Others faced terror and death within the Evolutius Catacombs.
And yet at this moment, through Catacomb Entrance #11, Achilles and Rose shared their first kiss!
And it was all occurring during a process of Biological Nurturing as a human being was somehow replacing the role of Evolutius Crystals to forcefully nurture the body of another Advanced Human.
At a faster pace, and it seemed even more natural!
Rose didn't know if she felt dizzy from the transformation or from the kiss, but when she opened her eyes, all she saw was Achilles up close with his eyes closed.
Was she weird for opening her eyes during the kiss?
Such a thought passed through her mind as she blinked when she realized there were radiant verdant flames around both of them like a bonfire.
They rose high and were much brighter than any of her previous flames as she instinctively broke off the kiss!
She was worried as she licked her lips to enjoy the taste a little bit more, but she wanted to make sure that Achilles was okay.
He opened his eyes right after and realized the flames around him, but to his defenses and skin, they felt like a warm heat enveloping him as he smiled.
Rose breathed out a sigh of relief at that as she also remembered what she had just done, her face turning a shade of red as she spoke in a low tone.
"You made me make the first move, Little Fatty."
She touched her lips as she remembered the sensation.
"And either you're a really good kisser, or that glowing purple light makes things dizzyingly good…"
She gathered her bravery to say this as Achilles laughed and brushed it off.
"Who knows. But how do you feel now?"
He asked while still using his hands to allow an influx of a radiant purple light.
He did not feel exhausted in any way as he felt like his body was filled with seas of such brilliant purple light!
Rose looked over her body and closed her eyes right after before opening them while shaking her head incredulously.
"You're crazy, Little Fatty. Do you even know the true extent of what you just did? The effects of the purple brilliance have lessened somewhat, but my body feels multiple times more powerful. My flames feel even crazier."
The extent of what he just did.
Effectively, he had taken an Advanced Human from the Low Tier Body Modification and to the level of Middle Tier Body Modification if not higher…in the span of a few minutes.
He did not lose anything.
He did not feel exhausted.
Why were Evolutius Crystals such a scarce resource? Why was a single Low Tier Evolutius Crystals worth so much?!
And what these Crystals could do, Achilles could now do the same effortlessly.
He thought about the true extent of this capability as he smiled.
"If it can help protect you, I don't care what sort of ability it is. Nobody will know about it!"
Both Achilles and Rose knew that if it was discovered by the Lunaris Colony Overseers that someone within the Colony City of Neon would do what hundreds or thousands of Evolutius Crystals could do effortlessly…they would become the center of a storm that they may not be able to face.
"Only by becoming stronger can I make sure that I can protect us. I don't know to what extent I've grown now, but I want to keep going in. I want to see…if it's possible to awaken a Meridian as I keep assimilating more and more things."
A small goal was made for him.
Rose looked at his eyes, which had become fierce as she put her hand on his cheek.
"I'm also here, Little Fatty. You can share some of the burden with me too."
They would do it together.
Achilles was reenergized at this as he nodded, looking at the remaining corpses around them as he rose up to assimilate them, too.
Continuing to assimilate Evolutius Crystals seemed to be critical, if not for anything else but the ridiculous capability of Biological Nurturing.
And Achilles knew he would gradually find more and more things to assimilate as he would continue here first!
He assimilated the seven remaining bodies of Evolutius Beasts as that meant 21 Middle Tier Evolutius Crystals were also absorbed.
3 Middle Tier Evolutius Crystals granted a 9% gain before, but now…it was 1.125% in total!
He saw the percentage in front of the Organic Crystals move to 7.875%.
As for the Organic Phanerogam Lifeform, it moved closer towards the 50% mark.
Then, there was the massive body of the Upper Tier Lightning Treant.
He only looked at it briefly before he committed to assimilating it as it turned into bright lights that soon flowed into his body.
He closed his eyes to sense the changes as he came to a realization.
The amount of energy that an Upper Tier Evolutius Beast held was significantly higher compared to a Middle Tier one, with the number of Evolutius Crystals alone within them actually being six instead of three!
Six Upper Tier Evolutius Crystals!
And of course, their bodies and composition were also much greater as they would contribute more towards assimilation.
The changes brought forth were distinct even though he had only just begun climbing towards the second Echelon of both Organic Crystal and Organic Phanerogam Lifeform!
[Assimilation]:: Organic Arachnida Lifeform Echelon 1- Gained qualities of Poison Generation, Appendage Generation, Exoskeletal Armor, Physical Adherence, and Thermoreception
Organic Crystal(Evolutius Crystal) Echelon 1(13.785%)- Obtained qualities of Regeneration, Energy Conversion, Flexibility, Light Manipulation, and Biological Nurturing
Organic Phanerogam Lifeform Echelon 1(55%)- Obtained qualities of Dermal Armor, Regeneration, Photosynthetic, Lightning Physiology, and Abnormal Endurance
[Existence Corruption Value]:: 0%
[Complexity]:: Negligible
As of now, Existence Corruption Value remained low.
After ascertaining all of this and feeling the explosive waves of power hidden within his body, Achilles looked at Rose who also seemed to be getting a feel of just how much stronger she had gotten before the two of them looked at each other, a decisive light flashing in their eyes before they turned to look at the deeper area of the Catacombs that seemed to be delving even further down.
There, more dangerous Evolutius Beasts and situations waited for them as if they navigated them well…the rewards would be enough to make them not worry about others ruining their small world they were building together!