Damon stirred awake in a few minutes, his brows twitching slightly as awareness returned. But he didn’t open his eyes. The warmth beneath his head, the soft rhythm of breath beside him, the faint scent of lavender and healing herbs, it all wrapped around him like a cocoon. And after everything that had happened today, he wasn’t in a hurry to crawl out of it.
He stretched just a little, subtly adjusting his position without lifting his head from Kate’s lap. It was... absurdly comfortable. His thoughts drifted back through the whirlwind of the past few hours, the tallic fortress, La Rocha, his mana core formation, the weird thing his blood did, and finally this world spirt’s binding ritual.
There were so many things he needed to process. There was also the thing with the ice freaks family. Their infighting were about to break out any second now and he needed to get his family out of there while everything was still normal. To get them to a more permanent safe place he needed to up everybody’s soul strength. There was also the black pool and the legacy buried underneath.
"Alright. Break ti’s over." Damon flashed his eyes open with a grin, staring right into Kate’s eyes. "Thanks for being my pillow. Awwww, I didn’t know you liked this much." Damon teased her.
Kate rolled her eyes, but the faint flush on her cheeks betrayed her. "You say that like I had a choice. You collapsed like a sack of bricks. I was trying to keep you from drooling on the moss."
"Oh, co on," Damon smirked. "That sounds like the kind of excuse soone in love would make."
"In your dreams." She narrowed her eyes, trying to suppress a smile. "You should be grateful I didn’t dump you in the stream."
Damon chuckled and sat up, rolling his shoulders with a satisfying crack. "I’d still count that as affection. You didn’t actually drown , after all."
Kate gave him a sideways glance, but her expression softened as she stood. "You’re impossible, you know that?"
"Unstoppable and impossible," Damon said with mock pride. "Want to see sothing sweet?"
"Is this about that woman?" Kate’s mood dropped a little.
"She is not really a woman, you know."
Damon did not explain further as he pulled up his system notifications one after the other. There were a lot of older notifications he was yet to go through but he opened the newest ones first.
[Ding! Binding Ritual complete]
[Ding! You have successfully bound a Lesser World Spirit: Azuna – Aspect of Earth and Life]
[Ding! World Spirit has mutated]
[Ding! World Spirit is undergoing a transformation under the influence of your bloodline]
[Ding! Lesser World Spirit: Azuna is now partially evolved to a Mid-tier World Spirit: Azuna - Aspect of Earth and Blood]
[Ding! As the first player in Earth Online to bind a World Spirit, you have gained the unique title: "Worldbound Pioneer"]
[Ding! You have gained the trait: [World’s Pulse] – Your connection to the earth elent has been permanently enhanced. Passive bonuses to mana regeneration and earth-elent affinity applied.]
[Ding! Your soul has been branded with a World Spirit Sigil. Access to World Spirit Interface unlocked.]
[Ding! Soul Strength increased significantly.]
[Ding! You have unlocked a unique companion skill: [Azuna’s Embrace] – Summon the bound World Spirit in combat or for healing rituals. Effectiveness scales with environntal harmony.]
[Ding! Azuna’s passive ability [Crimson Sanctuary] activated – While in natural terrain, minor healing and mana regeneration effects apply to all party mbers who are of the vampiric race.]
Damon grinned. It looked like one more surprise was waiting for him.
"What are you smiling about? Ah! Can you just tell quickly? This suspense is seriously killing !" Kate smacked him impatiently. The guy had been smiling to himself for a few minutes now. "Damon! Co on! I hate it when you say you have sothing to tell and then you don’t talk for the next five minutes! Spit it out, you jackass!"
Damon chuckled. "Wait. Wait. See for yourself. Azuna, co out."
The next second, a soft ripple shimred in the air beside Damon. The temperature of the valley shifted subtly, the scent of soil after rain filling the space as if the earth itself had inhaled and exhaled in greeting. Light gathered like morning dew and coalesced into a glowing silhouette.
Then, she appeared.
Azuna stepped forward, barefoot and radiant, her long hair flowing hair now vibrant crimson in color. Her eyes, once a serene forest green, now glowed with a blood red hue like fresh blood under moonlight. Her presence was both calming and commanding, life and danger intertwined.
Kate blinked. "Wha... she’s real?" she said, taking a step back. She couldn’t handle the pressure seeping out of the woman even when she was not doing anything.
Azuna smiled softly and gave a small bow. "It is a pleasure to et you, Kate. I am Azuna, a World Spirit bound to Master."
"You made her a vampire?" Kate did not understand and turned to ask Damon.
"Ya, I guess I did. But I did not an to." Damon chuckled. "Azuna, can we visit you?"
"Huh? What do you an visit?" Kate was now even more confused.
Damon chuckled. "My dear Kate. Welco to our own personal world. You are familiar with Earth, our world? Just like that, this is Azuna, my own little personal world!"
"What... are you serious?" Kate’s jaw dropped on the ground in shock. Never in a million years had she expected sothing like this. "This is insane. Completely ridiculous and overpowered. How can you own a world? How did you even get sothing like this?"
Damon’s grin widened. "Oh, that is the best part. When I bound with Azuna, I was able to access so of her mories. This, my dear Kate, is a generous gift from our very own super villain La Rocha who was trying to capture us all an hour ago."
Kate’s eyes beca even wider.
"Yup. It looks like I have managed to steal her right out from under his nose." Damon’s voice dripped with satisfaction.
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