Uncle Phill paced anxiously around the room, glancing every now and then at the figure in the potion tank with concern and worry. It couldn’t be helped, 2 hours ago he witnessed something that scared him witless. If Luciel hadn’t stopped him with a determined look in his eyes, Uncle Phill would have almost cancelled the treatment.

                                                                   - 2 hours ago -

It had been 2 hours since Luciel had started the treatment, he had been enduring the pain crawling through his entire body without a sound until then. Observing this, Uncle Phill was feeling glad that there was only an hour left to go. But things don’t always go according to plan. Luciel’s body started convulsing, his tail that had long since unravelled from his hips stopped floating limply and started thrashing about, from just above his ears sprouted two rust-coloured blade-like horns that curved upwards, from his back sprouted two magnificent Dragon-like wings, also rust-coloured, in fact his tail was also the colour of rust. Whilst the appearance of the horns and wings surprised Uncle Phill that’s not what scared him.

After the wings and horns appeared, it was as if all Luciel’s pores were opened. A sticky black substance was secreted from every single pore at a fast pace and sank to the bottom of the tank like a sediment once it fell from Luciel’s body. What followed was the sound of groaning and creaking that came from within Luciel’s body, even the sound of bones breaking could be heard. The horns, wings and tail all at once appeared as if they were peeling layers upon layers of scales and skin away, even the wings membranes were breaking down.

Uncle Phill's heart was like an ant in a hot pan jumping about in worry. It had all happened far too suddenly, he hadn’t been able to react before Luciel was already being surrounded by a red mist within the potion, a blood mist.

“Damn it!” Uncle Phill roared like a frustrated beast. “How could this suddenly happen!? Damn it!”

Uncle Phill rushed to the drain switch in order to get rid of the potion in the tank when there had been a distinctive thud from the tank glass. Uncle Phill turned sharply only to be met with Luciels amber eyes filled with resolve as he shook his head implying he wanted to continue.

“You want to continue!?” Uncle Phill’s voice croaked as he shouted in shock at Luciel nodding his head. “But it’s clearly gone wrong! Anymore and it will only do irreparable damage!”

Luciel shook his head calmly and smiled at Uncle Phill. Uncle Phill scratched his head roughly, turning it into a bird’s nest.

“Fine!” Uncle Phill knew he couldn’t stop Luciel. “However! 2 hours! Only 2 more hours, after that you’re out, no complaints!”

Luciel nodded his head and closed his eyes once more.

The sounds of bones snapping, and creaking continued for another hour. Once they stopped, Uncle Phill released a breath of relief but looked worriedly at Luciel whose body looked a mess. The surface of his horns were cracked all over, his wings looked torn to shreds and his tail was a bloody mess. Uncle Phill was about to renegade his promise of 2 hours when he saw something incredible. There was a thin layer of light encompassing the entirety of Luciel’s body, Uncle Phill realized that it was a layer of pure condensed mana, and it was sucking the medicinal potion into Luciel’s body whilst completely activating the potions ingredients.

You should know that, whilst the medicinal potion was one of the best and most effective in the medical industry, they’ve never been able to 100% activate the energy in the ingredients; at most they could activate 50%, because to activate them to 100% you’d need a constant output of pure untainted mana. It’s too scarce and expensive to use. The fact that pure mana emitted from Luciel’s body greatly shook Uncle Phill.

                                                            - Back to the present –

In the last hour, Uncle Phill had gone numb from witnessing what he deemed was a miracle. Luciel’s horns, wings and tail had repaired at a rapid pace, but they were no longer the colour of rust, but a dazzling silver with crystalline teal horn tips and the same colour was around every single regrown scale edge. The entire wing membrane was a translucent crystal teal, that appeared inlaid with gems.

Luciel’s body still had many scars; however, his skin had a healthy glowing lustre, and his beautifully carved muscles were bursting with power. He looked better than ever. Even his golden hair appeared to be glowing. But Uncle Phill was worried and pacing because since that drastic change, Luciel stood there and showed no sign of movement.

“Right, 2 hours are up! Like it or not, you are coming out of there!” Uncle Phill reached the drain switch and this time, with no interference, he activated the potion drainage. After he drained the potion, he climbed up the ladder on the side of the potion tank.

“Oi! Luciel! You still alive in there!?” Uncle Phill shouted towards Luciel, hoping for a response. Looking closely, he noticed that Luciel’s shoulders were slightly trembling, but before he could worry, the tremble turned into a shake, and the sound of delighted laughter filled his ears. “Damn! If you’re fine, at least say something! Scared me to death!”

“Sorry, it’s just, I haven’t felt this good for centuries.” Luciel grinned. He bent his legs and casually jumped over the edge of the tank, once again scaring Uncle Phill. Making a perfect landing, Luciel couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth rising high, even his beautiful tail was twitching in excitement, it feels good to be back.

Uncle Phill descended from the ladder, looked at Luciel before turning away.

“Could you put your clothes back on? I don’t want to have to receive your silly bear’s jealousy later.” Uncle Phill complained.

“Before that, can I use the shower here? I feel sticky all over.” Luciel poked his tongue out in disgust at the sensation.

“Sure you can.” Uncle Phill shrugged. “After that, we’ll do one more examination, just to make sure we’re finally done with all this.”

Luciel wrapped his tail back around his hips and swaggered to the shower with a skip in his step.