Ultimately, Shiryu was personally escorted by Magellan to a cell in Level 6, the Eternal Hell.
"You two…!"
Inside the Warden's office, Magellan's face was dark. He glared at Wilder and Sadi, who stood calmly before his desk. His expression turned even darker.
"Did you just ignore everything I said?! Weren't you supposed to be guarding the prisoners?!"
"Nn~ Well, nothing happened, anyway. Right, First-sama?" Sadi mumbled, looking down and fiddling with her fingernails.
"Yes, I believe Sadi is correct," Wilder replied calmly.
"Dammit!" Magellan was practically fuming. Not a single one of his subordinates was easy to deal with.
Thinking about it, Magellan suddenly felt that Hannyabal was actually pretty good, after all. Although he was always scheming to take over, at least he was an obedient subordinate.
With a wave of his hand, Magellan seemed to age ten years. He said weakly, "You… get out."
"Nn~ Seriously, the Warden is always making a fuss over nothing." Sadi grumbled as she left the office. Magellan, hearing this from behind, almost bit his tongue in frustration.
Wilder gave Magellan an expressionless nod and turned to leave as well.
Returning to his quarters, Wilder's calm facade vanished. He sat down with a frown, focusing on the sensations within his body.
The surging blood gradually calmed. It felt as though some shackle within him had been broken, and a sense of complete control over his entire body arose.
Wilder opened his eyes, looking at the approximately one-centimeter-deep scar on his arm.
To avoid revealing his abilities, Wilder had suppressed his elemental transformation at the time. Similarly, Shiryu probably thought it unnecessary, and his slash hadn't been imbued with Armament Haki. Even so, Wilder had still received a rather deep wound. And this was with him entering that special state; otherwise, it would have been much more than just a scar.
"That moment… it was a bit like that." Wilder recalled the feeling of being engulfed in danger, his blood suddenly and involuntarily accelerating, his muscles tensing. A certain term popped into his mind.
At the same time, combined with the changes in his body over the past six months, a deeper understanding stirred within Wilder, filling him with excitement.
He suppressed the thought, calming his racing heart, and closed his eyes to sense the state of his body. The sound of his blood flowing was clear and distinct in his mind. Wilder tried to listen for something even deeper, sinking his consciousness into the sensation.
The sound of flowing blood grew louder and louder in his ears. It wasn't that his blood was flowing faster, but rather… that he was hearing it more clearly.
"This is…"
Wilder's closed eyelids twitched. The path of his blood flow was clearly displayed in his "mind's eye."
Not only his blood, but his skin, hair, bones, and internal organs – he could "see" them all with perfect clarity.
He could no longer contain the excitement surging within him. The idea in his mind was becoming increasingly concrete.
To confirm his guess, Wilder continued to delve deeper into his body.
Boom! It felt as though a massive explosion had detonated in his ears. His blood, at Wilder's unintentional "prodding," suddenly stopped flowing. His body, in that instant, became incredibly hard.
"Iron Body!" He opened his eyes, a cold, sharp glint flashing within them. Wilder let out a low growl.
Buzz… It was as if an invisible light flashed across his body. Wilder maintained his motionless posture, his muscles bulging slightly.
"Indeed… Exquisite control over the body. A special kind of Life Return, perhaps?" A low voice echoed, and a thrilled smile spread across Wilder's face.
He finally had a lead on the secret of his body's changes over the past six months. And all of this was likely due to his soul, which was different from ordinary people – a powerful soul.
He walked towards the wall with slightly stiff movements. Wilder frowned slightly, but he also knew that being able to achieve this level of control on his first try was already a benefit brought about by his special Life Return.
He took a sharp torture implement from the wall, which was covered in various such tools. Wilder's eyes flickered with a cold light. He placed his palm on the table, and then… a flash of steel! The blade in his hand stabbed down onto his hand.
Tink! A light sound rang out. The torture implement struck the back of his hand as if it had hit solid steel, unable to penetrate even a fraction.
A white mark was left on the back of his hand, slightly indented. And the tip of the torture implement, which wasn't particularly sturdy to begin with, was bent into a hook.
"Instead of calling it Iron Body, perhaps Iron Blood is more fitting. Nyehehehe…" Wilder chuckled softly, deeply satisfied with the result.
Life Return, in the original work, was a deeper level of body control based on the Navy's Six Powers. It was a transformation that occurred after mastering the Six Powers to their utmost limit. It could even be considered the Navy's seventh form.
Wilder didn't know Life Return, but he intended to use his unique talent to develop in that direction. So… viewing it as a special kind of Life Return seemed rather fitting, after all, since they shared similarities.
After a moment of contemplation, he realized that the unlocking of his talent meant that his physical constitution had reached a certain standard. It could be said that he had broken through the limits of humanity, reaching the superhuman physique required for the Six Powers.
In fact, Wilder had a feeling that he far exceeded the initial boundary of "superhuman."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Inside the dilapidated training room, Wilder's figure constantly vanished and reappeared in mid-air, alternating between Moon Walk and Shave. The sounds of breaking air were dense and rapid.
Dust clouds exploded in the air, the surging air currents stirred up by his movements swirling chaotically.
Thud! His figure paused, leaving five deep claw marks on the wall, then vanished again, appearing on another wall.
For a time, dust filled the air. Red smoke-flowers bloomed continuously on the red brick walls, sharp claw marks appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
His figure paused again. Wilder stood in mid-air, kicking at the air with one foot.
"Silent Sky Path!"
Silently, his body dissipated in mid-air. For a moment, the entire training room became utterly silent.
But upon closer inspection, one could see faint, distorted ripples occasionally flashing through the air.
Whoosh!
A dark shadow suddenly emerged from the air. Wilder's expression was utterly ferocious, and he plummeted towards the ground like a cannonball.
"Iron Body: Steel Might!"
Boom! The ground suddenly caved in, a network of dense cracks appearing, spreading outwards from the sunken, circular area.
Crack… Crack…
The sound of stone tearing apart rang out. The sunken, circular pit continued to expand, the cracks becoming fewer in number as they spread, but the width of each crack increased.
Dust and debris billowed. When the dust finally settled, a circular pit about five meters in diameter was revealed.
Wilder stood in the very center of the pit, calming the racing blood within his body.
He slowly raised his head, his expression calm and unmoving, his deep eyes brimming with unrestrained wildness.
"Then, let's start testing that…"
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