Becoming a Monster

Chapter 624: Chapter 623: We’re Going to Need a Bigger Room

Ailetta’s mana continued fluctuating for a little while longer before finally settling.

Once it did, Noah took the opportunity to properly gauge the extent of her changes.

His instincts had already given him a faint understanding of what happened. His blood had strengthened one of Ailetta’s strongest traits, causing some characteristics that previously only appeared during her transformation to become permanent parts of her body.

More importantly, the transformation itself had grown considerably stronger.

Noah had already experienced that firsthand after accidentally meeting the gaze of the eye within her chest. If one of its abilities had become that much more invasive without Ailetta even transforming, he could only imagine how much stronger it would become once she did.

His thoughts lingered on that possibility for so long that he didn’t immediately notice Ailetta looking back at him.

A beautiful smile had already appeared on her face.

She had caught him staring.

The smile already on her face grew even brighter as she watched his gaze remain fixed upon her, almost as though he had forgotten there were others around them.

Ailetta enjoyed his attention for several moments before an idea seemed to occur to her.

Slime abruptly spread across every portion of her exposed skin again, causing a reaction in Noah’s expression.

It wasn’t much, but the brief sense of loss within his eyes was impossible for Ailetta to miss. Her smile widened even more; only now there was an obvious hint of mischief mixed within it.

“This is for all the times you kept your face away from me.”

Noah stared at her for a moment before understanding exactly what she was referring to.

Ailetta had spent more than enough time looking at the veil of pitch-blackness covering his face whenever she wanted to see him. To see his smile, the way his mouth would twitch when he was agitated, or how his cheeks would rise when he was flustered.

Now that she finally had something Noah couldn’t seem to stop staring at, she clearly intended to make him suffer through the same frustration.

Noah opened his mouth, prepared to point out several reasons why the situations weren’t remotely the same, before deciding against it. Deep down, he felt that her actions were justified. He shouldn’t have his veil up so much when he was only around them.

And judging by the amusement in her voice, defending himself would only encourage her further.

Besides, he still had someone else who demanded his attention.

Eve had consumed his blood at almost the exact same time as Ailetta, yet strangely enough, she still hadn’t shown any obvious signs of changing.

Noah had been observing her throughout Ailetta’s changes, expecting something to happen eventually. Yet even after Ailetta’s mana settled, Eve’s appearance remained exactly the same.

Her mana wasn’t behaving much differently either.

The only noticeable change came from the connection she shared with her guardians.

A small amount of dark crimson mana was continuously leaving Eve’s body through those connections. The amount itself was insignificant compared to her total reserves, yet the potency of that mana immediately drew Noah’s attention.

It was considerably denser than what normally flowed between them.

Noah focused his Nexus Eye upon it, following the dark crimson mana as it left Eve and traveled toward the beings connected to her.

Only then did he begin to understand what was happening.

His blood had strengthened Ailetta’s strongest trait.

If the same principle applied to Eve, it made sense that the most significant changes wouldn’t necessarily occur to her.

Her guardians had always been one of the greatest parts of her strength.

If Noah’s blood was strengthening that aspect of her, then the changes occurring within Eve might have far more to do with her guardians than with her own body.

Judging by Eve’s condition, it would still take some time for her to finish.

Noah continued observing her for a little while longer before deciding there was little reason to remain standing there waiting for an answer.

There was still someone else he needed to deal with.

His gaze finally returned to Pandora.

The dryad had remained nearby throughout everything that happened, her roots still occasionally shifting toward the plants growing from Noah’s body as though resisting the urge to absorb more of the necrotic energy they released.

This time, Noah didn’t intend to stop her.