20 Birthday Celebration

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I don't exactly know how this works, but when Beelzebub died, I received a blast of EXP once more. I'm pretty sure it came from his very soul… on top of that, when the Demon King's soul fragment was purified, I also got EXP from it…

In other words, I got energy from the souls of two malicious demons. Is that really okay? With that in mind, I asked the System as I inserted my consciousness inside my soul.

Once I entered, I saw her grow bigger in a short time. Right now, she resembled a larger mass of light, devouring large ethereal masses of dark energy…

"A-Are you okay with eating that?"

"Nom, nom, nom… hmm? Yeah, why not?"

"Won't it take over my mind one day or something?"

"What? No, that could never realistically happen… it lacks any ego, at most, something dark might emerge…"

"So, something can happen!"

"I meant it as a joke… but maybe something dark might indeed emerge in the form of new capabilities… even then, it's up to you to discover it as you develop…"

"I feel like this energy absorption power we have is more of a curse if that's the case. Is it really just energy or… a large part of their souls themselves?"

"Do… you want to know the truth?"

The System suddenly asked me something that affected me a bit.

"I want…"

Before I could finish my answer, the System finished her meal without any remorse as she flew near me.

"I was made with the purpose of strengthening my host through the absorption of energies from the targets they or their party members slay. I have the capacity of absorbing their energies and transmute them into power for the host soul and body."

"I know that…"

"The energy I absorb is indeed… what you think it is. If you slay a being, you completely devour their souls."

"What?! I mean… I assumed something similar, but still…."

"This was how I was made. However, if the target is slain by a party member, you only get a part of that soul, the other part is free to go anywhere."

"I see… so, at the end, we really do eat souls to grow stronger. Well, not really, my system is frozen."

"I ended up devouring a large part of my creator's soul to adjust the system to not become berserk, which ended forming the effect of endless HP and MP as an innate ability… well, this is just my nature. I don't know if it really is something bad… or wrong. However, I apologize for not telling you beforehand."

"I see how it is… in any case, don't worry. It's not really your fault, it's how you were born at the end, after all…"

"Indeed… But because to that, when the souls I absorb are so strong, their essence ends up leaking into you as more than just EXP. Due to the status being frozen, this energy ends up leaking into your body directly instead of being converted into skills or stats. Because of that, you may end up gaining innate abilities," she told me.

"Innate abilities… I bet it would cost a lot of time to develop, right?"

"A lot of effort will be needed, yes… but you said you're good at that, right?"

"Oh yeah, I did say that… Wait a second, the dragon soul as well?" I asked soon after.

"Oh, perhaps. But since you also ate him, you gained even more power from him, though you are yet to awaken it completely."

"Huh… I wonder if I could one day get to that."

"I do wonder as well…"

After this, I discussed a bit more with the System. I asked her if she had resolved some errors with the energy she got. In response, she said that she got a few hundred of the errors repaired, but we were not even close to having halfway of them repaired yet.

At that moment, I wondered if the day the errors were fully fixed, I might be able to finally gain stats and new skills… it would certainly make things even easier. Then again, I cannot slack off waiting for the day for such a thing to happen. I don't want to waste like that. Instead, I have to do my best and train hard.

Well, I am still just a one-year-old, so moving for too long is already tiring. Nevertheless, the routine I've been doing of practicing magic is already taxing, just that alone is more than enough for now.

After my father and his friends finished their job, the corpses of these demons were burned into ashes, with the only thing that remained were the magic crystals. If I remember correctly, Shade said the crystals sold for a fortune.

I wonder why? What do they do? It can't just be a shiny jewel, right?

When they came back, they brought a big pouch filled with these black jewels.

"Sorry for the big fuss outside, dear. Everything is okay now," father apologized as he hugged me.

"Uegh… Papa, you're covered in bug juice…" I could not help but say.

"O-Oh, my bad! I should go take a bath. Ahahahaha!"

I didn't want to ask them more about this, so I decided to leave this conversation for another day.

Aquarina was still scared after the fight was done, but her parents calmed her down after spoiling her a lot. Despite how intimidating the two were in battle, they were very soft with their daughter, to the point that she completely changed their personalities.

Maybe I'm the same for my parents? Parents always have different personalities in front of their children and loved ones than with other people outside, I guess.

After an hour, when everyone was finished washing up, we finally celebrated my birthday with my cake ready to eat.

It looked so good! It was recently baked and covered in white cream with many decorations on top, and many colorful fruits as well… there was a big candle on top in the shape of the number one.

"Happy birthday, Sylphy!" Nepheline said.

"I hope you can live for many more years," said Shade not long after.

"Saying that to a little baby is kind of irrelevant, you know?" Nepheline could not help but sigh in response.

"Ah…" Muttered Shade.

My parents hugged me and kissed me as they brought me a present. Surprisingly, it was a necklace with a fiery red jewel on it…

"H-Happy birthday…" Aquarina gave me her gift as well, a pair of beautiful earrings.

"Thanks, Aqua-chan!" I said, petting her.

All in all, it was a good birthday.

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