Before Alex could answer, red smoke emerged from his body, gathering atop Emily.
It began to condense and transform into Vesa.
Vesa then flew closer to Emily's forehead, its wings tearing in half, the upper part transforming into human-like hands.
Vesa's sharp claws pricked Emily's forehead slightly, drawing blood that coated its nails red.
Vesa lifted its finger and began moving in intricate patterns, each stroke leaving a green glow in the air.
Alex could barely follow Vesa's movements.
It didn't take long for Vesa to finish.
The rune floated in the air, and then, with a gesture from Vesa, it was pushed into Emily's forehead.
Light shone the moment it made contact, filling the whole room with its green hue.
The brightness forced Alex to close his eyes, and when he opened them again, Vesa had already disappeared.
He then saw Emily's white hair turning back to golden, her pale face regaining its rosy hue.
A wave of relief washed over Alex as he slumped down on the couch.
A small chuckle escaped his lips, which then turned into laughter.
Now that the crisis was over, he reflected on what he had done.
Alex laughed because he realized how crazy he had been; usually, he always sought the safest way to do something, but instead, he had taken so many risks.
He remembered every single pain he had felt—his body being bitten, limbs torn apart.
He sighed and then looked at Emily's peaceful, sleeping face.
"I never knew they mattered so much to me."
He then wondered if he had had this power when his father disappeared and what he would have done.
"Should I look for Dad, then?
I need to go to a Category Five dungeon anyway," Alex mumbled to himself.
He then remembered he also needed to tell Mingyue about this since his blunder would also affect her.
"Forget it for now; I should check if I can go catch them all," he said with a chuckle, recalling a popular pun from his childhood anime.
Alex excitedly took out the storage box and then checked the interface.
"FUCK!
It's dead."
He saw the saber-toothed wolf's body on the ground, realizing the wolf had likely died due to the backlash from its abilities.
"Brother, who are you cursing at?
Is it a game again?" Emily said as she raised her upper body, sitting on the bed.
She touched her forehead, trying to piece together what had happened, her memory slowly returning like a jigsaw puzzle.
Her eyes widened, and cold sweat started dripping from her forehead as panic set in.
She jumped to her feet, reached where Alex sat and quickly checked over his body for any wounds.
"You!?
What happened to you!?
Are you alright now?
Last time..."
Emily's words trailed off as she touched her own neck.
"Shouldn't I have..."
Alex took out a water bottle from his storage ring and placed it on the table.
"Drink first, Emily.
I am sorry I failed you as your brother.
I put your life at risk...
Are you afraid of me now?"
He asked this while looking at the water bottle, not daring to meet her eyes, afraid she would lie to him.
After awakening his ability, it became easy for Alex to detect lies from people's expressions.
It should have been a good thing, but the first few months were really painful; he started realizing how often people around him were lying.
This is one of the reasons he immersed himself in the virtual world, where he couldn't tell if people were lying.
Seeing her brother like this, Emily knew what he was thinking.
It wasn't her first time seeing him like this, and it pained her.
She walked closer and then hugged Alex tightly.
"I am your family, you dumb brother, not those shallow people with their own agendas.
Why would I lie to you?"
She then forcefully made Alex look at her face.
"I am afraid—afraid you will leave me too… Like Dad...
Tell me what happened.
I won't let you go until you tell me everything."
Alex froze for a moment at her words, then smirked and knocked her head.
"Who are you calling dumb?
You silly sister of mine."
Emily pouted, then playfully stomped back, acting like she was angry.
But the result made her stop in her tracks.
CRACK!
The ground cracked, surprising Emily since she was sure she hadn't exerted much strength.
She then closed her eyes, realizing there was another source of energy in her body now.
Her eyes opened, gazing sharply at Alex.
She didn't say anything further; she took the water bottle to relieve her parched throat and then sat on the couch.
Feeling her gaze, Alex sighed.
He didn't know how much Emily would believe, but he knew it was better to tell her everything.
His sister somehow always knew if he was hiding something.
"First of all, what's inside your body is a Rune made from life force."
Alex then started explaining the Rune, Vesa, vampires, the Progenitor, Mingyue's involvement, and the cultivation world, not leaving anything out.
He also showed her the storage cube and explained what he planned with it.
Throughout his story, Emily only sat there, not saying anything, not even blinking.
All the information took her by surprise.
"So you're saying the blood you consumed is Progenitor blood???"
"Yes, do you know about it?"
"There's only one thing I know about it: every new hunter is told if they hear any words about the Progenitor, they should report to the association and stay away as far as possible," Emily said, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at Alex.
"There are other Progenitors?" Alex mumbled.
[Of course, King.
Every race has one, even humans.]
This made Alex frown.
Humans exist not just on his planet; even Mingyue, a cultivator, is counted as human.
Doesn't that mean the human Progenitor is incredibly strong?
He wanted to ask Vesa more questions, but with Emily there, he refrained from doing so.