Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 135: It Only Hurts At First (Beast Den 7)

Upon reaching the pool, Laz and Vivi took it slow. The way the oil lamp sat above the pool, there was no way to reach it without wading through the pool. The problem was that neither of them really wanted to be the first to test out the pool. Standing at the edge, Laz looked down and then looked over at Vivi who just happened to raise her paw up and wave it at him, indicating that he should go for it. Knowing that it was useless to try to argue with her, Laz grabbed the remains of one of his climbing pick axes and stuck the handle into the water, only to find no response. He then stuck a few other things in just to test it including fabric and even a small spider they caught. Although the spider flipped out at first because of the water, it soon calmed down and made it's way to the edge. Upon exiting the water it took off, vanishing from sight.

Seeing as how the water didn't seem dangerous, Laz reluctantly stuck a finger in, then a hand, then a good portion of his arm. Although the water was a bit on the hot side, it didn't burn or hurt. Seeing that he was ok, Vivi finally approached and tested it herself, before wading into the pool, enjoying the hot bath that was being provided. Seeing her be so free, Laz decided it would be fun to join her. Without a second thought, he removed his clothes and slid into the water next to her.

Although Vivi had seen Laz naked on different occasions, which was bound to happen since they lived together, she started to feel uncomfortable with it as of late. It wasn't a kind of uncomfortable like she was repulsed or that she found him to be unattractive, more like it seemed to make her own body feel different. No matter how she looked at it though, she didn't understand why. To her, he was human and she was a gorgeously cute wolf, which meant they were totally different species. Because of that, attraction in that way wasn't really possible so she didn't consider that to be the problem. Thanks to the internet, she understood what humans considered attractive and for the most part, Laz seemed to fit that bill, but that wasn't really it either. Since she couldn't explain it, she did the only thing she knew how to do; ignore and avoid it. As such, when Laz crawled in and she was in her large form, she suddenly shrunk down so that she wouldn't accidentally rub up against him.

That's when the pain hit her.

For Vivi, changing size was a simple thing, she just needed to think about the size she wanted to be and circulate her energy until her body expanded to that size. For shrinking, she would then draw that energy back into herself, causing her size to return to her smaller one. She had done it many times and it came natural to her, but this time, bringing her energy back in felt like she was being stabbed with thousands of tiny needles all over. She couldn't help but cry out in sudden pain.

"AAARRRRGRGGGWGGWWWWW," she screamed in a high pitch whine. As shocked as Laz was, he reacted quickly, pulling her from the water and setting her down before scanning the pool. His first thought was that something had attacked her from underneath the water. Since the crystals only provided a bit of illumination, seeing to the bottom of the pool was possible, but it wasn't the clearest picture. Laz didn't see anything and could only stand alert. After a moment with nothing happening, Laz quickly went over to his gear and grabbed Last Rites before shuffling back to Vivi who was now simply breathing heavily.

*Are you ok?*

*Yes,* she replied weakly.

*What happened? Did something attack you?*

*I'm not sure, but it didn't feel like that,* Vivi said, remembering what happened. She then continued,

*It only happened when I circulated my energy to size shift. It was like... my flesh was being stabbed all over. But it's strange...* Vivi was starting to stand up when she noticed Laz was huddled over her while trying to protect her. His manhood was way too close for her comfort.

*What was strange?* Laz was using his spirit sense to talk to her by reflex. Whenever they didn't want someone else to hear them, they did this so it became like second nature when they were in danger.

*Although it hurt, it didn't feel like it left any damage. Even now, my skin feels... a slight bit stronger. In fact, my entire body feels like it is a bit stronger,* Vivi explained while slightly putting some distance between them.

*That's... what does that mean?* Laz was at a loss for words due to her unclear meaning.

*Well... if I'm not wrong, which I never am, then this pool might be a really good thing.* Vivi started looking a bit excited as she walked back over to the edge of the pool.

*So no danger?* Laz asked, putting away the gun.

*Nope. But you should get in there and try it. I was only a bit startled before. Actually, we should both go in. It will be good for us.* Vivi said with a small smile on her face. Laz, whose nerves were tense, didn't notice.

*Alright. Let me try it first this time, just to make sure. You hang back and only come in if I am ok.* And just like Vivi predicted, Laz was the first to offer himself up. She knew he would do this so there was no surprise. It was one of the things she found cute about him. Shaking her head though, she wanted to get that thought out of her head since she shouldn't find him cute.

*Ok. Just remember, it only hurts at first,* Vivi said while her sly smile grew a little bigger. She was never one to be a good little sister to her big brother. He brought her a lot of headaches so there had been more than one occasion where she would get back at him in her own little ways. As far as Laz was concerned, this was just her being a child. She just liked to cause trouble. In fact, some days he felt like she would only be too happy to watch the world burn. But she never directly put him in danger either, so he just accepted it from her. For him, she was the only family he had left.

"Right!" Laz said before sliding back in the pool while giving Vivi a stupid looking face and a thumbs up.

'That wouldn't look so uncool if you had clothes on, you idiot. Now I don't feel guilty at all. Humph...' Vivi held back her sigh and pout and just looked on. She had a good idea what kind of effect this pool would have, but she was going to use this big brother of hers as a test subject, just in case she was mistaken. Better to be safe than sorry..

Laz got in the pool and once again felt the pleasant warming sensation. He didn't realize it at first, but now that Vivi mentioned something about the water being different, he did notice it felt very refreshing to his skin. Knowing how she sounded when she used her energy, Laz didn't exactly believe what she had said about it only hurting at first. But since he trusted she wouldn't intentionally put him in danger, he was going to do it anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Laz slowly started to circulate his energy through the path of two circles that he was most familiar with. Normally, the circulation would feed a bit of pure, cleansed energy into that special space where he built up his source essence, increasing it's size and potency. To put it another way, energy was the fuel while his source essence was the flame. Combined together, the would allow for the black flames to be used. But even separately his source essence created energy that he could use, making it so that he wasn't always using the black flames It was similar to the way a fire would produce heat. Feeding the fire made it larger as well while compacting it made it more explosive.

Honestly, Laz didn't know what he had to do to increase his realm, but he felt somehow that his crazy stalker babysitter would somehow make an appearance when it was time for him to know.

She had dropped in from time to time during the past year and a half, but he felt that it was mostly so that he knew she was still watching. He still had no idea what the hell she wanted, but as he got stronger, he was starting to feel like maybe he was just going to be nothing more than a fattened pig, waiting to be slaughtered. Even so, he had no choice.

As he began circulating his energy, he suddenly felt like his entire body was being rubbed by sandpaper. Since he started off slowly, the pain was manageable. But he could now understand why it had hurt Vivi so much when she did it since she would have gone all out. Despite the pain, Laz just clenched his teeth and endured. Although it hurt, he could understand why Vivi said that it wasn't a bad type of pain. With the weird energy from the pool constantly going in and out of his skin, it almost felt as though it was roughly polishing him, in the same way that sandpaper would polish up metal.

Not only was it polishing his skin, but the painful energy was also circulating through his internal system, toughing up the insides of his body as well. As he kept going, he noticed that the pain was starting to dull a bit and decided to circulate his energy faster, causing the feeling of pain and polishing to increase as well. Vivi, who was sitting at the edge of the pool watching him, couldn't help but smile at her own insight. This was what she thought would happen. Although she didn't relish the thought of pain, she too got back into the pool and began the process as well, starting off slowly before increasing the speed.

Neither had any idea how long they were in the pool as they focused on their bodies, periodically increasing the rate of their circulation when they felt the pain start to lessen. In someone wanted to describe the process sarcastically, they would say that Laz and Vivi were torturing themselves at a constant rate, never letting the pain lessen past a certain point. The will power they displayed was intense.

For Laz, the torture had an additional effect. He had absorbed all of the source essence from the large spider who was a higher level than him. Using only the black flame of his source essence, there was no telling how long it would take to break it down and integrate it. Thanks to the constant circulation of the painful energy, the originally dense source energy was broken down and integrated quickly, bringing Laz's power up to the next level. He was finally on the same level and Vivi at the mid level late stage condensation realm. Since Laz wasn't paying attention, he barely noticed, keeping all of his focus on tempering of his body.

As Laz and Vivi both reached the limits of their speed of circulation, the pain finally lessened to an almost non-existent amount before disappearing all together. The only thing they were left with was the warm and inviting sensation of the pool water, giving them the illusion that they had dreamed up the pain. Opening his eyes, Laz looked over at Vivi who was looking back at him. They both couldn't help but smile and let their tense bodies relax, slipping underneath the water for a moment before they both began floating. If it wasn't for the feeling of vitality that engulfed them after the tempering as well as the sweat that covered their heads, they might have really believed it was just a dream. For now, neither of them had the desire to test the changes as that could come later. Right now it was important to relax.

"Only hurts at first huh?" Laz said while looking up at the ceiling of the cavern.

*He he he. Would you have been so willing to do it had I explained everything?* Vivi responded with an evil chuckle.

"Oh? So you knew what was going to happen eh?" Laz said, his mouth curling into a smirk.

*Of course. Who do you think I am huh? This girl is the smartest in the world!* Vivi replied with a content grin.

Because she was very pleased with herself, she failed to notice the tone of Laz's voice or take into consideration where he was in relation to her in the pool. All of the sudden, she felt a sharp whack hit her unguarded rear end, causing her to whelp in surprise.

"UUURRRFFFF."

*HEY!!!*

Laz couldn't help but break out into laughter. Although he never had a problem with her mischievousness, that didn't mean he wasn't going to punish her for it. There was no telling what she would do in the future if he didn't enforce some discipline.

*YOU. YOU. YOU BIG JERK.* Vivi swam over to the edge of the pool and got out before shaking off all of the excess water, all over the pile of his clothes and gear. Seeing this, Laz couldn't help but laugh again, enjoying her tantrum. Even so, he knew it was time to go and despite looking at the lamp hanging close to him, he instead went and climbed out without touching it. Although he didn't bring a towel, that didn't stop him from using a bit of black flame to dry himself quickly before getting dressed. He then spent a few moments drying Vivi's fur while brushing it with his fingers, making sure it didn't get tangled. This little action of his helped to improve her mood by a lot and when he was done, she was no longer mad.

Looking over at the lamp and back down to the pool, Laz couldn't help but want to take the lamp with him to study it. For the moment though, he was going to leave it here as he had an idea forming in his head. After watching him for a few moments, Vivi couldn't help but ask,

*What are you planning? Why didn't you take it before you got out?* She had assumed he was going to grab it since that was the original plan. He was still planning on taking it, but not right now.

"Well, I thought to myself, why not let a few more people enjoy a small trip like this. After all, all of the really dangerous things are gone and I'm guessing it will take a while before another large spider evolves, right?"

*Yes... It's not something that just happens overnight. Ohhhh. Your going to bring your little squad here huh?* She asked, finally noticing his thoughts.

"Yep. They need to get a taste for fighting and killing. I figured this would be a good place to do it. How many of those things are left?" Laz asked, looking around.

*Couple dozen of the ball size web slingers and like 4 of the large ones.* Vivi responded.

"Perfect."

*This is going to give them nightmares.*

"Nah... they will forget all about it once they take that fun bath we just had."

*You're horrible... But I like it.*

"Thank you!"

Both man and wolf had rather wicked smiles on their faces as they made their way out of the caverns.