In order to heal his wounds, Rocky had to keep mute as Esteban told him to. Every day, he looked up at Esteban with big eyes and watched the latter use different methods to try and fix him.
His consciousness had returned for a few days and now, he wanted Esteban to repair him completely. Although Esteban's efforts were not obvious to the naked eye, Rocky could feel his body slowly recovering.
Yet, he still didn't feel the presence of the power that had once flowed through his body. It was like it had vanished into thin air. Fortunately, he had been mentally prepared for that to happen. After all, he had exhausted the power in the Scarlet Heaven Jade. Now, he had to pay the corresponding price. And losing his strength was not that serious. He could have died instead. Rocky felt extremely lucky to have survived at all.
The recovery was hard but Rocky had grown used to it and he did not find it boring. He took advantage of the time and tried to learn new things. After all, he was a geneticist, and the genetic technology was based on medical skills. He paid close attention to all the strategies Esteban was using to treat him, studying his medical skills secretly.
Half a month went by.
Rocky had been imprisoned to the ice bed for so long that when he could finally stand, his limbs barely moved. He could not go far, but it was better than lying on the ice bed every day.
Esteban was surprised to see that Rocky, who had been more of a zombie than a human lately, had recovered so much in just one month. He was very confident in his own medical skills, but this would have never happened if Rocky did not possess a good physique and an amazing recovery ability.
In addition, while he was treating Rocky, he discovered that Rocky's physique was completely different than any human being he had treated before. He saw traces of power in his skin. Rocky had been seriously injured, and Esteban figured that he was able to recover because of the unique aspects of him.
Of course, Esteban didn't care about Rocky's identity or background. What he cared about was whether he could completely restore Rocky back to his original self. After all, he considered him as nothing but a trial subject. If he could return Rocky to his full health, he would take a qualitative leap in his medical skills.
Now that he was ambulatory once again, Rocky began to recover faster and smoother.
In just a few days, Rocky could flex every joint and contract every muscle fully. Minus the fact that he could not feel any power in his body, he looked like an ordinary, healthy human.
However, his recovery signaled the beginning of a life of enslavement. On the second day he was able to move freely, Esteban sent him on errands like collecting groceries in the Ghost Palace and filling up tubs with warm water so he could wash his feet before he went to bed.
And because Rocky was an ordinary man now, he had no strength to resist Esteban. In addition, Esteban did save his life, so he felt like he had to repay him and act as his servant for a while.
The only advantage of being a servant was that Rocky was free to wander inside the Ghost Palace. A few times, he tried to leave the Ghost Palace while Esteban was sleeping or away, but he was quick to discover that the Ghost Palace had been sealed and Esteban was the only person who could come and go from it. So he was forced to give up the idea of leaving and he continued to try to recover his power in the Ghost Palace.
At first, Rocky didn't think he could ever recover his strength because he had nearly died. As a result of that, his strength had fizzled out. If he had had his original strength, it wouldn't have taken such a long time to recover.
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