Hearing the screams of absolute agony coming from Lilia who had fallen over and was writhing on the ground, Marcus shot towards her and immediately cast his tier four healing magic spell.
However, it seemed to have absolutely no effect and Lilia continued to let out the most heartbreaking pained wails Marcus had ever heard.
With healing magic not working Marcus immediately decided to resort to possessing Lilia in order to hopefully heal her, but when he did, he found some type of resistance he had never felt before and noticed the golden glow around Lilia.
Of course, Marcus felt like he could push past the resistance if he forced it, but he was unsure of what it might do to Lilia.
In the end seeing the golden glow around her, and the fact that the unique skill he had just given her was supposed to rearrange her body, Marcus held back hoping that this was just temporary.
'I need to remember this world is not like a video game. Sometimes gaining certain skills can be painful. When I received the blessings from Roxene's parent it certainly hurt like hell.'
Trying to keep calm all Marcus felt he could do was hold Lilia as she underwent a transformation caused by the unique skill and try to keep her from hurting herself more.
Yet the horrible sounds of the transformation made Marcus wince as he could hear bones snapping and reforming, and at one point even all of Lilia's teeth feel out.
The metamorphosis lasted for hours and Lilia eventually no longer screamed in agony, because the pain had gotten to the point that she could not do anything but stay in Marcus' embrace and withstand it.
'How much longer will she have to endure this.' Was all Marcus could think about not even paying attention to the number of beasts and monster that had come to investigate Lilia's distress leaving them all to their beast companions.
After a total of four hours had past the expression on Lilia's face took a turn for the worse and Marcus was about to throw caution to the wind and posses her just to give her some relief, when she began to vomit blood and bile that was black in color and had a foul smell.
But after doing so the pained look on Lilia's face relaxed and her breathing became more stable as she laid in Marcus' arms.
"Food." Lilia said with a hoarse voice.
It was not the kind of voice that one would expect to hear from an eleven-year-old girl and it pained Marcus that she had to go through something like this, but now that it seemed to be over, he brought out some of the food he had and Lilia yanked it out of his hand and began eating.
Marcus continued to bring out food and Lilia who was normally fairly calm and refined while eating, was devouring everything like a frenzied beast.
Nevertheless, after giving Lilia over twenty pounds of food and four gallons of water, her body that had shrunk after the transformation began to swell up like a balloon and now looked much different.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLilia had certainly not been fat of anything, but now she looked incredibly toned and he skin almost seemed to have glossy sheen to it.
Her face also had undergone a bit of a change, the minor imperfections in it gone, and her new teeth were pure white and looked hard as diamonds.
Her eyes had even changed color, now glowing slightly green as if they were teaming with mana.
It was certainly a massive transformation but overall, she still looked like herself, and anyone who knew her before would still recognize her.
"Lilia how are you doing." Marcus asked with trepidation.
He was not sure if Lilia was doing okay, and was afraid that the amount of pain she had just experienced might have driven her mad.
However, this fear was soon quashed, as Lilia looked at him and said, "I feel better than I ever have before."
She then jumped to her feet with incredible agility and began looking around as if she was seeing the world in a new light.
Closing her eyes, she began listening to the sounds of the forest, and she could hear the smallest rustling within a few dozen feet of her.
There was also the smell, it was as if she could pick out the distinct smells in the air and track where they were coming from.
All of her senses were now enhanced and she was able to almost feel the world around her.
Yet her enhanced senses were simply a minor byproduct of the transformation. and the major gain was that all of her physical stats were permanently raised by almost seventy percent.
This made her physical abilities close to Marcus' base even when he was a much higher level.
Of course, he would get much stronger whenever he used his unique or supreme skills, but still, Lilia could be considered nothing less than a monster now.
Once Lilia had finished taking in the new enhancements her body had received, she looked towards Marcus and a big smile formed on her face before she rushed up and hugged him.
But she was not quite used to her new strength and speed, and actually crashed into him, causing him to skid back around ten feet before coming to a stop.
'Damn she is strong now.' Was all Marcus could think as he caught her.
Lilia herself was a bit surprised since the amount of force she felt like she had used was far more than she had expected.
Luckily, Marcus was still stronger than her, so she did not hurt him, but most people would have experienced and extended stay in the hospital after taking what was essential a tackle.
"Okay Lilia I think we need to get you used to your new strength."
Hearing this Lilia's face went red with embarrassment since she realized now just how hard she had run into Marcus.
"Now I just need to make sure one last time you are okay. You experienced a lot of pain while your body rearranged itself and I just want to know if you will be all right going forward."
However, while Lilia remembered that she had been in an unending horrible pain, it almost seemed like it had happened to someone else.
She could not actually recall how the pain felt, only that it had happened.
"I think I am fine. I know I just experienced something beyond belief but it almost does not feel as if it was real." Lilia said with a pondering look on her face as she recalled the experience
'Well, if it did not leave any lasting physical or mental scars, then all's well that ends well.'
After having made sure that Lilia was truly okay, Marcus asked her if she wanted to try out what she was capable of now, and Lilia nodded her head with bright eyes that surprised Marcus a bit.
'Is she starting to get enamored with fighting.'
When he had first started training Lilia, she was very timid and had a hard time killing anything, but over time she had gotten used to it and now Marcus wondered if she was starting to enjoy fighting.
'Oh well as long as she does not get addicted to battle it should be fine.'
With Lilia's situation now resolved Marcus met back up with Roxene and Blitz who had been patrolling the area in order to make sure that no beasts or monsters attacked while Lilia was undergoing her reconstruction.
'How is she doing is she going to be okay.' Roxene asked with a bit of concern in her voice.
Nodding his head Marcus reassured Roxene that Lilia was fine and the tension in the little wolf seemed to relax.
The two of them were pretty close now after spending days on end in the dungeon together, and Roxene herself was starting to see Lilia as a little sister.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWith their group back together again, Marcus had Roxene sniff out an opponent for Lilia to test her new physical abilities on.
'That tree there is one of those scorpions. I think it should do as a good test for Lilia's enhanced physique.'
Using his creature appraisal skill, Marcus found that this faux tree scorpion was level thirty-three, which probably would have been tough for Lilia to handle before, but now he was pretty sure she could win hands down.
"Okay Lilia that tree over there is one of those scorpions, go ahead and see what you can do."
Flashing Marcus a bright smile, Lilia activated her armor and put her gauntlets back on before rushing over like a blur alarming the waiting scorpion.
Unfortunately, Lilia was still getting used to the huge increase in her power, and actually overshot where she was going, slamming face first into the scorpion's tail.
The scorpion dislodging its body from the ground shook its self-off, throwing Lilia from its back and then swung its tail down trying to pierce her with its stinger.
"Control Impact."
With her new chant shortening skill Lilia was able to cast her tier one spell much faster, and sending up a punch at the scorpion's tail met its stinger with her gauntlet clad fist.
What happened next surprised everyone as the scorpion's stinger exploded from the force of Lilia's punch.
Letting out a horrid screech, the scorpion looked hatefully at Lilia who had just destroyed its stinger and reached forward with its pinchers to crush her.
But instead of dodging Lilia braced herself and when the pinchers closed around her, she pushed back with her arms.
As the sharp pincers scraped against her scale mail and tried to crush her, Lilia pushed back with her arms holding her ground against the scorpion's strength.
However, she soon overpowered the large monster and with one big push actually broke apart its pincer.
The scorpion now thoroughly injured, felt that it had no chance of winning and turned to flee.
Yet before it got far, Lilia appeared right under it and with an uppercut smashed its torso and sent it flying into the air in an almost comical manner.
The scorpion then crashed back into the ground twitching, barely alive and soon going to meet its maker.
"Well, I would say that was a pretty good test of you new strength.. Now let us head back to Lethallan and you can practice more on the way."