Inside the cocoon,
Ren lay with his eyes closed. The cub was turning ethereal, merging with the spirit inside Ren's consciousness. Still young, it didn't take Ren much effort to overpower it.
Ren also had the Passive skill: Clear Mind, which allowed him to keep his mind stable. However, merging with the cub changed Ren in unexplainable ways—unknown even to himself.
Still inside the cocoon and undergoing transformation, this was Ren's first time being awake during this process. His senses were out of sync with his body—a protective measure against the pain.
Ren tried reconnecting his senses to move, but the moment he attempted it, a sting hit, followed by a tearing sensation. Finally, he felt oppressed by his own Whole Blood.
Ren gave up that route and focused on his Unlucky Roulette interface—a Roulette with a spin button. Next to it was the Destiny Store. Opening the Destiny Store, he saw two items.
Revival Potion: 1 million Origin
Overdraft Pill: 20 thousand points
This Overdraft Pill was the correct version, not the defective one. The difference was that it didn't drain the user's energy but pulled in energy from a mile radius.
It offered faster deployment with control over direction and landing, plus an option to store it for later use or assist in physique enhancement.
[Next item has 3 days for release]
This note confirmed the Destiny Store lived up to its name, releasing items only at destined times.
Ren eyed the store, also planning how to use his points on the Roulette—which seemed to be rising along with his Whole Blood as it unlocked further during the transformation.
500,000
650,501
730,000
1 million
1.25 million
Suddenly, Ren sensed multiple presences outside the cocoon: two humans at level 7 and level 8, leading four beasts toward the cave—the highest at level 8-9.
He stretched his spirit and found a zombie-like mutant lurking in the forest shadows. The zombie didn't notice his spirit—likely due to Ren's higher spirit level.
Looking at the man (Slade) and woman (Olivia), Ren couldn't grasp what they were planning.
Just as they were about to enter, they jumped aside. The woman unleashed wood-energy constructs to shove the beasts into the cave, where Ren was undergoing transformation underground.
As the beasts tumbled inside, she wielded a Wand that amplified her energy, letting her construct a wall to trap them.
Ren felt the struggling beasts' get drained of their energy, which the cocoon absorbed. As it did, the transformation accelerated, and his points showed a brief fluctuation before settling.
The Whole Blood wasted nothing, absorbing the carcasses to fuel the process and complete the transformation.
Ren sensed he was nearly done. A bit excited, he anticipated proper contact with humans again.
After the City 05 incident, he'd reflected deeply during the gaps and fights—and decided to try once more, this time keeping himself firmly in control.
Feeling the man and woman's energy settle and calm further, Ren eyed the zombie—which was moving toward the cave at a leisurely pace.
It seemed they were unaware, likely due to the level gap. The zombie was now under Ren's complete spirit scrutiny.
Ren watched the distance close between the zombie and the humans. He knew he didn't have much time if he wanted to warn them.
To accelerate the transformation process, he had to sync his spirit and body—letting in the pain and feeling it to get himself in tune with Whole Blood.