Eon spent the following days resting to heal his wounds. In order to provide the greatest chance of success for the alteration, he had to be in his peak state. 9 days after awakening from his coma and a month and a half after his transmigration, Eon looked at his naked body in the mirror. He was covered in fine red lines forming countless runes, made from the blood of demon beasts. It was reminiscent of the pattern on circuit boards, but the pathways were much more chaotic and connected, forming a bizarrely beautiful abstract painting. Zerle had spent much of the past 9 days inscribing these patterns onto Eon's skin and was currently setting up the last of the requirements for the ritual, giving Eon some time to think.
'In the end, my fortune is up to Zerle. If this fails, I can only curse my bad luck and try to live out the rest of my days peacefully outside of the sect, or perhaps I will die before I am even capable of leaving. Conflict is common in this world, and I might be made into canon fodder for some battlefield. Hell, maybe Lein will just kill me outright after my expulsion from the sect. I did tear out his eye, and I doubt he is the type to forgive and forget.'
Eon let out a sigh, considering whether or not his new reality was really what he fantasized about in the times he had read novels on Earth. He had lots of painful experiences since he left, and even if things went well with the alteration, Eon was likely to experience more pain in the future. But perhaps that pain was an indicator that he was still alive, an achievement of sorts. Eon looked at the long scar on his arm and chest from his fight with Lein. Even though he had had countless fights in the past, all of his wounds were perfectly healed by the tutorial, leaving his skin in perfect condition. This was his first battle scar, and Epn had mixed feelings about having it.
As he was deep in thought, Eon heard a knock on the door. He lightly coughed before saying "come in".
Coming inside was a woman in an orange robe who was just a bit older than Eon. Being naked, Eon immediately blushed and instinctively covered his "sensitive" parts. Scoffing, the woman said, "You don't have anything worth looking at anyway. Hurry up, grandfather is waiting." Before turning and walking back out the door.
'Grandfather? Does she mean Zerle?' Eon thought.
After a moment's hesitation, Eon uncomfortably walked out into the living room. Zerle and the woman were standing around an 8-foot runic circle painted onto the floor, made of the same red lines that covered Eon's skin.
"Ah good, you're ready. Oh yeah, I don't know if you were conscious at the time, but this is my granddaughter Sophia. She is the one who brought you to my doorstep on that first day after you were discovered to be an anomaly. As of the moment, she is like you, preparing for the upcoming trial. Though, given her relative strength as a mid-stage body tempering cultivator, it is easier for her than most. Fortunately, she has agreed to help us out with this ritual, as it would be difficult for me to do it by myself with my stamina." Zerle said as he pulled Eon toward the center of the circle.
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"Granddaughter? Master, aren't you 243 years old? How can your granddaughter be so… young?" Eon asked.
"Hehehe, you think just because I am old I can't have a good time with women? I have planted several seeds across time, one of which being this girl's father, who fell in love and married Hela, and eventually had Sophia."
Eon shivered, trying to get the image of this old man "having a good time" out of his head, feeling even more uncomfortable than before. He was also quite surprised to learn that Hela was Zerle's daughter-in-law, and wondered why Zerle and Hela hadn't mentioned it before, but this was a matter that he wanted to talk about later. For now, the effective period of this demon blood was limited, and would only last another few hours, so Eon had to hurry up and lay down on the runes. As he did so, he noticed the runes on his skin connected with the runes on the floor, forming a complete, vibrant pattern. Finally, Zerle took out a small vial of what appeared to be honey and rubbed in on 12 spots on Eon's skin.
Sophia leaned on a wall as she silently watched the whole process, stepping up before the large circle, 180 degrees across from Zerle. A serious look entered both cultivators' faces as they sat down in a meditative pose. They glanced at each other before moving their hands all over the circle, placing their fingertips seemingly at random. wherever they touched the red line pulsed a gold color which eventually ended at the 12 points on Eon's skin. Eon felt that he had been "locked" into place by the red lines, he couldn't move even if he wanted to. Eon felt his senses weakening, and that even if he wanted to he couldn't activate bodily revelation or qi perception. Zerle had warned Eon of this beforehand, so Eon wasn't worried about it. As his vision blurred though, something unexpected and crystal clear popped up in front of Eon's eyes. It was a system pop-up!
[Qi invasion detected! Scanning… invader intent established. Host intent established. Query: assist, ignore, resist?]
The system remained largely inactive since Eon left the tutorial, only allowing him to view his fairly limited status screen. He hadn't expected that it would pop up now of all time. He also noticed that prompts had become much more robotic, but was unsure what it meant. Thinking for a moment, Eon mentally selected the assist. If the system believed it could help, Eon would allow it. While he didn't know the purpose or reasoning behind the system, this entire process was already a huge gamble. If he could have even slightly better odds of success, Eon would grasp it. After he selected the assist option, Eon felt a sensation prickle across the 12 spots Zerle had placed the honey-like substance before. That was the only change Eon noticed, which disappointed him. Eon could only hope that this would help. Finally, Zerle and Sophia stopped after an hour. They glanced at each other, and then at Eon, and then back at each other.