"What the hell is this? Skin flakes?"
Back at the apartment, Alistair pulled off his shirt and stared at the fine white dust clinging to the fabric.
"Am I molting?" He scratched his arm. Nothing happened. "The skin on my back feels... smoother, though."
He shrugged it off and headed for the bath. It was already after 10:00 PM. Chiaki's parents were early sleepers, and the living room was dark.
"Haaa... nothing beats hot water," Alistair sighed, sinking into the tub.
Things were looking up. He had a powerful patron, his strength was returning, and his [Extraction] ability had given him something useful. He'd even settled some old scores. He looked at his hand to check the Ring. The "roots" piercing his skin were more numerous now.
Wait. Where's the ring?
Alistair stared at his empty finger. It was gone.
Fully integrated already? He touched his finger. There was no visual trickery; the ring was gone. He'd half-expected an eye to grow out of his palm, but everything seemed normal. At least he didn't have to use mana to hide it anymore.
He stood up, put on a bathrobe, and went to the mirror to brush his teeth.
"What the... my eyes."
In the mirror, his eyes were striking. They looked exactly like the gemstone that had been in the ring. His pupils were dark red vertical slits, and if he looked closely, he could see flecks of gold floating in the iris.
The transformation is accelerating. He was at 43% progress. He just hoped the future mutations would be easier to hide. He remembered the blurry memories of the demon—it was humanoid but had wings, a tail, and horns. It was over seven feet tall.
I don't want to be seven feet tall. Only 'Tall Ladies' could handle that. Girls like Mina would be like dolls. His ideal height was around 6'3"—like a certain seventeen-year-old delinquent who beat up a century-old vampire.
Meanwhile, in Mina Morita's Room:
"Georgia, is there really no other way?" Mina asked, looking at a metal badge on her desk.
"No other way," a slightly raspy, gentle voice replied. "After being contaminated, this is all I can offer. I can act as a converter to help you ascend, but you have no cultivation method."
"Then I won't do it. I'd rather you just help Alistair-kun," Mina said, pouting. She couldn't accept a path that required killing or bullying others to gain power.
"I respect your choice," Georgia said warmly. "But your race... I've never seen anything like it. You are humans, yet you possess the potential of transcendent lifeforms. If you break through, you won't just be strong—you'll be legendary."
"Magic properties?" Mina asked, confused.
"Skilled users develop their mana. Mine is 'Stability.' It makes me immune to crowd control—petrification, stasis, suppression. My sister, Rhea, has the opposite: 'Transformation.' She could have been great, but she was too lazy. She's currently sealed inside a scythe."
In an alleyway elsewhere:
"Rhea, how many of these thugs are enough?" Summer Violet leaned against a wall, looking at the dismembered remains of several gang members.
"About 8% more," a lazy girl's voice replied from her weapon. "I'm surprised you came around so fast. Don't forget our deal: buy me the new gaming console and that RPG~"
"Tsk. Where's the dignity of a Demi-God? You're just a shut-in gamer girl," Summer complained.
"I am a girl! I did my time fighting for my country, I spent my life force on wars. Now I just want to enjoy life. Let's go home and order pizza," Rhea said righteously. She had fully integrated into the modern world—specifically, the part of the world that involved high-speed internet and falling into depravity.