Chapter 47 (2 of 2) Synchronous Terminal And Generation Engine Simulations (Patreon)

[Skill: Rebirth From Death | Type: Influence/Spirit  ]

Desc: In times past in an unknown world, the mythology of an ancient empire was spread to other continents and underwent a reformation. Now of another form, the deity represented the cyclic nature of life and death, and all within. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Order’s pinnacle.

Abilities:

Cyclic Reforming – The strength of one becomes another’s.

- Gives the weapon the ability to obtain the spiritual energy of those killed by its soul twin. {Only active when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos}

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute skills from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Collected Skill Shards: (5/10) Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard.

- Gives the weapon the ability to merge skill shards to form new tertiary or secondary skills. Limitations apply.

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute stats from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Stat gain maximum: 50% of Rank Total. {Temporarily Stored Stats: x4 CON, x3 STR, x3 AGI, x1 INT}

Ordered Origin – Order became power.

- Gives the weapon the ability to shield its User from damage up to the total of its active ATK, MATK and SATK. Shield resets when its User receives unshielded damage the equivalent of what was negated.

- Gives the weapon the ability to absorb damage up to its active ATK using its User’s equivalent MP, while shield is active. Absorbed damage can be reflected partially or completely. Current absorbed damage:

[ ]

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “It’s named after the monster? What would a Lesser Formicidae skill do? Does it become a Greater Formicidae skill when merged with other Lesser Formicidae skills?”

“Hm?” Scytale used his nose to gesture to a line. “Why is it storing the stats? Also, I don’t remember ‘Stored Stats’ being in the skill sheet last time we looked.”

Lucille shrugged. “I assume that’s because I’m Rank-0. As Rank-0s. we can only obtain free stat points to increase our strength. We can’t use elixirs or eat stat-boosting foods to obtain them.” She held her chin as she observed the information. “Although, can I only obtain one stat for each monster I kill? There are 11 stats here total, and I killed 11 monsters.”

“Well, whatever. Let’s get out of here!” Scytale suddenly exclaimed, flapping his wings. “I want to go beat these stages! We’re done here!”

Lucy shook her head wryly but began walking in the direction of the Ascendant City. “Alright, let’s go do the stages. It’s time for us to begin ‘climbing’ the Tower.”

…

[General Quest: COMPLETED]

Reach Lvl. 10(MAX)

[Rewards: Class Tier +1, Stages 1-5 Unlocked, Novice Title]

[Alert: No Class detected for User Lucille Goldcroft and User Scytale]

[Withholding Reward: Class Tier +1 until Class is detected in User Lucille Goldcroft and User Scytale]

“That’s convenient,” Lucy said.

“… don’t tell me you just left it up to luck whether we would obtain the tier upgrade or not?” Scytale asked suspiciously.

Lucille smirked. “I don’t think that’s relevant now. Didn’t you want to start the stages?”

Scytale narrowed his eyes but huffed as Lucy called out to the System, “Take us to the Stages.”

A white-blue screen appeared in front of them both.

[Do you want to begin the Stages?]

[Alert: Stages 1-10 must be completed independently. User Lucille Goldcroft and User Scytale may not enter the same Stage during the Beast Realm Stages.]

[Yes/No]

Lucille sighed. “This is it.” She looked down at her bond. “Good luck. Make sure to achieve the maximum Completion Rate while you can. You could come back to finish them, but the instant increase in your strength the first time you complete them is more beneficial for us right now.”

He nodded. “Are you going to be okay? For me, once they’re done, I’ll be back outside the Obelisk not even a second after I left and besides a few key memories, it’ll all feel like a dream. But for you, you’ll feel every second as if time’s actually passing…”

She smiled at him. “Scytale, I’ve completed 70 of these things, and done them over and over again. I’m used to it. Besides,” she added, turning back to the screen. “I’ve spent the equivalent of thousands of years in pocket dimensions under time dilation. These are hardly different.”

She pressed [Yes] with a smirk. “And… you know I’m looking forward to it for my own reasons.”

Scytale scoffed and pressed [Yes] on his screen. “Yes, you insane woman. And you call me crazy for my love of fighting.” He shook his head. “Never mind. Time to begin.”

After he said that, their bodies were whisked away into particles of white light, the Obelisk cube empty and silent.

…

[Welcome to the S.T.A.G.E.S!]

Available S.T.A.G.E.S (Beast Realm):

Completion Rate: 0%

Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region (UNLOCKED)

Stage 2: LOCKED

Stage 3: LOCKED

Stage 4: LOCKED

Stage 5: LOCKED

Stage 6: LOCKED

Stage 7: LOCKED

Stage 8: LOCKED

Stage 9: LOCKED

Stage 10: LOCKED

[Please complete Stage 1 to proceed to the next stage]

Taking a breath to prepare herself in the white System space, she pressed on Stage 1. The empty white limbo around her faded, and she found herself tumbling onto the ground. She sat up and brushed the dirt out of her hair as she took in the towering evergreen trees covered in vines and crawling plants, massive twisted roots, and branches thicker than houses intertwined overhead and beyond the area she sat in.

Lucille stood up, taking note of the two daggers still in their sheaths on either side of her.

So, even though they’re sentient, I can bring them in as weapons. I didn’t check their Statuses earlier to see what their stats look like after their level-ups, but considering the nature of the Stages, it’s not relevant right now. Although…

She checked and nodded to herself.

No Status screen for me or them. I’m working with purely pre-System methods. All in order then.

She did, however, have her dimensional bag. It only contained a bedroll, an empty canteen, and a rope, with no food or currency within. It was up to the System’s discretion of who could bring what and how much into the stages. She supposed she was allowed the daggers, the bag, and its contents because of her limited strength.

Then she put a hand up to her right eye.

And… I don’t have my mask… it seems my eye doesn’t work here. I wonder what I’d see if it did…

Taking a look around, she noticed she appeared to be at the top of a hill of some kind and began climbing up a thick tree root to get a better idea of her location. She got on top of it and took in the view.

Stretching out endlessly below was a thick, gargantuan jungle filled with brightly coloured flora and fauna, all emitting different levels of mana. A cacophony of different beast roars and bird cries sounded out below, multicoloured flocks of winged creatures soaring above the jungle. Occasionally, the ground trembled as powerful but unseen magical beasts stalked the region under the shade of trees as tall as skyscrapers. The sound of a System notification rang out.

[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region]

The lands of the isolated Deep Greenwood Region are fraught with conflicts and battles between mighty beasts and powerful monsters. At the top of this fierce hierarchy of struggle and blood, the three Beast Kings reign supreme over the region in a tenuous mirage of a truce. But this truce shall soon be broken.

You are but a lone wanderer from another realm, without a home, without a people and without safety. You have been cursed with the most disastrous of ill fortune – you have entered the jungle when the bonds of peace are soon to be shattered.

Fight, wanderer, and grow, for you will come out of this ordeal stronger if you do.

And fight, wanderer, fight, because only the final victor of this battle between sovereigns will survive the cataclysm of the New Moon’s day.

[Collapse]

Main Quest (Rank-1: Beast Realm) Overall Objective:

- Ensure no contenders to the title of Supreme Ruler of the Region remain by the time of the New Moon’s day.

Sub-Objectives – Stage 1:

Compulsory:

- Survive the first night.

Optional:

- Locate a safe water source.

- Build a functional shelter.

[]

[Completion Rate: 0%]

Lucille had a month. One month before the cataclysm that will destroy the entire region would occur. If she failed to complete all the compulsory objectives before the end of the month, she’d die. And it was very likely that was going to happen—several times.

Each of the different Main Quests was intended to teach the User something. Something essential for their continued life as a member of the Tower, as they would be facing intense conflict and dangerous situations frequently and constantly.

The Demon Realm taught someone to fight, to wield weapons to surpass the violent demonic beasts with physiques superior to most other races.

The Tartarus Realm taught someone to perceive their body, fighting against the energies of death mana to understand their physical condition to the smallest irregularity.

The Mystical Realm taught someone to control the world around them, resonating the force within the body with the forces outside to bring about Grand spells and Penultimate abilities.

The Heavenly Realm taught someone to understand the immaterial, the power of thoughts, the soul and the mind, and the impact of concepts and ideas on the manifestation of their abilities.

And the Beast Realm? It taught the User to sense death. To perceive hostility, and avoid attacks with the intention of drawing blood. The way it did that was by forcefully introducing the User to a wild region of the realm filled with savage beasts and monsters in a constant battle to come out on top, all eager to remove any threat or competition in their quests for natural treasures. The Beast Realm taught the User to sense killing intent.

Lucy’s future in the short term was looking a lot like a wintry wasteland where nuclear war had taken place for thousands of years and then left to sit on an abandoned planet for the rest of time. Bleak.

However, she’d complete the Beast Realm’s stages eventually. Death wasn’t permanent, and in the past, she had finished the stages, otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to reach Rank-1.

Dismissing the Stage screen, she prepared herself to begin her descent down the hill, through twisted roots and flora to head forth into the dark jungle.

But feeling slight anticipation and possibly a bit of excitement, Lucille activated her expression regulator, and her entire body language switched. Her normally neutral expression changed and she gained a calm and easy-going smile, hands held behind her back as she whistled while walking through the vibrant greenery. The atmosphere around her had changed to the extent she almost seemed as if she was a different person.

Lucille was going to have some fun. After all, there was no need to care about consequences… when everything was just a simulation.

…

Hm. This looks like a good enough place to start with.

Lucy observed the small clearing bordering a lake edge. She hadn’t been able to detect any particularly strong beasts or monsters on this side of the lake so that probably meant her location was safe enough to satisfy the first optional Sub-Objective. She walked over to the lake's edge and stuck her hand in the cool water.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Locate a safe water source.]

[Completion Rate: +2%]

[New! Completion Rate: 2%]

With the System having confirmed she had found a drinkable source of water that wasn’t near some dangerous beast, she set about collecting thick vines and sturdy branches to use for her next Sub-Objective.

For any User recently out of the Tutorial, the first ten stages would be very familiar to them. That was because the Tutorial had been intentionally made to introduce new Users to the stages, so they would be able to complete them and understand what they were meant to do. The stages did, however, have several differences.

Each stage awarded a +10% Completion Rate when all Sub-Objectives of the stage had been achieved. At the end of the stages, the System would give the User rewards based on how high their Completion Rate was, just as it had for the Tutorial. It was the stages that Users were most likely to be awarded awakening primers, a very rare resource because of its application to an individual’s Origin Skill. Magical beasts were exceptions to this rule, as their alternative methods of gaining strength meant their Origin Skills could have their awakening rates increased differently.

Unlike the Tutorial, however, it was possible for the stages to have hidden objectives. These hidden objectives would still be listed in the Sub-Objectives, just with their requirements missing. And unlike the Tutorial, every individual’s Main Quests and stages were unique.

The System had a large collection of different Sub-Objectives and hidden objectives that it assigned a User to complete. The location and general context of the stage were the same for each User, and the Main Objective of each Main Quest was the same for everyone, but the time period, order and type of Sub-objectives could change, including the events and objects relating to them. Lucy didn’t think the System had changed her Sub-Objectives in the new timeline but…

…well, you could say she had an ‘above-average’ level of attempts for each of the Beast Realm’s stages. In other words, she sucked at them. As the Main Quest was supposed to force the User into sensing killing intent so they could survive, she… did not survive. Not until she had managed to memorise every single possible outcome of her repeated attempts at the stages so she didn't constantly have to redo them.

But now she had to complete the Main Objective of the Beast realm while being the weakest she had ever been since her last day of being seventeen in the former timeline. She had a plan for how she could complete the Main Objective even with her current state, but it would require a lot of setup, a large amount of manipulation and possibly a little bit of poison. She needed to get this done as soon as possible so she had more time later in the stages to enact the more complicated elements of her plan.

The stages acted as checkpoints, where the completion of them meant that for her next stage that point in time would be when she would return if she died or failed to complete the Main Objective by the end of the 31 days, the day of the New Moon. She would be stuck in endlessly looping time until the Main Objective was achieved. She could always leave the stages and Obelisk for a break and come to them again later, but that would defeat the purpose of her being there. At least she didn’t have to worry about Hidden Objectives until the next realm’s stages.

Lucille used the rope from her dimensional bag to secure the last section of her leaf-roofed hammock in the trees as her musings on the mechanics of the stages came to a conclusion.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Build a functional shelter.]

[Completion Rate: +1%]

She hummed as she received the notification. No, that’s not good enough. Seems I’ll need to do this again.

She glanced at the lake where the late afternoon sun’s golden reflection gleamed on the surface of the water.

But I won’t try again now. I’ll save a better shelter for the next attempt.

She climbed into her hammock and thought deeply about what she needed to achieve before the first major task of Stage 4 arrived. Then she closed her eyes.

Alright. If this attempt is going to end early, then I’ll make it worth it.

Completely removing all her mental restrictions on the amount of soul power and spiritual energy she allowed herself to control, she released the entirety of her soul power and energy out of her body, expanding her perception field to its absolute maximum. To the level where it had been capable of scanning entire planes and planets, giving her information up to the smallest molecule, all of it obtained through her 799 levels of SPRT and MENT multiplied by her Soul Compression As-

Her thoughts stopped, and all went black.

…

Lucille lay still as the white static in her mind receded, returning her soul back to perfect form. She got up from the floor of the white System space and sighed as she looked at the screen before her.

[Welcome to the S.T.A.G.E.S!]

Available S.T.A.G.E.S (Beast Realm):

Completion Rate: 3%

Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region (UNLOCKED)(INCOMPLETE)

Stage 2: LOCKED

Stage 3: LOCKED

Stage 4: LOCKED

Stage 5: LOCKED

Stage 6: LOCKED

Stage 7: LOCKED

Stage 8: LOCKED

Stage 9: LOCKED

Stage 10: LOCKED

[Please complete Stage 1 to proceed to the next stage]

I think I just exploded.

Well, at least she had proven to herself she could actually kill herself if she ever tried to use too much spiritual energy. Any lingering temptation to push too far with her soul had been completely erased. But now she had mapped the entire region and located the positions of the three Beast Kings, all dangerous monsters, and all the materials she would need to complete her goals.

Pressing on Stage 1, she was taken away again, returning to her position at the base of a tree root that could take her up to see what lay down the hill.

[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region]

The lands of the isolated Deep Greenwood Region are fraught with conflicts and battles between mighty beasts and powerful monsters. At the top of this fierce hierarchy of struggle and blood, the three Beast Kings reign supreme over the region in a tenuous mirage of a truce. But this truce shall soon be broken.

You are but a lone wanderer from another realm, without a home, without a people and without safety. You have been cursed with the most disastrous of ill-fortune – you have entered the jungle on the day of the failure of this truce.

Fight, wanderer, and grow, for you will come out of this ordeal stronger if you do.

And fight, wanderer, fight, because only the final victor of this battle between sovereigns will survive the cataclysm of the New Moon’s day.

[Collapse]

Main Quest (Rank-1: Beast Realm) Overall Objective:

- Ensure no contenders to the title of Supreme Ruler of the region remain by the time of the New Moon’s day.

Sub-Objectives – Stage 1:

Compulsory:

- Survive the first night.

Optional:

- Locate a safe water source.

- Build a functional shelter.

[]

[Completion Rate: 3%]

With the sun returned to its position in the centre of the sky directly above her, she collapsed the screen and began her descent once more, only this time, she took a detour. Instead of taking a direct path to the clearing by the lake, she took a route through an open area filled with large overhead ferns. Coming to the centre of the zone, she found an enormous blue flower growing out of the ground, covering the floor with its petals as if it were a carpet. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked around.

Seems like the other beasts and monsters around here are smart enough to avoid it. It looks pretty, but if someone were to come just a bit closer…

Crouching down, she withdrew Ouroboros and extended the blade into its snake-sword form. Then, using her spiritual energy to carefully manipulate the blade, she used the tip of the extended blade to slice the pistil of the flower in half. The plant let out a loud sound similar to a screech as its massive petals started lifting themselves and waving around in the air, but Lucy had already managed to obtain the stigma when Ouroboros had retracted. She quickly backed away as the true form of the plant was revealed.

A foul stench arose as the formerly blue petals shrivelled and became a rotting green-black, the murky mist of monster mana swimming about it. The centre of the plant released indigo illusion mana, revealing the beautiful appearance of the flower to be just a guise. With the bulbous stigma in hand, she retreated from the field of ferns.

Monstrous Illusionary Corpse Lily. The stigma of the plant releases a magical substance that ensures any magical beast sees their most tempting natural treasure instead of the actual appearance of the plant monster. For me, because I’m a human, I only saw a nice-looking flower, but this will be essential if I want to deal with the first Beast King.

She tried to see if she could place it in her dimensional bag, but she was rebuffed. She shrugged, having assumed the System wouldn’t let her put it in, and carried on travelling to the clearing by the lake. She received the notifications again.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Locate a safe water source.]

[Completion Rate: +2%]

[Completion Rate: 3%]

Having received the Completion Rate in the last attempt, it didn’t add the 2% to her Completion Rate, only showing her that her Completion Rate hadn’t changed. But that was fine.

After ensuring the stigma was covered and wrapped up using some large flat leaves she had collected on the way, she set about collecting some stronger and flatter sections of wood and thicker ropes.

If a hammock won’t cut it then I’ll just have to suffer through creating a treehouse.

When her leaf-protected platform in the trees was assembled, the notification popped up again.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Build a functional shelter.]

[Completion Rate: +2%]

[New! Completion Rate: 4%]

Satisfied with her shelter now, she allowed herself to sit on her platform, watching the sun descend on the tree-lined horizon. She spent the rest of the night going over her aims for the next few stages, her musings accompanied by the cacophony of roars echoing across the jungle. When the sun had risen, the final notification of the stage sounded.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Survive the first night.]

[Completion Rate: +6%]

[New! Completion Rate: 10%]

[Stage 1 Complete. Transferring User…]

…

[Welcome to the S.T.A.G.E.S!]

Available S.T.A.G.E.S (Beast Realm):

Completion Rate: 10%

Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 2: The Search for Sustenance (UNLOCKED)

Stage 3: LOCKED

Stage 4: LOCKED

Stage 5: LOCKED

Stage 6: LOCKED

Stage 7: LOCKED

Stage 8: LOCKED

Stage 9: LOCKED

Stage 10: LOCKED

[Please complete Stage 2 to proceed to the next stage]

She rubbed her neck and pressed on Stage 2, ready for the next section. She reappeared on her tree platform, the early morning sun just cresting over the treetops. Her Sub-objectives were updated, as well as the description of her tasks.

[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 2: The Search for Sustenance]

You have survived your first night within the Deep Greenwood Region. But do not become relaxed yet. Dangers prowl the area around you and the quest for treasures to emerge stronger is steadily growing more uncontrolled and violent.

You must surpass your previous weak self, learn to adapt, and accustom yourself to the ways of the beasts around you. While normally impossible, for this month you have become capable of devouring and absorbing the strength of the very same natural treasures the beasts and monsters around you fight so hard to obtain. Through the power of your awakened Origin Skill, you may yet become a fourth contender for the title of Supreme Ruler of the Region.

For one may only survive past the New Moon’s day if they achieve this. [Collapse]

Main Quest (Rank-1: Beast Realm) Overall Objective:

- Ensure no contenders to the title of Supreme Ruler of the Region remain by the time of the New Moon’s day.

Sub-Objectives – Stage 2:

Compulsory:

- Hunt your first creature.

Optional:

- Strengthen yourself with a natural treasure.

- Forage for edible plants.

- Find a successful method to cook your food.

[]

[Completion Rate: 10%]

She climbed down from her treetop abode, and after ensuring her Monstrous Illusionary Corpse Lily stigma was safely hidden and contained in a hole behind a thick tree root, she set off to complete the first Sub-Objective.

Now, what kind of beast should I, or maybe more accurately, can I hunt? Ideally, it would contribute to my plans for the 4th Stage…

With her calm smile still on her face, she hummed and raised her eyes to the sky.

I’ve heard the Silver Reed Caiman is known for having particularly venomous spines along its back…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The body of the ferret thrashed and twisted beneath his scales, but he kept his grip firm and clenched his jaws tighter. Eventually, the energy of the mammal seemed to fade as the blood loss became too much for it to overcome. The ferret went limp and he removed his red-stained fangs from its body, the scent of blood filling his nostrils.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Hunt your first creature.]

[Completion Rate: +5%]

[New! Completion Rate: 16%]

[Compulsory Sub-Objective completed. Do you want to leave the stage? Yes/No]

Scytale shook his head after pressing [No], sending blood droplets scattering, and he flapped his wings to shake off the wet blood on them as well. He gazed at the dead ferret on the ground in front of him.

I prefer to eat natural treasures over fresh prey. Some of my race are fine with eating the low-ranked magical beasts, but it doesn’t make me feel too comfortable. But I needed to complete this Sub-Objective eventually.

He pulled open his Stage description to check.

[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 2: The Search for Safety]

You have survived your first night within the Deep Greenwood Region. But do not become relaxed yet. Dangers prowl the area around you and the quest for treasures to emerge stronger is steadily growing more uncontrolled and violent.

You must surpass your previous weak self, learn to adapt, and accustom yourself to the ways of the beasts around you. While normally impossible, for this month you have become capable of devouring and absorbing the strength of the natural treasures around you without the risk of bloodline instability. Through the power of your awakened bloodline, you may yet become a fourth contender for the title of Supreme Ruler of the Region.

For one may only survive past the New Moon’s day if they achieve this. [Collapse]

Main Quest (Rank-1: Beast Realm) Overall Objective:

- Ensure no contenders to the title of Supreme Ruler of the Region remain by the time of the New Moon’s day.

Sub-Objectives – Stage 2:

Compulsory:

- Hunt your first creature. (COMPLETED)

Optional:

- Strengthen yourself with a natural treasure.

- Become the major predator for your current territory.

- Find a habitat of your own element(s). (COMPLETED)

[]

[Completion Rate: 16%]

It was a somewhat strange situation for him because he was technically undergoing his intermediate to advanced bloodline advancement, but he was going to go through the process in the Stages too. Users doing their own realm’s Main Quest usually received added benefits due to their familiarity with the realm, but the experience of becoming a Superior beast to fight against the three Beast Kings wasn’t something he needed, as he had gone past that point to reach the level of bloodline advancement after Superior.

So Scytale was currently in a body that had been turned back to the beginning of intermediate, all so he could receive the experience of a beast advancing through the bloodline ranks. His bloodline energy hadn’t really reverted back to the beginning of intermediate, however. The stages were simulations, which meant his body in the stage was artificial, and more like a temporary puppet with his mind inside.

That brought the question of how Lucy got that weird shard thing stuck in her eye, considering it shouldn’t have been an object that actually existed, but Scytale couldn’t be bothered to think too hard about that sort of thing. That was his bond’s job.

Scytale stretched his jaws wide in a yawn as the sun began to set, and transformed into his Primal Descendant form to swallow the ferret easier. Then, using his illusion bloodline spells, he camouflaged himself to prepare for his next task. He had his eye on a specific natural treasure he had come across earlier, but he would be in for a rough fight with its guard before he could claim it as his own.

…

In the silence of the night, interrupted only by the distant roars of battling beasts, Scytale’s scales glided across the fallen leaves and foliage of the jungle. Tucking his wings close so he could fit under a large tree root to hide, he kept his eyes focused on his goal.

Sitting in the middle of the small clearing was an oval-shaped dark blue fruit, with green leaves protecting its base. Its semi-translucent surface gleamed with the patterns of indigo and blue illusion mana, glowing faintly in the dark.

Sleeping by the base of the fruit was a large black panther, its ears and tail tipped with glowing purple light, indicating its affinities for dark and illusion.

My archnemesis! A beast of darkness and illusion, in contrast to my splendid illusion and light!

He made sure that the panther was still asleep, and then he rushed out. He launched himself at the cat, quickly activating his Primal Descendant skill with his fangs bared, and they sunk into the fur of the beast.

The panther let out a yowl and quickly sprang up, hissing at Scytale as it carefully guarded the plant from him. Scytale ignored the cat’s attempts to scare him off and launched himself forward again, his wings outspread and feathers stiffened to cause as much damage as possible to the feline.

The sharp edges of his feathers caused minor scratches to the panther’s legs that made it yowl again, but it hissed and lashed out with a sharp claw. Scytale ducked as he bared his fangs again and prepared to attack a third time.

The panther arched its back, and swatted Scytale’s head away just as he was about to bite it again. He beat his wings against the panther and they tumbled together onto the ground, hisses and screeches interchanged as they traded rough blows. A heavy strike from the black cat left a bleeding gouge in his side, but when he finally managed to get a firm grip around the panther’s front leg, it let out a loud pained whimper, thrashing about.

It slipped out of his grip and backed away as it limped, hissing at him. But their positions had been reversed, with Scytale now being the one to guard the magical plant and not the panther. With a wave of summoned dark and illusion mana, it blended into the shadows, and Scytale waited to see if it would attempt one last attack.

But a few minutes later, he finally became satisfied that the panther had given up its treasure. Turning to the plant, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed it whole. He felt the plant rapidly disintegrate into mana within him and the rich illusion essence seeped into his blood and heart, strengthening his bloodline.

His body swelled and his wings enlarged to match. A second pair of white-gold wings burst out from the flesh a few centimetres below his first pair, and he hissed in pain as he stretched out the second blood-stained pair. His body kept growing to reveal his full length with his Primal Descendant form activated. He looked down at himself to see the fallen tree trunks on the ground below were smaller than him.

This… isn’t 30 metres. Did my second bloodline make me grow larger for my advanced form this time?

He took one last look at his new form before shuffling his wings and getting ready to move.

I guess I’ll find out for certain when I reach advanced level for real outside of here. Lucy can tell me the details.

Then, camouflaged once more, he began the hunt again.

If I want a full Completion Rate, my current strength won’t be enough. I need to find some more natural treasures before Stage 4.