"Oh, that's incredible!" yelled Faye in excitement.
"Hmm," sounded Thiago who was quite distracted at the moment due to still thinking about the mission at the moment.
'Well, it's not like I have a time limit, so I still have some time to carefully make a plan or at least think ahead before I challenge these beasts unprepared just as I had done so with the goblin village,' thought Thiago before looking at Faye and saying:" Speaking of something else, I will show you something now, ok? So don't be surprised by what is going to happen right now."
"Huh? What will you show me?" asked Faye in confusion, because she had absolutely no idea why and what Thiago would show her now just after his successful breakthrough.
"Well, you will see now," uttered Thiago as he was already taking her into his inner world while he himself went in just after her.
Faye's surroundings were suddenly consumed by an inky blackness, causing her to feel a twinge of fear.
Just as she began to feel overwhelmed, the darkness abruptly dissipated, and she found herself in a dim, mysterious place. She gazed about to her left and right, only to find that her surroundings were void of any discernible objects or features, leaving her completely surrounded by a void of emptiness.
Only when she spun around did Faye discover a peculiar building complex, the source of the dim lighting that illuminated the space. Without it, the area would have been plunged into total darkness, making it impossible to discern any details.
"What is that weird construct?" mumbled Faye in confusion, owing to the fact that she had no inherited memories of information about this world, where there existed, albeit not as modern as this villa in front of her, houses. This obviously meant that she did not have the least idea what the villa in front of her could be.
"Where the hell am I even, is this Thiago's so-called surprise? To transport this revered self into this empty realm? Humph! I will let him pay for this atrocity." cursed Faye slightly irritated.
"Oh? You want me to pay for this so-called atrocity, when you haven't even seen the real surprise, I want to show you." sounded Thiago's voice suddenly from behind Faye who almost got a heart attack by him appearing so suddenly next to her.
"Humph! This magnanimous self, will give you a chance to show me your surprise first and then I will decide depending on how much I liked it, your punishment." declared Faye in her usual manner, which amused Thiago every time newly.
"Sure, do as you like, and regarding your doubts before, the realm or place we are currently in is my inner world, so it is basically my exclusive private space. Additionally, the building situated in front of us is usually called a house. It is used as a place to live and sleep in, by humans. I will explain these two things in more detail later to you, if you want to know more," explained Thiago after having previously heard her mumbling her doubts, just as he had descended into the inner world.
"Ah, so this is what they call a house," Faye said, her curiosity piqued. "And this place we're in is referred to as the inner world. How intriguing. I shall have to inquire further about these things at a later time."
"Indeed, come, let me show you around the house, I assure you it is filled with wonders beyond your imagination," Thiago offered to Faye, who, driven by her boundless curiosity, had no choice but to follow him.
A few seconds later, at the gate of the villa, "What is that round thing over that metal-like gate that seems to be looking at you?" asked Faye, full of curiosity.
"This thing is called a security camera and it recognises who is allowed into the villa and who is not." As soon as he said that, the iron gate suddenly opened as if by magic and Faye was amazed. "Wow, that was really rad, how does that work?"
"Um, well, it works with lightning mana crystals that power this gate and the camera sort of sent a signal to the gate when it recognised me and that's how the gate opened," Thiago replied after a moment's thought, already thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to show Faye around the house after all, as she was just far too curious and asked about every little thing.
However, he had to realize that all these things in the villa were completely new to Faye and therefore very interesting. He could not compare her with himself, who was used to the technical and other equipment of this villa, because he came from Earth and these things were common there, except perhaps the luxury of this villa, but otherwise they were.
As they stepped through the villa's gate, Faye was captivated by the surroundings, just as Thiago had been when he first entered the villa. "It's so beautiful here," Faye gushed, letting her eyes wander over the various flowers, the special trees and the architectural and artistic masterpieces in the front garden of the main building.
It seems that, like Faye's appreciation of the stone sculptures and frescoes now before her, everyone, human or beast, on Earth or Red Star, had some appreciation of beautiful things.
"Ok, shall we go somewhere else now?" asked Thiago tentatively, not wanting to unnecessarily force Faye to leave already if she wanted to stay in this garden a little longer.
"Well, alright."
Soon they arrived in front of the pool, which immediately attracted Faye's attraction, since the crystal-clear water was just incredible alluring and the reflecting light shining from the lanterns made the scene look even better.
"Beautiful!" exclaimed Faye, which made Thiago chuckle a little, since he had also acted in a similar way when he had first seen the pool.
Youi can jump into the water if you wish to," offered Thiago, after which Fae did not hesitate any longer and promptly dived headfirst into the water.
The water splashed in a wide fountain due to her bodily size of a relatively big sized tiger. She had grown from her small body to the one she had now after her continuous breakthroughs previously, which had supplied her body with massive amounts of energy that allowed her body to grow.
"Haha," chuckled Thiago in view of this scene, while also inwardly musing, 'I probably looked the same when I had jumped into the pool priorly, Haha.'
"But she looks quite adorable now, unlike her usual arrogant self," mumbled Thiago while observing Faye happily swimming rounds inside the pool.
"Did you say something?" questioned Faye suddenly, which caught Thiago somehow off-guard, but he quickly replied, "Oh, no I did not say anything just now, you must have mistaken it for something else."
"Well, that might be true, I guess," murmured Faye when she heard his reply. Meanwhile she thought: 'I could have worn that somebody was talking about me, I felt it. Well, whatever, I might as well continue to relax in this perfect water, which I have never found inside the forest before.
Cold sweat ran down Thiago's head after Faye had suddenly questioned him.
'Damn, a woman's sixth sense is really scary,' was the thought that ran through Thiago's mind at that moment.
The time went by slowly and by the time it was time for Faye to finish her swim, Thiago would continue to show her the rest of the villa.
She asked all sorts of questions, which Thiago tried to answer as best he could, for example when they passed the television in one of the rooms and he explained that it was an object used by people to watch news and entertainment.
When they came to the personal rooms, he also told her that she could live there if she wanted, but that it would be better if she had her human form first or else the room would not grant her much comfort, due to her being a tiger at the moment.
And these rooms were simply designed for people, so a tiger would not find much comfort there except to lie on the bed.
"This room seems interesting and quite nice, so this princess will take it as mine from now on," declared Faye after scanning through the room, and directly taking a liking to it.
"Um, well yeah sure you can have this room, there are at least 20 more in this villa, so there is no problem with that, but care to explain why you suddenly call yourself a princess?" spoke Thiago shortly after.
"That's good! Um, so the reason I called myself a princess is because I had a sudden urge to, do you have a problem with this esteemed self calling herself a princess?" Faye replied, leaving Thiago speechless.
'Calling herself a princess just because she feels like it is, well, something else,' Thiago thought.
'Well, she's been like that since she said her first words, I guess.'
"Do you want to sleep in the bed tonight or do you want to go back to the cave?" asked Thiago, to which she replied, "I want to sleep here."
"Alright, that's fine with me, then good night, I'll be in the room next to yours," Thiago said before leaving the room Faye would be staying in and going into his own room.
There he lay down on the bed and opened the system panel to take a look at the quest again, to formulate a plan on how to proceed with this hard mission.
[Evolution mission]
[As you have reached the necessary conditions, you are now eligible for the evolution mission.
Mission Name: Evolution's Trial
Rank: Personal Quest
Mission Description: You have reached a pivotal moment in your journey as a cultivator. In order to initiate your evolution and reach the next major realm, you must undertake a dangerous and challenging personal quest.
Your objective is to slay and thereafter devour the most powerful beasts and its underlings that reside within the depths of the forest you are currently located in.
These beasts are known to be incredibly dangerous and should not be underestimated.
The beasts in question are:
The Golden basilisk, a massive demon beast with the body similar to a snake but with additional wings, thus making it able to fly, that can breathe poison, petrify its enemies just by gazing at their eyes and has an extremely tough exterior. The basilisk has the Cultivation realm of the 2nd Tier of the superior Student realm.
The Thunder Bear, a giant bear that can control lightning and has incredible strength. Cultivation realm: 1st Tier of the superior Student realm. The Thunder Bear has the Cultivation realm of the 1st Tier of the superior Student realm.
The Ice Serpent, a serpent with the ability to control ice and freeze its enemies. Cultivation realm: 1st Tier of the superior Student realm. The Ice Serpent has the Cultivation realm of the 1st Tier of the superior Student realm.
This quest will test your skills and determination as a cultivator and will serve as a rite of passage in your evolution.
(Note that this is the only time for now that you will receive this mission as a novice and due to your first evolution, and every other advancement towards major realms will not activate this mission.) ]
"Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that I might need to buy some ice and lightning protection at the system shop, as these two elements could be very troublesome for me," Thiago mumbled to himself.