New Quest activated

Kaden gritted his teeth and bore the pain as he allowed his body to process whatever was going through. He tried casting [Healing Touch] but there was no change at all.

Soon something black and sticky started oozing. It smelled putrid, the smell disappearing in the stench of the corpses.

Another drop swelled on the egg sac and Kaden was almost debating leaving the small cave and running for his life. Whatever he had gained so far was good enough. Maybe it was time to call it quits.

He quickly shot up to his feet, grimly liquid spilling all around him when suddenly a notification flashed in front of him.

[Ding! Your body has undergone successful cleansing and you have completed Body Tempering I]

[Ding! New Quest activated - Body Tempering II]

[Ding! Your mind has undergone successful fortification and you have completed Mental Tempering I]

[Ding! New Quest activated - Mental Tempering II]

[Ding! Your soul has undergone successful purification and you have completed Soul Purification I]

[Ding! New Quest activated - Soul Tempering II]

[Ding! Your bloodline has undergone successful mutation and you have initiated the evolution process]

[Ding! New Quest activated: Bloodline Evolution II]

[Ding! New Quest activated: Class Upgrade II]

Kaden, his body slick with a viscous, black ooze, stared at the notification with a mixture of horror and elation. "Tempering?" he rasped, no longer caring about the pain.

The pain had subsided, leaving behind a raw, tingling sensation that stretched from the marrow of his bones to the newly formed, tougher layer of skin. He flexed his fingers, surprised by the strength he felt, a primal power thrumming beneath the surface.

He could feel it. His body had transformed completely!

Kaden stared at his hands, the gleaming new skin beneath the sludge of black ooze unnervingly smooth, almost unnaturally perfect. His body no longer ached—it felt powerful. Efficient. Reforged.

His muscles, once filled with exhaustion, were now coiled with strength. His senses stretched further than before, every sound sharper, every scent clearer, every flicker of movement almost too slow for his new perception.

He flexed his fingers. The difference was undeniable. He had transcended something—not just in power, but in existence. 

There was no way he should be feeling this strong in the dud zero rank. Heck, he wasn't even this strong at the F rank, at the highest level he managed to reach which was 78 and he had a quasi-core to boot.

Then his eyes snapped back to the egg sac.

The pulsating mass had noticeably shrunk, its once-stretching membrane now tighter, weaker. And for the first time, since he had entered the cave, it pulsed in a different rhythm. Or rather, a part of it was not pulsing.

Kaden looked closer at the other side of the egg sac and he immediately let out a gasp. An entire half of the egg sac was completely dried up.

The half-dried membrane clung tightly to whatever was inside, shrunken and lifeless, like an abandoned husk. The once-constant pulsing had become erratic, struggling. Something inside was failing.

And Kaden was the reason why.

His gaze flickered to his own hands again, the black sludge still dripping from his fingertips, pooling at his feet. This wasn't just the remnants of some simple purification.

He had stolen something.

The nourishment, the life force, the very essence meant to birth the being inside—he had taken it for himself. And his body had absorbed it.

That's why I feel this strong. That's why my stats jumped. That's why… I feel like I've changed.

A twisted satisfaction curled in his chest.

I took its power.

Kaden's lips parted, unsure whether he wanted to laugh or be horrified. The being inside this egg was supposed to emerge as something beyond reason. Something monstrous. Instead, he had devoured its strength before it could hatch.

And now…

Now it was dying.

Then another thought popped inside his mind. He couldn't kill the thing before, but what if he could kill it now?

He fisted his hand and cast [Thorn Whip]. He could instantly feel the spell hitting differently.

The mana surged through him faster. Sharper. Hungrier.

The thorned vines erupted from his hand, but they weren't the same frail whips he had summoned before.

They were thicker. Darker. Their edges gleamed with an unnatural sheen, the tips twisting like hungry predators sniffing for their prey.

And then they struck.

CRACK!

The vines lashed into the shriveling egg sac with relentless precision. They didn't just pierce the membrane—they burrowed into it.

The sac convulsed violently. The pulses within stuttered. Something inside screamed.

Kaden flinched, his breath hitching as the sound echoed in his mind. It wasn't an ordinary screech of a dying beast. It was deeper. Older.

The next second, an immense pressure descended on him, freezing him in place. A ripple of power emerged from the egg sac and it swept past him. For a moment, nothing happened which made Kaden frown in confusion.

Then the rumbling started. Not long after the ground beneath him started fissuring and a familiar green head with slit-like eyes popped out.