The red aura around me dissipates, and in turn, my entire body feels like it just went through hours of intense training.

My mana bar is far from depleted, but my mouth feels dry, and my head starts to ache.

I stumble in my steps for a moment, and my eyes threaten to shut, but I catch myself before falling and keep walking straight ahead.

I wince at the sharp pain that flows through my legs, but activate my self-regeneration skill to try and heal my sore muscles as best I can; as expected, it hardly helps. Abby reacts instantly too, using her restoration skill. Its green healing magic expands beneath my feet before I get another word in.

The soreness and body fatigue start to fade as I face my teammates.

Behind me, high in the sky, red trails of magic residue stay stagnant and slowly swirl in the light nighttime breeze. It gives off a weak and spread-out energy signature but doesn't dissolve into the atmosphere like normal mana or even Demonic Energy.

It's just left behind in trails, following where I previously was.

The healer speaks.

"So how do you feel? And how does the buff feel? I assume it lives up to its description?"

Even with a full restore from Abby, my joints feel stiff, and my muscles are sore. I'm much less fatigued, but my body is still completely exhausted... So that's a good sign. If I needed to jump into battle right now, the minor side effects wouldn't be much of an issue. However, it feels like this kind of fatigue is something only a real meal and sleep can heal over time.

It's a good thing I didn't go all out and only tested this power to a minor extent. It seems the drawbacks of using aggressive amounts of the Red Hydra's energy will have unforeseen fatigue and stress on the body.

"We'll only be able to use this buff in emergencies, or near the end of a battle as a final last-ditch effort. Even after the full restore, I'm not back to 100%. However, the power increase was incredible... and you won't feel the negative side effects until you deactivate the ability. I don't have anything to test it on or compare it to, but it was like I was moving over twice as fast and wielding denser magic while only using my normal energy output. The Hydra's mana intertwined with my own and boosted every movement and attack."

I go into more detail about the whole experience one more time, preparing them to face the Hydra, assuming they'll experience the same mind-bending reality shift that I did.

Arie steps up.

"This makes sense. I'll go next. I know the risks and trust I can handle it with your help."

He turns to Abby as she begins glowing green to power up her restoration circle.

In the meantime, I use telekinesis to float a gem out of the briefcase and up above Arie, waiting for his signal to let it down. We all step far away from the interaction taking place, just like they did for me.

A flash of green light washes over Arie, and he nods, letting me drop the crimson stone into his palms.

Waves of red energy soak his body, and pulsing green energy comes from the desert floor, constantly rebuilding and regenerating the archer's bones and flesh.

This is pretty gruesome to watch.

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I could only imagine what everyone was thinking the first time around when they were unsure of what the end result would be.

Arie doesn't scream, move, or do anything but stand still with the red gem in his hands, allowing the energy to seep into his body and bond with his soul.

The swirling red aura seems very familiar. Of course, it seems this way because it's exactly the same as the aura that surrounds me when I activate the buff; but just feeling its presence makes me subconsciously connected to it, even without my buff activated.

Less than 5 seconds pass, and the bright red violent wisps of energy subside, allowing Abby to engulf the archer in the full extent of her healing light. Moments later, she takes down her emerald veil to reveal Arie grinning and moving his limbs around to make sure everything is working normally.

Upon his successful bond, the others go through one by one. Maria next, then Fisher, and lastly Abby bonds with it herself.

Impressively, her [Area of Total Restoration] stays active even while she's unconscious. It's a perk of her ranked-up buff. If the main body or mind of the user is in mortal danger, the buff activates itself as a passive skill.

It has similar traits to my poison resistance, just a lot more extreme.

We all let out long sighs of relief as the green-haired mage walks out from her own display of red and green light as the last remnants of red wisps leave her body.

Each of them gives me a nod, then turns around to test out their buffs together. They know not to push it too hard after my initial warning, but the allure of trying this new power is too strong. I can't blame them for trying. Plus, knowing how it works so as not to be surprised in battle is important too.

I'm left standing next to Chester as the four of them run up the closest dune with trails of red energy following them, all surrounded by the very essence of the Red Hydra's soul.

The old man speaks up.

"You surprise me again and again. This is one of the most interesting items I've ever seen, and each of you have skills and abilities beyond what I ever thought was possible."

He gulps, letting out a thin smile.

"No wonder you have so many people after you."

Chester lets out a nervous chuckle as four flashing red lights illuminate the desert sky above us. Below, four hunters zip across the sand, testing out their newfound power. I reply.

"Yeah, I'm sure us successfully absorbing these stones will only bring more problems in the future. Though, I'm grateful that it will give us the edge in the short term."

My teammates all come back, showing the exact same signs of weariness that I did, all to be healed by Abby's restoration moments later. They're all brought back to their normal healed states, but the same hint of fatigue remains. Maria has a cheerful grin on her face.

"We're more than ready now. It's like we all just ranked up again! This strength and power is on another level!"

I smile back as the others agree with her and close the case with two gems remaining before tossing it into my item storage.

Each of them shares their experiences while testing out their new buff for just under a minute. It's been a long day no matter how you frame it. We need sleep before confronting the Sector leaders tomorrow.

My four teammates and Chester all leave to go back to the house. I stay behind, letting them know I'll catch up soon. The streaks of red energy left behind in the desert are very interesting. No amount of flames, MP absorption, or wind magic can get them fully out of sight. They only fade and spread out. Like toxic waste, unable to be destroyed or dissipated entirely, clogging up the air.

After a few minutes of attempting to clear the residue, I shrug and move on to greater matters. No one ventures out into the desert this far, and we'll be leaving the city tomorrow anyway. It should dissolve or be blown away by the winds given enough time. There is one last preparation that needs to be taken care of. I silently air-step back to the Abyss.

While running from the massive worm monster previously, I drained my Demonic Energy stores to 0. Although I could probably absorb 1 or 2 units from the dungeons back in Solara, filling up from the source will be much more efficient.

I won't venture into the Abyss; I'm not looking for a fight. I'm just looking to fill my core to the brim, making sure I'm fully prepared for what's to come.

About an hour and a half of scouring the edge of the Abyss goes by before I take out 4 Demonic Wolves and fill my core up past 40 Units.

I'm missing out on precious hours of sleep, but I'm pretty glad I didn't go through that whole soul-bonding process with any Demonic Energy in my core. Even with my skills deactivated, I'm unsure what all the magic pressure would have done to my body while my mind was elsewhere.

I return to the house to find everyone else already sleeping. Worn out from the day's work, my eyes close and I soon fall asleep as well.

—

Hours later, I'm woken up by Maria's voice and her lightly shaking me.

"It's time to go, the sun is about to rise."