The bird, now transformed woman stoped some twnty meters away from Rex, got on her knees and performed a deep bow, her forehead touching the ground. Rex could see the slight change in the vegetation around the woman, as if her mere presence gave more vitality to it.
"My name is Dryana, and I am the caretaker of the flora of this sealed world. It is my honour to infor you of your success in overcoming the trial." spoke the woman and rose to her feet, then she smiled and continiued "It was never intended for teh combat trial to reach this level of power, however due to and accident long time ago, the artifact that was bound to this ralm was lost and the creatures in the trial were left unchecked, thus growing stronger and stronger, untill it was no longer feasible for normal challengers to ever hope to overcome it. And unfortunately none of the servants bound to this place had the raw might to reset the trial to its intended levels. IF you would follow me, I will guide you to the inner sanctum where you can bind thsi realm to yourself, claiming it as yours, as was intended."
"Sure, just give me a minute Dryana. Have to finish my meal after a hard workout." responded Rex, as he finished draining the final boss. Once done he stood up, feeling the surge of power this quarry had provided him with. Then he turned his full attention to Dryana. The woman in question had light green skin, almost shining yellow eyes, hearth brown hair, and she gave off a relaxing aura of nature. She wore clothes that looked as if made from leaves and delicately woven tree branches.
"What manner of creature are you Dryana?" he asked the woman, and she smiled and responded
"I am a dryad. Spirit of the forest and nature. It is our job to take care of the forests we live in, since it both sustain us and helps us grow stronger. In return we maintain balance of the echosystem and protect it from disasters."
"No wonder you feel like nature itself. By the way, are thsoe clothes comfortable, have you worn clothes made by humanoid races adn how do they compare?" he asked, curious about the matter.
"While slightly more pleasant to wear, they can not support the needs that our natural outfits can, such as the ability to withstand our shapeshifting and other such peculiar necesities. Thank you for your concern though, it warms my heart the new master is such a nice person."
"Alright then, lets go and bind this place then, my harem will be overjoyed whne they learn they can always be with me." Rex said, and followed the dryad. It took them less than a few hours to reach a rather peculiar circle of stones and after a few signs made by Dryana, a portal appeared and they crossed it together. Existing on the other side he was greeted by a rather large hall that had a few more portal spaces with some strange symbols atop of them, most likely indicating the places they lead to. Rex just observed them a little as he followed Dryana and in aproximately hour they reached a Vault.
Dryana opened the vault, and once inside Rex saw piles and piles of many different precious looking metals, gems and gold. Then they passed multiple tabes with all sorts of weapons and armors as well as all sorts of books that were in pristine condition, adn not a speck of dust was anywhere whithin sight. Soon they reached teh very center of the vault where a ball of light was suspended in the air. it floated above a sort of a medalion. Dryana gestured towards the orb of light and spoke
"Drop a bit of your blood on it. In doing so you will claim ownership of this shard for as long as you live." Rex raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and then did as he was told to. He could see with his eyes that there was no contamination withing the light orb, adn he would indeed gain a lot by claiming it. There was a slight sense of amusement deep withing him, as if his instincts were saying that the dryad was heavily underestimating her new master. And as he droped his blood on the light, he understood why. Unlike the normal ritual, that was supposed to happen, where a blood connection was established and a claim was made over the world shard, his blood magic affinity and powerfull soul changed the ritual to one of eternal bond. The shard was now bound to his soul, and even if this body of his were to perish, this place was always his, even in another life he would have access to both this place and his memories, since it also served as an anchor for his personality and essence.
"Hmm, that feels odd." Dryana comented, sensing some sort of disparity from the ussual bonding, but despite the odd feeling, she felt no malignance in this new bond, so she left it as is. She was sure eventually she would figure it out since she had been a caretaker of this world shard for much longer than any other caretaker, so she was the most deeply familiar with it. As she was adjustting to the new and sensing out the changes that would eventually happen in the shard, due to the change of masters, so was Rex, and he learned quite a few interesting things from the get go.
First, and foremost, he could somewhat sense the general status of and proceses of this small world. For all intents and purposes, it was like an island in a vast nothingness, and he could also sense that now with him as the owner and master of the place, it would slowly expand in size and scope. A treasure like no other that will continue to grow along with him. Rex could sense that the rate of growth and elovution of this small world heavily depended on his soul, so he could also reason that the current projected growth would be far above the norm, and it would also have a stable progression rate, if he kept grinding in the dungeons.
Secondly, he could now move quite freely within this place, since the laws that bind everyone else do not apply to him in quite the same way. He could now basicly teleport to any place in this small sealed world. If he focused enough, he could also inspect and keep track of desired regions at all times as well.
And lastly, he knew he could use the lawas of this place to attack any undesirable elements or creatures within, but the power and scope was limited to quitea few factors, starting from his own personal energy limits, to the power level of the target, to amount of energy that freely circulates in this sealed word and a few others. The main point was that he could quite effortlessy take care of armies of weaklings, and even someone close to his own power would be severely weakened, and probably heavily weakened. Anything much stronger than him would not be dettered by much, so the need to grow stronger not only went nowhere, it just became more prominent in his to do list.
Some thirty minutes later, when Rex finaly switched his focus from his new wolrd, he turned to Dryana
"How much authority do you have iregarding this sealed world? Can you freely shift in this place, or are you limited like anyone else would be?"
"I have limited ability to disregard the rules of this place, since I am not the owner, but just a caretaker." she responded and bowed to Rex, acknowledging the new ruler of this place.
"Do you have any orders master?" she then asked. Spending another twenty minutes evaluating the condition of the realm he finaly responded to the dryad.
"You have been taking good care of the flora and fauna of the place. Thank you, and keep doing what you have been up untill now. If you believe there is need for change to better develop and enrich the said enviroment, go ahead and do what you believe necesarry. You will have much better understanding of the subject. Take care managing the other servants bound to this place as well, since it feels like that is exactly what you have been doing so far."
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"Yes master." she responded and shifted away, returning to her duties. Then Rex tried the space shifting, and a moment later he appeared not far from the portal he entered when he started his combat test. In no time from the same pond out came the elemental that had innitiated the trial and upon seeing Rex, the spirit bowed and adressed him as master. Rex gave him a few instructions to report to Dryana for further tasks in need of solving, since the trials were no longer necessary. Rex had informed the dryad to keep herself and the rest of the bound servants well rested and in good condition, so he was not woried about any problems regarding a low morale here.
Then in a relaxed manner he walked towards the place Vivian was staying. Not long after he reached the place and when with utmost focus he sneaked behind the girl who was focusing heavily on a book of sorts. Then as he stood behind her for a while and observed her state, he decided to proceed with his innitial plan.
"Good book?" he asked and scared the shit out of the girl who trew it away and scurried away a few meters then quickly turn around and drew her blade, ontly to stop when she realized who was the culprit. Rex could hear very quiet curses directed his way as the woman was slowly composing herself, then putting the blade away and smiling akwardly at him.
"You have returned safely. Congratulations. It is indeed sad that seems you have failed the trial, but you are alive. Since no one can try the trial twice shall we return and go wherever it is that leads you next?" she asked akwardly, and Rex could feel she was hoping he would not return, but since he did, she had an order from the sect master to follow through. Rex just smiled lightly, then responded
"Its all right, I learned a lot, lets go. We have much to do and quite the distance to travel untill I reach home." Then the two of them returned to the portal where he entered this closed realm. Soon the portal was open and the two of them stepped out of the secret realm, and as soon as they did, five nervous and worried girls rushed towards him and Vivian. His five maids were faithfully waiting for him, and as soon as he stepped out of the portal, he sensed a certain item slightly heat up on one of his fingers. He raised his hand to the level of his chest, and then pressed on the jewel and muttered a few words. As he removed his hand from the jewel, a holographic screen appeared abowe the ring with a few words on it 'ITS DONE. COME HOME.'
'Thats izumis handwriting' he expertly deduced, as he listened to the report of the past few days tha the girls retold him. From wha the understood, the sect has decided to try and form some sort of connection with him, and were hoping that their recent actions as well as the no plotting part would give them some start in developing said connection. Rex just shrugged, adn made a slight joke, regarding a possible offering in the form of Vivians mom, to deepen said friendship, earning a glare from said girl. Rex had the five prepeare another earth grade meal for teh seven of them, and after a rather pleasant and relaxed meal, he started to move towards the exit of the sect.
During their walk towards the exit, a few elders and the sect master himself showed up and all politely escorted Rex out. As they were walking, nothing in particular happened, ann once at the gate the sect leader respectfully asked for a chance to exchange words with his dear granddaughter as no one knew when and if she would ever meet them again, so he wished to have a personal farewells. Rex asumed the girl would recieve some quite advanced and complex plan to pave way to some lucrative deals for the sect in the future, but it did not matter all too much, since he would brand her once they were decent distance away, so he just allowed it to happen.
Soon, Vivian was done recieveing her instructions and the seven people left the sect. Their pacewas that of a normal walking speed for the following hour, and when Rex could feel that they had left the scouting range and their sect escorts had returned back, he stoped, turned to the girls and spoke
"Right, now that we have been relieved of the tail that had been following us we cant get right to business and sort the main issue of our traveling speed." He then concentrated and a portal came into existance besides him.
"Everyone except Vivian enter the portal, since unfortunately our mode of travel is not quite large enough for seven people to comfortably sit and not impede on its speed." The five girls then obediently entered without another word, leaving Rex and Vivian alone. That did not last long as soon near them landed the eagle Rex had branded and used to reach the Tyrant Dragon sect. It had been circling teh sect once Rex entered the sealed world to partake in the test for its ownership a few days ago, and now that Rex was back he had called the bird to him. As Rex was feeding the eagle he spoke to Vivian
"So, care to tell me what exactly are your orders, or will we wait until you are perfectly obedient and willing to speak?"
"I dont understand master. What orders?" she responded with a straight face.
"Come now, I might be young but I am not that stupid. Your grandfather must have certainly given you some sort of a mission in regards to me. The question is, what is the aim and the nature of your task? There is no need to act either, I can tell that you are lying, even if your body language is near perfect, so start talking. AS long as it does not harm me I might even entertain the idea of possibly one day fullfilling it. So?"
She bit her lip in slight frustration, then reasoned that REx might as well just be bluffing, so she decided to keep up the act, and denied such orders, deciding to make a false reason
"My grandfather did order a few things to me, however they were of different nature. It is my duty to serve you faithfully, since that was part of the deal, and that you are very powerfull and as such I should be very carefull as to how I adress and act in your presence master. That and his sadness for my departure. That was all we talked about. I am sorry, you were mistaken."
"Oww, how sweet" Rex responded with a light sarcams in his voice that vent over Vivians head, then asked "Did he at least shed some tears due to your parting? I belive a loving grandfather should seeing his dear granddaughter depart to possibly never be seen again."
"Yes indeed, a few tears did escape his old eyes. That is the reason he did not came out with me after the farewells." she replied with a very light smile on her face, as though she was recalling the memory. Rex knew better though, nice her energy was clearly showing she was lying.
"Not even a single tear eh? But I suppose thats to be expected from a sect leader who has been taught and brought up with absolute loyality towards the sect and its benefits. I am a bit sorry for you there. Must suck if that is the last memory you will have of your home." He mused for a moment then asked again the now uncomfortable Vivian
"What about your parents? Where are they and would you like to see them and bid farewell as well if possible?" A bittersweet smile crept on her face, as she thought about them, then she answered
"There will be no need. They must be on the other side of the union, serving as envoys or something. We were never reaaly that close in the first place, since I rarely met them. Do not concern yourself with it, that being said, where that portal leads to?" she finally asked since shewas wondering where the five were sent to.
"Ow that? You should be well aware, since you have spent quite a lot of time there. Right, while on the subject, how old are you and how much time did you spend in that sealed world preparing for your trial?"
"Huh?" was all that came from Vivian as she heard Rex question.
"What, did I not tell you that I passed the trial and that sealed world is now mine?" Rex looked back at her in confusion.
"IMPOSIBLE!" she exclaimed as her brain turned back on and started to work in overdrive mode "WHEN? HOW?"
"Thats a bit rude, and you were there when I exited the trial. By the time you saw me I was already the master of the Elysion." Rex answered, then seeing that the eagle had finished its meal, he interrupted her state of comprehension
"I can answer a few more of your questions, but that will be later. Since our mount is ready, time for you to employ your knowledge of your own homeland. I need you to guide us to a city that has gate terminal. Our final destination is a city quite far from here by the name of Blythe.You might have heard of it. A big shot blood mage surfaced there recently."
"Yes, even we heard of it. But due to our war we did not have the time or leasure to send someone there to possibly fight for some benefits."
"Thats odd, I can swear I saw at least a few cultivators, and I am sure there was at one sect that made their offer to the blood mage." Rex mused as they got up on the eagle.