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Slowly, the overwhelming, pheromone-induced fog began to lift from Mira's mind.
She peeled her sticky, sweat-drenched body away from Alex, her legs trembling slightly as she stood up.
She didn't say a word to Alex.
She just picked up her ruined clothes from the floor, wrapped a towel around her waist, and walked straight into her private bathroom.
The sound of running water echoed through the door a few moments later.
Under the warm spray of the shower, Mira scrubbed the thick, sweet residue of his nectar and her own cum from her skin.
The hot water helped clear the remaining haze from her brain, forcing her dominant, professional researcher persona back to the surface.
By the time she stepped out, she felt like herself again, though her pussy still ached with a deep, lingering satisfaction.
She changed into a spare set of clothes she kept in her locker: a pair of dark, tailored slacks and a fresh, crisp white blouse, throwing a clean lab coat over her shoulders.
When Mira stepped back into the main lab, the heavy scent in the air had faded just enough to be tolerable, thanks to the room's high-grade ventilation system.
Alex was sitting on a rolling stool, his knees pulled up to his chest.
He managed to pull his oversized gray hoodie back on, completely hiding his soft, developing chest and puffy nipples from view.
He looked absolutely exhausted, his flawless pale skin flushed with a faint pink hue.
What she didn't know was that Alex was completely terrified.
It wasn't just the lingering shock of what had happened with Mira, it was the glowing blue screen hovering in his vision.
While Mira had been in the shower washing away the sweat and the heavy, sweet scent of their encounter, Alex had pulled up his interface.
He sat on the rolling stool, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, staring at the numbers with wide, panicked eyes.
[ System Log: ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +1.9 Points ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +0.5 Points ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +2.4 Points ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +1.2 Points ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +3.7 Points ]
[ Empathetic Energy detected… absorbing.. Empathetic Energy harvested.]
[ Source Power Gained: +7.2 Points ]
….
There were so many prompts to count, with different time frames, that happened after meeting Lily in the training room a few hours to the last few minutes.
[ Current Source Power: 153 Points ]
The jump in Source Power was very large, from the initial 111 points from the morning to his present 153 points. Most of which seemed to have been absorbed in the last thirty minutes.
Must be from Mira.
But the surge in power was just a side effect. The true nightmare lay a few lines down.
[ Feminization Progress: Phase 1/9 (Ecdysis) - 100% Complete! ]
[ Warning: Maximum threshold for Phase 1 reached. ]
[ Host biological requirements met, commencing the First Full Molting/Shedding. ]
[ Time remaining until Molting process completes: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes, 45 Seconds. ]
"No..." Alex cried, his breath catching in his throat.
He quickly pulled up his full attribute panel, desperate to see if there was any way to stop or reverse it.
[ Name: Alex ]
[ Age: 19/72 ]
[ Race: Human / Snake Demon Hybrid (Mutating) ]
[ Feminization Progress: Phase 1/9 (Ecdysis) - 100% (Molting Pending)]
[ Profession: Civilian ]
[ Cultivation Level: F - Rank (+) ]
[ Cultivation Technique: None ]
[ Genes: Ancient Naagin (Enchantress) (+), Recovery (Lv-1) (+) ]
[ Gene Abilities: Shedding (Maxed), Feral Gaze, Empathic Resonance, Void Yin Constitution ]
[ Skills: Thermal Spirit Sight Lv-1, Serpentine Musculature Lv-1, Cold-Blood Optimization Lv-1, Scaled Dermis Lv-1, Pheromone Secretion Lv-1, Yin-Serpent Mana Circuit Lv-1 ]
[ Source Power: 153 ]
"A hundred percent, Fuck it… Why?? Damn it!!" Alex cursed, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead.
His heart hammered rapidly against his ribs, a frantic thump-thump-thump that felt painfully loud in his ears.
The panic wasn't just mental; it was deeply physical. As the pleasure began to fade, and his sense returned back, Alex felt his skin slowly turning dead.
And the process began to speed up as the countdown progressed towards the end.
"Hehe... did you figure it out?" Feeling the sudden changes in Alex's emotions a sudden voice echoed directly inside Alex's mind.
It was the Empress smooth, ancient, and chillingly amused.
The sound of her laughter sent a sharp spike of ice down his spine. His breath hitched in his throat, and his pupils dilated in pure, helpless panic.
"I suggest you find a safe place before you complete your first shedding... Hahah," she whispered, the phantom sensation of a cold breath brushing against his inner ear.
"Although it's just the first step on becoming a perfect vessel... Sooner or later, it won't be long before your body becomes mine."
Alex stared blankly at the glowing blue countdown hovering in his vision.
1 Hour, 38 Minutes. He didn't know what to do.
The lingering warmth in his body was rapidly vanishing, replaced by a hollow, creeping chill.
Desperate, he turned his wide, fearful eyes toward Mira.
Mira, completely unaware of the ancient voice echoing in his head, ignored the lingering, awkward tension between them.
She walked briskly across the lab, her crisp white blouse and lab coat stark against the dim lighting, and stopped in front of the large digital monitor on the far wall.
The screen flashed with a bright, glaring green box: ANALYSIS COMPLETE.
"Let's see exactly what you are turning into, Alex," Mira muttered.
Her sharp eyes narrowed as she tapped quickly on the holographic keyboard.
Instantly, a massive, glowing blue 3D model of a DNA double helix projected into the air between them.
It cast a cool light across the room. But it didn't look like normal human DNA.
The strands were tightly coiled, radiating a faint, pulsing light, woven together with complex, fractal-like patterns that Mira had never seen before in her entire career as a researcher.
"Computer, run a cross-reference with the Gene Association's master database," Mira commanded, her voice steady and authoritative.
A loading circle spun for a few tense seconds. The lab was silent except for the quiet hum of the servers.
Then, a harsh red text box popped up on the screen, accompanied by a sharp beep.
[ ERROR: MATCH NOT FOUND. UNKNOWN GENETIC SEQUENCE ]
Mira frowned, leaning closer to the glowing hologram until the blue light reflected in her eyes.
"Not registered? That's impossible. Even the most obscure mutant genes found in the wasteland have at least a partial match in the archives."
"What does that mean?" Alex asked nervously. His voice was still soft, slightly breathy, as he peeked over the thick collar of his oversized hoodie.
"I'm running a secondary comparison based on the biological traits I've observed." Mira explained.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, manually filtering the data. "The extreme skin shedding, the potent pheromones, the rapid physical mutation, and the Yin-attribute mana..."
The screen flashed again, bringing up a side-by-side comparison with a known genetic strand.
"Here," Mira pointed to a section of the code. "It shares a foundational root with the Naga Clan."
"They are a well-known species of humanoid serpent-demons. They naturally have cold-blooded traits, high flexibility, and sometimes mild pheromone abilities."