Kai found himself upon the amber river once more, in the same dank tunnel, in the same spot he had left. He’d been unable to get information about his forgotten techniques, other than confirmation that they were still buried within his mind — somewhere.

What was the deal with Hafez and Arcturus? Could he return there? What rank were they? That Hafez had collared a being that radiated power like Arcturus, was a terrifying thought. He shivered, putting it all out of his mind for the moment. Hopefully the shady merchant would come through on the crystal deal if he had the strength to survive long enough.

Kai frowned when his eye caught his shredded shirt on the ground. The illustrated Owlbear appeared decapitated. That’s not ominous at all.

His attention shifted to Kura, the ring squirmed excitedly on his finger. She must be full of adrenaline after that supreme feat of haggling. His eyes flicked towards the circle of Ooze hound corpses and Kura squealed with excitement in his mind as her draconic form dived into a river of honey and crystals.

Kai’s eyes crinkled as he rolled them. “Yes yes.” He moved closer, stepping over puddles of blood and sticky ooze, ignoring the rancid odour.

“Thanks again for your help back there, Kura.”

Every corpse within his sphere of influence burned white before disintegrating in a flash and being inhaled by the tiny chest.

Tasty tasty!

After Kura was satiated he finished cleaning himself up with the tattered remains of his shirt. He begrudgingly left the unwearable rag behind as he trudged onwards. It offered no protection and it was a part of his old life that he needed to move past if he was to survive in this life. He held a healing crystal and absorbed it as he walked. He’d found them almost impossible to use in combat, but while walking wasn’t a problem.

Kai looked over his burgeoning inventory. The result of 183/500 remains being absorbed over the last days.

37 F-grade Aura Crystal

1 E-grade Fire Resistance Crystal

4 F-grade Healing Crystal

116 Refined Ooze hound Honey

Heritage Crystal: Altair Sol, Starforger.

“Almost halfway to your evolution, you glutton,” Kai said jovially to no-one in particular since Kura clearly wasn’t paying him any attention. Like that family member who passes out on the couch—except she’s a dragon—with their button undone after a holiday lunch.

He had enough honey to open a market stall. Kai scratched his growing beard with a deranged chuckle.

Screw that, I’m not sharing my honey.

Though he did wonder why he didn’t get anything like a… wolf steak. Did Kura need certain parts? She had not created anything extraordinary, which was probably related to her stage of evolution. What level of control did the mimic ring have over what she created? Kai’s eyes narrowed to the ring on his outstretched hand like he was talking to a small bird perched there.

“Kura… do you just make what you feel like?”

Yes, she thought at him with a burp.

“Uh, can you make something besides h-honey, please?”

You no take honey?

Kai could literally feel her pride plummet from sadness. He didn’t need to read the notification that popped up, and began backpedaling. “Not that I’m complaining!” he blurted. “Honey is best best! …We just have lots.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

…Maybe. Try.

Kai heaved in a sigh of relief, well it wasn’t a no.

“Thanks.” He’d just have to go without wolf burgers for now, it wasn’t a big deal. He’d rather preserve her pride, being unable to store or withdraw items at a critical moment would be awful.

Kai ate some honey and made a show of it. The solitude wasn’t making him unhinged at all. He then pulled up a condensed version of his status for the first time in days. Immersed in his personal quest to recover his abilities and escape this place, he had focused on little else. However, the trial deadline–and the reaping–now clawed at the back of his mind.

Name: Kai Allan

Race: Human

-Titles-

None.

-Achievements-

Max, Apex World Wonder, Apex Bloodborn, Vital Hunter, Aura Hunter I, II.

-Vital Aura-

Level: 22

Free stat points: 3

Mind: F-Awakened (0/40 stats)

Body: F-Awakened (25/40 stats)

Senses: F-Awakened (0/40 stats)

-Vital traits-

Apex Explorer (Senses, Flawed)

Primal Eyes (Senses, Flawed)

Hotplates (Body, Flawed)

Neural Regeneration (Mind, Flawed)

4/10 vital fusions slotted

-Soul Aura-

Soul: F-Awakened (Early)

Affinity: Cosmic, Gravity, Hydrokinesis, Martial.

Sphere of influence: 9 feet

-Aura traits-

Weight Surge (Flawed)

Water Slap (Flawed)

2/10 aura fusions slotted.

He had gained 9 levels, the first ones came quickly, but slowed over the days. He had remembered to gradually place new stats into body, and placed his 3 free ones bringing it up to 28/40. Four more levels and he could increase his body to E-grade. After that he would need to upgrade his mind, senses and soul before he was fully E-grade. Kai smiled, excited to see what that would bring. After his body was E-grade, it would be 13 levels before he could raise another stat.

His levelling pace was slowing as the level disparity between him and what he fought shrunk. He frowned as he looked at the trial objectives; even the levelling one seemed harder now. He kicked the wall, venting his frustration. His effort was rewarded by a cloud of dirt and dust for him to cough in.

Sovereign’s Odyssey

Trial 1: The Strength to Survive

Objectives: Place within the top 3000.

Your position: ?/674,251 with ? trial tokens.

Bonus tokens: E-Soul, Level 40, Slay 50 humanoids, Conquer incursion.

Time left: 21 of 30 days.

Failure: No protection at the reaping.

Reward: Title, Disciple Candidate, plus variable bonus rewards.

Well I wanted something to fight for, but not like this. The idea of fighting to rise to the top excited something deep within him. But, governing held little appeal. He looked up, and wondered what was happening outside, on the sky island yet again. How was humanity doing?

Kai couldn’t believe only nine days had passed. “Feels like more to me,” he mumbled. Probably the mindscape, weeks or months went by in there.

Kai realised he had been over confident taking on so many Ooze hound umbras at once, and now might be a good time to recover and figure out a way to increase the grade of his soul, plus an E-grade soul meant bonus trial tokens. He’d give it a shot, then he would continue exploring the clearly more dangerous honeycomb tunnels. The stronger he got, the less he would have to burn through his limited healing crystals.

Stats required the wholesale slaughter of other living creatures for vital aura, and the system helped him imbue that vital aura into his mind, body and senses. On the other hand, soul and aura progression seemed deeply personal and he still needed to figure that out.

Unless…

Kai batted his eyelashes.

“Kuraaaa, do you know how to advance soul or aura traits?”

Eat more.

Of course, of course, Kai thought, then rolled his eyes. I should not have expected anything less.

Confident he’d slaughtered everything nearby, he sat down on the river of preserved amber to ponder his soul. The surface was smooth, hard and oddly warm.