For the past hour, Anna had been absorbing the powers of the lizardmen. The continuous use of her abilities was taking its toll—she'd grown increasingly nauseous as the session went on, and several times she'd nearly passed out from the strain.

But she pushed through it, taking only brief breaks between absorptions before diving back into the training.

Lucien had been carefully monitoring her status after every absorption, trying to understand exactly how her powers worked. What he'd discovered was fascinating.

The first lizardman she'd absorbed had given her all of its stats—a significant boost across the board. But after that, the amount she gained from each subsequent absorption decreased dramatically.

By the tenth absorption, she was getting barely any stat increases at all. Though all these boosts were temporary additions to her base stats,

Lucien had noticed something important: starting with the seventeenth monster, she'd begun getting permanent stat increases as well.

They were small—only a tiny percentage of each creature's total stats—but they were permanent. That stopped after a few creatures, until she started to gain nothing from it.

Her power seemed to work on some kind of diminishing returns system. The more she used her absorption ability, the less benefit she gained from it. But if she kept pushing through, eventually her body would adapt and retain some of that power permanently... or so he thought.

Other than the monsters who Anna absorbed, the shadows killed the rest, so the dungeon was nearly empty. Only the boss remained, and it had just emerged from the portal—a larger, more aggressive version of the lizardmen, with darker scales and more pronounced claws.

Anna was feeling extremely nauseous at this point, swaying slightly on her feet as she watched Lucien approach the boss creature.

"You should rest," Lucien told her. "You've pushed yourself hard enough for one night."

"I'm fine," Anna insisted, though her voice was shaky.

"Anna, you've absorbed twenty-nine creatures tonight. That's more than enough for a first training session."

The boss lizard let out a roar and charged at Lucien with surprising speed. But right now, an E-rank boss was barely worth his attention. His daggers found their mark on the boss's body, and within seconds, the creature was dead on the forest floor.

The portal began to shimmer and close as the dungeon's magic faded. The bodies of all the creatures they'd killed remained scattered around the clearing.

He was thinking about how to use these monsters' bodies, and it turned out they would be perfect research materials.

But as of now, he did not have anything set up to use them.

"Burn them," Lucien ordered his shadow mages.

Dark flames erupted around the corpses, consuming them completely. The fire was cold rather than hot, leaving no smoke or ash behind. Within minutes, all evidence of the creatures was gone.

Anna watched the entire process with admiration. "You made it look so easy."

Lucien's shadow soldiers dissolved back into darkness as he walked over to her. "That's what happens when you're strong and have a good training partner."

"Training Partner?" Anna asked, gesturing at where the creatures had been.

"You. You've been pushing yourself hard. So, it's only fair that I show off a bit."

Anna smiled and then went quiet for a moment, then asked, "What did you figure out about my powers?"

"From what I understand, your absorption works on diminishing returns," Lucien explained. "The first time you use your powers, you get the full benefit. But each use after that gives you less and less until you're not getting any temporary boosts at all."

"That's why I stopped feeling stronger after some time," Anna realized.

"Exactly. But here's the interesting part—if you keep pushing through that plateau, your body starts to permanently adapt. Around the seventeenth absorption, you began getting small permanent stat increases."

Anna's eyes widened. "Permanent? Like, forever?"

"Forever. It's only a tiny percentage of each target's power, but it adds up over time. Think of it like training your body—the more you use your abilities, the stronger they become."

Anna leaned back against the log, processing this information. "So I really can get stronger. Not just temporarily, but permanently."

"Much stronger. There are some limits, but with enough absorptions, you could become incredibly powerful."

"Your powers are more versatile than most," Lucien continued.

"What do you mean?"

"When you absorb someone, you don't just get their physical abilities—you get their knowledge, their memories, their skills. That's incredibly valuable."

"Plus, you have something I don't," Lucien continued.

"What's that?"

"The ability to make me care about someone other than myself."

Anna looked at him with surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that before I met you, I was just focused on surviving. And honestly, if it weren't for you, I would have turned out to be an introvert and an edge lord combined with my powers. But you changed that. You made me want to protect you, and to build something worth having."

Anna felt her cheeks heat up. "Lucien..."

"I'm serious. You want to know what real strength is? It's what you did tonight. Pushing through pain to become better. It's choosing to trust me with something that could kill you."

Anna was staring at him now, her eyes bright with emotion. "You really mean that?"

"Every word."

They stood in comfortable silence for a moment, just looking at each other. The forest around them was peaceful, with only the gentle sounds of night creatures in the distance.

"Thank you," Anna said softly. "For tonight, for believing in me, for... everything."

"You don't need to thank me for anything."

"Yes, I do. For years, I've felt like my powers were a curse that would hurt anyone who got close. But tonight, for the first time, they felt like something I could control."

"They were never a curse, Anna. They're part of what makes you who you are."

Anna's breath caught slightly at his words. "And who do you think I am?"

"You're one of the strongest people I know. You've been carrying the weight of being afraid of yourself for years, and you're still here, still fighting, still caring about others... about me."

"Lucien..."

"I mean it. You're brave, you're kind, you're brilliant, and you're beautiful. And the fact that you trust me enough to be here, alone... that means everything to me."

Anna was quiet for a long moment, just staring into his eyes. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"You know what I realized tonight?"

"What?"

"I'm not afraid of my powers anymore. But I am afraid of something else."

"What are you afraid of?"

Anna took a deep breath. "I'm afraid that if I don't tell you how I feel right now, I might lose my courage."

Lucien's heart started beating faster. "Anna..."

"I like you, Lucien. Not just because you saved me, not just because you're helping me get stronger. I like... love you because you see me as more than just my powers. You see me as... me. You got me comfortable with myself."

"Anna..." Lucien started, but she held up a hand.

"I know we've been dancing around this for weeks. All the almost-moments, all the times we've gotten close and then pulled back. But I don't want to dance around it anymore."

She stood up and moved closer to him. "I want to know how you feel about me. Really feel."

Lucien stood as well, his eyes never leaving hers. "You want to know how I feel?"

"Yes."

"I feel like every day with you makes me want to be better than I was the day before. I feel like you see something in me that's worth protecting. I feel like I could face anything as long as I knew you were safe."

Anna's eyes were shining now. "And?"

"And I like you too, Anna. I love your eyes, your lips, I love the way you care about everyone around you, even when you're scared."

Anna smiled, the expression lighting up her entire face. "Then why haven't you kissed me yet?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you were ready."

"My powers don't affect you, remember? We figured that out weeks ago."

"It's not about your powers, but rather—"

"But nothing," Anna said, moving even closer. "I'm ready, Lucien. I've been ready for weeks."

Lucien looked down at her, seeing the certainty in her eyes, the trust, the love. "Are you sure?"

Anna answered by reaching up and placing her hands on either side of his face. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Just as their lips were about to meet, a massive sound like thunder and destruction roared from the sky above them. Both of them looked up in frustration to see a large circular ship hovering in the sky.

"Not again," Lucien grumbled.

But before he could say anything else, Anna grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him firmly on the lips.

The kiss was everything their earlier moment had promised to be. Anna kissed him passionately, her hands moving to the back of his head, pulling him closer.

Lucien placed his hands on her waist, kissing her back with equal intensity. All the tension that had been building between them finally found its release.

When they finally separated, Anna's hands remained on the back of his head while his stayed on her waist.

"I have had enough of being interrupted the first time," Anna said, breathing heavily but smiling. "So I had to take the chance before something else ruined the moment. And, all those YouTube tutorials about kissing seem to have worked out~"

Lucien's phone started to ring, and he knew it was going to be from Natasha about that massive ship in the sky.

"Anna..."

"Now I'm all yours," she continued, her voice soft but happy, "So go deal with whatever that is in the sky."

....

POWER STONE GOAL: 700 ( 1 Extra Chapter)

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