I returned home the day before Noir's deadline. The one-eyed rot mage sat on the steps of my cabin, awaiting my return. She smiled when she saw me.
"So the summoner lives." Opening her own system, her face twitched. "And he's gotten stronger."
"My name is Rue," I objected. I was riding my carbuncle, which had grown to the size of a bear after evolving.
"I can read," Noir pointed to my name on the system. It said I was level five! "You must have done a lot of training. Did you take a quest or something?"
"Nah, my god pacted with me." I replied nonchalantly. Flexing my new materia, I conjured some of it into my palm. "I can wield god level materia now."
If Noir had blanched, I didn't notice. Her lips pinched together in a frustrated line "I see." Clearing her throat, she pointed to the current gold I had. "Does the wyrm also make you rich?"
I laughed.
Opening my system, I showed her why I had so much gold. The evolved carbuncle grants me 2,000 gold every hour. I've had it active for at least four days straight now, meaning i had 191,090 gold!
She gasped.
"According to the system, it can also retrieve mythic level treasures." I showed her the tablet my summon retrieved before evolving.
Noir snatched it from me instantly. "Where did you find this?"
I tried to snatch the tablet back, but I fell off the carbuncle's back.
"This holds a mythic level summon that's been lost for eons." She ran her finger over the dragon eating its tail. "The green lion sect believes this creature is only a myth. A legend that only fools believe."
After dusting myself off, I was able to snatch the tablet from her. "That's great to know. I was actually looking to sell it." I crossed my arms. "I'm thinking… three thousand gold?"
Noir scoffed. "That item is invaluable. It can not be sold!"
She tried to retrieve the tablet again. I just held it up in the air out of reach.
Noir growled, turning away from me. As soon as I lowered the tablet, she turned back around and kicked me in my diaphragm. I lost grip on the tablet, which she snatched out of the air.
Once I gathered my breath, I started yelling at her. "What is wrong with you! I could have dropped the damn thing. Even a scratch on it makes it worth less!"
She hissed. "It. Is. Not. Exchangeable. For. Gold." She whacked me over the head with the tablet after each word.
My head was throbbing now. "Owww."
"This is the Tablet of Oroboros." She waved the tablet at me. "The legend states it can rewrite time to its summoner's satisfaction. The last user of the tablet was able to prevent his own death for a thousand years."
"A summon can do all that?"
Is that the power of a mythic level summon?
Noir handed me to the tablet. "That's only what the legend stays. No one has seen the Oroboros summoned for years." Noir scoffed. "I don't know how you got your hands on this, but you're not capable of using it."
I told her where I got the Tablet. My carbuncle snorted proudly.
"Whatever." Noir crossed her arms. "Did you get the summoning seal like I asked you to?"
I nodded. Showing her the Summoning Petal, Noir opened her system. Activating a skill, she was able to read the stats on the Petal.
"I see." Stroking her chin, Noir acknowledged that this would be enough. "You should be able to seal the homunculi with this."
She stared at me for a moment. Her scowl faded.
"You're a lot stronger than I expected, wyrm forged."
"Thank… you?"
Did she just try to compliment me?
Quickly, she changed the subject. "I will be back tomorrow morning. We will attack the demon then."
"What is the homonculi we're after again?"
Noir raised a brow. "I'm surprised you haven't seen it." She pointed to the city over the hill. Instead of a clear sky, branches shot from the earth. They defied the sky, scratching the clouds with the spiky limbs of its branches."
I gasped. "What the-"