Chapter 108: Sacred Life Body — SSS-rank Talent
"Evelyne."
She looked over.
"Come with me for a moment."
Her eyebrows rose slightly.
"Where?"
"Just come with me and you’ll see."
Cain turned away before Evelyne could ask further questions.
She hesitated for a moment before following him.
They moved away from the others and eventually entered a narrow alley between two damaged buildings. The sounds of people cleaning the battlefield became quieter once they reached the deeper section.
Evelyne stopped several steps behind him.
Her white-red hair was slightly disordered after the battle, while faint exhaustion remained on her face despite having recovered some Mana.
She crossed her arms.
"So?"
Cain turned around and smiled.
"Thank you."
Evelyne blinked.
"For what?"
"For earlier." Cain leaned against the wall.
"Your Life Link helped a lot. Especially when I had to keep fighting that bastard without giving myself enough time to recover."
Evelyne stared at him before puffing one cheek.
"I was forced to help you."
Cain almost laughed immediately.
"Oh?"
"If something happened to you, the entire group would fall apart."
Her gaze shifted away from him as she continued.
"And I still need your help finding my parents later. Who else am I supposed to ask?"
Cain watched her expression.
She was clearly trying to make it sound as though helping him survive had only been necessary for her own sake.
Seeing her act like this was unexpectedly cute.
"Right. Of course that must be the reason." Cain stepped closer and placed one hand on her head as he continued, "Whatever the reason, I’m still thankful."
He gently rubbed her hair.
Evelyne’s eyes twitched.
"Stop that!"
She immediately slapped his hand away before hurriedly fixing the hair he had disturbed.
"Don’t touch a girl’s head whenever you feel like it. You’ll mess up their hair."
Cain chuckled.
Evelyne continued straightening it before muttering beneath her breath.
"No wonder you’re single."
"Does it even matter?" Cain reached forward and lightly pinched her cheek.
Evelyne immediately glared at him.
Cain smiled as he looked straight to her golden-yellow eyes.
"I already have you anyway."
Her expression froze, a deep blush appeared across her cheeks before quickly spreading toward her ears.
"Y-You..."
Cain pulled gently on her cheek.
Evelyne slapped his hand away.
"Stop talking nonsense!"
She stomped one foot against the ground.
"If you brought me here just to tease me, I’m leaving."
Evelyne turned around, but before she could take more than one step, Cain caught her hand and pulled.
"Ah!"
Her body spun toward him.
The next moment, her chest pressed firmly against his.
Evelyne looked up in surprise.
Cain lowered his gaze toward her face.
"Gosh."
His smile became wider as he continued.
"No wonder every guy in the university went crazy over you. You really are goddamn gorgeous."
"What are you suddenly..."
Cain leaned down and kissed her before she could finish.
Evelyne’s eyes widened.
Her body stiffened at first, caught completely off guard by the sudden kiss. However, the surprise gradually disappeared, and she instinctively responded before realizing what she was doing.
The kiss only lasted for a short while.
Evelyne suddenly came back to her senses.
She pressed both palms against Cain’s chest and pushed him away.
"Y-You bastard!"
Cain laughed softly.
"Don’t kiss me so suddenly!"
She hurriedly looked toward the entrance of the alley.
Fortunately, nobody had followed them.
She turned back toward Cain with a pout. "Especially when there are people nearby."
Cain’s eyebrow rose.
"Oh?"
Evelyne froze when she realized what she had just said.
Cain’s smile became wider.
"So it’s fine if nobody is around?"
Her mouth opened slightly.
"That’s not what I meant!"
"You specifically said ’especially when people are nearby’. So doesn’t that mean it’s fine when nobody can see us?" Cain chuckled.
"You’re twisting my words!"
"How?"
Evelyne stared at him speechlessly.
After failing to find a proper response, she turned around again.
"Whatever. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving."
"Wait!"
This time, Cain did not pull her back.
Instead, two objects appeared in his hands and orange light immediately illuminated the narrow alley.
Evelyne stopped, then slowly turned around.
Her eyes immediately widened when she saw the Orange Scroll and Orb in Cain’s hands.
"Those are..."
"Orange colored rewards."
"I can see that!"
Cain extended them toward her.
"Take them."
Evelyne did not immediately move.
She understood exactly how valuable Orange rewards were.
Cain had only obtained a handful of things at that level, and every high-ranked reward they had encountered so far possessed enough value to drastically increase someone’s strength.
Her eyes moved between the Scroll and Orb before returning to Cain.
"You’re giving both of them to me?"
"Yup!"
"Cain..."
"Don’t refuse."
He pushed the items closer.
"Consider them your reward for helping me earlier."
Evelyne looked at the glowing Scroll, but instead of accepting it immediately, her expression became serious.
"But what if your next mission is as difficult as this one?"
She looked directly at him.
"You almost died against the Zombie King. Wouldn’t keeping these for yourself be better?"
Cain smiled faintly.
"Don’t worry about me."
"That isn’t an answer." Evelyne pouted slightly.
"I got something much better."
Her eyes narrowed as she carefully studied his face, seemingly trying to determine whether he was lying simply to convince her.
Cain continued confidently, "After advancing, I awakened an extremely powerful ability. Compared to before, my strength increased so much that the old me probably wouldn’t last long against me now."
That part was not even much of an exaggeration.
His stats had doubled, Ruin evolved into True Ruin, and Partial Dragon Manifestation allowed him to partially borrow the physical characteristics of the Primordial Chaos Dragon.
Cain could not properly estimate his current combat strength yet.
However, he was sure of one thing, in which that the difference was enormous.
Evelyne studied his face for several seconds.
"Are you sure?"
"Completely." Cain nodded without hesitation.
Only then did she finally accept the items.
Her fingers tightened around the Orange Scroll as she looked at it with anticipation.
"Then I’m using it."
Cain smiled faintly.
"That’s why I gave it to you."
Evelyne opened the Scroll.
Orange light immediately erupted from the paper.
The Scroll began dissolving from her hands as the light transformed into countless particles that flowed toward her body.
Evelyne gasped softly.
The change was completely different from when Saintly Restoration evolved.
This time, the energy did not focus solely on her Mana pathways or healing abilities.
It spread through her entire body.
Her heartbeat became louder inside her ears.
Warm Life energy flowed through every part of her, gradually sinking into her flesh and bones.
Evelyne closed her eyes.
Pale green light appeared beneath her skin.
Her exhausted complexion disappeared as vitality rapidly filled her body.
The lingering weakness from maintaining Life Link during the battle vanished, while even her breathing became noticeably steadier.
The transformation continued deeper.
Her body seemed to become naturally compatible with the Life energy surrounding her.
Mana flowed through her pathways with almost no resistance.
Even the faint traces of restorative energy remaining inside her after the battle began circulating naturally without requiring conscious control.
Several seconds later, a notification appeared.
[You have obtained Sacred Life Body.]
[Sacred Life Body — SSS-rank Talent]