"There's one more thing we need to do before we head back to the village," said Neso as we were preparing to leave the campsite.
"What's that?" I asked, a little grumbly as I was unable to sleep at all last night.
"You're reward," my ears perked up.
"What reward?"
"For completing the dungeon," he said. "We need to head back to the pool area, Bastet must be waiting for us there."
Bastet? Why did that name sound so familiar?
"Come on let's not keep him waiting," said Neso extending his hand for me to jump on his shoulder.
…
After a little walk back, we finally arrived back at where all the pools were. This time the water glistened through the sun in different shades of purple and pink, it was almost like it had been given some type of new life. This area was completely different. Rabbits, wolves, and insects alike were all standing close to a statue, now placed in the epicenter of it all.
I was in awe, and my sleep had just faded away.
Neso entered the pools through the shallow end and headed straight for the statue.
"Come on, he's you the one who's making him wait," said Neso inclining me to follow his path. I did so in stride and ended up close to the statue.
At first, nothing happened. I was expecting some kind of ceremonial overture since we did manage to beat a difficult boss.
I noticed the Baset was holding some type of chalice.
Suddenly Sybil started speaking
>Baset Statue Detected
>Opening comss channel; Alpha 1
>Secure Connection Established
Suddenly the statue started emanating a glow from inside of it, as if like magic it started gathering water from the surrounding area until the chalice was finally full.
In a spark of light, the water crystalized and tinted itself to a color similar to aquamarine with tints of aventurine, it was almost like the color of the sea. Crystal clear blue, with shades of stirred white.
It was pretty, and it had formed almost in an instant.
"This is it, you're reward," said Neso, grabbing the crystal and handing it off to me, I had to turn into a human so I could grab it. "Baset has acknowledged your deed in the Corocona Dungeon,"
>Scanning
>Crystal contains a dense amount of highly purified mana.
>Converting purified mana to earth or void mana will result in different unique skills for the base user.
That means me.
>Starting
The crystal started to shake and glow almost uncontrollably, until suddenly it shattered into a million pieces around us, and gathered towards me, towards my heart.
>Success
>Purified mana resulted in 99% earth mana and 1% void mana.
>Insufficient void mana to acquire spells.
>Deleting unique void program.
>Deleting 1% void mana.
Suddenly I felt a fog come over me, and I left as soon as it came, my memories of my time inside the void were left untouched, but how did we defeat the void creep again?
It seems that memory has been censored, or blocked off by the mods.
I couldn't do anything about it.
>Success
>Acquiring unique earth spells.
>40% earth mana resulted in Purification skill evolving into Purge
>20% earth mana resulted in obtaining a new skill Cure
>Cure evolved into Mend
>10% earth mana resulted in obtaining a new skill Glee
>Glee soothes the soul and warmth is the heart of those party members inflicted with
Terror.
>29% earth mana leftover.
>Continue?
"There's still 29% left," I said out loud, not thinking what I was saying.
"What now?" asked Neso confused.
"Oh - it's nothing - " I said trying to cover it up. Neso was just confused when I said that.
"When a Grimalkin gets a reward from Bastet, we usually evolve into Warrior Form," explained Neso.
That would make sense since they get an influx of mana.
"And we receive several blessings from his as well, that we can feel in our soul, is that not what's happening for you?" said Neso confused.
It makes sense since they don't have an all-powerful A. I that can evolve their stats for them, it must be more spiritual for them.
>*Cough**Cough*
Sybil had umm… cleared her throat? Sort of passive-aggressive if you ask me.
>Unused mana will be disposed of into the earth ether for others to use, you should make use of it now.
Hold on a minute.
>Acknowledge.
"Well, there's still some mana that's leftover,"
"Wow! Impressive, you can tell how much mana the crystal gave you? That's our little one for sure,"
"Haha… Yeah…" I said sweating my ass off. "It's just I don't know what to do with it now,"
"What skills did you gain?" asked Neso
"Curing skills and some to defend against terror,"
"Impressive!" said Neso and pondered for a moment. "Seems like you're gaining skills towards becoming a Cleric, Grimalkin's are warriors by nature and choice, so our skills are more focused towards that," he explained.
"What about gaining skills that would help you towards helping Dragan," said Neso with a smile devoid of any malice.
"I still don't know very much about Dragonkin or how I could help them,"
"Grimalkin know very little as well, they tend to isolate themselves, and I hear once the children reach a certain young age, they are left on by their own volition, parents can only give so much mana to their children before they eventually run out," said Neso. "I believe out of all the races in Cronus they are the most solitary."
That makes a lot of sense with what Dragan has told me so far.
"Okay, I think I have a good idea of what to spend this final mana,"
I have no idea what to spend it on. Sybil, please help.
>*Sigh*
>I recommend using the remaining mana to evolve Dragan into a class-level Druid.
What would that mean for him?
>Druids can use mind magic, and have a natural affinity to heavenly mana.
I don't think I should just do that willy-nilly, I should discuss that with him first.
What else can we use the remaining 29%
>Searching
>Unique Skill found
>God of Harvest; Allows crops to grow 20% faster than normally through Spring;
Regenerates every year.
Okay! Let's go with that one then.
>Acquiring
>Success
>29% earth mana resulted in obtaining; God of Harvest.
Finally, the crystal inside my heart shattered once more, having been depleted of all its blessings.
The statue of Bastet shattered into millions of pieces. Dissolving into the sand. The pink and purple sparkles surrounding us left and the bright daylight turned yellow again, the water was left sparkling blue around us, and the wildlife seemed to have enjoyed their bask in the sun.
"Well that's - that," said Neso clapping his hands together. "Shall we return to the village now?"
"Yeah - I need to face Dragan either way,"
"Oh! I wouldn't worry too much about that, I left him in the care of the Grimalkin elders, they should beat some sense into him,"
I wasn't sure violence was the right answer. I imagined Dragan hanging from a tightrope, naked, with ropes around his body, while a small Grimalkin elder beat him with a belt.
That's torture not even I would want to pass through.
Neso picked me up like a light feather and put me on his shoulder, still in my human form.
"He'll come around, don't worry too much about that,"
I wonder why I haven't heard him screaming if they are torturing him after all.
>Personal channels are currently in effect.
Oh… I guess Dragan asked for some privacy.
Neso started heading back into Sonnet, where we the temperature instantly dropped a couple of degrees. Inside the forest, there was so much more shade.
>Correct.
Wait! Does that mean there are currently two Sybil's?
>While I'm unable to create multiple personalities, I am currently running parallel processing on soul bonds.
Does the Dragan sybil know what you know and vice-versa?
>Due to privacy concerns, I have created a lock between the two of you.
>So no - the Dragan Sybil doesn't know what the user Sybil knows.
So it's basically like he blocked me.
If we get back together, will you go back to being one entity?
>I am always one, but in essence - your assumption is correct. The lock would be lifted and information would flow between the two.
That's a relief.
"Oh hey!" suddenly Neso interrupted. I bolted at his words and jumped down to the ground turning into a slime. "Lost in thought up there I see," he said with a smile, crouching down to pick me up with his hands.
"Sorry - I just drifted away," I said shyly, Neso chuckled.
"So -What final skill did you get?"
What was it?
"Yeah- something called The God of Harvest," I said. Neso stood there, in shock not knowing what to say for a moment.
"Bastet gave you The God of Harvest?!" he said his voice going up a couple of octaves.
"Yeah - is that bad?" I asked curiously.
"No-No- That's great!" said Neso excitedly. "We need to get back to the village, RIGHT NOW!" he exclaimed.
"What - What's so special about it?" I asked. He put me on his back and lowered on all fours.
"Only one elder had it, and he died a long time ago," he said. Suddenly his eyes glowed a neon colored blue.
"Earth; Swift Sound Break," he said out loud. Suddenly we were moving at top speed, I felt it was more than Mach 1.
Sybil, what is this?
>Swift Sound Break allows the caster to travel through space while dispersing air friction.
A bubble formed in front of us, the air was dissipating towards the side not affecting us, Neso was using all of his body to move so fast I could barely see the forest around us.
Where are we breaking the speed of sound?
This could prove useful.
>I'm unable to copy anything other than basic skills.
Not that! I was just saying it would be nice to keep Neso around our party.
>Apologize. I will make a note of it.
We were going to get to the village in a jiffy, I looked down at my body for a second, thankfully the dark cloud inside my slime body was starting to get gradually smaller.