Right after the system gave out the confirmation, Steve was instantly struck with what truly proved itself as unexpected; pain.

It felt a bit irritating how he had to experience more pain now, right after drinking a potion that helped go against it. Yet he had no other option but to deal with it.

In the first few seconds he experienced a few muscle spasms, specifically located on the shoulders and upper arms.

These weird shivers, have forced the young man's arms to spin towards some random direction.

His free hand hit the plank that was under his bum, and he felt quite some pain thanks to that; but it was nothing that caused a river of blood to break out.

As for the frogezoid's other hand, it was still in shackles and couldn't really go anywhere. But the commotion managed to spook the fine lady, as these spasms seemed unexpected.

Likewise, she had to yell out. "What's wrong with you? I'm trying to set you free, dumbass."

The kidnapped man was quite aware that this discomfort was coming from the upgrade, but of course an enemy shouldn't know anything about that.

Likewise, he decided to play the blame game. "Your potion is doing this to me, I was fine before!"

Perhaps such an excuse wasn't the most noble, but in this case it proved useful enough. The lady was in a rush too, so this commotion could escape without anyone to blame.

Once this kidnapper managed to remove that one hand shackle, Steve began feeling another layer of pain unleashing its final stages!

While he was conversing with the lady just a moment ago, he had felt portions of pain slowly making themselves present.

And now, this discomfort was strong enough to almost overwhelm the young man, as it was spreading across every muscle!

Steve felt like he was being boiled inside a pot of soup, but there wasn't any actual heat to cause such sensation of pain.

Which made this situation a bit more confusing, but he hung on to a bit of hope that this upgrade could prove helpful. This string of optimism kept him from blacking out.

But now as he gazed down, he noticed that his arms had met with a little change.

Earlier on his appearance had not been so attractive. He had been the definition of a young man, who barely had any food to eat through his life; he was simply too thin and dried out of life.

As for now, he didn't seem like a marvelous and buff prince of any sort; but at least he looked a little bit better.

There was a slight difference in his muscle sizes, enough for him to be considered more than just a dried out plank ~ but that was about it.

The upgrade had solely something to do with strength upgrades, so this slight shift in muscle-mass was most definitely related to it.

However. Even though the upgrade wasn't drastically great, at least the pain had entirely gone away by now. Such a fact managed to give him enough relief.

[Upgrade complete]

[Forty-five system points consumed,]

[Five system points remaining,]

[You might have noticed, that this upgrade has changed your appearance a little bit]

"Yes," The latter agreed with a nod.

[The strength upgrade has slightly increased your muscle mass, so you're five-kilos heavier now]

[In total, you weigh about forty kilos]

"That's kinda good, I think?" He thought out, not quite sure how to comprehend this upgrade right now.

[You're about twenty kilos underweight, so you should try to become fatter through these months. It aids survival]

Well that was another thing to worry about, perhaps the least problematic one too; but he was willing to handle such a dilemma through time.

As for now, he had a few plans that would surely prove effective. One way or the other, this strength upgrade will prove useful through either of his little plans.

That was why he peeked down once more, and had to put in a bit more effort to seek the kidnapper. The lady removed the shackles that restricted his ankles before, and then rose on her feet.

Without the slightest consent, she grabbed Steve by the bicep and lifted him up.

Instantly she managed to notice a difference, and a slight blush oddly grew across her face.

After peeking at the kidnapped boy's bicep, she said. "Uh, my potions never did that before."

"Really? A soul screamed all across your room a moment ago, and you have time to think about desires?" The sass-master was quick to complain.

"I didn't say anything, now walk." She urged, as they tip-toed across the room to climb the staircase.

Although he was clueless for a few seconds, Steve eventually noticed that something about this walk was different in comparison to the others.

And it was quite obvious, well, he could walk! With barely any effort even, which was a great nudge up in comparison to less than a day ago, when he could barely walk at all.

Now he had some slight difficulties, but they were so minor that the naked eye couldn't capture them. That aside, the kidnapper managed to rough-handle any sloppy step.

So indefinitely, walking was one thing less that he had to worry about at the moment.

Through thoughts, he celebrated. "All I needed was strength to walk? Well that's easier than I expected."

[I don't know what you consider easy, but you were almost sacrificed to a demon, just to get enough points for this upgrade]

"Easier than making a living in my other life," He couldn't stop himself from adding.

Since pain and confusion was mostly gone by now, Steve had it easier to be more like himself.

Jokes and sass were definitely something that took a great part of his consciousness, and considering how rough this new world was, he would likely need to rely on such expressions a lot!

That aside. While he was lightly conversing with the system, the kidnapper had already led him a few steps up the stairs.

A moment after, they managed to pass through a solid-metal door; but they had to put some force into bashing it open. And that was when Steve met with quite a different sight.

It was no mistake that he had been in some sort of dungeon earlier on, and that place wasn't pretty.

But as for this room, one would think that the entire city's wealth had been bashed right into this location!

It was massive in size, perhaps about ten meters long and wide. Apart from that, the entire place was coated with expensive furniture, paintings and there were even some weapons on the walls.

He peeked at some weird golden vase, and easily figured that the darn thing was worth more than the large debt he owed - the diamonds that coated this decoration, aided such a thought.

As for the room's overall atmosphere, the word 'golden coloured' would be the best way to give a strong definition.

It looked so lively in here, that no one would understand the concept of day and night, after they entered this place.

There were so many candles trapped in glass, enough to make one think that night was non-existent; the three large chandeliers aided that idea.

Yet regardless of how great this place was, there weren't any people around who would at least keep this place tidy.

That was convenient, since the two of them were naked right now; but it also proved a bit suspicious, did this crazed kidnapper kill off her workers as well?

Regardless, such a sight of wealth managed to intrigue the young man.

And eventually he asked, "You're filthy rich! Why do you even bother killing people for some darn plant recipes?"

"Don't shame my thirst for knowledge, dumbass." She was quick to scold back.

And then made the young man sit on a nice chair that was near a desk.

A moment later, she headed for a room that was located near the door they had barged out of; and then came out with a handful of clothes.

She tossed a pair of nice and likely expensive, black coloured cloth-sets against Steve's face.

And then she urged, "Put those on, we're leaving the city!"