[Warning! Parasitic-type poisonous liquid has been injected into the host.]
[Warning! Currently, the poison is inactive. If activated, it can be fatal for the host.]
The other dark elf males who were with Elmyra were seething with rage despite knowing she was feeding the outsider poison. They absolutely abhorred the fact nonetheless. From the outside, it would seem like two lovers who were desperately and passionately kissing, almost about to go at it right then and there.
Elmyra then stopped and stepped away from him, looking at him with a smile and saying, "Don't worry, it's just a little insurance. You will be given the antidote for the poison after you complete the job."
Valtar, for a moment, lost his mind in lust as he looked at her with fervent desire, but he immediately got a hold of himself and became enraged. However, there was nothing he could do.
Elmyra licked her lips seductively and said, "Don't worry, I'll give you the biggest reward after you complete the task."
Valtar felt a mixture of lust and disgust for this woman. But he could only keep his mouth shut, he couldn't lose his mind just over that.
He thought, 'I wanna fc** her, however damn it, my first kiss in two lives was with a slut.'
[Analysis from her cells suggests a 99.99% probability she is a virgin just like the host.]
Valtar, "...…".
Then Elmyra turned serious again as she said, "While we don't know what conditions Zhao has for his escape now or if it hasn't changed, what we do know is that he knows your condition for escape despite not knowing about the exact conditions of escape for the elven tribe. He knows it has something to do with the Cursed Tribe. So, he will be prepared for the fact that you would try to kill him."
She continued in a grim tone, "Zhao is also a 2nd stage awakened, just one step before becoming a Pathwalker. It's not something that you can handle."
Valtar also threw away his distracting thoughts as he was introduced to this term and asked what that is.
She explained calmly, "Pathwalkers are those who walk on the true path of power and grow infinitely stronger."
"To become a true Pathwalker, one needs to go through 3 steps of awakening," she stated in a wondrous voice.
First, was the awakening of the Body.
Second, was the awakening of the Soul.
Third, was the awakening of the Concept Realm.
Awakening of the body can be done in various methods, such as practicing a strong physical technique, pushing your body to its limit and breaking through, or breaking the physical limit by absorbing a beast core.
This path is also the same for beasts and other bloodline creatures, mythical beings, until they reach the status of Pathwalker and then continue on the path of advancement.
Since the dark elves did not have any methods suited for humans, they could help him become an awakened of the first stage by giving him a beast core of a 1st stage awakened beast.
For soul awakening, one would need a core of a 2nd stage core, and for concept realm awakening, a 3rd stage core and a concept crystal is needed.
One can become a third stage awakened by consuming a third stage core however to advance to a pathwalker a concept crystal is necessary.
Elmyra provided Valtar with a 1st stage core and told him to absorb it. Valtar, not knowing how to absorb it, asked her. She looked at him with slight disdain and said, "Try to feel the energy inside, and you'll know what to do."
Valtar did as he was told. First, he took the core in his hand. As it was a core of a shadow beast, it had a transparent, thin, glass-like layer outside of it, and inside of it was a shadow-like substance. It was slightly smaller than a tennis ball, felt cold to the touch but not too cold, and there seemed to be some slight movement to the shadow-like substance inside of it.
But right then, the system intoned, "[Shadow beast core has been detected. Swallow it for maximum effectiveness.]" Then he proceeded to do exactly that without asking Elmyra about it.
Elmyra looked at him, stunned, and asked in slight anger, "Why did you do that?"
"I don't know? Felt like that's what I should do."
She looked at him dismissively and said, "Whatever works for you."
Then after a while, Valtar said, "Why don't I feel anything?"
One of the other dark elves also stated, "Yes, there's no change in him."
Valtar then asked in confusion, "Probably one core is not enough for my physical awakening?"
Elmyra then thought for a while and understood that this guy probably had a trace of a bloodline creature within him. If not, he would not have opted to swallow the core without hesitation, and he most likely doesn't know what it is either. If that's the case, it would also make sense why he isn't reaching the first stage. Damn it, how many cores do I have to feed him? This is becoming more costly than it should be.
Then she told the other elves to get more cores by killing some beasts and gave Valtar the last core she had with her, considering there was absolutely no change in the outsider's body with one core. It would probably take 5 or more for him.
Valtar took the other core Elmyra gave him and ate it as well, but there wasn't any change, and he waited patiently for the other dark elves to bring more cores.
After a while, they brought more cores, and Valtar ate one core after another. Finally, on finishing the 7th core, just as the dark elves were about to tear him to shreds in anger, a change within Valtar started.
Before the moment Valtar swallowed the first core, he asked the system, "How many cores do I need to become a 1st stage awakened?"
[3 cores]
Valtar then asked again, "Can you save the energy of the core after I swallow it and not start immediately? I should get more cores from them using this opportunity."
[Yes, and the host should get 7 cores]
Valtar asked, "Why?" But there was no reply, though he did get 7 cores.
Back in the present, after devouring 7 cores in succession, he finally started to advance.
[Consuming 5 cores for 1st stage of awakening, converting the energy of the 2 cores for backup]
[Increasing stats]
[Increasing resonance]
[Physical limit has been broken]
[You have gained shadow affinity]
While the advancement was happening, Valtar was feeling pain—extreme amounts of pain. His whole body felt like it was expanding. Some sort of energy was changing his body from the inside. He endured the pain, ignored the pain, reveled in the pain. Also, there was a high amount of black-like liquid coming out of the pores of his body. Just as the impurities were coming out, they were evaporating in the air as well.
After about 10 minutes of constant torture, it was finally over. He couldn't believe how refreshed he felt at this moment. He could instinctively feel it. His entire body was renewed. He could even feel the air brushing against his skin. Every single sense of his body became so much sharper that it was hard to describe.
He felt like the pack leader that was chasing him. He could literally take it down as if it were a puppy or something. Though he did not know if it was correct or not.
Right at that moment, the system window popped up to his pleasure.
[Eternal Karma Interface]
Host: Valtar Titanblood (Ethan Martin)
Age: 18
Status: Healthy
Advancement: 1st stage awakened
Species: Human
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: None
Primary Stats
Strength: 25
Vitality: 25
Agility: 25
Mental Fortitude: 25
Resonance: 20%
Karmic Energy (KE): 120
Shadow affinity: 5%
Skills
[High-perception]
[Survival Instinct]
[Mental Defense]
[Silent Steps]
Valtar was ecstatic looking at his increased stats. Because of consuming the core of a shadow beast, it seems to provide him with shadow affinity, and there's a new skill as well, which should be because of the gained shadow affinity. To see the details of the new skill, he made a silent command in his mind.
Skill - Silent Steps
Because of the affinity gained of shadow, you are in tune with shadows. As long as there are shadows on your feet, your steps will be silent as a ghost. The more in shadows or darkness you are, the more effective the skill is, and the more you are in bright and shadowless places, the lesser the effect of this skill is. The more shadow affinity you gain, the more this skill will evolve. It is a passive skill unless the host wants to turn it off. It will always be on.
Valtar thought it was quite a good skill. First, he commanded the system to turn it off because he couldn't reveal his cards to anyone. Then he started to think about how he could use this skill, considering pretty much everywhere in the Hidden Forest, there are large trees and filled with darkness. Even the brightest areas are filled with abundant shadows.
"After wasting f*** 7 cores, you finally advanced. Any more than that, and I think I would've killed you," said Elmyra.