In recent years the Verdant Orphanage had seen many of its dwellers suffering from all sorts of symptoms of mental health deterioration. Some had been excessively violent with others over simple matters and others were way too lazy to get anything done.
There were even rumors of coworkers being involved in scandalous deeds within the orphanage. Especially the first basement floor which had become a good place to "work" more. The director had turned a blind eye to this so the staff members were even more reckless with their behavior these days.
Some lovebirds who thought nothing could go wrong in their relationship ended up witnessing their partner cheating on them, some even got a live show of the cheater going at it with another one. Thus violent clashes, screams and shouts were abundant at the basement floor.
Surprisingly there were no accidental deaths or anyone getting seriously hurt in any of those cases. Anyways, the orphanage sure had been lively throughout these years though from the outside any of these changes couldn't be noticed.
The childrens in the orphanage seemed to have become gourmets. Now they could eat up two adult's portion and still be wanting. Thus a serious case of overweight kids walking around the building could be observed. This obesity naturally brought many health issues and some of the kids would need to visit the doctor for checkups but any major incident still hadn't happened thus the director's indifference seemed justified.
There had also been a new trend going around the orphanage. Anyone who could perform a handstand was revered by others. This created a handstand boom which swept through the orphanage for over three years. Any "handstander" was considered heaven's pride, a source of envy from those incapable. Even the director joined in and got the longest record of handstand performance garnering others admiration.
There also had been serious cases of theft throughout the orphanage. This went from the kids in the orphanage to the guard at the main gate. The director now had to step up to solve this matter.
Those who were caught were given the punishment according to their behavior in recent years. Thieves who were foodie were told to be lazy enough to not even eat for a day. Thieves who had a violent temper were told to practice handstands to become a "handstander". Thieves who were lazy were told to eat more food to drive away the laziness.
Thus this insanity kept going for five years till one day, without anyone noticing, all of them had forgotten what they were doing in earlier years and they all had a single thought. They should serve a certain teenager with all their heart who they considered as their lord.
°°°°
Blue was now over 17 years old.
It had been five years and half since he arrived in this world. He had completely corrupted all of the people in the orphanage by yesterday. The energy siphoning had been completed last year and he was able to concentrate on corrupting everyone here for the past year.
His mental strength limit had reached to a certain extent that even if he corrupted over 500 unawakened people he would still be fine. So the 300 plus people didn't put any significant mental burden on him.
There were many who were adopted, many who reached the age limit and had to go to the awakening ceremony where some failed and a handful passed, there were also some staff members who had to go to a different location because of transfer order.
Blue effectively made sure to corrupt or use his abilities on those who were safe to be toyed around. Even if he could be a bit bold about his actions he still didn't become reckless and kept a low profile.
Especially since his 13th birthday, a year after arriving in this world, he seemed to garner attention by just existing. Girls of all ages seemed to be keenly interested in him, boys seemed to show subtle affirmation to any of his words and deeds.
Something had happened!
Blue was sure of it. But he couldn't figure out what had happened. Just as he entered puberty, he seemed to have become as radiant as the sun. Whenever he ain't using Perception Dissonance, almost all people's eyes would be on him and even those who didn't look at him directly would keep taking sneaky glaces.
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This was very uncomfortable. Especially since he always liked to blend into the background and remain as obscure from people's memory as possible. This was very detrimental for his plans. At 13 years of age, he still didn't have enough mental strength to start corrupting everyone and on top of that only lust energy siphoning was completed. Six more were still left without mentioning the Blessed Womb physique he had to find later. Blue suspected that it must have been done by the system.
Did that thing sneakily make his life difficult? Damn it!
So until 16th year when the siphoning was finally completed, he had to be on constant alert because of his new found popularity. After that he swiftly started corrupting everyone left and right. He just couldn't stand this much attention.
One good thing about all this predicament was that his Perception Dissonance ability's proficiency increased enough that now he could deceive the surveillance cameras or any mechanical monitoring equipment. As long as aether was not involved he was basically imperceptible.
Indeed, he still couldn't beat the aether sense. It wasn't anything as simple as just increasing proficiency on that ability would keep making him stealthy. Without awakening the aether vein any countermeasure against aether-related matters would always fail. Anyways he just had to wait for six more months before going to the awakening ceremony.
He felt a sense of urgency to activate the system before he went there. No, it wasn't his occasional "instinct" but just his perfectionist tendencies acting up. So he left the orphanage early in the morning.
After he entered the street he used Perception Dissonance and constantly checked for progress on the system whenever any woman entered his perception range. He was determined to check all unawakened females in this city by the end of this day.
There was actually 95% chance that the owner of Blessed Womb physique was awakened. If it was important enough for this enigmatic system to be recognized as a requirement for its evolution then surely such a woman wouldn't be among the unawakened plebs.
But his meticulous personality wouldn't rest easy if he didn't absolve that 5% chance. Not to mention, he wouldn't casually come into contact with an awakened person. His body and soul didn't match so there would be a slight disharmony in the aether around him. If one of the players were perceptive enough or had a "class" specialized at such obscure stuff then he would be toast.
An hour passed, and he checked the area around the orphanage with no result. He then went eastward. Since the orphanage was in the southeast section of the city he had already swept through the entire section. His body's speed, physical strength and other aspects were significantly higher than a mortal human.
Blue surmised that it must have been his abyss spawn soul subtly influencing his body to gradually adjust to the optimal state. After all, more than five years had passed. Any notion of this being a possessed shell had been discarded. Even those top powerhouses of Inner Area specializing in possession could at most go for three years without taking any break. Anything beyond that then their soul would either get shredded from the space-time turbulence or the shell would start crumbling like a sand castle.
That resolved one of his lingering doubts.
As he went towards the eastern section that had beaches and palm trees, his "instinct" that had been dormant for many years started acting up again.
It told him that he would find the person he was searching for in this section. Blue heaved a sigh of relief but then he became concerned.
"Why is an awakened roaming around this part of the city? This is where all those unawakened they considered a burden lives. Unless…"
He didn't bother with more conjecture since he would find out the truth soon. Then about fifteen minutes later, he finally found his target as the "(?)" in the system changed to "(✓)" when he laid his eyes on her.
It was a middle aged lady with a height taller than those of her age. She wore a yellow colored light sweater and knee length white skirt as well as a straw hat on her head for some reason. In the early spring morning she was strolling along the beach. She had a plumb figure with big breasts protruding proudly from her chest, giving the impression of two mountain peaks. Her buttocks were bubbly and one could only imagine the sheer cake she had hidden behind. Her hips were curvy and her thighs seemed to be juicy just from the outline of her skirt.
Her skin was fair with a bit of rosy tint on it. Her brown hair was up to waist length flowing casually behind her back. Her eyes were of hazel color and her eyelashes long, eyebrows slim. Her nose is a bit blunt on the tip, her lips thick and deep red.
When Blue saw her he had one thought in his mind that was neither about her beauty in that age nor about her sexiness,
"So the Blessed Womb was unawakened?"
What a scum! No appreciation for beauty? Well, he had seen enough in his 3 million plus years and not to mention his aesthetic sense was more inclined towards sexy abyss spawn females.
Anyways, now that he had found the target next he would need to figure out how to complete the second requirement.