Chapter 539: Back to the roots

After the insightful remark, Aiden's demeanor instantly changed, the calm, cool, and collected dispositions of his instantly vanished, wafted away, leaving behind only the remnants of the cold, terrifying beast. 

As he lowered his gaze back on the still sneering and viciously glowering skink elder, who had still been thinking it would be a breeze to put this disrespectful bareskin brat in his place and then feast on its flesh, the look in Aiden's eyes suddenly changed.

Shocked and confused about the sudden change in the fragile-looking boy the robed creature looked with wide eyes as the boy's underlying golden light suddenly lit up, like a reflector it flared with a profound glory as it ominously scanned the startled little creature.

Unshackling the metaphorical chains holding his power and not allowing it to be revealed unless he wanted it to, Aiden's draconic aura unfolded with a violent, volatile momentum. 

With a loud, sonic explosion, the aura was released with a powerful shockwave, catching the little creature completely off guard and throwing him back in the air. As the creature violently crashed into the invisible walls of his own erected energy barrier, the sound of loud cracks, bones breaking could be heard. 

In the next moment, the creature listlessly slid down from the solid current of his own creation, its head, its body showing no signs of movement at all. When his head swayed to the left, puling the rest of its lifeless body down on the ground, Aiden was shocked.

He looked confused and bewildered gazing at the suddenly deceased little aged skink's corpse with raised eyebrows.

'Wait.. This was it? Where's the arrogance, the expected power to back such an attitude?!' He exclaimed inwardly. 

He couldn't understand what happened at all. From the actions of this little beast, he was at the very least expecting some sort of challenge. When they approached he clearly sensed the brimming energy inside its core… Then how could he be worth less than even the adventurers, soldiers, and guards of Higrove. How could this arrogant, haughty figure be worth even less than a bug, an ant?!

Aiden clicked his tongue with visible displeasure. He was annoyed, he was fired up, ready to have a good, challenging fight, and now he had to somehow calm himself down. 

He frowned as he walked over the corpse of the creature, looking at it with growing disdain as he revealed his clawed hand, raising it above the creature's chest.

'At least give me something worthwhile… after you failed my expectations so miserably.' He muttered inwardly, striking down with his hand easily piercing through the striped scale-covered skin, plunging deep into its flesh instantly.

Next, Aiden began his search, his conquest trudging through the insides of the deceased beast, searching for his core. A moment later, as his fingers felt the cold, solid crystal surface, he grabbed it. 

'You better show me what I want to know… If I have angered that being because of you and it ultimately proved to bear no fruit but further trepidations along the road, I'll be very angry…'

He groaned, forcefully tearing through the flesh and ripping the crystalline monster core out of the elderly skink's chest along with a great deal of its blood and gore in the process.

Raising his blood-covered, dripping hand Aiden took a look at the core. Noticing that instead of the black, darkness, the eerie-looking ebony gaseous substance he could see in these monstrous or corrupted creatures, this one had a strange, golden-orange colored puff of cloud filling up the insides of the translucent object.

'What is this? Did I make a mistake?' He frowned, pondering what such a difference could actually mean. A few moments later, however, he decided not to care about it for now. What's done is done, there's no turning back now.

If he made a mistake, he would have to now deal with it, there's no point in wasting time and chance. The bubble the creature erected would probably lose its strength soon and cancel itself out. He needed to clean up before that happened and go forward with his new hastily made plan.

Though absorbing the creature wouldn't make sure that a new form would be synthesized inside his core, he had no other option but to pray for the best. He took one last look at the creature's core before he flicked his hand causing the peculiar object to vanish as it was transferred into the mysterious subspace of his system's inventory. 

As he looked at the bloodied hole of the creature's chest, Aiden frowned once again, unwillingness clearly plastered over his expression.

'I really do not want to do this. I really feel like the monster of those campfire stories…' He scowled, before heaving one last time and making up his mind. 'I really am growing weak as I spend more time with…' He stopped his thoughts, shaking his head, and flashed a wry smile. "…No. I am no longer human. Nor was I ever really one. That life was just a dream, a hazy illusion, that I need to put away for good. To be strong enough to protect those I care about, I need to return to my origins. I need to act like I am supposed to, and not be this weak-minded!' 

Without giving his mind to come with yet another argument, Aiden decisively struck down again, tearing into the open, fist-sized hole at the center of the creature's chest and grabbed the now still heart of it. 

In the next instant, just like before Aiden ripped it out of the creature's flesh, and without wasting another second and before his brain could resist, he forced it into his mouth in one piece. 

Feeling the slimy, slick, fleshy walls of the organ, he chewed on it. Despite not tasting anything, he felt horrible. Still, he pushed through it, chomping the fleshy piece to smaller-sized bits in the process before gulping all of it down.

As the bits and pieces traversed down, he could feel as they were processed by his body, turned into particles, its building blocks, and absorbed with him. 

A surge of power, a torrential whirlpool was released as the materials were gradually processed and the constrained, surprisingly vast life force was unleashed abruptly.

Aiden's body shuddered as he felt the overwhelming amount. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, trying his best to contain it inside him, and not to reveal his gruesome actions to those outside the already waning bubble.

The storm inside him raged on, wreaking havoc as it tried to resist its new owner's will and wanted nothing more than to break free. 

Ultimately, however, it couldn't fight against its new master's ancient power. After some arduous effort, it finally began to subside, the storm began to calm down…

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