∼ Day 211 ∼

The pitter-patter of the small wyvern trodding circles around me was the only sound in the damp darkness of the cavern as I focused all of my attention towards the small pool of blood lying at my feet.

Like my shadow familiar, I needed no one to explain what my other familiar could possibly be. That was the reason why there was currently a puddle of my blood on the ground.

It was so pure and vibrant that it quite literally glowed in the dark. When I had first let it flow out of me, I had been quite stunned by the sheer potency and power that now resided within it, from not only my advances in the eldritch of life but also my evolution and growth in power as a whole.

A sudden squawk of surprise brought me out of the trance I had fallen into, making my eyes snap upon. Wide-eyed, with a mixture of innocent curiosity and fear was spread across the wyvern draconic face, its emotions quite clear to me despite not being all that adept in reading miniature mythical creatures' facial expressions - most likely due to our souls being one and the same - the wyvern stared at the small puddle of blood that had suddenly shown activity.

First, it was a few ripples. Then a little arch of blood extended only to fall back into the puddle. This continued for a bit until... something, finally took shape.

Slowly, what appeared to be a stumpy little arm managed to extend out of the puddle, followed by another. Within just a few moments, a small red and very curious-looking creature crawled itself out of the puddle of blood like it was some portal to another place. It quickly revealed to be the creature rather constructing itself out of the blood as it was sucked up into what now was a barely five-inch tall humanoid creature of blood.

It seemed to slowly shift and balance its shape like it was trying to imitate something. Then I realized, that it was staring directly up at me with that odd changing face with nothing more than two indentations for eyes and a flat-lined mouth.

I stepped back to get a better look at the creature, and surprisingly, so did the blood creature. Or at least, it tried to. As it attempted to take a step back like I did, it wobbled and fell back over, its body dispersing back into the puddle as it hit the ground.

The wyvern let out a squawk of surprise and I reached out instinctively in a sudden surge of inexplicable alarm. But before we could really do anything, the upper half of the small guy had already reformed.

His lower half was still just a smaller puddle underneath him, but he seemed okay.

Looking around like the small guy was confused, I could've sworn I saw him shrug before beginning to move around without remaking his legs.

It was quite odd to see the little guy just float around on the ground. I crouched, getting a better look at the little guy as he stopped in front of me, cocking his head to the side while he stared up at me. He acted like a puppy - but the emotionless, almost bored, expression was a bit off-putting.

To the side, the small shadowling approached carefully, wings raised as if the small wyvern would bolt any second. But no real reaction was forthcoming from the little red guy as he simply glanced at the emotionally exaggerated wyvern creature.

A few moments went by as we just studied each other. I even poked the little guy with a finger which he just grabbed with his stubby little arms, seemingly not knowing what to do with the alien object.

"So, you must be my other familiar... huh," I muttered to the red creature as the shadow wyvern intoned with a squawk of its own, adding its own piece of mind.

Unconsciously like it was completely natural, I reached over with my hand and lightly stroked the anxious wyvern's small head and neck while I kept inspecting the blood familiar.

In response to my sudden touch, the shadow familiar froze with a flinch but then quickly melted into my touch with what seemed like pleasure. No quite literally, it seemed on the verge of dispersing back into shadows at my touch.

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I cast the cooing wyvern a curious glance whose eyes were already lidded closed in the enjoyment of the head-scratching, checking to see that its body was not actually breaking apart. Which it wasn't.

"Hmm... I'll be needed to find you both a name," I muttered as I pulled up a prompt.

[Stage-1 - Closes in one cycle]

[Failure to convert three heirlooms within the allotted deadline will result in elimination from the Trials and immediate ejection]

[Heirlooms collected - 2/3]

"Well, that'll be for later. Things to do - things to kill."

***

Immediately upon stepping out of the cave and into the fresh air and breeze, I was assaulted with the projection of a voice directly into my mind of a very annoying halfling stomping her way over to me.

"Two days! Two entire days! And no word - just what in the infernals abyss have... you... been doi- uh..." She trailed off as she rounded a heavy thicket of brush and trees.

I just quirked an eyebrow at the suddenly deflated halfling who had by now completely stopped in her tracks, the officers and captains I had sent to watch over her while I evolve just standing motionless behind her.

"Uh... you changed..." She muttered in a progressively drawling manner.

"Yup," Was the only thing I said.

"Not gonna explain...?" She asked hesitantly with a finger pointed at my new body.

"Nope," I answered simply.

"But I've never seen a-" She tried again but I cut her off.

"Maeve, I only came out to say that I will be ending this stage now and that I hope you will do good on our agreement," I said, fixing her with my gaze.

She paused for a moment but ultimately seemed to give up pursuing information about my new evolution any further with one long-suffering sigh.

"Fine... and yeah - of course, I will," She assured.

"Good, then I hope I will see you soon enough," I smiled. "Don't make me wait for too long, I'm rather impatient you see."

"Yeah... you don't say..." She muttered sourly.

Turning my attention away from the halfling, I turned it towards my shadow cast across the ground behind me and the blood running through my veins. In response to my attention, both familiars gave a form of acknowledgment; the shadow familiar quite a bit more colorful in response than the impassive blood familiar.

Checking up on that, I made sure I had gotten everything I needed before leaving. Sure enough, everything was ready and good to go. Including the relic still in my storage and the newly acquired Dark Core in my [Ring of Holding] I had recovered from the arachnid's corpse - of which the spoils included a [Greater Ring of Holding], though I couldn't figure out how to work it since there apparently was something hindering me even after the spider's death.

Other than that, it was rather unfortunate that Asetth's minions who also possessed cores seemed completely inert whenever harvested just like the ones from my own units. It was only Asetth's assimilated core that retained any power as it would've in the normal world.

Although I had hoped for the opportunity of an endless source of cores, even assimilated ones, it wasn't a surprise as I hadn't expected the system to leave such an obvious loophole I could've taken advantage of.

I took out the relic, a prompt immediately popping into my mind at the slightest mental probe.

"This is goodbye then," Maeve said. "See you soon."

"Soon." I nodded.

[Heirloom of Rapture]

-Do you wish to claim ownership and convert the heirloom?-

[Yes/No]

-Yes!-

[Stage-1 - Completed]

[Heirlooms collected - 3/3]

***

One second I stood on the mountainside with Maeve, the next, I stood in the same odd space where I had with all the other candidates right before being swept away to the first stage. It had happened within the blink of an eye. Just one moment I was right there, then the other, I suddenly was here.

However, this time, I was completely alone and what appeared to be a pedestal or plinth-like podium was right in front of me. I cast my gaze from the side to side, seeing nothing really before letting my eyes slide onto the two relics on the pedestal and one empty indentation.

Realizing it first now, I found the ingot-like relic in my hand of what presumably had been Maeve's necklace as I hadn't gotten to see the process of its change before I appeared here.

The indentation on the pedestal was perfectly shaped for the relic and what needed to be done was obvious, so I placed it upon it, watching as the entire face of the pedestal began changing. It moved the relics to make more space for what looked like intricate channels and carvings, all funneling into one larger indentation that appeared below the three relics.

Glowing with a soft metallic light, I watched as the relic melted and assumed liquid form, passing through the channels and funnel in the pedestal, the glowing light doing whatever it was it was doing to the relics.

Before I knew it, a relic, this one about twice as large with very intricate black carvings was formed in the one indentation where everything had been funneled into. All the carvings, channels, and indentation disappeared, leaving the relic in the middle.

I quickly realized what this was.

"A secondary relic - huh..." I muttered.

I was just about to reach out for it when a prompt filled my mind and vision accompanied by the now-familiar feeling of my mind being whisked away.

∼[The Trails]∼

[2nd-stage, Ambition]

[Determination, drive, and courage to realize your dreams!]

[Secondary Relics collected - 0/1]

"Urgh, I'm really starting to hate this," I groaned before everything went dark.