Damian already expected the Hobgoblin’s corpse to be harder to process, but his expectations were still surpassed.

Despite going for the softest part of its abdomen, it took him two Aura slashes just to get through the hard parts. He still had to do over 10 minutes of normal cutting just to get through. Yet…

‘Even dead, it’s still being a pain…’

When he inserted his arm to grab the heart, the Hobgoblin’s organs blocked him! They were all tensed up even though it had been dead for a while!

In the end, Damian had to give up on going in just like that. He had to use another two Aura slashes to cut through the organs before grabbing the heart.

The heart itself also gave him a hard time. Nonetheless, the result made it all worth it!

“It’s not empty!”

Not only was there a Life Stone inside, but it was also a big one, almost twice the size of the normal Goblin’s Life Stone!

Damian’s eyes shone as he placed the large Life Stone among its brother. He couldn’t help remembering a certain show that he used to watch as a kid, he was just missing one more stone to summon a dragon!

‘These feel much better still.’

Though they were definitely not as valuable as those ‘stones’, Damian was completely satisfied with his bountiful harvest.

Although the majority of humanity desired free rewards, the fruit of effort always tasted the best!

Damian wasn’t even done scavenging the place to collect the rest of his rewards, but he had no plan of budging from his place.

He had forced himself to keep going for so long just for these stones, so Damian had to use them first!

“Iris.”

{Ah, yes!}

Still in the middle of stealing glances every now and then, Iris was startled to hear her name called out.

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch?”

Since Iris herself hadn’t had the chance to use any kind of resource stone, the skill synchro didn’t give Damian much help in that department.

Damian did have a few good guesses of how he could use the Life Stone, but it was easier to rely on the body’s owner for help.

{I… If you want me to.}

Knowing that Damian wasn’t going to back down, Iris’ desire slowly rose as it found an excuse to lean on. She might as well enjoy the moment!

“Good. Help me use them then.”

Despite bringing him this far, the strange Plot Armor System didn’t bother to share Iris’ memory with him, so Damian had to make do with Iris as a guide.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

{Got it. Just sit in a comfortable position, preferably cross-legged, and I will talk you through it.}

The more she gave in to her desire, the less reluctant Iris became. She now wholeheartedly wanted to do this!

{You are already familiar with the first step, just call out your Aura. Don’t worry, you don’t have to bring out something usable like usual, just a sliver would do. Now with the hand that you transmitted that Aura to, grab hold of the stone-}

Iris smoothly transitioned into teacher mode. Damian silently listened without commenting as he followed her calm directions, but that didn’t last for long.

{W-What are you doing? You can’t possibly want to use it all at once, right? I know these stones are yours, but-}

Iris’ eyes could only widen as she watched Damian put all the Life Stones in his lap, preparing them for the next step. This almost drove her crazy!

“Why?”

{Huh?}

“Why can’t I do it?”

{It is dangerous! Your body could explode! Just getting your Aura Channels destroyed is already considered the base case scenario.}

Even those who had access to an endless reserve of Magic Stones didn’t dare something insane like that.

Not to mention the deadly risks, the human body couldn’t absorb that much Magic Energy, to begin with. Even if someone was lucky enough to survive, it would only be a waste of resources!

“So what? That still doesn’t answer my question.”

Seeing Damian speaking so illogically all of a sudden, Iris felt somewhat angry inside. However, just as she was about to convince him again, she belatedly realized something.

{It really doesn’t…}

Damian was someone who had already experienced over a dozen deaths, so why would he worry about something simple like body explosion or destroyed Aura Channels? At most, these were just special methods of starting another retry…

{But…}

Iris wanted to retort that Damian would have to undergo the whole battle again, but she felt like was only stabbing herself in the foot. Considering how he only performed better each time, Damian was bound to clear this Den more easily.

Most importantly, was she even worthy of having a say in this matter? Damian was still the one who did everything on his own.

“I told you, no buts. Besides, you don’t have to worry so much. I’m almost completely sure nothing bad will happen.”

Damian wasn’t being harsh with Iris on purpose, he just wanted to get her into the loop of how things worked. Since she wasn’t actually involved in the process, Iris took longer to adapt compared to him.

‘I’m 99% sure.’

As for his crazy attempt, Damian never really planned to throw away this life. There was a proper reason why he was giving this a try!

The actual reason Why Iris never really made any progress as a Knight wasn’t because she lacked talent. Rather, she was overflowing with it.

[ Resource Devouring Genius (S-): The more you consume, the more you gain. As a penalty, progress slows down considerably without assisting resources. ]

“Continue.”

{I understand. Try to transmit that sliver of Aura into the Stones before pulling it back like a fishing rod. You then…}

Believing in Iris who didn’t believe in herself, Damian confidently distributed his fingers over the six Life Stones, doing as Iris instructed.

The tiny Aura particles he inserted weren’t enough to make a single Aura slash when combined, but they were sufficient as fishing hooks!

As soon as they went into the Life Stones, Damian could sense foreign particles that were much larger ganging up on them. However, after he quickly pulled them back into his body before they would dissipate…

The gang of foreign particles didn’t let go, flowing in like a rich stream! Moreover, this was just the beginning.

[ ‘Platinum Aura Nurturing’ has been used. Your Aura is increasing. ]

[ Aura +1 ]

Cheat Boost Mode was just getting started!