Odette is overwhelmed by the sudden attention, the others are staring at her; But the dismayed gaze of the nine-foot-tall, Miellessa; Intimidated her the most.
"There is something wrong?. Or why is everyone staring at me?."
"You are beautiful and powerful." Cedric said with a smile.
Odette dismissed him immediately. "«Shut up!. You’re already foul like rotten mold, Druid. Be mindful, and spare us the hideous pollution of your breath, along the sound contamination coming from your repulsive voice."
Cedric was stunned and speechless. He hadn’t expected such a harsh response. "Relax, Blondie. We are enthralled by your majestic Halo." Vurckair fleetingly whispered at Odette’s ear; His interest absorbed by Balalaika’s work.
"Salting fish, Little Lamb?."
Balalaika nodded, her cute face lighted up with a shy, blushing smile.
{She is happy about the nickname?; No... Perhaps it’s related to our short interaction in Loutharn}
{I really need a private talk with her, to confirm she is like Me; Naylyn or Odette, as we are not from Ell’Thane}
"Yes. It’s to ensure we have food; Vu-Vuir, the Lustful Be-Beast..."
{Vuir?; That’s how my ex-fiancée used to call me in Loutharn. And Lustful Beast is the nickname the Barkin Bitch of Ines putted me}
Vurckair mimicked his phrase. "Don’t use them, Little Lamb."
"Understood, Vurckair." Balalaika agreed, and continued her task with Miellessa’s assistance.
Both Spears talked about what they had seen in the Quartzal.
During the exchange, Vallad’Yanna carefully extracted the Nucleus from the Dragonoid’s head.
With the item cleaned; They sat around it, transmitting their combined Flow Magic to purify, nurture and develope the content within the Nucleus.
The translucent crystalline surface cracked, turning multicolour in a sudden detonation that remains as a gasified sphere under the combined ethereal pressure exerted by twelve Cadets and two Instructors.
Although this outcome it’s mostly thanks to Naylyn and Odette.
The Nucleus pulverized particles condensed into small drops of semi-liquid light.
{What are those?. Stats?. If so... Why are they transparent?}
Vallad’Yanna asked Vurckair. "How do you plan to distribute the «Variable Essence»?."
{Me?!. I don’t even know what these are for.}
His silence was unexpected, but accepted by some of his teammates.
Which made no sense to many, including Mädriänä.
"My mistake." Vallad’Yanna confessed. "Your competence made me forget that you lack certain knowledge, because you hadn’t access to it before today."
Mädriänä inquired. "Did he became a Rookie this morning?."
"Correct." Vallad’Yanna remarked with her firm stare locked on her Half-sister; Then, she proceeded.
"The Nucleus itself transforms into Variable Essence. With a fixated value that gives per drop: +1 Proficiency, +1 to a random Stat, or +500 Progress to a Native. If certain amount of drops are granted, the Native becomes a Minion, Similar to a Summon or Embryon. But unlike the others, Minions can die."
{Acquirable Stats are bad. No wonder Naylyn... Naylyn?. Perhaps this can be exploited...}
"Nalune." Vurckair signaled the drops. "What do you see there?, and be specific."
"38 transparent drops, 9 black, and 9 blue."
{It’s the amount of her incorrect Stats}
"Take the colored ones."
Naylyn doesn’t understand but obeyed. Each drop she touched disappeared immediately.
Until she felt pain in her chest, and several, supposedly transparent drops left her body.
{I’m almost sure now...}
"Snowflare. Of the 18 drops that came out of Nalune; 6 were red and 6 were yellow. Am I right?."
"Yes. But. How is that possible?!. I never heard that we lost Stats when–"
"Absorb what you can."
Viennetta was startled, like everyone else in the cave; But she didn’t dare to protest. Or he could spank her again.
Imitating Naylyn; Viennetta assimilated and lost an equivalent amount of drops.
{Ell’Thane didn’t lie to me. «It» really gives us a great help to improve with this purification process to correct our Stats}
"Can this Variable Essence be stored?. +1 Proficiency and unreliable Stats are a dumb way to waste this invaluable resource."
Vallad’Yanna took out a thin container, and made sure to not touch the drops.
Disappointment was obvious, but nobody dared to complain; Because the Dragonoid was defeated by Vurckair.
Instead of mourning on underserved gains, the groups organized themselves to share a nice meal with salted fish as the main dish.
Within the chamber’s partial darkness. Three damsels cooked for both teams.
Odette, Balalaika and Miellessa. The former showed why Coordinator Phrangnerth called her a Farm-Girl.
Her grilled fish has a country seasoning that is difficult to replicate for those who learned in a city how to cook.
The friendly atmosphere could lead anyone into a relaxed, calm state.
Not Vurckair.
As a veteran soldier, he experienced many ambushes during inconvenient hours.
One of the platoons in which he served got basically exterminated because of it.
That is precisely why he was the first to realize about the soft sound of stone moving with an extremely faint, but recognizable noise of friction.
{I must be paranoid. Stones don’t walk. Unless they’re golems, or some creature made of rock}
The next moment, Throlf opened his fungus eyelids; Mädriänä noticed and warned Vallad’Yanna with a glance.
Barrick and Viennetta saw with their black sclera eyes the Anthropoid stones moving lethargically through the walls.
As they ate; The subtile preparation for combat was wordlessly understood by the Cadets.
The first golem emerged from the wall. It’s stone, bulky arm has sharp borders. It swung like a living maze against Viennetta. While more golems surrounded the group, coming out from the floor and ceiling.
Unable to dodge, Viennetta counterattacked with her scythe, taking distance from the solid monster who is not different than a walking fortress.
Everyone switched their attitudes from stillness to menace.
Mirä was one of the quickest; Her staff already aimed.
"Shö’Thöm!."
The greenish volt striked the golem’s chest, blasting apart shattered stone and molten rock.
But no one expected what was inside.
Ghosts.
"Are they working together?!." Exclaimed Mirä.
"No." Stated Throlf. "We can’t see both simultaneously with our black scleras. The golems must be possessed, but since they have a Core instead of a Singularity, their bodies can be easily overtaken, and i can’t exorcise them."
{So it’s possible to be Exorcised. I must be careful}
Mirä screamed in disbelief. "I killed an innocent?!."
Barrick responded. "The Golem’s Core is in their butt, so no..."
Viennetta lounged forward, cleaving the intangible ghost. "Talk less and break more rocks!. I abhor interruptions during food time!..."