It was painful, yet not painful in the sense that it brought a large amount of pain, but it was the type of agonizing pain that he cannot grasp nor begin to perceive. It was as if Rob was trapped in an endless swamp of mud, drowning deeper and deeper into the mud as all light was snuffed out of his vision.
When the light completely vanished, an ear-piercing rooster’s cry rang in his ears as his eyes shot wide open. He looked around the room in a hurry, silently heaving a sigh of relief as he finally woke up from that damnable nightmare.
Rob grabbed his forehead and was met with a strange amount of moisture - of sweat. He was sweaty, sweaty to the point it was abnormal. He then noticed that his shirt was dripping wet, turning from a light gray to a dark gray color. His back was particularly wet, while his legs were generally fine in terms of wetness.
His eyes then glanced over at his bedsheets, and as he expected - it was wet. He gave an annoyed sigh and began to use his passive divine sense to focus on the sweat that had accumulated on his bedsheets and pillows.
A strange power began to spread out within the invisible sphere around his body, and from his bed, small droplets of his own sweat flew out and gathered into one small ball around the size of his fist. The small bubble of sweat then began to wobble and shake as its size shrunk down and turned slightly cloudy.
Rob opened his mouth, and wielded the ball of cloudy liquid to enter his mouth and down his throat. A few seconds later, a soothing sensation spread out from his body and into his mind akin to smoking weed and getting high, but more calm and grounded in reality.
This was the result of his hours of training! He can transform regular water into a watered-down version of Mind Soothing Potion and had essentially fixed his problem of mental exhaustion, although the recipe he was using for the weaker version of the potion did need other elements, so he had to sacrifice a layer of his dead skin cells to create the potion since it needed some carbon added into the mix for some of the chemical processes to occur.
With his little problem now solved, Rob stood up, grabbed his towel, and was about to head out of his room to take a shower when his eyes landed on the full-body mirror in his room. He stared at it, bewildered and confused, it seemed like something was… wrong?
He couldn’t explain what was wrong with his reflection. Nothing had really changed regarding his appearance, no, the strange thing should be the mirror itself. Not just the mirror, even his room felt strange to look at. His bed, the door, the walls, the ceiling; there was something wrong about them.
Rob, met with this mystery, decided to pick the best tactic he could think of - ignore it! If it isn’t a life-threatening problem and only brought a slight inconvenience, then it isn’t a problem but an annoyance.
He continued with his plans. He went down the stairs, greeted his parents, and prepared to go to the bathroom. The moment he arrived in front of the door and was about to grab the handle, the door opened on its own and Elaine looked up in surprise.
“Uh, good morning?” Elaine raised her eyebrow and stood there, staring at Rob from head to toe with a weird gaze.
“What? What is it?” Rob asked. He looked down at his body, but there was nothing wrong he could find. Instead, he looked at Elaine and found her a bit smaller than before, like an inch or two smaller.
“Did you grow taller…?” Elaine questioned.
“Taller? Oh, wait, taller!” Rob smacked his forehead as he finally realized the riveting mystery that had clouded his head. It was so obvious, but his mentally warped mind must have overlooked it. “Sigh, alchemy is one hell of a drug.”
“You’ve been drinking potions… to increase your height? Ahahaha!” Elaine burst out into laughter as she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
Rob rolled his eyes and didn’t bother to explain. Instead, he patted her on the head, pecked her on the forehead, and pushed her to the side, “Good morning, you midget.”
“M-Midget?! Who are you calling a midget!” Elaine snorted and stood with a straight back, showing off her graceful figure and… personality. “I had been eating a lot lately, you know? I even ate some of those horrid biscuits of yours just so I can grow some meat!”
“I’ve even grown an inch, I’m already 5’7!”
“Good for you, I’m already 5’10.” Rob snickered and said with a wave of his head, “Now, go away! I still have to shower and deal with your clumsiness in the bakery!”
“Fine, fine.” Elaine rolled her eyes and walked away to her room.
…
“Sigh, when are the new workers coming in? I don’t want to do this anymore…” Elaine gave a tired groan as she washed her hands on the sink.
“A month or two. There are already other branches being built and are close to completion, while new workers would be hired by the end of next month.” Rob explained as he wiped his sticky hands. With his divine sense, he could sense the small amount of wet dough still on the edges of his skin, and secretly used alchemy to remove them with a thought.
“Ugh.” Elaine slumped her shoulders in defeat. There’s no use in wishful thinking, so she might as well accept it now and move on with her life.
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“Come on, Mama should have finished cooking breakfast already.” Rob walked out of the kitchen, opened the secret entrance on the counter, and stood at the entrance of the bakery.
“Coming!” Elaine hurriedly took off her apron, placed it on a rack inside the kitchen, and approached Rob while closing the secret entrance on the counter along the way by swinging it down and locking it with a padlock. Of course, a smart enough person would just hop over, and a smarter person wouldn’t do so because they know they might die due to the magical, invisible wards set in place.
The two then head out of the bakery as the door released a crisp ring when it opened. They walked along the path, and to the side of the bakery stood their house.
“We’re back!” the two shouted in unison and took off their shoes. Rob really wanted to wear slippers, but his parents insist that they were shoes so they would appear more presentable if a customer were to suddenly walk in, so he has to go through this bothersome motion of putting on shoes when going to the bakery, and taking them off when going home when it’s literally just a couple seconds of walking!
“Come on, you two! Breakfast’s ready!” Vivia shouted from the dining room, and Elaine’s eyes lit up in excitement.
She left Rob all alone at the entrance as he gave a groan. He fixed her shoes strewn around in a disorganized mess, closed the door behind him, and entered the dining room a few seconds later, only to see a big plate full of pancakes in front of Elaine.
He saw that his father - Herve Fortune, was nowhere to be found, and curiously asked as he sat down, “Where’s Papa?”
“He’s out on a little trip. It seems like there were some small issues that popped up regarding the branch being built to the west,” Vivia answered as she dripped some syrup onto her plate of pancakes.
“Oh?” Rob was a bit intrigued but didn’t bother asking any more questions. He was hungry now because of his recent increase in height, something which his mother didn’t seem to notice since the growth had been gradual over the course of a week, although last night must have been different since he had grown a full inch overnight!
As the two siblings ate in vigor, Vivia eyed the two messy eaters with a grin on her face, silently observing the duo with joyful thoughts. Ohoho, Rob has finally grown up to be a fine young man. Even though it was sudden and out of nowhere, it’s still a great blessing!
Now, he’s not always holed up in his bedroom, in fact, he’s going out of the house many times a week! He’s also less introverted than before and spends hours a day with Elaine. This is great, this is great indeed! Vivia chuckled but stopped as she observed the two with slight worry.
There is a problem though. While Elaine had finally gained some fat on her body, and Rob had grown less chubby, their hair are a complete mess! Elaine also doesn’t have any new clothes to use, that poor child.
Hmm, today’s Saturday, so Rob should have nothing to do. Vivia rubbed her chin as she finally decided to take action to deal with their goofy-ass haircuts. Even Herve’s bald head looked better than theirs, and he has no hair!
So, with that, she waited for the two to finish eating before saying, “Rob, do you have any plans for today?”
“Me?” Rob squinted his eyes as he muttered, “No, nothing.”
“Good!” Vivia clapped her hands and gave him the pouch of silver coins she had prepared beforehand, “Elaine hadn’t gone outside for a week now and had been holed up inside the house and bakery all this while. You two should enjoy your day today, help your sister buy some new clothes, and get yourselves new haircuts.”
“If I don’t see you two have prim and proper haircuts by the end of today, you’d better be prepared to get a beating!” Vivia warned with a smile.
“Sure, Ma.” Rob sighed and placed the pouch of coins inside his pocket.
“A-Are you sure, Mama? I don’t think I need a new haircut anytime soon, or even clothes.” Elaine was a bit flustered by the gift she was given and, after living in poverty all this while, she didn’t want to waste money on something as trivial as her hair.
“No, no. Wearing good clothes and having a proper haircut is important!” Vivia answered with an attitude that wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Especially you, Rob. You hadn’t got your hair cut in months now!”
Rob sighed, Elaine was inwardly grateful but couldn’t express her feelings in words, while Vivia secretly laughed.
So, an hour later, Rob stood outside the house wearing an oversized black shirt and white pants. It wasn’t a fancy outfit, but with his more muscular frame and better countenance, Rob looked a lot better compared to before when he was short, pudgy, and had an unwell complexion.
His jaw appeared sharper, his dark brown eyes had a mysterious allure full of liveliness, and his lower body fat percentage caused the protrusion on his belly to disappear while allowing his chest to pop out more ever so subtly.
The only thing lacking from his glow-up was a new haircut, and Rob would appear completely different compared to the time he had first taken hold of this body.
As he was lost in his thoughts, the door beside him opened with a click and Elaine walked out wearing a red shirt tucked inside her wide black pants, which allowed her to show off her slim body and graceful figure. She looked around with wary eyes, twiddling her fingers and shifting nervously on the spot.
“D-Do I look weird?” she asked with rosy cheeks.
“Ha!” Rob cackled and shook his head when he heard her question. He walked up to her, pat her on the head, and answered with a wide grin, “You’re my sister! Of course, you’d look good.”
“Really?” her eyes glowed brightly as she looked up at Rob’s face.
“I’d even say you’re the most beautiful person in the whole world right now, but that’s too corny, right?” Rob wore a teasing grin and ruffled her messy hair.
“You’re right, that’s way too cheesy.” Elaine chuckled and looked around the crowded streets. While it was barely noticeable, she can still feel it, those eerie gazes staring at her body, from her waist to her chest to her bum. She subconsciously stiffened up while her eyes constricted in fear, and Rob immediately noticed her strange reaction.
“Sigh…” Rob already expected this and had prepared beforehand. He placed a cap on her head, a pair of shades, and passed a vial of colorless liquid that released an oozing aroma of calmness and serendipity. “Here, this would ease your anxiety by a bit.”
Elaine didn’t know where they came from, but she felt a lot more at ease when she saw Rob’s kind gesture. She wore a gleeful smile, and muttered, “Thanks…”
“Just drink it already. We still have a lot of stuff to do.” Rob chuckled. “And yes, I also hate being the center of attention.”
“You introvert,” mumbled Elaine.
“You psychopathic witch,” retorted Rob.
“At least I’m not called a lazy pig!”
“Just shut up,” said Rob, rolling his eyes.
“Hehe,” Elaine laughed mischievously and chugged down the potion, drugging herself to the high heavens above and hearing the symphony of holy hymns. “Good golly, this thing’s potent!”
“Ah shit, that’s the strong one,” Rob mumbled as he pulled out another vial from his pocket. He stared down at it and let out a tired sigh, “Oh well, drugged or not, you’re still an annoying little shit. So come on already, we don’t have all day!”
“Can’t you be more gentle to your dear little sister,” mumbled Elaine in a hazy daze.
“Ugh,” groaned Rob.
It was definitely gonna be a tiresome day.