First gate of hell limbo

The old shaman next to him led him to a chamber filled with medicinal aroma, with a large tub in the center, placing him in a rectangular silver table next to it, the little boy with a head full of white hair grunted in pain.

With that, the old shaman placed his finger on Nicolaus's head and transmitted a body forging technique, which leads to a path of becoming a warrior.

Within seconds, an enormous amount of information was sent into his brain,

"The Nine Gates of Hell Forging of Molten Iron"

By opening his eyes, Nicolaus observed as the old shaman put a hand in his stomach, as a strange energy continuously provided him with a warm and fuzzy sensation, as it helped to relieve some of the pain in his body after his abuse of it on the training field.

"Kid… This is the most formidable and vicious body forging technique I have ever seen in my life, if not for the fact that it is so demanding on the user and places nine atrocious gates on the user that would continuously torment your emotions, I would have trained this in a heartbeat and discarded my present one." The old shaman stated this while strapping Nicolaus's limbs on the silver table and restraining him from moving.

"I already have decided, Master. In those 9 body forging methods that you've shown me, I will settle with this. I will achieve power via this technique, and in order to do so, I will do whatever it takes, as long as the opportunity exists." Nicolaus's said while his whole body was now bare naked, and he just remained there waiting for the old shaman to do his thing.

"I have already imparted to you the Nine Gates, and in order to just set foot on the road leading to the first gate, you must first endure the various acupoints that I open, and we will do this every day until you have mastered the first gate," the old shaman said with a somber expression. "And after that, you'll be able to train the rest of the gates on your own."

"I understand, please proceed; I'm ready..." When Nicolaus heard those statements, he responded immediately and without hesitation since he had already made up his mind.

Nicolaus watched the old shaman's finger jab various locations of his abdomen, descending to his legs, and up to his head.

While gnawing his lips until they were bleeding, Nicolaus's body merely groaned in pain as he contemplated the body forging process.

"The first gate. Limbo. It puts the user in a neutral condition and prevents any changes in his or her emotions from occurring. In addition, by crossing this gate, one would be walking into the brink of becoming a Heroic stage warrior."

"After crossing through each gate, the body would undergo a tremendous reconstruction, since not only would it be sturdier, but it would also be more lethal."

"It is stated that the blood will be dense, the skin will be tough, the bones will be unyielding, and most importantly, the recovery time will be fast."

After a while, Nicolaus's eyes grew bloodshot as the old shaman increased the speed of his finger jabs with each passing second. Nicolaus didn't make a single sound, just small groans, but he couldn't keep his body from trembling slightly due to the terrible pain he was enduring.

During the timeframe of his body forging, the user would always be conscious and would not be knocked unconscious, as this would result in serious repercussions, the most minor of which would be paralysis on the body and the most severe of which would be death.

The body would be in a condition of maximum exertion before being jabbed in the various acupoints throughout the body and put in a state of relaxation in a medicinal bath, which would be the initial step in the first stage of the gate. Limbo.

Therefore the old shaman put a large tub of water filled with medicinal herbs next to the silver table, as to allow the user's acupoints to soak nutrients in the medicinal bath and prepare the body for tomorrow's training session.

Even though Nicolaus isn't sure what sort of plants the old fart had put in that large tub, the medicinal fragrance was very alluring to him.

Nicolaus's whole body was in tremendous pain as a result of the old shaman's finger jabs; then after he was done, the old shaman untied his limbs and put him in the medicinal bath, where he quickly recovered.

Soon enough, the pain began to diminish gradually as Nicolaus's little body sank into the large tub, and he began to notice that his body was becoming itchy, as his body was now undergoing reconstruction, leading him to the first gate of Limbo.

Inch by inch, the damaged muscles, ligaments, tissues, and even the bones were continuously being rebuilt, and when the process was thorough, they would be stronger and more resilient than they had been before.

Because of the continuous suffering, Nicolaus's willpower strengthened, and it increased significantly along with his physical strength.

With that, Nicolaus is going on the path of an abominable body forging technique, in order to attain ultimate power.

As long as the person wouldn't stand in his way on the quest for ultimate power, then he would leave them be, or else face the prospect of death if the person stood in his way.

After a few hours later, his body was back in top condition, and it was even stronger than before. He couldn't help but think that the old shaman's medicinal bath was godlike since even a seriously wounded person would be back in full health in less than half a day.

With that, Nicolaus became more certain that his notion of being an apprentice to this old fart was the greatest idea he had ever had, and he went to sleep for the night before returning to his training the following morning.

The set of exercises remained the same, but the weights escalated at a rapid pace as his body became stronger and tougher with each passing day.