[Destiny: Obtain a Seven-Cycle Core Purification Elixir.]
[Description: Used by the Celestials to purify a Core from all impurities.]
[Expected Opportunity: Within seven days.]
[Copy Requirements: Fulfilled.]
Before he could read more details, Evangeline tapped her finger on the table.
"Eat first."
"Yes, Master." Leonis picked up the spoon.
The woman leaned slightly against the back of the chair with a satisfied look.
He took a bite and slowly chewed while looking at his system panel at the same time.
[Copy this Destiny?]
There was no reason to hesitate.
[Destiny successfully copied.]
[Seven-Cycle Core Purification Elixir]
[10,000-fold amplification beginning.]
[Rebuilding Destiny...]
[Amplification successfully completed.]
[Primordial Origin Core Refinement Elixir]
Leonis’s calm gaze changed for a moment.
Although he had only been in this world for three days, the memories of the previous owner of this body had returned enough for him to understand the value of an Elixir related to the Core.
Even a simple Elixir was not something an ordinary student could easily obtain, and the Elixir his master was supposed to obtain was something used by beings at that level and was not useful to an ordinary Awakened.
And now he had obtained a version that was even more valuable.
[The Elixir has been placed in your Storage Space.]
[Primordial Origin Core Refinement Elixir]
[Rank: SSS]
[Effect: Re-refines and rebuilds the fundamental structure of the Core.]
[Removes impurities from the Core.]
[Greatly increases Mana storage and circulation capacity.]
[Raises Core Purity to the highest possible level, Ten Stars.]
Leonis’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Ten thousand times.
Now, for the first time, he had truly felt the meaning of this number.
Evangeline’s original Destiny was only a valuable Elixir for purifying the Core, but what he had received could completely change the foundation of his Core.
In fact, it could raise his Core Purity to Ten Stars, something even the great geniuses of the greatest families dreamed of.
This was no longer a simple increase in power.
If the system’s description was not exaggerating, he was about to change something on which the entire path of his future growth would be built.
Every Core had five stages, and to upgrade a Core, its owner needed to absorb Essence from the Fallen, and killing each Fallen gave a certain amount of Essence.
Core Purity showed how much of that Essence would actually remain after absorbing it.
For example, if one Fallen gave ten units of Essence, but the Core had only Five-Star Purity, then after absorbing all ten units of Essence, only five units would actually count.
The five Core stages were Seed Core, Awakened Core, Refined Core, Radiant Core, and Sovereign Core.
To reach Awakened Core, a person needed one thousand units of Essence, and before drinking this Elixir, his Core Purity was only One Star, so out of every ten units of Essence, only one unit would count.
"Not bad." The corner of Leonis’s lips rose slightly.
"What is not bad?" Evangeline’s voice came from in front of him.
He raised his head, the woman was still sitting on the chair in front of the bed.
She had crossed her long and beautiful legs and was looking at him with the same cold and dignified expression she always had.
"I was thinking that being your disciple might not be so bad after all."
"Maybe?" Evangeline asked in a calm but dangerous tone.
"It is still too early to make a final conclusion." Leonis answered without the slightest sign of fear.
"Apparently, your treatment has gone too well." The woman said, the corner of her lips rising slightly.
Leonis laughed, but his mind was no longer focused on their simple conversation, the information he had seen earlier was still in the corner of his vision.
[Evangeline Evernight]
[Affection toward Host: 74]
[Hatred toward Host: 0]
Seventy-four.
To copy the first Destiny, he only needed more than sixty.
But there was no reason to assume that sixty was the end.
A system that worked based on other people’s emotions probably did not have only one limit.
’System,’ Leonis said in his mind.
’If her Affection or Hatred increases, will I be able to see more things?’
[The deeper the emotional bond between the target and the host becomes, the greater the possibility of observing deeper Destinies.]
[At certain thresholds, more layers of the target’s Destiny will become visible.]
His smile became slightly deeper, that was exactly what he expected.
So increasing his master’s Affection was not only useful for reaching her fundamental Fate in the future, even before that, it could give him access to more things.
Now only one question remained.
How should he increase the Affection of a woman like Evangeline Evernight?
Leonis looked at her for a few moments.
A gift? It was almost ridiculous.
A woman with Evangeline’s position could probably get anything she wanted without even getting up from her chair.
Compliments and flattery? Even worse.
A woman with such an amazing appearance had probably heard so many compliments about her beauty during the past few hundred years that if all those compliments were written on paper, they could fill a library.
So he needed something that money and power could not easily provide for her.
Leonis’s gaze slowly moved over his master’s body, not because of lust... at least, not only because of lust this time.
Evangeline kept her appearance almost perfect, but the body always revealed things that the face hid.
When she raised her hand a few moments ago, her left shoulder had moved slightly slower, and she had kept her neck a little too straight.
Even the Mana flowing around her body had a very slight irregularity near her shoulder and spine.
For an ordinary person, none of these things could be seen.
But the previous Leonis was the son of one of the Seven Hero Families, and Habsburg training was not only about swordsmanship.
Understanding Mana paths, pressure points, muscle injuries, and ways to recover the body was part of the basic training of every heir.
And now he had all those memories.
Their relationship during those three days had not only been based on pleasure, his master’s main goal was to repair his Core, and she had spent three days in a row using her energy to repair his Core.
She had even used part of her own Source to heal him.
She was tired, she was simply powerful enough to stop others from noticing.
’So the thing she cannot easily buy for herself... is someone who notices that she is tired.’
This was much better than buying an expensive gift, and by coincidence, it also gave him another possibility.
"Master." Leonis suddenly called out.
"Hmm?" Evangeline answered without changing her expression.
"Your shoulder hurts, right?"
"It does not." She answered after a moment.
"Master’s left shoulder, are you sure it does not hurt?"
Evangeline’s gaze really changed.
"Every time you raise your left hand above your shoulder, you unconsciously send more Mana to that area." Leonis explained in a normal tone.
A few seconds of silence followed.
"When did you notice?" she asked.
"Just a few minutes ago, you spent three days repairing my Core, so at least let me repay you a little."
"Repay?"
"Massaging the Mana circulation paths can make the flow more regular and smoother, I have basic training in it."
He was not talking nonsense, Mana moved through the body like blood, and just as the flow of blood could be regulated, the flow of Mana could also be regulated.
A slow smile appeared on Evangeline’s lips, that smile was far too familiar.
"Does the little disciple want to touch his master?" she asked in a sweet voice.
"After the past three days, I think this is the most innocent thing that has happened between us." Leonis answered calmly.
This time, he really succeeded.
For several full seconds, the woman had no answer.
Her cold eyes opened slightly wider, and then, almost too slowly to notice, a red color reached the tips of her ears.
If one of the Academy students had seen the famous and terrifying Master Evernight at that moment, they would probably have thought they were under some kind of illusion.
Evangeline turned her face toward the window.
"...Ten minutes." After a few seconds, she said in a tone that tried to become cold again.
Leonis smiled.
[Evangeline Evernight’s Affection toward Host has increased.]
[74 --> 75]
It was interesting, but instead of immediately being happy about the result, he got down from the bed.
The woman sat on the chair beside the window and then, with a movement of her hand, gathered her very long black hair and moved it to one side.
Her white and delicate neck was revealed.
The thin line of her shoulders could be seen under her dark clothes, and the contrast between her fair skin and the black fabric created an image that stopped even Leonis’s calculating mind for a few moments.
Apparently, when the creator of this woman was giving out appearance points, they had ignored the limits.
"Why are you standing there?" Evangeline asked without looking back.
"I was thinking that life is really unfair." Leonis answered.
"For whom?" she asked.
"For the other women." he answered with a completely serious face.
Evangeline was silent for a moment, then a small wave of Mana formed around her body, it was clear that she wanted to punish him.
But before Leonis could wait to see what that wave was going to do to his face, he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"I have started, Master."
"Coward." she whispered under her breath, but the wave of Mana also disappeared.
His fingers slowly moved over the muscles beside her neck, and just as he expected, there was a lot of tightness along her left shoulder.
Three days of constantly using energy was not completely without cost, even for someone at Evangeline’s level.
Leonis first worked only with physical pressure and then sent a very thin thread of Mana toward his fingertips.
[Mana Control — Beginner]
She swept her long black hair to one side and her pale neck and the line of her shoulders came into view.
From Leonis’s angle, the soft curve of her full, peach-like breasts was faintly visible under the fabric, not too much, but enough to hold his gaze for a moment.
His thumbs pressed firmly into the tight knots of muscle while a thin thread of mana flowed from his palms.
Evangeline drew a deep breath and let out a short, quiet sigh.
Her head tilted forward a little, body instinctively leaning into his touch.
Leonis moved his hands lower, along the line of her shoulders and into the hollow between her shoulder blades.
The skin beneath his palms grew hotter. Each deep press made her shoulders arch slightly and her breathing uneven.
The thin fabric did almost nothing to hide the heat between them.
"...Continue," she murmured, voice slightly rough.
[Affection: 75 → 78]
[Evangeline Evernight’s Affection toward Host has increased.]
[75 --> 78]
Leonis saw the message.
But unlike the previous time, this time he did not intentionally change his behavior.
Although his goal was to increase her Affection, from the moment he understood how tired his master really was, continuing the work was no longer only a deal with the system.
This woman had spent three days repairing a Core that everyone believed was impossible to heal.
Even if he still did not know her real reason, the result was clear.
She had saved the life of this body.
He was not the kind of person who answered other people’s Affection with unconditional devotion, but he also did not forget his debts.
But he was still curious, why was this woman’s Affection toward him increasing so easily? As far as he knew, Evangeline was known for her wild and extremely cold personality.
But his master was nothing like the rumors.