Dark Crystal
Flow Capacity: 100%
Dark Crystals are primarily used to Promote Skill to a higher level.
They can also be used to power heavy clock-machinery, as components for the creation of powerful equipment, and used as the basic component of massive Flow spells.
Crystal Weight: 1kg
Shiny Stone
Flow Capacity: 100%
Shiny Stones are primarily used to Promote Skill to a higher level.
They can also be used to power heavy clock-machinery, as components for the creation of powerful equipment, and used as the basic component of massive Shade spells.
Crystal Weight: 1kg
There were exactly nine Dark Crystals and five Shiny Stones; it was the haul of the century!
“What are these?” Roana asked.
“These… These are Dark Crystals,” I pointed, “and Shiny Stones. And they can turn your life’s over.”
“Dark Crystals? Wait a second… these are those things used for Skills Promotion?” She asked, widening her eyes.
I extended her a Shiny Stone.
“Ro, use it for your Command Skill, use it right away!”
“What? Wait, I… I’m not ready; I don’t even know how.”
I literally shoved it in her hands, “Just wish for it. Command is the only Skill you can evolve, right? Go ahead.”
I couldn’t wait to use them too, but first, we had to take them away and get the hell out of this place.
My satchel was not big enough for all of them, so I split them without wasting even a second. I did not wait for her to finally decide to use the Shiny Stone she was still intently looking at; I opened her bag and started loading Dark Crystals in it.
I made sure to get the remaining four Shiny Stones and a few Dark Crystals. I wanted to use them right away, but I believed there still were things I needed to do. Also, I wanted to ask proper questions to the light when next I met it.
I needed to be prepared.
Suddenly I saw Ro jerk her neck back in surprise, and the Shiny Stone disappear in her hands and get instantly absorbed in her body.
“What in Abyss was that!” she asked.
“What did you see? A dark place with a light at its center?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“I’ve been there; I saw it. What did it say?”
“Say? It said nothing. I could only stare at it, then I heard the whispers saying that I had promoted my Command Skill.”
So it had not spoken to her… maybe I could hear it because of my Trace Skill? Well, l it didn’t matter; I would have to talk to it anyway. The account of a third party would not be enough to satisfy my curiosity.
“What do I do now?” she asked, looking at her hands.
“Now? Command Perks as much as you can; it will evolve really fast if you do.”
She nodded, and we finished hastily loading the Dark Crystals and Shiny Stones.
We saw many shiny things around the place, but none of them seemed really valuable, just really polished.
When we had had enough of exploring, we decided to take a look at the strip of water at the center of the lake.
The water emitted its light in such a peculiar way that I couldn’t but be scared of touching it. However, there were a few spots that were clear of the cone of light.
“Hug me,” I said, placing an arm around her waist.
The act itself had become much easier, and excited as we were, we did not let ourselves feel remorse in my case and fear in hers.
She didn’t even waver in my arms; I could feel she was actually happy with it.
I held her with my clock-arm and launched a stone with my right arm. Then we transferred immediately to the little strip of water.
And there they were, something I had seen even from across the pond. Eggs.
But these were extremely different from the ones that had already broken; these were shiny.
A thought crossed my mind, and I couldn’t help but express it.
“He couldn’t possibly have made these eggs with the help of these,” I pointed at my satchel, “right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, look at how they glow; the shells over there do not shine.”
“Who knows, maybe it’s ju- Loke!”
“What?” I asked, sincerely scared.
Was the beast coming back?
“The eggs are shaking!”
“Man, you scared me…” Thank the Sun, it was nothing serious.
“Look, look! I believe they are going to hatch.”
“Wait, but why now?”
Then I could see the light of an intense Flow flux going from out of Roana’s bag. It seemed to be sucked away from the bag and inside of the eggs.
“Move away; they are stealing the Flow in the Dark Crystals!” I said, but it was too late.
They had sucked it out.
As Roana checked, she counted three fewer Dark Crystals in her bag. There were three eggs, and they had likely absorbed one Dark Crystal each.
“Sons of a Moon walker… these things have cost us a fortune…”
We might have even bought Sundoor’s citizenship with those… Well, not for me at least, but surely for Nova. Maybe she might find a healer advanced enough to heal her eye in there.
Or… maybe I could buy healing for her with all those Dark Crystals.
Anyway, with this much money, we could do many things. However, Skill Promotion remained a priority.
But my reverie was interrupted by the sound of cracking from the eggs.
They were hatching, and soon, three little things were stumbling out of those thick shells; the creatures that came out from them were each different from the other.
The one on the left that was having the hardest time to come out from the egg, although it was cracking it by itself; it turned out to be a lion puppy. But it was golden, nothing like the green ones upstairs.
“They’re golden; how come?” I asked Ro; maybe she knew better.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s the Flow they’ve absorbed. How cute…”
But were they still Ethereals? I needed to check.
I Tracked and Traced the first one.
Cub Golden Netherlion (Titan), Level 1 (0/1000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 78%
Strength: Phantasmic State
Weakness: None
Abilities: Phase
This Flow creature poses no threat to a sentient, but if provoked, it takes on its physical form. The Netherbeasts can phase through matter given their Phantasmic nature. They can live both in the Physical Realm and in the Abyss, and while their connection is good with both, being primarily Flowborn, they prefer to dwell in the Physical Realm.
This unique creature might evolve at level 5 into a Juvenile Golden Netherlion.
Crystal weight: 0.501kg
“Woah… these are Traced as Titans!” I said out loud to Roana.
“Really? Maybe it’s thanks to the Crystals they’ve absorbed,” he suggested.
Anyway, although I expected the first part of the Description, the last part had me confused.
The whispers did not know about it? Might evolve at level 5? Why were they uncertain? However, it did not end there; its Crystal weight was more than five hundred grams? Just how? It was so small.
Maybe the lack of knowledge was because of their state as a Titan.
I focused on the center creature; it had had a much easier time coming out, probably because of its slimy looking body; it was indeed some sort of crocodile or alligator.
Hatchling Golden Nethergator (Titan), Level 1 (0/1000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 81%
Strength: Phantasmic State
Weakness: None
Abilities: Phase
This Flow creature poses no threat to a sentient, but if provoked, it takes on its physical form. The Netherbeasts can phase through matter given their Phantasmic nature. They can live both in the Physical Realm and in the Abyss, and while their connection is good with both, being primarily Flowborn, they prefer to dwell in the Physical Realm.
This unique creature might evolve at level 5 into a Juvenile Golden Nethergator.
Crystal weight: 0.501kg
With this as well, the whispers were uncertain.
The creature on the right was something else entirely, a beetle, a huge golden beetle; that was already way too big as a hatchling; what would it become as it evolved, I wondered.
Grub Golden Netherbeetle (Titan), Level 1 (0/1000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 80%
Strength: Phantasmic State
Weakness: None
Abilities: Phase
This Flow creature poses no threat to a sentient, but if provoked, it takes on its physical form. The Netherbeasts can phase through matter given their Phantasmic nature. They can live both in the Physical Realm and in the Abyss, and while their connection is good with both, being primarily Flowborn, they prefer to dwell in the Physical Realm.
This unique creature might evolve at level 5 into a Juvenile Golden Netherbeetle.
Crystal weight: 0.501kg
Alright, it’s quite cute, I thought, but in the end, I knew that this was my golden chance, and I would go with what had already become my beast of choice.
I took the golden cub up and looked at it straight in the eyes as if I was challenging him to do something. It looked back at me with eyes that could melt the hearts of any man or woman in existence.
“Damn, it’s cute…”
Roana chucked, “Yeah, he is.”
“Oh, it’s a he? I hadn’t even noticed.”
“I’m sorry about your mother, little Golden Lion, but you are coming with me.”
I closed my eyes and entered that process that gave me the power to tame creatures.
My will could easily overpower the newborn creature; I could see that it already thought of me as his mother, father, whatever sort of relationship it could have with his parent.
Then I simply bound him to me.
You have tamed a Titan type creature.
You’ve earned 100000 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 23000/23000
Sub-Class Tamer has leveled up to 23.
Your Willpower increases by 1.
You’ve earned 77112 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 24000/24000
Sub-Class Tamer has leveled up to 24.
Your Willpower increases by 1.
You have unlocked a Skill Perk.
What did…
The whispers did not stop forming in front of my eyes, so I shut them to only my ears; it was still a lot of noise.
You’ve earned 53112 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 25000/25000
Sub-Class Tamer has leveled up to 25.
Your Focus increases by 1.
You’ve earned 28112 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 26000/26000
Sub-Class Tamer has leveled up to 26.
Your Willpower increases by 1.
You’ve earned 2112 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 27000/27000
Sub-Class Tamer has leveled up to 27.
Your Willpower increases by 1.
Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 2112/27000
“Loke, what happened? Does your head hurt?”
“No, I… it’s just my Trace Skill; it’s going nuts.”
“Really?”
Choose your active Pet:
Unnamed (Adult Netherlion), Level 27 (4528/270000)
Health: 87%
Stamina: 52%
Strength: Phantasmic State, Claws, Fangs
Weaknesses: None
Abilities: Phase, Prowl, Roar
Agility: 24
Constitution: 25
Strength: 23
Focus: 21
Perception: 18
Willpower: 27
“Yeah…” There it goes again.
Unnamed (Cub Golden Netherlion) (Titan), Level 1 (0/1000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 77%
Strength: Phantasmic State
Weaknesses: None
Abilities: Phase
Agility: 1
Constitution: 3
Strength: 2
Focus: 1
Perception: 2
Willpower: 1
I choose the Cub Golden Netherlion.
I could feel my link with the adult lion waiting for us upstairs, rescind, and the connection with the cub fill my mind.
“Hello, little thing,” I said to him, and I felt the massive rush of emotions wash over me.
Yeah, I was indeed his father now.
That was something that had never happened before; I had always just tamed already developed creatures, creatures that could be defined as juvenile, so a cub was a first for me.
“Do you think we should go?” I asked Roana.
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Alright, hold him up,” I said, practically shoving the cub in her arms.
“Come here, cutie! You’re adorable!” She said, picking the cub up.
I could feel he was confused but delighted. But most importantly, it was hungry.
“We’re going to share some of our food with him; he’s famished,” I said.
“He can have all that he wants from me; look at him! He’s so cute!”
I was surprised by how excited and solar Roana looked. Yesterday and until a few days ago, she was overflowing with anger. I knew that what she had gone through would not disappear for a night of cuddles or the face of a cub, but progress was still progress.
I closed my arm around her; however, I looked back at the still two untamed Titan hatchlings. Those were a lot of Soul fractions to leave there… but I could not take them with me, and what would happen if the Titan came back and saw that all of his pups had been taken from it or even worse, that they didn’t look at it as a parent anymore?
It would mean trouble, a lot of trouble.
“Loke? What are you waiting for? Is something wrong?” Roana asked.
I shook my head, “Nothing. Let’s go.” So I started throwing pebbles, at least until I could see.
Then it was back to her being my eyes and I being our means of transportation.
When we were back up the gorge, something I was not expecting happened.
All the creatures around us became silent.
They stopped whatever they were doing and fixed their gazes on us.
The silence that descended upon us was surreal. I had never heard so much of… nothing in my life.
“What is going on?” I said, breaking the spell for Roana.
“I… think they are looking at the cub. I think they fear him. Or maybe…” she closed her eyes for a moment, “Loke…”
“What?”
“Loke, we have to run now. They do not fear him; they want to eat him, I think… I think they are going to steal his rank of Titan if they do.”
“Crap.”
I launched a pebble as vigorously as I could; it traveled almost all the way to the end of the cave when I did, and just a second before I activated the Trick Shot’s transfer, and barely a moment before I threw the pebble all the creatures in the cave threw themselves at us at the same time.
The empty silence became a deafeningly, chaotic explosion of versers. It was confusion itself.
“Sunny s***…” I couldn’t help but whisper as I threw ourselves to the exit. “You have to hug me now; I don’t care if you squeeze him a little, but hold tight!” I screamed.
What I was about to do was not easy, not at all.
When we arrived at the edge of the tunnel leading up, I discovered that I had just used the last pebble. There was no time to grab any; I took my precious knife in hand, looked up, and threw it with the full power bestowed in my clock-arm. I did not have the same dexterity with it as with my right arm, but the first, strongest throw could be arranged.
When we ported, we might have traveled at least half a way through the tunnel, but when I appeared again, given the weight I had on me, I almost lost my knife.
I threw it again in the air after falling for a few meters, but the next time I gripped it, I had to stop.
I drove the knife in the body of the rock, and thankfully, although scrambling a bit, I managed to find a foothold.
I heaved for the effort but could not stop there. Transferring was much faster than climbing the tunnel.
“Loke, let me go; I can climb it up on my own,” Ro said.
“Don’t you feel them? They are already coming toward us; most of them can climb this place much better than us, just let me switch arms.
Doing so, I took a big breath, and finally, a couple more Trick Shots later, we were out of the cave.
“Those creatures are not stopping,” I said, closing my eyes to hear their claws digging earth and climbing the rock.
“We need to run as fast as we can and leave them behind; where do we go?”
Roana was much more knowledgeable of the territory; she could better drive us.
She was pensive for a moment.
“There is something we can try, although it’s dangerous, if the creatures keep following us, it might be the best choice.”
“Let’s go with it; I doubt they are going to stand back at such a chance.”
“Then follow me; we’ll pass right through full Gnoll’s territory.”
It was then that I realized she was indeed her mother’s daughter.
