What he thought looked easy though, all he had to do was place the potion bottle on his lips, straight from the inventory, and then use all the power he could on his teeth to open it there.

It would truly be really difficult to do, but that was his only choice, and he had to do it as soon as he could because his time was expiring.

With that thought in mind, he immediately started concentrating on the Health potion on his inventory, and then he thought of it appearing on his mouth.

That was easier than he thought actually, but the real challenge started now. He had to open the Potion bottle with his mouth, which he still felt numb.

He had to do this, it was his only chance!

He thought of doing it with every single neuron of his brain, his only thought going through his head, was to use his teeth to bit on the cork and pull it off.

At first, it seemed like it would be impossible because he couldn't feel his teeth or his lips, it was like he never had them.

Just a moment later, some liquid started to fall at the back of his throat. He didn't even feel it with his lips or tongue, only when it came to the back of his throat.

Anyway, he didn't care much about that at the moment. The important thing was that he managed to drink that heal potion.

But more than half of his time was already up, without losing much time, he did the same thing once again, but this time he took a Low Spirit Power Potion.

This was going to be important too, if he didn't want to lose his mind due to the pain, he had to take this potion.

Using the same method as the first potion bottle he managed to drink this one too. But right now, his time ended, he could feel that soothing feeling coming before the torture.

He didn't have much time, throwing away the Low Spirit Power Potion bottle he had between his lips, he immediately concentrated on taking out another Health Potion.

As soon as the potion flask appeared in between his lips, his body fell underwater once again. He kept that flask on his mouth as an extra precaution, he had no idea of what would happen next.

It was better to be safe than sorry, that was what life had taught him for more than 1000 years. His family was the only thing where he never used that logic.

But that was in the past, from now on he would never trust someone blindly. He would never do the same mistakes again, otherwise what was the point of this second life.

He didn't have much time to think about it right now though, because hell seemed to start for him.

Just as he was about to clench his teeth, and open the flask on his mouth, everything suddenly turned white and he lost conscience.

It took a lot of time for him to gain his conscience back and open his eyes. At first, he didn't understand where he was, everything seemed to estranged to him.

That didn't last long though, because the stench coming from around him, made him perfectly remember where he was.

For a moment he couldn't move at all and thought that his body had been damaged so much that he had turned into a cripple.

With all that pain and torture he went through it wouldn't be a wonder if such a thing happened. But that wasn't the case, he could clearly feel his legs touching each other, so he wasn't crippled.

Trying to turn his eyes down to have a look at what was happening with his body, he was surprised by what he could see.

There didn't seem to be any drop of water on the bath, and that black liquid that had come out of his body had hardened around his body and the bath.

He didn't know how it had happened, but he was happy that his head was above that thing at least. That was until that stench hit his nose though, it was terrible.

He was trying to keep his breath and at the same time try to get out of that hardened black thing he was in. His only hope was that it wouldn't be difficult to get out of it.

Fortunately, it wasn't, even though the black matter had hardened around him, it was only coagulated and nothing more, so with a bit of effort, he managed to get out of it.

Getting out of that coagulated black matter, his body felt really light, his body stood straight like a steel bar, and his muscles were packing a lot of power, he could feel that.

It was just that he couldn't take a deep breath because his movement had already disrupted the coagulated black matter, and the stench smell just became stronger.

As a matter of fact, his whole body was covered in that black thing, he couldn't recognize himself. Not to mention that he didn't know what time was it at this moment.

It was at this time that the phone in his room rang, and disturbed his line of thoughts, but this was a good thing too, he could ask for the time.

Not caring much about his appearance he went to the phone and picked it up, immediately from the other side was heard the voice of the receptionist lady,

Receptionist:" Mister J, I have been trying to connect with you for a long time.

You closed the door the moment you went in, and we couldn't enter the place. I have been worried about your wellbeing, and the receipt.

We also have taken notice that there is a bad smell coming from your room!

This is already the third day you are staying there. Is everything okay?"

Eric was stunned for a moment, this was the third day? He didn't expect such a thing, it was totally crazy, but at least that explained why he felt so numb when he got out.

But now wasn't the time to be lost on his thoughts, because he heard the receptionists voice once again,

Receptionist:" Mister J, can you hear me?"

Recollecting himself, Eric took a deep breath and said…

(TO BE CONTINUED…)