<h4>Chapter 120 - Body Enhancement</h4>


    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 pir with two rotating, open palms at the top. He observed it for a moment before cing the Blood Race''s heart between the hands.


    <i>Whoosh...</i>


    A gust of wind blew from nowhere, and a small vortex of ck mist materialized on the stone hands. Momentster, 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 avable for exchange:


    Beast Blood (Crow): take the voucher to the Daybreak Hospital at ck 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 ck 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 ck 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 circte through the body thousands of times, elerating the process and achieving instantaneous enhancement (Reminder: two essences for one unit of secret soul)."


    Cassius was rooted in ce, processing the information in his mind. He contemted each option, from the first to thest.


    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 thest one—the power of the secret soul! By simply imagining himself practicing the Secret Technique, the power of the secret soul would circte within his body and elerate the process!


    This was the true training elerator. 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. Althoughbat 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 formidablebat power early on, they were dangerous and had significant drawbacks. Not to mention, there were risks involved with undergoing surgery to gain power.


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Plus, even if it was sessful, the ability would be skewed. One would only temporarily gainbat 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 Sectsted only about ten minutes duringbat, 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 asional bacsh.


    Those Dao weren''t even in the same league as the Covert Martial Arts, which emphasized physical breakthroughs that aimed forprehensive and well-rounded power. Cassius was currently at the pugilist level which focused on physical strength but supposedly, theter 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, reced by the sound of pattering rain. He surveyed his surroundings. At some point, ck rain had begun to fall into the chamber. Cassius looked up at the ceiling, where ayer 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, bing increasingly substantial and easier to sense. It was a small, warm current.


    Its form was oddly simr 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?


    The rain in the chamber abruptly stopped. Cassius opened his eyes and looked around, only to find the groundpletely 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. Havingpleted the offering, the stone pir in the center slowly began to close its rotating hands, eventually sping 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 stimting 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 werepleted in an instant. His once pale skin turned crimson, and sweat poured from his nds, drenching his ck clothes. A sizzling sound seemed to being 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 nced at the upper right corner.


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


    [Elephant Soul Iplete: 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 Iplete: 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 elerator.


    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 elerate this training yielded surprisingly good results!


    <i>Pa! Pa!</i>


    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 <i>swoosh</i>, Cassius''s fists struck out like javelins and swiftly sliced through the air. A faint whistling sound could be heard. Afterpleting 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 rtive 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, theirbat 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 umbre 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 ck Rain Manor''s enhancement truly was. ording to the information he had obtained earlier, the legend of ck Rain Manor was rooted in ancient history. There might be traces of it in every era.


    Despite the fact that the ck 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 reced were weaker. If his strength plummeted, he might not be able to handle the situation at hand. Fortunately, ck Rain Manor could prove to be extremely valuable since he could quickly regain his strength bypleting missions. The ck Rain Manor was going to prove beneficial to Cassius in future time-travel missions when he went to fulfill the previous owners'' lingering attachments.