Chapter 21 - No Pain No Gain

Ango was on the ground twitching and groaning in pain. The blue lines from before returned and now they seemed to be pulsating with increasing intensity with each passing moment.

Little snow started running around Ango with worry.

Piere and Hawkwood didn't know what was happening but the gnome was stroking his beard and thinking, seemingly having an idea. After a few seconds, his eyes brightened and he told Hawkwood

"Take off the lad's clothes"

"Why?"

"Just do it, I need to see something"

Hawkwood quickly got to it. Ango was in too much pain to resist or even understand but his body kept twitching and moving, which made it difficult for Hawkwood to remove his clothes and Little Snow kept growling at him as a warning

Hawkwood looked at her and said "It's alright Snow, I'm trying to help him" and as if she understood, she stopped growling but still eyed Hawkwood with suspicion.

After he took off Ango's clothes, Hawkwood's expression became unsightly

"What is happening to him? It's like his body is being torn apart"

"AGHHHHHHHHH" his screams almost never stopped

Ango's skin was peeling off and regrowing, his muscles were getting destroyed and recreated, his bones were getting broken and repaired and strands of his hair were falling and growing. Every inch of his body was stuck in a cycle of destruction and healing and that was only what was visible to the due, underneath Ango's skin, the same was happening, his organs were going through the same painful cycle and even his veins collapsed, the blood inside them were expelled and they were made a new.

The sight was truly gruesome, it was like watching someone go through torture but with frightening speed. Little Snow tried to embrace him but he was twitching so much that it was impossible, the only thing she achieved was dyeing herself red.

Watching what was happening to Ango made Mckenzie wonder and he thought out loud

"Is his body getting reconstructed? But why"

Then he answered himself a moment later "He didn't have magic before so maybe his body is trying to adjust itself to it. Humans are physically weaker than other races but with this amount of regeneration …"

Then his eyes widen and he yelled with great urgency

"Quick, get the nutrition potions, there isn't much time"

This time Hawkwood didn't question him, he sprang into action and went over to a chest that was placed in the corner of the room and retrieved a batch of brown-colored potions.

Seeing him return, Piere told him

"Force feed him two of the potions, his body is cannibalizing itself"

Hawkwood's eyes widened and he immediately uncorked a potion and put the opening in Ango's mouth. Ango nearly broke the vial due to the pain he was experiencing so Hawkwood held open his jaws, and poured the potion directly into his mouth and closed it, forcing Ango to drink it; He repeated the action for the second potion.

They couldn't see what was happening inside of Ango but they could see that the potion had effects. Usually it would take time for most potions to get digested and their effect to manifest but Ango's body broke down the potion almost immediately and absorbed it; his body was acting like a black hole.

After he consumed the potion, Ango's pain didn't decrease but it intensified, he was getting more muscular, his bones were getting more resilient. The quality of his body was going far above what it was before.

The process went on for about an hour and Hawkwood kept feeding him potions. Nutrition potions were mostly used for those that could not eat for long durations of time so they were designed to provide necessary nutrition for someone to last a few days. Ango in this one hour had consumed nearly twenty.

After the ordeal was over, Ango fell unconscious, he had endured too much pain and his body was too tired to stay awake. It was not that Ango had a low pain tolerance, he was actually very used to pain but this went beyond simple pain. Piere and Hawkwood were standing to the side, looking at his body in wonder. The smell was terrible and there was blood and goo everywhere but the body at the center of it, except the face, all looked nothing like Ango.

"His height has not changed but his body almost looks like an orc's with all those muscles, and there is almost no shred of fat"

"Yeah the kid needs to eat a lot when he wakes up or his body will cannibalize itself to survive, for now feed him another potion so that his body doesn't decline when he's asleep"

Hawkwood nodded and fed him another potion and then said

"The kid had two rabbits with him and we have some parts of a bear-type beast, it should be enough for today"

….

"Why are we being attacked?" an unfamiliar voice came out of Ango's throat.

Ango could see a battlefield in front of him, thousands upon thousands of enemies were in front of him with bloodthirsty expressions. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, beasts, orcs, dragons and phoenixes littered the battlefield as far as his eyes could see. He didn't know what was happening but his body was moving without his will.

"The gods have allied to annihilate the human race" a distorted shadow beside him answered while tearing the body of an orc into two with its claws.

"But why?" Ango's body yelled again

The shadow paused, looked at the skies and said "Fear"

His body roared in response, a blue-colored flame in the shape of a sphere appeared in his palm as he went through a throwing motion. The flame was thrown hundreds of meters forward, in the middle of the enemies and exploded. The ground shook and screams were heard, hundreds of enemies died by the single spell.

Ango was in awe of what was happening, his body once again moved and looked back. behind him, he could see many people, humans, fighting, using different kinds of magic to obliterate their enemies but it was not enough; there were too many enemies.

But then the skies darkened, the clouds parted and figures started to descend but

…..

Ango woke up in a panic, drenched in sweat, his eyes looking for the enemies he was seeing a moment ago; he didn't even notice that he was naked.

He looked around and saw wooden walls, glasses, books, and different materials. He noticed that he had been lying on a make-shift bed made out of pelts. Little snow was beside him, licking his face and trying to fit herself into his embrace.

He sighed and thought to himself 'Another dream huh? I swear they are becoming more realistic every time but why were there so many humans that could use magic? Are these simply dreams? It looked too realistic to be a simple dream'

"Were you protecting me Little Snow?", the wolf nodded. Ango smiled and scratched her behind her ears, saying "Good girl"

He then suddenly remembered the things that had happened, he had absorbed the crystal and then the pain had overwhelmed him. He wanted to ask Hawkwood and Mckenzie what had happened to him but He couldn't see the du so he decided to get up and search for them outside.

He tried to stand up but he suddenly jumped, lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed

He then decided to push himself slowly off the ground but he nearly stood up just from the first push.

"What has happened to me???"

The door of the wooden house opened and Hawkwood appeared. He looked at Ango and said

"Oh you finally woke up, it's nearly nightfall, come let's eat and we'll talk afterward". He threw Ango's clothes, which were now clean, towards him and moved his hand as if to say 'Cover yourself'.

"Nightfall? Damn. Can you help me get up? Something's wrong with me" He tried to wear his trousers and nearly ripped them apart but Thankfully it was made out of pelts and resilient.

With an eyebrow arched, Hawkwood asked "Are you still in pain?"

"No that's not it, I tried to stand up but suddenly jumped, then tried to slowly push myself upwards but …"

Hawkwood didn't seem surprised, he chuckled and said "No wonder, have you looked at yourself? Your body is now far stronger than it was before. Try to get used to it, start by using the smallest amount of strength"

Ango started to do so and it nearly took him half an hour to get used to his new strength. He was surprised by the raw power he could exert, never had he in his life felt this way, he felt as if he could move a small boulder by himself.

The Trio walked out of the house, before he could even see anything, he smelled the sweet smell of meat getting roasted. Saliva threatened to fall out of his mouth and his stomach growled. A small bonfire was there, near the house and chunks of meat skewered on wooden spikes were getting roasted on it, Some rabbits that he had caught, some from the bear Hawkwood had killed he reckoned.

Mckenzie looked at him and chuckled

"Come, eat first, we'll talk later"

Ango nodded and almost ran to the bonfire. He grabbed a spike and bit into the tender flesh, almost burning himself but he didn't stop. He didn't forget to leave some meat aside for Little snow.

'So hungry…'

...

Around twenty minutes later, Ango was done, he felt bloated but he also felt bliss, a smile hung on his face; Little snow lay asleep beside him, snoring softly.

Hawkwood and Mckenzie were also there, sitting beside the bonfire. A few minutes passed in silence and then Mckenzie started telling Ango what had happened to him and his speculations.