Upon ingesting the plant, Charlotte experienced a severe headache accompanied by intense pain throughout her body. The pain was constant, and she couldn't lose consciousness. She writhed in agony, even biting her lip in an attempt to shift the pain elsewhere. However, her efforts were in vain.
The wound on her arm burned, and her bitten lips began to sting more as time passed. This excruciating ordeal persisted for four hours until a sudden relief washed over her, followed by another hour of less intense pain.
"Rest. This place doesn't have much time left," Quilin urged as he observed Charlotte gasping for air and sweating, trying to regain composure.
"Sleep. It's better for you now," Quilin reiterated the advice he had given earlier.
Charlotte gradually calmed down, her thoughts filled with the possibility of returning home. She gazed at Liang with blurry eyes, searching for hope.
"Home... Possibly, but for now, we will continue to strive to take the next quickest and safest steps," Liang replied in a reassuring tone.
Taking his advice, Charlotte decided to sleep, recognizing the need to rest and prepare for the challenges ahead. She couldn't afford to give up.
After a deep and much-needed sleep, Charlotte experienced a sensation she hadn't felt in a long time – a sense of lightness. She looked down and saw something astonishing – a dog with a horn! It had a charming appearance, with yellow and gold fur that resembled a cloud, looking incredibly soft.
However, her initial reaction was to consider the dog dangerous. Still, to her surprise, the dog made no threatening moves. Seeing her uncertainty, the dog took a cautious step forward.
"Hey, it looks like you woke up. You seemed like a rock," she heard Liang's voice emanating from the dog. Charlotte couldn't help but wonder if she was hallucinating.
"Is that you, Sol?" Charlotte asked, gazing at the dog in front of her.
"Yes, it's me. This form is only temporary," Sol Liang replied, and the dog assumed a more serious expression.
"This form allows me to assist you in battle, although I'm not particularly strong," Liang explained, looking down at his paw. Charlotte struggled to suppress her laughter, but eventually, she couldn't contain it, and she burst into giggles. The dog Liang peered at her with a judgmental expression, which only made Charlotte laugh even harder.
Liang realized that Charlotte had grasped his message and lightened up a little, perhaps relieved that she wasn't overwhelmed by his sudden transformation.
Charlotte felt a sense of lightness and vigor following her laughter, and when Liang inquired about her feelings, she described her state as feeling "lighter." She clenched her fist and punched the air, testing the newfound energy.
Liang expressed hope at her progress, remarking that another form of training had already begun. However, Charlotte questioned whether they were already in the second stage of training, to which Liang replied cryptically, "No, and yes at the same time, but you understand."
The conversation then shifted towards identifying Charlotte's abilities, and Liang decided to demonstrate his own powers. He explained that he possessed two talents, red and yellow. The red talent specialized in blessings and buffs, with regeneration being one of its abilities. His second talent, yellow, provided support and the ability to heal others, but it always appeared in conjunction with buffs to provide slight support.
Charlotte observed her arm, noticing that the wound had healed rapidly as Liang placed his paw over it. This newfound knowledge intrigued her, but she still had questions.
With a puzzled expression, she asked, "Why did you become a dog? Not even a mini Quilin would work, right?" Charlotte wondered why Liang had taken on the form of a dog rather than a smaller version of himself for assistance in combat, wouldn't it be better for him to be a little bigger, she asked herself internally.
"Because this was the only form I had that I could use for now, this is an ability when I am in spiritual form, I can have some forms, and by chance I found this dog form" Liang said and sighed.
Charlotte didn't completely believe what the dog had said, but decided to turn her thoughts to the powers that the "Quilin Dog" was talking about.
"So I also awakened such a power?" Charlotte said excitedly.
"Yes, try to meditate a little, this helps to materialize your power, many told me that the easiest way to materialize it is by concentrating on your color was through your hand or arm" Liang explained, but Charlotte didn't really understand.
"How will I know it worked?" Charlotte asked.
"When I call you, now start concentrating!" The dog answered her.
Charlotte started to concentrate when suddenly she heard something.
"Not like this, it will take longer, you need to relax but without sleeping, imagine you standing up and falling asleep, it's not for sleeping but the way you know it is" Liang scolded her.
Charlotte sat on the floor, at least when sleeping she used her backpack as a pillow, and concentrated again.
Liang knew the process would take time, so he decided to go out to see if there was any danger, that's what he thought, so long without seeing the world from outside a cave, was he tired of it perhaps?
Liang came out with his four paws jumping, he felt the grass in his paws an air different from the spiritual air, the smell passing through his nostrils becoming lighter, even though it wasn't his real body he still felt like he was back, as if the color had returned to its faded self.
After patrolling for a while, Liang didn't find the gargoyle anywhere, this worried him, gargoyles don't run around for no reason, they are created artificially like chimeras, Liang started to think that this place has become more dangerous than him. Imagined, the hood flew a little, but he thinks the gargoyle wasn't smart enough to understand.
Liang decided to return, enough time had passed for the human to be able to awaken her power.
When Liang returned, he saw Charlotte looking at a spear in her hand with doubt.
"It seems that your talent is white" Liang said, looking at the sword.
"Where were you? What does the white talent do?" Charlotte looked at the dog.
"I was looking around, there aren't many dangerous things, but it's still not safe here, the white talent is the summoning of weapons or objects, apparently you chose a suitable weapon at the beginning" The dog responded, but Charlotte didn't understand how safe could be dangerous, was it because of her strength, was it safe for others who were stronger than she?
"What do you mean safe and dangerous?" Charlotte decided to ask.
"I never said safe, but it seems that this forest has an owner, possibly the creator of that gargoyle, and if he managed to produce a gargoyle, he can certainly enter this cave"
Liang said, looking at the entrance and the blood that had come out of the human's wound, thinking that they had to be faster.