While the outside world was flabbergasted by Kai's achievement, he continued to play as it had only been three hours since he had started playing. There was no need for him to leave just yet, especially when he had to test out what he had just received.
However, before he did so, he looked at the gold ring and turned toward Isla.
"Is there a way that I could store this item somewhere I could never lose it?"
"You could give it to me!" She said with a smile.
However, Kai didn't trust her. He knew how obsessed she was with Varkul, and she might try to do things on this ring and ruin it as a result. It wasn't a risk he wanted to take, especially considering the knowledge and powerful artifacts that were hidden inside the magic ring.
Seeing him shake his head, Isla sighed. "Tsk, it was worth a try. The other way is for you to store it inside your Evolution Space."
"The endless white space?"
"Yes. No one apart from you can access it," Isla said before adding. "Even I can't access it if you're not inside it, so you don't have to be worried about me stealing it from you. After all, I would never hinder you. I was sent here to help you."
Kai nodded and closed his eyes, quickly teleporting inside the Evolution Space, placing the ring on the white floor, and leaving.
As he reappeared surrounded by tall grass, Kai decided to test the skill he had obtained before finding out about the Magical Ring, [Shadow Claws]. He read the description of the skill once again and saw that he needed to imbue his Monster Energy into his claw, which would give them a certain power.
He had never tried to move his Monster Energy around his being. However, it came to him naturally. He could only guess that the system was helping him. It was either that or he was a genius. Nevertheless, Kai closed his eyes as he focused on the bronze sphere in the middle of his chest. It was his Monster Core.
It could see small bronze beads of energy floating inside it. After finding his Monster Energy, he guided it toward his right hand. A cold feeling coursed through his body. However, soon enough, as more energy gathered around his claws, dark energy started being emitted from them.
After a considerable amount of concentration, Kai felt his body becoming colder and colder as if death were at the end of his claws. It was a strange sensation, but he embraced it. The ends of his claws became completely black, surrounded by darkness. Wanting to have a better idea of the skill's effect, he tried to attack the tree on his right.
He watched as his claws cut through the tree as if it was butter. He didn't feel any resistance from his attack, and once he was done, large marks were left on the tree.
Kai's eyes widened when he saw the effect of his skill.
"Uh…Isla, is this really a basic low-level ability?"
"Well, a basic ability from the Nocturne Dragon. For you, it could be considered one of the highest-ranked abilities you'll have for some time."
Hearing those words, Kai decided to do some other tests. He tried to attack the grass and dirt in front of him, cutting them and leaving marks on the ground in one swoop. It seemed the skill's description hadn't lied. It truly gave him the potential to cut through anything.
However, after using it for more than twenty seconds, Kai suddenly felt quite light-headed. He immediately stopped drawing energy from his Monster Core, almost falling down in the process.
"Isla, can you show me the amount of Monster Energy currently in my Monster Core? Can you also show me the necessary time for it to be filled up back to 100%?" Kai had come to understand Isla better over the past hours he had spent with her, and he understood that she would answer all of his questions as long as they weren't too abstract and unrelated to himself.
A blue screen appeared before him once more.
[Tier 1, Bronze-Ranked(20/100)]
[Monster Energy: 16% (Will fully restore in fifty minutes)]
"Ah…I knew that ability was too good to be true. Only using it for twenty seconds practically drained the entirety of my Core." However, Kai looked at the results of his attacks and knew that it was a deadly attack that could potentially surprise a lot of opponents.
Considering the energy cost of the skill and its effects on his body, Kai decided to use it as a last resort if he were in danger of death. However, thinking about the high energy cost, Kai had an idea. He remembered the Cultivation Technique he had received, and he assumed Isla hadn't taken it into account in her calculations.
That's why he turned toward Isla once again.
"How fast would my Core fill itself if I were to use the Cultivation Technique used by Varkul?"
"It would only take ten minutes. However, you could also become more familiar while using [Shadow Claws] as I noticed that you aren't using most of the Monster Energy you draw upon, most of it isn't being used in your attack because of your lack of familiarity with the skill."
Kai nodded, as this made a lot of sense. He was happy that his Monster Core would be filled with energy five times faster than before. However, Isla was still right. If he were to train using [Shadow Claws] more and more, he would be able to perfect his application of Monster Energy.
-ROAR!
Suddenly, a loud roar from a nearby monster distracted Kai as he headed toward the tree closest to him, hiding right at the top of it. Despite having Evolved, obtained a Divine Magical Artifact, and obtained a Cultivation Technique from a God. Kai knew that there were much stronger monsters than him inside this forest. There were also a bunch of players roaming the woods, trying to kill everything they saw. Hearing the unknown monster getting closer, Kai decided to move away from this place.
Arriving in a completely different environment after a few minutes of running away. Kai heard a voice outside of the game. It seemed someone was inside his hospital room and was currently calling for him. Not too sure what would happen to his body while he would be gone, he looked for Isla and decided to tell her he needed to go.
"Isla, I need to go for a bit. Can you tell me how to log off? There isn't a menu for it."
She frowned heavily. "Log off? What are you talking about?"
Kai wasn't too sure what to think of her saying such a thing. However, it seemed Isla wouldn't be of much help as she was saying classic NPC dialogues. He dismissed her and tried to look for the main menu. However, no matter how much time he spent looking for, he couldn't find one.
"Uh, what about... Log Off!" Kai shouted as Isla eyed him weirdly.
However, it seemed to have worked as his vision suddenly blurred, and the warmth of his limbs gradually disappeared. Darkness surrounded his view, and he could no longer see or feel anything.
'Ah…it worked.' A tinge of sadness appeared on his face.
Being unable to feel his body made him realize once more how great playing Realms of Monsters had felt. It hadn't even been a second, and he already wanted to go back to playing.
"Kai? How was it?"
"Ah…Lily, it's you," Kai answered his sister, surprised to hear her voice two times in a single day. "Uh, it was…fun."
"Did it finally work? Could you feel your body?" Lily asked, her voice tinged with hope.
"I-I could. It was nice…"
"You did?!" She shouted out of nowhere, not believing what she heard. "This is great! How did it feel? Did you see what you look like?"
"Uh…I didn't see what I looked like. Things were a bit complicated."
"Are other players bullying you? Don't let them. You need to strike back, or else they'll continue to abuse you."
Kai managed to form a smile on his face. "It's nothing like that…don't worry. Also, when are you planning on playing with me? I-I have a surprise for you…"
"A surprise? What did you do?"
"You'll see once you play with me…"
"Uh…it will take at the very least three days before I can find some time. But don't worry! I'm keeping updated with everything from the game forums." She let out a small giggle. "You probably heard of him since you were playing. But there's already a player that's being accused of cheating for all his achievements."
"Huh? Really? I didn't hear anything about that."
Lily found it strange he didn't know about him but didn't bother asking questions. Instead, she was happy that she could make her brother learn something before leaving him all alone.
"Yeah, I think his gamertag is…Notamonster."
Kai couldn't believe what he had just heard. "C-Can you repeat that name?"
"Notamonster, I know it's kinda funny considering the theme of the game."
Kai didn't say anything as the room fell silent. He simply lay on his bed with a straight face as his mind ran wild with all kinds of thoughts.