He couldn't help but let out a breath, submitting once again, his eyes already starting to roll back.

"And more importantly..."

Cynthia was already accustomed to this, merely caressing Oliver's face with her tendrils: "We will have help..."

"Help?" Oliver jolted awake, his tendril-eye swiftly contracting: "Who will help us?"

"The 'Eye of the Abyss' wasn't completely annihilated... Mr. Holy Disc had foreseen the School would take action, that's why he left early."

Cynthia let out a moist laugh:

"He will assist us at the crucial moment, and the fact that we survived this time is thanks to the abyssal material he provided..."

Oliver fell into silence.

Mr. Holy Disc, the mysterious representative of the "Eye of the Abyss," he never truly understood that person's background or purpose.

But one thing was certain — that man was definitely not someone to be trusted.

"Are you sure he's helping us, and not using us?"

"Using? Helping? Such concepts hold no meaning in the presence of higher-level beings..."

Cynthia's voice turned ethereal and dreamy:

"We are all part of the 'Sanctuary Plan'... As long as we can achieve transformation and reach a higher level of awakening, nothing else matters..."

Oliver wanted to argue but found his thoughts being assimilated by Cynthia's perspective.

This assimilation wasn't forced, but rather a subtle infiltration, like two differently colored liquids slowly mixing.

Their consciousness was gradually merging, the boundaries becoming increasingly blurred.

"How long..." he asked softly, "When will the Bloodline Altar open?"

"Soon..." Cynthia's voice became ethereal and distant:

"I can feel the frequency of the energy fluctuation accelerating... In about half a month, the altar will open..."

She suddenly lifted her head, as if listening to some distant sound:

"And I know who will enter the altar..."

"Who?"

"Ron Ralph..." Cynthia uttered the name, her voice filled with a kind of morbid excitement:

"That always-unexpected guy... He's finally stepping into our hunting grounds..."

Oliver's emotions surged violently, the tendril-eye contracted sharply, secreting a kind of black slime:

"Ralph?! That damned...!"

The surface of their shared body began to undergo dramatic changes.

Black spikes protruded from beneath the skin, muscles, and tissues started to expand and twist uncontrollably under the stimulus of angry emotions.

"Calm down..." Cynthia's voice pierced through Oliver's anger:

"Your emotions will interfere with our fusion process... We are not stable enough yet..."

Her tendrils caressed Oliver's face, soothing his emotions:

"Ron Ralph... yes, he's a threat, but he's also an opportunity..."

"Opportunity?" Oliver's voice was filled with doubt.

"There's something special about his aura..." Cynthia mused thoughtfully:

"I've never been able to determine what it is, but 'Mr. Holy Disc' seems to have a particular interest in him..."

"We need more energy..."

Cynthia interrupted Oliver's thoughts:

"Before the Bloodline Altar opens, we must accumulate as much strength as possible to stabilize our symbiotic state..."

"Do you have a plan?"

Cynthia's slit abdomen opened, emitting a burst of laughter:

"There are many abandoned mines in this area... They're often visited by adventurers and treasure hunters..."

Oliver understood her meaning, tendril-eye shimmering with excited light: "Fresh prey..."

"Yes..." Cynthia's voice grew even more low and hungry:

"Their lives... their pain and fear... will all become our nourishment..."

Their shared body started to wriggle towards the cave's exit, leaving a trail of moist slime.

As they wriggled, the mutant tissue on the cave walls seemed to sense something, ceasing its twitching.

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