"Quylla saved your life by forcing you to rest for one more day. If this happened yesterday, your life force would have shattered. Now, instead, it"s stronger than ever." Solus said, observing with Invigoration how the boundaries between Lith"s mana core, body, and life force had become thinner.

The two different kinds of energy now flowed through his veins along with his blood, making him different from normal humans.

"I know." Lith stuttered. "Solus, promise me that no matter what, you"ll wake me up for dinner."

"Yeah, sure. What could the changes in your body possibly matter compared to a night of wild, steamy, hot s.e.x with your girlfriend? By the way, I take back what I said yesterday.

"I"ll stay here in Lutia while you have fun. There"s no reason for me to…"

"I"m hungry." He cut her short before fainting.

"Oh, yes. There"s that too." Solus said while carrying Lith on his bed with spirit magic. She had developed the nutrients potion exactly for that kind of situation, where Invigoration couldn"t help Lith, and feeding him the old-fas.h.i.+oned way was impossible.

They tasted like c.r.a.p and smelled almost as badly, but it was much easier administering them to an unconscious man rather than feeding him a full course meal. Solus"s mouth almost fell to the ground when she noticed that Lith was absorbing the potions like a dry sponge water.

"Dammit! The mana geyser is boosting his metabolism to the point that if I don"t keep the nutrients coming, by the time Lith wakes up he"ll look like a monk after a month of fasting."

Invigoration could do nothing to help Lith recover faster and even if it could, Solus wouldn"t have used it. She hoped that the changes both of his life forces had experienced could heal the crack that cursed Lith to a shorter lifespan or at least get rid of Death Vision.

It wasn"t a skill so much as a curse that made his life miserable and constantly drained his focus just to keep the visions at bay. Only when he was alone with Solus inside the tower, could he relax without worries.

That, or when he was alone with Phloria.

"It really irks me to no end that I"ll never know if it"s just because I"m seemingly immortal or because Lith has feelings for me as deep as he has for her. Right now, even the members of his family suffer from Death Vision if they are further away than three meters.

"He never allowed himself to see if things work the same for Kamila as they do for everyone else he loves or if she"s an outlier like Phloria. I guess it would mean a lot and Lith doesn"t want to second-guess their relations.h.i.+p." Solus thought.

She remained by Lith"s side until his condition stabilized, feeding him potions and checking on his life force from time to time with the Scanner spell. Yet the cracks remained and even though his body brimmed with vigor, the amount of life force Lith had remained unchanged.

Solus sighed, saying goodbye to her broken dream before using both Invigoration and mana sense on Lith. Now both his liver and kidneys were capable of detoxifying most harmful substances as if they were a tier two cleansing spell.

With each regular breath Lith took, his lungs drew bigger amounts of world energy than before, filling his chest with mana that his heart would pump through his whole body along with thin streams of life force that enhanced his recovery abilities.

Only when she was certain that the breakthrough would cause Lith no harm did Solus leave his bedroom, calling her friends to make plans for the night.

***

Uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean.

Leegaain had failed to understand why his long lost daughter had gone to such lengths to prevent him from tracking her position, at least until he took a good look at her.

He couldn"t use Souls Vision (AN: the Guardians" ultimate form of Life Vision) on a hologram, but all of his regular senses picked more than enough anomalies to make him suspicious.

Xenagrosh, who he knew as Zoreth, was supposed to be already dead, or at least very close to the end of her lifespan. She had chosen the human nature, so even if somehow she had managed to Awaken on her own there was only so much time it could have bought her.

Yet her body was full of vigor, her skin didn"t show any sign of aging, and even her heart was off. Mostly because he could hear two of them, beating rhythmically like war drums into his ears.

Her body was too slender, her movements too gracious to be human.

"Let me guess, you are one of those Abominations who fused with their monster doubles and yours was a troll. How can you have stooped so low?" Leegaain asked.

Xenagrosh cursed her bad luck. She was aware that tricking her father was a fool"s errand, but she had hoped that her deception would at least last the few minutes she needed to obtain a few answers from him.

"Nailed it in one. Sorry dad, I know I"ve always been nothing but a failure in your eyes. I guess it"s better to end this conversation right now." Her voice was honest. Since the call had started, Leegaain didn"t perceive an ill intent coming from her.

Zoreth"s words stung hard, reminding him why he had such a poor relations.h.i.+p with most of his children. Too often in the past he had treated them as a Guardian would rather than a father, something that he had tried to correct in his relations.h.i.+p with Melia.

"Why do you say that? I"ve never considered you as a failure!" He said, trying to stop her from ending the call.

"Oh please! You could never forgive me for picking my human half over yours, or the fact that even though I grew in your cave, I wasn"t able to Awaken by myself like so many of my siblings did!" Xenagrosh finger was still above Leegaain"s rune, yet she couldn"t find the strength to push it.

"Is that what you believe?" Leegaain was flabbergasted by the depth of his failure as a parent.

"Of course! Otherwise why did you never look after me once I left your lair? Why didn"t you Awaken me?" Her voice didn"t sound like that of a murdering monster so much as that of an abandoned child.

"Because with both your words and actions, you made it clear that you wanted to have your own s.p.a.ce! As for the Awakening, do you realize how short a human"s lifespan is? If you had chosen to be a dragon, I would"ve had more time to understand your character.

"Awakening someone is a big deal and you were so hot-headed that I feared that power would get the better of you. The state you"re in just proves that I was right!" Leegaain said, his voice shaken like it didn"t happen in centuries.

"Yet you didn"t hesitate to Awaken that Empress of yours. Guess that"s true what they say. You can pick your friends, not your family." Xenagrosh"s voice oozed poison.

"You know, the reason why I joined the Master is that unlike you, he at least gave me a chance! He took his time to know me, even when I was just another horrid Abomination before tagging and bagging me like you would.