She was of the hive... unused to even saying the word 'I'. What if she didn't have the will to resist? Jie chewed lightly on her bottom lip as she looked over the barrier with both her eyes and her spirit sense, searching for a weakness she could exploit...
But even if she found one... she had no idea how to help her friend.
Then, something changed within the barrier. It weakened, swirled, and retreated. Jie's heart fell.
The energy condensed into the air above the sarcophagus where it formed into an image of the red woman with Ithilix standing at the sarcophagus, swaying from side to side.
"Ithilix?" Jie called, her voice hesitant as she jumped up to her friend.
Ithilix slowly turned, her legs shaking, until her amber eyes met Jie's.
"Pr-princess?" Ithilix asked, "Ugh... this one's head is swimming." She staggered and Jie caught her before she could fall.
"It's okay," Pan Tian said, "it passes quickly."
Ithilix pressed a palm to her head. "Ugh... this one hopes so..." she said.
"Well done, disciples," said the red woman, "In truth, this was your final lesson. For when I reached the end of my first tomb, deep in an ancient jungle, just when I thought I'd made it through every trap, trial, and monster that barred my path... I confronted the spirit of the cultivator who'd created it. She tried to devour my soul and steal my body.
"But, like you, my will was strong enough. Remember, the tombs of cultivators are often filled with dangers and treasures in equal measure to draw worthy vessels to those sinister cultivators who wish to cheat death. Never let down your guard. Especially in the heart of an enemy's domain. And always maintain an unbreakable will.
"I've received word that a powerful stranger wishes an audience with me. He waits for me in the village of my birth. After my return, you four... the first to reach the end of The Crimson Valley Treasure Hunt this year shall become my personal disciples. I'll train you and raise you to the grandest of heights and you'll make our academy proud. For now, accept these treasures. A just reward for your remarkable efforts. Truly, you're geniuses of the younger generation.
Red energy swirled and a golden chest appeared in front of each of them.
"Within these chests are cultivation resources that will aid you in growing stronger. For the strongest of you, the one called Jie, cultivation resources for the Elementalist rank have been included as your cultivation has already surpassed the threshold.
"Break through and move onward to greater heights. Then, they will be useful to you. The rest of you must still reach that level and so your resources will help you get there," said the swirling image of the red woman.
They each opened their chests, exposing the resources within.
Jie's friends had each been given forty bloodfruit at the ninth star of the Expert rank as well as twenty dune cat bone powder, twenty iron orbs, twenty mindworm jelly, twenty tireless endurance pills, and twenty steel body pills.
Jie's chest had far fewer items within. Containing fifteen essences of blood at the fifth star of the Elementalist rank, as well as seven flowing blood, vigorous blood, glimmering blood, dominant blood, and iron blood crystals.
"Woah... Elementalist resources? And so many of them... lucky you, Jie," Pan Tian said with a huge smile.
Jie ran a thumb over the cold metal of the chest lid. The red woman had given her fewer items, but their worth was vastly superior. She couldn't help feeling a strange mix of gratitude and guilt about that. Regardless, the resources would help her get closer to her eventual goal... she closed the lid softly and stored the chest in her ring as did the others.
"But cultivation resources alone are an unworthy prize for the best the Crimson Academy has to offer, and so I shall gift each of you something more. I've reviewed your encounters throughout the valley and dungeon. Liu Jie, your cultivation is phenomenal for your age and your strength reaches far beyond it. But your ability to sense even weak enemies who wish to hide is deeply flawed. For you... I offer an improvement to your spirit sense as well as your understanding of how to use it," said the red swirling woman.
"How do you improve my understan--" Jie began only for the swirling figure to point at her and blast her in the center of her forehead with a beam of red energy.
Jie felt her spirit sense expand as her mind was filled with memories of lessons as a child... only the child wasn't her. She gasped as understanding blossomed in her mind and huge gaps in her knowledge were filled in. Then, the beam cut off and Jie let out a shuddering sigh.
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She rubbed her head. Thoughts and foreign memories swirled around in her mind, making her skull throb.
"I shall also improve your blood swords, though you rarely use them," said the red woman.
Jie withdrew her twin blood swords. Threads of red energy pulled them out of Jie's hands toward the red swirling figure of the woman.
"These weapons share similar properties to many others your group gathered on your journey down here. If you wish, you may sacrifice any weapons with similar enchantments and I shall use them to enhance your blades," said the woman.
Before Jie had a chance to discuss which items were part of her share and thus able to be sacrificed, her friends withdrew all of the crystalline weapons they carried and looked at Jie expectantly. Pan Tian even took out the cursed scythe they'd collected without touching it.
"You don't have to--" Jie began.
"Hush, you. And take out the ones you're carrying," Pan Tian said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Honored Elder, this scythe has a curse. Will your refinement process cleanse it or should I--"
"Your concern is wise and admirable. But there is no need for it. I will strip the curse away as I refine the weapons into something better," said the woman.
Jie shook her head in frustration even as she felt grateful for her friends' sacrifice on her behalf. And, she had to admit, she also felt more than a little hesitant about a cursed item being included as an ingredient in the enhancement of her weapons.
Still, the woman said it was fine and Jie supposed she could identify them later... just to be safe.
Jie waved her hand, depositing the weapons with similar enchantments from her storage ring onto the floor in front of her. The red woman gestured with her arm and threads of red energy lifted all the weapons, drawing them closer to the red woman and causing them to levitate around her.
Red energy surged and the various weapons flared with power before shattering apart. The fragments swirled together in a dense cloud around Jie's twin blood blades as the blades burned with dark red energy.
Power built as auras rippled in complex patterns Jie sensed fragments of but couldn't understand. Not for the first time, Jie wondered how strong the academy's founder had been if even these strange statues and ghostly images could do things like this...
The red energy broke down and refined the weapons then flowed into the crystalline blades. The blades turned liquid and swirled with power as the red woman reforged them into something more powerful.
The blood thickened and condensed into crystal once more. The overall design was only slightly different, more elegant and refined, but the power radiating from the blades was massively higher.
"I've vastly improved the power of your blades. They will now better channel even your chaotic, destructive qi and should serve you well through the middle dantian. I've bolstered their life and qi drain enchantments. I must warn you that you may need to vent what the swords collect, lest they overwhelm your ability to refine energy in the heat of battle," said the red woman.
The swords drifted toward Jie and she took them from the air. She could swear they almost hummed in her grip.
"For your beast companion, I gift a Collar of the Bond," said the red swirling figure, "a spirit tiger is a ferocious companion. But he's still far too weak. This collar will grant an enormous boost to his cultivation. It will never allow him to reach your heights, but the greater the difference between you two... the more the collar will amplify his ability to cultivate."
A collar appeared in the air in front of the red woman and drifted toward Xue. It slipped easily over his neck and then resized to fit him better.
"This one has never even heard of something like that," Ithilix said with wide eyes, "that's incredible."
"As your beast companion does not use weapons, I shall instead grant the knowledge of a martial skill known as Tiger's Rage. When used, it'll make him larger, stronger, faster, and vastly tougher.
"It will burn through qi to maintain the skill however and so is not without its costs. However, it should allow your beast companion to better compliment your fighting style and combat enemies he would otherwise be unable to," said the red woman.
The red woman then pointed two fingers at Xue and a red beam shot into his head. He gave a surprised mrow and squeezed his blue eyes shut as his entire body tensed. The beam faded and Xue shook his head, staggering unsteadily. Jie stroked him softly to try and soothe him.
"Thank you for your gifts," Jie said. She thought she should probably be using some sort of honorific or title but had no idea which one might be suitable. She hoped it didn't annoy the absurdly powerful figure.
"For you... Ithilix... Hiveborn... your fighting skills are deadly... but sorely unrefined and utterly inadequate against groups of enemies. This is unacceptable for a student of the Crimson Academy. I gift you a martial skill that will allow for insights toward improving your poison qi darts into something superior. And I shall modify your weapon to better suit your fighting style," said the red woman. She shot a beam of red light from her fingers into Ithilix's forehead.
Ithilix's amber eyes rolled up into her head and she trembled. Jie wondered if she'd looked like that. The beam cut off and Ithilix blinked as she rubbed her forehead. The spear in Ithilix's hands shot out of her grip and hovered in front of the red woman.
The swirling figure poured red energy into it and the spear shifted and split apart into two shorter spears. The handles then retracted, turning them into a pair of daggers. She then stuck them together once more and it extended into a full-length double-sided spear though it looked far more sinister and dangerous than before and with a deadly shift in its aura.
The spear drifted through the air back to Ithilix who took it with a degree of reverence. She ran her hands over the shaft then whirled the spear in the air and tested out the dual spear and dagger modes, switching between the various modes in increasingly rapid succession.
"There... it should be far more fitting for your fighting style now. Additionally, it will better channel your qi allowing you to empower the weapon more for a lower qi cost than before. It will also work with your elemental energies once you unlock them and should serve you well until you reach the Emperor rank," said the swirling red woman.
"Thank you... that is most generous of you, my lady," Ithilix said with a bow.