"How do you feel? I specifically added three milligrams of dragon yang grass juice to the potion today. It specifically counters yin-attribute energy. You must be feeling awful, right?"
Holding his experiment notes, Gavarci looked at Leo with complete confidence. According to his expectations, Leo should have been rolling on the floor in pain.
Lilith, the frog on his head, kept shooting out her tongue and retracting it, her croaks echoing throughout the laboratory.
Leo clutched his stomach, his face ashen and cold sweat pouring off him. It felt as though hundreds of saw blades were cutting wildly inside his belly. He had clearly been badly poisoned, but there was still a considerable gap between his condition and Gavarci's expectations.
At any other time, Leo would have activated the healing arrays on his body to treat his injuries long ago. This amount of poison would not kill him.
But now, as experimental material, he could only keep adjusting his body according to Gavarci's instructions, carefully sensing the changes caused by the poison and striving to satisfy Gavarci in a single attempt.
Leo circulated his mana, and the shadow beneath his feet churned constantly. But like Leo, the shadow was sickly and could barely muster any strength. Even so, under his persistent efforts to drive it, the shadow still spread across half the laboratory.
"Compared with the last experiment, the shadow power in my body has weakened by 2% to 2.5%, falling short of the expected 5%. I suspect dragon yang grass juice has some suppressive and dispersive effects, but they aren't that strong."
Hearing Leo's feedback, Gavarci recorded it with a serious expression. This was the most precise data directly from the experimental material, and he could not afford the slightest carelessness. Especially since the results had fallen short of expectations, he needed all the more to identify where the problem lay.
"Also, the pain has decreased by 0.3% compared with last time. My body has probably developed drug resistance. I suggest increasing the dose by 1% next time."
After reporting the basic data, Leo directed the mana in his body toward the newly inscribed runes on his skin.
Originally, he had only a few simple healing rune arrays on his chest. Now, another tattooed rune array had been added below his chest, on his stomach. It was precisely the price for which Gru had sold Leo to Gavarci: the Gravity Rune Array.
As the mana flowed into it, the gravity runes lit up. It felt as though hundreds of kilograms were pressing down on him. Leo gritted his teeth and grunted, his body sinking a notch.
Even with only onefold gravity activated, Leo's poison-weakened body simply could not bear it.
Under the added gravity, even the shadow that had just spread across half the laboratory rapidly shrank back in an instant. Leo's aura weakened further. Onefold gravity directly affected the flow of mana within him, and under these conditions, maintaining his normal level required more than twice the expenditure.
It truly deserved its place as body refinement wizards' favorite gravity array. Its greatest benefit was that the gravity affected only the user, not the surroundings. As long as the user could adapt to the changes in gravity, their physical body could improve passively.
This improvement was not particularly fast, but grains of sand could form a tower and streams could form a river. Over hundreds or thousands of years, the degree of improvement would be terrifying.
"Under onefold gravity, the poison's effects reach 150% of the standard level, and shadow power weakens by 5% to 10%. My body is already suffering serious side effects, with damage to my internal organs reaching 15%. At the current rate of poisoning, I'll fall unconscious after ten days, be on the verge of death after fifteen, and die after twenty."
"I can't do this anymore. I can't hold on."
Before Gavarci could speak, Leo, who had been describing the experimental data in detail, had already deactivated the added gravity. Pushing off with his foot while clutching his stomach, he sank into his shadow and disappeared. Before he vanished, the rumbling of his stomach could still be heard.
"Croak, croak. Croak, croak."
Lilith, the frog on Gavarci's head, croaked rhythmically, seemingly very curious that Leo's stomach could make sounds much like her own.
Gavarci paid no attention to Leo's sudden departure. He knew exactly what side effects the medicine he had developed would cause. He reached up and stroked Lilith on his head, seemingly soothing her confusion, but his eyes remained fixed on the experiment notes he had just recorded.
He muttered, "The results fell short of expectations. The direction was slightly off, but it's not a major problem. Tomorrow, I'll replace the dragon yang grass juice with holmium stone."
As he spoke, Gavarci marked the page of notes in his hand with 3-30-5, then closed the notebook.
No one could understand these strange numbers, but if Leo saw them, he would definitely recognize them. Every number represented an experiment he had personally experienced, the result of an ordeal of torment.
Hiding in the toilet and refusing to come out, Leo wore a miserable expression. He could do nothing to change his fate as experimental material, but along the way, he would hide for as long as he could.
After more than a hundred experiments, he had figured out Gavarci's attitude toward him. As long as there were no errors in the experimental data, Gavarci did not interfere with him much. He could even be described as quite permissive.
For instance, he allowed Leo to read some of his books, assist with other simple experiments, and help handle a few minor chores. These were what an experimental assistant was actually supposed to do.
The fact that Leo was allowed to do these things undoubtedly showed Gavarci's trust in him.
If he did not have to lie on the experiment table every few days, Leo would not even have wanted to return to Gru to be tormented by him.
What Gavarci had Leo do was very simple: test medicines, endlessly testing all kinds of poisons, then accurately report his experiences and the data.
Sometimes, Leo even suspected that Gavarci was deliberately tormenting him, trying to poison him to death little by little.
But the ultimate result was that the various poisons Gavarci concocted continually stimulated the activity of Leo's cells, constantly weeding out weaker cells and actively prompting his body to respond by strengthening their capabilities.
After more than a hundred experiments, Leo had not only developed considerable resistance to certain poisons but had also improved his physical constitution by a large margin. This rate of improvement was even faster than it had been under Gru.
To Leo, the difference between Gavarci's methods and Gru's was that between fine craftsmanship and rough work.
As for the Gravity Rune Array, the original agreement was that Leo could leave once he could move freely under threefold gravity while maintaining an attack power of 200 points.
But with the poison never stopping, Leo's body had never recovered to its peak. He was constantly gravely ill. Leo had tested himself: his average attack power was now only 150 points, and at its lowest, it had fallen to 30. He had practically died. Had Gavarci not stopped the experiment, the grass on Leo's grave would already have grown quite tall.
With his body in this poisoned state, never mind moving freely under threefold gravity—Leo could not even withstand onefold gravity.
The day he could leave remained far beyond reach. Leo could see no hope at all.
Leo reckoned Gru had known this would happen long ago. That was why, although a year had passed since he arrived at Gavarci's place, Gru had not visited even once, as though he had forgotten Leo entirely.
Leo understood perfectly well. A level-two body refinement wizard could live for more than two thousand years, and the long-lived ones could exceed three thousand.
Leo had only been sent to Gavarci's place for a year. To Gru, that amount of time passed in the blink of an eye. They had long since grown accustomed to separations lasting decades or centuries and had none of that feeling humans on Earth had, where a day apart felt like three autumns.
Those were feelings only short-lived species had.
After expelling all the poison, he pulled up his trousers. Today's experiment was finished, and his body entered its recovery period.
His formidable physical constitution allowed his poisoned body to recover to eighty percent within a few days.
During this time, as long as Gavarci had no other instructions, Leo could move freely throughout the second floor and below. This included a small private library belonging to Gavarci.
It contained no particularly advanced knowledge, only some basic apprentice-level and formal-level knowledge.
It might not have held much appeal for other wizards, but to Leo, it was the finest treasure trove.
Upholding the principle of equivalent exchange, Gavarci cited Leo's good performance as experimental material and permitted him to enter and leave the private library freely. He could read as much as he pleased and learn as much as he could.
But if he had questions and wanted guidance, sorry-he would have to offer assets of equivalent value.
Knowledge was precious. No one would teach you for nothing.
If someone really did, then you had to be careful.
Leo had no assets of equivalent value, so he could only study on his own. Fortunately, having received intellectual enlightenment on Earth, he at least still possessed the ability to learn independently.
"A body refinement wizard apprentice must unlock the limits of their body's potential, break through their shackles, and elevate their bloodline power to advance to level one."
"Within a wizard civilization that has developed for who knows how many years, the Body Refinement Wizard System is an extremely well-developed advancement system with countless powerful practitioners. This world's wizard apprentices can find their direction for advancement while still apprentices, but what about an outsider like me...?"
Even without Gavarci's guidance, Leo could find what he needed, the most important of which was the issue of advancement for body refinement wizards.
After all, his body was not that of a native, and there were differences between him and them. Advancement was, in essence, the elevation of life. Every life had its own unique qualities. He could learn from other people's experiences, but he could not copy them wholesale.
For an outsider like Leo in particular, his eventual advancement would certainly be more complicated than anyone else's.
Yet even after looking through all the books on the second floor, he still could not find precise information. In the end, it all came down to one sentence: elevate the bloodline, break through the shackles, and unlock the limits of potential. As for exactly how to do that, there was not a single word.
Even these descriptions were intended only for their native wizard apprentices. Leo needed to derive his own experience from theirs, yet he was already stuck at the very first step.
This feeling of being unable to find a way forward drove Leo mad. He knew Gru and some other wizards he knew nothing about would certainly have him advance to a formal wizard. Leo already had a rough guess about these wizards' schemes, but an advancement completely controlled by others was not what he wanted.
Now that he had a chance to access more profound knowledge, how could Leo abandon such a fine opportunity? Even if there was only a one-in-a-thousand chance, he still had to give it a try.
However, although he considered himself to have finished independently studying an entire private collection and believed his knowledge could rival an ordinary wizard apprentice's, he still could not understand this material.
"How did you advance?"
Unable to figure out how to advance, Leo could only turn his attention to the "old grandpa." Their systems were different, but by drawing on strengths to compensate for weaknesses, he might be able to understand something through analogy. While Gavarci was on the fourth floor conducting experiments, Leo cautiously asked the "old grandpa" in his mind.
"Our advancement is different from that of the wizards here. Anything I say can only serve as a reference."
Since they arrived at Gavarci's place, the "old grandpa" had become much quieter and rarely spoke with Leo. If Leo did not take the initiative to ask questions, he would even have suspected that the "old grandpa" had disappeared.
"That's fine. Let's hear it."
Leo was full of curiosity about advancement in other worlds. He felt an urge to peel back skin, cut open internal organs, and delve into the secrets at the deepest level. That sense of mystery and the unknown made his heart itch.
"Before Saint Level, we had no particularly strict method of advancement. Many people advanced without even realizing it. There was no clearly defined method. However, as time passed, we did gather a little information: pursue the ultimate. The closer you get to the ultimate, the greater your chances of advancing."
The "old grandpa's" tone revealed considerable helplessness. Compared with wizards, who had a strict, systematic path of advancement, they seemed like a group still playing in the mud. The gap was enormous.
"...Pursue the ultimate?"
Leo did not know whether the "old grandpa" was deliberately holding something back. In any case, little of value had come from his words. Only the phrase "pursue the ultimate" made Leo's eyes light up. It did bear some resemblance to what the books described.
"But how am I supposed to pursue this ultimate?" Leo once again sank into bewilderment.
Carrying his confusion with him, Leo continued living in Gavarci's tower for another year. By then, two years had passed since he had been sent there.
"The fulou fruit added today worked extremely well. I can feel that the shadow power inside my body has been suppressed by almost 50%. If I were in battle, I wouldn't even be able to bring out thirty percent of my usual combat strength right now."
Over those two years, Leo's body had developed resistance to many low-level poisons. He could drink them without a change in expression, then carefully describe how he felt. He had become a man who could drink poison like plain water.
"50%?"
"Doesn't that mean my experiment worked? My experiment succeeded!"
Gavarci, who had been meticulously recording the experimental data, instantly went wild upon hearing Leo say 50%. He had been experimenting through exhaustive trial and error and had never expected to find the result he wanted in just two short years.
He had originally planned for it to take more than ten years.
That was the difference good experimental material made.
"Kid, you're in luck. You'll be able to leave my place within three months."
After carefully examining Leo's body, Gavarci found that it was exactly as Leo had described. The experimental effect had indeed reached 50%.
Once he had reached this point, the remaining experiments would fall into place naturally. Leo was no longer of much use.
"???"
Leo first gave Gavarci a puzzled look. He had not yet adapted to threefold gravity, so under their previous agreement, he had not met the requirements for leaving.
But Leo immediately realized that his value had been exhausted, and he could now be discarded.