Chapter 106: Enhanced Being Stage [2]

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Enhanced Being Stage [2]

Keira saw him lost in thought and shook her head, letting out a quiet sigh.

"I shouldn’t have brought you into this," she said softly.

"Exposing you to people at this level is only going to bring you trouble."

"Besides, any pills meant for the Golden Pill Stage are extremely rare, and healing pills are basically impossible to find."

"Not even the best alchemists in the world have them on hand. The moment they arrive, the royal family claims them all, leaving the scraps to others."

Derrick snapped out of his trance and looked at her.

"It’s not that I can’t get the pill," Derrick said calmly.

"I have no doubt the source I get my pills from has whatever we need in stock, but..."

He paused, choosing his words carefully so he wouldn’t expose the system.

"I just have no idea how expensive a Golden Pill Stage remedy would be, or what they might demand in exchange."

Keira’s eyes widened in sheer shock.

Derrick didn’t realize it, but his words carried staggering weight.

Anyone who could casually claim to have stock of Golden Pill Stage medicine had to be connected to the greatest alchemists on the planet.

Just who is his alchemy master...? she wondered, her mind racing.

Keira quickly leaned forward, her voice filled with urgency.

"Don’t worry about the money or the cost at all," she said earnestly. "Whatever they want, I will cover it. Just name the price."

Derrick didn’t refuse her offer.

He honestly had no clue how many points or resources the system would demand once he finally unlocked those high-tier items.

He barely managed to earn 10 million social points and the supernatural pill he was talking about before costed for about half of that.

Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Derrick pulled it out and saw a fresh text from Vance Sterling.

{Send over the purchase and sales records for your raw materials. A few government auditors and rival groups tried digging into your suppliers to trace your alchemists, but I managed to stall them. I need the financial trail to lock this down legally.}

Derrick frowned, feeling a brief wave of confusion.

How was he supposed to produce a purchase history when every single product came straight from his system storage?

Ding!

A crisp chime echoed in his head before he could even worry.

[Host does not need to worry.]

[The system has generated a fully legitimate, untraceable paper trail for all raw material purchases and production expenses.]

What a relief.

A clean, downloadable file instantly popped up on his phone screen, ready to be sent straight to Vance.

Derrick forwarded the file straight to Vance without waiting another second.

He looked up from his phone and met Keira’s gaze.

"While my accounts are being unfrozen, I want to push for my next breakthrough," Derrick said.

"I already have the serum I need."

Keira nodded right away.

"I’ll guard you and help you through it."

Derrick accepted her help without hesitation.

They stepped out of the private office and walked into the spacious living room.

Keira casually waved her hand across the air.

An invisible, heavy energy swept through the room, lifting the heavy couches and tables and sliding them smoothly against the walls to clear the floor.

Derrick sat down cross-legged in the center of the cleared space.

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a heavy steel injection filled with a glowing blue liquid.

"Need a hand?" Keira asked softly. She was not surprised to see the syringe appear out of nowhere since it was not the first time he had done something like this in front of her.

Derrick handed the steel syringe over to her.

She knelt beside him, located a clear vein on his arm, and carefully slid the needle in, pressing the plunger all the way down.

At first, a soothing, ice-cold sensation spread out from his arm, rushing straight through his bloodstream toward the deepest parts of his core.

For a brief second, everything was dead silent.

Then...

Ba-Dump!

His heart slammed against his ribs with terrifying force.

The sudden, explosive surge of power hit his internal organs so violently that tiny tears formed on his heart and blood vessels.

Cough!

Blood trickled down from the corner of Derrick’s lips.

Before the pain could fully register, the serum’s energy instantly regenerated the damaged tissues, making them thicker and tougher than before.

Derrick gasped sharply, clutching his chest as his lungs burned for air.

His mind suddenly snapped open to the world around him.

He could feel a thin, subtle foreign energy floating in the ambient air of the room.

An energy he had never been able to sense before without using all seeing eyes.

At the same time, that exact same energy was raging like a wild storm inside his own body.

His muscles violently contracted and expanded under his skin, tearing apart old fibers and rebuilding them into dense, iron-like muscle.

A thick, foul-smelling black ooze began forced out of his pores, flushing out every single deep impurity hidden within his bone marrow and tissues.

His physical frame grew visibly more ripped, his posture sharpening as his entire body doubled in raw physical strength and density.

"Rugghhh!"

The chaotic storm of power kept thrashing through his veins, tearing up his pathways and healing them in an endless loop of agony and rebirth.

"Haa... Huff! Huff!"

Finally, after one last violent surge that made his whole body tremble, the wild energy began to calm down.

It slowly drained away from his limbs and spiraled downward into his lower abdomen.

The glowing energy condensed tightly, sinking straight into his dantian.

Derrick could sense gas like white motes of this energy sitting there, waiting for him to call upon it.

The black fluid dried up, the burning heat faded, and a deep, steady warmth began humming quietly beneath his stomach.

"Did I do it?" Derrick opened his eyes, taking a deep, clear breath as the world around him felt sharper than ever before.

Keira watched him closely, her sharp eyes taking in every detail of his transformation.

She let out a quiet breath when she saw the glowing energy finally settle into his dantian.

"Not bad," she said, her voice turning calm again. "You handled that much better than most people do."

Derrick looked down at his hands, feeling the terrifying amount of raw power now pulsing under his skin.

His muscles felt denser, his senses were dialed to the absolute max, and he could feel the faint energy floating around the living room like it was a second atmosphere.

He stood up, his joints popping cleanly with the sudden movement.

The thick layer of black ooze caked on his skin was disgusting, but the vital energy flowing through his veins made him feel completely reborn.

"So this is the Enhanced Being Stage," Derrick muttered, clenching his fist.

The raw physical power alone felt like it could shatter solid concrete with a simple punch.

System notifications suddenly started flashing rapid-fire in his mind.

[Congratulations Host on breaking through to the Enhanced Being Stage!]

[Physical stats doubled across all attributes.]

[Golden Pill Stage items and information have been successfully unlocked in the System Store.]

Derrick suppressed a smirk as the system store expanded, instantly revealing a massive list of high-tier pills and remedies that were previously greyed out.

Before he could browse through the new inventory, Keira tossed a clean towel toward him.

"Go clean yourself up first," she said, crinkling her nose slightly at the foul smell of the purged impurities. "You stink."

Derrick caught the towel with effortless speed, his new reaction time surprising even himself.

"Right," he said with a small grin.

He turned and headed straight toward the bathroom, ready to wash off the dirt and inspect his new Golden Pill options in peace.