Blood Assimilation

'Are you talking about that dark energy? What do you mean by 'should not exist in this world or entire universe'? Then where did it come from?' Randy doubtfully asked in his mind.

[[…]]

"Oh, is that a secret perhaps?" Randy muttered a while later after seeing the silent treatment from the system.

The system does not really speak to him and only displays texts as responses, but at this time, it was not even bothering to display any text to answer his question. This caused Randy to be quite intrigued by this unprecedented situation.

'I think this is the first time I am not receiving any response from the system despite asking a question, right? I could be wrong about this, but I don't remember the system keeping its 'mouth' shut before. It usually left out the things I don't have access to but not completely ignore my question like this.' 

'This is quite interesting. Now, I really need to find whoever dared to use that terrifying and eerie dark energy to create such a monster that had almost killed me. And when I do, I will show them my appreciation then.'

Randy thought all these to himself in contemplation of future endeavors.

The reason why he was concerned about that eerie dark energy was simple. For someone who was almost killed by that terrifying dark energy, it would be quite strange of him if he was not the least bit interested in its origin. 

"So I am guessing the reason why those abilities corroded had something to do with that dark energy, right?" Randy asked in confirmation.

[[That is indeed the case]] The system responded with a line of text.

"I guess that makes sense. That thing was quite terrifying after all. I don't even know what would've happened if I had failed to kill that chimera monster at that moment." Randy sighed and muttered to himself in dread as he recalled the experience just now.

"Now, what should I do with its body?" 

Randy bent down and softly touched the chimera monster's body, and right away, another notification flashed in front of his eyes.

"What is it this time?" Randy asked and then looked up in the void in front of himself.

[[Attention! Detected an incomplete crystallized ability stone inside the chimera's body]]

[[Would you like the system to extract and store this crystallized ability stone inside the system's storage?]]

'An ability stone? Again? I thought you said it takes time for one to have something like that? How come the people I have encountered so far have these things inside them?' Randy asked the system in his mind with a doubtful expression.

[[That is indeed the case. However, this crystallized ability stone had been induced unnaturally using some unknown method that forcefully crystallizes one's ability. But in return, it would become incomplete in its formation as it is with this ability stone. Because the ability stone has not formed naturally, it would not evolve any further than it currently is, unless a specific condition was met]]

The system explained to him right away.

"I see. So people can even create these things, no, would it be more accurate to say that the people who created this chimera monster can even do things like this?' Randy muttered to himself in disbelief.

And then he continued: "In any case, please store it for now. I will look at all these later." 

With his words, a marble-like stone that was also transparent manifested out of the chimera monster's body as it phased through its flesh and appeared in front of his eyes for a moment before disappearing somewhere, seemingly into the system's storage. 

"Alright, now how to deal with this? Since the teachers were already calling the military for reinforcement, they should be on their way by now. Well, that is if their communication has gotten through." Randy muttered to himself while looking at the corpse of the chimera monster.

'Besides, I don't think there's any core inside this chimera monster's body. Is it even a monster since it was once human?' 

Randy contemplated for a while as he thought of his plans after this and then decided: "To not let things get complicated, I should deliver the chimera monster's body to the teachers so that they would be at ease. With that, I can also avoid any complications with my parents regarding my whereabouts after this."

Right now, he had made up his mind that he was not going to the military's special training session because he had another plan in mind, one that could make him get stronger quickly.

Rather than going through the same process as his classmates, he would prefer to take the route that could make him get stronger faster instead. 

That was because, through this encounter with the chimera monster, he realized that he was much weaker than he had thought. 

Without depending on his assimilated state, he was nothing more than a C-Rank awakened, and ability user.

And to fix his weakness, he decided to tread a completely different path from his classmates who are following the established system in their world. 

He needed to take on more risks that could have the possibility of increasing all his strength quickly. Whether it was experience or power level, he needed to be proficient in all of them. 

And to achieve something like that, he had to put his life on the line. Because only through life and death could he grow stronger as he did momentarily just now when he fought against the chimera monster. 

Although up until now, he still had no idea how he was able to defeat the chimera monster that clearly outclassed him in terms of speed and raw physical strength. 

Nevertheless, he believed that the reason such a thing was possible was most likely because he was in a near-death state.

Furthermore, he believed that the previous life and death state allowed him to momentarily awaken his full potential that laid dormant inside him until now.

Moreover, he believed that the awakened potential enabled him to perceive the chimera monster's attack in advance, which then allowed him to avoid the attack before it reached him.

With such precognition, he managed to counter against the chimera monster in time by landing his very own attack during that pivotal moment when he avoided its attack.

And then he ultimately defeated the chimera monster because of his critical attack that succeeded in causing more damage to it.

This was not something that was possible if he did not enter that delirious state of mind.

With that thought in mind, he changed his clothes, and then after waiting for a few minutes for his wounds to heal, he dragged the chimera monster's body away, heading in the opposite direction to Sky Rise City. 

Where he was heading right now was the location that he was running away from earlier.. Right back to the place where his classmates and teachers were most likely awaiting in panic due to the tragedy that suddenly befell them.