Crossroads

As soon as Jake paid the 10 quadrillion Aether points required per person, the once dormant Permanent Passive Faction Skill finally surged to life. The changes were instantaneous.

Hade, Will, Lucia, and Asfrid, standing nearby, immediately felt a medley of tingling, itching, pain, and pleasure coursing through their bodies like an electric jolt. These conflicting sensations mirrored the tumultuous transformations and unusual strains their cells were subjected to.

Swiftly, their skin, regardless of its original appearance or hue, lightened drastically, becoming alarmingly pale in Hade's case, who was already sickly in complexion. Even Lucia, whose skin originally bore a naturally tanned olive tone, found herself fair-skinned.

Cloaked in microscopic, invisible, crystalline scales, their skin shimmered as if they were vigorously rubbing glitter upon themselves, draping their bodies with a veil of stars.