"Don't touch that unless you want to lose your hands." Mira's voice echoed down the long hallway.
Alex jumped, spinning around.
Mira was standing in the doorway of the inner lab, she held a small, metallic cube that glowed with a faint, steady blue light.
"That's a Black Abyssal Lizard, that City Lord personally excavated not long ago from one of the recently discovered runes." she explained, walking toward him. "If you're not strong enough to withstand the radiation of the Abyss energy, it'll give you a nasty energy burn just by being near it."
"Not to mention the corruption is irreversible, once someone's corrupted they are beyond saving with our current technology."
"Also, I'm done with the extraction. Here's the skill stone that you want… thankfully I was able to extract the Basic Mana Circuit." She paused, handing him a small glass vial filled with a sparkling blue liquid next.
"It's a passive skill. Once you absorb it, it will etch a mana pathway into your body. And this is the Star Leaf extract. Drink half now, half later."
"Hahah… Thanks, Sister Mira," Alex said, taking the items.
The metallic cube felt heavy in his hand, slightly vibrating to his touch.
This was the Skill Stone containing the [Basic Mana Circuit].
On the other hand the glass vial was cold, filled with the swirling, starlight-infused liquid.
"Don't mention it," Mira sighed, running a hand through her auburn hair.
She leaned against the doorframe, her eyes all over him as she watched him top to bottom.
Unknowingly, the pheromones that were released from his body were still working their magic.
Its just her strength was higher then Elena, causing the effect not as strong as it was on Elena.
"And Alex... be careful with that lizard specimen. The City Lord is very protective of it. If he knew someone unauthorized was even looking at it..."
"I didn't touch it," Alex lied smoothly, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Inside his stomach, the energy he had just siphoned was swirling like a storm.
It felt like he had swallowed a block of dry ice.
"Good," Mira murmured. She took a step closer, invading his personal space again. "You should go home. Rest. You look... delicious."
She blinked, realizing what she just said. "I mean, you look feverish. Go."
Alex nodded quickly, pulling his hood back up to hide his flushed face. "Thanks again, Mira. I owe you one."
He turned and practically speed-walked out of the lab, past the rows of preserved monsters, and back to the elevator and found a safe place inside the Gene Association, so that no one could disturb him.
Only when the metal doors slid shut, did he let out a long exhale.
"Delicious?" Alex whispered, leaning his forehead against the cool metal wall. "She looked like she wanted to bite me… Fuck it, I barely escaped this time…"
"Why not try doing that?" A tempting thought suddenly popped up into his mind.
However, Alex immediately shook his head as he refocused himself and cursed the Empress for disturbing him.
"No way I would ever let that happen and foolishly accelerate the feminization process, I would never turn into a woman…"
"Hahaha… You half ass Virgin… you don't even have enough guts to fuck a beautiful girl." The Empress's voice echoed in his mind, sounding satisfied. "And you call yourself a man?"
"She might have devoured you, if you had stayed another minute or so. Hahahah..."
Alex ignored her teasing and looked down at his hands. They were trembling. Not from fear, but from an overdose of excitement.
"Status," he commanded mentally.
The blue screen flickered to life.
[ Source: Black Abyssal Lizard (B-Rank Remnant) ]
[ Source Power Gained: +54.5 Points ]
[ Current Source Power: 82.8 Points ]
Alex's jaw dropped. "Eighty two points... Slightly less than a hundred points.. and I seem to not even absorb one percent of the energy inside the skeleton, what a loss."
"What a loss, if only I had more time..' Alex sighed, with a little bit of frustration.
However, this kind of development was completely unexpected to him.
Just minutes ago, he was despairing over having only 28 points.
Now, thanks to the Empress forcing him to drain the skeleton, he had over eighty points.
"Overall, today's encounter with Mira was very profitable." Alex thought to himself, with a slight smile over his face as he looked at the metallic cube in his hand.
The [Basic Mana Circuit].
According to the documents he read over the last two years, this skill was basically considered as the foundation of all cultivation and a very hard skill to learn for beginners.
If not for the short cut created through the skill stones using modern technology, typically not even one in a hundred could learn it on their own.
Not to mention without it, humans or even monsters couldn't possibly control their own mana inside their bodies and evolve further.
"Here goes nothing," Alex whispered. He crushed the cube in his hand.
It shattered into a cloud of blue light that shot straight into his palm.
"Argh!"
Alex gritted his teeth as a burning sensation rushed through his veins.
It felt like someone was injecting hot mercury into his bloodstream. Just as he absorbed the skill stone, a new prompt appeared in front of his eyes.
Even when he felt his body was burning all over with unbearable pain spreading throughout his body.
He tried hard to focus his mind on the prompt that appeared.
[ Skill Acquired: Basic Mana Circuit (Level 1: Gaseous Linear State) ]
[ Adapting to Host Biology... ]
[ Warning: Void Yin Constitution Detected. ]
[ Warning: Naagin Bloodline Detected. ]
[ Mutating Mana Circuit... ]
"Mutating?" Alex panicked. "Wait, isn't it supposed to be a standard circuit!"
"What the fuck happened again… why does this keep on happening to me?" He cursed loudly, but no one replied to him.
No one answered him, not even the Empress.
With the sudden mutation, the pain he suffered also began to increase. Alex collapsed onto the cold floor of the utility room, clutching his chest.
"Argh! Damn it!" he gasped, curling into a ball.
Normally, the [Basic Mana Circuit] acted like a blueprint.
It was supposed to gently guide a person's raw energy causing a very low level of pain by digging simple energy canals through the body so mana could flow smoothly.
It was meant to be a stranded structure, created by following basic human internal meridians that transport mana.
But Alex's body was not normal.
Deep inside him, the "Void Yin Constitution", a black, hungry void and the dormant "Naagin Bloodline" affected the standard grid.
Through his mind's eye, Alex could almost see what was happening.
The blue energy of the skill stone tried to force straight lines through his torso, but his own bloodline attacked it.
Snap. Hiss.
The straight lines shattered. The blue energy turned a dark, violet hue as it was corrupted by his own Naagin Genes.