He started a new simulation and calculated how many mana crystals he still needed.
The result almost made him cry.
He had never felt this short on money in his life.
He had already spent 100 million dollars on one thousand high grade mana crystals, and he still needed nine thousand more to complete his foundation stage.
That meant he would have to spend all the capital his mother had just given him.
"No. I need to find my own money.
If I ask for more, Mom will ask for more details," Alex said.
He sighed and muttered, "What a scam..."
[King, you should check your status first before saying it is a scam.]
***
[Name: Alex Campbell]
[Power Level: 5.3]
[Progenitor Transformation: 10/100%]
[Lifeforce: 45/1,200]
[Cultivation Level: Foundation Stage - Early Level]
***
Alex raised his eyebrow.
"One mana crystal raises my lifeforce capacity by one?"
[That is correct, but I think this is because you used it on your spine.]
[On other parts, the result will not be this significant.
It will instead increase your power level by a lot.]
"I see. That makes sense.
But does that mean I can enhance my abilities?"
He then remembered that his brain had already been mutated by mana. He doubted he could push it further the same way.
The only other option was to use qi, but that was too risky.
As he was thinking, his head suddenly felt light. An intense hunger rose from deep inside his soul.
[King, your life force is under 10%. You should quickly find someone to drain.]
"I knew it, it is a scam!"
Alex gritted his teeth and tried to control the hunger.
Until now, Vesa had never told him anything useful about how to use life force.
In Mingyue's case, Vesa used it to help her cultivation. For Alex, it had done nothing.
If he had known this earlier, he would have chosen to enhance another part of his body first.
He had spent a huge amount of money just to raise his lifeforce limit and was now pushed into a state of hunger.
Unlike Mingyue, Alex had not absorbed a single point of life force since he got the system.
He had thought he still had some time to find a good target because the life force reduction was very slow.
Now he did not know what to do.
Inside the building there were only Feng Xue and the family members of the old Suzaku guild, most of them elders and children.
He knew he could not lose control here. If he went berserk and attacked them, it would cause a huge scene.
He also knew he would never forgive himself.
Using all his strength, he rushed into a secret passage that led outside the facility.
At this point, anyone was fine as long as it was not someone he knew.
The facility stood some distance away from the city and was surrounded by forest.
Alex hoped he could find some wild animals and absorb their life force, at least enough to bring it back above ten percent.
Things did not go as he hoped.
That day, Emily had some spare time, so she decided to visit the facility, check the space for the guild, and meet a few old acquaintances.
On the way there, she saw someone walking in the middle of the forest.
"That looks like Alex.
What is he doing out here alone at night?" she mumbled.
Emily parked the car on the side of the road and looked in the direction Alex was heading.
She realized he was going deeper into the forest.
This made her worry. The area ahead did not only have wild animals.
Some of them had already mutated into monsters.
She got out of the car and started moving after him.
As she watched him, Emily noticed his speed was not normal.
"Is this the result of the cultivation he did?" she wondered.
She increased her pace and started to catch up.
When she could see his back clearly, Emily called out in a loud voice, "Brother, where are you going!?"
Alex's mind was already half consumed by hunger. The familiar voice jolted him awake for a moment.
A strong conflict rose inside him. One side was his instinct to protect his family.
The other side was the new hunger of the progenitor.
With the last bit of his sanity, Alex burst forward with all his strength and dashed deeper into the forest.
The ground under his feet cracked like a spiderweb.
Emily was stunned by his reaction.
She had expected him to turn around with his usual smile, ask what she was doing there, and then act mysterious if she teased him.
Instead, her worry grew heavier.
Alex could feel Emily moving faster toward him. Her high life force felt like a bright flame in the dark.
The way his body reacted to it, almost drooling over that energy, made him feel sick.
"Emily! Do not follow me!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs.
If his mind had been clear, he would have realized that yelling like this was the worst choice.
It would only make her more determined.
Emily was already traumatized by their father's disappearance.
There was no way she would let Alex go off on his own now, even if it cost her life.
Her body started to glow. She turned into light and appeared instantly in front of Alex.
It was one of her trump cards, a movement ability she only used when her life was in danger.
Seeing Alex's state, she did not hesitate.
Her face turned pale, and sweat covered her body. That one move had almost drained her mana.
When Alex saw Emily appear in front of him, his body froze.
Emily took one step closer. Alex took one step back.
"Stay away, Emily!" he shouted.
"No!
What happened to you!?" Emily asked, her voice full of worry.
She could see that his eyes were almost completely red. Veins stood out under his skin.
"No... no... no!
Vesa, do something!!"
Alex kept stepping back, but Emily rushed forward again.
She appeared right in front of him and reached out, trying to hold him.
To Alex, the person in front of him was no longer his sister. She was a source of rich and delicious life energy.
The hunger finally took over. His mind went blank.
"Bro... Brother!!!!"
Emily's scream echoed through the forest.