Chapter 164 Using The Body Enchantment (Part 3)

While holding the Emberheart he had been given by the golden skeleton as a reward, Raydon closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and chanted.

''Body Enchantment. ''

When the body enchantment was activated, the crimson flames grew rapidly and soon covered the entire room in fire.

''Shit, These flames aren't going to burn the building, are they? '' Raydon, who was in the middle of the flames and was observing the sight of the blood-red flames raging inside the room, could not help but think that this would start a large fire even though he himself felt no heat.

The flames that had previously filled the entire room, however, abruptly began to pour in from his mouth and nose, leaving him no time to worry about burning his house.

As the smoke and flames entered his mouth and nose, Raydon, who had previously felt no heat from the fire, began to experience a sensation similar to melting.

He dropped to his knees suddenly, unable to move or even remember to breathe because of the searing pain that spread through every nerve in his body.

In the meantime, as he tried to take a deep breath to cool off, smoke began to rise from the black spot on his chest and the veins leading from it.

As the black spot continued to burn, it started to spread to other parts of Raydon's body. After starting at his neck, the veins made their way to his face and spread across his cheeks and forehead. Then it started to spread across his chest, first taking over his left shoulder and arm, then moving down to his right shoulder, waist, and hips.

He experienced a sensation similar to that of having hot irons held to his skin the entire time as the black veins spread across his entire body, belching out gray smoke as they did so. Slowly but surely, these veins covered Raydon's entire body.

After some unknowable amount of time had passed, his entire body was eventually covered in this dark thing from head to toe. The appearance of Raydon's veins had vanished, and the thing instead looked like a black, burning metal that melted on his entire body.

He was unable to utter a single sound because the pain had rendered him completely mute. He was hunched over, kneeling down, and just stood there. It was as if his human form had been replaced by a statue of black metal.

*Crack* *Crack*

As time passed and the metal-like substance on his body continued to burn, the smoke gradually lessened and eventually vanished. Then, little by little, pieces formed and poured off Raydon, removing his outermost layers of skin and revealing his original, flawless whiteness.

''AAAGGGHHHH… ''

Now that the black matter on him had drained to the ground and turned to ash, Raydon let out a scream he had been unable to utter before due to the intensity of the pain he was experiencing.

Then, completely exhausted, he collapsed to the ground, landing on the ash that had fallen from him.

'Shit… ' He cursed in his mind.

All he could do at this point was think because he had expended all of his mental strength trying to endure the pain. If not for the body enchantment he used a short while ago to strengthen his spirit, he most likely would have already fallen unconscious.

After resting on the floor for a while, he slowly got to his feet.

''Fuck this. I certainly hope the suffering was worthwhile. '' He cursed and began to observe internal changes.

''I feel like my body is stronger and more resilient than before, but is that all?'' Raydon muttered.

Even after using Ashen Heart, a white-grade body enchantment, he could tell that his strength had increased, but he wasn't noticing a significant boost right now.

Having spent some time trying to feel the differences in his body and having failed to do so, Raydon decided to move to the mirror on his closet to examine his new outward appearance.

But he only took one step onto the blanket before he felt a strange sensation beneath his feet, and smelled burning, and quickly took his step back.

''What the hell is this? ''

Right where Raydon had just stepped, there was a burned footprint on the blanket that was still steaming.

"What the heck is going on? " When he examined the blanket, he saw that it had been burned in a perfect footprint and even that some of the stone underneath it had been reduced to ash.

When he realized that his foot was to blame, he lifted it into the air to prevent burning another area, and this time he felt the same sensation he had just felt under his other foot.

"Are you serious?  Is everything I step on going to burn? '' Raydon started bouncing around, knowing full well that the stone and anything else he stepped on would instantly turn to ashes while belching out gray smoke. He was afraid that if he stayed in one spot for too long, he would break through the stone and crash to the ground below.

"Dude, doesn't it have a switch or something to turn it off? I can't even wear shoes like this. ''  He felt helpless in the face of his predicament. He wouldn't even be able to carry on with his normal life as a result of this.

While Raydon was thinking, he was leaving ash footprints all over his house as he avoided standing in one place for too long. And he soon recalled that his foot hadn't been burning the ground before he took his first step.

''So this is something I can control. I just need to determine the cause,'' he thought as he stopped all movement and the bouncing.

As he closed his eyes, attempting to recall his emotions just moments after using the body enchantment and determining what had sparked the fire, the stone floor beneath his feet continued to turn to ash.

And shortly thereafter, the smoke ceased to emanate from his feet, and the ground ceased to burn.

''So that's how to control this thing, huh? Damn, it looks like the side effect of this body enchantment will get me into trouble. ''

While he did figure out how to stop the burning effect, he also realized that the cause was very tricky to control.