No Pain, No Gain.

'With that out of the way, let's get things started.' Cynthia took the cap of the test tube and drank the serum in one gulp.

She could feel a somewhat sweet taste of lemonade on her tongue as the liquid flowed down without a hitch.

he then felt an unprecedented warmth in her stomach. this warmth was very comforting as it flowed all through her body before retracting and going up to her spine.

The warmth reached her head. At this moment, there was sharp pain of ten thousand needed poking her brain simultaneously.

She fell flat on her back as she grape her head and made an expression distorted by the nasty pain.

There was a melting pain that made her want to grab her hair rip it out. She opened her mouth and for the first time in her life, she screamed in immense pain.

It was a shriek that would send shivers into their very soul as they would not be able to imagine the pain that was contained within.

Luckily, the system could isolate sounds as it was a necessary function that prevented people from listening to her conversations with other traders.

As she felt her brain being stewed in lava, she was squirming on the bed and was starting to lose her energy. For some reason, she could not go unconscious even though the pain was something that could incapacitate most humans.

Humans had all sorts of natural defense systems that assisted them in survival. For example, your body is the one heating itself up on purpose when you get infected. It is to harm the pathogen.

The same thing happens when facing immense pains in short periods of time. The brain is coded to shut down in order to prevent shock or trauma.

This time, however, Cynthia just lay there weekly as she had lost the energy to struggle. Her limp body was staring at the ceiling of her room with blank eyes but the pain did not subside.

She could not even scream. It was only after enduring 5 minutes of hell did the pain mysteriously subsided and her eyes lids fell. She was unconscious.

...

9 hours later

Saturday, 5:00 AM

Cynthia opened her eyes and rubbed them as she sat up while massing her forehead. She very quickly came to terms with the pain she felt but could not speculate the reason for it to be so drastic.

The serum was something that was developed on its home planet for decades and became painless over time. Even the system authenticates that as a fact.

'Why am I so warm?' Cynthia questions as she remembered that she had not tucked herself in bed and was just laying at the very foot of it. She found herself somehow tucked very snuggly inside her plush quilt.

[About that, I apologize for what happened last night. It was my oversight. I know it's not enough so this system had decided to let the system have a good night's rest. The system has tucked you in and played your favorite white noise of heavy snow against a log cabin. The system has even used your favorite scented candles to make sure the sleep is of the highest quality.]

The usually monotone voice of the system was quite flustered at this time and sounded as if it was actually apologetic.

'Does it have feelings? Maybe it's just a part of its code,' Cynthia found the system's tone strange but also understood that it was not lying.

She did feel awfully refreshed even though the pain she went through was unbearable and should have left her in a miserable state.

"What exactly did you screw up?" she asked. It said that there was some oversight on its end and she was owed an explanation for what went wrong.

[As soon as the serum entered your body, it came in contact with the mana within. This caused an adverse reaction as the mana amplified the effects of the serum.

This made the serum 3 times more potent, caused your brain to be unable to cope with the drastic changes. The world from which the serum comes does not have mana and that is something the system should have taken into account. ]

Cynthia got up from her bed and walked toward the bathroom as she heard the system explanation. She splashed water on her face to get the residue of sleepiness out.

[ I have already sent a special compensation request to the system management. They will compensate the user generously for the blunder.]

Cynthia nodded and then took her toothpaste and brush. She stayed silent while brushing, she rinsed her mouth, changed into a set of black and white track pants.

She took a pair of white running shoes and left the house. She started jogging around the vast estate after some simple stretches.

She only ran out of stamina after half an hour and felt like that was enough for the first day. She walked over to a garden where some servants were maintaining the flowers and other plants.

They all took glances at her once in a while as it was a pleasing scene.

With her beautiful face, cold yet serious expression, and blank gaze, she was doing push-ups and curl-ups.

She was only able to do 10 pushups before her arm gave out and about 50 sit-ups before hunger struck. Her stomach had already constricted from both the hunger and energetic sit-ups.

She stood up and adjusted the hair drenched in her sweat to the side of her face and behind her ears. The servants felt a fire that motivate them to exercise as well but they knew very well that they were aged.

Their bodies probably didn't have a portion of this young girl. As the servants watched her feeling figure, they commended the newest young miss for showing interest in living a long and healthy life.

'They were happy to see that she was willing to put in the effort to get ready to use her superpowers. Superpowers that were fueled by mana, could not be used effectively without a healthy body. This was common knowledge.

As for why this was the case, none of the servants knew as there was no reason for them.

All this while, the system suffered in silence. Its host was not responding to what it said earlier as if she was dead and ut didn't exist.

This felt very awkward and made the system feel strange pressure. It was worried thinking that either something went wrong or the user was discontented bit its failure. Both were things it could not afford.

After getting back to her room and taking a cool shower in order to assist with the oncoming muscle soreness.

She put on a white button-up shirt and didn't close the top two buttons as it showed off her exquisite neck and collarbones. It was also so she could display her cross necklace that had a light blue gem embedded in the middle.

She then found a pair of light blue jeans that perfectly outlined her slender and long legs. In her closet, she found a grayish trench coat stretched up until the point where her knees began.

The cuffs of the coat were fluffed with a wholly material and had small little, white hearts dotted all over it making it simple yet unique. She put this trench coat a pair of elegant shite heels on the side.

And with that, she had created a very simple yet charming and elegant outfit. It wasn't gorgeous and did not make one look rich with the first look.

It was when someone takes a second look would that noticed that each piece was of high-quality materials and from high-end brands. It's just that the brand logos were small and very subtle.

This was the look of a mature and lowkey young, rich girl that knew to style very well.

After appreciating her outstanding looks and dress sense in the mirror, she sat in front o her desk and powered her PC.

"I don't feel any emotions relating to the pain last. It's as if the emotion was drained from specifically the memory. I become an emotionless doll on the inside as well when I try to think about it."

Cynthia broke the silence and the system sighed in relief as it was pretty young and was unsure of what must be done in order to appease the user.

The system was glad that she did sound angry and was just curious and testing her doubts about last night.

[In order to protect the user's mental stability and health, the system has isolated your emotions relating to the incident. This is all to protect the user from any possible harmful side effects of the serum that could have been caused by the serum's mutation.]

Cynthia's eyes narrowed as he heard this and the corners of her mouth curved down.

"Return them," she demanded coldly.

[What?]

"My emotions belong to me." The system could hear the stubbornness in her voice and knew she would not concede.

Even though she could not concede, the system had its reason for blocking those emotions as it was worried about her mental health. It knew she went through a lot in the past timeline and somehow persevered through it all.

It knew that she is has been strong this entire time even if she had to go through death and back.

Cynthia understood that the system was doing it for her safety but she knew she could handle it well. Even though the system had detached her emotions and made her memory of last night hazy, she was sure to be able to handle the pain.

'I had gone through the heart-shattering pain of accepting my death. Accepting that I wouldn't be able to see my mother again. Accepting that I would be able to spend my years with the person that completes me.

Accepting that I won't get to have a lovely future with a small and cozy family of people I love and that love me back.

I even put aside all the regrets that I had built up and forgot about the many goals that I had yet to achieve.

What did I get for making such concessions? Life. I got a second life and was sent back to the past, to a time that I consider the worst period of my life.

There is nothing worse for a person that has accepted their death wholeheartedly.'

If the system could cry, it would be bawling its eyes out but unfortunately, it wasn't high enough level to emulate all emotions. Only some.

Despite that, it wanted to comfort her and give her a sense of ease so it immediately contracted those that were responsible for its creation, the system's parents.

...

Space, a beautiful space with infinite stars and bright colored gases of unknown origin swirled at a visible speed. In this breathtaking landscape where there were no planets, meteors or junk of any kind sat a tower.

A spiraling tower made from a material that changed into different colors in different parts. It seemed etherial, like something that would come from one's fantasies.

This tower that stretched for what seemed like infinity, sat the vague figure of an imposing giant. A giant lady with a killer figure and a crown of silver. At the center of the crown shone an enchanting red jewel that was cut in a heptagonal pattern.

This lady sat on a dark throne and her features were covered with a grayish-white fog.

Ding!

A light blue screen that only she could see appeared before her eyes. Eyes that opened wide in surprise. Her vague lips contorted into a smile as her eyes became amiable and filled with motherly love.

On her screen was a messaging app that displayed a conversation between her and someone else.

Her username was [ Empress of Heaven Shattering Empire ] while she had set the user name of the person contacting her to [My Precious Daughter ].

The user named [My Precious Daughter] saw a different scene as her own name was just [Daughter] and the person she talked to was named [Mother].

[Mother]: How are you, my precious child? Are missing home already?

[Daughter]: I am a fine mother. I do miss everyone but this is something I have to do to get learn how our world works firsthand.

[Mother]: Mother is happy to hear that you are doing well. What do want o talk about then?

The mother knew very well that her daughter wouldn't contact her so early after leaving home unless it was an emergency.

[Daughter]: Can you take a look at my host's data? I made a big mistake and all the details are in there.

[Mother]: Sure.

With that said, the queen received a file containing the 3D model of her daughter's host. She saw the feminine figure and was glad that the hist wasn't a male.

She then quickly looked through a string of data that was a mix of numbers and strange symbols with no recognizable words insight. But these symbols are a language that the queen understands absurdly well.

[Mother]: It would be fine to give her emotions back. The serum mutation didn't affect her mentality even in the slightest. For a human, her willpower and mental strength is something that is extremely rare.

[Daughter]: Is it really okay? Are there really no side effects except the potency being 3 times higher?

Seeing her daughter so worried, the queen wanted to laugh but retrained herself as that would be an insult to her daughter's feelings. She had to ensure her daughter based on what was on the data.

[Mother]: It is absolutely safe. You don't have to be so worried my child. There are side effects but the bad are trivial and some are even beneficial.

[Daughter]: Can I get the bad ones first?

[Mother]: Firstly, she will often have mild migraines. They won't last long and won't happen every day. Second, she will be able to see all the mana around her. This is both good and bad.

Bad is because it will be active all the time. Good because she can use it to train the mana more efficiently and beings with mana cannot hide from her.

[Daughter]: How is it being active all the time negative. Isn't that positive?

[Mother]: My silly daughter, what if she sees someone with a mana level significantly above her.

[Daughter]: OH NOOO!!! She will feel dizzy, nausea, and puke blood. It is even possible for her eyes to become damaged.

[Mother]: Exactly, your host might be put in a horrendous state as there are people in her world that can cause such reactions. Hopefully, she doesn't meet them before she is strong enough.

[Daughter]: I hope so too mother. Well then, I will be leaving now. Take care.

[Mother]: You take care too my dear. Don't feel defeated by your mistake. Remember this is your first lesson. Without pains, there are no gains. One cannot rise without falling.

[Daughter]: I will ingrain that to my memory mother.

With her child disconnecting from the app, the giant queen sighed as she wondered \about how fats her children have grown.

She then looks over to the side where the second dark throne, one that is was the same size as hers, was empty.

Under the fog, her face contorted to an expression of longing. Her pristine, silver eyes fell into deep thought as she closed them.