Growing pains

A/N: Brace yourself for probably the worst chapter of this novel. Maybe skip the part if you can't handle what's in it. You'll be warned.

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I huffed and got up from my bed, that was the green grass in the much familiar spot in a corner of the huge garden.

I had traversed through every bit of it during my runs. Many, many times.

Pulling my sore body to my bedroom, I lay down on the bed and after catching my breath again, pulled out the Pill.

'Ugh, it still stinks so bad.'

My face scrunched as I held my nose with one hand and distanced the other holding the pill as far as I could.

'Are you sure this thing is edible? It smells like someone made a dung cake comprising of all animal poops and then added their farts as well.'

Just keeping it outside made my room start to get filled with the horrid smell.

I immediately kept the pill back and opened the window.

'Eww, I need to wash my hands.

No way in hell I am going to swallow that dung pill!'

[Don't be a whiner, Alex. Remember the benefits it will provide you. And rest assured, it's definitely a good item. It might taste like shit, but once you absorb it, you'll unlock your Foundation with a high grade.]

'Ugh, fuck. I know. I'll do it. Let me just prepare myself.'

I took a few deep breaths to compose my nerves. That was a bad idea since the smell of the pill was already in the air and I now felt like puking.

'Uweh. I need to go to the toilet.'

[Actually, that's a great idea. Don't swallow the pill here. You absolutely mustn't! Do it in the toilet.]

'Wait, that sounds ominous! What the fuck will that pill do to me?!'

[Nothing bad will happen to your body. You'll just go through a 'cleansing' and then 'awakening' process. No need to be too scared. You'll live through it. And your 'Perfect Body' and 'Mind Field' passive skills will make sure you're not hurt physically or mentally. Stay strong, Alex! You can do it, Alex.]

'Why is your cheering making me even more nervous. Like this will be a painful process or something.'

[Not really that painful, at least not in the general sense of the term. Just forget everything and do it]

'Right, that's reeaaallly reassuring. Fuck.'

I gritted my teeth and steeled my heart. I had to do it, no matter how painful it was.

I marched to the bathroom and entered it, locking the door from inside.

Luckily, there was no one near. So, even if I cried a little from pain, no one will hear it. At least, I hoped so.

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'… Kill me… please…' (A/N: No, no. This isn't what you're thinking.)

I lay in the bathtub, after suffering from the worst 'food poisoning' in my entire two lives.

My eyes had lost all life and my body had become a stick figure. It had turned into a skinny bag of bones. I had lost around 10 KGs. (10kg≈22lbs) A lot for someone who probably weighed about 50 or so KGs.

My mind was somehow able to handle that torture and I didn't die, but it was really painful. Just thinking of it made me want to die.

(WARNING! The content ahead will be either disgusting, funny, or both depending on your taste. You may skip ahead till you see the similar three lines of dots as below. But know that there's not much content after that.)

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[~Flashback~]

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and took out the pill.

"Ugh. Fuck."

Looking in the mirror, my charming face had turned quite ugly due to the pill's effects, namely, the disgusting smell.

"Alright."

'I'm doing it, Iris.'

[Best of luck, Alex. Know that no matter what happens, I'll never judge you.]

'The fuck is that supposed to mean?! What's gonna happen after I eat it?! Iris, answer me!'

[We don't have time to waste, Alex. Hurry up! You have to leave for dinner in two hours. The pill will need at least an hour to fully get absorbed.]

'Alright, alright! Fuck, I'll do it! I'm doing it now.'

I stared at the disgusting pill in my hand.

'Just any moment now.'

I brought it closer to my mouth.

'Ugh, almost there.'

I opened my mouth. But it was not easy. My mouth refused to open and let in that disgusting thing, and my hand kept shaking, wanting to get that thing away from anywhere close to my face. My mind knew what I had to do, but it couldn't force the body to do what needed to be done.

'Ughhhhh!'

I used all my willpower to slowly open a small gap between my lips. My face making the ugliest expression to date.

[Just do it, you fucking little shit! Are you even a fucking man?! Fucking eat that pill or I'll shove it down your fucking ass!]

Iris's sudden threats somehow made me finally do it.

Gulp.

It was inside. The pill went straight down my food pipe and entered my stomach. But it made sure to leave its disgusting trail through my mouth. I suddenly tasted an unimaginably disgusting taste that made me want to retch.

"Gack! Uwek!! BLECH!!"

I made weird sounds as my body tried to get that gross thing immediately out of my stomach. I ran towards the toilet expecting my stomach to empty itself of everything it had even in the past few days, along with, hopefully, that disgusting pill.

But alas, no matter how much my body tried to get it out of my system, nothing came out.

I continued doing it for about 10 minutes. And at last, stopped when nothing came out still.

I headed to the wash basin and hurriedly took in some water to gargle.

I wanted to get rid of that disgusting stench. I still didn't feel fine. No, I wanted to puke. But nothing seemed to come out. As if that vile pill was keeping my stomach's content inside forcefully.

I rinsed my mouth with fresh water again and again, but I could still taste it. And every time that happened I wanted to hurl, but to no success.

'Fuck. Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! So fucking gross!! Disgusting! YUCK!'

I kept swearing in my head as I continued rinsing and trying to puke.

It continued for over 20 minutes before I finally gave up. My face looked pale and my cheeks had tears from the tears that had unknowingly come from my eyes.

It had been about 30 minutes since I entered the bathroom.

'Fuck, it was the worst 30 minutes of my life!'

[Oh, I don't know about that… Don't conclude so prematurely.]

'What the hell is what supposed to mean—'

Then it came. The biggest stomach rumble I had ever heard in my entire life.

And the next moment, I felt two very distinct and painful phenomena. My stomach felt like it'll burst and I immediately headed for the toilet, threw down my pants and underwear, and barely sat down before, with a loud bang, I released the biggest and worst shit of my life.

It felt like my asshole was on fire as liquid crap flew down like a broken damn. It kept coming and coming and coming. It didn't stop! I felt as if I had emptied months' worth of food in that single dynamite poop.

I barely managed to mutter one sentence.

'…fuck, I'm dying…'

My eyes threatened to turn upwards as I started to lose consciousness.

Alas, I gained my consciousness back as I felt something building inside my esophagus. (A/N: Food pipe, for the plebs. XP)

I sat up from the toilet after the dam had seemed to calm down and started pouring crap from my mouth instead.

After that came a series of pooping, puking, pooping, and then more puking.

It felt as if I would excrete my entire soul that day.

I was dying; I felt like dying.

(END OF 'BAD CONTENT'!)

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I stayed there, soaking in the tub and occasionally cleaning the gross stuff that had remained on my skin. No, not poop or puke. It was something else. Something gross had come out of my entire body as I was going through the torture of a lifetime.

According to that Iris, it was the result of my body expulsing any and all impurities and toxins from my body from the effects of that vile pill.

'That bitch, she is not responding to my calls. Well, I did curse her a lot and called her all sorts of names.'

I couldn't help myself. I couldn't believe she would make me go through all that suffering and not even properly warn me. I could have at least braced myself for 'that'.

"…"

No. No amount of bracing yourself would get you through 'that'.

I kept thinking of some very disturbing thoughts as I cleaned my body for the next hour.

My family was certainly going to be surprised at my sudden change.

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