"Do you have cobwebs in your ears? Just said that he" Norbert pointed with his finger to Count von Count "Could retrieve a blood crystal or the blood crystal. Not sure how many of them are around." Norbert said, trying to remember what Granny had said to him, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Lily and Sally fell back in their chairs while Count von Count stared at him, Norbert imagining the cogs turning in his brain. Looking towards the other two, Norbert stared back at them. "I did do stuff while I was awol," Norbert replied curtly.

Count von Count finally kicked back into gear, asking, "So where is it?" He asked Norbert.

Pointing at the side of the cliff, Norbert explained, "After being chased by whatever the librarian was sending after me, sending her black sludge after me." Norbert started to explain how he even found himself out there.

"What librarian?" Sally asked him.

Norbert turned to the commander, perplexed. "The librarian that I brought up here, then went to my room upstairs with me" Norbert said, looking around the table to see if anyone was backing his claims.

The three of them looked strangely at him. Before anyone else could respond, Norbert said the next thing on his mind, "Unless I didn't get chased by it..." Norbert said to himself, letting the sentence hang in the air as he tried to remember exactly what happened, seeing if there were any inconsistencies with his thoughts. Pulling up nothing that was a telling sign other than what the people in front of him were stating, Norbert shrugged, believing what he saw, for if he did not believe that ...

Shaking his head, Norbert left the disturbing thoughts behind him as Count von Count looked at him desperately. Talking under his breath, "Granny didn't lie when she said you would want to know about it."

Count von Count's ears twitched in annoyance. Norbert started to see some colour painted on the vampire's face. "What did you say?" He asked Norbert.

"Nothing; just over the balcony, you will see a ledge far down; go into the mountainside; there should be a river of blood. Follow it up, and you should find what you seek." Norbert said; the second half of what he said the vampire didn't hear as he sprinted out over the balcony; the last Norbert saw of Count von Count was his hand giving the thumbs up.

Norbert felt a wind chill momentarily when the vampire jumped out, the cool breeze ruffling his hair as he sighed, content. Turning his attention back to the others, he pulled out the book Granny had given him.

"Either of you have seen or read this?" He asked them.

Sally turned the book to her as she opened it up, seeing the first few pages with the publication information, closed it with a clap, then turned it around and slid the book back to Norbert.

"Think so, just can't remember where," Lily said as she looked at the cover before patting the fox.

Norbert nodded as he placed it in, looking at Sally's reaction, knowing she had seen it somewhere before. The commander kept it a secret for whatever reason as Norbert stowed it away.

Lily pointed at the fox again as she continued to pat it. "So, how did you get this little guy again?" She asked him.

Norbert nodded in response. "Just in the last area, after defeating a chimer-" Norbert started talking.

"A what?" Lily asked.

"A chimera was this morphed creature between a lion, a goat and a snake," Norbert said.

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"Oh, sorry, didn't know you were using that word." She said to him.

Norbert had a look of perplection on his face. Sally cleared her throat; Norbert looked at her as she indicated to his chest. Looking down and seeing the usually missing talisman, we wondered where it went as he remembered monkeys taking everything from chimneys.

"Those damn monkeys. At least Azalea would be happy that I don't need it." He said.

Lily just laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Oh, isn't he cute," Lily said to Sally, who nodded in return.

Norbert just looked between the two as he stared, wondering what was so funny. Sally, unable to take it any longer, said to Norbert, "You've been mixing the two languages up in a jumble with no clue at all."

"Oh……" Norbert said, seeing how it would now happen; mixing the two would even do his head in as he wondered how they could understand him. "Better?" Norbert asked.

Lily just smiled. "There's only one way to find out, so you were saying something about a chimera?" She asked him.

"That's right; these monkeys had an arena down there; the last creature they brought out was the illusion. Cut off each piece until the snake was left," Norbert said, the other two not moving as they waited for him to continue.

"Then the snake grew extremely large, fought, got swallowed, and this guy," Norbert said as he patted his hand down the fox's body. "Helped take it down," Norbert said.

Lily and Sally looked, thinking how it was possible. "Well, it was much larger than before and had several tails. Don't know if that helped." Norbert explained as he looked at the two of them.

Instantly, Sally went lunging for it, picking up the fox as she investigated it. "How many tails?" She asked him.

Norbert thought back to witnessing the massive fox before himself “Id says four or five." Norbert said.

Lily whistled at hearing the number; Sally just stared at it, Norbert seeing her brain go a thousand miles an hour.

"But all the creatures need to be defeated to pass." She said mostly to herself.

Norbert nodded. "Well, when I got that little fella out of the area, it counted as nothing left." Norbert said, "The other creatures, I was able to recover my energy- mana," Norbert said as he corrected himself. He felt weird needing to do so after so long of thinking of it as energy.

Sally nodded. "As it should, those creatures were created through magic, living in a life-mana-rich area. I should only be living in that area. So how is this guy out here?" She asked, mostly talking to herself as she squeezed the fox's cheeks between her fingers.

The fox scratched her, stopping her musing as the fox moved out of her hands, landing on the table before curling up again, closer to Norbert as it tried to get away from Sally.

Norbert smiled as he gently patted the fox, feeling the fur as he watched Sally sit down.

"What are you going to do with the kitsune?" She asked him.

Norbert looked at the creature as he shrugged. "No clue. Probably the same as Obsius: take it on for as long as it wants before splitting ways." Norbert said.

The fox looked up at Norbert, giving him a wink in response to what he said. Norbert stared down at it as he thought about what was said, remembering the fox talking with Obsius so at least it could communicate somewhat.

A question brimming in his mind: "So, what's the reason for the maze and such." Norbert said.

Sally cleared her throat "The trials are supposed to fill in the gaps of individuals, a training of sorts." She said to him.

Norbert nodded as he thought back. "What's the reason for the maze, the weird shadow man and the forest?" He asked her.

"The maze was for strength, as a basis of what is needed for the others. If participants can't make it through that trial, they have no place." She said.

Norbert remembers the wall of projectiles going for him as they smashed into him when he went above. "I don't see how anyone else can do that," Norbert said as phantom pain rocked his body from the multiple hits he received.

"That's because you're not meant to go over the maze. It bumps the difficulty; the longer you're up there, the worse it gets." Sally said to him.

Norbert just nodded, the final wall of projectiles coming for him and how Granny had saved him.

"Ok, and what about the next one?" Norbert asked her.

Lily butts in, "That's for mental resistance, specifically for yours. And my gosh, were you bad at it." She said to him.

Norbert opened his mouth to refute the accusation as he remembered how long he had been there at the start, just hearing the tch sound repeatedly.

He just nodded in response, opening his mouth, but Sally took her turn before he could say anything.

"And the last one was the survival. Placing a tester in an increasingly dangerous environment, needing to rely on their whims until they make it out. Defeating the last creature as they become more comfortable." Sally finished.

Norbert just nodded, "Not like how I did it." He said to them.

"Most not," Sally said.