As soon as Kivas removed his focus, his body began to enter a dormant state. In another word, his body was sleeping, devoid of external action.
But even then, his subconsciousness was still alive.
Counting.
Counting.
And counting.
In the darkness, hoping that a light would soon shine through.
7 hours had passed. Kivas woke up, crawling out of the mini cavern as he found himself stretching unconsciously under the warm sunlight.
Of course, Kivas couldn't really see the sky nor the sun, but the visible rays of light that appear inside the illumination range of his torch is the great indicator for him to workout and do something in the meantime.
'I guess that is my first rest in this body.'
He soaked himself in the river flow made from the waterfall for a couple of minutes. The ink-like smoke danced as it was trapped under water, just like how a paint was when not thoroughly mixed with brush and the other color.
In the middle of his feast and bath, a couple of Blue Bongus approached to get some water from the clear water downstream. Some of the jet-ink residue from Kivas' exhausts were sipped. But after a while, it seemed like there was no change whatsoever until the boar-like creatures left the scene.
'I guess this smoke that I'm producing is for aesthetics?'
Kivas didn't see it, the very same Blue Bongus who drank the substances had its skin darkening.
After soaking for an hour, Kivas tried to train his maneuvering capability. Such as doing a handstand, push ups, pull ups, and more aerobic training along with some weight training using nearby objects as weights.
'I don't know if human exercises work for this body, but I guess it's a good thing to pass time.'
While scouring for more objects that could be used as weight, Kivas stumbled upon a small mineral reservoir that was sticking out like a miniature mountain. There was a radiant colorful ray that was escaping from the crack.
Trying to see the sharpness and durability of his upgraded claws that were no longer as squishy as jello, he plunged the three pointy dark ends of his fingers into the crack. The exhaust crevice on the finger joints released a substantial amount of ink smoke, giving a moderate boost.
'I see, so that is what these exhaust crevices are all for.'
It was just like how robots have a booster on their elbow and their feet. The reason why the scales on the front were tight and small while the ones on the back were thick, bigger, and rose upward, creating exhaust holes, was because it was meant to be propellers.
Curious, Kivas began to position himself to leap forward. Just like a second nature, the exhausts near the tails began to excrete the jet-ink substances in higher density and intensity, increasing the height that he could achieve.
With the mineral lump on the destination, Kivass brandished his claws and swung them with the increased momentum from the excreted inks.
He acquired another purple orb.
The gleaming rainbow core was released. It was a huge chunk that was almost the size of Kivas. Seeing how this thing gave him an orb, he took the majestic mineral back to his mini cavern.
'I guess it's obvious that the more the exhausts crevice secreted, the more energy it drains from me.'
Kivas was both glad and regretted doing that.
'Now that if I looked at it clearly, the fluttering ink substances didn't look nor act like smoke. It clumps in the air and dances. Unlike a smoke where the particles try to get away from each other, the secreted substances from the exhausts don't disperse from one another, as if it was a black painting being brought to life.'
Calling it an ink-like smoke was not proper, for it wasn't even a smoke to begin with.
Was what Kivas unnecessarily thought.
'I'll just refer to them as Impurities for now.'
Just like how the exhaust of a car secretes the waste gasses expelled from its engine, in the course of its operation, Kivas felt like the substances that he secreted were still part of his body, and it might be not good for the environment whatsoever.
Seeing how he got it from Xuanlong's Constitution which was a Black Long-dragon, calling the ink-like substance as 'Impurities' might be proper.
After all, Xuanlong was said to be the bringer of calamities. Surely such an ominous being would be emitting impurities, don't they?
He then opened the second purple orb, trying to see if it had the [Blight Expansion] option. Of course, he soaked in the river water once again due to the fact that he had just fatigued himself doing an extra flashy move.
And it wasn't there.
'Oh well, let's just go for a 10 meter range of perception for now.' Kivas thought to himself, as he obliged to finally play a russian roulette of getting a new boon that may or may not put him into danger. 'If possible, a movement-related constitution would be great! Dragging and flinging my own body with two arms were not as efficient as quad legs. Oh, getting a new Boon of Utility is nice too. They have no demerit whatsoever.'
On the second orb, Kivas noticed one of the selections to be a Boon of Utility, so he would probably get that instead of the other one which was the same feathery wings that he stumbled before.
The wings would be great, except the fact that it was ten times more dangerous than being on the ground.
As for the first orb. The one on the left had the symbol of spikes protruding from the bottom left corner of the frame, and the one on the right had an image of a sphere with 4 menacing, protruding crustacean legs.
Kivas was actually enticed to choose the right option in that selection, but the fact that he needs time to get used to the new form and his forest was still filled with unknown danger, he decided to refrain.
'I guess I can take the crab legs now.'
-Boon of Constitution-
[Void Walker's Constitution: Quadpod Spectral Walking Limbs]
-Be near and far, subtle and par. The mirage sings for the beauty and the large, same goes for the wanderer, who went deep and enthrall. The abyss will always be lurking, subtly, on par with the beholder of the far-