Kivas accumulated the dwelling fire inside his stomach furnace into his mouth, before cooking the vase with his dark flame.
'Ah, my flame turns dark when it comes out of this head.'
Seeing the seemingly random action, the succubus got even more confused. "... What is the Guardian doing?"
Thermoluminescence Dating.
It was a method used by the archaeologists to date the era of where an ancient object was made. Natural minerals can absorb and store energy from ionizing radiation that occurs when things exist for a long time, especially the object that wasn't exposed to the sunlight. And because the energy was trapped within the material, if it is heated to a sufficiently high temperature, some of the stored energy is released in the form of light called thermoluminescence.
And by using a tool to determine the energy, the archeologist was able to date the object origin.
'Yep, it works just like the article I once read before. Although, it works too much! It isn't supposed to be this visibly bright!'
By applying the same heat to something like an old clay vase like when it was hardened and made, Kivas made the ancient vase emit all of its stored light, allowing it to glow mystifyingly under the light of his torch.
Albeit, it seemed like the dark flame that Kivas hurled was mostly the culprit for this level of phenomenon.
"The vase turns luminescent…" said the succubus with disbelief.
And with the Valiant One's eyes that could see through the gap of anything he wanted to see, Kivas magnified his sight into that of molecular level, seeing through the dissipating energy.
Kivas don't even need to know how to determine the date of the origin, all he needed to do was to discover and percieve new things that hold history and worth, and gather new information about this world. Just like how he always did ever since he acquired the Torch of Blight.
The fourth purple orb emerged from the torch's golden light.
Kivas grasped the purple orb tightly. But this time, he didn't possess an ounce of hesitation nor uncertainty.
'It seemed like all of the boons have a hidden requirement for it to be available within the drawing pool. The same goes for the Boon of Modifier.' Kivas nodded in acknowledgement of his finding.
The Lizardman Scale's requirement is to survive for more than 2 hours and 22 minutes.
The Tautology's requirement is to hold a conversation with someone or something, mostly in an unorthodox way.
The Ground Dragon Limbs' requirement is to walk in muddy land for an hour.
And as for the Cerberus' Heads, it was the same as the original Cerberus.
In the myth, Zeus saw special potential in Cerberus when he was a pup. He took the young pup and gave it to Hades, to be raised as a guardian of the underworld.
Yes, the requirement for the Cerberus' head was to be taken in by someone who saw the potential of the owner of the Torch of Blight.
And so on. Though, Kivas haven't really cracked the code of why the Valiant One upgrade was available at the time, even with the thinking processing power up of the Valiant One…
But there was one thing for sure.
That the second selection of boons after the Lizardman's scale, that one specific boon will be there.
-Boon of Modifier-
[Lizardman's Constitution: Scales Body Type A+]
Kivas didn't bat an eye on the other [???]. He immediately chose the modifier for the Lizardman's scales body.
-Boon of Modifier-
[Lizardman's Constitution: Scales Body Type A+]
-Better! Denser! Stronger! Thy won't move any faster, but thy scales shall acquire the enigmatic power of the tyrant! More durability means less damage, less damage means more lifetime to spend on exploring the great wonders of the world!-
-The first upgrade path for the Scales Body Type A of the Lizardman! Everything was the same with the original iteration, with a difference in the increase of hardness from both inside and outside. It also weighs twenty times more than its original for every scale. They also shed less and the entire coating of the body became an impregnable bodysuit-armor with no opening, even if there were a volcano eruption taking place, the scaly armor will preserve the body without shedding a blood. Heat circulation will be inhibited however-
'Wait, wait, wait! Isn't the jump of power level too absurd for this one!? And there are more upgrades for the same thing!??
Kivas, even with the intellect of the Valiant One, didn't realize that the Valiant One upgrade is more or less equal in absurdity. Not to mention, the description only said that the scales formation became so tight and strong, that the body will be preserved in its original form. It doesn't mean that the inside won't be cooked.
With the panel burning gold, forming a ball of the same color before plunging itself to Kivas. The transformation was fast. Every scale became more pointy and dense, the red color darkened due to the influence of the Valiant One.
Immediately after, there was a rapid change in mass, to the point that the floor of the Tomb of Relics began to crack under the pressure of the weird lion-sized Cerberus.
"HIIKH!!" The succubus was intimidated once again, and most importantly, confused.
'Ah, what can I guess?' Kivas tried to move his body with his claws. 'AAAAA- It's so hard to move!'
He then tried his best to drag his own body into the white sphere. And when he arrived.
He swallowed the white sphere.
"Eh?"
As the white sphere began to get digested by the extreme heat of the stomach furnace, most of its parts began to get disassembled, possibly weakening the explosion power. Of course, the strange magical power imbued upon the sphere was strong enough to resist, and the heartbeat began to escalate into a higher pace, preparing to explode.
From the moment Kivas saw the ancient clay vase, he was already set upon sacrificing himself to preserve this haunted mine.
"Why do you do that…"
As light began to escape from Kivas' body, he looked at the despairing succubus for the last time.
'I needn't favor, gold, nor praise. Your commitment to keep on living while also supporting your homeland is but a tiny piece of hope that I must preserve.
'The bonfire party is fun. The mineral ores are also good. But if there is one thing that I can say to you if I'm even capable of saying one…
'Please, wear proper clothes.'
Along with the loud thump, a huge quake erupts within the odd creature's body, which was enough to shudder the whole haunted mine.
The calm and menacing middle head of the three canine faces immediately lost the light and darkness on his eyes. And in the moment of his death, all of the three head went limp to the cracked ground.
The succubus had no knowledge of what just saved her, for she was confused on why would such a noble beat sacrificed his own life for her.
At the same time, Kivas had no realization.
That he had just left a life-changing gift to whom he saved. It was a full skin of scales that would bring luck and drive away misfortune when held by others. The scales that shall drive away pain and agony, losses and hardship.
After that event, the succubus tried to crawl out of the tomb and onto the outside. Only to realize that her skeletal servants had been annihilated by the Ent Priest's soldiers.
But due to luck, she stumbled upon the container for the unorthodox grenade that was used by the enemy elites. It was unused, and all of the chemicals and energy that was stored inside remained unchanged.
Out of pure willpower, the succubus deconstructed the grenade and absorbed the energy within it. Although momentarily, she was able to construct an exo-muscle for her wounded leg using the material of the nearby corpses.
"That Ent Priest must've wanted to bury all of the evidence…"
Slowly and surely, she continued to silently rebuild the mine, along with few if not most of her skeletal servants using every bit of power she possessed.
And then, using the abandoned sword, she dug out her own eyes and created a vertical scar as a mark of dedication to pursue the peak of her Deadcraft. She then grants her eye a pair of bat wings, allowing it to scout under the putrid night sky to observe any movement in the surrounding area of this mine.
She was no longer her naive self of the past.
After she had enough resources, she began to remodel the Tomb of Relics into a dedicated resting place for its Guardian. Look and behold, the circulatory energy veins of the world then suddenly shifted, filling the mineral reservoir with magical property.
The succubus was actually nameless. But after everything that she had gone through, she felt like there was a deep urge down inside, to form a 'True Name' that shall carry her identity.
"Cerbera," she uttered unconsciously.
The succubus is a demonic race that relies on the lifeforce of others to thrive. But in case that they weren't able to sustain themselves that way, they shift into absorbing the essence of nature. This kind of succubus is known as Nature Hailer.
The Nature Hailer had less desire and behaved more altruistically. Because of this, their method of repopulation involves a lot less primal and demon-like methods.
They will put a part of their lifeforce into a plant, transforming the plant into what was known as Hail Container. They would grow three times the size of their original, and shall sprout a human-sized flower with a new adolescent Nature Hailer in it. Some of the Hail Containers will sprout more than two Nature Hailers, and the cycle continues.
Because of this, they became an entirely different person with their biological gene constructed by the tree, and it was believed that one day, they will find their True Name somewhere within their life. Until then, they would grow and stay to be nameless.
"I guess I should give my village a visit, after I've amassed enough army to detach them from the empire."
Thus, the beginning of the tale of how she became what will known to be 'Cerbera the Black Greed', a notorious yet ruthless but kind-hearted merchant of many continents, with enough political power and a private army that was equal to more than three nations.
Meanwhile.
'I feel like I'm forgetting something important.'
Kivas was back to place of perpetual darkness, and was once again greeted by the light of his torch.
Prepared to start the next run once again.