Lin Qiye's gaze was dead set on the arms of the two elf "therapists"—arms that were thicker than his own thighs. He swallowed hard.
"Um... I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding here."
Forcing a stiff smile, Lin Qiye waved his hands dismissively while carefully inching backward, desperately trying to distance himself from the two oppressive "mountains of muscle."
"I just remembered I have something to take care of, so I won't bother you anymore. Keep up the good work, keep up the good work."
He turned around, fully intending to flee this place of impending doom.
However, the moment he turned, a large, heavily calloused hand pressed lightly onto his shoulder.
"Customer, the service hasn't even started yet."
One of the elf "girls" wore a professional smile, her voice booming with vigor.
An unrivaled, immense force transmitted from that palm.
Lin Qiye felt as if a literal mountain was crushing his shoulder. In the face of this tremendous strength, his own formidable power seemed utterly insignificant.
He was effortlessly lifted into the air before being slammed face-down onto a cold stone massage bed with a loud smack, completely immobilized.
Horror gripped Lin Qiye's heart. This level of strength completely exceeded his expectations. He couldn't even muster a single ounce of effective resistance.
Struggling, he twisted his head to shoot a desperate, pleading look at the main culprit lounging not too far away.
Ian was half-lying on a soft animal-skin sofa, his eyes narrowed in pure contentment.
A translucent, crystal-clear slime girl had wrapped her cool, soft body around one of his arms, letting a refreshing chill seep into his skin to dispel the heat.
Hovering in mid-air, a harpy used the softest feathers of her wingtips to give Ian a gentle, sweeping massage, sending waves of tingling numbness across his body.
Sensing Lin Qiye's gaze, Ian lazily opened one eye and winked at him.
"Don't panic. This is the 'Tough Guy Package,' the most ancient battle-physique tempering ritual of the elves. It's specifically designed to build a solid foundation for a tender-skinned kid like you. Enjoy!"
*Enjoy my ass!* Lin Qiye roared frantically in his mind.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a charming catgirl stood on her tiptoes, sticking out her pink little tongue to gently lick away a drop of wine that had accidentally stained the corner of Ian's mouth.
A dryad stood behind him, using her flexible, vine-like long hair to perform an incredibly exquisite acupoint massage on his head. Every strand of hair seemed alive, accurately stimulating his pressure points and leaving him thoroughly relaxed.
The entire scene was extravagant and cozy, a stark contrast to the impending "torture" session about to unfold on Lin Qiye's end.
The two elf therapists completely ignored Lin Qiye's struggles.
One of them hauled over a waist-high stone mortar. Inside, a viscous green paste emitted a pungent, bizarre odor that smelled like a mix of herbs and some kind of ore.
Using a wooden spoon, she scooped up the paste and smeared it evenly across Lin Qiye's entire back.
Sizzle—
A searing, agonizing pain instantly flared from the skin on his back, as if he had been splashed with boiling oil. The sheer agony caused all the muscles in Lin Qiye's body to violently tense up.
The other therapist, maintaining her professional smile, slowly raised a stone hammer that was larger than Lin Qiye's head.
"Customer, we are about to begin. Please relax."
Thud!
A heavy, muffled crash echoed.
The stone hammer landed squarely on Lin Qiye's latissimus dorsi.
"Argh—!"
Lin Qiye's vision went black from the pain, nearly causing him to pass out on the spot. He felt as though his bones were going to shatter from that single strike.
This wasn't some bullshit massage at all! This was a straight-up beating!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The stone hammer fell with a bizarre rhythm, strike after strike.
With every impact, Lin Qiye felt his internal organs violently tremble.
Agony washed over him in relentless waves, eroding his sanity.
He could even clearly hear the overwhelmed cracking and creaking of his own bones.
Just when he thought he was actually going to be beaten to death by these two monsters, an entirely different sensation suddenly erupted from deep within his body.
It was "Flesh Reconstruction"!
This ability, obtained from Nurgle, the God of Life, was passively triggered the moment his body suffered the blows!
Under the miraculous effects of "Flesh Reconstruction," that searing agony and bone-shattering impact actually began to break down and transform.
They miraculously turned into streams of the purest life energy, surging toward his damaged tissues.
Nourished by this massive influx of life energy, his crushed muscle fibers and fractured bones rapidly reconstructed at an unimaginable speed.
Moreover, the reconstructed muscles and bones became even tougher and stronger than before.
Lin Qiye's body began to greedily absorb the boundless energy contained within the green paste on his back.
A faint, glossy, dark-green stratum corneum gradually surfaced on his skin.
This was a sign that the "Flesh Reconstruction" ability was evolving.
At first, the two elf therapists maintained their professional smiles and steady rhythm.
But as they continued hammering, the expressions on their faces began to change.
"Hm?"
The elf therapist holding the stone hammer let out a soft gasp of surprise.
She felt as though the force of her strikes was like a stone dropping into the ocean, easily absorbed by his body.
Not only did it fail to achieve the expected "break and rebuild" effect, but it actually felt like she was just giving a regular massage.
She exchanged a glance with her companion, both seeing the astonishment in each other's eyes.
"Increase the force,"
the elf applying the paste said in a low voice.
The elf with the stone hammer nodded. Taking a deep breath, the muscles on her arms bulged, growing another size larger.
Thud—!
The force behind this strike was several times stronger than before.
However, when the stone hammer landed on Lin Qiye's back, it only produced an even more muffled sound.
The anticipated sound of fracturing bones never came, and Lin Qiye didn't even let out a grunt.
The two elf therapists were thoroughly shocked.
They could clearly sense something off about this seemingly slender young man's body.
The life energy they injected—energy sufficient to temper the strongest elven warriors—was being frantically devoured by him.
His physical strength was skyrocketing at a completely illogical speed.
*Just what kind of monster is he?*
The "massage" finally ended.
When the two elf therapists, their faces full of shock and bewilderment, packed up their tools and bowed before retreating, Lin Qiye slowly sat up from the stone bed.
He clenched his fists, feeling the surging, brand-new power coursing through his body.
From head to toe, every single cell was brimming with an explosive sense of energy.
Although the process had been excruciatingly painful, almost as if he had died once.
The results, however, were surprisingly excellent.
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