In a small room dimly illuminated by a candle atop a desk, a boy roughly 13 - 14 years old is sitting cross-legged on the cold stone floor.
His childish face looks calm as he meditated, unaware of his surroundings. One can recognize the boy's body relaxing with every exhale and becoming stiff with every inhale.
Unseen by a normal human's eyes, the dark mist that envelopes the entire world is slowly being siphoned by the boy's body, the mist slowly creeping into the boy's heart merging with it.
He had been doing this for most of his day, only stopping when he needs to eat, excrete or sleep and this started 3 weeks ago.
And now, he decided to act.
“Urgh!“ the boy grunted and a couple of seconds later, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard outside the boy's room.
Chains clanking and the sound of a 'Click' could be heard just behind the door that appears to be made of steel and an instant later, the 2.5ft door slowly opened revealing an old man.
This old geezer is sickly thin, completely bald, face wrinkled and wearing a white coat that reaches his shins. A few bottles and flasks are hanging on his waist using some sort of belt and one could see some liquid inside.
However, the most notable characteristic of this grandpa is that his whole body is covered with brown bandages except his head.
The old man, with a creepy smile on his face, chuckled and said. "Hehe, good kid. I never expected it to be this fast but whatever."
He then silently watched as the boy writhed in pain.
This process is called [Metamorphosis].
Minutes have passed and the boy kept wriggling in agony on the floor when the bandages covering the old man's hands loosened and flew towards the boy's appendages, restricting him.
Seeing this, the boy gasped in disbelief but the old man suddenly spoke in a calm and mocking tone. "Focus. If you failed this advancement, wasting my time, this old man would be rea~ly angry. Who knows what might happen to you." A smile crept up on the old man's lips.
The boy trembled as sweat slid down his face, clearly disturbed. He recalled the agonized howls that echo from time to time in this place that appears to be a prison.
Seeing the boy's terrified expression, the old man's wrinkled face scrunched even more and he began to laugh maniacally.
Realizing the current situation, the boy immediately moved. He tried lifting both his arms and legs bound by the bandages hoping that the strength brought by the [Advancement] would aide him but it didn't... or the difference in strength is just too vast.
Those seemingly normal bandages now feel as if it is made out of steel. It won't budge.
The boy's attempt to escape wasn't even noticed by the old man as he was still laughing crazily. Despair and helplessness flashed in the boy's eyes however surprisingly, he didn't cry nor wet his pants, and instead, he just stared directly at the crazy old man.
After a dozen or so seconds of laughing, tears could be seen at the edge of the old man's eyes and another end of a bandage—seemingly alive—reached out and wiped it off.
Then, the old man spoke. "Did you really think that you could trick this old man? Naive!" The bandages holding the boy lifted him in the air giving him a little fright.
"You only took only 8 days to reach the awakening stage, hm? What a special little imp. Tell me, is it really your first time exercising that breathing technique?" The old man asked while looking at the boy in amusement.
The old man had long realized the little imp's crude plan to escape. After going through the agonizing metamorphosis surprisingly without making a sound 13 days ago, the boy realized that he became somewhat physically stronger. He then continued to exercise the technique silently as he discovered that doing so tempers his body, waited for this moment to act as if he was just experiencing the metamorphosis and retaliate with his newfound strength hoping to catch the geezer off guard.
The only flaw in his plan is that he deeply underestimated the skinny old man.
Seeing that the boy didn't answer immediately, more tendrils of bandages unwrapped from the old man that slowly crept towards the boy's face.
The boy gulped and spoke. "Yes." His voice was a bit deep unbefitting his age.
The old man didn't have any reaction upon hearing this but the bandages didn't stop reaching out for his head.
The boy remained silent, however his body is uncontrollably trembling as he stared at the 'bandage tentacles'. He was telling the truth but he don't have any way for the old man to believe him.
Once the bandages were inches away from the boy's face, all the restrictions on him loosened and he fell to the ground. All of the tendrils came back to the old man wrapping back into him.
The boy didn't mind the fall and he didn't move either. He just watched as the old man paced in the room, mumbling to himself.
"This little imp was supposed to be the guinea pig for... Mmm...
"It'd be a shame to waste this talent... Mmm...
"Should I?"
The old man then locked gazes with the boy. Chills crept through his spine as he slowly crawled away from the geezer.
"Should I?" The old man asked once more but as if not so sure about his decision, he asked again.
"Should I?"
And again.
"Should I?"
And again, slowly walking towards the boy. The bandages wrapping his body danced in the air as it too approached the kid.
"Should. I.?"
Their faces are now only inches away from each other. The boy could feel the old man's breath, smell his nauseating scent and feel the oppressive aura surrounding the old man.
Then, without warning, a tendril of bandage wrapped around the boy's neck. It wasn't to the point of suffocating him but enough to threaten the pitiful little imp.
"I've decided!" As he said that, the old man reached out for a black thing inside his cloak. He unwrapped it and inside is a tinted glass tube containing a viscous red-colored liquid.
"This!" The old man exclaimed. His demeanor clearly changing. He now looked like a doting father looking at his beloved son. But in another's perspective, it could also be...
... lust.
"Do you know what this potion is made of?" The old man is making a delighted expression but to the boy, it looks really creepy.
"[Thousand Arms Monkey King]'s heart!" As he said this, the bandages covering his own body swiftly crept towards his back, tore his coat and formed 3 pairs of arms. He stretched out each of them and made some random hand signs. It truly looks and moves like real limbs.
The name of the monkey is either subjective or the old man just can't form that many arms. The face of the old man shows bliss... but in another perspective, it could also be...
... arousal.
This old man clearly has some creepy fetishes. The boy shivered at the sight, not making any sound.
"Strength, agility, sapience... and the best of all... Arms! tons of them! That magnificent creature has them all!" The makeshift arms suddenly moved, it hugged the old man who in turn relished the feeling of the crudely made arms wrapping him in its embrace.
After his delirious episode, the old man's face suddenly became melancholic. "Unfortunately, this old man's body already has enough [Monster paths], and if I add one more..." The old man ended that monologue with a heavy sigh.
"However with your great physical condition and impressive talent... You might be able to pull this off!" The old man stared intently at the boy who flinched upon meeting his eye.
"It is as if the stars aligned perfectly! Oh, great Erebus!" The old man's arms and the other six formed a hand sign where two hands are positioned close together with open palms facing upwards.
Lost in his reverie, the old man hadn't mentioned that the potion he personally made isn't verified for safe usage.
To be more precise, the concoction hasn't undergone any tests as the [Thousand Arms Monkey King] is extremely rare and ridiculously strong.
And drinking it has an uncertain probability of danger.
But the old man couldn't care about that much or would. He finally found the perfect test subject and he would not miss this chance.
Without any warning, the old man's makeshift arms grabbed the boy's shoulder and the other came back to being normal bandages that wrapped around the boy's lower body forcing him to sit in a lotus position.
In a swift movement and with the help of his 'tentacles', the old man forcefully shoved every last drop of the potion into the pitiful little imp's throat while the said person struggled with all his might but to no avail.
