Darkness infiltrated the cells of his body without mercy. It destroyed the cells and regenerated them with slight alterations.
It was not good to undergo a drastic alteration in the cells that had to adjust to the sudden changes in order to prevent the entire human mechanism from facing a complete breakdown.
Understanding this very well, Nial had to endure tremendous pain with every slight alteration within his body. This was also why time seemed to pass so slowly. The darkness continued to seep inside his body, influencing his Heart of Darkness, the mana veins that spread through his entire body, and the Mana Sea that was slowly changing in color.
The change in color was just the beginning because the deepest parts of the Mana Sea were being altered, restricting access of mana. No Mana would be absorbed by the Sea of Darkness once it was completed, but that was not a problem.
Nial's body was altered in a way that converted Mana into the purest form of his dark energy which would then be absorbed by the Heart of Darkness and the Mana Sea.
Nial had multiple dark energy storages but his Heart of Darkness was certainly the biggest. It had already accumulated enough mana to fill Nial's Sea of Darkness, which was something he planned to use at a later time.
If his accumulated dark energy was enough to fill his entire Sea of Darkness, it was certainly enough to easily cross the threshold between the Peak of the Deux rank to smoothly allow him to advance to the Keltia rank.
That was what Nial planned to do with his accumulated dark energy that was further nourished and amassed inside his Heart of Darkness.
Both Kaeldur and the Tyrant of Destruction were in dire need of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness to tend to their wounds and regain their former glory.
They naturally amassed more dark energy in the Heart of Darkness but that was mostly owed to the natural traits of their Devilized bodies.
Nial had yet to talk with his two Devils after their battle with Dilan. Everyone was a little bit shocked, and their pride had taken a huge blow because of their shameful performance in the battle with Dilan.
Not even the two Devils were able to tell for sure what went wrong, and that was quite ridiculous considering that the two Devils had combat experience worth eons. There weren't many things that they hadn't seen in their long lives, yet against all odds, they had met someone who was exactly that, an existence they had never encountered.
Nial understood how the two Devils felt cause his pride and confidence had been wounded as well. However, he could use the embarrassment brought forth by his groundless confidence to make use of it. That was why he ended up accepting the alteration of his Mana Sea immediately after he made sure that there wouldn't be an issue if he vanished for a month.
A month was not enough to properly alter the Mana Sea and his body, not for ordinary Originals. But Nial and Damian made it possible. Nial forced his pores open and to accept the darkness that flooded him rather than instinctively rejecting the darkness and the alterations of his body. There were fewer obstacles that way, which accelerated the alteration process drastically.
This gave Damian's domain the leeway to further accelerate the process by releasing more darkness to consume Nial's Mana and everything related to mana inside his body.
Exactly a month passed until Nial was expelled from the domain of darkness and the changes within his body were quite noticeable.
He landed in the middle of Melheim's office where he was greeted by a few people briefing Melheim about the current situation.
Everyone looked over to Nial, their eyes filled with horror. Nial could hardly control his dark energy at this moment because his Sea of Darkness and darkness veins would still require some time to get used to.
It was not difficult to seal his dark energy inside the Heart of Darkness but Nial would have to be able to control his dark energy precisely enough to extract it from every cell of his body, including his darkness veins and the Sea of Darkness to do so.
His Darkness Sea was not yet filled with dark energy but the Sea in its entirety was already a construct of darkness.
The animosity that radiated from the darkness subconsciously was too hard for most people to endure, especially those at a lower rank than Nial.
That was why as a precautionary measure, Melheim ended up sending everyone else outside.
"We will postpone the briefing to tomorrow, early in the morning. Leave now." Melheim Zorn said while trying to remain calm and composed. However, sensing the change that had occurred within Nial's body made it impossible for him to remain calm.
Melheim was not able to sense everything that had changed about Nial but it was quite obvious that his strength had increased more than three times. That was what the vice-leader of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild could be certain of!
"A month has passed, right?" Nial asked the moment the others left. He was trying hard to control his body but everything felt oddly foreign. It was a weird feeling that made him question who the hell he was. The amount of dark energy his body created by naturally suctioning the surrounding mana inside him was tremendous, and the only issue Nial faced with that was that he couldn't use his darkness veins properly yet.
Their way of functioning was different compared to the mana veins he had possessed for a long time. It would take a while before he would be able to get the same natural feeling he got when controlling mana before. That was a little annoying but Nial could also tell that he would be several times stronger as long as he achieved a decent level of proficiency.
Dark energy was stronger and more potent than mana, to begin with. However, by adding the reinforcement created by the darkness veins, the nourishment of the Sea of Darkness and the Essence of Darkness which Nial could now actively exude from his Heart of Darkness to enhance his power semi-permanently, his Dark energy was bound to become even stronger.
If he were to add his crimson moonlight and Chaos into the fray, Nial's strength was likely to be unparalleled on Jundra. After all, there weren't many existences above the Keltia rank who could emerge on Jundra for now.
Maybe there were a few of them but Nial was certain that not all of them were unparalleled prodigies such as Dilan.
Thinking about Dilan, the Undying, Nial's expression stiffened.
'I wonder if I will encounter someone like him in Jundra…probably not…or maybe?'
Nial figured that he had to stay confident in order to survive in a world where the strong reigns supreme. The moment his confidence wavered, he would have already lost. It was as simple as that.
Nonetheless, it was better to be careful when facing certain opponents. If Nial was not sure how strong his opponents were, his approach was likely to change drastically. After all, he didn't want to fight someone who appeared to be weaker just to end up losing..
That was not only humiliating but also a waste of time.
With that in mind, Nial began to adapt to the changes within his body.
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