Transmigrated with my corruption system

Chapter 196: Chapter 194: Golden Metamorphosis

At the thought, Aelira’s face scrunched up slightly. She wanted to discard the thought. But the longer she stared at the dark-robed youth, the harder it became to shake off. He really had forgotten about her!

Unable to take it anymore, she rushed forward. Appearing before Ulric as she glared at him.

But with his head tilted, he didn’t seem to notice her presence. Strange, Aelira mused, remembering his god-like reflexes when he was engaged in the middle of battle.

Clearing her throat noisily, he finally seemed to notice her as his head slowly turned. His gaze shifted to her.

As she stared at his face, Aelira’s brows furrowed slightly. He appeared oblivious to what was happening. Had he genuinely forgotten or had she been overthinking all of this?

The more she pondered over it, the more it made sense.

Given how each weapon suited the wielder, there had to be a lot of thought process behind each of them. Had he been thinking which weapon was more suitable for her?

As multiple thoughts circled in the back of her head, she gently nudged the figure before her.

"What about me... where’s my weapon?"

The massive golden hammer she had acquired was a heirloom treasure passed on from generation to generation in the small clan she had led before joining Ulric.

As she had grown up and became the clan leader, she had naturally inherited the massive hammer as well, which seemed to pretty much suit her combat style.

Given how she liked to smash things that annoyed her. But could it be that a hammer wasn’t the most suitable weapon for her? Was there something even better?

The more she thought about it, the more worked up she became as anticipation built up inside her eyes.

But as she heard the youth’s next words, she almost spat a mouthful of blood as her expression flickered slightly.

"What do you mean?" Ulric muttered, staring at the massive hammer holstered across her shoulder. "Aren’t you holding it?"

"Huh... t-this..." Aelira muttered, a little lost for words as multiple emotions welled up deep inside of her. Could it be that Ulric hadn’t forgotten about her, but hadn’t got her anything entirely?

She already had a perfectly fine weapon and to another perspective, it might have seemed as if she was being a little unreasonable.

Why want another weapon, when you already had one? Something Aelira had already considered... but she just didn’t want to feel left out.

Previously everyone but her had gotten talents that boosted their combat prowess massively. Even more so now that they were SSS-rank while she still had a B-rank talent.

Now this... she had a feeling if their combat ability was to be measured, she would rank the lowest. Despite being almost at peak D-rank while the rest of the girls were still at peak E-rank.

The gap brought about by the insane talents combined with perfectly selected weapons just widened that gap to a level she feared she wouldn’t ever be able to bridge.

When he had overlooked her the first time, she hadn’t paid much mind to it. But the second time, she mused, staring at the smile that was slowly carving across his lips.

There was no denying it now. He was outrightly bullying her.

At the thought, she bit her lip tightly.

Was it because she had teased him a lot when she was stronger than him and now he was repaying the favor?

Whatever the case, she didn’t care anymore.

"Hmph! I liked my hammer better anyway," she snorted as she turned to leave.

But before she could, Ulric’s voice echoed once more.

"Wait."

Aelira froze for a moment. Her mouth opening to snap at him. But before she did, Ulric’s hand reached out, grabbing her by her waist and setting her on his lap.

All this happening in the span of a few seconds. Before she could ask what was happening, Ulric leaned forward. A soft whisper parting from his lips.

"I got you something else."

"Huh?" Aelira blinked rapidly as Ulric’s voice echoed into her ears.

"Really?" She muttered. Then what was all that about? Had he been teasing her all along?

As the realization dawned on her, her jaws clamped tightly. She should have known!

She wanted to pinch his waist for messing with her. But her head was overwhelmed with a plethora of thoughts as her mind hopelessly wandered once more.

Only snapping out of it as Ulric’s voice echoed into her ears once more.

"Do you trust..." Ulric began, but before he could even mutter the rest.

Aelira nodded rapidly. Causing Ulric’s lips to twitch slightly. But he didn’t pay much mind to it.

He had pondered over what was most suitable for her and he knew just the thing!

For Amber and the rest it hadn’t been very difficult to determine what it was. They were practically almost all-rounded. But just lacked a suitable weapon. Which Ulric had come to find to be surprisingly cheap, despite their high quality.

150,000 corruption points wasn’t that bad for each of them. At least based on the system’s absurd pricing.

With suitable weapons, the girls could easily kill more monsters and speed up their leveling. Which meant even more corruption points for him!

But Aelira was different, and it only seemed sensible that what he acquired for her would be different from the rest given her unique circumstances.

With these thoughts in mind, Ulric stretched out one of his arms.

Instantly after, a mist of golden energy slowly formed. Swirling around to form a golden orb that lit up in a resplendent display.

Lighting up the 500-meter domain his darkness had formed a defense barrier in, which drew the attention of Amber and the rest as their eyes were blinded slightly.

Sensing the energy oozing out of it, a glint of recognition flickered across their eyes as faint smiles spread across their faces.

Aelira seemed even more intrigued. She didn’t know why, but she could feel her B-rank: Raging Bull talent resonate with the golden orb. The more she stared at it, the more drawn to it she became.

Before an absurd thought took root deep inside her mind. It couldn’t be... she mused, her eyes widening in wonder.

But before she could sink deep into her thoughts, Ulric pressed his palm against her chest as he pressed the golden orb inside her.

And just as expected, barely a few seconds passed by. Before a golden cocoon emerged. Wrapping around her frame and encasing her within.

Staring at the cocoon for a while, Ulric pressed his fingers against its surface as if trying to figure out something.

In the next instant, his eyes lit up with a golden sheen, which only lasted for a few seconds before fading.

He at first wanted to pry within. See if he could monitor the change and probably even gain the power to dish out talents at will. Even if he couldn’t, he reckoned even if he understood something, it would prove to be useful later on.

But no matter how he tried, his senses seemed to be cut off. It seemed the system didn’t seem like it wanted to share its secrets with him.

But it hadn’t been all for naught. At least he had been able to estimate when the transformation would last. A few hours at most, which should have been over by the morning.

Nodding at this, Ulric swiped through the system interface, before clicking at the Advanced Training Chamber.

Although he had been fatten— cough... nurturing the girls so he could reap massive corruption points from them to boost his growth. That didn’t mean he intended to neglect his own training.

If anything, he had come to enjoy it.

As his consciousness slipped into the training chamber, his body gently slumped onto the ground, entering a state no different from sleep.

The sight immediately drew Amber and the others over.

Knowing just how resilient his body was, seeing him suddenly collapse startled them.

But after checking on him for a moment, their worries gradually eased.

He really did appear to be sleeping.

He also looked genuinely exhausted.

Did granting talents place such a tremendous burden on his body?

Considering what he had accomplished was practically impossible...

It seemed only natural that such an ability carried equally severe limitations.

They could only hope those limitations weren’t too harsh...And that he would wake soon.

While waiting, the girls curled up around Aelira’s cocoon.

Not only would it allow them to protect her if anything unexpected happened. They were also eager to witness the changes awaiting her once she emerged.

***

Inside the training chamber, Ulric resisted the urge to merge with the Infinite Soul Bloodline once again.

He had a feeling assimilating such a bloodline would require far more than a few hours.

Instead, he focused on expanding his aether reserves, which progressed far more smoothly than he had expected.

By the end, he had gained five additional drops of aether, bringing his total to sixty-five.

He consumed a few treasures during the process.

But nothing particularly valuable.

Once he finished, his consciousness returned to his body.

As his eyes slowly fluttered open. The first thing he noticed was that morning had arrived.

And...The golden cocoon had already shattered.