Upgrading Lifespan absorbtion?
The news was like a thunderclap splitting the silence of the night, shaking Seraphina to her core. Her pupils dilated, and her breath hitched ever so slightly.
Marcus didn't speak. He simply watched her, allowing the weight of the revelation to settle into her bones.
"Demon Queen Noctyss…"
Seraphina echoed the name under her breath, voice dipped in a solemn chill.
It was a name etched into the very bedrock of the continent's history—a name that still made seasoned warriors pause. The tales of her reign were bathed in blood, chaos, and unrelenting horror.
Centuries ago, she had ruled not with authority, but with carnage. No territory was spared, no land left unsullied. Entire nations had been reduced to ash under her rampage. Wherever her armies marched, crimson rivers followed, and silence reigned in their wake.
Her madness was so absolute that, eventually, a Supreme Being had descended from the heavens to put an end to it.
Only then had the bloodshed ceased.
Now, the very thought of her tomb being discovered stirred a sense of dread—an ominous whisper that history was ready to bleed once more.
Seraphina's eyes flickered.
Unbidden, an image surfaced in her mind—a towering mosquito, larger than life, drenched in demonic energy, wings buzzing with menace.
Marcus's sharp gaze didn't miss the change in her expression. His brows furrowed. Just as he opened his mouth to question her, Seraphina straightened her back and spoke.
"A Stage 2 mosquito…"
The words left her lips slowly, each one heavy with implication.
Marcus remained silent for a moment, his expression unreadable.
"A Stage 2 mosquito..." he finally repeated, his voice steady but grave.
There was no mockery or disbelief in his tone. He trusted Seraphina too much to doubt her. There was no reason for her to fabricate something so absurd.
Mosquitoes were vermin—insignificant specks of life, even below animals in the grand hierarchy of power.
And yet, now, one of them had ascended beyond imagination.
Marcus didn't need further proof. The tomb's existence had been unconfirmed until now—nothing more than a whisper in the shadows. But Seraphina's report made the truth as clear as crystal.
He stood up, the aura around him sharpening like a blade drawn from its scabbard.
"Seraphina," he commanded, his voice cutting through the air, "take Truth Seeker Amanda with you and investigate. I want the exact location of the tomb before anyone else gets wind of it."
Seraphina's heart raced, but she kept her composure. Her eyes lit up with a subtle gleam.
Truth Seekers were Stage 2 beings—the elite among elites. With Amanda at her side, she would have the strength to not only trace her brother's path but maybe, just maybe, eliminate that monstrous mosquito once and for all.
Unconsciously, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
---
Time flowed like an endless river, indifferent to the tides of power and ambition.
In the shadowed heart of the forest, Ricky had embraced a relentless hunt. He flitted from beast to beast, draining life in silence, devouring years in gulps.
Days blurred into nights, and nights into weeks.
A full month passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, a vague unease had taken root in his gut. Something was off—something beyond his understanding. And so, he threw himself deeper into the hunt, desperate to grow.
By now, he had accumulated over 100 years of lifespan.
High atop a sprawling tree branch, Ricky crouched in the moonlight, his wings folded, mandibles twitching in silent thought.
"Status."
The moment the word left his mind, the air shimmered. A familiar blue panel blinked into existence before him.
---
[STATUS WINDOW]
[Stage 2, Rank 1]
[Name: Ricky Stormwind]
[Bloodline: Venom Fang Mosquito]
[Lifespan: 300 years]
[Evolution Progress: 3%]
[Spiritual Force: 1.6]
---
Ricky let out a low sigh.
Even after an entire month of devouring lifespan, the evolution bar had barely budged.
"Looks like draining stronger creatures is the only real shortcut…"
But the risks were too steep. He wasn't desperate enough to throw himself into death's mouth just yet.
So he waited. Watched. Grew, bit by bit.
"First, let's try upgrading my skills…" he muttered, his voice faint like a breeze.
"If I can't evolve to the next stage, then I need stronger tools to survive."
The upgrade feature had unlocked long ago, but the chaos of recent events had kept him from testing it.
Naturally, the first skill he wanted to enhance was Life Absorption. If he could increase the speed of absorption, his path forward would become exponentially easier.
"System, upgrade Resourceful Drain."
He waited.
A brief silence followed.
---
[Analysing! Beginning upgrade…]
[Cost calculation started…]
[Error! Source abilities can't be upgraded through this method. If you want to evolve the source or innate ability, please evolve.]
---
Ricky froze.
"…What?"
The disbelief turned into rage.
"You bastard system! Wasn't it you who proudly claimed any ability could be upgraded with lifespan?!"
His angry screech echoed into the woods, unheard by anyone who could care.
But no matter how much he cursed, the system remained infuriatingly silent.
After a while, Ricky calmed himself.
Anger was pointless now.
Fine—if not that one, then the next best.
His thoughts turned to Blood Infusion, a skill that had saved his life more times than he could count.
"System, upgrade Blood Infusion."
---
[Analysing! Beginning upgrade…]
[Cost calculation started…]
[It will cost just 50 years of lifespan to upgrade FFF-Rank Blood Infusion.]
[Press Yes to begin.]
[Yes / No]
---
There was no hesitation.
Ricky selected Yes instantly.
The moment he did, it felt as if his entire soul had been pulled into a void.
His mind exploded in a cascade of color and sound—blinding and deafening. For a moment, he was no longer himself. He had become something else.
A mosquito.
But not this Ricky.
A primitive mosquito in a time long forgotten. It had no system. No evolution. No tricks or advantages. Just a desperate will to survive and a single skill—the ability to infuse its blood and boost its strength.
Everything around it was gargantuan—beasts ten thousand times its size. Its life hung by a thread every second.
Yet it persisted.
It practiced.
Every day.
For decades.
In that dreamlike vision, time bent and twisted. Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.
And finally, Ricky's consciousness snapped back to the present.
His body trembled. He blinked rapidly, sweat forming at his joints—if mosquitoes could sweat.
Inside his mind, new fragments of knowledge clicked into place.
The technique. The control. The instinct.
He could feel it.
The blood within him no longer surged aimlessly. It roared with power.
---
[Upgradation Successful.]
[FFF-Rank Blood Infusion skill has evolved to E-Rank: Superior Blood Infusion.]
[E-Rank Superior Blood Infusion: Circulate blood ten times faster to triple strength for a short period of time.]
---
A savage grin spread across Ricky's face.
"Now we're talking."