The moment he felt it enter his body, Nick instinctively knew what it was. He didn't understand how it worked, but he knew that this mysterious force came as a result of his Soul Ability.
Vitaldrain, that was the name of his ability, and thanks to the Beast Domain's annoying aspect of not providing any descriptions of people's Soul abilities, people were left to figure things out themselves.
Ever since he first received it after coming to this place only a few weeks ago, Nick was convinced that his Soul Ability was utterly useless.
The name itself didn't really give anything away about its abilities, but with his limited knowledge all he knew was that it had something to do with health, and 'drain' didn't really sound all too in his favour either.
At first, he assumed that this 'draining of health' was something that would affect him.
But now…
'Does my ability let me… steal the life force of enemies I kill?'
His theory only confirmed itself when he felt his body gradually begin to recover from his most minor injuries. Although it was slow, he could even see the minor cuts and bruises he had sustained gradually start to disappear.
But his head was still full of unanswered questions.
Why now? Why had his ability only decided to show itself now? And not after he managed his first kill on a Mundane White Ox.
Perhaps they were simply too weak for him to notice any life force enter his body?
Perhaps it was because of some other reason?
Regardless, Nick had too little knowledge on the subject of Abilities to make any judgements.
He decided to focus on recovering his bearings before even beginning to consider questioning something like that.
To say Nick was stunned would be the understatement of the century. The moment he heard the voice of the Beast Domain enter his head, confirming the death of the beast, he felt like he was living a dream.
'I can't believe it…'
Nick looked at the lifeless corpse of the Ox, and at the dagger lodged into the beast's eye.
If it weren't for the acutely bent angle into the blade, it might have never pierced the Ox's eye, and into its brain…
'I can't believe my useless luck actually saved me… Ha… haha.. Heheh…'
Nick started to laugh rather ominously to himself.
But still, he was quite shocked. If anything, this could be described as a miracle!
Had some god finally decided to take pity on him and shine some miracles down upon him as reparations for all the rotten luck he was forced to live through his whole life?
Or… had he been mistaken from the very beginning? Was his rotten luck actually just miraculous luck in disguise?
After all, it could be described as rather unlucky that his one and only weapon was ruined and broken during the fight, but at the same time it had saved him from being impaled.
Was this bad luck, or good luck?
Nick considered it bad luck at first, since although it had saved him, he would still die regardless.
But now he was clearly proven wrong…
If it weren't for the blade of his dagger bending into a right angle under the kick of the Ox in the first place, then he never would have miraculously stabbed it into the unfortunate beast's eye when his ability decided to activate again.
Thinking anymore on it hurt Nick's brain, so he decided to drop the topic for the time being, and instead focus on what he though to be infinitely more important at the moment.
Loot!
Using what strength he had left to pull himself off the ground, Nick turned to look at its body.
A devious grin spread across his lips as he pulled his dagger out of its head, and started to carve up the White Ox's underbelly. The process took longer than usual since he only had one hand to use, his blade was broken, and the skin of the Awakened beast was rather tough, but he managed to cut all the way through after a few dozen minutes of brute forcing his way through.
When inside, he dug his one arm that still functioned and fished around, until he grasped his hand on something rather squishy.
Forcing it out with a yank, Nick's arm reappeared in a new shade of red, with the White Ox's heart sitting nicely in his hand, giving out its last few pumps before coming to a complete stop.
Not bothered by the gruesome sight of the heart, Nick squished it into mush in his hand, and let it all fall to the ground, except for one small and spherical solid object.
'An Awakened Beast's core!'
Nick couldn't wait to consume the thing, and tossed it right into his mouth without so much as a second thought.
[Awakened White Ox Beast Core consumed. 34 Awakened Soul Seeds gained.]
He was in a dire state himself, and he still had to drag the huge beast's corpse back to War Beast Sanctuary! Any extra strength would help him greatly!
There was money to be made out of an Awakened Beast's corpse, after all, and despite feeling heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to taste the succulent meat of the beast himself, Nick was in much more pressing need for money at the moment than a full stomach.
But before he headed back to War Beast Sanctuary, he still had one more thing to check.
[Name: Nick Balls.
Rank: Altered.
Soul Ability: Vitaldrain
Evolution Requirement: 500 Soul Seeds.
Soul Star: 101/500
Soul Seed Distribution: 67 Mundane, 34 Awakened
Beast Armament: Awakened White Ox.
Beast Armament type: Weapon. ]
'A weapon!'
Ecstatic, Nick summoned the Awakened White Ox Beast Armament and watched as it formed a slightly elongated dagger in the air in front of him. He didn't even think to toss away his old, broken dagger as he caught the new one in the air.
His old dagger wasn't even a Beast Armament, but this one was, and an Awakened one at that!
The new dagger was pristine white, looking to be crafted from ivory — which it probably was in some way. It closely resembled the White Ox's horn, if it were to be filed down and sharpened into the shape of a blade. It was clear where the inspiration for the dagger came from.
Before today Nick would have never dreamed of getting his hands on one of them so early into his venture into the Beast Domain.
Most Altered like him, who came from poor or not too affluent families, would only acquire such a thing at least after a few months of experience, with the worst taking almost a year!
Of course, there were those from affluent and rich families and clans who entered the Beast Domain with a golden spoon shoved up their ass, holding multiple Radiant Beast Armaments before even earning their first Soul Seed!
Nick scorned these bunch, as they had the audacity to walk around everywhere parading their wealth like it was the product of their own achievement.
But now, he had something he could be proud of as well, something that he had rightfully earned himself through his own ability!
…Even though he and his ability didn't exactly get along that well with each other until this moment.
But other people didn't need to know that!
Making a note to himself to not reveal any specifics of how he had exactly taken down the Awakened White Ox, Nick cancelled the summon of his shiny new dagger and grabbed one of the horns of the dead beast, and started dragging it towards War Beast Sanctuary.
He found that with the addition of 34 new Awakened Soul Seeds, it was much less taxing on his body than he'd expected it to be!