Within the depths of Irio's mountainous forest, a sparkling pond was almost hidden from view by the dense foliage.
The waterfall cascaded gracefully into the pond. The pond had no fishes, but it was filled with colorful lily pads and blooming lotus flowers.
Sabbath crouched by the pond, brought out a bag, and took out a few sets of strange-looking plants and herbs that he had gathered through his travels.
He had to get his bag from the hotel he was staying at, as he didn't really expect to find his long-awaited disciple in this small, nobody city.
Sabbath lowered a silvery flower into the pond. It bobbed on the surface, its petals shimmering in the moonlight, before disappearing beneath the water's surface.
"Pain Flower of Califlower Mountains!"
Sabbath looked at the veiny, crimson flower. It hurt him just to touch the flower. He then lowered it into the pond.
It joined the Moonpetal flower at the bottom of the pond.
"And lastly, the Knife Rain Herb."
He grabbed a knife-shaped leaf from his bag. He placed it gently into the water, completing the trio of deadly flowers.
The pond's surface rippled. Its light blue shade turned into a dark, ominous hue.
"Bath of Pain has been created!"
Sabbath turned around to look at Kiernan, who was standing some distance away, leaning against a tree.
He was looking at the creation of the Bath of Pain.
It looked fairly simple to create, but those three flowers were nearly impossible to gather.
Kiernan approached him and looked expectantly at him.
"Take off your clothes. Jump into the pond, and let your body fall to the bottom. You'll start feeling pain, but it will only intensify the longer you're there."
"What if I need to come to the surface for a breather?"
"Don't. Moonpetal flower is there to help you breathe underwater."
Kiernan took a deep breath, removed his shirt and trousers, and lastly, pulled down his boxers. It instantly made him shiver in the coldness of the incoming night.
He had already sent a message to his father that he and Julian would be spending the night at training. Thus, no one was going to bother him.
"How long should I stay there?"
"I don't know. Up to you. The longer you are there, the better the effects, but the pain keeps increasing drastically. Bath of Pain will last for about twelve hours, so take full advantage of it.
"I don't have any more ingredients to recreate this."
Kiernan moved his arms over his head, stretched them out, and then placed them back down at his sides.
Then, he picked up some speed, jumped off the ground, and smashed through the pond's watery surface with a loud splash.
He disappeared beyond the rippling waves.
Sabbath pulled out his phone from his pocket, opened it, and entered some kind of message chat app that was protected behind a passcode.
He quickly wrote the code, which he had memorized.
[Welcome to Martial Order, Master Rockstar!]
Sabbath started to write a message in the chat.
[Rockstar: Guess what! I've found a possible disciple, finally, after fifteen years, haha!]
[Imperio: Finally you deserve your master rank, hah. When are you inviting that disciple of yours to this chat?]
[Rockstar: Shut the hell up, Imperio, you're also without a disciple, so watch your tone with me. Anyways, he isn't my disciple yet. I threw him into Bath of Pain, hahaha!]
[Cold Shade: Rockstar… you will traumatize this disciple of yours.]
[Rockstar: Bahahaha. If he can't handle this, he doesn't deserve to be my disciple! Either way, thanks for the ingredients. They came to a good use!]
[Cold Shade: I knew that those ingredients were needed for Bath of Pain, but I never thought you would throw some innocent kid into it. I am fairly disappointed in you]
[Rockstar: Worry about your own disciple!]
[Cold Shade: I would never do anything harmful to my sweet disciple. I treat them with care and compassion, unlike you]
[Hero Among Rulers: Enough of fighting. You must show a better example to your disciples. Rockstar, make sure that your disciple knows how to keep his mouth shut about this chat. This chat cannot be revealed to the outside world]
Sabbath clicked his tongue, closed his phone, and pocketed it.
"These nosy people need to mind their own business."
Bubble~ Bubble~ Bubble~
The surface of the pond started to ripple with bubbles.
"Is he already done? It had been barely a minute!"
Sabbath gritted his teeth, hoping that he wouldn't see Kiernan suddenly jump out of the water. It would be extremely disappointing!
Within the depths of the pond, Kiernan screamed in agony, but his shouts were muffled by the water.
It felt like every droplet of water in the pond were knives, shredding his skin at the speed of falling rain. It was one of the worst pains he'd ever felt!
His shredded skin started bleeding, making the water around him turn a deep crimson color.
'It hurts so fucking much!'
Kiernan's tears turned red. He wanted to do nothing more than leave the pond behind.
At that moment, he reached out to his inventory, took out his Hourglass of Focus, and tossed it into the water, watching as it slowly sank right in front of him.
'I might as well go all out then!'
With pain attacking every cell in his body, he decided to try to push to the new realm of strength at the same time.
He started attacking the bottleneck between Low Stage and Middle Stage!
It didn't take long for the martial soul to start peeling off like paint. It was working at a drastic rate!
"AAAAAAAAAARFGGGGGGH!"
The layer of the soul peeled off. It almost looked like someone ripped it off like a bandage.
[Middle Stage Martial Champion Achieved!]
With that increase in rank, Kiernan became even mightier, stronger, and more formidable than ever before.
However, it wasn't done yet!
The Bath of Pain was at a shocking rate, destroying and fixing his body. With each destruction, his body was turning stronger, more resilient, and more impervious to pain.
Slowly, his Vitality stat started to show an increase!