"All right, this spot will do."
"So, Ye Chen... do we start right away...?"
"Yes. It might hurt a little at first, but don't worry. It'll feel good after a while."
"Okay, I'll do my best to bear it..."
The next day, Ye Chen and Makomo stood halfway up the mountain, somewhere no one else was around, and he had her drink the bottle of Mizutsune Assimilation Liquid.
Makomo picked up the potion without any suspicion, gave it a gentle sniff, and drank it straight down.
"Mmm..." Makomo furrowed her brows as she felt a surge of power rise within her.
"How is it? Does it hurt a lot?" Ye Chen watched her nervously. He remembered how drinking the Xeno'jiiva Assimilation Fluid had hurt like hell, even burning all his clothes away.
Come to think of it, Mizutsune is water-elemental, so it shouldn't burn her clothes away. But could it... hehehe. Good thing I didn't bring Tanjiro along. Wait, what kind of nonsense am I thinking?
"No, Ye Chen. I don't feel much pain."
Makomo blinked her big, bright eyes, looked at Ye Chen, and continued, "But I can feel a different kind of energy inside me now, and I've gotten a lot stronger."
"???" Ye Chen's face was covered in question marks at her words.
He was happy Makomo didn't have to suffer, but why had he been put through such hell back then?? And my clothes were burned right off! Why isn't anything happening to Makomo??
"System, did you screw me over back then? Why did I get burned so badly???"
[Ding, host. People's constitutions cannot all be judged by the same standard.]
"What? What do you mean?? Are you saying my constitution is weak??"
Ye Chen immediately grew a little angry at that.
``` [Ding,