Back at the den YuJu, whose body seemed deteriorating rather than improving, was contemplating reasons for his current body's functions

'Blood is siphoning the poison out like it's been injected with an antidote, this is no perk of the vampire race, what other feature of mine could have caused this strange reaction'

The reason he refused any help was precisely to make out the mechanism behind his sudden poison immunity, otherwise he would have long diffused the situation with his wealth of knowledge concerning poisons and their antidotes

'There must be a clue somewhere, I can't keep throwing these matters to be solved in the future, I've already got a huge backlog to go through'

This matter reminded him of the tome his body suddenly absorbed blood back on the eighth floor of Hortus, and many of the other strange happenings that he couldn't begin to put his finger on

'Blood, what skills do I have to do with blood'

He had the purification, evolution, and limiter, all which affected his followers solely

Then he also had a blood slave granting him the blood message, both unrelated to his own body

'Body...vessel!'

A thought dawned on him

'Is it perhaps because I had the blood vessel class? It can absorb blood to strengthen the body and evolve it so it could perhaps be related to this phenomenon'

He felt like he was on the right track, except that there was something bothering him

'Is it really it though, with how it was absorbed into the Master class I believe the classes skills should be null, else the would have been stated in my status'

He knew that there were many things that were not stated in the status but felt that if he truly possessed the blood vessel's capabilities then they would be there

'Hmmm'

Having clues was good, having the wrong lead however would only make things worse

"I should try and see if my body would absorb blood on its own, I have a plethora of essences to experiment with'

Subrina's output of essences was steadily increasing as she increased her grip over the skills, though it was going to come short when the testing thralls were brought over

'So many things to research, I will have my hands full, thankfully I still have time to waste'

To be exact he had another month and a half before the thing he wanted to do, that's a lot of time doing side projects but he was afraid of interfering with the flow of events on that thing's side causing the loss of a key component in his future plans

Just then a warm towel slid across his bloody skin, taking him out the deep thoughts as his eyes open to look at Zero wiping at the ghastly wounds

He did not comment and was about to close his eyes to rest once more but Zero's voice came through before that

"My Lord, may I ask about something that's been bothering me?"

"Go ahead"

It was unlike her to initiate a conversation so he did not refuse though he wasn't in the best condition to talk

"I've been having an off feeling lately, at first I had not known what it was even though I felt like I've experienced it before, but with time I was able to tell that it is my body that's alerting me, like it was about to pop sooner or later, the stronger I get the more the thought of exploding haunted my mind"

There was no need for her to continue as he already realized what she was referring to, still he let her speak on to see whether she had caught onto what ailed her

"Now I am afraid to get stronger, especially knowing that I've been strengthening myself wrong after my Lord's explanation, I feel if I increase my strength even a little more I would truly face an early death"

Her blue eyes shifted to look into his, hoping for a way to resolve the matter, his ever present knowledge and the show of strength earlier made him quite the formidable figure in her eyes, to the point that she even actively requested help

"Let me reply your question with one of my own"

She wanted to frown seeing as he wasn't giving a straight answer, but did not do so as to not seem disrespectful

"Is your strength at the two hundred and fifty threshold?"

It seems she did well not to frown as this was as straightforward as one could be

"So it was the threshold again...I see why I felt familiar with it"

The threshold on which the body assimilates the stat into itself, becoming easier to use, as if it was one's second nature, as well as gaining a skill related to the stat

"The second threshold is much easier than the others, it has an almost negligible death rate compared to that of the first and doesn't have the option of failure like the third"

"So the feeling of popping is an illusion?"

"No, your fears are real, you see your body might not be capable of withstanding the assimilation of all that strength when it is still so fragile in comparison"

"In other words all I have to do is raise my vitality to be able to cross safely"

"Hmmm"

He narrowed his eyes in thought, not long after he smiled ever so slightly, an expression that made Zero worry for some reason

"I think its best you proceed with the threshold in your current state, the best skills are born from unique situations, and yours is one no doubt"

She understood what he meant, high risk high reward, was it worth risking her life for one skill however?

"How are my chances?"

"Not so good"

Her face fell at that, maybe it was best to be prudent, after all with his power she would be stronger eventually anyway

"On your own that is, I can interfere amid the crossing and increase your vitality in case things took a bad turn"

He continued with a smirk, alerting her that he was just playing with her feelings

"I see, then I shall start"

"Not yet, we nee-" "ARGH!"

He flinched at the usually quiet woman's sudden scream, taking him a hot second to figure that she allocated the points into strength, reaching the threshold

'You needed to wait!'

He wanted to shout but it was too late, he would have to guard her in this injured state of his and even use his very consuming skills to increase the depleting vitality if need be, something that would put both of them at risk since the two would turn immobile with no one to guard them

'Let's hope her state doesn't attract any unwanted attention'

Sometimes crossing the threshold produced phenomena that attracted other creatures into rushing over, perhaps to get enlightened by witnessing the process, gobble up the person crossing for some benefit, or many other scenarios

"My...Lord I can't, I can't...do it please...help...me.."

Zero uttered through clenched teeth, he could barely hear her over the sound of those teeth cracking under immense pressure

"Try to withstand, if you do then you will soar greatly with whatever you gain"

"I...no, please help….too...painful…"

It was getting harder and harder for her to breathe as her own ribcage threatened to squash the wheezing lungs, perhaps even the heart as well if she wasn't dead by then

"Pain is a fleeting process, gains are lasting, endure what you can, the rest leave to me"

He didn't promise her survival however, he did not make promises he couldn't keep

"Huuu, haaa, huuu, haa"

One breath in, another one out, as if she was trying to push the pain away with her mear breathing Zero put everything into focusing on this one task, forgoing the notion of lasting through the pain and merely hoping her small efforts could increase the usefulness of the skill gained, after all the amount of pain she was going through should deserve some sort of reward even if she failed right?

"Uuu, I can't, I can't do it"

She complained mid breathing, everything inside her body felt like it was about to be crushed just like her mindset, she couldn't even put up a false front of toughness and just whined like a little kid

"Please, I can't do it, just help me"

Tears started dripping from her eyes, red tears caused by the pressure brought upon her brain, even so there was still no reply, only silence, as if the person whom she placed her trust in abandoned her

"Huu, huu, huu"

There were only breaths going out now, her lungs quickly clearing of any air as they lacked room with the rib cage squeezing them in, it was a matter of moments before they were burst open, the same fate her body seemed heading toward

"Relax"

Just then a pair of hands gripped her neck, one warm while the other cold, both pressing into many areas in her neck and back of the head in a quick manner

As if following his command her entire body seemed to dip from its tense state, or at least it seemed so to her

In truth her brain's command was cut from the rest of the body as YuJu realized the reason she was suffering so much even as she slowly but successfully crossed the threshold was due to her own mind pressuring the body under the immense pain, the more pained she was the harder she gripped at herself and the more difficult it was for her body to cope

Under his nifty fingers all the neurons receiving sensories were quickly disabled, allowing her body to naturally cross the threshold it was on the cusp for many moments now

She must have known that from the system because she moved her eyes, the only thing listening to her, and gave him a grateful look just before her eyes closed, passing out from over exhaustion

"Haaa…"

With the danger passing he could also heave a withheld tired breath, now he could only wait for her to wake up and see what the result of this dangerous attempt was

"Hopefully it's worth her pain"

He wished while lifting her body and putting her on an adjacent couch, then leaned back onto his own