'My sight is restored!'
He rubbed his hand on his eyes to be sure it wasn't a dream, and when he pulled off, he noticed his hand where the Mark of Ellipse etched had begun to emit a glowing energy.
His mouth opened ajar and moved without making a sound, as if he murmured a silent, sacred prayer. The belief of regaining his sight was still far, but noticing light, shapes, and different kinds of motion, he settled.
"It's real," he whispered.
Looking down again on the glowing mark on his wrist, he couldn't help but understand now that having life and suffering in the Land of Call also had its purposes.
First was that he got to relate with the system which took charge of the happenings in this world, and possibly, the entire world of Ellipse. Now, the sigil that had long lived dormant on his flesh could be alive — it pulsed softly with a cerulean light.
The glow from the mark intensified, causing him to move his gaze to the radiant, shifting pattern cast over the ancient tree upon which he lay.
That was when the realization tinged on him — he was high. Very high.
Good thing he wasn't suffering from acrophobia. Climbing trees was his usual in the trenches whenever he scrambled for fruits as a young child, but not this high.
He trembled as he glanced below him. He was not just high up in any tree — he was stuck in the upper heart of the crimson tree, surrounded by gnarled limbs that resembled writhing arms reaching for the skies, but served as branches. The ground below, which should be bloodstained with corpses of crimson Cannibals and Little Rodent, had transformed.
'The bodies are gone?'
Okay. He tried not to be surprised since this was already an expectation from Sanguarbor Primevalis, but the sight before him was what shuddered him.
In place of the bodies, he saw flying objects that could precisely be described as crystal stars — delicate shards of luminous essence that shimmered in an ethereal, blue fog. They floated in slow, graceful spirals, all ascending towards him.
Laz widened his eyes, as well sharpened his senses in shock.
One by one, after each other, the crystals began to dive towards his glowing wrist. And as they made contact, they melted into disappearance — no, merged and vanished — into the Mark of Ellipse. Their fusion, however, released delicate rings of light, like ripples in shaky water, and sent waves of warmth surging through Laz's veins.
"One... two... ten... fifteen," Laz tried to count the crystal stars as they melted in the sigil, but he lost count.
What he could tell was that the stars came from the dead creatures some moments ago, but what he didn't know was what they represented and why they were so much in number.
That was when, as if serving as his formal informant, the system chimed in his mind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ The crystal stars represent monster cores and serve as your soul core. Note that in as much as most cores take the form of shards, it can vary. ↑»
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Laz was thankful.
To him, this was the first helpful tip the system provided for him, but he knew it would be termed a big lie if he accepted the fact. The system had somehow begun helping him right from inside the room.
A soul core is said to be a mystical core of one's spirit that is capable of accumulating one's progress in the form of essence. There are certain ways to acquire these cores, and the most prevalent is by taking down monster creatures.
Each creature had its ranks, and according to these ranks, they accumulated certain numbers of cores. Consequently, each creature's was determined, raised to the power of their ascending rank position.
For instance, an awakened creature accumulates only two cores, and that was the least number of cores Ellipse creatures existed with. A tamed creature will have its own cores raised to the power of two, and a tyrant will have its cores raised to the power of three, subsequently according to their position.
From Laz's calculation, experience so far and the information he should have accumulated, at least twenty-five soul cores.
'Well... Gratifiable. This means my rank cores won't be empty if I happen to check my stats again, right? But, how do they determine my rank?'
Laz's thoughts were interrupted by a rapid sensation. His eyes glazed as he began to shake. His skin crackling with static as he hummed.
For a fleeting moment, Laz imagined this was his transformation out of the trial world.
But the reality was far from it, or so it seemed.
Every inhale he took felt like he drew in molten stardust, awakening something slumbering within. The world around him dimmed, and he became aware of layers around him — not just physical, but dimensional. Bounding began to fold like pages of a book, invisible.
He felt… untethered.
Like his soul was undergoing a stitching process into a more refined design.
He wanted to scream, but thought otherwise. His body was anchoring foreign essences, high-ranked creature cores, unknowingly dragging him toward a domain of greater existence. The fog hadn't just blurred his sight — it welcomed him. Swaddled him. Drew him across the veil.
Laz blinked once more.
And the forest was gone.
***
He looked around, taking in his environs. Before him stood moss-coated stone walls, cold and ancient. The air was stale, flowing with the scent of sulfur and oblivious time.
The transition to glory was complete, right?
He chuckled dryly. "So… I passed the trial. This must be where I get appraised… awaken my bloodline... maybe even earn a bed to take a nap."
But his smile withered when he turned his head.
There was no crystal chamber. No sages or system interface awaited him. Not even an assembly that would have congratulated him, or mocked him nonetheless.
He was just in a cold stone shelter.
'This damn system has surely destined me to die, right?'
'Even as I have managed to get myself out of that crimson forest, it gets me to—'
He looked around him to be sure where he was, and muffled.
"...brought me to a cave? To slowly die of hunger...pheew."
GGRRRRLLLL...
The rumbling sound from his stomach reminded him that he was hungry.
"I guess I'm supposed to rot here, then," he mumbled the words, dragging his feet forward, wobbling slightly.
Then—
THUD.
His foot kicked something small. Hard. His brows furrowed as he looked down.
And just as his gaze dropped—
SHEEWWW!
A force, invisible and cold, shoved him backward. His arms flailed as he tripped, slipped, and slid down a rough incline in the stone floor, his screams echoing briefly before the slope swallowed him.
Tap... tap... tap...
...