PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

565 Chapter 565 Too Hot.

Pain is a word whose meaning human beings understand almost from the moment of their birth. Desmond thought he understood pain. He had suffered it many times and in great amounts. On that occasion, he consumed the fruit, , his most memorable memory in this regard.

Desmond knew how wrong he had been all this time, only after soaking in the volcanic essence sap. The pain was on a whole new level for him. It was like being burned alive, every inch of his skin burning, every fiber of his flesh boiling, as his bones melted away.

Despite his great self-control, Desmond still couldn’t resist the urge to cry out in pain, which was a huge mistake on his part. Instantly, whole mouthfuls of sap poured down his throat, burning his body from the inside. Desmond could feel his internal organs dissolving from the heat.

The essence of fire within the sap destroyed Desmond’s body with cruelty and consistency. If it wasn’t for the second essence in the sap, Desmond was sure he would die there. If the function of the first essence within the sage was to melt Desmond’s body, the second was to temper his body.

The dense earth essence in the sap refined, templed, and nourished Desmond’s body with the help of the strengthening Aura that abounded in the sap.

The essence of fire combined with the fiery Aura burned away the impurities within his body while simultaneously bringing him into an optimal state for absorbing the essence of earth.

It was quite an interesting interaction between both essences that could nourish and strengthen an individual’s body by leaps and bounds. There was only one small problem: the pain suffered during the process was enough to drive someone crazy.

Desmond was strong-willed, but even he could feel his psyche deteriorating as the pain continued. Desmond could hold on to his sanity only for his reason to live, to strengthen himself. This was far stronger than any pain he could suffer.

Desmond’s body was refined during the process, and even his will was strengthened. Something that would improve his control over mana and his resistance to mental attacks.

.....

As Desmond’s will grew stronger over the hours within the sap, his mind grew clearer. But contrary to what any sane human being would do, Desmond used his clarity to meditate and attempt to guide the energies within the sap to further refine his body.

Unknowingly, Desmond made the right move, optimizing the benefits he would gain from the process. Had it remained the same, Desmond’s growing natural resistance to the process would cause much of the medicinal and refining efficiency to be lost. The only thing Desmond couldn’t predict was how this would affect him since the hunter’s book mentioned unknown side effects.

For her part, Aisha ran into an unexpected surprise during her meditation. At first, she used her fire mana and Aura to interact with the gem, seeking to understand the essence of the magma within it.

A few hours passed, and Aisha could clearly feel the results. Her understanding of fire and magma was growing by leaps and bounds. While her Aura’s burning properties were also undergoing great improvement.

Such benefits are something Aisha had expected, given the level of the gem and her affinity with it. She didn’t expect that the gem and her core would begin to resonate at some point during her meditation.

Aisha had barely a second to open her eyes before things got out of her hands. The core, the source of her life and fire, gave off a strange heartbeat-like pulse, something her kind lacked.

Under Aisha’s dumbfounded gaze, the gem in her hands filled with fissures, only to shatter into a million pieces a second later.

A strand of pure energy at the end rose from the gem’s remains. The volcanic essence felt even stronger now that it was not contained within the gem. Under the guidance of another pulse born from Aisha’s core, the strand of energy was immediately drawn to her. Before being absorbed by the burning patterns between her breasts.

In an instant, Aisha’s eyes and all the magma patterns on her body gave off a dazzling volcanic glow. Her core throbbed, pure power flowing through her veins, the magma within her reaching a higher level of purity. Aisha could feel that barrier that separated her from the two-star class. She felt that barrier and then saw it burn to ashes under the power of her core.

The burning patterns in the middle of Aisha’s breasts absorbed the glow distributed throughout the rest of her veins before condensing and sinking back into her core, thus ending the process.

Aisha opened her eyes like hot coals, releasing an erotic sigh of satisfaction, feeling the power that flooded her body. All the impurities within her had been incinerated. Her flesh had been reborn under the baptism of fire; her body is brimming with vitality... With vitality and lust.

Aisha’s core seemed to continue to burn, fanning the flames of passion within her body, her magma on the verge of exploding, her gaze fixed on the man across the room.

CRACK!

Desmond could feel and almost hear the shackles break, that limit that had chained him for so long. With the help of Titania and the elemental seeds she gave him, Desmond’s path to the three-star should be pretty clear. But for one reason or another, Desmond had made no effort to move forward, instead concentrating on other matters.

Today that has changed. That annoying barrier that limited Desmond’s potential had collapsed. The massive strengthening his body underwent seemed to trigger the elemental seeds within him. Now that the container had been strengthened, the quantity and quality of mana it could contain had increased, finally breaking through that barrier that led to the two-star class.

Desmond marveled at the feeling the breakthrough brought him. It was as if even breathing was a great bliss due to the pure mana each breath brought with it. Desmond was just soaking in that feeling when two problems occurred.

The first problem was the uncomfortable feeling of being naked. Desmond realized that all the sap was gone, with everything and the core around it. The second problem was the burning feeling built up inside him during the strengthening process.

Desmond felt an unknown fire build up inside his abdomen, and for a moment, he didn’t know what it was... Until he saw Aisha across the room.

Lust, that strange, intense fire, was a pure, somewhat maddening lust. Desmond wanted to curse out loud as he remembered the unknown side effects mentioned by the hunter’s book.

“Of course, it had to be cruel shit that the book didn’t mention.” Desmond muttered hoarsely. His newly strengthened willpower was barely enough to suppress the evil fire. After all, this wasn’t as simple as being somewhat aroused. The aphrodisiac essence hidden within the sap had accumulated within his body and now threatened to explode without permission.

Aisha’s current state didn’t help either. Desmond didn’t know what had happened since he was in his own world during the sap refining, but now Aisha was naked, just like him.

That alluring, almost sinful reddish skin, those perfectly round D-cup breasts swayed a little with each breath as if they were extending a naughty invitation. A well-defined flat abdomen, a slim waist begging to be hugged, and ample hips that seemed to scream, “I’ll give you pleasure.”

In the legs department, even a monk would give up his belief if it allowed him to die between those thighs. Which sounded plausible given the portion of magma around said thighs.

The lines and portions of magma on Aisha’s body gave her body a dangerous charm, like tribal markings that gave a wild side to her exotic beauty.

A weak-hearted man would die of cardiac attack at the sight of such a body. In the same way, a weak-hearted man would worship her as a goddess just for the beauty of her face.

Desmond genuinely wanted to have one of his guns in hand to shoot himself in the legs. With her charms, Aisha wasn’t something Desmond would resist, even on a normal day. Under the aphrodisiac effects of the sap, all Desmond wanted was to devastate Aisha mercilessly.

Desmond could feel his reason crumbling, and it scared him. He would rather break his legs than force himself on a woman. In his confusion and mental chaos, Desmond didn’t notice that said woman was walking towards him. And from the burning look in the woman’s eyes, it seemed that the one who would be devastated was Desmond, not her.

An erotic, breathy voice snapped Desmond out of his thoughts. “Too hot.”

Desmond felt Aisha lick his cheek, leaving a burning trail on his skin. Desmond was pushed and knocked to the ground without warning, one hand pressing hard against his chest, holding him down as Aisha climbed on top of his hips.

Any remnant of reason or restraint in Desmond died upon hearing Aisha’s following words. “Desmond, give me your warmth.”