"If only I could wear stockings."
Melusine's legs seemed more suited for white stockings. As he was thinking...
"Stop thinking! Stop thinking!" Melusine finally couldn't take it anymore, clenching her fists and gently tapping Kevin on the shoulder.
"Ahem, how could I be thinking nonsense? I'm just admiring my girlfriend's perfect figure," Kevin argued with a sly expression.
Melusine's face flushed crimson, her small mouth pouted, her arms crossed over her chest, and she turned her head, letting out a soft hum.
At this moment, she was undergoing her daily treatment. Although she knew Kevin really liked her legs, the increasingly intense desire he had just shown was still a bit much for her to bear. Desire mixed with love—it really made her heart race.
"Don't—don't touch me anymore—" Melusine's voice was as faint as a mosquito's.
Kevin looked at the soft, boneless white legs he held in his hands, and the exquisite, jade-like toes wiggled slightly, curling downwards.
"You've already started to regain control of your legs. You should be completely healed in another week." With that, Kevin picked Melusine up by the waist and sat her in a wheelchair.
Logically speaking, the task of carrying Melusine's legs should have been handled by the white snake. But this white snake was getting lazier and lazier nowadays. Of course, it couldn't be entirely blamed. After all, it was just a snake. When they were in the village castle before, Melusine's daily activity was limited. At most, she would wander around the castle and rarely went outside. But since coming to the manor, the situation was completely different. She would wander around the vast manor every day, and sometimes even go out to play with Neon and the others. This exhausted the white snake, and its activity level soared. The amount of exercise in one day was five or six times that of the past. Anyone would be overwhelmed by that.
After two days, the white snake started to slack off.
Sitting in the wheelchair, Melusine reached out and gently tapped the head of the white snake coiled around her. "You lazy fellow. When my legs can walk, I won't need you anymore."
The white snake shook its head, gave Melusine a disdainful look, then turned its head away and flicked its tongue.
Who cares about a woman like you?
It slowly slithered onto Kevin, and then deliberately turned its head towards Melusine, hissing twice.
This action made Melusine's eyes widen, and she looked at Kevin in disbelief.
Kevin coughed awkwardly twice and explained, "I found that its venom is also a material for making potions, so I've been paying more attention to it recently."
He couldn't be blamed for this. After all, if he took the snake's venom, he naturally had to appease it well and give it more food and comfort items.
"Hmph." Melusine pouted angrily, pushing her wheelchair and stomping off in a huff.
"You foolish snake." Kevin tapped the snake's head resting on his shoulder and quickly chased after her.
In the afternoon, Kevin returned to his alchemy lab.
He rubbed his temples. Although the area of the alchemy lab had not expanded, various materials were already piled high, and the walls were covered with various record sheets.
"Having too many usable materials is also a headache."
This sweet trouble made Kevin feel a bit helpless.
"I thought I could take a shortcut with Melusine's ability, but I didn't expect such restrictions." Thinking of this, Kevin felt even more helpless.
To better assist Kevin, Melusine would sometimes help him when he was making potions, acting as an assistant or learning some related knowledge. Her Nen ability required her to understand Kevin's troubles and know the direction to solve them to be effective. So she had to know at least the most basic information.
But this ability had a limitation: Kevin had to genuinely be troubled by something; otherwise, without a solution, the Nen ability could not be activated. If he wasn't troubled, how could the Nen ability be activated?
Kevin had been back for almost two months. In terms of making potions, he had only been troubled once. Other times, although making potions also took a lot of time, he didn't feel troubled due to having many inspirations. In this situation, Melusine's Nen ability couldn't help him improve efficiency.
Thinking of this, Kevin couldn't help but tap his head. "Oh, I was actually enjoying it."
He really couldn't do anything about himself.
However, after nearly two months of effort, Kevin had at least successfully acquired the Nen ability changes brought by the [Blazing Potion] and [Wind Rider Potion] . But the changes brought by these two abilities did indeed have a certain learning difficulty. He could make his Nen heat up and turn into wind, but how to use these abilities was something he had to explore on his own. That is to say, he would have to spend some time adapting to wind and heat, allowing them to truly integrate into his combat techniques.
This was equivalent to mastering a new Nen ability, requiring him to skillfully apply the techniques. This was different from the changes brought by low-to-mid-tier potions in the past. For example, Kevin's commonly used [Iron Wall] potion. Previously, the Nen abilities Kevin obtained through potions were mostly various passive abilities. Even when activated, they didn't require much control, basically just numerical changes. So the learning cost was almost zero. After learning and practicing a bit, he could perfectly use them in combat. Moreover, Kevin had very high control over Nen abilities.
But now it was different. As the potion level increased to mid-to-high tier, the Nen ability changes brought by the potions became more diverse. Take the [Blazing Potion] for example: how high the temperature could be raised completely depended on Kevin's own ability. How to raise the temperature? How to make the temperature in certain areas rise? How to avoid the surrounding temperature from getting too high and hurting himself while raising the temperature? Could the speed of temperature increase be accelerated? These were all things Kevin needed to train. Not to mention the [Wind Rider Potion] , which had an even higher learning difficulty. The various uses and changes of wind were almost equivalent to a completely new Nen ability.
Let's not think about these for now. He had to make the potion he designed yesterday first.
Kevin immediately took action.
[Gold Scale: Snake Tendon (cut into sections - 56 grams) ]
[Silver Scale: Shadow Abyssal (whole - 10 grams) ]
[Copper Scale: Gold Pattern Flower Petals (two pieces - 10 grams) ]
[Effect: Nen can become flexible and sturdy. ]
Kevin began to craft. Soon, the finished potion was born. This potion was named [Whiplash Potion] by Kevin.
After making the potion, Kevin went straight to the training ground. Seeing Kevin approaching with the potion, Kurapika and the others immediately sat obediently on the viewing stands nearby. In such situations, Kevin was either using a potion to familiarize himself with new abilities or testing a new potion.
This time, Kevin brought out several different potions: [Roaring Potion] , [Tearing Potion] , and [Whiplash Potion] . These three were all B-rank potions—high-grade potions Kevin had recently created. Of course, there were also some low-grade potions, but those potions had little value in terms of learning and were more for enriching the variety and functions of Kevin's potions.
The [Roaring Potion] was made primarily from the throat and tongue of a Griffin, supplemented by the throat and tongue of an eagle. Its effect was to allow Kevin to release his Nen ability through roaring—a composite Nen ability of Enhancement and Emission types. The Griffin had used this move in battle.
The [Tearing Potion] was made from the Griffin's talons and the claws of a terror leopard. Just from the materials and the potion's name, one could guess its function—directly strengthening Kevin's palms, fingers, and nails, making them as sharp and powerful as a beast's claws. This was a relatively pure Enhancement-type potion.
The [Whiplash Potion] had just been made, so there was no need for further introduction. The reason they were being tested together now was that Kevin had previously been learning and mastering the abilities of the [Blazing Potion] and [Wind Rider Potion] . This time, the harvest of materials was abundant, and there were quite a few newly made and learnable potions. Just learning the abilities of these potions took Kevin a lot of time.
Kevin picked up the syringe and injected the [Roaring Potion] into his body.
Instantly, Kevin felt an itch in his throat and couldn't help but want to roar loudly.
"Cover your ears," Kevin turned to remind everyone.
Upon hearing this, Kurapika immediately plugged his ears with his fingers, even activating Nen to provide a sealed defense.
Confirming that everyone was ready, Kevin looked into the distance, took a deep breath, and suddenly opened his mouth.
"Roar!"
Nen surged out with the roar. The sound spread in waves, visibly rushing forward. The surrounding glass shattered instantly. Seeing this, Kevin quickly closed his mouth. If he roared any longer, the ceiling would probably collapse.
At this moment, the area ahead was a mess. The training room floor and the targets were directly overturned and broken by the roar.
Kurapika stared at this scene in dumbfounded amazement. Just one roar could have such immense power? What kind of monster had Uncle Kevin become now?
"It seems this place isn't suitable for continuing to test potions. Let's go to the back mountain."
With that, Kevin led the group towards the back mountain. Several mountains and a large forest in the back mountain had already been acquired by Layte, becoming their territory. The space here was open and wouldn't disturb anyone.
At this time, half the duration of the [Roaring Potion] 's effect remained. Kevin once again instructed everyone to plug their ears, then roared loudly towards the forest ahead. This time, he gathered a large amount of Nen in his throat, and it burst forth with the roar.
Inside the manor, Layte, who was reading the newspaper and drinking tea, was suddenly startled by the roar from outside, spilling coffee from his cup onto his pants.
"Are you alright?" Dalzollene, who was always guarding him closely, quickly asked.
Layte shook his head. "What was that sound?"
Dalzollene also heard the roar and frowned. "Judging by the direction, it should be coming from the back mountain. Go ask what exactly is going on," Layte said to the maid beside him. The maid nodded slightly and quickly returned to report.
"It's Lord Kevin training in the back mountain."
"Oh, it's Kevin." Knowing it was Kevin, Layte no longer paid attention and continued reading the newspaper.
Dalzollene, however, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. After inquiring carefully, he learned that Kevin was currently deep in the back mountain, not close to here at all. Yet they could hear that roar so clearly. Had Kevin completely turned into a monster?
He couldn't help but think that Kevin's strength was becoming more and more astonishing.
In the mountain forest at this time, Kurapika and the others stared blankly at the scene before them.
Melusine walked up to Kevin, reached out and tugged at his face, then rubbed it, and even pinched him all over his body.
"Although I don't mind your little hands moving around on me, if you keep touching me like this, I might not be able to resist doing something."
Melusine, however, paid no attention, just patted Kevin's chest blankly. She reached out and pointed forward. "How did you do that? You haven't completely turned into a monster, have you?"
In front of Kevin, it was as if a powerful storm had struck. Trees were toppled everywhere, many branches were broken, and tree trunks had collapsed. Sand and stones on the ground were also lifted high into the air.
If this was a scene Kevin had created with his fists, the few people who had witnessed Kevin's strength might not have been so surprised. But the problem was, this was an effect Kevin had created by roaring. Smashing with fists and roaring with the throat were completely different concepts, and the sense of shock they brought was naturally worlds apart.
"Don't be surprised. If I hit it with my fists, the effect would be similar, so you can completely equate the power of my roar with the power of my fists," Kevin said with a grin.
This was, of course, not just the effect brought by the [Roaring Potion] alone. Kevin had realized long ago that the potion skills he learned through Nen ability were not isolated but could be combined with each other. Just like the high temperature brought by the [Blazing Potion] could be combined with [Iron Wall] . This could allow Kevin to create a "branding" effect, making the hexagonal Iron Wall become like a red-hot branding iron, which, when smashed onto an opponent, would leave a mark. As long as the skills didn't conflict, they could basically be fused together.
For example, [Iron Wall] and [Wind] could not be fused, because as Transmutation-type abilities, they couldn't simultaneously make Nen both an Iron Wall and turn into wind. But [High Temperature] , also a Transmutation-type ability, could be fused with both [Iron Wall] and [Wind] . This contained the characteristics of Nen ability transformation.
Kevin had just combined [Wind] and [Roar] . He enhanced the sound and the released Nen through roaring, and turned that Nen into wind. Moreover, the main ingredient of the [Roaring Potion] was the Griffin's throat and tongue, which caused a wonderful chemical reaction in the fusion between [Wind] and [Roar] . The moment he roared, a deafening wind pressure was formed, creating an incredibly astonishing impact. That's why the scene before them looked like a hurricane had passed through. Even if Kevin created wind pressure with his fists, it wouldn't achieve such an effect. It seemed that even for [Wind] , the power generated by roaring was stronger than striking with fists or palm chops.
As the potion's effect gradually faded, Kevin didn't leave immediately. Instead, he picked up another potion—the [Tearing Potion] .
He injected the potion directly into his body.
Soon, his palms underwent a change. Although the size of his palms didn't change, from his five fingers onwards, his blood vessels became clearly visible, and the muscles on his fingers bulged. His nails became thick and sharp.
Kevin shaped his hand into a claw, and his entire hand instantly appeared sinister and fierce.
Kevin walked to a large tree and gently grabbed it. He easily tore a gash in the tree trunk, then crushed the torn wood into fragments. He extended his index finger and casually slid it along the tree trunk. It felt too easy; the tree trunk was like chalk, easily marked.
Kevin clenched his fingers into a claw and swung it forcefully. Five streaks of light flashed. The tree trunk was severed, and the part in the middle where it had been clawed shattered into several pieces. He hadn't even used much force.
Thinking of the [Tearing Potion] 's main ingredient being Griffin claws, Kevin channeled Nen, letting wind envelop his palm. He shaped his hand into a claw and swung it upwards and forwards.
Swish!
Accompanied by the sound of wind, a cutting sound echoed. Five hook-like marks immediately appeared on the ground, and an invisible wind swept forward. The distant fallen trees were instantly cut clean. Five deep trenches were left on the ground.
"Perfect. It combines with wind just as well as the [Roaring Potion] ."
The wind further enhanced the power of his claws.
Then, Kevin, like an excited child, extended his claws and frantically scratched among the fallen trees. The fallen trees suffered, torn to pieces by him, with branches and leaves scattering everywhere.
By the time the potion's effect disappeared, the already messy trees had become even more dilapidated, the ground was full of deep trenches, and the trees had long since turned into a pile of disorganized timber.
However, Kevin didn't pay attention to the chaotic scene before him. Instead, he focused on his palms. The change in his palms had disappeared, returning to their original state.
"A new learning challenge? This is troublesome now."
Kevin discovered that the potion had undergone a new change. What this potion brought was not just a simple change in Nen, nor just the strengthening effect of an external potion. It also changed the flesh and blood of Kevin's fingers, including his nails. This belonged to the Transmutation-type ability. From Bisky, Kevin learned that Transmutation could not only transform Nen but also change the body.
Undoubtedly, this potion was a composite ability of Enhancement and Transmutation types. So the question arose: how could this change to the body be memorized and learned? This was much more difficult than a simple Nen transformation.