The sky was already ablaze with the fire of the setting sun by the time when the system finished its process, assimilated all the gains of the day with his body, and began the process of bringing its host back from the forced deep sleep.

As the night began to stretch across the horizon, creeping higher and engulfing Eden-N03 with its eternal dark tendrils, Lucien\'s closed eyelids began to flutter. The dark, swollen, protruding halo of veins have already returned to their normal, healthy color and receded back to their original state.

Although he felt no pain, Lucien\'s mind was still hazy, he felt dazed. There was a strange numbness still in his body that needed a bit of time before he fully regained control over his own self. His head and with it, his facial features being the first to give control back to him, his eyelids trembled slightly as they slowly parted, revealing a pair of dark brown irises.

"Argh… This is surprisingly unpleasant…" He groaned, trying to lift his hands, only to find that he was still incapable of doing so. "System… What is going on?"

Feeling lost about the current situation, Lucien didn\'t waste time and ask the supposed culprit of his current predicament, the system for answers.

Instantly, in the next moment the dark, translucent system screen appeared out of thin air, floating gently above him. Its already prepared message was displayed on it, he did not need to wait for it.

[…::: What the host is experiencing is perfectly normal. There is a short delay as the host regains control over his body. There is nothing wrong.

While the host is waiting for the effects to wear off, the host is advised to check up on the changes. :::…]

\'Well… It\'s not like I can do anything else at the moment… System, bring up my Status!\' He frowned, mumbling inwardly, before giving the command to the system. A moment later the screen flashed, as the letters reassembled into a new formation, while new ones also appeared one after another. A few seconds later, he was greeted with his status.

[…::: ℭ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ::: ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????: 01 - 0.5% :::…]

[…:::

????????????????: ???????????????????????? ????????????????

* ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????: 15.26% - ????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????? ????????????????????: ???????????????????????????? ::: * ℜ????????k: 1 ::: 10.1%

?҉?҉?҉?҉?҉:҉ ҉?҉?҉?҉?҉?҉

????????:: 12

****

* ????????????????????????: 13 / 13 (ℭ???????????????????????? ℜ????????????: +0.01 / 10 ????????????????????????????)

* ????????????????????????: 11 / 11 (ℭ???????????????????????? ℜ????????????: -0.01 / 10 ????????????????????????????)

****

:ђгɭ ฬﻮєฬгɭรภאɭ๔ ђภคɭ ภเ קฬєן קเ. ๓๓ςɭן รгєเɭן єןɭ

* ????????????????????????????????: 3.26

* ????????????????????????????: 1.87

* ????????????????????????????: 3.77

ฬ๔гɭร: ????

ђ๓รг๓ς: ????

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ℭ????????????????????????????: 0%

****

????????????????????????:

???????????????????? ℜ???????????????????????????????????????????? (???????????????????? - ℜ????????????: 1)

???????????? ???????????????????? (???????????????????? - ℜ????????????: 1)

???????????????????? ???????????????? (???????????????????????????? - ℜ????????????: 1)

???????????????????????????? ℜ???????????? (???????????????????????? - ℜ???????????? 1)

:::…]

The initial frown he had, gradually transformed into a surprised smile as he read further and further and saw all the changes. There were quite a few things he wanted to ask and understand, but before he could even do so, a new smaller screen appeared atop the other one, with a long log of messages giving him all the information he would have probably wanted to ask.

[…::: Due to your actions, the synchronization rate with ђภгєเєฬ have been strengthened. :::…]

[…::: Checking the state of ђภгєเєฬ… Stabilizing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 11.03%… Increasing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 11.50%… Increasing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 12.00%… Increasing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 13.00%… Increasing… :::…]

.

.

.

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 15.00%… Increasing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 15.50%… Increasing… :::…]

[…::: Current Synchronization rate: 15.53%… Stable! :::…]

[…::: Surpassed 15.00% Synchronization… Current Symbiosis State: Mutualism… :::…]

[…::: System Milestone Reached: + 0.5% System Version Awarded. :::…]

[…::: 2 New Strains Synthesized, Strengthening Host Body… :::…]

[…::: Host Health and Energy has been updated according to entropy formula… :::…]

As he read through all the changes, Lucien couldn\'t help but be amazed by what had transpired why he was asleep. He had no idea what caused the change in the state of his synchronization, nor did he understand what that all meant, but it seemed to have even affected the System\'s own Version as well. Still, he had no idea if that was good or bad. He knew nothing about what those all meant.

As for the last two lines in the log, it seemed that by growing stronger, the system has also updated his health and energy.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted when he suddenly felt the life return to him, and that he could finally feel that he had regained full control of his own body. At first, he felt no changes, which caused the small frown to make its appearance once again, but that quickly faded, replaced by shock, when he tried pushing himself up from the bed.

Suddenly the simple, natural action caused him to exert an unexpected amount of force, causing the frame to crack and for him to fall down on the ground instead of rolling to the side.

Surprised by this change, Lucien sat up, looking at his hands, flabbergasted and shocked.

"What the…" He tried to scan through himself, surprised to see that he seemingly grew a bit. He wasn\'t certain, but he did feel slightly taller than before as if he gained a couple of inches. At the same time, his body wasn\'t as scrawny as before, it now had a visible tone, a healthy amount of muscle could be seen spread evenly around his entire body.

When he pulled up his shirt, he could also spot the thin, faint traces of the muscled bumps in his stomach region. He had abs! Whilst he never had any chance to grow a substantial amount of fat, it was still the first time he saw such a version of himself.

"Is this… Is this all thanks to all the gains?" He muttered to himself, unable to accept such a sudden change. As he moved his arms and legs and twisted his torso, looking around and inspecting his own body, he felt that he did feel a change in himself.

He felt healthier… more energetic as if he was bursting with power, ready to charge ahead and run around. He felt a need to do something, he couldn\'t spend any more time wasting away in this room.

As the shock slowly passed, a bright smile emerged on Lucien\'s face. Without wanting to waste any more time, he reached for the doorknob and pushed against it… Only to break the lock and almost completely break the door.

"Still getting used to the changes, Lucien?" Sera\'s figure appeared in the short hallway, gently smiling at the emerging boy\'s apologetic expression.

"Yes… Sorry about the door. I…" Feeling that he needlessly caused trouble to this woman, who did nothing so far but to help him, Lucien felt guilt for the first in his life. He wanted to apologize.

After everything that happened, he felt that he could trust this woman, and accept the offered help. At the very least, he should accept the offered hand, and should not continue acting so cold and distant to the one person that could really help him achieve his goal. When he now looked at Sera\'s smiling face, his usual rigid thoughts changed.

Although he wasn\'t aware of it, subconsciously, with the changes happening to him, and as his connection with his other self was growing stronger and more stable, his mindset was slowly being affected…

Whilst the changes weren\'t too drastic, he felt a sense of familiarity when he now looked at the blonde girl. Her smile no longer felt disturbing, threatening even, but it filled him with a strange sensation of warmth….

"Don\'t worry about that old door, Lucien! It was already busted, it was high time to repair it anyway!" Sera chuckled, waving her right hand dismissively, before motioning for Lucien. "Come, let\'s sit down and tell me, how do you feel? The first time can be quite disorienting… confusing even. This was your first time growing stronger after all! Let me check you and make sure there are no abnormalities left behind!"

This time, unlike before, Lucien didn\'t feel bothered at all, he simply nodded whilst looking at his hand, still holding the metal knob, unsure of what to do with it. Seeing this, Sera warmly smiled, stepping closer to the boy and reaching for his hand.

"You can give that to me, Lucien. Don\'t worry about it, I will fix the door later!" She chuckled as she grabbed the metallic object. With that, she turned around and walked towards the only spacious room in the small cottage, the living room, with Lucien following behind.

"Now come here and sit down in this chair." She pulled a chair, placing it in front of herself. "I want to check if you are really okay, and that there are no issues! I presume you want to go back hunting tomorrow once again, right?"

"Actually…" Lucien raised his hand, wanting to speak up, but once again, before he had the chance, Sera already shook her head and declined the boy\'s bubbling idea.

"No, you can\'t go out right now. I know you feel energetic and that you have this newly gained power, ready to burst out of you, but you have to try to keep it down for now. Whilst this is a relatively safe space, there are still some dangers out there that you are not ready to face yet." She advised, before tapping the seat in front of her once again.

"Now, be good, and let this auntie check you!"