Awakening.
It is the process when the blood of the gods that lay dormant in a human's veins starts to wake up, hence the name. People could usually trace what part of society one belongs to by checking their history and bloodline, but it is truly only when one awakens that people could truly judge one's potential.
Awakening commonly happens right in the middle of puberty, with the average age being 12. It could be early or late for a year or two, but it happens for everyone; even for Lowborns.
But Rhys, nothing ever really woke up—a testament to how diluted his blood was, is what the doctors said to him.
But now, as he turned 18, Rhys could feel every strand of muscles in his body throb as the blood of the gods in his veins started to burst forth.
The blood of the gods is powerful. Once it wakes up, it restarts your entire existence; it alters your instincts. Their blood literally injects power into your brain, giving it knowledge it never had before.
Special talents, abilities, overpowering strength, magic—a whole new world opens up automatically. And these abilities will only grow stronger with time and practice.
And now, as a rush of information entered Rhys's brain, there was really only one thing going on in his mind—What the fuck?
Rhys could not even feel the pain anymore as he was completely lost in thought. His abilities, they could only be described as…
…weird and plenty.
"..." Rhys's breaths then started to echo in the cave as his body finally stopped convulsing. His eyes then started to blink several times as he turned his focus back on the monster in front of him.
And as he looked at her face, Rhys blinked several times more. He thought there was dirt blocking his vision at first, but realized this dirt was conveniently shaped into what seemed like a heart.
5 gray hearts floating above the arachne's head, following her even with the slightest of movements.
If Rhys was clear-headed enough to recall the information injected into him just moments ago, then these 5 hearts were some kind of… Affection Meter.
"You… are tasty."
"Huh… those are words, yup…" Rhys took in a small gulp as he once again understood the monster's words. It wasn't that the monster could truly speak, no. This is another one of his abilities—Omnispeak.
Suffice it to say, Rhys found the entire situation weird. The arachne was still looking at the thing that was fully… alive between his legs; her tongue, brushing against her lips as her eyes seemed to glimmer for some reason.
'I want it. I want it. Blood, the essence of Eros.'
"Ho," a small gasp then escaped Rhys's mouth as he heard a voice whispering in his ear—no. The voice seemed like it was whispering directly inside his head. Was this… another one of his abilities?
"Eros?" Rhys then finally tried to speak with the monster that had him literally by the neck, "Is that… a name of a god?"
"Oh my…" The arachne's eyes strayed away from Rhys's manhood as she looked him straight in the eyes, "...What a seductive voice you have."
"W—"
'Itchy. My neck is itchy.'
"..." Rhys could not even utter another word as a voice once again whispered inside his mind. The voice wasn't exactly like the arachne's, but it was similar in a way that he couldn't quite explain.
'Itchy. My neck is itchy.'
"Hm…" Rhys squinted his eyes as he looked at the arachne's neck. And then, without really thinking about it any further, he very slowly raised his hand.
The arachne snarled and showed her sharp teeth again as she saw Rhys's hand moving toward her neck.
"It's okay…" Rhys gently whispered as he looked the arachne in the eyes; his words, gently flowing through her ears. And to Rhys's surprise, the arachne let her guard down, allowing him to touch her neck.
And then, with another gulp, Rhys started gently scratching the arachne's neck.
"!!!"
And as soon as he did so, the arachne's entire body jolted. Her large round bosoms, bouncing wildly—and as Rhys's thing was still alive and well for some reason, her bosoms started lightly slapping it. The arachne's sharp legs then started tapping the ground, causing several snaps to click in the air.
And very soon, the arachne's pale face started to redden; her sharp teeth, now biting her lower lip as her body shivered.
"Ha… ah," the arachne's quiet moans started to whisper in the air as Rhys continued to scratch her neck; the blood that was still inside her mouth, dripping down her chin and dropping onto her jiggling bosoms.
"..." Rhys didn't really know what to feel right now as his… thick and long sword was currently sliding in between the arachne's jiggling bosoms, and with the thick mixture of his own blood and her saliva dripping around it. It felt…
…wrong.
Why was it even fully standing in the first place? Did Rhys have some sort of… fetish he wasn't aware of?
Fortunately, or unfortunately for Rhys, the arachne's arms started to get weak. Her grip loosened, dropping Rhys straight to the ground.
Ridiculous. This is ridiculous—Rhys thought. He was supposed to die here today, but now that he awakened his abilities, the will to live was very slowly coming back to him.
But how? How exactly was he going to escape from a monster that moves faster than his eyes could keep up? It wasn't like the abilities gifted to him gave him newfound strength to escape, no—they were just… weird.
"..." Rhys then turned to look at the arachne's face again…
…only to see that one of the gray hearts floating above her head was now red.
'Itchy. My back is itchy.'
And once again, as another voice whispered inside his head—he finally recalled what sort of ability it was.
Desire.
The ability to know the current and immediate desires of people, or in this case, a monster.
Affection Meter and Desires. Is the blood running through his veins truly from a god or a gigolo?
"..." Rhys focused his attention back to the arachne's Affection Meter. If he was able to turn all the hearts into red…
…what exactly would happen?