Vincent stood in front of the window as the trio behind him were chatting with various emotions portrayed.
As time passed, Patricia stood up and left towards her room. Alisia also stood up, but she didn't leave right away, and instead looked at Vincent who was still standing in front of the window and looking at the night sky with a calm face.
Alisia's heart slightly trembled upon seeing this, as sudden worry creeped into her heart.
Without hesitation, she went towards Vincent and gently hugged him from behind.
"I'll come tomorrow and you have to tell me your story. Okay?" she gently whispered as her head lai on his back.
"..." Vincent didn't reply, but her abrupt action somewhat disrupted his calm state of mind.
He looked down at her slender hands around his waist and after a brief hesitation, he slowly placed his hand on top of hers, "Sure."
She stayed in such a position a bit longer, before removing her hug, but before leaving, she suddenly raised her hand and made Vincent turn towards her as she gave him a short kiss into his lips.
Her face immediately flushed in red and she hastily left the room.
Vincent's heart slightly shook as he calmly looked at the closed door while his lips still had a slight warmth on them.
Vanessa saw this scene and can't help but chuckle slightly, "She is a very loyal girl. This is sadly quite rare nowadays as more and more girls pursue wealth instead of inner happiness, so don't lose her."
"..." Vincent was silent, but his heart felt a bit warmer.
…
Night was already in full display.
Inside of a certain room, a young girl was laying on a bed, unable to sleep.
Patricia was already in deep sleep on the nearby bed.
But Alisia can't as various thoughts just refuse to leave her head.
She slowly rubbed her soft lips as a smile creeped on her face.
It was their first kiss, though it can hardly be called one, but she was delighted regardless.
Suddenly, another thought appeared in her mind that made her heart beat faster as the deep blush on her face grew bigger.
'Though he tried to keep his distance from me, he didn't stop me from kissing him. If so, what if I become bolder and…'
As she thought about that thing, something inside of her started to burn.
…
Morning arrived.
Inside a certain room, two young people were sitting at the table. The young man was calmly speaking while the young girl calmly listened without hiding the astonishment on her face.
Time passed, and the young man stopped.
Alisia looked at Vincent with wide eyes, unable to believe what she just heard.
"So, after you were trapped under that lake, you found the remains of your very distant ancestor who turned out to be from the… elven race?"
She doesn't even want to mention that so-called essence, body, and soul thing or whatever it was as it was the matter she never heard about.
But the matter involving elves was completely different.
Elves were an enigmatic and spiritual race that almost never left their forests as their entire existence is tied to them. If the forest dies, they are almost doomed so most people would never be able to see an elf in their entire lives.
And Vincent's ancestor was one of those elves?
Vincent looked at her calmly.
Since he had internally already made a decision regarding Alisia and their relationship, he decided not to hide anything from her about what he went through after his entrapment.
Vincent slightly lowered his head, making his long black hair touch the table, as he contemplated if his reveal was the correct decision.
When suddenly, he felt two warm soft hands gently taking a hold of his hands, making him look at her.
Alisia looked at him with slightly tearful eyes, "Honestly, it doesn't matter to me if you're not entirely human."
As she said it, she leaned further towards his face and took his lips. But this time, it wasn't a brief kiss like yesterday.
After some time, she slowly moved back with a blushed face and heavy breathing while Vincent was speechless.
Though he had internally acknowledged his emotions towards her, he was still feeling weird about such close physical contact.
Vincent slightly touched his lip with his teeth, thinking about something before abruptly standing up under Alisia's bewilderment and heading towards his backpack.
There, he picked up something and went back to the table before placing the fabric on the table between the two.
Alisia looked curiously, "What is this?"
But instead of replying, Vincent spoke, "I want to test something and I need your assistance."
"Whatever it is, I'm all yours," she slightly chuckled, agreeing without hesitation.
Vincent slowly nodded. He gently took one of her hands before picking a knife which somewhat frightened her, but she didn't move.
"What is this?" she weakly asked, unable to suppress her thoughts.
But Vincent didn't reply, instead, he took one of her fingers and sliced it slightly.
Alisia's heart shook as she gritted her teeth in sharp pain.
She has no idea what is going on, but she trusts Vincent. She believes that he will not do this without solid reason.
As blood began to flow, Vincent unfolded the fabric and picked the nearly transparent crystal before dropping a bit of her blood on the crystal.
Afterwards, Alisia saw that under Vincent's nearly perfect skin a greenish and bluish veins started to grow.
Afterwards, she felt that pain on her finger started to fade away as the wound closed up right in front of her eyes to her shock.
Vincent discovered in the past, that certain combinations of essences when activated together, can produce quite interesting effects.
For example, his green and blue essence seeds which are respectively wood and water essences, combined, will turn into something new. The old tome did mention much in this area, so Vincent wasn't very knowledgeable.
For himself, he called it the essence of nature. So far he had only discovered that it can hasten regeneration dramatically. Mainly because of these regeneration properties, he was able to enter Stage 2 in the Body Tempering path when he pushed his muscles and tendons to the limit when they started ripping apart.
He doesn't remember through how many circles of ripping his muscles apart and then regenerating them, he went through before they were strengthened to the point that he wasn't anymore able to make them rip apart by himself.
If not for this regeneration, he doubted he'll be able to enter this stage.
But the pain from it was vivid even now.
Also, if he didn't practice Soul Refinement that strengthened mental state and reduced the influence of emotions, that pain would probably make him stop in the least or would've driven him mad if he persisted.
It was quite convenient that each of the three paths of self improvement were covering each other's weaknesses to some extent.
Vincent wasn't sure if this was some mystical providence that granted him this possibility to walk on those 3 paths simultaneously or if he was just extremely lucky to be born with 3-colored essence seed.
Whatever the reason, the mysterious rules of this world in combination with essence in the air, immortality was no longer just a dream, but a possibility.
But how many can actually reach it?
…
As Vincent wondered of this nearly impossible possibility, the time slowly passed.
The reason Vincent decided to test Alisia's essence affinity was due to his chaotic emotions.
He is someone who walks on a triple path and his lifespan will drastically outlast those of non-practioners.
It means, if Alisia cannot step into Essence Cultivation with him, then as time will go on, she'll inevitably age, meanwhile, Vincent's aging will only slow down more and more as further he progresses in his triple path.
Though he accepted her feelings, if it turns out that she doesn't possess essence seed… he'll be forced to erase her memories of him in the future once his soul force reaches a certain level of refinement.
He truly doesn't want this to happen since she was the only person who evoked certain feelings within him.
But what he doesn't want even more than that is to see her death from old age while he stays young.
Even if she steps in Body Tempering path that also can increase one's lifespan, she'll not progress further in the Beginning Phase due to the gentle nature that women are born with.
This path requires enduring horrendous physical pain while walking hand-on-hand with violence not only towards others but towards oneself.
And the 3rd path, the Soul Refinement, does not provide increased lifespan to the physical body, it strengthens one's soul, but the price of it is irreversible and absolute.
Those who fully commit to progress in this path, will inevitably be forced to completely abandon their emotions and even self-identity the further they progress.
If Vincent had to be honest, he was very scared of progressing in this path.
Currently, he was only at Stage 2 in Soul Refinement, and yet his emotions are already affected to this extent.
If this continues, what will happen once he reaches Stage 3 which concludes the Beginning Phase?
Then what about Stage 4 that marks the beginning of the Intermediate Phase which provides a drastic increase in soul force as well the price in such advancement compared to the Beginning Phase?
He doesn't even want to mention the Late Phase which he knows nothing about, but even so, he can roughly guess that the mental and emotional changes upon reaching it will be irreversible.
Will he even still be himself at that point?
He doesn't know nor does he wish to know.
…
Vincent knew that roughly 1 in 10,000 people are born with essence seed. The chances are very slim, but he'll try regardless.
Considering everything earlier, stepping on the Essence Cultivation path was the only choice for Alisia if she wished to be with him.
Their entire future will be decided right now by this small crystal.