CHAPTER 105.

Amber blinked, too shocked by the opportunity to advance her core, but also by the circumstances unfolding before her very eyes. The man she had been trying to find out more information about; the man that had lived thousands of years ago was standing right before her very eyes; Ishtar, the Exiled Emperor of Arcase. And he was asking her a question.

Why do you chase after me? His voice rang inside Amber’s head for a moment, his golden eyes meeting hers with some hostility, and for a moment she was lost. There were so many questions playing in her mind. Was this encounter real? How does he know I’m chasing after him? What even is happening?

But as his eyes bore into her, Amber resolved herself to answer the question. She attempted to speak and⁠— no sound came out.

Ishtar shook his head and looked back to the forest.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t care about why you’re here, Eisheth.”

Eisheth? Amber tilted her head as a person walked into view. Turns out, it was a vision. She immediately recognized black armored woman with a horned helmet. It was the person that had wielded the Cursed Primordial Berserker at some point.

“C’mon now, I’ve stopped pestering you about returning to my organization,” the woman replied playfully.

Ishtar scoffed. “Yes, because your fabulous organization operates here too.”

The woman shrugged and joined him to look over the forest, not replying at his remark. And Amber of course, was just staring, confused⁠— why was she seeing this? Why could she see this?

At least I have another name to research… Amber concluded as the silence between the two figures continued. Finally, after a few moments, the woman spoke.

“You know, you left a massive mess behind. I couldn’t even use the gate to get here.”

“I don’t care,” Ishtar answered simply.

“People will come for you in the future; a few years from now; or a few hundred years from now; you’ve left a mark in the history of Vir that cannot be erased.”

Ishtar said nothing as he continued to watch the forest, but the woman continued to speak. Surprisingly, her tone seemed indifferent, as if their past history had never happened.

“Whether they’ll seek you for your transgressions, or just to understand you, that is something you should understand. I know it all too well, that’s why I spent so long trying to erase myself from history.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Demons or spirits, both can lead to the same thing. Just because I chose demons, it doesn’t make me a heretic.”

Amber blinked, it was such a simple and casual statement and yet it hit like a sledgehammer. The man she had been looking into and researching had sided with demons? Of course, Amber didn’t necessarily understand to which extent he did so.

But if he got help to go to Ill’hine from demons… or learned Essence from them… She had never thought of

“I’ve never been a fan of the primordials myself, but siding with the demons doesn’t make you a heretic, but your actions do.”

Ishtar shook his head. “Doing what it takes to reach my goals does not make me a heretic, I am not seeking to overthrow anyone, nor am I seeking to upturn the world. I am merely serving myself.”

“Yet not only did you cause the destruction of an entire continent, but you also got a god killed.”

What? Amber blinked, but even that couldn’t have prepared her for the following statement.

“All I did was summon one of the Demon Gods.”

Ishtar summoned a Demon God…?

And then the vision ended.

Amber paused, seeing the darkness before her, all while her mind reeled. For starters, was Ishtar the one to summon the First Demon and cause the whole problem with the End and the Land of Demons? No, that was extremely unlikely. But the fact that he had summoned a Demon God was enough for her to be alarmed, and also admittedly very curious.

Why? Why didn’t he ally himself with the spirits? Why did he have to summon it? There were so many questions that she had no answers to. And perhaps, she wouldn’t be getting them. Not any time soon at least.

Amber inwardly sighed. Why did I get a vision? Is it related to the Core Advancement? Right now, she was… well, passed out. She was aware of that, she didn’t really have a physical body per se, it was a very odd experience. So, how was she even meant to take the advancement?

This is…

Normally she should have been unconscious, but she was still very much aware even if it was only of her own thoughts, and right now she wanted to do her advancement. The question was… how? For a moment she was stumped, but then she remembered what Asil had told her in the past.

It’s an instinctual process to all creatures with a core.

And so Amber focused, and after a moment she saw something⁠— or rather, she saw her own core. It was the size of her head, burning with bright blue flames and yet full of cracks. Considering it had started at the size of a ping pong ball, she felt pretty good about it. And now, it was time for it to grow bigger, and for her to get her advancement.

Finally, she peered into her core itself and observed the swirling liquid Essence within the core, and it was nearly filled to the brim. The walls of the sphere looked cracked, and it took nothing more than a few pushes to shatter them further. Before finally, with a large wave of Essence she broke them⁠.

As soon as they shattered Amber found herself standing in a very familiar room. A vast underground chamber with a flame on each of the cardinal directions. This time, she wasn’t standing outside and trying to find the place of her advancement, but rather she was already there.

Amber took a breath observing the various flames, this time they were vastly different than the previous ones she had seen.

Is this related to Ishtar too?

Though, unfortunately, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be getting answers any time soon.

Finally, after a moment she decided to focus on what mattered, but she still found it hard to focus on her advancement with all the information she had just previously learned. Mainly because even though this was her second time doing her Core Advancement, things were also vastly different from what she had experienced before.

Well, the core parts were different, because the flames didn’t even look like flames for the most part. And that made her question whether this was related to the vision or not.

The flame that was to the east side of the room was for lack of a better word, solid. Almost like a crystalized version of a flame, except on top of its solid form it still had flames. The entire odd construct was a blue color.

The flame on the north side of the room was seemingly normal except for the fact that it seemed to occasionally flare up. Its bright blue hue would turn a deep azure from time to time.

And finally, the flame on the west side of the room was different from all the others because it was red. A deep burning crimson that seemed oddly ominous to Amber.

Just like before there were three advancement options, and Amber decided to approach the flame to the east. Deciding to go from right to left in terms of options, mainly because she found the last flame somewhat unsettling.

Amber quickly reached for the solid flame, and at first the Essence seemed mostly unresponsive as she gripped onto its twisted form. But following what her heart told her to do she gripped and the flame shattered. Her core ignited, blazing brilliantly as the Essence went to the other side of the room to create an adversary for her to test the advancement on.

Her advancement was odd, it was something that she couldn’t quite identify at first, even as an Abyssal Briroar formed. It was, of course, a copy of the monster she had faced and a monster that had literally terrified her, though it was weaker than the original given it was only 10 levels above her.

[Abyssal Briroar. Lvl. 191]

Amber was unfazed by its presence, in fact all she focused on was figuring out the advancement option she had been given. It was different from the previous ones she had seen, for it didn’t quite affect her Essence or what it did for her, but rather how her Essence behaved. It was… an odd thing.

Even as it rushed towards her in an attempt to charge her, and it wasn’t until it was a few steps away that Amber finally understood her advancement option.

She swiped.

Fulminating Slash.

The monster was hit by the slashing attack and subsequently suffered from an explosion of flames, but Amber didn’t stop there, instead she swiped again.

Fulminating Slash⁠— and again. Slash⁠— and again.

In a single moment the same skill was used numerous times as the monster gradually was cut up and essentially swallowed by the rain of attacks. Amber also used Wind Cleave along with it, overwhelming the poor Abyssal Briroar, of course it was at the cost of an insane Essence consumption, but her advancement also seemed to lessen that.

However, that wasn’t all⁠—

The Abyssal Briroar dropped dead and Amber felt deep pain within her chest, she had gotten them before back on Earth when she pushed too hard, except while it felt similar to heart pain it was a lot more pronounced and it was in her core. The pain itself felt like it was on the verge of crossing a threshold, a threshold that she couldn’t quite come back from⁠⁠—

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It was core strain. She knew that, because that advancement option was simple.

Advancement of Exertion.

It allowed her to near erase the cooldown on Essence skills, at the cost of gradually straining her core. It also made repeated skills more efficient.

Amber took a deep breath as the pain slowly eased, and along with that the corpse returned to being Essence and the advancement left her body taking the deep pain along with it. Finally, Amber turned to look at the option that was on the north⁠— the one with the intermittently flaring flame.

It was time to look at her next advancement.

* * *

“She… is she okay?” Cecile asked in concern.

Asil nodded as he lifted Amber by slinging her arm over his shoulder. She seemed fine, and from what he could tell her core was more than just fine. In fact, she was undergoing a Core Advancement. But, even with that she was still unconscious, at least though based on what he could sense ⁠Amber was fine, her body was keeping the poison at bay so she wasn’t on a gradual path to meeting her demise or anything, which was a relief.

“She is just poisoned⁠,” he explained.

Cecile immediately shoved a potion. “Then it is important she drinks this⁠—”

“I don’t think we should wake her up,” Asil interrupted, moving the potion away with his staff. “She is undergoing an advancement.”

Cecile paused. “She is level 200 already?!”

“A different kind,” he didn’t elaborate.

Finally, he gestured at Cecile to come over. Right now, Frei was fighting a chimera and it was better for them to leave. And so, as soon as Cecile got close he nodded at her and she got what he meant. She grabbed onto his arm and Asil raised his staff. And with a shine of light they teleported out of the crater and in the direction towards the horses.

“Let’s hide until the battle is done,” he said simply.

Cecile nodded once more and⁠—

A loud explosion resounded right behind them. The two jolted and turned only to see a person groaning, it was Frei. She looked wholly unhurt, but her face was twisted with annoyance.

“I really can’t be assed to deal with this.” And then she turned, pausing when her eyes landed on the fainted girl. “Oh, huh, is Amber okay?”

“She is fine.” Asil looked at Frei. “More importantly, are you sure you can kill that chimera?”

Frei frowned. “I mean I can, I’m just not willing to put in the effort⁠—”

And a loud roar resounded before the gigantic chimera appeared not too far away from them, and Asil’s eyes widened as he saw the many maws of the twisted being shining, preparing a long ranged attack.

“Fucking⁠—”

Frei slammed her scythe of darkness as a black dome was erected.

“Annoying!”

And the attack hit.

* * *

Amber stared at the next advancement, the intermittently flaring flame. It seemed to rise in strength at random intervals, which made Amber somewhat worried.

“Will this one mess with my core like that too?”

The thought of over-exerting herself and suffering from a debilitating injury was… scary to her. And that was because it was something that had happened in the past. Though it just meant she had to be careful⁠— except that concept was almost foreign to her at this point.

It was oddly weird to admit, but she was scared of this possible change in the way of using Essence⁠— the need to moderate herself. It, after all, went against her way of life. But even then, in a sense this was just another barrier for her to overcome, So, without brooding on it too much, Amber reached to the flame and then grabbed onto it.

Half of the Essence flowed into her while the other half went elsewhere to make a new monster for her to kill. And this time, she managed to understand her advancement almost right away, and it was something that greatly excited her, and also, worried her slightly.

A Fledgling Chimera quickly formed before her eyes, an exact replica of the one she had just killed.

[Fledgling Chimera. Lvl. 191]

It was once again, much weaker than the one she had killed, but it hardly mattered for this advancement. After all, the specific function this advancement had was much different than anything she had expected and yet it was an exciting prospect.

Amber immediately made a bow of flames along with an arrow pretty much instantly, and then she gathered her Essence ⁠— her core instantly reacted, blazing with a bright blue glory. She drew more and more as the chimera immediately freaked out, and when it reached the normal apex it kept going⁠—

Her core heated and the replica Fledgling Chimera tried to attack her, but Amber just teleported out of the way as her core became a shining bright light, almost as if it were a small star constantly heating up and reaching heights it had never reached before,⁠ and that’s when finally, she felt pain, and along with it Amber loosed it.

Primordial Blazing Bolt⁠—

The arrow struck and in a single moment, her vision went white with a sea of flames. The whole room became white as the ceiling was blown off, and of course⁠— all her Essence was used at once. This Primordial Blazing Bolt had been at least 50% stronger than usual, and it was because of the advancement.

It was the Advancement of Overload.

And what it did was simple. She could push the power of her Essence beyond normal limits at the cost of straining her core. Much like the last one, it strained her core, just from pushing its limit in a different way.

Amber squinted her eyes as her vision recovered, all she saw was the charred surroundings, the advancement having shown its full power instantly. All the other flames had been temporarily extinguished, and what remained was the last flame; the red and ominous flame that had been dancing there since she had started her advancement.

She couldn’t put it off any longer.

As for what it did, she wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, it was most certainly related to what she was feeling. But there was only one way to find out.

And so, Amber headed towards her last advancement option.

* * *

The barrier nearly shattered at the chimera’s attack, and while Frei was strong Asil knew when an opponent was too much.

“We should run,” he said.

And at that the elf snorted, standing back up from her previously fallen position. “I’m finishing what I started, especially ‘cause this shithead ain’t got the strength to kill me.”

Asil frowned. “You’ve lived long enough to understand your limits, don’t make the mistake I did and listen.”

“Just let me deal with it, old man.”

With those words, Frei made another scythe of darkness, and Asil frowned. She was most certainly getting herself killed, but she was also risking the lives of everyone. Though, the ring he had gotten from Amber was charged with Essence now⁠ thankfully, so if it came to worst he could use it to teleport everyone away, possibly leaving the elf behind.

Asil just frowned as the barrier disappeared and he braced himself as Frei began to whisper, he couldn’t hear what she was saying but he quickly noticed the air gathering around her, all while the chimera teleported in front of them.

The ugly, twisted, and cursed monster screeched, its many appendages moving and swirling like the building-sized amalgamation it was. And then, as it began to raise many of its tendrils and its red eyes turned to blue; as it began to exude a bright white aura that was full of curses like never before; as it prepared an attack to kill them all in a single second; Frei swung.

At that moment Asil could have sworn reality itself was split, a dark line was drawn over the surroundings, and then a moment later⁠— everything fractured. The chimera went flying split into two halves, blood splattering. The rock of the valley was lacerated with a deep gash as landslides fell, and Frei on the other hand just sighed, before stretching as the scythe of darkness dissipated.

“Welp, warmup ain’t too bad; blows that you’re so annoying to kill though, that should’ve killed the average 350,” she said, shaking her head at the monster. Then, she began to stretch. “I really dislike fighting seriously, it hurts quite bad. I mean, that move already hurt a decent amount.”

Asil frowned. “Take this seriously.”

“I’m somewhat,” Frei said, cracking her shoulder. “As a fragile mage I can’t completely play around after all.”

“Combat mage, you mean?” Cecile asked cautiously.

“Nope, I am a bonafide mage, a pure scholar of magic who has no physical attributes whatsoever,” Frei said simply, still stretching as the chimera on the background reeled from pain, bleeding all over. “Anyway, if it was urgent, I could certainly kill it quite fast, but all the chimeras are dead…”

She stopped, and started making a scythe of darkness as Asil had a bad feeling about things. Frei twirled the completed weapon with a dangerous smile.

“And since I’m already going through all this trouble, and it’s gonna be painful anyway, why not take out my frustrations while doing so?”

And Asil at that moment frowned, realizing that Frei might possibly have more than just a couple of screws loose.

* * *

Amber stared at the dancing red flame. It was a beautiful crimson with a white center, and yet it also exuded a feeling of deep wrongness. Almost as if it didn’t belong there, and yet, no matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t tell where the feeling was coming from.

Is this related to Ishtar? Once more, the question popped up in Amber’s mind, but unfortunately she didn’t have the answer to that, instead all she could do was stare at the flame and hope for answers that wouldn’t come. But she was done doing that, it was a waste of time, the only way to find out what it felt so wrong was to test the advancement for herself.

And so, she did⁠—

Amber reached into the flame and grabbed it, and this time, in comparison to all the other times, all of the available Essence went into her body. And for a moment nothing seemed to happen, the room remained completely charred, now lit by the other pending advancement options, and Amber for a moment couldn’t feel anything different.

It was as if nothing had changed, and for a minute it remained like that until she heard a voice.

“... ambitions…”

She blinked as the flames present in the room flickered for a moment, and then with a gust of wind another whisper came, this time fully able to be understood.

“I can see your dreams…”

Amber frowned, as the voice continued, this time with a greater allure and strength.

“And I can offer you power.”

She couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. It was most definitely related to the advancement, but Amber couldn’t tell anything else. She looked around, but the following words made her pause.

“I can take you to Ill’hine and make you god.”

Make me god? Amber paused, and then the voice continued.

“All you need is to make a contract with one of the Demon Gods…”

Then, the advancement ended, the Essence leaving her body as all flames reignited with great vigor, yet Amber found herself staring at the third and last advancement, at the red flame. Because she only understood it when it ended.

It wasn’t any advancement, but a special one. It was:

The Advancement of Demonic Essence…

* * *

Asil took Frei with a grain of salt, but as the two halves of the chimera were thrown across the valley, and even as they rejoined together they were split in half. All while the elf was laughing, from enjoyment, but Asil noticed something that he didn’t notice before.

Her body is breaking…

Frei swung her scythe, splitting the valley in half and dyeing it with the color of the chimera’s blood, her joints cracking and her shoulders dislocating.

It cannot handle what she is doing…

And he paused as he saw Frei slam the chimera on the ground with an axe kick, shattering the surroundings.

If she really is a mage why does she fight like that…?

He quickly found himself fascinated by the younger elf; wondering what kind of Legacy Branch and class combination allowed her to do that. And the chimera itself was pummeled, destroyed by raw force and brutality that he had never seen before.

Chunks of it flew across the valley, being torn apart by her attacks, until nothing remained of it.

* * *

Amber watched as unlike before, all flames came close to her allowing her to easily reach whatever option she chose, and yet her eyes remained glued onto the Advancement of Demonic Essence, and the reason was simple.

She understood it even more now.

It was an advancement that gave her the ability to directly connect with demons, and borrow their power in exchange for something. It was an Essence that allowed her to quickly grow stronger, and to some extent she could even kill whichever demon came from it. And even though it was wrong, her eyes were glued onto it.

Then, she looked over at the Advancement of Exertion. What it offered was simple; the capability to make her Essence more efficient and remove cooldowns. It was a great option.

But there was also the Advancement of Overload. Allowing her to empower any Essence attack at the cost of straining her core. It was undoubtedly what fit her best.

And lastly, there was what she had been fixated on, the Advancement of Demonic Essence. An advancement that made her interact with demons, one that allowed her to borrow their power, and one that would most certainly piss Sid’fril off.

Amber stared at the last one for a few moments.

I really wonder if I shouldn’t think more about it.

And finally, with a deep breath she reached for her desired flame, unsure if she wasn’t going to regret this in the future⁠—

Her core shattered.

[Your Wisdom and Intelligence attributes have increased by 50.]

And her attributes went up yet again.