Felix felt the heat from the cauldron and knew it was almost ready for the last step. He made sure the flame was completely under his control before he picked up the rat heart and prepared for the final step. This was the hardest part, controlling the flame so the heart would be absorbed slowly making sure the pill contained as much of the rat's essence as possible.

Felix waited and for the right moment before he opened the cauldron’s and retrieved the dark red pill and observed it for its purity. He couldn't be sure but it looked almost perfect, and it had only taken him two years and the lives of five thousand rats to do it,

"It's almost perfect, ” he said to the young man named Lar who was standing right behind him. He knew that others would call the pill perfect but he never used that word because the perfectionist in him wouldn't allow it.

“How are you doing to name it?” The boy asked curiously.

Felix walked towards the cage and wanted to test it before any of that. What was the use of naming a pill he didn't know was going to work anyway? He opened the cage and fed the white mouse the small pill which was the size of a corn piece and watched with curiosity.

The mouse quickly started screaming but only for a couple of seconds before it stopped moving and fell on his side as his muscles and bones started to break and spasm. Felix could not help smile with excitement as he saw the mouse body slowly turn into that of the dead rat.

He then turned his focus to the rat and started to scan its body with his spirit force and tried to find any inconsistencies. He spend the next twenty minutes inspecting every part of the rat multiple times before his concentration was broken by Lar who said, “I can't find a difference master.”

Felix nodded his head and said, “keep an eye on it, make sure you record when it wakes up, if it's able to move and how long it stays like this before he returns to his old body.”

Lar told his master not to worry and that he would make a full report for them he came back. He looked back at the small ray and said, “Master, why did the mouse not go wild like the other times?” Most mouses had tried to kill themselves before the transformation even ended. he could still remember how mouse number two would bash his head against the steel cage and broke his neck on the fifth try. Only two mouses until had been strong enough to resist the pain, three if you counted this one.

Felix shook his head and answered, “no, I just included a paralyzing effect so the patient cant hurt himself while going through the transformation, they will however still feel the pain.”

The student felt a little disappointed as he knew he would want to use the pill himself one day if there was no torture involved. But maybe his master would find a way to fix it he thought. He looked at the small rat and again asked, “so what are you going to name it?”

It didn't matter to Felix what they named it, but the pill needed a name non the less. He thought about it for a second and answered, “let's go with, Proteus.” The people in this world didn't know who he was but he knew from his past life, Proteus was a Greek god known for his shapeshifting.

Felix left the small lab which resided inside the forest close to the border and slowly walked back to the city of Aduatuci which took him about two hours with his increased speed. He worked at a small restaurant there as a cook and waiter. He was already late but decided to take a small detour to the small smith workshop around the corner to meet up with the little boy who was shoveling coal into the blazing fire. What people couldn't do to survive he thought as he waved to the boy who ran towards him with a bright smile on his face.

“How are you doing little man, ” Felix asked as he took out a small flask of water and handed it over to him, and watched him empty it in a matter of seconds.

“I'm fine, thanks to you sir, it's hard work but I'm happy to be earning some money for my parents,” the boy answered with a bright smile on his face.

Felix looked at the boy and saw a couple of new bruises on his body. He had met little Kaeso a year ago passed out in the streets and helped him not only recover but also found him a job. It may be harder work but a lot more saver than anything he could offer him. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if the boy was caught and or even worse, killed because of him.

He had noticed the bruises a long time ago but had decided not to do anything because there was nothing he could do. He had thought of helping him heal the wounds but had decided against it, doing that was like feeding a puppy and then releasing it in the wild, would only cause more trouble in the long run. No, the boy had to learn to live and accept the cards life had dealt him. For now, he could only give the boy something to eat and drink and went on his way back to work.

He reached the restaurant a little late and ran inside as he removed the sweat from his forehead. He couldn't use spirit force in public and his physical body is not what it used to be. The problem was that he was a little too hurried and fell headfirst the moment he entered the building which did the worse thing that could happen to a swimmer, it put everyone's attention on him.

The woman sitting behind the counter writing something in her book stood up and walked towards him taking some of the attention off him. She was simply too beautiful, she was known for having suitors asking for her hand every couple of days. Every man would simply fall in love with her the moment they saw her, those dark black eyes that sucked in a man's soul like a black hole.

“Get up!” she said as she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and used to it pick Felix off the ground," No pay for the next three days, now quickly go down and start working before I make it a week,” she said as she threw the handkerchief away as it was the most filthy thing in the world.

“This is why you should not hire these people sister Orania,” a customer said as he shook his head in disappointment but didn't stop eating his small pie.

“It's true, God knows I only come here because it's owned by sister Orania, otherwise I would never eat somewhere that employees swimmers, ” another woman said agreeing with the man.

Orania first washed her hands at the small bucket of water before she turned around and said, “believe me, sister I only let them work here because of the high taxes, there is simply no other way to survive.”

“Sister Orania is such a good businesswoman, that's why you own more than ten if these restaurants all over Belgica,” the woman said praising her. She could not help admire a widow who had singlehandedly build up a business and unlike most didn't need a man to survive.

Orania thanked the middle-aged woman and gave her a free glass of red wine on the house for her kind words. She exchanged a couple of words before she excused herself, she needed to go downstairs and check on the workers, she would always tell anyone who would listen how swimmers only worked when they had no other choice and how lazy they were by nature.

She walked downstairs and saw Felix standing at the end of the hall smoking. He finished it just in time and turned towards her and said, “Is everyone here?”

“Yes boss,” she said as she led him inside the meeting room.

There were three people inside who immediately stood up and greeted him. Felix took a seat at the head of the table and the others quickly joined him after he had sat down.

Felix like usual didn't do small talk and said, “Cassius, report.”

Cassius who was a little short middle-aged man opened his book looked inside for information and answered, “we made around a million gold coins this week, but only a net profit of a hundred thousand.”

Felix could not help shake his head, the price of making, smuggling, and paying all the bribes was just too expensive. They needed to reduce costs or expand. Luckily he had a plan to do both.

Felix then turned to the tall muscled man with sharp brown eyes who was sitting next to him and asked, “Vopiscus, how is the recruiting going?”

Vopiscus shook his head and answered in a shockingly deep voice, “not so good boss. The people are afraid, we have not been able to recruit new members, at least not in the amount we want.”

Felix looked at the man disappointed and could not help close his eyes for a second as he had only gotten bad news the last couple of weeks. “Keep trying, otherwise I will have to do it myself, and believe me, nobody is going to want that,” Felix said knowing deep down that out of everyone here Vopiscus was the man for the job, if he could not do it, then it just could not be done. At least not with conventional means.

Felix spend the next ten minutes asking Maximus a couple of questions about the smuggling roots they used and if he encountered any problems along the way. But luckily, everything was going well and they were active in every city in Belgica except for Remi as Felix had requested.

“Boss we have been trying to get the last ring but it's harder than it looks. The man who owns it simply does not want to sell, no matter how much I offer. It's a family heirloom,” Maximus said a little ashamed. The only other option would be to kill them and take it but they didn't think it was worth getting the government on their ass.

“I will personally take care of that,” Felix said as he stood up and lit up another cigarette, and inhaled deeply as he exited the room and went back to work in the kitchen.