Chapter 184: Jumping to heaven with a single step
Mark closed his eyes and his consciousness entered his World Space.
"Yuri…" he said.
"Wait a minute, babe. I am checking this golden blood and the savage, too. No results yet."
"Why no results?"
She turned back and stared at Mark with a hidden pout. Mark placed his jaw on her shoulder and gave her neck a small kiss. "Why are you pouting now?"
"I wanted to research it for a while longer, for about a week." She sighed. "But that's not possible, right?"
From the side, Dona looked at the scene with curious eyes.
"I plan to use that golden blood today but well, I will try to get more for you."
Yuri nodded.
"Is the golden savage corpse useless?"
experience-MvLeMpYr-content
"Kind of, yeah. I don't have good enough equipment to research genes and such, and a golden savage isn't that different from a silver savage in its visible organ-level biology."
Dona came closer and looked at the golden blood. She poked Mark. "As I thought, Mark, is this something you can eat? I want some, too."
"It's not food," Yuri said, a bit stern. "To humans, this blood seems to be pseudo-beneficial but to Demons and Hunters, this might just be a poison. In my guess, I am pretty sure that if Mark ingested it, his demonic bloodline would reject it fiercely."
"An apt guess," a calm voice said from the side and Yuri turned back in surprise. It was a white hair woman with a sort of unreadable aura about her. She came and looked at the golden savage with a rueful expression.
"Reol'ran, what do you say?" Mark asked.
"Good thing that you faced your fears directly. By facing him and defeating him in a direct battle—even though he was technically capable of killing you—you must have got rid of such fears, right?"
"I wasn't afraid to begin with."
Reol'ran stared at Yuri, who was in his embrace, with her amethyst eyes. Yuri couldn't help but feel a sudden grip in her heart—a sort of unease. There were moments when a living being would know what was a predator and what was a prey at just one glance, it was a code in their genes.
Even if it was the first time they met a lion, they would know to be afraid of it.
Reol'ran bowed gracefully, hand on her bosom. "My name is Reol'ran Mengroth. A person from a different Race, and Mark's soul mate."
Yuri's eyes twitched and she snuggled out of Mark's embrace.
Soul Mate? What soul mate?
Reol'ran straightened herself and pushed down the hems of her elegant robe. "You do not need to introduce yourself, I know you well."
Mark cleared his throat. "I just made one of my demonic tricks completely my own, I'll go check that."
Dona just watched curiously—as if she was seeing some juicy drama in real life.
Mark vanished.
Truly, he was surprised Reol'ran was being like this in front of Yuri.
Her voice reached him: "Don't think I am alright with you having more women on you because of this. It would be easier to work our problems out if I cooperate with Yuri—I don't particularly like any of your women. I hate them all. The more of them you bring, the more I will hate them."
Eh…
Mark floated in the dark sky of his World Space and his demonic tricks floated around his soul. They were the little stars in the sky, all as beautiful as the purest of gems. He raised his hand and Heart Input floated over, Mark smiled.
Let's try using you to create another Ultimate Demonic Art.
He brought Dream Shock closer to Heart Input and when both of them began resisting each other, he willed Heart Input to stop resisting. The repulsive force from Heart Input stopped and Dream Shock moved closer.
But the repulsive force from Dream Shock was still as fierce as ever!
Mark sighed. So, I need to make all the demonic tricks into my own by understanding their base nature and acting it out in the real world.
Heart Input's base nature was to play with the hearts of his targets, and he had played with P'oof's heart before he killed him, thus, resonating with the Trick and gaining full control over it. Now, he had to understand the base nature of his other demonic tricks.
Before delving into it, I should bring the Golden Savage's Heart Blood to Yanchan—my puppet. If I had a Golden Savage on my side, I would have strong support in this world.
Moreover, Mark couldn't wait to complete the Dream Gamble and make the Mask of the Savage his own. His battle strength would increase by a very big margin when he gets that.
He left his World Space.
After taking about half an hour to clean away the traces of his battle with P'oof in his surroundings, then looking around, Mark left the battle area with a flap of his wings.
He could go into the city now, and attract the second Golden savage in there out here just like he did with P'oof—then kill them too. But Mark could no longer use Clown's Circus today, so he didn't want to take unnecessary risks.
I should focus on ambushing these Golden Savages out of nowhere when I next attack.
But these savages worked in groups, so if he had to face such a group, he would be in quite some trouble if he had to fight alone.
…
Covertly, Mark flew above the city, his form hidden behind the clouds. Directly below him, there was a bushy garden, and beyond that was a silent mud-thatched mansion.
With a flourish of his arms, Mark took out a long piece of clothing and wrapped the heart containing the golden Heart Blood in it. Clumping the cloth into a ball, he threw it down and it fell into the many bushes in the garden.
A young savage boy walked out of the mansion with an expressionless mask of a face.
He looked around and then walked into the shrubs, then, found a clumped-up cloth. It's here, he thought. The boy was none other than Mark's Puppet—Yanchan. Of course, the body was completely under the control of Mark's split consciousness.
Another boy walked out and asked, "What is that, Yanchan?"
"Don't look, I am changing."
"Oh, sorry."
With the cloth in hand, Mark walked back into the mansion. If he tried to hide it, people would be suspicious, but if he acted as if it was nothing but a cloth, nobody would care. He reached the depths of the mansion and entered the bathroom, the boy who had been following him without much thought scratched his mask and ran away.
Inside the bathroom, Mark looked at the clothing with bright eyes behind his mask and unwrapped it. The heart had been shaped into a container by his Alchemical Shapeshifting, so, it was easy to do whatever he wanted with the liquid sloshing inside.
Mark had planned to learn how the blood infusion functioned before actually ingesting it; see other Bronze Savages become Silver Savages first. But as he saw the blood, he felt an intense thirst from the core of his self.
It doesn't matter how it is ingested, I just need it in me for it to work.
He tipped the container-like heart and drowned the golden blood into his savage mouth. It tasted rather plain, but somehow refreshing at the same time. It reminded him of the taste of souls, but it was still very different.
The golden liquid streamed into his throat, down his chest, and began to spread throughout his system. His body began to smell sweet and his muscles began to tremble. Goosebumps rose all over him, while his pores opened up, breathing in.
He snapped his eyes open and gauged his strength by clenching his toes. He had just drank half of the golden blood, but he already felt much stronger.
According to his system's terms…
He was already a Silver Savage. A Tier 1 existence.
[Physique: 100 (Tier 1)(Pinnacle)]
[Mind: 100 (Tier 1)(Pinnacle)]
I need to be stronger. But if I drink more of it, I will become a Golden Savage. Is that even possible?
Mark's main body floated in the skies, Yuri snuggling against his princess carry.
"If something happens, I will use my Alchemic Shapeshifting and turn Yanchan back into a human. I can't let him die, you see. And if something worse happens where there is a chance he could die, I will transform your appearance into a savage with red hair and so on."
He had a basic idea of what Yanchan's sister looked like as a savage after having spoken and learned about many of the savages in the city. If Yuri could act as her, Yanchan's dream would be completed and Mark would win the dream gamble.
Then, Yanchan's life or death wouldn't matter.
Back on the ground, calm, Mark's Puppet drowned the rest of the golden Heart Blood into his stomach. A warm wave of energy began to wrap around his body, and something began to thrum within him.
A Golden Savage was the peak of all Savages in the World, can he reach it in one go?!
Meanwhile, Mark's main body looked around, a frown on his face.