"I'm going to touch your forehead. I want you to focus and direct your energy at that particular point."
After saying so, Herbert removed the glove from his left hand and pointed his finger at Ingrid's forehead. Originally, this was something that the newly awakened would have to do to stimulate their powers. Since they are different from those that have inherently been awakened without the need for the Awakening Crystal, they would need to get used to the feeling of something akin to having an extra limb.
Using a tiny bit of his powers, Herbert made it so that his finger would stimulate the particular point in her head. Doing so required skin-to-skin contact which he minded, but the consequence of Ingrid dying on him was far greater and overcame his reluctance.
"I'm infusing a small bit of it; I want you to feel it and guide all the energy by yourself-"
Before he was able to finish speaking, Herbert felt his mouth getting smacked away by Ingrid's wildly moving hands. Herbert took a deep breath to prevent himself from having an untimely reaction.
"Look, you won't be able to get your revenge if you don't do as I say- Ah!"
After saying his line, Herbert was suddenly surprised when he saw Ingrid accidentally biting his outstretched finger. Because he had been in the middle of transferring energy, his finger had been placed in a vulnerable position where it had been possible for Ingrid to pierce through his skin which made droplets of blood flow away from his open wound.
Herbert wanted to pull it out but her teeth had sunk in deep. He was livid. He had been bitten just because he had wanted to help someone. He almost called her a biting bitch out of instinct. Just as he was about to pry open her mouth to take his finger back Herbert finally realized that Ingrid's situation seemed to be improving. He didn't understand what was happening but since it was working, he let it be.
After a couple of minutes, Herbert felt a little lightheaded, whenever the wound on his finger healed, Ingrid would bite at it again causing him to continuously bleed. If that wasn't difficult enough, she also continued to suck the energy that was passing through Herbert's finger. Soon after, it didn't take long for Ingrid to open her eyes again. She was initially confused about what was happening but she could infer what happened when she saw Herbert's glaring eyes.
"Thank you for guarding and guiding me through the awakening process."
Ingrid was very sincere in her gratitude to Herbert. She knew that Herbert had essentially given her a chance to be reborn with her successful awakening.
"In any case, I want to see what you have awakened."
Herbert took the cloth in his breast pocket to wipe away his finger. He had been keeping an eye on Ingrid the whole time as he thought of what happened just now. He hoped that the power that she had awakened wouldn't be different from the powers that she had awakened in the novel. The changes that occurred during her awakening had deeply concerned him, there was a reason why he had suddenly decided to give her the awakening crystal and if things didn't work out for him then his entire plan would turn to waste.
Ingrid nodded her head and lifted her hands to her shoulders and began to channel her power. In a flash, a rose suddenly materialized and enveloped her right hand before turning itself into something like a whip with thorns.
Herbert placed his hand on his chin. This power should stem from her bloodline as a daughter of the Rozenblood family. In addition to this, there should still be another one that should come from her mother's lineage as a Larksong.
"As you can see, I have awakened one of the powers that could be gotten from the Rozenblood, however… "
After saying so, Ingrid dispelled the thorny whip from her hand and placed her left hand on her chest. She then opened her mouth and her beautiful voice started singing a lullaby. Her heavenly voice was extremely soothing, Herbert who was listening felt like he was floating with the clouds. The fatigue that he had built up during the past period had almost disappeared in its entirety. Herbert then snapped back to reality as he thought of how nothing seemed to have changed with the powers that Ingrid was supposed to acquire during her awakening.
"I see, it looks like everything went well. It's exactly as planned."
Just as Herbert was about to praise himself for being able to come up with the great idea of having Ingrid awakened at this point in time, he was once again stopped by Ingrid.
"I'm not done yet. Watch this-"
From Ingrid's back, blood-red feathers that seemed to resemble that of a rose's petals emerged and formed a wing-shaped pattern. The feathers on her backside had a deep shade of red with white highlights. At the sight of this, Herbert's eyes widened. He had once thought that the author had cursed him in his endeavors by putting setbacks after setbacks in his path whenever he did not follow the original flow of the story, but after seeing Ingrid's current strength boon, he had basically confirmed that god is dead. The author has no power over him.
"This is great! It's wonderful."
"Did you like it?"
"Very much. You can remove your wings now."
Ingrid followed Herbert's instructions. Once she took a deep breath, the wings behind her disappeared. The feeling of strength leaving her body had made her unsteady and she took a step back. Herbert caught her in his arms and helped her lay down on the bed.
"You have over-drafted the energy in your body. A good night's rest would do the trick to patch you up. Rest well and we will talk again tomorrow."
Ingrid nodded her head and started drifting into dreamland. Herbert sighed in astonishment at Ingrid's capability as an awakened. She did not only have the powers from her two bloodlines, but she also had a mutated ability that stemmed from the combination of her bloodlines. Herbert guessed that his blood and energy should've served as a catalyst for her transformation.
His speculation wasn't without any basis. The protagonist also received a mutation in his bloodline due to the soul of reincarnation's interference. In the book, the protagonist used the blood of his enemies as a catalyst to evolve his bloodline to a higher level which made his power increase. Unfortunately, this trick was only available to the protagonist, otherwise, Herbert would have started a bloodbath earlier on. The only thing that he could compare this to was his experience with the ritual that he had undergone to reach the same potential as the original Herbert. He did not understand what principles of an awakened's bloodline needed to become mutated and grow stronger. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to find this kind of knowledge anywhere else as this kind of information starts wars if it got out.
After cleaning himself up, Herbert thought about creating a crash course for Ingrid to teach her about how to use her powers and about how an Awakened can become stronger. As a beginner, she had three main things that needs her attention, her physical fitness, her energy reserves, and her control over her power. Once she had finished that, Herbert wouldn't have to worry about Ingrid wandering around without protection. Thinking up to that point, Herbert shook his head. Ingrid's existence had brought upon many variables that may later affect his plan on killing the protagonist. He couldn't let her get in the way.
Now that Ingrid herself had successfully become another awakened, she needed to be put on a tighter leash so that she would never run rampant with her newfound powers.