The Asshai's Bloodmage

 Early in the morning I skip sword class and common language lesson and head to the new lab. I've booked him in for the next 7 days in the morning to help Fatty and Omar with their alterations, I've decided to include Jhon so he can follow the process and decide what his own alteration will be. As I said before, I don't plan on charging these three anything. Fatty is the first to arrive, he starts explaining what he plans to do. In short, he wants muscles and more strength, not too concerned with agility. I have him do some tests to assess his current parameters, I record his height and weight and test his weightlifting strength, since his own weight is over 150 kilos he is already quite strong, I'll need to remove some of the fat while I give him denser muscles and stronger bones, while also healing some of the problems that obesity has caused. He seems determined to keep wearing that heavy full body armor, so having more strength and less weight will help him a lot in close combat.

I remind him that what I'm giving him through the alteration is about 10-20% permanent and the other 80% he needs to maintain through exercise. He can still eat whatever he wants, but he needs to do hypertrophy exercises so he doesn't start losing some of the strength and muscle I'm going to give him. Basically I'm giving him what 2-5 years of gym and diet could give him, with a little extra, strengthening his body structure to a superhuman level. I make some notes in the system about getting this equipment from my blacksmith and setting up a training area on board so I can train a little too.

Omar arrives 20 minutes later, already accompanied by Jhon, and starts explaining that he wants a way to breathe underwater. I think about it for a bit and mention gills, but when I explain what they look like and show him the corpse of one of the monsters, a look of disgust remains on his face. I continue so as not to discourage him:

"Maybe there is another way to give someone a greater lung capacity... I've been thinking about a way to increase someone's resistance to poisons by giving their liver greater capacities. If it's possible to do this in the liver, it should be able to give someone better lungs. With the capacity to absorb more oxygen, the lungs would need to breathe less. Forget holding your breath for several minutes underwater. This could give you immense stamina during a prolonged battle..."

"I have the idea of ​​creating something similar to crystals inside the lungs that, during normal breathing moments, could absorb the excess and keep it for moments when there is no air coming in. The second option would be to reduce and divide the gills to a size that is not visible. Instead of lateral gills under the armpits or neck, I could place them in tiny sizes spread all over the back, it would almost look like small pores."

Omar says he'll think about it, but I'm excited about these ideas about greater lung capacity, as they can increase the effects of my breathing spell. I put the ideas aside and start making changes to Gordo. I start by strengthening the bones of his spine, followed by his hips and legs. These bones are the foundation of the body and need to be stronger than the others. I take the opportunity to correct poor Zhang's spine. It looks like he's going to gain a few extra inches in height after this.

Then I start removing the fat from his cardiovascular veins to cover the costs and improve his cardiovascular capacity. I tell him to stand up and weigh himself. He's lost 12 kilos. It should be a little more, but the weight of his bones has also increased. I won't do much today, as I'll be dividing everything into several sessions over the next few days. When he stands up, I have to hold his pants up so he doesn't fall. He's fascinated and jumps around a bit, making everyone laugh. After that, he sits down next to me and I tell him to rest for a few hours before trying too hard.

Soon it's Omar's turn. I make him do several breathing tests and hold his breath for as long as possible in various situations, while I write everything down and also make him do a cardiovascular test, and only then do I begin. Omar is a healthy person and not very overweight; he only gained this excess weight thanks to my insistence on a diet with large amounts of calories.

I start the changes, but if we are talking about improving the lungs, first we need a slight improvement in the cardiovascular system and only then increase the alveoli for greater lung capacity. I only make a small increase today that improves circulation and heart capacity. He gets up and already notices a greater improvement in the amount of air he is able to store with a single breath. But I give him the same advice I gave to Fatty: rest for a few hours first before trying to do more tests, and make a decision. I also remind him that his weight is too low for the gill option and that it would be something that would be done over the course of at least 2 months.

After Fatty and Omar say goodbye, Jhon starts talking about the improved liver I mentioned. He says that this could be his first bodily improvement, but I tell him to wait for some tests first. When he leaves the lab, I bring one of the Valyrian pirates who has already undergone at least 3 or more alterations and I start running tests on him using the oxygen crystal theory and the improved liver. The tests don't go as well as I wanted. The crystal is practically like creating a new organ that doesn't exist or has never existed in the human body. When it comes to the liver, there are many problems with the various functions that the liver is responsible for. If I change it too much with the intention of improving the detoxification function, I can alter the entire system of converting fat into glucose and glucose into fat, not to mention the consequences of the liver never recognizing medicines as something good, but rather as poison. I don't understand how the system gave me this resistance function, but I've already gone through something similar when consuming alcohol and I'm lucky to have resistance to diseases. Otherwise, how would I consume medicines?

So I just do an organ augmentation and decide to monitor over the next few weeks how the guinea pig's entire digestive system will be for all types of food, weight gain and weight loss. In addition, I finally start making my own changes, I do a little strengthening of the bones in the spine and legs. But my focus is not on gaining strength but rather more agility and speed, so my change focuses on the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems as well as the strength and resistance of the tendons, especially in the legs. I hope to complete the initial steps of my own changes by the end of Omar and Fat's changes. Since the oxygen crystals were a completely new idea, I decide to test it on one of the live animals on board first. Since the fish are my only non-human guinea pigs and I don't want to risk losing the few Valyrians I have by creating a new organ.

And so 7 days pass, in front of me is a man weighing about 110 kilos and almost 2 meters tall. His muscles are almost tearing his shirt, his face with Valyrian features now even has a square and masculine chin visible. He has a smile that even after his drastic change in appearance still makes him look like an idiot. He looks at himself in the mirror that he took from his magic bag and starts to speak:

"Why are you surprised? I was always the most handsome among us, but you couldn't appreciate my previous healthy beauty."

Omar bursts out laughing and then says:

"Zhang, how will people look when I call you fat again in front of them?"

This time I'm the one who bursts out laughing, and I add that the affectionate nickname that highlighted his wealth and good nutrition has lost its usefulness. Fatty laughs and then starts jumping and punching the air. I then take out a completely new heavy silver-white armor from my inventory. It was one of the armors I acquired from the bag snatchings with Jack. It was made by the best blacksmiths in the city and with the best steel, second only to Valyrian magic steel. I then say:

"This one just needs a few adjustments. Take it to my blacksmith. The one you were wearing will take a lot of work to reforging on the ship." He agreed, putting it in his bag and left, saying that he would first go to cabin 10 to do other tests. Omar looks at me with a smile. The code "cabin 10" refers to the prostitutes and Gordo, who is now in shape with an enviable physique. He has always been a frequent visitor to this cabin since the voyage began. I turn to Omar and begin to tell him everything that was done to him. Just like me, our cardiovascular and pulmonary systems were improved to the maximum that our current weight allowed at the time.

Omar had already chosen the gills when he said that the crystals can work and that he shouldn't invest so much in this ability, I reminded him that he was a mage with an affinity for the water element and could have something that could cover this function with magic. In the end, he agreed to wait for the oxygen crystal experiments and just gain weight in the remaining months of the trip. Speaking of gaining weight, as soon as Omar left, I went to a small area of ​​the deck that I occupied even at the cost of irritating Henry a little, but when I reminded him that we have two ships now he accepted it better, there are several familiar items from my previous world. A small backyard gym was set up here, using the ingots that had the lowest value from the last cargo I obtained, I asked the blacksmith to forge these various items to help Fatty train on board. There is a small primitive machine that can be used for straight and inclined bench presses with several weight plates and dumbbells.

Aside from the "gym", I also had the idea of ​​using the Separation skill on meat and eggs to remove their protein, and this greatly improved the protein and calorie intake we need daily to continue our alterations. This also gave me a brilliant idea to earn more money when we get to Asshai. I've been careful and thoughtful about what to sell or trade from my previous world to avoid causing unnecessary technological advancements, but this really would be something simple and quite profitable in the long run. I leave the protein thoughts for when I get to the next city, and start heading to my cabin. The gym is only for Gordo, even though I use it from time to time as a form of leisure, I don't need it because I can use Alteration on myself to convert fat into mass, and it would only be annoying to have to do this constantly on Zhang if he stopped training. After returning to my cabin, night falls quickly and once again it's time for another meeting of the Order of Sages.

Special thanks to Patreons:

Sage's Supporter: Parsa

Magic Apprentice: Pato Senalima