The next morning marked the first day of his 5 days free training. Therefore, Emery returned to Zodiac City and made his way towards the Bloodline Gene store that was closed the last time he came. Hopefully, the guy named Bob had returned.
Just like it always did, Zodiac City was also completely filled by half-blood people. More than half of them had a certain, striking characteristic in their figures that varied with each other. One of them was hairy to the brim, one had unique, unusual ears, one had gleaming blue skin and so on. The city truly was an unprecedented sight for the eye.
Emery walked across the bustling streets, through the familiar alley, until he reached the store. This time, instead of a closed door and a piece of paper on it, there was an [Open] sign attached on the half-wooden half-glass window.
*Ting* *Ting* *Cling*
The chimes of a small bell stuck on the door welcomed Emery as he entered the store.
"Kkrrr Wait up...! I am koming!"
The voice was coming from the back of the store, where Emery could faintly see a busy figure through a piece of cloth that covered most of the doorway.
While the man was busy with his matter, Emery took the opportunity to look around. The place looked like a normal store, but all its shelves were full with big and small jars that contained interesting things. Some were filled with blood, some with clear liquid, but all of them had their own kind of weird objects inside them.
Several minutes passed, but the shouting figure had not come out yet. When Emery was about to go to the back, to find the person himself, he saw a figure rushing to the front.
"Who is it?!"
The figure walked to the back of the long counter table. Even though Emery could hear the sounds of footsteps, he did not actually see anyone until the figure walked up, showing himself behind the table.
The figure standing right in front of him did not look human at all, not only was he short, he also had two huge bulging eyes, wide mouth and greenish skin. The figure looked so much like a frog. In conclusion, its look was not pleasant at all.
"Kkkrrr… Yes, I am Bob the Frog. Who are you? What do you wank?"
Not trying to disrespect him, Emery schooled his expression and answered calmly, "I am Emery Ambrose. Patriarch of-"
Before Emery could finish his words, Bob interrupted him, "Yes, yes… The wolf boy, isn't it? Alrighk. Kome. Follow me to the back."
Emery nodded his head and followed the frog guy that was already walking ahead. Much to his surprise, the back room was apparently much scarier compared to the front.
Emery did not notice this from the front, but the lighting at the back door was actually incredibly bad. Rows of familiar shelves were seen, but instead of their counterpart that looked normal, all of them were covered with some kind of dark substance that gave off a gloomy feeling.
Scanning through the jars that were in the shelves, Emery could swear that some of them were still moving!
It did not stop there. Something caught his attention from the corner of his eyes and when he looked over, Emery saw a plant-like, meat-like, indescribable thing that was wriggling on the floor.
If this place and the short guy in front of him weren't recommended by the patriarch, Emery would have already made up some kind of excuse to leave. This place was too bizarre!
Bob pointed his finger and said, "Juss sit on the khair over there and relax."
Emery climbed up the wooden chair and Bob then proceeded to put a restraints on him, to his arms and feets, causing him to become more nervous.
Sensing Emery's tense body, Bob said, "Relak... Relak, you wanted a way to boost your genes khrough your current gene sampling, righk?"
Even though Emery didn't completely understand what the frog was saying, only half, it seemed to be the same thing that was mentioned by the patriarch. Hence, he nodded, albeit nervous.
"Then this is the only way, wolf boy."
After making sure Emery was locked and secure, Bob then opened a box where there were half a dozen clean tubes inside it. He then began to take one of the tubes and attach it to some kind of needle.
Next, Bob grabbed Emery's arm and pierced the needle into it.
Emery could clearly see as his blood was taken into the tube. Bob did the same process to his feet and then his neck, taking a sample of his blood from those areas.
"Alrighk. We are done. Next, you need to use your first transformation."
Emery quietly followed Bob's instruction, no matter how strange the request and what he did was. The frog then continued by taking three more tubes of blood from the same sources.
His next request shocked Emery.
"Alrighk! Last is your second transformation. Let's do it."
Emery was about to persuade Bob about the matter as he was still unable to control his second transformation.
In fact, he was afraid that he would go on rampage in this store and end up accidentally killing the frog guy. However, the frog assured him that all would be well and he only needed to follow his instructions.
Emery was still reluctant, but he followed suit. He just hoped the restraint were strong enough to hold him.
[Fey Transformation - Second Stage]
While Emery slowly lost control of himself, as his body transformed into the gray beast, he could tell the frog continued to take a few more tubes of blood from him. He knew this was a bad idea the moment he saw the restraint on him loosening.
Just before the restraints broke, Bob suddenly threw unidentified white powder to Emery's face, covering his vision with whiteness. A moment later, one could clearly see the loosely restrained Emery slowly returned to his human form.
It took him quite some time before Emery managed to regain his sense and, personally, it was such a weird experience to him.
The frog guy walked towards Emery, "Are you awake yet? Everything is done."
Without waiting for Emery, Bob walked to the front counter. Still dazed, Emery could only follow the guy, coming out of the back room. The moment they reached the front store, Bob said, "I need time to research this and kome up with the recipe that's right for you. Give me 14 days and I think the serum will be ready by then. "
"S-Serum...?" asked Emery, clearly still in daze.
"Krrrr Yes. Remember to bring the money later."
"Money...? Money?!" Emery asked again, he sobered when he heard the word money.
"Are all wolves stupid? Krrr Yes. money! 10.000 spirit stones per serum."
"If you wank the recipes, I will part with it for 100.000 stones. That's a great deal, considering the patriarch recommended you."
Emery was silent. He needed more money, much more money. He could only blame his bad fortune for his awful condition. It was not only his core that made him feel like crying, his bloodline as well.
"Remember to kome in 14 days!" Bob said, as he sent Emery off.
Emery walked out of the store with his head so low it almost reached the ground. He was brooding over his sorrow, his unluckiness and more importantly, his fate.
Right after Emery left the store, another person walked inside. A girl with white lustrous hair.
"Uncle Bob! You're already back from home!? That's good! I need more boosters! I ran out of them."
"Kkrrrrr… Of course! Anything for my favorite niece."
The girl was smiling happily when she noticed something, "Uncle... What is this smell? It seems familiar..."
"Ooh, that? Don't worry. A kustomer kame in just now. A Wolf bloodline."
"Aaa... I see... What's his name?"