A few hours later, Kyle awoke feeling peculiarly invigorated. His head felt unburdened, and the only lingering oddity emanated from below his waist.
At first, his vision was veiled by a dull haze, but it gradually sharpened.
With a shift in perspective, he brought his hands closer to his face.
The wound across his palm had vanished entirely, prompting a spark of surprise in his eyes.
He pushed himself upright with deliberate slowness and reconnoitring his surroundings, noting he was still in the chamber and that the slain boss lay motionless nearby.
'I actually killed it… I killed a boss… What?'
The thought passed through his mind in astonishment, before a sudden, piercing realisation struck him.
He rushed to the boss's side in a state of near panic, paying little heed to the uncomfortable swelling in his trousers.
Perhaps it was because he was wholly consumed by the loss before him.
The boss's essence core, what should have been his moment of triumph, was gone.
It had long since disintegrated, wasted away during the time it had lain dormant in a lifeless body.
His eyes widened in disbelief before panic bled into fury, fuelling every word that spilled from his lips.
All of them were curses.
"What the fuck is this, eh? Do I look like some legendary game board? I put my filthy life on the line to kill a boss, actually managed to do it, and what do I get? Nothing!" he roared, stamping on the corpse with the petulance of a child robbed of his sweet.
All the pain he had endured…
All the terror he had felt standing at death's door… all of it, for nothing.
Kyle's gaze snapped towards the other essence cores scattered across the ground.
A faint spark of hope stirred in his chest at the sight, though it was far from enough to ease the sting of the greater loss.
Still, it was something, enough to solve a few pressing problems for the time being.
Only then, after all his outbursts, did he become aware of the odd bulge pressing against his trousers.
He looked down, stunned, his mouth falling open as he blinked several times in disbelief.
"T-the… the fuck is this rod?!" Kyle shouted, seizing it in shock and giving it an experimental wiggle.
Then the truth struck him; this thing was attached to his skin, not lodged inside him.
Throughout his entire existence as a walking piece of trash, he had never noticed this dragon item could become this stiff and unusually… long.
It was about ten inches in length.
He had spent plenty of moments with it, usually for relieving the waste in his body, but it had always been about the length of his pinky finger and almost the same width.
"Hell no. Did my pole suddenly get an increase in size as a reward for killing the boss? Is that even possible? Wait…"
At that moment, he recalled the last thing he heard from the manual: a notification for killing the Direwolf, and the mention of rewards.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the familiar voice echoed in his head again:
***
Items: [Qi Condensation Pill (1)]
Would you like to consume it?
***
Kyle did not spare a second thought before agreeing to consume the pill.
***
[Pill has been consumed]
[Hourglass of Death has been lifted]
[Permanently purifying the Core...]
***
Almost at once, his mind swayed before being washed over with a tide of relief.
Moments later, a sharp clarity settled in, sharpening his senses.
He felt… marginally stronger than before.
Flames of happiness stirred in his chest.
"I got what I was really yearning for at the moment as a reward...? Is that how the reward system works?" Kyle murmured, curiosity about the manual's reward system tugging at his thoughts.
It was clear the manual had caused his pole to lengthen. It had also restored his spiritual energy to its peak and replenished his vitality.
Both, however, had been heavily depleted during the fight, a result he suspected was tied to the activation of a particular ability.
His primary element, the Adaptive Void, had enabled him to adjust his tactics in response to the beast's movements, matching its rhythm and countering its assaults.
Although, it also lessened the pain of the beast's attacks, storing the sensation as a memory rather than letting it cripple him.
This was a rather rare and valuable element, particularly because if the beast had used elemental affinities against him, the outcome would have been different.
In such a case, the damage would have been minor, and the manual would store the pattern of that energy instead.
At his current stage, this worked more as a resistance mechanism than a full immunity.
In simple terms, it had stored the beast's energy patterns. This was partly useful and partly useless.
Useful because the stored patterns could fuel his spiritual energy.
Useless because his spiritual energy, or Qi, was already at its peak for his current stage.
That was all he knew.
As for the beast trait and his secondary element, he still had no idea of the full picture, and no description had been given.
There was, however, a faint certainty in him that the image would become clear if he ever managed to tame a beast.
The problem was that he had no idea how to do so.
The reward system, on the other hand, was straightforward. It gave rewards based on necessity rather than chance, functioning more like a merit system.
The catch was that the manual could probe deeper into a cultivator's mind and uncover needs they themselves might not realise until those needs were placed in their hands.
It was knowledge he never expected to gain, all from sheer chance after coming in contact with a stone, probably.
Only then did he allow himself a flicker of hope. Perhaps he might yet be lucky.
Looking down with a relaxed face after a long train of thought, he noticed his rod had softened.
"Should I...?" Kyle muttered unconsciously, wondering if his pork sword had returned to what he considered its normal size.
Curiosity quickly got the better of him.
He loosened his trousers and reached in, only to get the shock of his life. It was still nearly as long and thick as before, though shorter by about an inch.
'What a peck. Now I can... Oh no, what am I thinking? I cannot just go around banging. But if I really want to get stronger, I have to do the adult stuff as an adult...
...Whereas, I have never had sex. No one ever offered me the hole. So why not take this chance? But then, who would even want to get in with me? This is a hassle.'
Kyle's train of thought kept moving as he went around collecting the Essence cores, placing each one into his bag.
Once done, he lifted his gaze.
'Now how do I get out of you?'
His previously calm features hardened into a deep scowl.
***
After about twenty attempts, he finally made it out, his face smeared with mud from repeatedly falling back and rolling in the dirt.
'Disgusting shit…' he muttered inwardly, the disgust entirely aimed at himself.
His armour was torn, his clothes were even more tattered than before, and dried ashen blood clung to him, staining his wolf-cut hair.
He looked like a full corpse himself, carrying the stench of decay, though every wound on his body had been healed without a trace.
That was not the pressing concern at the moment. He had grown accustomed to such things.
Even watching a man's head removed right in front of him barely stirred him now. He had seen far too many scenes of that nature, even bodies ground entirely into pieces.
The gore… ugh.
Now, two issues probed him.
It was getting... umm... maybe 'a bit darker' would fit.
Yes, it was getting darker.
***
Vitality: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Spirit Energy: 100%
***
The voice addressed him without invitation. He exhaled slowly and fixed his gaze ahead.
Upon glancing back, he began to discern subtle shifts within the surroundings.
Such changes were a customary consequence once a zone had been lifted. The mind trap that bound each lesser beast to the dominion of the boss had been obliterated in an instant.
Now, they wandered freely.
In truth, little had altered apart from that; they remained vicious enough to lunge at any living prey, which presented a considerable danger.
This city could no longer be considered the safer part of the zone.
The market… well, those within it were unlikely to survive unless they could repel the oncoming horde.
As for Kyle, he recognised it was time to vanish with the Essence Cores and seek a place of safety...