"In any case, at ascension rank two, an ascendant finally has a body strong enough to support the power of <Concepts>. Even though it is only partially, it still makes them a lot stronger. Afterwards, at ascension rank three, they finally become capable of utilizing the power of <Concepts> fully," Clementine explained in an educational tone.

"They are able to comprehend them completely and increase their proficiency in them with time. Furthermore, the higher the proficiency and concept tier, the greater the power the concepts can display," she continued, her voice steady.

Her knowledge was a deep well, offering clarity to his clouded mind.

"Concepts!?" Aezaleon questioned in a bewildered voice.

"Indeed," Clementine nodded affirmatively. "And this is the power that the Calamity: Venomous Porcupine had. He had probably comprehended inferior concepts such as: [Venomous Quills], [Telekinetic Quill Control], [Quill Projectiles], [Venomous Mist], [Pain], [Weakness], and [Affixed Quill Penetration], among many others."

She gave him a pointed look. "As for you, you’ve grasped none. In other words, the moment the calamity started utilizing those concepts against someone who doesn’t have any, you should be smart enough to realize the outcome of such a battle, correct?"

Clementine questioned with a raised eyebrow. Aezaleon simply stared at her with his mouth open, speechless at his own ignorance and the reality of the situation, which was completely unlike what he had imagined. The realization hit him like a cold splash of water, jarring him awake from his delusions of grandeur.

"As a mere day-old calamity, your intelligence doesn’t mean anything if you are so arrogant and underestimate these calamities just because of their savage nature or because you have strong abilities," she added in a stern, reprimanding tone.

"If you have an attitude like this, then you’ll surely die sooner or later. After all, as you are, you don’t even know how to utilize most of your own innate abilities properly, so keep those arrogant thoughts as someone intelligent in check."

"Understood," Aezaleon muttered in a slightly dejected tone.

SIGH! "Now, follow me," she commanded.

"Wait a minute, Clementine, I’ve something to do," Aezaleon interjected, shaking his head.

"HmM!" Clementine blinked. Looking at him with an expression that perfectly asked, ’What now!?’ Her patience was a thinning thread, stretched by his constant interruptions.

"You’ll know in a second," Aezaleon voiced with a mysterious smile. Acting enigmatic, he moved toward the dead porcupine while Clementine waited with patience, observing him with an interested gaze.

Then a thought struck her...

"Are you hungry or something?" she questioned curiously.

"Now that I think about it, your stomach really does seem empty, but you don’t have to eat a porcupine. If we search a bit more, I think I can find something good for us to eat," Clementine suggested in a caring tone.

Doing a quick scan of Aezaleon’s stomach, which was thoroughly empty, she added, "What do you say?" Despite everything, she was truly concerned about this calamity who gave her a new life. And certainly did not want him to die because he was hungry.

Aezaleon halted and looked at her concerned face with his lips twitching in amusement.

"I don’t know what goes through that head of yours, woman, but no, I don’t have any intentions of consuming this calamity; rather, I want to try one of my abilities on it," he responded calmly. Then he thought for a moment and added, "Also, since I drank your blood, I don’t feel hungry anymore. So I don’t think I would need to worry about eating anything for the next eight hours or so at least."

Subsequently, not giving her any more attention, Aezaleon came to a stop before the headless corpse of the Venomous Porcupine and threw the head, which he had grabbed moments ago, near the body. He stretched his hand forward and muttered firmly...

<Matter Absorption!>

Initiating the activation of his sub-ability effect one: <Matter and Soul Matter Absorption>, of his ability effect six: <Dead’s Salvation: Absolute Loyalty>, of his ability <Absolute Will>...

The same translucent energy with black-white strands flowed out of his hand, encompassing the whole corpse of the dead calamity. The energy slithered over the remains like a silent, hungry mist.

SWOOSH!

The disintegration of the calamity’s corpse into quantum energy particles began. Aezaleon thought internally...

[Target: <Companion—Clementine Eyth Lifeblood>]

In two seconds, everything was completed as a green-colored energy ball of a centimeter’s diameter condensed into his hands, and with an unimaginable speed, it shot forward and entered Clementine’s chest.

WOOSH!

"Wh!.. What was that? What did you do!?" Clementine questioned immediately in a startled voice.

Even she was unable to react in time with how quickly everything happened. More so, she was completely unable to follow the movement of that energy ball, which both made her interested and cautious at the same time. The event was a lightning strike, over before the thunder could even roll.

Nevertheless, instead of responding to her question directly, he said, "Wait and you’ll see!"

Which turned out to be true. As a massive rush of energy overflowed inside her whole body, it made her moan, "Ahh!" She was caught off guard because of the unexpected rush of the energy.

Clementine flushed a deep red.

Nonetheless, it didn’t take her even a second to put the embarrassment aside, focusing her mind on observing the changes happening inside her. She immediately realized that the energy ball which had invaded her body was the reason behind this overflow of energy she received. Furthermore, after nourishing and strengthening her body, all this energy was getting devoured by her five ascension cores.

No, more like the energy was willingly letting itself be consumed by her.

After ten seconds, the energy was completely consumed by Clementine. This was something Aezaleon also felt, but he was more surprised by the result. "A rank 3 calamity’s whole body and calamity core aren’t enough to make you ascend to the next rank. How!?" he asked in a confused tone.

Meanwhile, Clementine frowned her brows when she saw how much sweat her newly constructed body released when exposed and forced to process so much energy so suddenly and in such a brief time.

"I am so dirty!" she mumbled to herself, feeling uncomfortable because her whole gown was completely wet in her own sweat, including her stockings and undergarments too.

"Clementine!" Aezaleon called out.

Clementine shot Aezaleon a sharp glare. ’He made me dirty.’

"Tell me, husband, do you think I’m a fool?" she asked in a biting voice. "You should know that we are connected by our souls, so stop trying to change the subject. I can see through you even without this connection, you know. Tell me, why did you use the <Matter Absorption> on me instead of yourself?"

She commented while burning away her sweat and changing her gown simultaneously. "Let’s not talk about why you didn’t see the need for informing me beforehand, before doing something like this, but now, since it has already been used, I want to know what this ability does!"

"What are you getting mad about? I just wanted to make you stronger," Aezaleon replied defensively.

"And!?" she narrowed her eyes, not buying his simple excuse.

"Alright, alright," he sighed wearily. "I used it on you because I wanted to know the full extent of this ability of mine, and since you are a Divine Entity with a vast amount of knowledge, I used it on you. It was a spontaneous idea which I acted on without much thought," Aezaleon admitted in an embarrassed tone.

"However, a rank three calamity wasn’t even capable of ascending you to rank 2; I don’t know if the ability is weak or if you’re just too strong," he added, shaking his head. The power gap between them was a vast canyon he had yet to measure.

He thought Clementine got angry because he used her in his experiment. Nonetheless, Aezaleon didn’t think he did something wrong. After all, as his companion, Clementine should help him understand more about his abilities and stuff.

But he supposed the pride of a once Ascension Rank 10 Divine Entity certainly wouldn’t want to become an experimental subject, and when he put himself in her position, he also wouldn’t be happy if something similar was done to him.