Ti had passed before Albedo even realized. He had remained, eyes closed running his technique with his legs crossed for hours.
Finally, after a while, Albedo stirred, his eyes glowed with a deeper luster than before, and his gaze was sharper. He stood up, dusting off the dust off of his clothes and looked at himself.
His entire body thrumd with vitality. Strength rippled beneath his skin in calm, focused waves. His mana felt denser and smoother. He could control it easier than before.
He felt like he had gone through a small evolution. The part of him that felt the best was his Crimson Moon Physique.
He felt that his connection to the Physique had grown deeper. His Mana control had increased and the ambient fire mana in the surrounding area obeyed him much more. He had an easier ti doing everything.
"Feels good."
He quickly tried to test this power upgrade, extending his will towards the charred rubble scattered across the battlefield.
The air shimred faintly as his mana responded in perfect synchronicity. Shards of obsidian and fractured stone rose slowly from the ground, floating in orbit around him like satellites.
He closed his fist.
The debris stopped mid-air, held perfectly in place. He rotated his wrist, and the fragnts spun together, weaving through each other in fluid spirals, as though they were dancing to his command.
Then he swept his hand outward and easily controlled all the flas that were rampaging around him, much easier than before.
Before it took so strain, but now it was like these ambient flas were an extension of his will. He bent the flas to hit and compressed them, spiraling it all into his palm as a small, rotating fla orb ignited in his hand, contained and condensed.
He chucked the orb nearby and it exploded in an array of flas that sloshed around, destroying another building in a big explosion.
Albedo narrowed his eyes and lifted his other hand. He called to the magma sloshing nearby, and the molten rock surged like a serpent answering its master. It writhed, then split apart into ribbons, dancing above the cracked floor in defiance of gravity.
With a breath, he dispersed it all.
The stones fell. The flas snuffed out. The magma returned to its flow.
Not a drop of sweat on him.
Albedo cracked his neck and smiled faintly.
"Much better."
With that short little test done, Albedo quickly left the Delmoor Ruins. By the ti he was out, the sky had transitioned to twilight, the last rays of sunlight bleeding across the clouds.
He quickly boarded the SkyRail that was headed to Zephyr Academy, and once he arrived, he quickly heading to the Mission Hall.
The building was quiet at this hour, the occasional staff mber shuffling papers or entering reports into glowing crystal terminals. At the reception desk, this ti he t a sleepy-eyed clerk blinked in surprise as Albedo approached.
"You want a mission?" the man asked, his voice catching slightly.
Albedo didn't answer. Instead, he unhooked the space bag and placed it on the table. Inside, twenty Sulfire Crystals glead like bottled fire.
The clerk's eyes widened, "Oh, you're the one who took the SulFire Crystal mission. You're done already."
Albedo gave a slight nod, "Mission complete."
"…I-I'll notify the system right away." The clerk fumbled slightly with the controls before managing to file the mission completion. A soft chi rang from the console.
[ Mission Complete – Sulfire Crystal Retrieval ]
[ Reward: 800 rit. ]
Albedo didn't bother spending his rit at this point. rit was an extra currency at the Academy, that could be used to purchase extra training resources or private training classes with Professors.
However, 800 wasn't enough for anything Albedo wanted. What he really wanted was the [ Fla Dragon's Heart ] that was listed, but that costed over 30,000 rit, or 40 missions with an 800 rit Reward.
As for other rewards that could be valuable, there was:
Fire Elental Egg - 20,000 rit
Shadow Movent Technique - 16,000 rit
Fire Elentals were one of the most sought after Beast's for Beast Tar's, especially those who mainly used the Fire Elent, just like Albedo.
They had many uses, but their biggest benefit was their complete immunity to physical attacks, and their ability to posses the one who tad them, massively buffing their power for a short period of ti.
As for the Shadow Movent Technique, Albedo wanted it simply because it would give him other options in battle, but he couldn't think much of them, as even the cheapest would take quite a while for him to afford.
Without another word, he turned and left, quickly boarding the SkyRail again and heading ho.
By the ti he returned to his residence, the stars were already strewn across the night sky like spilled gemstones. Gwen had already went to bed, exhausted from her day at the Academy.
He quickly headed to his room and pulled the Beast Egg out of his inventory. The Egg was rather big, around 5 feet tall and rather wide, and was glowing with crimson veins.
But the most notable part of the egg was that it was trembling faintly. The pulses of heat radiating from it had grown stronger, more erratic, ever since he'd returned from Delmoor.
"It started the mont I picked up those Sulfire Crystals," Albedo murmured, narrowing his eyes.
He reached into his inventory and pulled out the remaining Sulfire Crystals, sixteen in total, glowing like crystallized lava.
The mont they appeared, the trembling of the egg intensified. It pulsed again, this ti in rhythm with the crystals, like a heart syncing to a beat.
He didn't hesitate. Albedo moved over to the incubation chamber in the corner of the room, an alchemical pod powered by mana circuits.
He opened the container and gently placed the Beast Egg in its center. Then, one by one, he surrounded it with the Sulfire Crystals, forming a perfect circle.
As soon as the last crystal was in place, a low hum echoed through the room.
The incubation pod ca alive, runes lighting up across its surface as the ambient heat rose. The crystals began to emit soft pulses of energy, waves of heat and fire mana that washed over the egg.
Albedo stepped back and watched closely, and the egg quickly responded imdiately. The veins of fire across the egg's surface brightened, glowing like liquid gold.
The previously dormant mana around it stirred to life, and threads of crimson energy flowed from the Sulfire Crystals into the shell. The egg drank it in greedily, absorbing the purified fire mana and refining it.
Then ca the next phase, purification.
Faint impurities, dark patches and chaotic mana pulses that had lingered within the egg's aura since the beginning, were now being burned away. The flas surrounding the pod shifted color, turning from orange to a fierce white-blue at the edges, signifying a high-purity purification process was occurring.
Albedo watched in silence and quickly appraised the Egg, spotting that the incubation ti had decreased from 1 month to now just 2 weeks, or 13 days to be exact.
Still, his appraise didn't say what race the Egg was, probably since it was a system reward and the system wanted to keep it a secret, but that didn't stop him from remaining curious.
Once he confird the egg was okay, he turned towards the mirror and raised his hand.
His Ethereal Silk Armor shimred faintly, as if recognizing his intention. Threads of pale mana coursed along its surface as it shifted, gone were the travel-worn clothes he had worn into the Delmoor Ruins.
Now, they reford into a sleek, form-fitting combat uniform. Lightweight, yet durable. Dark gray with red accents along the seams, it allowed for maximum flexibility and speed.
He flexed his fingers. The Ethereal Silk clung perfectly to his fra, adapting to his mana circulation with fluid grace.
"Ti to train."
With a thought, he turned off the lights and stepped out, leaving the egg in its protective stasis.
He quickly took the SkyRail back to Zephyr Academy and headed to the Lunar Wing for his night-ti training.
There, waiting like a vision carved from sin and shadow, was Raphaeline Cortezia.
Her violet hair glistened under the moonlight, flowing like liquid athyst. Black wings partially unfurled behind her, feathers shimring with residual demonic energy. A long, curved blade rested against her shoulder, and her crimson eyes fixed on him with a lazy, knowing smile.
"Took you long enough," she purred, licking a fang as she tilted her head, "Oh, you're Mid-Silver now. I see you really haven't been slacking off."
Albedo stepped into the ring, stopping just a few ters from her. He didn't reply, only rolled his shoulders as mana flared subtly beneath his skin.
Raphaeline's eyes sparkled, "Good. You'll need that heat tonight."
The moon hung high above them as the two stood beneath its silver gaze, predator and predator circling once more.
Their nightly training session was about to begin.
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