NOVEL NEXT Chapter 184: Conditioning
The next day. At the outskirts of Mucktown.
Kraus and the other thugs kneeled on the ground.
"Welcome back, Lord Watcher!" They said in unison.
Siderius and Ashe stood in front of them. Ashe stood slightly beside Siderius like a thoughtful maid.
"Stand, my brothers. I believe the Handler must have told you about your next mission?"
"Yes, Lord Watcher!" Kraus said. His head was still lowering. "We will keep a close eye on the Bailiff and Thane Beaumort."
"Once you complete this mission, you can become an official member for our guild." Siderius said.
The thugs looked at each other with joy in their eyes.
Siderius continued. "But there is a choice. You can stay here at Mucktown and become a hidden eye for us. Or you will have to leave this place."
"Where... Where are we going, my lord?" Geolark, one of the thugs said.
"That you cannot know. But you do need to know that if you pass on this chance, you will forever be positioned in Mucktown. This is a one time offer." Siderius said.
Murmurings erupted in the thugs.
"Silence! How dare you speak without Lord Watcher's permission!" Ashe stepped forward and she shouted.
The thugs lowered their heads immediately.
"Please excuse our rudeness, my lady!" Kraus was the first to speak.
"Alright. You don't need to think about it now." Siderius continued. "You still have a mission to fulfil and days to spend. We will talk again once the attack happens."
"The attack, my lord?"
Their heartbeats spiked up. The thugs could feel something was going to happen. Something big.
Ashe raised an eyebrow which made the thugs lower their heads again. They knew they shouldn't ask.
"Ashe controls them very well. She has a talent for leading people." Siderius thought silently.
The thugs were dismissed. Ashe and Siderius returned to their hideout.
The first day after Siderius returned to Mucktown, he spent it to teach Ashe about Mercury Transformation and how to deal with it without the toxicity resistance of a witch hunter. He made a lot of Mercury Crystals while in Rose Springs so there wasn't any shortage of the prime.
For the first time ever, Ashe felt her head was going to explode from remembering all the signs. Even with the categorization that Siderius made, there was just too much to remember.
Siderius could see her face paler and paler the more things he said. Up to a point that Ashe's face had no amount of blood on it.
"Alright. We can end it here."
"Thank you, Master..."
Ashe was exhaustive even though her body didn't move a muscle. That was the reality of becoming an alchemist. She curled up on the stone bed inside the underground hideout.
Siderius let her rest for two hours in the afternoon then woke her up again for more training.
"Yes, Master?" She didn't have the chance to fix her messy hair before Siderius dragged her outside.
"Along with Mercury Transformation, you will now begin to condition your body as well."
For some reasons, Ashe felt the utmost horrific feeling in her heart. Her entire body instinctively shivered and shrunk back.
"What exactly is conditioning, Master?"
Siderius didn't answer. He smiled deviously.
Strength, Agility, Endurance and Stamina. They were the four core attributes of a body aside from Perception.
These four attributes could be trained and heightened naturally. Perception could only be increased by mutations or other supernatural means.
Siderius intended to let Ashe follow his simple training regime as well. But before that, he must make sure to get Ashe's body flexible and durable enough for the training.
Ashe's legs spread wide as she wailed like a baby. Her entire body trembled uncontrollably. Her muscles tensed up due to the pain and tears flowed out of the corners of her eyes like flash floods.
"Please stop, Master! I can't! It is too painful!"
Ashe grabbed Siderius' wrists tightly, begging him to stop.
"Pain is our instrument, my child. If you can't endure this much pain, you won't be able to survive our mutation process."
Siderius pushed harder.
Ashe bit her lips. She lowered her head and submitted to her fate.
Ashe was doing a split with her legs spread to either side. Siderius was standing behind her, pushing down on her shoulders to force the split to go lower. He had experienced this scene many, many times.
He himself also cried and screamed to the top of his lungs when he did his first split.
Many more men and women of the Hunter Association had also been broken by the split.
The actual nightmare for all witch hunters wasn't some monster. It was the torturous split that made them beg for the sweet release of death.
After a while, Ashe got used to the pain. The pain didn't decrease, she was only numb to it. At this point, Siderius let her go and told her to lay forward while keeping her legs split.
In this stance, her legs would slowly go further down because of the exhaustion and the split would spread wider. Ashe couldn't do anything. Silent tears flowed down to her cheeks as she endured the pain.
"Stupid Master!" Ashe cursed in her mind.
For some unknown reason, Siderius snapped his head toward her direction. His eyebrow raised.
"Master... I didn't..." Ashe smiled awkwardly.
"Focus."
"Yes, Master..."
Ashe continued to cry in silence.
While she's doing her split, Siderius spent his time and used some Fire plant and Water plant to make a conditioning balm. This conditioning balm was not as effective in healing as the Flesh Restoration Tonic. But healing wasn't the point.
The point was to only aid the healing so that the tearing muscles became stronger and the tendons were strengthened. The conditioning balm could be applied on the affected area to lower the pain and assist this process.
Ashe returned from her bath in the river and saw Siderius standing in front of the entrance to the underground hideout. Her wet hair stuck onto her shoulder.
"Master?"
"I placed a conditioning balm in there. Rub it around the muscles, the joints and the parts you are in pain. I will be waiting outside. Tell me when you're finished."
Ashe blushed gently and nodded. She went inside and closed the entrance to the hideout.