Chapter 33 - 33 - Gains

As he stood atop the whimpering animal, he felt strangely calm. There was no compassion, no empathy in his heart towards the sad sight of this beast. On the contrary, he felt the thrill of what was to come, he felt the eagerness coursing through in his body. His whole body was trembling with excitement, it was hungry, thirsty for this much stronger beast's essences.

He felt the need to dominate, to consume this black-furred wolf-like unnatural predator, this warg's mass, and absolve its dominant traits as his own. It was sturdy, it was strong, it was fast… and all of these were soon to be his!

He crouched down and looked at the beast with cold, impassive eyes.

"You didn't expect this when you charged in blindly, huh?" He asked mockingly, between to wails of the beast.

His right hand slowly approached its head, almost without putting in any intent from him. It was as if it was having a mind of its own, and its main focus was to quell this unnatural hunger.

As his arm inched closer and closer to its head, dread and consternation washed through the warg's mind. It tried averting his yellow gaze, looking for a way out, but sadly it saw none. Its body was wracked with pain, its bones are crushed, broken beyond repair, several of its organs were in their last beats.

It was painfully aware of the fact that it wouldn't be able to survive for long even if it were to somehow miraculously escape this predicament. Knowing that this is the end of its road, it could only try swallowing the pain and growl with defiance.

If it had to go down, if this was the end of the road, at the very least it will show its strong spirit till the last moment. Whoever these horrifyingly powerful creatures were, they should remember about his resistance, its fighting spirit!

As his right palm cast its shadow over the warg's eyes, Lucien's right hand began to transform. A small dark dot, a tiny hole opened at the center of his palm. Although he felt faint itchiness, there was no pain, no true discomfort to him, so other than showing a mild surprise on his face, Lucien did nothing else, he kept reaching towards the beast's head.

In the next moment, as his palm was almost touching the warg's dark fur, 6 thread-like dark tendrils shot forth from the dark hole, piercing, plunging deep into the warg, drilling through its thick skull with visible ease.

Before he could react and pull back from the shock, Lucien's hand was pulled forward and was forcefully latched onto the beast.

"What the… What is happ-" He yelled out, but even before he could complete his sentence, the now-familiar dark, translucent screen popped up, interrupting his thoughts.

Bloodied, dark-red letters appeared one after another in quick fashion swirling across the surface, swiftly finding their place and forming into threads of messages.

[…::: Common Black Warg (Lvl 3 - Category: Magical Beasts) mass have been found! :::…]

[…::: Absorbing essence… :::…]

Although unseen, the 6 tendrils that drilled themselves deep into the skull of the warg began to suck away everything they could. The beast that died the moment its skull was pierced, trembled abruptly, its lifeless body began to convulse and heavily contort. At a pace visible to the naked eye, it gradually turned thinner, as if it was aging at an incredible pace. Its strong, sturdy body acquiesced to the horror of the tendrils' relentless suction. Its flesh, organs, and bits were vanishing at a visible pace.

In roughly two minutes only its thick, black furry skin and its bones remained. The tendrils, finishing their assigned tasks, were pulled back, vanishing in the depths of Lucien's right viral appendage, only leaving the dark hole behind that continued to suck and absorb the remainders.

Crunching noises echoed around the duo, the sounds of bones breaking could be heard, as they were crushed under the otherworldly pressure before turning into bone dust, turning the dead body into an amorphous hairy sack before that itself were imbibed, sucked up.

An extra half a minute later nothing could be seen, there was nothing left behind from the previously ferocious forest predator. The uncrowned ruler, the bloodthirsty magical beast was gone forever.

At the same time, several texts appeared one after another in front of Lucien's skin, driving his attention away from the peculiarities of what had just transpired.

[…::: Absorbing Essence… Completed! :::…]

[…::: Common Black Warg (Lvl 3 - Category: Magical Beasts) - Creature Page has been created! :::…]

[…::: A Creature with more power has been consumed! Bonus Rewards have been awarded! :::…]

[…::: Through the absorption, the following updates has been granted to the host:

+ 1.25 Strength

+ 0.70 Agility

+ 1.52 Stamina

+ 5 EP (4 Base EP + 1 EP Full Consumption Bonus)

+ 8.75% Power Increase :::…]

Lucien turned wide-eyed with shock after reading through the gains provided by the system. These were incredible, some of his current parameters almost doubled! Still, surprised by the lack of reaction in his body, he was about to stand up when…

[…::: A New Skill has been synthesized! The passive skill: Sense Prey (Rank 1) has been created! :::…]

[…::: Bonus! A New Skill has been synthesized! The active skill: Bestial Rush (Rank 1) has been created! :::…]

[…::: Task Update: Gather your first Entropy Points (12 / 10) :::…]

[…::: Task Complete! Reward: Essence Pool has been unlocked! :::…]

Lucien was shocked speechless, after this latest attack of updates by the System. He gained so much, received such incredible rewards that he wasn't even sure where to start, what to check or investigate.

Still, before everything he wanted to know the reason for him not feeling any of the gains. Although he wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, he was sure that receiving an almost 100% boost to his strength, he should feel the gains. Why was that not the case?

'System, why can't I feel any change in my attributes? Shouldn't I feel stronger, faster… an overall… better?' He voiced his concerns inwardly.

A moment later, the screen that was still in front of him flickered, the letters restructured themselves, formulating an answer.

[…::: The gains are currently stored in the system bank and have not been completely assimilated to the host. The host has two methods to receive the updates: Either automatically when the host is not active, or by cultivation. :::…]

Once again, for the umpteenth time today, Lucien was shocked beyond belief. What did any of what the system had just said mean? Living the life of an outcast throughout his life, his only enjoyment was through the orphanage library's small collection of books. He read a few fantasy novels that revolved around this term, but that was just that. Fantasy, it had nothing to do with reality.

On the other hand, what did the system mean by him being 'active'?

Although Lucien didn't want to spend too much time conversing with the invisible system and raise suspicion in the blonde angel-like woman, he did want to understand more.

'System, can you please explain what do you mean by 'me being active' and also what 'cultivation' means?'

Without hesitation, the image instantly began to change, letters faded while new ones appeared and reformed themselves to new lines of texts, forming a response a single second later.

[…::: The system will automatically convert the stored energy and assimilate it with the Host's Essence and Mass when he in an inactive state. This could be during natural sleep, coma, or system-induced temporary hibernation. The last can only be activated by the host's request or in extreme circumstances.

Cultivation refers to a session of meditation where the host actively delves deeper into his subconscious and assimilates the stored energies himself. This method is not advised if the host has no knowledge about the process and has no technique and/or matching skill to assist in this process. :::…]

'Well… I can sort of understand…' He muttered inwardly, before phrasing another question. 'System, does that mean that what you would do automatically is something similar to what I could do myself? Are you cultivating the energy?'

For the first time, there was no instantaneous response. The system took almost ten full seconds before the screen finally began to flash and change.

[…::: During Cultivation the host transforms the stored energy and reform it into more power, growing in rank and in stage ultimately. The system will simply convert the stored energies into the related attributes. The two methods are different and will yearn for different results, it is not advisable to mix them up. :::…]

'I see…' Lucien lamented, ignoring the slight jab from the system at the end of its answer. 'One last question: Why did I gain the rewards the previous two times from the two critters, and why is it different now?'

Although he accepted the system's answers, this different approach still bothered him. Why can't he gain these rewards and why could he get the other two? Was it perhaps due to the volume? Or, was there something else at play here?