Riven grabbed the towel and shoved it between his teeth, biting down hard on the fabric. His jaw clenched in anticipation. His borrowed body tensed, every muscle coiling in preparation for agony that had not yet arrived but that he knew was coming.
Then pain exploded through his form.
Not gradual. Not building slowly. Just immediate overwhelming torment that seemed to ignite every nerve simultaneously. His veins bulged against his skin, pressing outward like they were trying to escape his body entirely. His muscles expanded, fibers tearing and reforming in rapid cycles that felt like being ripped apart and rebuilt continuously.
He bit down harder on the towel, his teeth grinding against fabric. His entire body went rigid with effort not to scream. Sound would draw attention. Would bring Esme running. Would create questions he could not answer without revealing the system's existence.
The pain intensified beyond what he thought possible. His Meridians, those channels that had only opened yesterday, began expanding violently. Stretching wider to accommodate something that needed more space than his current biology provided. The sensation felt like molten metal being forced through pathways designed for water, burning and tearing and fundamentally altering everything it touched.
His veins followed. Expanding outward until they pressed visibly against his skin, creating a network of raised lines across his arms and chest and legs. Then condensing, compressing, becoming denser and more efficient, capable of carrying volumes that should not fit within their dimensions.
His muscles reformed completely. Not just growing but restructuring. Fibers realigning into patterns that served different purposes. Strength concentrating in specific configurations. His entire musculature becoming something other than what human bodies typically possessed.
Ligaments adjusted. Tendons strengthened. Bones thickened and condensed simultaneously, becoming harder while maintaining flexibility. Every component of his physical form undergoing transformation that would have killed someone whose Meridians were not open, whose body was not already awakened and capable of handling cosmic energy.
But the absolute worst part, the aspect that made him want to tear the towel apart with his teeth and scream until his throat bled, was what happened to the Aster flowing through him.
The energy that had felt manageable yesterday suddenly raged like a berserk beast. It tore through his Meridians with violence that made the expansion process feel gentle by comparison. It forced itself through newly widened channels, testing limits, pushing boundaries, demanding accommodation that his body struggled to provide.
The Aster condensed, transforming from something like water into liquid metal, heavy and substantial and potent beyond anything he had experienced. Each portion of energy carrying exponentially more power than before, the quality shifting so dramatically that yesterday's Aster felt like pale imitation.
Then the quantity began increasing. His Meridians filled beyond what should have been possible, accommodating volumes that defied the physical space available. The Aster kept flowing, kept accumulating, kept condensing into his system until he felt like his body would rupture from internal pressure.
The bathroom tiles beneath him were slick with sweat. His clothing had soaked through. His muscles trembled with strain beyond what conscious control could manage. The towel between his teeth was wet with saliva, marked with indentations that spoke of how desperately he was biting down to keep from screaming.
One hour. The timer in his vision tracked progress with merciless precision. Each minute feeling like eternity compressed into sixty seconds. Each moment marked by agony that transcended anything Levin had experienced in his comfortable previous life or anything Riven had known in his brief borrowed existence.
Finally, after what felt like ages but was exactly one hour according to the system's measurement, the timer reached completion.
[Integration Complete]
[Primordial Physique Successfully Acquired]
The raging Aster in his system began to stabilize immediately. The violent torrent slowed to manageable flow. The pressure that had threatened to tear him apart from within gradually reduced, becoming tolerable, finally settling into something that felt natural rather than forced.
Riven spat out the towel and gasped for air, his lungs working desperately. Sweat poured from his body, pooling on the tiles beneath him in quantities that seemed impossible. His muscles trembled with residual pain, his nerves still firing with phantom agony from what they had just endured.
But beneath the exhaustion and lingering hurt, he felt it. The transformation. The fundamental change that had occurred during that hour of torment.
He felt stronger. Significantly, dramatically stronger. His body responded with precision that had not existed minutes ago. Every movement felt controlled, efficient, like his flesh and bone had been optimized for purposes he could not yet fully comprehend.
His senses had sharpened beyond recognition. He could hear water flowing through pipes in the walls, the sound clear and distinct despite being muffled by tile and plaster. Could see individual dust motes floating in air with crystalline clarity, could track their movement with perfect accuracy. Could smell cleaning products that had been used on these tiles days ago, the scent faint but detectable.
His perception had expanded dramatically. He could feel the Aster flowing through him with complete awareness now, could sense each portion of energy as it moved through his Meridians, could detect subtle variations in density and potency that yesterday had been completely imperceptible.
His muscles had become chiseled to perfection. Not from exercise but from fundamental restructuring. Definition marked every surface of his body, his frame somehow both leaner and more powerful, like someone had taken his previous form and refined it into something optimized for capability rather than mere appearance.
And the Aster. The cosmic energy flowing through his system had tripled in quantity while simultaneously becoming far more potent in quality. What had felt like gentle empowerment yesterday now felt like barely contained force, waiting to be directed, eager to be unleashed.
'If I thought I was strong after awakening,' Riven thought, his mind struggling to process the magnitude of change, 'I was completely mistaken. This is strength. This is what actual power feels like. My senses can grasp everything in my immediate environment with perfect clarity. My body responds to thought faster than conscious command. The Aster flowing through me feels limitless compared to what I had yesterday.'
He needed confirmation. Needed to see the quantified proof of what he felt internally.
"Guide," Riven said, his voice hoarse. "Display my status."
The interface appeared immediately, and his eyes widened as he absorbed the updated information.