Gitting his teeth, Apollo sweated profusely as he tried to maintain the controlled transformation on his arms and legs.

"Damn, I can't go any longer!" The black-haired boy spoke through clenched teeth. He had been maintaining this transformation for close to thirty minutes now, the longest he'd ever done.

In the past, the highest Apollo had maintained his beast transformation was two minutes, and that was during a battle. Other times, it was barely even a minute.

Thanks to the seasoned guidance of the red-haired boy, who watched him like a hawk, Apollo was able to go straight for thirty minutes—something he had never achieved before.

Bit by bit, Apollo's impression of Nyx increased.

The tactics Nyx employed followed the popular phrase, "No pain, no gain." Just as the phrase suggested, he used pain to make Apollo last longer. Anytime the black-haired boy was on the verge of reversing his transformation, Nyx applied more pain.

However, one noticeable thing was that the pain was even more intense than maintaining the controlled transformation, forcing Apollo's brain to subconsciously choose the lesser pain.

After repeatedly doing this countless times, Apollo could now stay in the transformed state for 30 minutes even without Nyx doing anything.

"You can take a rest now," Nyx said as he walked toward a shelf where bottled water was kept and threw one to Apollo, who greedily drank from it.

"You just drank the only water you'll be drinking for the rest of the night," Nyx said, and Apollo's eyes widened.

"Why didn't you tell me that before you gave me the water?" Apollo couldn't help but grumble bitterly. He had a feeling this crafty red-eyed boy did this on purpose.

Later, Nyx continued his training. The two spent the night focusing on controlled transformation. Nyx knew he had to focus on one problem before tackling the other.

By the end of the night, Apollo could last an hour in his controlled transformation state without Nyx resorting to using any pain, leaving the black-haired boy over the moon.

In return, Apollo's belief in Nyx being far from ordinary solidified. Although he'd been a little skeptical about Nyx fixing his problem, after the training, he knew the red-haired boy could really help.

The next day, Nyx and Apollo attended class. Surprisingly, the class was educative and interesting, unlike the boring, scruffy-haired nerd lecturing about History.

"After the wicked being Nightmare perished, hideous monstrosities crawled out from his dead body. These creatures populated the lost lands, ushering in the advent of labyrinths. Twenty years later, scientists named them Mutated Beasts."

"With Torrin Blackstar in rehabilitation after sustaining injuries from the battle with Nightmare, the monstrosities caused several Earth countries to perish.

"When humanity feared extinction, an 18-year-old Dalton Daze and his Delta League stepped into the picture. With their help, the Delta League fended off the beasts and brought peace to the world."

'Finally, some useful information,' Nyx thought after the class. Now he finally had a little idea of how the world was like. 'But monsters crawling out from my body?' Nyx shuddered. 'Was it because of those countless drugs I took?'

In the past, Nyx had taken countless drugs to get stronger, but he didn't think those drugs were the reason for the beast emerging from his body.

'Or is it just a fabricated story? Perhaps the supes can't really tell the reason for the beast's emergence, so they simply pinned it on me, after all, I have the best reputation to begin with.'

Before walking out of class, Nyx spared a glance at Violet, who was sitting beside him and smiling.

'What is she up to?' He silently asked himself.

When night arrived, Nyx and Apollo returned to the training facility and continued Apollo's training. Today Nyx decided to tackle the next problem, deactivating his ability and avoiding going into a rampage.

To fix the problem, Nyx knew he needed a mental approach instead of physical.

So, what he did first was meditation.

He told Apollo to clear his mind and try to activate and deactivate with a thought while chanting Activate and Deactivate.

Apollo did this diligently, and in his meditative state, he started to transform and morph back to human.

Nyx, watching him, nodded his head in satisfaction. 'This kid is pretty talented; it seems like he is a quick learner."

Just like that, another day passed, and another night arrived—the night Nyx would finally teach Apollo full-body transformation.

"When you want to transform, you usually picture how you want to look in your head, right?" Nyx asked.

"Yes." Apollo nodded.

"Have you ever tried to picture yourself fully transformed?"

"Sometimes, but the images quickly scatter, and I go back to square one. At that point, trying to imagine the beast form becomes even more difficult."

"Have you considered a gradual process?"

"Gradual process? What does that mean?"

"Try starting with smaller sections of your body and work your way up to a full transformation." Nyx explained. "I think the reason you're finding it difficult is because you're trying to transform fully on the go."

"Okay, here goes nothing." Apollo took a couple of deep breaths, closed his eyes, and tried to follow Nyx's suggestion.

Gradually, he started to transform his arms into brown furry creatures, then his legs. After transforming, Apollo proceeded to transform his chest, stomach, and abdomen. Soon, his face twisted into the snout of a wolf, and his eyes were now dangerous crimson.

"It worked? It freaking worked!" Apollo was beyond excited as he jumped and did a victory punch in the air. All this while, it was so easy, and yet he had been struggling. At this moment, his gratitude for Nyx had reached its peak.

While Apollo prostrated and thanked Nyx, the red-haired boy was busy smiling because there was a screen currently flicking on his retina.

[The Quest "Make Apollo your pawn" is now Completed]