'Perfect...'
Rex's eyes flashed in excitement as he saw the two glowing spirit cores levitating above his palm, the pulsating energy that is akin to a beating heart breezed his skin with immense mana that was aimless and detached from anything.
By being severed from Giana's body, the spirit cores are now anyone to use.
Imagine holding two elemental stones that contain the thick mana a ninth-rank realm Awakened possess, that is exactly what these detached spirit cores are. Something priceless, and can only be gained in exchange for a life.
Without saying anything, Rex threw Giana an elixir to close up her wound.
Despite still feeling surreal about what had just happened to her, Giana feel the sting in her chest and decides to quickly drink the elixir, closing the wound at a rapid pace visible to the eyes.
Not even needing to glance to the side, it's safe to assume that the others were shocked.
Although he has done many unthinkable that should make the others used to his surprises, this one is more shocking than usual. It doesn't only involve Rex's resilience and battle talent, but a meticulous way to extract something fragile and precious.
Out of everyone, the one that was shocked the most was Prof. K.
Prof. K is a scientist who is very well much revered in the human territory, more so, he has done this kind of experiment and reached the conclusion that the link, binding an Awakened to their spirit cores is way too complex for modern technology or magical control.
Every attempt of removing the spirit core guaranteed the death of the Awakened.
But what he thought was impossible was made possible by a single man, a man that doesn't fall into the category of a researcher or a scientist like himself, a man that's beginning to become an unexplainable enigma.
'What secret does he have? His control of energy is too precise to do that' Prof. K thought.
Looking at the spirit cores for a couple of seconds longer, Rex then puts the two away into his inventory, and both spirit cores vanish under the others' eyes. He then looks down to meet Giana's gaze, "Still, no hesitation. I'm impressed"
Rex knows that he was going to eventually get her to do that, but this is unexpected.
For someone as strong as Giana, training to reach the absolute peak through tears and blood, she gave up her spirit cores rather too quickly. 'I hate to admit it, but it seems like she really regrets what she did...'
At this realization, there's trouble inside Rex's eyes before he turns around.
"I'm a man of my word, you comply with my demands so I'm going to give you the chance you seek," Rex said without even looking at her, he then waved his hand before an object materializes on the floor in front of Giana. "Inside that, you'll find what you need to do"
"But I understand that it's impossible for your current state, so I'll let you work with Prof. K"
Upon hearing this, Giana quickly snaps out of her daze as her mind grasped the unreversible fact that she was now nothing but a human that is slightly stronger. Rex already scanned her earlier and finds that she was only equivalent to a third-rank Awakened.
Probably due to the fact that her body still retains the resilience of a superhuman.
Giana frown when she heard this, if the request was only about updating intel about the Executor, or any other things that Rex wanted to do in the human territory, then she doesn't need any help.
Although she was now in this state, she still has Brigitta to ask for help from.
"H-Help...? Is it impossible for me to finish the tasks inside this without the help of Prof. K?" Giana asked, she feared that Rex gave her an impossible task just to make her suffer for not being able to complete it and win his help.
But Rex quickly declines her messy thought, "No, the tasks are not impossible..."
"Even without your ninth-rank realm power, you can still finish the tasks I gave you. But you'll still need Prof. K's help for what I'm about to do to you," he added before his eyes shifted to Prof. K, "and you..."
Upon hearing this, Prof. K feels the bad feeling looming around him started to get thicker.
For some reason, the words that came out of Rex's mouth make his heart beat faster. It was then his suspicion becomes true when a cheeky smirk appeared on Rex's face before he reappeared right in front of Giana's eyes once again.
The tip of Rex's index finger already touches Giana's cheek, and his red eyes are unblinking.
Adhara who is watching this from a sideline feels like something is off, the way Rex is talking indicates something that she can't quite grasp. While she was looking at the scene in front of her, something caught her eye.
Squinting her eyes, she looks down at the torn clothes on Giana's chest.
Even though she has no clue about anything in regard to runes whether it was ancient runes or normal runes, she can tell that the slightly glowing symbol at the center of Giana's chest is definitely a rune.
It was a rune that was carved by Rex, and that can only mean one thing.
'Rex branded her?! No... don't tell me he's going to'
Giana held her breath when she saw Rex's index finger touching the surface of her skin, below her right eye. A burning sensation started to appear at the spot where Rex's finger is touching her, "Since you judged me unfairly, let's see how you experience it first-hand"
After saying that, an energy shot into Giana and send her stumbling back.
<Giana has been successfully marked by the Silvestar Mark!>
<Bloodline manager feature has been unlocked! The user can now manipulate whether Giana will be turned into a Half-Blood, Werewolf, or High Werewolf. In addition, the user can also influence the bloodline she will be getting to match that of the other Silverstar Pack members, infusing with the user's declined bloodline, or letting natural course takes over>
<Please select the outcome the user wants>
Half-Blood
Werewolf
High Werewolf
Upon seeing the notification from the System, Rex was surprised at the new feature.
Back when he turned Flunra into a Werewolf, he had a similar response from the System but he was only given the option to either choose to make Flunra a Half-Blood or a Werewolf. Now, it seems his options have been increased.
'Maybe because since I got stronger, I can turn others into stronger Werewolves'
Aside from that, Rex realized that the Werewolf and High-Werewolf options turn out to be a dropped-down menu. Inside, he can find all kinds of bloodline that has been unlocked. It was the others' bloodline with the exception of Evelyn's Luna bloodline.
Of course, the options were there but it costs so much gold to choose certain ones.
Flunra's Paragon of Primordial Werewolf, for example, costs 300,000 gold. Adhara's Anti-Werewolf bloodline was even more costly at 500,00 gold, these are all available but require Rex to invest heavily in the new pack member.
It was clear that there were rankings to these Werewolf bloodlines.
Rex realizes that this feature might help him in the future when he governs more pack members. As far as he turns the others, their evolution path doesn't disappoint. But that would change with more pack members involved.
Someone like Evelyn for instance, if not for being a Luna, her bloodline will be the basic one.
On top of the others' bloodlines, Rex also surprisingly finds the others' declined bloodlines. During the evolution process, each pack member is given three options ranging from abilities and possibly ranks.
From the looks of it, the declined bloodlines were also available to choose from.
'Huh... there's even Demonic Blood and Alpha Slate Werewolves, those are the ones that I declined during my evolution path process' Rex thought, this feature might really be handy in the future.
Of course, like the norm, the pack members need to surpass the High Werewolf first.
Gistella is the only one that didn't follow the normal process like the others. Instead of turning into a regular Werewolf at first, she instantly turned into a Werewolf Fiend which makes Rex quite intrigued.
But it was probably due to three reasons that Gistella is unique.
For one, she was fed with more of his blood compared to the others. Secondly, she also has a black heart that might contribute to this change. Lastly, she was an Undead instead of a human which might spark this change.
Rex is quite sure of his answer, but he still needs more trials to confirm that.
Without wasting any more seconds, he then chooses the regular Werewolf option for Giana.
As for the reasoning behind his choice, it was simple. Aside from not wanting to spend a dime of gold for Giana, turning straight into a Werewolf also has the most impact as the sensation was completely different.
It would definitely catch her off-guard when the Storm Moon came.
Compared to the sensation of the full moon when being a Half-Blood, the urge and desire were in a whole different realm when being an actual Werewolf. 'I'll see how you deal with that...' Rex thought with a smirk.
Giving a chance is one thing, letting her off easy is another.
"KYAARGGHH!!"
Upon picking an option, the transformation process started, indicated by the shrill scream of agony coming from Giana who is trying her best to endure the insurmountable of pain, exceeding what a normal human would be able to endure.
Everything was caused due to the bones and muscles experiencing a change in anatomy.
Looking at this, Adhara was not going to stand still and let this happen but she was stopped by Flunra, standing in her way. "Don't act too hastily, Adhara. I'm sure Rex has his reason for doing this"
"But being turned by him is a blessing! Giana shouldn't have that" Adhara rebutted.
Flunra only gave her a smile, he knows that turning into a Werewolf for a human is a blessing solely because Rex was there to help. Without his help, that blessing would take a dark turn pretty fast, "For her, I don't think being a Werewolf is going to be a blessing"
Although reluctant, Adhara decided to sit this one on the side, giving her trust to Rex.
On the other hand, Prof. K was horrified by this sight. It was unnatural for her bones to move so visibly like that, almost as if the bones inside her were not bones but devilish serpent instead that wanted to eat her from the inside out.
Rex waited patiently until eventually, a notification appeared.
<Giana's transformation is successful, please feed her with the user's blood!>
Nodding his head, he then approached Giana who is now lying on the ground in her own pool of blood and sweat, seemingly fatigued and broken from the painful experience that she had just gone through earlier.
Grabbing her by the hair, Rex forced her to turn around to lie on her back.
Without even saying anything, he cuts his palm before he squeezed his own blood out. Drips of blood fell into Giana's mouth, she was forced to drink it as her entire body was paralyzed, she was unable to move at all.
Soon, the taste of iron filled her entire tastebuds, coaxing her senses dull.
Rex paid attention to not give too much as he was way stronger than he was, and Giana is nothing but a measly human right now. It would be bad if he accidentally killed her by exceeding her blood limit.
As the blood merges with her body, the Silverstar Symbol underneath her right eye glowed.
It turns from black to silver instantly, showing that has fully turned into a Werewolf. A notification from the system then appeared, confirming the fact that Giana is now a part of the Silverstar Pack.
<Congratulation on obtaining the sixth member of the Silverstar Pack!>
While he lets Giana recover from being forced to turn into a Werewolf, Rex's eyes then slowly shifted to the right before eventually, his horrifying pair of red eyes land on Prof. K who is already sweating profusely.
Upon seeing the smirk on Rex's face, Prof. K gulps harshly as he tries to crawl back.
"Now it's your turn, Prof. K..."
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