Chapter 380: Why does the universe hate me so much?
Damon’s chest tightened, the weight of her words slamming into him like a hammer. For a long moment, he simply stared at her, crimson eyes unreadable, his hand still tangled in her hair. The things she mentioned felt as if they had happened a long time ago, as if in another lifetime.
Kate’s trembling fingers cupped his face, forcing him to meet her crimson-tinged gaze. She smiled through the tears. "I love you. You big goofy idiot. Stop staring at me like this and say something."
Damon let out a sigh. "I love you too. But I need to tell you-"
Kate did not let him speak. She leaned in closer, her lips pressed against his before the words could leave his mouth. The kiss wasn’t gentle, nor was it hesitant. It was desperate, fierce, as if she were pouring every bottled-up emotion, every sleepless night, and every unspoken word straight into him.
Damon froze at first, his mind blank, but then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her in as if she belonged there and nowhere else.
When they finally parted, both of them breathless, Kate rested her forehead against his, crimson eyes shimmering with stubborn determination. "Don’t you dare take those words back," she whispered. "You said it, you love me. I won’t let you run away from that anymore."
Damon nodded. "I am not going anywhere."
Kate grinned like a wolf and was ready to attack him again when his mom suddenly barged in. "Damon, where were you all this time? Don’t you think you should come and meet your mom once in a while?"
Kate flinched back so fast she nearly tripped, her cheeks blazing scarlet. Damon, on the other hand, looked like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.
"Mom—" Damon started, his voice strained, but she was already marching forward, hands on her hips, her sharp eyes narrowing at him. "Don’t you ’Mom’ me! You vanish for days, you don’t even call, and now you’re hiding in here like some stranger? Do you have any idea how worried I—"
Her scolding cut off mid-sentence as her gaze finally landed on Kate, who was still frozen in place, face redder than a fresh blood gem. His mom blinked, then raised one eyebrow, her lips curving into the kind of sly smirk only mothers could wield. "Ohhh. I see."
"See what?!" Damon barked, a little too quickly, his crimson eyes widening in panic.
"Nothing, nothing," his mom said in a sing-song tone, waving her hand. "Just two young people sitting very close together, faces all flushed... clearly discussing serious business." She smirked wider. "Do you want me to leave you two alone again?"
Kate buried her face in her hands, groaning. Damon’s entire body stiffened. Why does the universe hate me so much?
He then abruptly made an excuse about having to do something important and got the hell out of there, appearing on a private balcony that no one else had access to. The fresh ocean breeze hit him on the face.
The sun was only just beginning to rise, spilling faint strokes of gold and orange across the horizon, painting the endless waves in shimmering fire.
Damon gripped the railing, letting the cold stone bite into his palms as he took in the view. He did not plan on getting into a relationship right now, as it could potentially make things complicated, but he couldn’t exactly bring himself to ignore or reject her confession.
Well... it looked like he was in a relationship now.
It was fine. He was pretty sure he was overthinking things. Being a good boyfriend couldn’t possibly be that difficult, could it? Even if it was during the apocalypse?
Damon let out a dry laugh under his breath. He then shook it off and activated his tattoo, immediately teleporting back into the game world once again. He did not have the luxury of time to let himself get distracted this much. He needed strength and power to protect the people he loved, and for that, he needed to get right back to it.
The world around Damon warped as his tattoo flared crimson, pulling him back into Earth Online. He then again teleported to the Blood Hall and found his way to one of the training rooms. It was time to start working on his next race evolution, from Blood Acolyte to Blood Expert.
Damon took out an evolution stone and clenched it. The stone immediately disappeared into his hand, dissolving into fragments of energy. He focused and tried to pay attention to these small bursts of energy when, suddenly, a system notification interrupted him rudely.
System notifications typically did not do that. So Damon was a little shocked. He opened it to check.
[Ding! Evolution Stone absorption failed.]
[Ding! You are currently unable to progress in your Race Evolution.]
Damon’s crimson eyes widened slightly. He did not expect this. Was this because of his primordial mana core? Would he not be able to evolve at all without resolving that?
He thought for a moment before sighing. His entire body was a big fucking mess. His bloodline instability, his primordial mana core... all of his strengths were also his ticking time bombs. At this rate, he would simply be stuck in this same condition.
He needed to get to Bloodlands, and he needed to find a soul cultivation technique yesterday. "Alright. No more detours." Damon let out a breath. Right after hitting the low-hanging fruits in the Abyssal Zone, he was heading straight for the Bloodlands.
He then stood up and started working on some of his skills while the clock ticked down to reset time. Finally, it was show time.
Damon walked back to the throne room, where Erin, Ellora, Kaelthorn, and Riven were already waiting for him, three of them fully prepared with fiery determination in their eyes, while the last one, naturally, looked like a big nervous mess.
Damon ignored the guy and his silent plea to be left out of this expedition. He then opened a blood gate to one of the cities close to Lotera. "Let’s go."
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Mass release sponsored by Syphatrol