The First Cultivator - Changing Existence

His tone did not give Skymender any room to refuse.

"Are you sure? Sometimes, it is better not to see."

This just strengthened Baron Sky's resolve. "If I'm going to let you continue this, I need transparency."

Skymender sighed.

He did not hesitate. He began to pull off his glove, gritting his teeth as he did so.

His fathers face slowly turned from anger and worry to horror as he saw Skymender's hand.

He was stunned, unable to speak.

Skymender looked at him while panting.

"Are you happy?"

His father stared at his hand for a while longer before looking at him in the eyes. 

"Skymender. This cannot go on."

"We've already been over this." Skymender said.

His father shook his head. "I'm not ordering you or forcing you to stop. I've come as a father, not Baron Sky. This is harmful, and you could die. Accidents like this could easily kill you. Look at your hand. Notice your breathing. What has this path brought you besides pain?"

Skymender listened to his father before speaking. "You want to see what this has brought me. Then come along. I'll show you clearly and let you decide if my efforts have been wasted or not."

He led his father out of the house. He naturally would not tell him that only one of his injuries had been caused by an accident. This one had been on purpose. 

It had exceeded even his expectations, but it would heal nonetheless.

His father and him quickly arrived at a quiet location. In front of Skymender was a tree. He felt bad using it as a testing target, but it wasn't special or anything.

He took out a vial and threw it at the tree. His father watched on silently.

The vial broke, and the tree began to corrode. In mere moments, it began to creak, and slowly collapsed on itself.

Skymender turned around and looked at his father, who was staring at the fallen tree in silence.

"Indeed. It is powerful, an incredible invention."

He paused for a moment. 

"But what use exactly does it have? What are you planning to do that would require that?"

Skymender spoke. "Beyond self protection, I don't know. What I do know is that if anyone has intentions to harm me or my family, they won't be able to as long as I have these."

Skymender handed his father one.

"What do you think?"

Baron Sky sighed, and he seemed to age a bit.

"I cannot stop you regardless. Just be safe."

He pocketed the vial. Even he knew of its value. He would not sell it or research it. Perhaps, as Skymender had said, it would save someone's life one day.

However, it may also take another.

Skymender wasn't sure how his father was feeling, but it seemed he was a bit disappointed in Skymender's decision to continue researching poison.

Skymender knew far more about the dangers and risks than his father did, but he had no plans to stop regardless. With great danger comes great opportunity.

Skymender put the glove back on his hand and walked to his room.

He spent the next few days going to school, but not staying after. His hand was so messed up that even if he tried to research, it would be impossible. He needed steady hands, or at least hands in general. Just one would not work.

He continued to not stay after school until the 10 cauldrons finally came in.

At that point, the pain had lessened a lot. He wasn't sure if he had gained resistance to the poison, but he had definitely gained some resistance to pain.

He planned to test out the corrosive poison again, but he wanted to get some research in before he did so.

Skymender began to once again perform basic research. He did not intend to create any poisons, but instead gain a greater understanding of different materials and how they interact with each other.

He did this for a while, spanning a month of time.

Finally, he found himself back in the room with a vial of corrosive poison in his hand. Looking at his empty hand, it had somewhat healed. 

It was very clearly messed up. In its entirety, it was scarred and deformed. It was as if it was the hand of a 200 year old mummy.

In addition to that were the veins of dark green, which neared blackness, that had remained present. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any negative effects from them.

He had already experienced the pain once, over a long period of time, and he was no longer scared of it. It would still hurt, and he was dreading it, but it was going to happen. He needed to see the changes the last round had brought.

Now that it had fully healed, if his guess was right, he should have some immunity to the corrosive poison.

He looked at his hand, which had stopped hurting, and threw the vial at the wall. He stepped forward and pushed his hand forward. 

He instantly felt the same pain. It hadn't lessened in the slightest. He forcefully kept his hand there until the corrosion stopped by itself.

He panted as he nearly fell, but he didn't scream out this time. After all, he had been experiencing similar pain for more than a month.

Although the pain itself hadn't lessened, Skymender looked down at his hand.

Through his pain, he saw a pleasant surprise. His skin was not corroded as much as it had been the last time. It was barely noticeable, but it was still proof that he hadn't been suffering for nothing.

Skymender stayed in the room, waiting for the initial pain to die down, before slipping on the glove and leaving.

Melly saw his pale face and bloodshot eyes, a sight she had not seen in a while, and instantly felt worried.

But seeing as Skymender did not say anything, she did not either.

Skymender returned home, and his father, noticing his current state, sighed.