Chapter 14 - Five Years

Darius seeing the message that had appeared on the interface in front of him could only be surprised by it.

'T-this is too strong, there's no way that's true,' thought Darius, shocked by the presumed effect of using Life Steal on a human and this was only by touching blood.

Darius couldn't even begin to imagine the effects of killing a human and stealing his Life Essence if he continued to use this skill on multiple humans, then he wouldn't take long at all to reach the state of being quasi-Immortal.

It was right there in front of him, written clear as day.

[You can steal Ashe Frost of 5 years of Lifespan.]

[Do you want to do it?]

'Um, should I try it?' thought Darius, kind of feeling bad as Ashe had been nothing but support since he had arrived.

However, those thoughts quickly disappeared as he couldn't help but think about the benefits of having five years of Lifespan.

Darius wasn't any good in math, but he knew that to reach five years of Lifespan it would take a fuckton of goblins.

'I'll ask her, she'll probably say yes,' thought Darius, not wanting any problem with her.

The reason he was going to be asking her if it was okay to try something on her was simply because he didn't want to be all mad at him.

Even if she said no, Darius would still be doing it. Her opinion actually didn't matter here, it was simply because Darius wanted as few problems as possible after doing it.

"Can I try something?" asked Darius.

Ashe who just had her skin cut open, couldn't help but wonder what sort of currency Darius had.

'It seems to be related to one's body,' thought Ashe, who trying to figure out what he was trying to do as she still had her eyes closed.

Then, when she heard him ask if he could try something on her, she didn't hesitate as she responded with a big yes.

'This is perfect, maybe I'll be able to figure out something about him,' thought Ashe, concentrating on what she would be feeling in the next moments.

Then, a feeling of being drained seemed to appear. She couldn't understand why, but she felt her body go all weak simply by the touch of Darius.

This was obviously because of the [Life Steal] skill which Darius had just activated.

The effect of draining was probably because he was actually draining her Lifespan, making her weak as a whole as a result.

Seeing her lose strength, Darius didn't know what to do as he had a giant percentage right in front of him which indicated the progression of what he was currently doing.

He had to admit that he was lucky that Ashe wasn't fighting back or else he wouldn't be able to do that at all as he needed to be in constant contact with her blood.

He was lucky to have found someone who didn't seem to care all that much.

"Are you okay?" asked Darius as he was still worried that she would die, after all, he didn't know how much Lifespan she had to begin with.

Ashe slowly moved her head up and down to answer.

"Alright, don't worry it's almost done," said Darius trying to reassure her as he could see the percentage in front of him increase.

[96%]

[97%]

[98%]

[99%]

[100%]

[The Lifespan extraction has been completed.]

Darius who just read this couldn't help but open his system right away wanting to confirm that his Lifespan really had changed and that it wasn't a lie from the system.

Then, as he opened, Darius immediately glanced at the Lifespan he had left and a smile appeared on his face right away.

'Five years and 9 months, this is great!' thought Darius, honestly happy that his biggest problem was sort of solved.

He didn't have much Lifespan but he would have enough to go to the Royal Academy without worrying about it even a little.

'With this, I could try and actually get stronger, instead of trying to live,' continued thinking Darius, still, with a big smile on his face.

"I-it's done, right?" said Ashe who was slowly but surely raising her head up as her body followed along.

Darius had to admit that he was shocked by the effect which his skill had. He had rendered a B-Rank Awakened completely powerless because of his skill activation.

However, he knew that if Ashe only moved a little or tried to fight back, he wouldn't have been able to do anything.

Seeing her collapse when he achieved 100% was surprising, nonetheless, Darius didn't let it show on his face as he was stoic as a rock.

"Yeah, and sorry about that. I didn't think it would affect you that badly," said Darius, not really lying.

He was only alternating the truth as he had known that what he had just done couldn't have a beneficial effect on her.

Still, Darius was honestly really satisfied with this whole thing which he had just pulled off. However, he was a little sad that he hadn't been able to choose whether he wanted to live longer or get stronger.

Darius would have probably chosen to live longer, so it didn't matter all that much. Nonetheless, it was important that he hadn't been able to choose.

Then, Darius looked away from his system having just confirmed that really had a five-year Lifespan.

He could still see that Ashe wasn't in the best of shape, however, she still had a smile on her face as she started talking to him.

"Um, Darius, so do want to go and fight that monster I talked about earlier," she said in quite a feeble tone of voice.

'Is she going to be able to protect me, if I can't defeat it,' thought Darius, debating whether to accept her offer or not.

He needed to make sure that there wasn't going to be any risk.

"Um, I not sure, can you even guide me there?" asked Darius, analyzing Ashe's physical state.