In the middle of the night, a cold sensation of the office floor caused Seth to jolt awake, changed, never to be the same again as he felt somehow different but still the same, with a strange feeling of something flowing through his body.
He tried to make sense of it while pulling himself towards the desk and lifting himself as the wood cracked from the force of his hand that almost crushed the wood when he grabbed it too hard.
'Damn... this is just the first stage...'
Seth shook his head, trying to get through the sheer amount of information that sank into his mind from the skills he accepted.
The black screen had quite a lot of information and data that he hadn't seen yet, so he brewed another jug of coffee on the special machine, feeling relieved by the thick aroma spreading in his office, allowing him to calm down.
⁜ Status Display ⁜
Name: Seth Darkwood
Race: Human
Lifespan: 150 Years
Cultivation Stage: One
Level: 2
Exp: 16/20
Class: None
Condition: 20/20 (Healthy)
STR: 12
VIT: 10
DEX: 11
AGI: 11
INT: 10
DEF: 10
CHA: 25
Average Human Male: 10
Villain Points: 190
Item: Uncommon Quality Handgun (Large Magazine, Self Maintenance)
∟ current ammunition: (81) .45 ACP
Skill: Basic Marksmanship Skill, Basic Martial Arts, Intermediate Business, Intermediate Stock Exchange, Advanced Driving, Basic Inspection, Extreme Yang Solar Body Method, Solar Essence Breathing Method.
⁜ Status End ⁜
"I see..."
The breathing technique was very simple—Seth rushed towards the door, ignoring his messy look after sleeping on the floor as he rushed upstairs, his feet tapping on the ground with a slap, almost slipping when he tripped on some garbage left near the top floor.
Bang!
He looked at the wonderful horizon as the sun slowly rose—with a sharp breath, he could only feel a soothing sensation from the sunlight entering his body like it was being sucked inside his body.
"I have to follow the method..." Seth muttered while removing his clothes and meditating, feeling the sun's heat enveloping him and filling every pore, both with a burning radiance.
Slowly, he took a deep breath—the gentle warmth of the sun burned him before solar energy flooded his veins, entering his body increasingly with each breath.
"Phew..." After holding his breath, Seth slowly exhaled all his stress, worries, and tension and faded momentarily, the stagnant and unwanted energy vanishing from his body with a dark, stinky mist from his mouth.
Haa...
'Focus on the core...'
He focused on his abdomen, feeling a small black sphere only the size of a golf ball being slowly tempered and filled with warm solar essence and with each repeated breath, the energy increased more, filling the small ball.
'Gratitude for the solar energy... feel harmony from the pulse of sunlight and my body.'
In the last moments, he flowed his breathing, balancing the transfer of solar essence around his body as it ran his Solar body energy method—he felt a slightly strange feeling like the sunlight and energy were dancing through his body, spreading vitality and power.
"...Once a day, for twenty minutes... What an easy cultivation technique."
Crack
Ahh... that feels great.
Seth stood up, grasping his clothes as the beaming sun made him feel full of energy while dressing himself, wondering if there would be a place in the new mansion where he could cultivate without rushing to the roof like a pervert.
"It's only a minor boost to use direct sunlight... But I need all I can get."
He looked out the windows of the apartment, a feeling that today would be a busy day filled with stress—despite not wanting to rush, Seth was going to do more training today because otherwise he might fall behind, and there was the death flag trigger that forced him to rush as today could be his last day alive.
****
"M-Morning...." Su Muyue was getting dressed, her hair combed and tidy, while she had pulled a black suit from nowhere and looked completely different from the weak girl he met the night before.
"Morning, got a meeting?" Seth walked past her and began searching the kitchen, taking out some bacon, eggs, mushrooms and several other ingredients.
Suddenly, the scents from the kitchen filled the apartment. "Don't you want breakfast first? Are you facing those stern old people tomorrow? I've already finalised the deal, so you can't cancel it, so don't worry. I told your mother it was my fault, as I made a mistake on the deal."
Su Muyue looked at Seth, who didn't fawn at her but gave her important information and, like always, did things that made her life a little easier—it was hard to stay angry for his rude actions the night before... and she realised it was her fault for rushing here in the middle of the night and the weight left her shoulders.
".... just some bacon and eggs, please..." Her voice was quiet like a mosquito as her stomach sounded, and she sat on the sofa, her eyes sometimes gazing at Seth's figure as he juggled the two pans—how he seemed so at home in the kitchen was a shock for her.
"I thought he would have a maid... or someone to cook for him..." In a quiet scene, one cooking and singing to himself like he would in his past life, the other watching him with a rare smile on her lips, unaware of each other, or was it comfortable instead?
Crackle
The eggs bubbling in the pan with the fat spitting slightly from the slightly crispy bacon spelt his cooking was close to the end as he expertly collected the two plates—despite her asking for just egg and bacon; he forced her to have mushrooms, tomatoes and some French toast.
For Su Muyue, it was a delicious meal, allowing her to face the day with a full stomach.
For Seth, this meal was him letting his body adjust to the new life while not letting his old habits and skills become rusty... Because today would be a tough one for him, too—he might die, after all.
"Right... it seems to be done; I didn't add salt to the eggs. I usually dip them in the tomatoes and use the mushrooms to add some savour taste to the whites." Seth smiled as he placed her plate down and gave her a mug of fresh coffee with a cute cat face drawn with creamer.
"You like cute things like this, right?" He winked before grabbing his plate and coffee and sitting opposite her.
'I cannot rush my current relationship with Su Muyue, and I don't particularly need to force one—friends are a pleasant state as long as she won't turn on me with her S Rank powers, which is enough for now.'
'The base and preparation for the next few days are more important than women right now.'
With that thought, the pair ate in a relatively pleasant and peaceful state as the clock moved towards half-past six in the morning.
It was soon time for them to part ways before suddenly, as Su Muyue was leaving to find her car, a jingle sounded before Seth threw a pair of keys to her—the brass flowed in an arc before the card key landed in her hand.
"Since your home is going to be stressful, the apartment opposite is empty; it has basic decor, so use it as you want. I'll charge you rent at the end of the month, so you might as well use it!"
"Eh... charge me!? Why!" But he shut the door in her face before she could complain, he knew she was annoying and wouldn't take gifts easily so he made it this way, it wasn't because he didn't want to deal with her every time she felt like crying, honest.
'You can't force affection~' he muttered before heading to the shower, ready for a long day.