Inside the door

Corey and Theresa didn't speak with each other and Corey calmly pulled the wooden door open.

It creaked and then fell to the side, making dust scatter, but Corey's gaze was focused on something else, he was looking right at what was below.

And unexpectedly, it was a ladder that led to darkness instead of the tomb he had expected.

"Rin, give me the candle," Corey said with a slight eagerness mixed with nervousness.

Fwoosh.

Rin lit a candle and passed it down to him.

The doorway below to the ladder was just enough for one person, so he climbed down first but Theresa followed right after.

Nevertheless, his voice echoed from below: "Don't come down Rin."

Corey then waited for Theresa to reach closer to him before going down. Keeping the candle to his side and providing light for both of them.

Soon, after some more climbing down, Corey put his leg down and he was standing on solid ground.

He looked up at Theresa and helped her silently climb down the ladder and onto the ground.

Then, he looked around himself using the small candlelight.

He was awed.

They were in a wide room that the light couldn't entirely brighten.

"Corey, there are lamps on the side," Theresa said in a murmur.

Corey looked at it and moved towards it while Theresa clung to one of his hands and followed behind him.

And once the light was lit, they saw more lamps stuck to the wall.

One Lamp was lit up after the other and soon, the wide room was brightened in a yellow shine.

Corey and Theresa looked around with wide eyes.

It was a wide room the size of half a football field and cast in rock, and in the middle of the room was a dark brown coffin that shined in the flickers of fire on the wall.

Corey and Theresa moved towards it and nervously looked at what was atop it.

There were some words written on it.

"Oh, the distant son of mine destined to one day reach here. Here is my gift to you. I bless you be the one to achieve the level of Orochi."

The moment they read the last line, the coffin opened up by itself and they stumbled a step back instinctively.

Corey gulped and looked at what was inside the Coffin.

It was not a corpse, not a mummy, not anything that he had expected either.

Instead, it was a red fruit that he had seen many times before on television when he was still in the orphanage.

A crimson gem-like fruit.

Corey looked at it in intrigue. Isn't this a Blood Fruit?

No. This one looked much more beautiful than an ordinary blood fruit should.

They were dim, shineless, and much inferior. He was no expert but that much was obvious.

It was like a plate and gold.

Corey extended his hands to take it.

Theresa wanted to stop him from acting impulsive but she didn't; there was no meaning in trying to stop him anymore.

'Impulsive idiot!' She knew he would be like this. Gently biting her tongue, she made it bleed and swallowed.

"Corey," she called.

"What now Big sis?" Corey looked at her.

A gentle body fell into his embrace and a kiss followed right after. He was at first excited before the familiar metallic taste hit him; he immediately broke the kiss.

[Blood Energy: 0.3]

"Theresa..." he looked at her eyes in apprehension. He had drunk too much of her blood already for him to be comfortable.

Theresa smiled and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Last time, I won't do it anymore...forgive this Big Sis."

Corey's heart fluttered slightly and he embraced her.

"No wonder I fell in love with you," he muttered irritatedly.

Theresa was a tiny bit hesitant, but still hugged him back.

"But I won't forgive you for this one, you know?" he said.

"Oh, What will you do if not forgive?"

"You kissed me without my permission, Now, every time I get a chance, I will kiss you without your permission." he gently kissed her lips.

Theresa smiled. "I might bite you if you kiss me again though."

Chuckling evilly, Corey said, "Then I will grope you if you don't let me kiss you."

"Ew...That's just disgusting, Corey." Theresa gave him a death stare but then they both chuckled.

Corey then sneakily stole one more kiss on the lips before asking. "Let's see the fruit. I want more kisses but now I can have as much as I want, so it is not an issue."

Theresa squinted but this time, surprisingly didn't give a snarky remark. And they reluctantly moved away from the hug and moved to the fruit again.

"Ask the screen thingy what the fruit is."

Corey nodded and did that.

The system answered him: [Synthetically Crystalized Blood of The Ancestor: it is a confluence of Blood Energy and the Blood Ancestor's 'Unique Abilities' fused together. Alongside Data that the System can extract.]

"Eat it, Corey," Theresa said after she heard him read it out loud.

Corey nodded.

Had it been something that could heal Theresa's leg, he would have surely force-fed it to her even if she screamed.

But it was not. So he took it and with expectation, took a bite.

It was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted.

It tasted soft, crispy, and juicy. A bite of it went into his stomach and the fruit lost most of its shine.

He looked at the System with expectation.

[Blood Energy: 57.9]

[Unique Ability: (Unknown Ability - 20% absorbed)]

Corey frowned and took another bite.

There were 4 more bites left of it.

[Blood Energy: 109]

[...bility - 46% absorbed.]

He took another bite.

[Blood Energy 168]

[Ability - 70 %]

He reluctantly took another bite. If he had to eat more, his sisters wouldn't have any!

[Blood Energy -199]

[Ability - 98%]

He took another small bite in relief.

[Blood Energy 201]

[(New Ability absorbed - Spend 1 point of blood Energy to analyze it)]

Corey smiled and swallowed. Now he could feed them the rest.

Theresa was focused on his hand's temperature and his ruddy face when he turned around and broke the rest of the crystalline fruit in two.

And then gave the smaller piece to Theresa. "Big sis it tastes real good."

Theresa blinked. "Isn't..."

Corey put it in her mouth. "Isn't it tasty?"

Theresa gently bit down and ate it. Immediately, she felt as if she had become much more healthy. She felt as if a lot of the restlessness in her body had vanished.

Even the wound on her tongue had vanished!

Corey had been too focused on the System and couldn't focus on such things earlier and it hadn't indeed worked such magic on him. He had some bruises but those didn't heal at all.

But now he could see Theresa's small wound on the fingertip visually vanishing.

"What a miraculous thing!" Theresa exclaimed.

Corey said in a bit of excitement, "Come, let's go up and give this to Rin."

Unique Ability and all could be checked after they are all together.

Theresa nodded happily. But before she could move, Corey kissed her lips again.

"You scoundrel." She gave him a small smack on the head.

"You tasted like the fruit this time." He said and they quickly doused the fires on the wall and went back up.