Jazmel sprinted to her and from nowhere, Baek appeared. In his white robes and not a speck of dirt or dust on him.
“What happened?” he called, and she turned and ran into the corridor, leading the way.
“Leno is going through a tribulation.” She explained and Jazmel followed her, the corridor was long. It bent and curved, l then veered sharply to the left before descending a short flight of steps. The temple was built remarkably well. The architecture was amazing, and Jazmel noticed not even one stone out of place or badly chiselled anywhere.
“A tier tribulation is not out of the ordinary, what is the problem?” Jazmel asked as they ran the length of the corridor and then coming into a larger room, a room bigger than office and there were a collection of other elves standing to the side and watching over Leno. When he saw Jazmel , he grinned and then curled over with pain as his body urged him to undergo the tribulation.
The elves saw Jazmel and rose up to defend themselves, but the girl waved them away. “He was who I was looking for.” Baek appeared behind them, peering down at the young boy and clicked his tongue.
“He is missing something, what has he done already?” he asked, and the girl pointed at the two items in front of him.
“He took in a gem for his spirit, something that looked like a beast core for his mind and now he needs something for his body, but he doesn’t have anything.” She explained and Jazmel could see the worry on her face, this was intensified when Leno groaned out a sound.
“My class changed; I need something metal for my body. My other item was incompatible.” Leno almost growled through clenched teeth. But without a moment’s worry, Jazmel pulled out the cold iron ore he had, one of the two remaining. He handed it to Leno and before he could even reach out, it was jerked from his grip and hovered above Leno’s body, and to his surprise Jazmel watched as the cold iron ore broke down, the system refined it down to a liquid and then pushed the metal into the boy’s body.
______________
Leno was using all of his will to not convulse and pass out from the pain of restricting his tier tribulation. This was only his second one, but he could feel such a difference. The ore that Jazmel had given him, was intense and strummed his body. Thrummed the strings of his fate, he felt the ore creep across his veins and then reach his bones and strengthen them, down to the marrow.
The bones thickened and grew, and he felt mighty, he felt stronger than before. Usually after a tier tribulation he felt greater. But the iron ore had really helped him. Something seemed to connect him to metal, and he wondered if it had anything to do with the class he had gained. He checked his notifications.
DING!
TIER TRIBULATION COMPLETE!
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE A SEEKER TIER II
WELL DONE!
DUE TO YOUR TRAIT ‘IRON’S ENVOY’ YOU GAINED FURTHER CLARITY!
…
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
STATS HAVE RISEN!!
+2 STR
+2 PER
+1 VIT
+1 END
+3 INT
+2 AGL
+2 WIL
+1 DEX
He had gained so much, but he knew it wasn’t from his own work. He had gained a great deal of stats, he looked up and rising to one knee, he looked at Jazmel and with his head bowed he asked.
“Can I join you?” he asked, Jazmel was looking at him incredulously. “Why? Join me at what?” he asked, his gaze intimidating but not forceful.
“I want to be strong like you if I had been as strong as you. I would have been able to save more elves.” He offered and it looked like Jazmel had accepted his words.
“What of your friends? They will want to move on.” Jazmel asked, testing.
“They have their own goals too; it will not be a problem I am sure.” He looked over at his friends who were in the corner watching this moment.
“Alright then.” Jazmel said and touching the air, which let Leno know he was touching his screen and flicked it over to him.
__________________
Jazmel liked the tenacity of this boy, Leno had undergone a tier tribulation. Gaining strength and interestingly, Jazmel had watched as his body had used the cold iron ore to strength him down to his bone density, even now. Jazmel could that he had been bolstered, his entire muscle mass changed.
DING!
SEEKER TIER II LENO PATTS HAS ACCEPTED YOUR OFFER!
HE HAS JOINED THE BLACK WING FACTION!
…
YOUR FACTION HAS GROWN!
Jazmel nodded at that and then turned to the girl who was waiting patiently and watching this happen. Jazmel turned to her and then she inclined her head in a low bow, when she did the other elves lowered themselves, prostrating before Jazmel and Leno.
“You saved me and my people.” She said still bowing.
DING!
YOU HAVE GAINED THE FAVOUR OF THE IGNI ELVES!
FEW HAVE GAINED SUCH FAVOUR!
YOUR REWARDS WILL BE ADJUSTED FOR THIS!!
…
The system was continuing to feed him information, but the girl approached him, and he mentally flicked the system screen down.
“I owe you a great favour, firstly. My name is Lin, Lin Narakina, and the daughter of the Shaman of the Igni elves and the temple here. you saved us and we are forever in your debt.” She said and from nowhere, Jazmel noticed she wasn’t currently wearing a ring. She pulled a piece of crystal; it looked like a shard of glass with the night sky trapped within. When she handed it over to him, he realised it was another shar of the primordial core.
DING!
YOUR REWARDS HAVE BEEN GREATLY ADJUSTED!
YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED A SHARD OF A PRIMORDIAL CORE!
…
YOU HAVE BEEN OFFERED THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE IGNI ELVES!
ALL IGNI ELVES WILL KNOW YOUR NAME AND SHOW YOU RESPECT!!
…
+1 FOR ALL YOUR STATS!
Jazmel had never garnered an increase in all his stats before, and he felt the myriad of system energy flush his body and imbue it with the new stat strength. Jazmel looked around and turned to Baek asking if he had any food or potions on him. Baek’s potions were far too strong for the weak and malnutrition elves and freed slaves, but he did have some food, he had an abundance of food and he provided them with corpses for them to butcher and keep.
Jazmel was ready to move on, he thanked the elves for their gift of the core, and he inclined his head towards Lin who was going about preparing her people and fortifying the temple while they recovered.
He, Leno and Baek left. Leaving the elves to dine and heal, they worked their way back through the temple and out into the open, Jazmel told Leno to loot the slavers, take everything. Replace his own items and armaments but also take anything useful so he could sell it for later.
Leno leapt up and rushed forward, taking weapons and armour alike. Jazmel watched him and then turned to scan the temple looking for the gate, he caught Baek watching him. “What?” he asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“Young master, I am just proud to see how far you have come.” Baek said, inclining his head with respect. Jazmel felt the back of his neck warm with anxiety, but he bit it back and pulled it down. He nodded several times, more than he should have and thanked Baek.
“Let’s find the exit and move on.” He said and made to begin walking outside of the temple.