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nFrom the weakness Kairos experienced, he quickly realized that black blood was basically essential for survival, as insufficient amounts would basically cripple him. On top of that, apparently it was a source of food according to the others. Not to mention, black blood was used to evolve, and also the resource used to cast abilities provided by cores.

nHow it worked was that it would first prioritize being a source of food as well as health. From there, he would have the capacity to use the black blood for his abilities. If both of those bases were covered, giving him extra blood he couldn’t carry, it would be used for evolving, which would also naturally increase the amount he could store.

nIn other words, black blood was what was needed for the equivalent of a health point bar, a hunger bar, a mana point bar, and even an experience point bar.

nIn a sense, it made things more simple, but also made them more convoluted.

nWhile he had that realization, he created two black orbs of blood. He tossed the two to Nyoka, who caught them despite looking a little surprised. With a small smile, he commented on Kairos’ performance.

n“Your body contains quite a lot of black blood. Even when it appeared to be empty, it suddenly refilled itself.”

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“Yeah, I felt pretty weak but all of a sudden I felt normal again. Though, something tells me I shouldn’t take advantage of whatever is going on with that.”

nDaniel remained silent the entire time, but the interest in his eyes gave away how much he actually cared. After rubbing his chin for a few moments, he let out a laugh.

n“Hey, how about I toss in something free for you?”

nKairos turned to him with anything but overeagerness. In his opinion, if something was free, it was either not worth much or had some other intention behind it. After a few moments of contemplation, he raised an eyebrow.

n“What exactly brought this on?”

nDaniel shrugged his shoulders all the while a smirk rested on his face.

n“It’s something that probably only you can use, while it’s not exactly the most valuable thing. Take it as a sign of my goodwill, that I want to make a good first impression.”

nA black hand reached out of the wall and tossed a glowing gray cube in Kairos’ direction, though the difference was that it was larger than normal. He caught onto it and looked at it more closely.

nThin lines appeared across the cube. On closer look, he realized it actually consisted of eight total smaller cubes, combined together to form a larger one. As for the glow, it was noticeably less than any of the other cubes, almost like it wanted to show that it wasn’t all that special.

nAfter catching it, Kairos shot Daniel a look.

n“What is this thing?”

nDaniel shrugged his shoulders.

n“As far as I know, it’s supposed to create a second stomach in your body for eating flesh. But for pretty much everyone that’s incredibly useless as we can’t even consume black flesh in the first place. We only siphon black blood. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for you.”

nKairos got lost in thought once more.

n“…I see. I’ll take it then. Thank you.”

nHe did a quick bow that looked a little awkward as he almost fell over.

n“I’ll remember that you showed me some goodwill.”

nFrom there, Daniel smiled.

n“Hah. My hopes are that it isn’t misplaced, but if someone like Nyoka is willing to bring you along, then there must be something about you.”

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“I guess so.”

nWith those words, he tossed the large cube into his mouth, and the changes happened rather quickly. After the cube had entered his heart, it began to form new bonds, and as it made them he could feel something growing in his body.

nYou Have Acquired Special Ability – Consume (???)

nHis original stomach seemed to make way for another one to grow next to it, and Kairos could already feel that there was roiling acid within that new stomach. It was quite surprising to him as he knew his original stomach had changed considerably to account for large intakes of food, but this new one had a far different nature.

nJust by having the stomach, he could tell that it was using up resources since it needed to regenerate the stomach tissue that was burned by the acid. At the same time, he realized why Daniel said it was useless to most.

nThis core made one naturally use more resources, so to someone that couldn’t consume any black flesh, it would actually just be a burden. But for him, it could allow him to consume things far faster, which was especially good if there wasn’t much time for him.

nOut of curiosity, Kairos brought up his status panel and checked the skill.

nConsume (???)

nPassive Skill –

nGrants the user a second stomach that will process nutrient intake. Rough estimate of a 500% increase. Nutrients processed in this stomach are more effective. Rough estimate of a 100% increase in effectiveness.

nAppears to have an effect of nullifying toxins, exact implications unknown.

nAppears to have the side effect of regularly using moderate amounts of energy.

nKairos almost whistled when he read all of that. For him, it was a skill that was worth it despite the downsides. Though, if he was going back to the surface realm this skill might not be the most useful afterwards.

nHe cleared his throat.

n“Is there any way to deactivate this skill?”

nNyoka smiled bitterly.

n“You must pull it out of your black heart manually by piloting your black flesh. Though, you probably shouldn’t do that too much as it can have side effects from the damage to your black heart. Daniel would know, as it was the same cube you now have that he removed from his own heart.”

nKairos gave a quick nod.

n“Ah, if that is how it works, then it’s fine.”

nThe corner of Daniel’s lip twitched when he listened to the conversation.

n“If you don’t want it, I can take it back and give you a black ball in compensation.”

nKairos waved his hand dismissively.

n“No, no. I appreciate the gift and plan to use it. Though I would appreciate you mentioning side effects a little earlier.”

nDaniel gave a small nod.

n“My apologies.”

nNyoka shot a glance at Kairos.

n“Well, is there anything else you want?”

nKairos rolled his eyes when he heard that.

n“I don’t have the black blood to purchase anything, besides I still owe you eight orbs. I’d like to instead go to a place to gather black blood so I can make a purchase in the first place.”

nNyoka gave a small nod.

n“Fair enough. With our remaining time, I will give you a tour around the rest of the city and after that, we can try to find a dungeon.”

nKairos couldn’t help but notice the word dungeon considering he had been in one before, but didn’t ask about it. Still, he wondered whether or not the dungeon down here would bear similarities to the ones above ground. In particular, he wanted to know if he could get some mana from them.

nBut that was almost certainly something that people down here didn’t know given the existence of mana was unknown. As such, he didn’t even bother asking.

nAfter announcing their leave, the four of them were grabbed by black hands and dragged out of the store. Immediately after leaving the place, the stares of all the nearby people were attracted to the four of them.

nAll of their gazes looked rather greedy, like vultures hovering in the sky.

nThis seemed to be something completely natural though to the others. Nyoka’s smile only grew wider while the avatar of his snake appeared behind him. As for Sara, a black raven appeared behind her. It looked far fiercer than a normal one as it had both teeth and spikes across the wings.

nThen with Jeff, he had what looked like a rock appeared behind him. Kairos had to stop himself from acting out from how bizarre that looked. Seeing all of them bring out their avatars made him wonder if he should’ve been doing anything.

nIn the end, he decided to bare his teeth and let out a low growling sound. It was more natural than he expected, though it wasn’t perfect.

nSeveral people within the crowd suddenly backed off in fear. There were quite a few people that didn’t seem to understand, but seeing the reactions of some of the others, they backed off as well.

nKairos could tell that they weren’t afraid of him. In fact, most of them weren’t even looking in his direction. He decided to settle down and just wait to follow after the group.

nSeeing that everyone had backed off, Nyoka led the way with a jog in another direction. Naturally, the others followed closely behind. Kairos couldn’t help but feel he was going to forget how to walk on two feet after this, but decided to ignore that fact.

nThough, despite not looking back, Kairos could tell.

nPeople were looking at him as he ran. And they were malicious and greedy stares. They were similar to the stares he got a while back while in school, which was why he recognized them.

nThough, obviously, these ones were filled with more greed and cruelty.

nEven after a while, when he had gotten quite far away, he still had that feeling. It made him feel crazy, but something told him that he should trust that instinct.

nAnd he planned on doing something about it.

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