He reached under the counter and withdrew a small box made of some kind of stone, from the looks of it, before handing it to Blood. The lupine woman was surprised but accepted it before looking at Beth, who just gestured for her to open the container. When Blood did, she was greeted by a pair of eyes starting back at her, giving a surprised bark at the sight, though she had the presence of mind to not drop the container. The eyes were mostly a pure black with a very bright white ring for the iris and a glowing golden center for the pupil. Beth used her own changed eyes to Identify the item:
Eyes of Hallowed Truth
{Eyes able to pierce through hidden secrets and understand the hidden inequities of life. The revelation of their gaze is able to dispel many falsehoods. To apply, hold eyes up to user's eyes and touch them while emitting a brief pulse of mana.}
"Well, that's certainly something," Beth commented.
"Should I use them?" Blood asked, looking down at the eyes before glancing at Beth then Revare.
"It would be wise to do so. Such items as we give out as rewards are not inconsequential, and many would covet them after you leave here. Besides that, your companion already has her own eye power, and such things are rarely compatible. To combine two eye powers is possible, but it takes years and years of study and research by one steeped deeply in the ways of mana and body modification to understand such a sequence," Revare explained.
"So, basically, these are super valuable, so somebody else would try to snatch them. And, they're useless for me since I've already altered my eyes and it would take a real expert years of study to try to merge some other eye power with mine." Beth summarized succinctly.
"Alright, well, here goes…" Blood said a little nervously before doing as Beth had done many months ago, holding the eyes up to her own before pulsing mana through them. It was an interesting thing for Beth to watch, as she had been too busy experiencing unimaginable pain the last time to get much from the experience. Which seemed to be the case for Blood this time as well, as the eyes sunk into the lupine woman's sockets, as if they were two orbs of liquid night that flowed into her companion's skull like black rum into a skull cup. Blood growled, low and dangerous, before staggering to one knee, Beth placing a hand on her companion's shoulder as the eyes worked their magic.
Eventually, Blood seemed to pass through the worst of it, blinking several times before looking up at Beth, her eyes completely changed. It wasn't a surprise to see her midnight black sclera, white irises, and glowing golden pupils, but it was still a bit strange to see how it changed her face, not that it diminished her beauty in any way. In fact, it only enhanced her appearance, the new colors matching quite well with the dark red of Blood's hair and fur as well as the slightly tanned complexion of her smooth skin. The wolf stood back up, giving Beth's hand a squeeze before giving herself a shake to reset her mind and focus back on their task at hand.
"Glad to see that went smoothly," Revare commented calmly. "Are we ready to move on?"
"I think so," Beth replied, getting an affirming nod from Blood.
"This would be for you," Revare said, pulling a small box from under the counter and handing it to Beth. She opened it to find a crystal within, not even needing her eyes to know it was a skill crystal.
"And what's this," she asked before bothering to Identify it.
"That, young lady, is a skill crystal for Celestial Annihilation," Revare replied somewhat proudly, even his back straightening and shoulders stiffening as he spoke of it.
"It certainly has an impressive name," Blood commented, still blinking fairly rapidly as she was trying to adjust to the new eyes.
"Indeed, and I think you will find it lives up to that name," Revare continued. "This is a core of our faction, a tier three skill, by the way, and only people who get into the high twenties in the Trial would qualify to receive it as part of their reward. As grandiose as the name sounds, if you grow the skill to a high enough level, you could shatter even a star with one strike, so don't scoff too much."
"I find that hard to believe," Beth said, turning the skill crystal over and over in her hand as she pondered it.
"But it is the truth," he said with a solemn nod. "Though of course, that wouldn't be until much higher rank. Even so, it is an extremely precious and powerful skill, and I would urge you to learn it and start practicing with it immediately. That crystal, as well, is a one-time use item, I must inform you, so once you have learned it, it will vanish."
Beth didn't need any more encouragement, holding the crystal up to her forehead and pulsing mana through it. Unlike even the Swift skill crystal, this was an entirely different experience, almost as if she were transported to a far away world. That world wasn't consistent, as she experienced countless people across countless years using the skill, all of them with their own variation and technique. It all revolved around channeling mana through a complex sequence of internally created runes, allowing one to empower their body or a piece of equipment to devastating effect. Not only that, but the skill allowed the user to channel the power out of their body or equipment into a brutal ranged strike. Take a sword, for example; if the user of Celestial Annihilation channeled the skill through the sword just so, they could launch a blade wave from the edge of their weapon that would cut across the battlefield, slicing apart anything it came into contact with.
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Once the vision ended, she realized that no time had actually passed, frowning a little as she felt some dust in her hand. Pulling her right hand away from her forehead, she realized the crystal had crumbled apart, turning into nothing more than glimmering dust, which also faded into nothingness. She brushed her hand against the side of her thigh anyway, making sure it was clean of grit as she checked her status screen to see the new skill at Copper[0]. She turned back to Revare, interested to see what else he possibly had for them.
"The last for you," he said, looking at Blood. "Though not the last for the two of you."
So saying, he reach under the desk and produced a pair of items, it taking Beth only a second to realize they were weapons. These were not just any weapons, either, but a set of claw weapons for Blood, replacing her gloves with a pair of gauntlets that were made of some kind of dark red metal. The claws themselves were made of a dark gold metal, and as Blood pulled the new gauntlets on she was able to cause the claws to extend down her fingers so that each claw overlapped a finger, or she could retract them up the backs of the gauntlets so that she could punch with her armored fist without the claws coming into play at all. She had full control of where the claws were on the gauntlets and could even have them partially up the gauntlet, able to move them up and down as she saw fit.
"Do the same to them as you did to the necklace," Revare instructed. Blood complied, dropping blood onto both gauntlets and pulsing mana through them. She felt another strange sensation in the back of her mind, feeling a connection form with the gauntlets.
"What did that do?" she asked, eyebrows quirked and mouth in a confused moue.
"Those claws are Soulbound weapons," he answered. Seeing Blood's confused look, he continued, "They are bound to you now. As long as you are alive, they cannot be wielded by anyone else. Not only will their manipulation functionality not work, they will bind themselves internally into an unusable shape so they may not be equipped. They are also extremely resilient, taking an awful lot of effort to damage, and they will regenerate over time without having a Blacksmith look at them as long as you are alive."
"These are incredible," Blood said, flexing her hands and arms after taking in the explanation.
"I'm glad you think so," Revare replied with a smile, admiring the claws for a moment before reaching under the table. "And as for our penultimate reward, we have this."
So saying, he withdrew a wooden box made of some sort of golden wood that was polished so deeply it shone like a mirror. The box was about the size of Beth's hand, which actually made it somewhat large considering Beth's large palms and long fingers. It was about five inches tall, and the lid was clasped with two hinges on the left-hand side, Beth carefully flipping open said lid to view the contents. As soon as the lid was open, a pale golden light washed out of the box, lighting their faces and briefly attracting the attention of the other attendants at the counters before they saw it was from the reward counter. Beth examined the source of the light carefully, finding it to be a palm-sized bottle containing a pale golden liquid that radiated warmth and powerful mana.
"And this is?" she asked Revare with a raised brow, though she already had some suspicions of what the box contained.
"Celestial Marrow Elixir," Revare replied. "It is one of our best products, made by a Sage-level Alchemist. I don't know too much about the field myself, but I have some understanding of the materials and process involved and would describe it in one word: complex. For such an expensive and difficult to produce elixir, the benefits almost need not be explained, but I will simplify the effects even better than your eyes would describe it.
"This elixir will purify and clean your marrow and strengthen your bones. The basic description would tell you something about the marrow cleansing and then would further state it gives you a boost of fifty to both STR and END. The marrow cleansing is more important than it seems, and this is one of those cases where an effect is greater than what the stat changes indicate. It will cause any healing factor used on you to be faster and more effective, toxins to find it harder to take root, and will help prepare your body better for the construction of a more powerful Mana Physique. You will also find yourself with more stamina than just the fifty END would indicate and find that you need less food than others to restore your energy or to make up for any loss of blood."
"Just the fifty to two stats is already pretty crazy," Beth said quietly, staring at the bottle in rapt fascination.
"Mmm, yes," Revare replied with a knowing smile. "I would also give you the usual cautions of using it somewhere that you can clean yourself easily, preferably with no garments of any kind on, and that you have food, water, and a place to rest prepared afterwards."
"I think I'll just use it in the bathroom of the suite here," Beth replied with a small chuckle, recalling her time using the last elixir.
"Yes, that would obviate my other caution to you of using that quickly before someone far more powerful than you obliterates you to acquire it," Revare said with a small smirk.
"Right, getting totally obliterated sounds bad," Beth replied with a frown.
"Indeed. As eager as you are to use that, let us finish your rewards first," Revare said, Beth snapping the box closed as he finished speaking.
"And what else could there be?" she asked, making the elixir disappear into her new necklace, which she stroked with a finger absentmindedly afterwards.
"The last bit isn't a physical item, I'm afraid," Revare said with a shake of his head. "Instead, it's an offer."
"An offer?" asked Beth warily.
"Indeed. Let me explain the basics," Revare said with a quick gesture of his right hand. "We offer anyone who does well in the Trial membership into the Celestial Awakening faction. This offer essentially comes down to you joining our faction, being provided gear and training by us, and then being deployed as one of our warriors."
"And what," Beth cut into the explanation, "does being 'one of your warriors' entail, exactly?"
"You would have a period of fifteen years of service," Revare explained. "This period would include mandatory service in defending our territories, raiding dungeons, pocket dimensions, etc., and even working jobs such as I am doing now. Afterwards, you would be able to choose your assignments for a period of years, this depending on your performance, before you would be tasked with more senior roles, such as that even of a Warder."
"Seems pretty controlling," Beth responded with a shrug.
"Indeed, but for the price, you have access to the wealth and knowledge of one of the strongest factions in the universe. You should think carefully about the offer. I can provide a more in-depth explanation if you decide you are interested."
"I think I'm going to pass," Beth said after exchanging a look with Blood. "I appreciate the offer, but even at the start of the Trial we weren't really that interested. I'm really grateful for the Trial and for the opportunity, but we have a different path we're going to walk."
"The offer remains until you decide to return after the rest of your free time," Revare said. "If you change your mind, just contact myself or someone at this desk, and we can help you sign on."
"Thanks, Revare. For everything," Beth said with a smile before leading the way back to their suite. They still had around four days of free time before they had to teleport back home and Beth intended to take advantage of that time to rest and relax. At least, they would rest after they took care of one last piece of business.
They had stripped down as soon as they mad it back in the suite, Beth because she needed to and Blood because she wanted to, though the process was much changed now. They simply made the rest of their equipment disappear into their necklaces, which included their clothes and other jewelry. Beth walked into the bathroom with Blood trailing behind before assuming her place in the huge tub and causing a small box to appear in her hand. She took the glowing bottle out of the box and placed it on the lip of the tub before making the box disappear back into the necklace.