What followed was the longest thirty minutes of Thunderbird's life.
He couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Couldn't even pass out. His muscles locked from the pain, every nerve screaming as Alex went to work with a disturbing calmness, like someone performing routine maintenance on a machine. No hesitation, no fury, just methodical efficiency.
He watched in helpless horror as Alex slid a slender steel needle beneath his fingernail. He saw, felt, a glowing hot spike pressed into his thigh. His body spasmed with the shock of it, but the restraints held firm, and all he could manage was a low, guttural whimper from behind the mouthpiece.
Each time his vision began to blur from the pain, Alex slowed down just enough to let him breathe, then fed him potions to replenish strength and consciousness, ensuring the agony continued without interruption.
To Thunderbird, it felt like days had passed. He had cycled through panic, rage, and disbelief, only to arrive at numb, hopeless surrender. His eyes, once defiant, were now vacant. Being alive had never felt so unbearable.
Even biting his tongue to end it wasn't an option, Alex had made sure of that.
Finally, the young wizard stepped back, wiping the sweat from his brow. With a flick of his wand, he removed the brace from Thunderbird's mouth, allowing him to finally speak again.
"That's the first half done," Alex said, almost cheerfully. "Now then, Mr. Thunderbird. Do you have anything you'd like to say?"
Thunderbird coughed, voice hoarse and broken. "I'll tell you… anything you want," he gasped, eyes glassy with unshed tears. "Please, no more. You're not human, you're a bloody devil…"
His words cracked as he spoke, overwhelmed by sobs. He had never known fear like this, not from magical beasts, not from Aurors, not even from his darkest contracts.
This wasn't interrogation. This was calculated, surgical torment. And the worst part? Alex hadn't even asked him anything before starting.
He would've confessed ten minutes in, if he'd been given the chance.
Alex nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Good to know. Honestly, I thought you were tougher than that. But I guess looks are deceiving."
He leaned in a little, tone turning almost businesslike. "Now, let's start over. Tell me your real name, nationality, date of birth, and whatever false identity you usually go by."
The man trembled as he answered. "My real name is Gerald Stevens. I'm German. I work as a bounty hunter most of the time… and I'm… thirty-two years old."
Alex's expression didn't change, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop. "Really?" he said softly. "You're going to lie to me now, after all that?" He narrowed his eyes. "You do know I've been using Legilimency this entire time, don't you?"
The moment Thunderbird had spoken his age, Alex had sensed it, an emotional flicker, a mental twinge of deception. Gerald had hesitated, even winced slightly, and Alex had seen right through it. "You're lying," Alex said coldly, voice hardening. "Try again."
"I..." Thunderbird hesitated. The words lingered on the tip of his tongue, and he couldn't bring himself to speak until he saw Alex pick up the braces again. His eyes squeezed shut, and he blurted out, "I was actually born in 1893!"
"1893? That can't be right." Alex raised a brow, stunned. "You don't look a day over thirty. Aren't you supposed to be in your nineties?"
He had expected a small lie, maybe a decade or two added out of pride, but this? This was beyond anything he could've imagined. Yet, his Legilimency told him Thunderbird wasn't lying. That shocked Alex more than the age itself.
Thunderbird let out a long breath, like someone peeling away a mask that had clung to his skin for decades. "It's true," he said quietly. "My real age is a lot older than it seems."
"But how?" Alex pressed, unable to look away. "You didn't just make yourself look young, your whole body's in top shape. You're like a wizard in his prime."
He'd already examined Thunderbird's physical condition earlier. The man was in frighteningly good health, even after sustaining serious injuries, still conscious, still coherent.
More than that, Alex had measured his magic reserves: 2,138. A ridiculous number. It was the highest he'd ever encountered. For comparison, Alex, who'd grown up eating magical creature meat to boost his development, had only managed 817 Lum so far, and his growth had plateaued. He wasn't even sure he'd ever cross a thousand before turning thirty.
Thunderbird gave a humorless chuckle. "You remember that potion you couldn't identify earlier?" His voice was hollow now, resigned. "The one in the crystal bottle? That's what did this. It's called Rebirth Draught. We call it the Immortal potion."
"Rebirth Draught?" Alex repeated slowly, trying to process the name. But inside, his thoughts were racing. His instincts screamed that this was important. "Tell me everything. Now."
"I don't know where it came from," Thunderbird admitted. His voice was flat now, drained of resistance. "I only know the formula, and even that isn't mine. It belongs to the club leader."
He paused for a moment, then went on. "Whoever drinks it, no matter how old they are, it'll reset their body to its peak condition, when they were at their strongest. It doesn't stop there.
It enhances everything, strength, stamina, healing speed. You still keep your original magic reserves too. Nothing gets lost. Only your body changes."
Alex sat in stunned silence. A potion that could literally reverse aging and boost physical stats without stripping you of magical power?
That explained everything, Thunderbird's ridiculous mana pool wasn't a mutation or some ancient bloodline. It was decades, no, centuries, of magical energy, stored and maintained in a perfectly preserved body.
But Alex didn't let his excitement cloud his judgment. His expression shifted, turning serious again. "No such things comes without a hidden cost," he muttered. "There's always a price. Always. You don't get something like this for free. So what is it? What are the side effects?"
Thunderbird looked at Alex with a strange, almost wistful expression. He hadn't expected this level of clarity from someone so young. Most people would've been blinded by greed the moment they heard the word immortality. And yet, Alex hadn't flinched. He'd stayed rational.
And that, more than anything, made Thunderbird sigh. "Yeah," he said. "It's not some miracle elixir. It comes with three very real and very painful side effects..."
Thunderbird let out a weary sigh. "First of all, the biggest issue with this so-called Immortal potion is how insanely expensive it is to make. I don't know the full recipe myself, but I do know the core ingredient, magical creatures with incredibly strong life force. The whole point of the potion is to extract that life energy and turn it into something usable."
Alex's eyes narrowed. "So that's why you were smuggling magical creatures all over the world..." The realization hit him hard, connecting pieces he hadn't understood until now.