Alyssia was stumped. As forthright as she'd been so far, having this conversation wasn't easy for her. If her sister could see her now, she was certain she'd never hear the end of it. Still, being as terrible at aura control as he is, I can't really blame him. In all honesty, she'd understood how rude he was being. Anyone else in her situation would've come to blows by now.

Nonetheless, it was best she shut these things down early on. Her relationship with Arthur was complicated enough without throwing in some extra drama. Maybe she could even give him some advice. It would be a real shame if her saviour couldn’t find a mate because he was following this flawed courtship method.

A tiny part of her, the one that always got her in trouble with her mother, however, couldn't help but have a little fun at Arthur's expense.

“Arthur, I’m flattered. Really, I am. But you’d have to be twice my age at least for me to accept your advances.” She lied with a deadpan face.

It was Arthur's turn to be stumped. It looked like he'd short-circuited and Alyssia revelled in the evident confusion present on his face. Ha, this is how I feel every time you pull out some new bullshit ability from your arse, she thought. Arthur didn't know how the conversation had reached this point but he had to bring it back on track. And does she really only date people twice her age? No that doesn’t matter right now. Arthur shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. He quickly looked up when a shadow fell over him to see Alyssia’s amused and expectant face a few centimetres away from his own.

She had somehow closed the distance between them without him realising, and he could see a faint smirk on her lips. Her predatory yellow eyes were fixed on his own, like he was prey she had cornered and he could feel her warm breath on his face. It made him feel like a deer caught in the headlights.

Arthur instinctively recoiled backwards when he realised just how close they were, his heart thumping wildly. What the fuck is she doing? The alverin woman started to laugh when she saw Arthur’s reaction and she reached out her hand to pat his head like he was a small child. Arthur slapped it away and it only made her laugh harder.

“See, Arthur,” she said with a wide smile on her face. “You’re still far too young to start looking for a mate. Give it a century or two when you're more mature. You’re still wet behind the ears. And besides, now is no time to try and woo a woman. Remember, you're going to die soon. Even our friends over here know better and they're animals,” she chuckled, indicating with her hand to the two Stormwalkers who had approached the strange pair to observe the weird social ritual they were doing.

Arthur glared at her until she finally calmed down.

"I'm joking, okay. But still, this is something we need to talk about. I know you're suffering from a disconnect with your aura right now, but that doesn't mean it's a completely separate thing to you. It still reflects who you are and what you're thinking." She took a deep breath.

"Since we first met this morning, your aura's brushed up against me in a very provocative way no less than twelve times. Very, very intimate stuff, usually done between lovers." she deadpanned.

Arthur was mortified. Sure, he thought Alyssia was pretty, but it didn't go to that extent. He knew countless people that blew her looks out of the water and he barely even knew her yet. What the fuck is my aura going around doing?

"The only reason it's not offensive is because I know of your unique circumstances. Consuming the Shadow Panther's core affected you in more ways than you know. The system told you you're a half-breed, right. I think it was being quite literal. A part of you, the more bestial and feral side, demands dominion of everything it deems lesser. Combined with your human tendencies, that means you want to mate with every female humanoid you can see. At least that's the impression your aura gives. You can understand why I felt it was best to clear the air as soon as possible.

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At first, I thought you were suffering from aito because of soul damage but now I think a part of it's caused by your strange nature."

"You are, quite literally not human anymore. And the dissonance in your sense of self is caused because you haven't quite come to terms with that. It's a good thing though. It makes the job of sorting you out far easier."

Arthur took a moment to digest that. It was a conclusion he'd come to a long time ago. He hadn't cared much about it then, what with everything else going on in his life, but it looked like it had far-reaching consequences. Why couldn't things just be simple for once?"

Arthur focused on the good news. It would be easier to sort his personality problem out.

"I think I have it figured out already. Because my aura issues, the result of my disassociation problem, stems from the fact that I'm part beast, I need to tune it with my human side."

He pulled the box containing the dragon core out of his backpack and placed it on the floor in front of him.

"So I'm guessing finally absorbing this thing here will fix that issue meaning I won't have to waste some time finding inner peace or some BS like that. Right?"

Alyssia grinned at him.

"It's times like these I remember your not an idiot. Really, your aura is doing you NO favours, Arthur. You would've sounded a lot smarter if it didn't feel like a kitten was trying to rub my legs."

"But yep. You've hit it on the head. Since your Aito stems entirely from your broken soul and subsequent monster problem, and not because of the fact that you're a bit of bitch," she really emphasised that last word for some reason, "Then yes, your right in that eating that core will probably fix up both of those issues."

She concentrated for a moment, closing her eyes.

"Since I last checked, you've absorbed another two monster cores. The one I recommended to unlock the perception attribute and something else that boosted your life force." Alyssia said, opening her eyes to look at him. "Something like that. What does the system call it? Vitality, right?"

Arthur nodded his head. Alyssia's ability to read his aura like an open book never failed to surprise him. Sure, it was something she'd trained in for a decade or two, but he doubted any ordinary person would get to that level of expertise if they put thrice the time in.

"It's so unfair, you know." She complained. "I'm not over the fact that you can eat a monster core just like that. It'd take me months of dedicated hunting to get the power boost you gained in just a few days. honestly, the fact that it's killing you is just the universe balancing itself out."

Arthur controlled his desires and didn't open the wooden box. Keeping his hands off it was frankly a near-impossible feat. He wouldn't be surprised if it pushed his willpower stat up a point or two. He knew that if he opened it and let its fragrant smell out, it'd be game over for him. He hadn't maximised his core consumption yet and prematurely eating the dragons could potentially lose him out on hundreds of stats. He wasn't certain how much more damage his soul needed to take though, and Alyssia seemed to read the question on his face.

"Your soul membrane looks like it can still take another core. After that, it'll degrade to the point that you won't need to do anything else for it to implode. That'll happen all on its own." Alyssia explained.

"After that, I'm guessing you'll have an hour, maybe two, where you'll have to eat that," she looked pointedly at the dragon core with disbelief on her face, "To rebuild your soul and improve it. I'm not sure what it'll do to you exactly but my money's on your half-breed title changing in some way. It'll certainly be an improvement, but I'm not sure if it'll let you maintain your current dietary plan."

Arthur nodded his head. This was a conclusion he'd already come to. The path to power would never be so easy. Otherwise, the more intelligent monsters would just hoard cores for their young. It'd take what, forty, maybe fifty powerful cores to create an unbeatable beast, peerless under the heavens. Thankfully, the world didn't work like that, and it only made sense that the same limitations would apply to him.

He couldn't eat his way to the top. But he'd get there, one way or the other.

A part of him, maybe the panther's, or a bit of the old Arthur coming back, wouldn't settle for less.