After about half a day of walking and slinging stones Gordon felt the Chi in the air change. Quietly his entrained cultivation had increased in speed. Looking up and taking the time to watch as the eagle circled above his head he felt like it was no longer moving. Instead it was staying above this one spot.
However, try as he might he could not find anything of interest in the area. There was nothing going on.
Still, determined to find out more Gordon stayed on this spot and continued to practice with his sling shot. Mostly with his left arm, but with his right occasionally as well. Just like with any training once a person has the knack for a particular activity there are lots of rapid gains. And even though he was practicing with his non-dominant arm he still knew how it should be.
So with his practice on the way here and during the next three hours his aim with his left arm became better and better.
Then at some random time the space in front of Gordon stretched and elongated to a point some five meters in diameter and eight meters long. Resolving the elongation opened into a blue glowing circle. Presently a huge behemoth slinked out of the dimensional portal and started scouting around for a moment.
Terror rooted Gordon to the ground freezing him in place as the behemoth snuffed him carefully. Snorting the over four meter tall beast covered him in snot before continuing to rang out farther from the glowing gate. The beast moved lightly its muscles well defined and rippling as it paced. Tusks just above its reptilian underbite jaws swooped wide to either side while bull horns grew above its ears the points curving to face forward and slightly down. A black beard grew from under that jaw the unkept hairs of which brushed the ground as it smelled around.
With its passage he slowly regained his ability to think and reason. Soon after he carefully wiped only enough of the snot off so that he could see. The smell promptly made him empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground. There wasn't much in his stomach after nearly a full day so the new smell did little to conflict with the behemoth snot. All that came out was some mostly clear bubbles of bile.
Then calmly, like it was completely normal he walked through the gate and coming out within the other dimension he blithely strolled to the side before becoming extremely still. Looking around carefully so as not to move he was astonished to find that this wasn't another world so much as just a large cave.
Four behemoths even larger than the one that had just exited surrounded an old woman sitting calmly within a glowing golden force shield. The woman standing probably would have been more then two meters tall, but stooped over and clearly exhausted her green eyes were half rolled back into the back of her head. Her golden sclera was shot through with blood red arteries. Sweat the color of vibrant green beaded up and fell from her forehead with continuous drops.
Every few seconds one of the behemoths would rear up on its back legs and then come crashing down onto her force field. One of the behemoths was obviously bigger and older than the others with a long white beard that looked like it was kept trimmed and brushed would cause the golden dome of defense to flicker and spark every time it attacked.
Each one of the behemoths was wreathed in a subtle red aura that magnified the already immense might of these peak of the power affiliated beasts.
And there was absolutely nothing that Gordon could do in this situation except watch heart breaking as the old woman was slowing worn down. As he examine her condition closer he saw that she was an elemental. Her skin was a mottled ivory that like scales moved and flexed when she moved. While her hair was braided ropes of vines with flowers wilted and listless. The clothes that she wore were a fine cotton wrap that glistened with various precious ores and gems tied into the weave in various and seemingly random ways.
After another twenty minutes of pounding the white bearded behemoth shook his head while snorting, the red aura faded and winked out after its last attack. The other three beasts moved away while also shaking their heads exiting the pocket dimension first. It was clear to Gordon that these head shakes, growls, and snorts constituted some kind of language fore the behemoths.
The white beard and the earth elemental spoke in the tongue of the behemoths for a moment before the leader of the behemoths also exited.
Keeping his cool Gordon stayed quiet and absolutely still until the elemental's gravelly and tired voice as if she had been a chain smoker for fifty years broke the silence.
"Boy, you there in the snot! Did you come here to watch an old woman die?"
Shocked that he was called out, Gordon cleared his throat and spoke.
"No, I came to make a deal with a diamond ranked beast. Are you diamond ranked?"
The truth was that he didn't have the ability to tell what rank beasts were at. And even though he knew he was being impolite he figured he was already dead three ways from Sunday. So he could only make guesses. Having never even seen a diamond ranked beast up close before he wasn't even sure what the aura of a diamond beast would feel like.
Struggling to sit up straight the elemental gathered herself before answering.
"Behold, a diamond ranked beast!"
And the moment after she spoke a heavy presence forced Gordon to his knees.
"Alright! Alright, I believe you!"
Rewarded for his brashness Gordon only knew that whatever rank she was at she was far above his. Whispering as loudly as he could he expressed his belief and in the space between one thought an the next the stultifying presence was gone.
"Now what deal would you like to make?"
She asked her voice back to being careworn and weak.
"I seek to make a bargain. In return for your protection I will upgrade you two major realms."
After giving some terms Gordon waited in vain as silence reigned in the cave.
Eventually the elemental began to laugh quietly.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha. Upgrade? What a heathen term. You think you can lead me through two major realms? Me? I have cultivated for tens of thousands of years. I, Renier, have languished at the peak of the diamond rank for two thousand years and you a lowly human not even blooded believe that you can help me break through? Not even one minor realm, but two major? Who do you think you are?"
The old woman slowly and painfully asked Gordon all kinds of questions.
Instead of answering them, Gordon pushed for his own interest.
"Never mind how, rather think about how could it hurt you? Even if I tried and failed you would still be dying here. The behemoths will be back won't they? All I ask is that you give me your word. If you do raise two ranks you will protect me. Is it a deal?"
Groaning the old woman cursed under her breath.
"I should flatten you where you kneel, you impudent little ant."
Then louder she spoke out.
"Fine, this should be interesting. Amuse me in my final moments. The behemoths will be back after seeking a buff, you don't have more than half an hour. But if you do manage to raise my rank I will protect you. You have a deal."
As soon as she had said the last sentence Gordon hurried forward. She lowered her golden force shield and he pulled from the system space the [Limited Double Upgrade Voucher]. He had never actually removed it from the system's inventory so he was surprised that it was rather mundane in appearance. Right now he needed a sparkle or a rainbow, maybe some glitter to impress Renier, but instead he received a flimsy paper hardly larger than his thumb with only the name of the voucher inked rather haphazardly on the front. The back was exceedingly bare.
[Do you wish to use the [Limited Double Upgrade Voucher] on Renier? Y/N]
Mentally accepting Gordon didn't take time to read the kind message from the system.
[Y]
Renier frowned on seeing the voucher, but before she could gather herself to speak Gordon abruptly threw it towards her body.
The voucher flew up into the air and then floated down back and forth ever so lightly.
Biting his lip, the critical moment for Gordon was here. He was about to either die a horrible death at the hands of this element if the upgrade didn't work or be given a new lease of life.
When the paper voucher finally came to a rest on Renier's leg nothing happened.
That is nothing happened for one infinitely long second while both Gordon and Renier held their breaths. And then a white light sparkled under the voucher where it was in contact with Renier's darkened ivory skin for it had burned the cloth away in an instant. Then the voucher itself dissipated into stars that burned with some kind of other worldly power. Swirling the stars rotated around Renier until Gordon could see nothing of her.
Stumbling back from the violence of her evolution he retreated as far as he could within the hundred meter wide cave.
"She better hurry! They are going to come back and this time they won't ignore me! I have to find a place to hide!"
[Upgrade commenced ... .001%]
"Oh, f_ck!"