The night went by quickly.
For Malakai, it was a night filled with pain. However, to him, it was necessary pain, so he hadn't complained for even a second.
He endured it as though he was addicted to it. Then, as morning came, his eyes fluttered open.
The first thing that hit him was a splitting headache, followed by an intense sourness all over his body.
Malakai groaned. 'Shit.' He forced himself up and glanced around the room.
'No sunlight.' It was the first thing he noted. It wasn't morning yet, which meant he hadn't overslept.
He felt the wetness on his bed next and prayed to the heavens that he hadn't peed himself.
If it had been only him, he could simply burn the evidence. But with that chubby ghost living inside him, he doubted if he'd ever escape the shame.
He looked down and sighed in relief.
'It's just sweat.' He thought, ignoring the fact that he had been sweating profusely through the night despite the cold Harmattan weather.
'I need to get rid of this filth first.'
Malakai wasn't a fan of dirt, or even germs. After training and sweating, he always freshened up, regardless of how tired he was.
He stood up from the bed and grabbed the bedsheets, throwing them into the laundry basket.
'I hope they dry soon.' He silently prayed it would dry before Nyx came for them. "The Ninth Vein is a bedwetter" were not words he ever wanted to hear. Ever.
He entered the bathroom to freshen up. And after a few minutes, he sat on the dry part of the bed, slipping into deep thought.
'I can feel the changes.'
Malakai felt a surge of excitement. He had drunk the grade three Vitaeon yesterday, and he had felt the pain of it forcibly changing his body through the night.
That had been the cause of the pain, the sweat, the soreness.
The reason why Vitaeon was so great, and better than the vita gotten from darkness creatures, was because of how it functioned.
In any unlikely scenario where a Genesis evolver killed a grade three darkness creature, the vita the creature would release would be far too much for the Genesis stage evolver to absorb and contain.
Because of that, most of the energy would be lost to the atmosphere. A major waste.
But when a Genesis stage evolver ingested a grade three Vitaeon, despite it having more or less the same amount of vita, no vita would be lost in the process.
The Vitaeon would enter the evolver's body and stay there until the vita was fully absorbed. But the downside was that it placed a lot of strain on the body as it constantly worked to reshape it.
'I can still feel it in my body.' Even after the night, Malakai could tell there was still more left to absorb.
"There's no danger of shitting or peeing it out, right?"
Malakai's mouth twitched at Valentine's sudden remark.
"No," he replied after a moment. "Once it's in your body, it's in. You'll absorb it over time. There's no getting it out."
"That's good news," Valentine looked visibly relieved. "For a second there, I thought you were worried you peed it out."
Malakai frowned. "That wasn't pee."
Valentine didn't look convinced.
"Don't worry, son. Your secret's safe with me."
Valentine blinked. "Sweat? Did you see how drenched those sheets were?" He looked at Malakai suspiciously.
"It's the effects of the Vitaeon. My body was under a lot of strain."
Valentine still didn't look convinced. He flashed Malakai a reassuring smile.
"You don't have to feel embarrassed about your little… 'incident'. I was still doing it occasionally at your age."
At this point, Malakai tuned him out.
'Arguing with him will only make it worse.'
He breathed in and out deeply, resisting the urge to murder a ghost. Then, he shifted his focus back to the matter at hand.
He decided to see the changes for himself.
A glowing panel appeared in front of him.
[Vita Core Interface]
Name: Malakai Von Sanguine
Lineage: Direct Descendant of the Sanguine Clan
Title(s): [Successor of Life] [Ruined Heir] [Worthless Trash] [Rising Underdog] [Army Slayer] (New!)
Vita Stored: 13,970 / 12,620 → 13,970 Units
Vita Absorption Rate: 2.5 V/s (High Density) | 1.9 V/s (Normal Zone)
Evolution Stage: Node Formation Stage [2/7]
• Strength: 185 → 187 [150 - 200]
• Dexterity: 270 → 272 [155 - 215]
• Vitality: 340 → 345 [150 - 200]
• Perception: 283 → 285 [165 - 220]
• Willpower: 130 → 131 [80 - 150]
• Control: 120 [10 - 50]
• Blood Node: Active [14 → 16% refined]
• Muscle Node: Sealed
• Breath Node: Sealed
• Digestion Node: Sealed
• Synaptic Node: Sealed
• Cellular Node: Sealed
• Endocrine Node: Sealed
• Immune Node: Sealed
• Sensory Node: Sealed
• Body Node: Sealed (Opens when all primary nodes are awakened and refined at 100%)
Malakai gazed at the panel with a wide smile.
'It's been only five days.'
Only five days had passed since he last checked, and yet, his stats had changed.
'My vita reserves…' This had seen the most drastic improvement. His vita reserves had increased by a whopping one thousand plus points!
'It's insane compared to that night.'
Before the hunt, a Synergy stage evolver assassin had come to the manor with other node formation evolvers, hoping to kill him by using his minions while he distracted his protector.
Unfortunately for him, his protector was the Red Eclipse, never caught off guard. A monster in human skin.
She had killed him and his minions before they could even realize she was there. Then, she restrained the grade three darkness creature with ease.
Malakai had been thrilled. A grade three creature, just like that. But after killing it, he had been disappointed.
The most he'd ever gotten from a grade two creature was about 250 vita. While this amount increased slightly over time, he couldn't move past that limit.
Most of the energy had gone to waste. Though at least, he had gotten the core.
But now, with just one ingestion of Vitaeon, he had gained over a thousand points. And there was still more coming.