Before the innkeeper, the old chubby Draconic Skink man could react, or just register what was going on, or what the hooded peddler, Aiden's words had truly meant, it was already too late.
Aiden's arm blurred, vanishing from its resting spot, and shot towards like a deadly projectile, piercing through the scaled skin of the creature's upper chest without too much of a resistance.
Before he could have a chance to process and understand what happened, the mysterious hooded figure had already sealed his fate.
The sound of flesh and skin tearing could be heard as Aiden's arm -now in its semi-transformed clawed and golden scaled form- had plunged deep within the creature's fragile frame.
Aiden's eyes lit up, shimmering in their usual golden luster as he looked at the shocked expression of the small figure. His smirk creasing, curving higher and higher as he felt the rapidly waning life essence converging towards his fingers. His clawed hands were tightly gripping at the creature's crystalline, small bead-like core.
Like he did once before, this time he did not directly pull it out. No. Now with his increased understanding of his own abilities and what he truly was, he planned something much more direct. Much less gruesome. Much faster.
The golden luster in his eyes burning with an increasingly vigorous, expectant light, Aiden's lips slowly parted, letting out a command that once caused even the greatest powers to tremble in fright.
"ABSORB."
Though he was already used to it by now, as his primal form fused with the ancient draconic essence took control, his voice rang across the large and empty dark tavern ground floor, thundering boisterously, reaching into the deserted upper floors as well.
In the next moment, the now-familiar scene began to play out. The body of the pierced draconic skink began to tremble as ripples began to spread out with his core being the origin. These visual distortions, mystical, otherworldly waves grew in intensity with each passing moment, soon masking shrouding the whole figure of the now-departed creature.
From the core as the source, one after another his organs, blood, flesh, and skin began to liquefy and flow towards the golden scaled, ebony-clawed hand seeping, merging, fusing into it at a frightening speed.
The figure of the plump draconic skink distorted, as it rapidly transformed, turning into a dark black floating viscous liquid that continued to seep and soak into the connected hand of the robed and hooded figure of Aiden.
At the same time, an almost euphoric look could be observed hiding under the darkness of Aiden's hood. He could finally, once more be enamored in this heavenly sensation, lost in the daze of having another mass of life essence merge into his very being, strengthening both his body and soul in the process.
Feeling the collection of essences inside his body and seep into the very fiber of his being and his soul, Aiden once again, after so long, felt the addictive sensation of growing stronger in the most natural way to his race, the Primal's know-how.
Strangely, however, the absorption process didn't seem to bother the little girl hanging on his chest at all. She looked happy and content as she kept hugging his beloved Papa, and felt the warmth of his chest.
Her smile merely grew a few inches wider when she suddenly felt the louder, more powerful, and faster thumps of his heartbeat. Though Aiden accepted her strange obsession with him and even grew accustomed to it, it was still quite strange how she was not bothered by anything, no matter how grotesque or gruesome it was as long as he was with her.
As if it was the natural way of life. The strong preying on the weak.
Still, he couldn't waste time dwelling on the matter now, Aiden pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the revolving new energy in his system. He felt as the energy rapidly increased in his body, his muscles bulged and contorted as they gained even more density. His eyes that were shimmering with a bright, golden luster didn't seem to cease.
At the same time, the long heard slew of notifications began to ring out one after another in his mind, informing him of the gains and changes he had gone under.
[Note: The form: (Draconic Skink - Clean - Tier 1+) have gained new essence, fusing it with existing seed is required.
Estimated time for completion once process is initiated: 00 hours 20 minutes 00 seconds ]
[Note: New energy gathered! Host's current reserve of [Soul Power] has increased by +50! Current value: 1300 / 1300]
Aiden's lips curved into an expression of satisfaction, he was satisfied with the results. Just as before, directly absorbing the creature entirely had provided a significant boost to the comprehension process.
One thing that surprised him was that the message was somewhat unexpected. From what he understood, some changes would be made to his current form, and most likely to his appearance as well. What did that mean? What will he end up being? Would he still be wearing the appearance of the old, ex-archbishop, Tolliah's true father or would he forever lose it and turn into something new, unknown to his people and the little girl?
Will she be scared and frightened once she sees that he had once again changed? Though she seems okay now, and strangely unbothered by anything that was going on, who could tell what will happen?
Still, the system gave a vague hint that the new essence would most likely also bring some extra gains, hopefully beyond the point of an altered, perfected outward appearance, and would provide him with some extra benefits as well.
Notifications kept on ringing, Aiden could feel the assault of the new memories of the absorbed emerging, wanting to be processed. Though Aiden wanted nothing more than to go through the memories of the being that now he understood was called as Ba'ru. He wanted to learn more about him. Who was he? What did he actually do, why did he do it? Was there any other factor for him making such a cruel decision besides greed?
He wanted to learn more, to get a better picture of what was actually happening, and to formulate a plan that would allow him to complete all his active quests, Aiden needed to get a better insight into the events and happenings. What was life in the slums?
These and many other questions plagued Aiden's mind. Questions he still needed answers to …
Yet, before he could have a chance, a frown appeared over his face. With a wave of his hand, the torn and bloodied clothes of the absorbed skink vanished, entered into his system's sealed inventory space, leaving behind absolutely no trace of what could have transpired between these walls just a couple of moments ago.
The dark red dots on his map had finally arrived in front of the door. With haste they encircled the building closing off all entrances and sealing all exits…
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