“Hurry up and store your junk already!” Su'ong said impatiently, walking around Alan's left side and holding out both of her hands. “I already found our Class Scrolls! And...“ For a moment she seemed to hesitate. “I have to ask, where exactly did you get this [Stone of Calling]? More importantly, why have you not used it already?“
“The stone of the what now?“ Alan asked. Perplexed, he dropped the stack of Tutorial Tokens he was holding into his bottomless Case before turning his full attention towards discovering what she was talking about.
As far as Alan was concerned, the Class Scrolls gripped loosely in her left hand were the items he was most anxious to retrieve. Hearing Reggie talk about hidden administrators potentially absconding with the artifacts of dead Tutorial Denizens wasn't a very comforting thought. Especially when taking into account the Storage Ring most likely registering him as deceased when he lost his Mana signature.
Yet is seemed that his worries were for naught. The Class Scrolls were as faded and decrepit-looking as ever, but they were right there. While it was a massive relief to have them back, the object in question was obviously the disc of grey stone that was sitting flat on her right palm.
“Oh, that thing?“ Alan asked, scooping up another arm-full of Tutorial Tokens, Lotus Coins and whatever else happened to be in the pile. His flat tone did little to hide the lack of enthusiasm he had for that particular item. Of all the things she could've found interesting, it struck him as odd that the [Stone of Calling] was the item she had singled out.
Perhaps, Alan decided, I've spent too much time around Uncle Alex. It wasn't shiny, nor was it an obvious weapon. That alone was enough reason for me to lose interest.
When compared to the sight of all of the glittering metallic coins, daggers, and Mana-Steel Rods splayed out around him, that stone looked awfully bland. As far as he could tell by giving it a casual once over, she was worried over what equated to little more than a nearly-perfect skipping stone with some colored letters.
Row upon row of tiny engravings covered both sides of the stone. Each meticulous line was etched in a different color, and, upon closer study, had its own distinguishable pattern. If it was done by hand, Alan couldn't even imagine the amount of effort that had gone into making something so detailed. How many failures had come before this singular completed version?
As Alan saw it, the thought of sitting in a room somewhere, hunched over a table and chipping away at a hunk of stone for any amount of time would be akin to torture.
“I pulled that thing out of the Dungeon Loot Box that popped up after I killed the Earth Wyrm... At the time, it didn't seem like any kind of a game changer, and there was a lot going on, so I kind of stored it and…“ Alan shrugged, his face an apologetic grimace.
“You immediately forgot about it, didn't you?“ Su'ong asked. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. “Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you never even bothered to read the description did you?“
“I… Did not check the description, no.“ Alan admitted, going out of his way to look as innocent as possible.
He had never bothered to take the time to [Examine] the [Stone of Calling]. However, it wasn't like he'd singled that particular item out as useless and tossed it aside. Checking descriptions just hadn't seemed like the best use of his time. So he didn't check. The same could be said of everything else that he'd pulled out of that last Loot Box. It had seemed prudent to hold off on studying the descriptions of random items when faced with a situation that had long since gotten out of control.
Although it pained him to admit she was right, Alan decided honesty was going to be his best bet going forward. He wasn't very good at lying to begin with, and his most recent attempt had placed him in the uncomfortable position of being the future devourer of Su'ong's hated cousin.
That whole idea just seemed crazy to him. Alan was having some serious moral reservations about the idea of eating a sapient lifeform. But, it was either that, or come out and admit that it had only been pointless sarcasm when he had proclaimed the Human Race to posess a bottomless appetite for Witches.
He almost said to the Nine Hells with it, and told her the truth. It was a close thing, but in the end, Alan couldn't bring himself to speak up. The look of frustration that was already plastered over Su'ong's face wasn't boding well for the rest of the conversation as it were.
I'll just… Keep that whole issue to myself for now… Alan nodded discreetly, undecided on how he wanted to handle it. Besides, this way meant Reggie would be able to stick around for a bit longer.
Setting aside the moral implications, Alan was more than a little curious to find out how a roasted Naga tasted.
Before doing anything else, he needed to figure out what it was about the [Stone of Calling] that had Su'ong all worked up. Activating [Appraise] helped to give him an idea of what he was dealing with.
[Stone of Calling] (One time use) Dimensional Artifact- An Artifact birthed in a sub-dimensional Realm. This stone is the physical representation of an extraplanar entities existence. Upon activation, it will summon an extraplanar Soul, allowing it to take on a Level 1 physical form. Defeating this entity in combat grants the [Crest of Invocation]. (Estimated Value: ???)
Having said her piece, everything else was up to Alan. After storing the scrolls in her inventory, she set the [Stone of Calling] on Alan's lap, and began loading what remained of his scattered possessions into the still-open Storage Case.
Although he was eager to finish packing away his belongings, Alan picked up the mind boggling stone and used his tail to push himself to his feet. When the leathery flesh of his fingertips brushed against the stone, a sudden, and unusually brief notification appeared. One that froze the blood in his veins.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
*WARNING!* Activate the [Stone of Calling]? Yes/No.
“No! Don't do it!“ Alan blurted out in a panicked shout. “Don't you fucking dare!“
Pacing back and forth under the effects of a sudden and unexpected surge of adrenaline, Alan activated [Appraise] and took a few moments to re-read the description for the third time. Even then, while he could recite the passage from memory without fail, he couldn't say for sure that he understood what it was talking about. From what he was understanding, this [Stone of Calling] was going to summon the Soul of some kind of a being from somewhere outside of reality. And then the Stone would… become its body? Or something close enough to it that it didn't really make much of a difference one way or another.
What would happen to that entity after he defeated it, which he fully planned on doing despite any misgivings, was left open to his own interpretation. The description hadn't deemed it necessary to detail the fate of the so-called 'extraplanar entity'. But from the context, Alan assumed it likely that the unlucky creature would serve as the foundation for the creation of the [Crest of Invocation].
It seemed a bit harsh to summon a stray Soul into this reality just to immediately kill it and repurpose it into a Crest. However, without possessing a Crest, the Tower of Eurysteus would remain forever out of his reach. Luckily, that problem was remained a long ways off. There was still the issue of reaching the (E-Stage) to worry about, and if he managed to live that long, Alan couldn't deny the possibility that he might stumble upon another Crest or three somewhere down the line.
To tell the truth, Alan wasn't even sure that going to the Tower of Eurysteus was something he wanted to do. From what little information Su'ong had provided about these System Towers, they were basically a winner-takes-all trial of one kind or another. A trial where the losers quite frequently lost their lives in the gamble.
It was beyond risky, and as things currently stood, that Tower, any prize it held, and all of the contestants competing for it could go fuck themselves. The winner was free to cram the rewards elbow-deep up their ass for all he cared. Regrettably, his candidacy as a Tower entrant had come from earning the Apostle of Heracles Title. Because of that, he couldn't say for sure if he would be given a choice in the matter.
For all Alan knew, the moment the requirements were met, he would be whisked away to some faraway place. A place where he would be forced into another life-and-death struggle that he didn't have the slightest desire to be a part of.
Either way, I'm not even gonna think about using this thing until I've put some more thought into it. At the very least, not until I've gotten some sleep, and used my Class scroll. The description says the stone summons a Level 1 entity, but it conveniently left out what Evolutionary Stage that entity will be.
In the midst of scouring the engravings for any hidden clues, Alan noticed that although Su'ong was busy packing away his belongings, her eyes seemed to be glued to the strange Dimensional Artifact. Sighting an opportunity to lower the tension, Alan moved his hand around in a slow circle. Sure enough, like a dog having sighted its favorite treat, everywhere the stone went, so did her entranced stare.
“Alan… What are you doing?“ Su'ong demanded.
I wonder how long it'll be before she starts drooling! Alan thought, barely managing to keep a straight face.
“I asked you a question!“ Taking notice of Alan's strained look suddenly devolving into a bout of amused snorts, Su'ong hissed with annoyance and swiped at his ankles in a sudden attempt to pull his legs out from under him.
“I couldn't help myself!“ Alan choked out. She was fast. Suprisingly so, but the blow was telegraphed, and he now had a tail to rely on. Leaning back casually, allowing her attack to pass by underfoot, Alan placed his free hand over his head. The second he felt his palm touch the ground, he used his tail like a spring to push himself into a one-handed handstand.
Alan's tail thrashed around as if it had a mind of its own. Yet somehow, against his initial expectations, it only seemed to improve his balance. He knew he looked foolish, yet he quickly found his center of gravity, and stabilized. To his suprise, holding up his own weight caused almost no physical strain at all. Even balanced as he was on one arm, his chest was loose, and breathing was as easy as it would've been if he were standing.
“The look on your face was priceless!“ Alan said playfully, keeping a wary eye out for any further attacks. There was only one logical thing he could think of to do in this absurd situation. One-armed, upside-down pushups. That was a bit trickier. It was far more difficult to maintain his balance, but with a fair amount of twitching his tail at seemingly random, he was able to complete his first pushup with far less effort than he had initially expected.
His second attempt, however, ended in almost immediate failure. It wasn't because of a physical error on his part. No, he was sure his form was impeccable. Instead, it was failing to properly keep track of his Soul-bound partners location that caused his swift, and embarrassing downfall.
She was waiting for me to blink! Alan realized far too late to muster up any kind of resistance.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Su'ong struck from behind. Two closely grouped together impacts that he assumed had come from either tiny hands, or equally small feet landed in quick succession. The first blow hit directly between his shoulder blades. It hurt a more than he would've imagined, but he could've easily weathered it had she not immediately followed up with another attack. Judging by the blurred outline slamming into the inside of his elbow, this one was almost definitely from a foot,
When Alan's arm shot out from under him, he narrowly managed to avoid faceplanting by tucking his shoulder and attempting to roll to safety. The tucking part went mostly to plan, but when Alan tried to roll forward, he felt Su'ong's hands lock around the end of his tail.
Before he could react, Su'ong had already moved in for the finish. In a single fluid motion, she kicked aside the engraved disc still held in Alan's free hand, and looped the end of his tail around his neck. Splayed out like a scorpion, legs splayed out uselessly behind him, Alan thrashed around, trying to break out of her hold. His spine was arched to the point that he feared something was going to pop out of place, but that was only one of his many worries.
The main problem he faced; Su'ong was now kneeling on his arms. Her shins were pressing his wrists into the ground, and he could feel her shoulders digging into his lower back. Which, Alan quickly discovered, when added to everything else, made fighting back next to impossible.
It was becoming a chore to fill his lungs with air.
“Let this be your first lesson,” Su'ong wrenched his back down farther and whispered softly into his ear. “Always protect your tail.“
It was a precarious position, but Alan was unwilling to tap out due to a little bit of discomfort. Besides, although he couldn't see her face, the lightness of Su'ong's voice alone was enough to tell she was having as much fun as he was. Alan chose to hold off on responding and instead glanced over at the [Stone of Calling], scouring his mind for a plan of action. Su'ong pulled his tail, now-turned-noose tighter, taking away the slack she had only just created and lifting Alan's head upwards and to the side against his will. Which in turn made it far more difficult to concentrate, let alone continue to study the stone's detailed script work.
With his head cranked to the side as far as it was, Alan was able to meet Su'ong's determined gaze. “It must've taken forever… to etch out all those lines… don't you think?“ He managed to choke out in-between clipped breaths.
Alan gestured with his eyes, motioning towards where her sudden attack had left the [Stone of Calling] lying on an exposed root of the nearby Plantain tree.