Happy and lucky, Reli started to surround the whole body of the Hellpuppy, slowly starting to dissolve it. While its body worked on dissolving the dead, it focused on its status and distributed its newly gained points.
Status:
Name: Reli
Species: Demon Larvae
Subspecies: Blob
Level: 4
Strength: 6 (+5)
Constitution: 4 (+5)
Agility: 3 (+5)
Mind: 5 (+5)
Luck: 5 (+5)
Mana: 5 (+5)
Skills: Language comprehension, Identify, Manafeel, Statusforgery
Title: Kineater
For whatever reason Reli felt compelled to raise its Luck and Mana, so it did that. After the body had dissolved and melted into its gray blob, Reli continued to crawl towards the hole it had decided to investigate. It was not that far away from it anymore, as the Hellpuppy had tried its assault on the same wall where the hole was. The hole itself was one of the smaller ones, but Reli could feel a small pull towards it. An invisible force kept calling out to the Larvae, urging it to look inside as if it was meant for Reli.
Slowly it crawled up the wall and entered the cave.
Entering The grave of Demon Queen ‘Um’ra’
The grave of a Demon Queen long forgotten.
Um’ra’s reign was a long and prosperous one for Demons.
One of the few rulers of Demonkin who died of a natural cause.
She was known as the Queen of Darkness and Shadows. Known for being twisted and cruel.
She loved to torture her enemies with hope.
Tread carefully.
May the Goddess smile for you!
As the window popped up Reli moved through an invisible veil and the scenery, which had just been a dark, empty cave before, changed. A well-lit hall opened up in front of Reli, black walls out of gems with gold decorum around each stone greeted it. The floor and ceiling were spotless white stone. And rows of pillars lead up to something dark in the middle of it Not one gap was visible between the stones, everything was built to utmost perfection, one could have sworn everything was carved out of one solid stone. As Reli wondered where the light came from, it felt Mana flow behind the walls which caused the light. But that was not the only flow of Mana Reli could feel. A big clump of Mana was lying inside a black coffin made out of a huge gem like the ones on the wall. The coffin was placed perfectly in the middle of the hall, a circle of black spears made of the same gems surrounding it.
Concluding it was the grave of Um’ra, it was safe to assume that inside rested the corpse of the Demon Queen, maybe even buried with some gear she used to wear.
Greed crept into Reli's mind, wanting to know if it could get something valuable out of it, but something stopped it from moving closer. It was safe to assume that if it was the grave of a cruel and twisted Demon Queen, there would be traps. The window had even warned it to tread carefully.
Reli concentrated on the flow of mana coming from the coffin. It stretched outside in a line, circling around the spears and then going out. Realizing that this Mana was what called it out, it worried why the Mana circled around the spears first.
Whatever the reason was, it decided to find it out. Slowly it crawled up to the spears and touched one. Reli's body began to vibrate and resonate with the Mana flowing through the spear. It was a dark feeling that entered its body. It was not sinister nor cruel. It felt neither good nor bad. Just dark.
Stolen story; please report.
Reli decided to trust its body again. Slowly it started to engulf the spear it touched. The feeling resonated even stronger with Reli the longer it was in touch with the spear. It felt the delicate carvings on the spear as its ooze covered the whole of it., the sharpness of the tip, even the silky ribbon bound around at the connection of the tip and the shaft. The dissolving started and was much stronger than anything Reli had felt before. The bubbles were huge and almost ripped it off from the spear. The feeling of dark wanted to swallow Reli as the tingle of euphoria started to set in. Reli tried to hold on to the spear, grabbing and pressing down on the spear until finally the spear was melted down and melted into Reli.
The gray blob snared back into its usual form and the Mana in the hall shifted.
The delicate cage of Mana that had held back the oppressive force of Mana coming from the coffin broke down.
The Small drizzle Reli had felt making it outside of the circle of spears changed into an ocean filling the hall. The dark feeling became suffocating, pressing down on its whole body, similar to the feeling it had from the dragon yet different. It was devoid of life and purpose. It was just pure and utter dark. The Mana pushed and pulled Reli at the same time. It wanted it gone and wanted it near whatever it came from. The feeling Reli got was not fear, it was not freezing it in its place. It was welcoming, yet dejecting.
As Reli felt all of these conflicting and complementing emotions the remaining spears began to turn around, the tips facing the coffin and white light shot out of them, connecting like lightning between them, shrinking until it reached the coffin, then vanished. The remaining spears themselves turned to ashes and rose into the air, leaving no trace of them ever existing in the first.
The gray blob waited unsure of what just had happened, unsure if something else would happen, unsure if the spear it melted into it would begin to evaporate like ashes as well and with them, it as well.
But nothing happened.
Everything seemed safe for Reli and so it decided to move closer to the coffin.
Still, nothing happened.
It decided to push the lid off the coffin. The lid was heavy and only moved just ever so slightly. The opening Reli managed to make was just enough so it could slip through. Inside was the clump of Mana which was a dark, purple gem that glittered and glistened, almost as if it was alive. The feeling of being called out became an obsession and Reli reached its gooey body out, wanting to touch it, but stopped in its tracks just shy of it.
A window had popped up again
Essence of the Shadow Queen
The essence of the Queen of Shadows Um’ra.
One-of-a-kind.
Reli did not know what an essence was, yet the words ‘One of a kind’ intrigued it. It must be powerful with all the Mana it emitted or at the very least extremely valuable. With that in mind, Reli touched the gem and another window popped up.
Do you want to absorb ‘Essence of the Shadow Queen’?
A test will be held to ensure your compatibility with the essence.
If you fail to absorb the essence, further progression will not be possible.
If you fail to absorb the essence, you will be stuck at the level you hold now.
If you fail to absorb the essence, further evolution will not be possible.
If you fail to absorb the essence, a risk of dying in the process exists.
Reli was taken aback by the words it read in the window. This gem it touched was dangerous. At best it gained some powers when absorbing it, at worst it would be crippled not being able to make any progress at all. It only knew the potential danger but not what gains it could make. It tried to identify more of the gem, wanting to know more what an Essence was, it focused its mind on every word of the windows in front of it. It hoped that another window with a more in-depth explanation would pop up, but Reli was met with a taunting one instead.
Take it or leave it.
Or are you scared?
I promise you it will be worth the risk.
May the Goddess smile for you!
With this, its decision was clear. It wanted to know what this essence was and what it could gain from it. In it's mind it accepted the test and everything around it turned dark.