Sivo nodded in silent affirmation. Lying naked on the floorboards, his body trembled violently. He didn't look like he was gripped by fear; rather, it was the trepidation of a fly trapped in a jar that had finally been given the chance to soar into the open skies after an eternity.
While Mel calmly arranged the items he pulled from his Spatial Ring on the floor, the bedridden boy watched him with unwavering attention. Earthenware pots, glass vials, and deep crucibles now rested on the room's floor.
"I need to make some preparations. Try to chew this medicine paste!"
He shoved the thick medicinal lump into the bedridden boy's mouth. While Sivo struggled to chew it, Mel uncorked several pots and arranged specific herbs inside the deep crucible.
"I'm going to make a few healing herbal brews; by the time I'm done, the medicine you swallowed will start kicking in. A wave of fire is going to erupt from inside you and spread out; don't panic!"
The robust boy explained things to his friend, whose skin was slowly turning red, but his hands weren't idle. Using his hands, now morphed into claws, he was grinding the herbs into fine powder.
"I had to use this once before too. Don't worry; it'll fix almost all of your internal injuries!"
Hearing the crushing of herbs echoing from the crucible, Sivo couldn't hold back anymore.
"You... you're a Body Cultivator, aren't you?"
He called out with excitement, though subtle tremors of hesitation laced his voice.
"I don't practice the techniques you're talking about, but it's true my hands have some special abilities!"
Mel offered only what was necessary without going into deep details, and the bedridden boy didn't push the matter further.
A while later, the reactions Mel had predicted began to show; Sivo's skin took on a mottled color, looking like glowing embers. Five minutes later, thick black fluids started to seep—first from his ears, then from his nose and mouth.
"Perfect; the rot festering inside you is getting pushed out!"
Making sure the latest developments didn't send the bedridden youth into a panic, Mel said what needed to be said.
"Now, it's time to wrap your wounds!"
In a flash, a massive roll of fabric appeared in the center of the room; Mel stared intently at the writhing youth. After that, he began to pour water into the mixture inside the wide, deep crucible. The water was so bright, so full of life, that it shimmered even in the dim light of the room.
"Mel, what is that?"
Bringing his index finger to his lips, Mel asked for silence; it was obvious he was done giving explanations.
He dunked the long, thin strips of fabric lying on the floor into the thick mixture inside the crucible, soaking them completely. The final destination for the material he prepared here was the bedridden boy's body.
With deliberate precision, he applied the bandages; as one strip finished, he readied the next, slowly wrapping the entire body.
After his painstaking work, less than two hours had passed before Sivo ended up looking like a mummy; except for his mouth, nose, and eyes, he was wrapped completely in bandages.
"I've done all I can; what happens next is all up to you. But with that kind of resolve, I'm sure you'll get what you want!"
Realizing the person he was talking to had passed out, Mel began to chuckle to himself; poor Sivo's body just couldn't handle the strain.
"Grandpa... with every passing day, I realize I never really knew you. Dragon claws, plant brews, medicine pastes, and most of all, the Energy Palace inside me. Who were you really, and what am I supposed to become?"
Falling into deep thought, Mel stared at the boy he had placed back on the clean bed. What was going through his mind in the corner where he curled up remained a mystery.
The night had to surrender to the dawn, and the guard, getting up to start a new day of work, made his first stop at his son Sivo's room. Pushing the door, it swung open effortlessly; his eyes looked for the guest who wanted to spend the night, but found no sign of him.
"Dad, is that you?"
Spinning around at the sound coming from the bed, Can lunged like a tiger jumping on its prey when he saw his son's condition. As he ripped the quilt away, Sivo's fully bandaged body was exposed right before his eyes.
"What happened to you?"
Charging at the bandages in a panic, the guard's path was blocked by a hand. Even though it didn't rise high enough to stop him completely, lifting just a hand's span from the bed was more than enough.
"Sivo... you're moving?"
At that moment, the guard with the coarse mustache collapsed to the floorboards like a puppet with its strings cut; his eyes were glued to his son's hand.
"It's not much of a movement to brag about, but just being able to twitch my hand after a whole year makes me happier than anything!"
The bedridden boy was calm. Woken up by the noise of her husband hitting the floor, his mother burst into the room. Unable to understand what she was looking at, the woman stood paralyzed at the door.
"Sivo, my boy! What's going on here?"
Getting a little bit of his senses back, the guard asked the most logical question.
"I'll tell you everything from the beginning, but you guys need to sit down!"
Making his mom and dad sit in front of him, the boy told them everything that happened after Mel came into his room last night. He strictly passed on the promise to his parents, making sure they understood they couldn't tell anyone about this.
"When did Mel leave?"
It seemed the guard wanted to chase down the boy who had slipped away while they slept to say a massive thank you, but his son stopped him.
"Dad, he must have secrets of his own. He didn't look like a spiritual cultivator or a body cultivator, but now I'm absolutely sure he has crazy strength!"
As his son finished his words, the Guard put his hand on the small desk next to him to pull himself up. When he brushed against a pretty big pouch, he didn't care at first, but less than five seconds later, he grabbed it with frantic excitement.
He quickly tore it open, his eyes shining. When he tipped it over and dumped its contents onto the desk, twelve wild beast cores, a scrap of paper, and a ring that looked totally worthless tumbled out.
The family's attention was locked on the beast cores; the multi-colored crystals practically danced on the worn wooden desk. The exact same loot Sivo had tried to claim last year, the prize he almost died for, was staring right back at them.
"It has to be Mel; he left a note too. Dad, what are you waiting for? Read it!"
There was respect in the bedridden boy's voice; when he said the name Mel, it sounded like he was talking about someone way out of his league.
"Sivo, I did everything I could. In a month's time, you'll be back to the strength you had before you got hurt. What happens next depends totally on how bad you want to be a Body Cultivator!"
"Guard brother, thank you so much for opening your home to me. Auntie, the food you made was the best thing I've eaten in two and a half years; bless your hands."
"You are good people; I know you didn't expect anything back when you helped me, but please take what's inside this ring."
When the three-line note ended, tears welled up in everyone's eyes. The guard slowly slid the ring onto his finger and started searching its void.
"No way... this can't be real!"
Numb from the shock of everything happening all at once, the man roared with excitement. His voice made every single thing in the house—which was barely bigger than a matchbox—shake.
"Can, you're scaring me!"
When his wife, sitting on the floorboards, jumped to her feet in a panic, the guard grabbed her by the arms and started dancing. Lifting his wife into the air by her waist in pure joy, he spun her around.
"You have to see what's in this ring too!"
It took several minutes for him to calm down, but the massive smile carved onto Can's face didn't fade one bit.
"You're going to be the first, Sophia. We don't have to live in this dump anymore. Today, we're going back to our old house!"
Watching his wife stare at him with disbelief, the guard held out the pouch he pulled from the void toward her. The middle-aged woman tried to take it normally, but the pouch was way heavier than she thought. As it slipped from her hands and hit the floor, the gold coins hidden inside scattered everywhere.