The reason behind his choice was rather simple: the Abyssal Dragon matched his first core's attribute the best.
[The Abyssal Dragon? That's a good choice. It has darkness and abyss elemental attributes.]
Victor nodded and reached for the egg on the far left. He took it away from the statue's hold, causing the statue to shake and disperse into the void.
Then, the other statues followed suit, vanishing alongside with their respective forbidden-grade beast eggs.
'… It's lighter than I imagined.'
Victor held the mysterious egg carefully. Aside from the dark marks scattered all over its surface, it didn't look anything special.
He put his ears directly on the egg's surface and heard some subtle sounds come from inside.
'… Good, it's alive.'
After examining it thoroughly, Victor lowered the egg and looked at Mirage with curiosity.
"When you said the Abyssal Dragon is hard to raise, what did you mean?"
[Oh, you'll know.]
Mirage answered cryptically, causing Victor to purse his lips in dissatisfaction.
When Mirage was intentionally being cryptic, there was no way to make the old wolf spit out whatever he was hiding.
Victor had half a mind to include a rule in their contract that forbids the old wolf from being cryptic, but after some thought, that was unnecessary.
He sighed, shaking his head.
"… Where can I put this?"
He looked at the egg, slightly bewildered. He was afraid it would break the moment he let it down, wouldn't that kill the little guy inside?
Mirage chuckled and replied.
[Just put it down. This place is special, it protects all items so you don't have to worry about it being destroyed unless the Ancient Gate decides to destroy it.]
"Alright."
Following his words, Victor put the egg down. To be honest, he thought it would hatch immediately after he obtained it…
Sensing his thoughts, Mirage explained reflexively.
[It will hatch after you bring it out to reality.]
"I told you not to peek through my thoughts."
Victor frowned, glaring at the old wolf.
Mirage's ears twitched, feeling wronged.
[Apologies, old habits…]
As soon as he said that, he vanished into the void.
Victor shook his head and decided to just ignore him. He noticed that the egg had vanished after he put it down.
The Ancient Gate had probably stored it somewhere else. He had a feeling that he just had to think about the egg and it would reappear before him.
That was useful.
'If only I can bring things from reality here, then I wouldn't need to worry about where I need to put my things away.'
He mused to himself. Maybe in the future, who knows.
At this moment, some information suddenly appeared in his mind regarding the newly unlocked core function.
The Realm Grounds.
Since the egg was in safe hands, Victor wanted to try out the Realm Grounds function next.
That old wolf, Mirage said it would help him increase his talent as well as assist him in nourishing his tamed beasts.
"Realm Grounds."
Muttering the title, Victor closed his eyes according to the instructions in his mind.
Woosh!
***
When he opened his eyes again, he was entirely in a different place. He looked at his surroundings with caution.
Although he was certain the Ancient Gate would never do anything to harm him, he can never be too sure.
'That's…!'
Victor looked behind him and was shocked to see the Ancient Gate. Does this mean he was in a place beyond the Ancient Gate?
Unsure, he observed his surroundings more. He turned around and saw two swirling portals in front of him.
"Those portals are…"
Words appeared in his mind naturally.
"Special Resources Realm and Dark Abyss Realm!"
Victor walked closer, feeling the difference between the two portals. The one on the right was calm, but the one on the left was overflowing with darkness.
Without needing to appraise them, their respective information was sent directly to his mind.
[Name: Special Resources Realm 1
Description: A realm filled with earthly treasures and resources. In the center of the realm, a huge tree that extends to the heaven can be seen.
Danger: E+++]
[Name: Dark Abyss Realm 1
Description: A realm that imitates the environment of the abyss. Dark and abyssal attribute resources can be found in this realm.
Danger: E+++]
'Danger…'
Victor looked solemn and pondered for a moment. According to the information sent to him by the Ancient Gate, the Realm Grounds provide a realm for him to hunt for special resources and train his tamed beasts in the process.
The Special Resources Realm should be the place where he can find materials to increase his talent and potential.
While the Dark Abyss Realm should be the place where he can find resources and food to raise the yet to be born Abyssal Dragon.
If that was the case, then did the Dark Abyss Realm open because of the Abyssal Dragon?
If he chose the Infernal Sun Lion, then would a different realm open?
'… What are the conditions to unlock a realm?'
Victor thought for a moment. Did it have to be a forbidden-grade beast to unlock another realm? Or would a lower-grade beast with a different attribute suffice?
He wasn't sure, but he supposed he would find out sooner or later.
'It's a pity I still don't have any tamed beasts with me, or else I could try one of them out.'
Since he couldn't enter these realms for the time being, he closed his eyes and returned to reality.
***
"Interesting."
Victor opened his eyes and murmured. The Ancient Gate's rewards exceeded his expectations.
The Ancient Eye was amazing enough, but he was given a free forbidden-grade beast, as well as a training ground tailored for them.
Most of his excitement had already vanished. The better the Ancient Gate treated him, the more cautious he became to the Ancient Gate.
If the previous successors didn't succeed even with the resources and help of the Ancient Gate…
'What comes at the end of the Ancient Gate?'
He was more and more wary of the threat of erasure that Mirage mentioned before.
"Just how terrifying is it?"
He had a feeling Mirage knew more than he let on, but he reckoned that old wolf wouldn't tell him a single thing.
Since he can't find the answer for now, he put it in the back of his mind.
Victor stood up and started to plan his next steps. By stepping into the One Core realm, he was safe from expulsion. However, he wasn't sure about his Skylar Scholarship.
It was highly likely the academy will take it away from him once they see that he only awakened a Jade-quality core.
"It's fine."
Victor sighed, shaking his head. The best thing about the Skylar Scholarship was the free tuition fees and this free dorm he was given.
But he wouldn't lose his life over it…
Just the dorm…