Chapter 158: Upgrade
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The two entered the hotel without any trouble.
Leone patted the guard at the door on the shoulder. "Sadie!"
The guard looked up. "Leone, what brings you here so late? Are you planning to stay the night?"
Leone waved her hand. "I need to talk to some friends. They haven't left yet, have they?"
The guard shook his head. "No, they barely went out today."
"Heh, thanks, Sadie! I'll treat you to a drink later."
With that, Leone led Akame toward the room where Aoki and Kurome were staying.
As they approached, both exchanged puzzled glances. The room was quiet—no movement at all.
Were they asleep?
Leone raised her hand and knocked.
Ding, ding, ding!
"Aoki, it's me! I need to talk to you!"
There was still no response from inside.
Akame stepped forward, her blade flashing in the dim light.
Snap!
The door slowly swung open.
The two of them peered inside. Under the pale moonlight, the room was clearly visible.
It was empty. The bed was tidy, and there were no signs of anyone having stayed there.
Leone took a single glance and quickly made a judgment.
"They've been gone for a while."
Akame asked, "Did you let anything slip yesterday?"
There had been no goodbyes, not even the hotel guards knew—they had disappeared quietly.
Her first thought was that Kurome and Aoki had noticed something off about Leone and left in a hurry.
Leone wasn't offended by Akame's suspicion. In fact, she had similar concerns herself.
After thinking for a moment, Leone shook her head and muttered, "I don't think so. When we first met, I did try to feel them out a little…
But honestly, I came here just to drink yesterday, I didn't do anything else."
Akame walked into the room, her eyes scanning every corner, just yesterday, Kurome had been here.
But no matter how closely she looked, she couldn't find a trace of her sister.
"What now?" Leone asked.
Akame thought for a moment before replying, "Let's wait a bit. Maybe they just stepped out and will come back soon."
She wasn't willing to leave without seeing Kurome.
"Fine by me."
Leone sat down on the bed, while Akame stood silently by the window.
…
In a different place.
Aoki sat, staring thoughtfully at the pile of reports in front of him.
He hadn't been to the palace for a few days, instead focusing most of his energy on studying the four Rakshasa demons.
Aoki had discovered that their bodies had undergone noticeable mutations.
To put it simply, parts of their bodies had been altered by something dangerous.
It was similar to the erosion and assimilation of Imperial weapons.
The way they consumed dangerous species raised a lot of questions.
"Do they eat them raw?" Aoki muttered to himself.
He considered himself a ruthless person. But even this idea was unsettling.
Still, it wouldn't affect him much.
After all, he was a demon. He couldn't taste anything, whether it was cooked or raw.
But there was another problem—these four had been consuming dangerous species for a long time, their bodies mutating little by little until they reached their current state.
Aoki, however, had an extremely strong recovery ability.
Even if his body mutated, it would likely heal immediately.
Unless, of course, he consumed a dangerous species that could prevent his regeneration.
Could a super-dangerous species do it?
Aoki shook his head. Even if a super-dangerous species reached three stars, it would only be slightly stronger than the "King of the White Walkers."
At most, it might slow his recovery, but it wouldn't stop it completely.
"It seems this method won't work."
Aoki gathered all the experimental reports.
Still, one thing was certain: the human body could transplant dangerous species' blood.
At that moment, Kurome approached him with a strange expression on her face.
"They're starting to wake up."
"That was fast"
Aoki stood and walked toward the room. "Help me organize these reports."
"Got it."
Kurome didn't ask any further questions.
Aoki entered the room.
The four Rakshasa demons had completely transformed. They were bloated and grotesque, no longer resembling humans at all.
Three of them were still unconscious, but at the edge of the room, one of them had woken up—a demon that looked like the Hulk, with rolled-back eyes, a ferocious expression, and drool dripping from the corners of her mouth as she struggled desperately.
It was Mez, the dark-skinned, blonde-haired girl.
However, Aoki had erased her memories, and after turning her into a demon, her personality had been severely distorted. It could be said she had died back in the palace.
The reason she ended up like this was because Aoki had infused her with too much blood.
There are two ways for demons to realize their potential.
One is by consuming humans, and the other is through the transformation granted by a demon ancestor.
The advantage of the former is that it's more stable, safer, and ultimately more powerful.
The latter method produces quicker results but is less reliable.
Aoki couldn't allow them to go out and eat humans, so he had to opt for the second method.
He didn't push the blood transfusion to its limits, which is why the four Rakshasa demons hadn't died.
"Roar!"
A beast-like sound escaped from Ma Tou's mouth.
Aoki wasted no time. He appeared in front of her in an instant, raised his hand, and with a swift "puff," his five fingers pierced her forehead.
"Devour!"
An invisible vortex emerged, releasing a powerful suction that swallowed the demon in an instant.
[Killed a demon and gained 720 experience points → 820 points. 0 skill points.]
"820 points?" Aoki muttered, surprised.
Back then, Another one had only given him 800 experience points.
Moreover, he was now level 20.
The other three demons began to wake up one by one, but Aoki dealt with them swiftly, each without any resistance.
[Free skill point +1.]
[Killed a demon and gained 850 experience points.]
[Free skill point +1.]
[Killed a demon and gained 900 experience points.]
[Congratulations on leveling up!]
[Constitution +1.]
[Free skill point +1.]
[Killed a demon and gained 1010 experience points.]
The system prompts kept ringing in Aoki's mind, filling him with excitement.
By the time he devoured the third demon, he had already leveled up.
After Devouring the fourth demon, he not only gained another free skill point but also an attribute point.
This time, the rewards were immense.
The gains from this were greater than working on a half-star profession for an entire year.
Aoki's thoughts shifted, and a deep blue screen appeared before him.
[Name: Aoki]
[Strength: 29]
[Constitution: 29]
[Intelligence: 28]
[Agility: 28]
[Occupation: Hunter, King of the White Walkers, Martial Artist, Doctor]
[Free attribute points: 2]
…
[King of the White Walkers]
Quality: ★★☆
Level: lv21 (1625/2100)
Skills: Demon Blood VI, Space Shuttle II (Extreme), Transparent World II, Demon Devour II, Soul Shock (Not yet learned)
Free skill points: 4
Aoki first allocated his two free attribute points to intelligence and agility, bringing all his attributes to 29.
Then he examined his skill points.
This time, he had gained 4 free skill points in total, leaving him with 6 skill points overall—enough to nearly learn "Soul Shock," which required 6 skill points to unlock.
He was very close.
"As expected, elite monsters are the way to go. If I kept hunting ordinary ones, I wouldn't get this kind of harvest even after two months of hard work."
Aoki still wasn't fully satisfied. "It would be better if I had a mission."
Leveling up just by killing monsters felt too slow.
The two missions, "The Last Days of the Lower Moon" and "The Last Days of the Upper Moon," had given him the satisfaction of leveling up three times in a row. He still couldn't forget that feeling.
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T/N: There is a Patreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early chapters.
Patreon link:- Patreon.com/ANelite
And also:
Imperial weapon = Teigu
Teigu = Imperial weapon