Transmigrated with my corruption system

Chapter 197: Chapter 195: Danger Zones

"Hmm, it’s just as I expected," Ulric muttered beneath his breath as he stared at the golden shells of what remained of the cocoon.

Although he had imparted Aelira with an SSS-rank talent, the fortune of assimilation remained relatively the same with S-rank talents. Otherwise, it would have proven a little troublesome if the time was far longer.

Speaking of the talent, Ulric pulled up its description as he analyzed it once more.

[SSS-rank Talent: Primordial Valkyrie — Refines the user with the primordial might of the first Valkyries, forging a body that grows stronger with every trial. It is said that true Valkyries never reached the limits of their own strength; they merely continued to awaken it.]

"Interesting... very interesting," Ulric chuckled slightly. This was perhaps the core reason he had chosen this talent for her. Besides how overbearing it sounded, it seemed to have a lot of potential for future progress. And if it could evolve like Lyra and the rest of their talents, he could only imagine how powerful it would prove to be.

Which couldn’t help but make him wonder what kind of effects it had taken on Aelira.

Lifting his head, he couldn’t see her frame as she was crowded by Amber and the rest. But their murmurs filtered across into his ears. Which made Ulric even more pleased.

"Woah..." Amber gasped. "You look even more beautiful," she muttered. Her eyes sweeping across the figure before her. She paused for a moment, before continuing.

"Your chest... it seems to have even gotten bigger."

She muttered embarrassedly as her head dropped to inspect her own chest. She remembered when she assimilated with her S-rank talent. The effects had been wondrous, but her chest hadn’t gotten this big.

Was this the true power of an SSS-rank talent? The more she thought about it, the more the blush on her face deepened.

At the side, Tara showered her with even more praises as Lyra walked around inspecting Aelira from head to toe. Wonder filling her eyes.

"Wow... your skin is so smooth. It almost feels like polished jade."

"And your hair too... it’s so silky... I wish I could touch it forever."

Unable to take it anymore, Ulric stepped forward. Could all the praises have been true? Had she truly experienced a massive transformation? If so, he couldn’t wait to see for himself.

As Ulric’s figure stepped forward, they immediately sensed his presence as the excitement flashing across their eyes grew a notch higher.

They wanted to rush forward and sink into his embrace. But suppressed themselves. Sensing the curiosity burning across his crimson gaze. A truly odd sight. They couldn’t wait to see how he would react.

Sensing the odd glances the girls were casting at him, Ulric waved them off as he finally got close enough to see Aelira’s figure. And when he did, he couldn’t help but momentarily freeze for a few seconds. She was absolutely stunning.

If before she was like a battle-crazed girl, then now it was almost as if she was a goddess of battle!

With just a single glance, Ulric instantly detected all the changes.

Her previously raven hair that trailed all the way to her butt had turned pure golden. Sparkling with a mesmerizing light.

Her eyes had changed as well. No longer obsidian, but a piercing molten gold. Burning with eerie clarity.

He had a feeling if he stared long enough, he could get lost in them.

Her already voluptuous figure had become even more pronounced while every curve of her body seemed refined to perfection.

Even more, Ulric could detect a plethora of other changes. The golden armor that she usually wore was engraved with countless runes invisible to the naked eye. But Ulric could sense them all as they constantly fortified her defense.

Had the energy seeped into her gear and evolved them? Ulric mused before discarding the thought entirely.

No... that was impossible. He could sense her hammer had also changed significantly. Besides, the energy from the talent was restricted to her body alone. Not her gear.

So what was this? Had it been special all along? Nonsense! He would have noticed at first glance.

Just as he was about to sink deep into his thoughts, he suddenly remembered something as his eyes lit up with an odd sheen as he cast appraisal on her.

The results leaving even him dumbfounded for a little while.

"She awakened a physique?" Ulric mumbled. Before slowly the confusion gave way to exhilaration.

This was marvelous. He couldn’t imagine how many corruption points he could reap from her. Now even more that he had the 10x corruption card!

But he was sure it would be a bountiful harvest!

From the aura she exuded, he could tell it wasn’t that far off from his Asura’s Demonic physique.

Had it been lying dormant within her all this while, only now awakening? Or had it assimilated with the SSS-rank talent? Given how smoothly they resonated across her body, he could sense both had the Valkyrie origin.

But it didn’t matter now. He could find out about it later.

As Aelira sensed his gaze, her flushed expression from all the praises grew even more excited as she rushed forward. Diving into his embrace as she clung to him tightly.

Amber and the rest could feel traces of the energy leaking within her. But only she knew how monstrous the power circling across her body was and the almost infinite potential it had. It was just too much to take in.

Her eyes that had previously glowed with innate pride from merging with an SSS-rank talent and awakening a physique welled with tears as overwhelming gratitude burned deep inside her as she thanked him continuously.

She didn’t know how she could ever repay this favor. Although he really liked to tease her and even bully her sometimes, he truly loved her.

Soon her words turned into an incoherent mumble as tears freely spilled from her eyes.

Easing her slowly, Ulric grabbed her by her shoulders. Before leaning forward and planting his lips over hers as he stole her breath.

Being this close, Ulric could feel the changes radiating across her body with precise detail. Which he found even more surprising.

Although her skin looked fair and surprisingly soft, he had a feeling not even a full-charged attack from a peak D-rank being could cause harm to her.

Pulling away, Aelira reluctantly stepped back. Gasping for her breath as she wiped the tears away from her face.

She opened her mouth to speak once more. Before she suddenly froze, feeling Ulric’s hands settle on her chest as he poked and fondled her breasts for a while.

"Hmm, they’ve indeed grown," Ulric muttered as a thoughtful expression settled across his face.

Amber and the rest stared speechless. While a deep blush spread across Aelira’s face as a glint of pride and happiness resurfaced across her eyes.

Snapping out of his daze a few moments later, Ulric’s eyes lit up as if suddenly remembering something.

"Your rank... it regressed?" Before, she was almost at peak D-rank, but now her rank had fallen all the way to the peak of E-rank.

At his words, Amber and the rest seemed a little shocked. They had inspected her for a while, but hadn’t noticed this. From their senses, they didn’t feel her strength had dropped at all. If anything, it had only risen drastically.

It seemed nothing could really escape his detection.

Aelira nodded, but didn’t seem disturbed at the change at all. She felt far better than ever before.

She could remember the golden energy spreading across her body. It had washed over her, almost giving her the feeling she had been reborn.

If anything, she didn’t view this as a setback. But another chance.

The talent had refined every aspect of her foundation, compressing her accumulated power into a denser state.

With this new talent, she could form a new and better art and walk further along the path to power.

Seeing that she didn’t seem concerned much about it, Ulric stepped back as he was done inspecting her, his gaze shifting to the rest.

"We should continue with the journey," Ulric muttered.

The girls seemed to agree with him as they nodded as well. All their belongings had been packed as they had been waiting for him to awaken before they could leave.

"But first..." Ulric continued as he retrieved the map Alaric had given him and spread it across the ground as he gestured for them to gather.

"The first part of the journey has been fairly easy, but as we head deeper things will only get more dangerous."

The girls’ expressions grew grave as Ulric continued.

"To arrive at Maelstrom City... we’ll have to pass through five danger zones."

"Huh?" Lyra gasped as her expression twisted slightly.

"But if we pass through the marked area, shouldn’t we arrive in a day or two?" She muttered, expressing her doubts.

The rest nodded slightly as if agreeing with her.

"Hmm, but where would be the fun in that?" Ulric muttered.

"Although you have high-ranked talents, your battle experience is lacking. This should fix it up slightly while maybe providing you the chance to take the leap to the next rank."

Only a madman would propose using the wastelands as a training ground. But the more they thought over it, the more it made sense.

Since they were stepping into new grounds, it would be advisable to do so at their peak conditions. After all, they knew better than anyone else.

Weakness was rarely forgiven.

Seeing their eager expressions, Ulric nodded slightly before dispelling the barrier of darkness.

Mounting the carriage, they headed off to the first danger zone.