Zion immediately sat up, ignoring the pain flaring through his arms.

"Thank you," he said, a small smile on his face.

The girl nodded once, placing the bowl on his nightstand.

"Calder also brought you this," she suddenly said, pulling out a small black object.

At first glance, it looked like a very old model of a handgun. But once Zion took a closer look, he immediately recognized it as an injector gun.

"That'll make things a lot easier," Zion said, his smile widening. "Thanks a lot."

The girl bowed slightly. "If that's all, I'll take my leave now."

Zion raised an eyebrow, watching the girl disappear beyond the mechanical door.

'Why is she suddenly so polite?' he wondered, tilting his head slightly.

He shrugged, not too hung up over it.

"Should we get started right away?" he asked, his gaze drifting to all the items on his nightstand.

[Affirmative,] Uriel responded, sounding more cheerful than usual. [Host just needs to inject the vials with thirty-second intervals each.]

"And the nanobot material? How do I inject that?"

[If Host manages to put his left arm into the bowl, I can absorb the dust through the railgun flaps.]

Zion nodded slowly. 'That sounds easy enough…'

He grit his teeth and pushed himself straighter up, then reached for the gun and the vials.

He forced himself to pick up the items, ignoring the pain shooting through his broken arm and the weakness weighing it down.

After placing them down on his left, he stared at the bowl filled with twenty pounds of metallic dust.

'There's no way I can pick that up right now,' he thought, letting out a sigh. 'I don't really want to ask Calder or that girl either.'

That left him with only one way out.

He pushed his body up and leaned to the right. As he let go, he twisted his body, planting his face against the side of his cushion and his left arm into the bowl.

'That works,' he thought, smiling faintly as the cushion muffled his breathing.

Now that he was in position, he picked up the injector gun and injected the first vial into his body.

[It might be better too,] Uriel suddenly said. [Cushions work great as noise suppression.]

"Huh?" Zion let out, feeling the cold liquid run down his body.

[Naturally, this isn't a painless procedure.]

'Oh,' he thought, his smile turning bitter.

Before he could even respond, he felt a strange heat start bubbling under his skin, slowly spreading from his legs all the way up to his chest.

Zion's breathing changed slightly, his fingers twitching as the liquid reached the severely wounded areas.

[Inject the second vial now,] Uriel said immediately.

Zion didn't hesitate, reaching for the injector gun and firing the second vial into his legs.

The reaction was immediate.

The heat under Zion's skin surged all at once, spreading violently from his legs through his chest and into his arms.

Zion's breathing became strained as he clenched his teeth.

That's when the true pain started.

His muscles tightened, locking up as they were torn apart from the inside.

At the same time, the metallic flaps on his left arm opened, sucking in the metallic dust and pushing it into the torn muscles.

Zion let out a muffled groan into his cushion as he felt the muscles reform with small nanobot particles inside them.

[Host, inject the final vial now.]

Zion didn't think, flicking to the final vial and injecting it with shaking hands.

The heat became unbearable, tearing through his body as impurities were burned away. At the same time, all three liquids were forcefully absorbed into the nanobot-infused muscles.

Gradually, the burning sensation faded away.

What replaced it wasn't pain, but a steady warmth that spread through Zion's body, flowing into his muscles and healing the damaged areas.

"Ohh," Zion let out, his body relaxing completely, feeling as if he'd been wrapped in a nice warm blanket.

He stayed like that for a few minutes, letting the warmth sink in as his body healed.

By the time the feeling disappeared, he could clench his fingers normally again and felt energized enough to fight another C-rank.

Zion opened his eyes, rolling over to stare at the ceiling.

"So much better," he mumbled, a faint smile on his face.

[The majority of the enhancement has been completed,] Uriel reported. [Over the next few hours, Host's muscles will continue to digest the leftover energy and grow passively.]

Zion nodded once, running a hand through his hair.

"Then, can you show me what my status looks like now?"

[Affirmative,] Uriel replied, a hint of cheerfulness in its voice again. [Opening now…]

As the status window opened, Zion's eyes widened while his mouth fell open.

[Neural Synchronization Rate: 91.9% → 92.3%]

[Muscle Integration: 45.7% → 96.0%]

[Physique: 39.3% → 89.8%]

"…That's insane," he muttered under his breath.

[The herbs worked perfectly. Host is now nearly a D-ra—]

"No, not that," Zion interrupted, shaking his head slightly. "I'm just surprised."

He stared at the numbers again, as if they might change.

"Normal E-ranks only need one vial to see results like this. I took three of them and I still haven't met the requirements."

Uriel remained silent for a moment.

[Host should check his new strength himself,] it finally said. [And see how it compares to normal E-ranks.]

"It wasn't an insult," Zion quickly said, chuckling slightly. "I really was just surprised."

He jumped off his bed, letting the status window fade from view. "But you're right. I should see how much stronger I've gotten."

Zion stretched both his arms in front of him, his gaze immediately catching on a faint white line running between his fingers and up to his wrist.

'A scar?'

He traced the line lightly with his thumb, feeling nothing unusual.

"Seems like it stayed," he mumbled, his smile widening.

Zion lowered his arm and pushed the thought aside.

Right now, he only wanted to find out how much stronger he had become.

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