Chapter 88: I Finally Became Awakened

Raven woke with the sensation that someone was trying to expand his bones from the inside.

He didn’t open his eyes immediately. First he checked his breathing, mobility, and pain. His heart was beating too fast, a hot pressure ran through the center of his chest, and mana circulated through his limbs with an intensity he had never felt before. It didn’t feel like an injury or poison. It didn’t resemble any previous reaction from Predation either.

Then he noticed the weight on his chest.

Raven opened his eyes.

Valeria was asleep beside him.

He remained perfectly still for several seconds, somehow more confused by that than by the fire spreading through his mana channels.

They had taken separate rooms the previous night. He remembered that perfectly. He had locked the door, checked the container holding the Deepwell Crystalline Reservoir twice, eaten enough provisions to concern Roland, and gone to bed alone.

Now Valeria was lying on her side in his bed, close enough that some of her black hair covered Raven’s shoulder. One hand rested on his chest. The other loosely held his wrist.

Two extremely thin crimson threads connected her fingers to the veins beneath his skin.

Blood Magic.

She wasn’t restraining him.

She was monitoring his circulation.

Raven lifted his head slightly.

"I have several questions about how we arrived at this situation."

Valeria woke instantly.

There was no gradual return to consciousness. Her red eyes opened, and her hand moved from Raven’s chest to the base of his neck while the blood threads around his wrist tightened.

"Before you start making comments, your heart was losing its rhythm less than half an hour ago, and your mana has spent several hours behaving as if it’s trying to rebuild you from the inside."

Raven looked at the hand on his neck.

"That explains why you’re still here. It doesn’t explain when you entered my room."

"Shortly after midnight."

"The door was locked."

"It also had a remarkably mediocre lock."

Raven glanced toward the door.

It was still closed.

"I distinctly remember locking it."

"That didn’t make it a good lock."

Raven looked back at her.

"I see. Then the important question is different. At what point did entering my room become getting into my bed?"

Valeria kept a serious expression for approximately two seconds.

Then she looked slightly away.

"When you started convulsing and I discovered that checking your pulse from a chair was considerably less practical."

"That sounds suspiciously convenient."

"You’re lucky I was worried. Otherwise, I would have let you discover on your own whether your heart intended to keep working."

Raven was about to answer when another wave of pressure moved through his body.

Every muscle in his torso tightened.

Valeria stopped joking immediately.

Her fingers returned to Raven’s chest.

"Your mana is increasing again."

"I can feel it."

"Pain?"

"A lot."

"That wasn’t what I asked."

Raven inhaled slowly.

"It doesn’t feel like damage. It feels like my mana channels are too small for something trying to pass through them."

Valeria frowned.

"That could be a Rank evolution."

"That was one of my suspicions."

"And the other?"

"That eating monsters has finally produced a particularly creative consequence."

Valeria stared at him.

"Do not joke about that while I’m trying to decide whether I need to open your chest."

"I’d prefer that remain a last resort."

The interface appeared in front of him.

[Qualitative Evolution Requirements Resolved.]

[Level Cap Reached: SATISFIED]

[Accumulated Experience: SATISFIED]

[Biological Integration Stability: SATISFIED]

[Mana Adaptation: SATISFIED]

[Predation Authority Compatibility: SATISFIED]

[Existence Rank Evolution Available.]

[COMMON → AWAKENED]

[Proceed?]

Raven read everything twice.

The Hollow Broodmother and Deepwell Toad had left enough retained experience to push him beyond the limit of Common. The question marks that had appeared the night before finally had an answer.

He didn’t need another mission.

He didn’t need to kill another monster.

He had already fulfilled the requirements in Mirevale.

"I know what’s happening."

Valeria watched him carefully.

"I hope the answer is better than ’my body decided to experiment.’"

"It’s the evolution to Awakened. Every requirement is complete."

Some of the tension left her face.

Not all of it.

"And what do you have to do?"

Raven gestured toward the air in front of him even though she couldn’t see the interface.

"Accept."

"What happens after that?"

"It doesn’t say."

Valeria gave him an expression Raven already recognized.

She did not like that answer.

"Then wait a few minutes. I’m getting Serah and Maelor."

"I doubt they can stop a Rank evolution once it begins."

"Probably not. But if something goes wrong, I would rather have a physician and an alchemist nearby than discover afterward that we could have done something."

Raven looked at the option again.

"Predation says every requirement is satisfied."

"Predation also considers eating magical creature glands a valid growth strategy. Forgive me if I don’t accept its medical judgment without reservations."

Raven almost smiled.

"That’s worked fairly well so far."

"You also nearly poisoned yourself, ate enough provisions for three people because two Traits were competing for resources, and healed a wound around a parasite. Your definition of ’worked fairly well’ is unusual."

Raven didn’t answer immediately.

Valeria wasn’t exaggerating.

What caught his attention wasn’t the argument.

It was her expression.

She was worried.

Not the way she became concerned while analyzing a fight.

Not the irritation she showed when he made a questionable decision.

This was more personal, and she wasn’t hiding it particularly well.

Raven looked at the hand still resting on his chest.

"Five minutes."

Valeria blinked.

"You’re going to wait?"

"You asked for five minutes. I can afford five minutes."

Her surprise didn’t last long.

"I’m going to remember this for a very long time. Raven Ashford accepted advice before something had to try killing him to prove it was correct."

"Don’t abuse the moment."

Valeria started to get up.

Raven looked down.

One of her legs was still partially crossed over his.

She followed his gaze.

"Don’t say anything."

"I was only going to point out that you’re still in my bed."

"Your body temperature was dropping an hour ago too."

"So I served as both patient and heater?"

"Consider it a complimentary second service."

Raven released a breath that almost qualified as a laugh.

Valeria moved her leg away, but took another moment before removing her hand from his chest.

Her fingers brushed Raven’s jaw as she pulled back.

It could have been another temperature check.

It could have been something else.

Raven decided not to ask.

She reached the door.

"Don’t start before I come back."

"We said five minutes."

"Knowing you, I needed to confirm that ’five’ doesn’t mean ’until I stop looking at you.’"

"Go get your doctors."

Valeria opened the door.

Raven spoke before she stepped through.

"Valeria."

She turned.

"What do you need?"

Raven hesitated for barely a moment.

That was already longer than usual.

"Thank you for staying."

Valeria’s expression changed.

The sarcasm disappeared completely.

"I wasn’t going to leave you alone while your heart decided whether it wanted to become something else."

"Still."

She watched him for a moment before smiling much more softly than usual.

"Don’t get too used to it."

Raven looked at the empty space beside him.

It was still warm.

"I think you’re too late for that warning."

Valeria went still.

Raven realized what he had said.

He also realized he didn’t want to take it back.

Her smile widened just slightly.

"Five minutes."

She closed the door behind her.

Raven lay back down.