"Alright everyone, I'll be on my way real quick then. Kiron, Caria, and Melissa will be coming with me like always." Eisen told the others once they reached the vicinity of the Inn and deactivated his demonic transformation before he looked at the amulet in his hand. "Oh, and Kirisho as well, of course. I doubt that Ailren or Bol would mind her coming along." The old man said with a smile as the Mist-Woman appeared next to him with a slight nod.
"We'll see you in a bit then. I'll prepare everything so that you can make your way to the mining town." Komer answered before Eisen nodded thankfully. "Of course, thank you. I've already got some tools in the carriage, so you don't need to worry about that, but please make sure that there's enough space for Parc, Koro, and Rouge. You can move some of the barrels around and store them somewhere safe, maybe in the inn room. Oh, and could you please get a room for the three of them?" Eisen asked Komer, although the old man felt he was treating him like an assistant at this point, but since Komer didn't seem to mind, he didn't mention it.
"Of course. It's about a 12-hour trip, right? So you'll sleep in the carriage, and we'll leave in three days so that you're there when you wake up?" Komer asked, and Eisen slowly nodded. "Mhm, that's the plan, at least. Thanks for your help, Komer." Eisen said with a smile before looking over toward his three apprentices, who were getting a bit confused at the way this conversation was going and a few details included in it.
"You three, please help Komer out, alright? He's a low-level merchant and focuses on his mental stats, so I'd like you three to do some of the heavy liftings." Eisen told them before the three quickly nodded, but Rouge, the most curious of the three, chose to ask something first.
"Erm, I hope it's okay to ask, but what did he mean when he said that you'd sleep in the carriage and will be in some mining town when you wake up?" He asked, and Eisen nodded at him slowly. "It's fine, don't worry. You see, I have a few issues with my sleep, and lately, I've only been asleep for a day every four days, and that's going to continue for a little while like that." Eisen told them, and the three apprentices looked at him in surprise and light disbelief, but the old man laughed and made his way toward the stables where he could grab Cabarum so that they could get to the cave quickly.
"You'll see in a bit anyway, so there's no need to believe my words completely. I'll be back in an hour or two." Eisen said with a smile as he and his four monster-companions grabbed Cabarum and quickly made their way out of town, where Kirisho then disappeared in the amulet and Eisen, Kiron, Caria, and Melissa sat down on Cabarum's back, riding the mechanical steed toward the beach where they could find Bolremgar's cave.
After they stepped through the tunnels of the said cave, they soon found themselves inside the open cavern, seeing the two dragons talking to each other like usual.
And immediately when Bolremgar noticed Eisen, he transformed into his human form and ran toward him. "So you've finished my test, I see?" He asked excitedly before Eisen slowly nodded and activated his demonic transformation, making the transformation-concentrated Bolremgar quite happy.
"Huh, interesting! So you're more golden now? Well, your nickname is 'Golden-Eyed Demon' after all, so I get it. I can see that you have finished my test, but tell me about it a little. How did it go?" Bol curiously asked as he took a closer look at Eisen's new transformation, especially to see if his horns did physically turn into gold or just something that looked like it, while Eisen explained everything that happened, causing both Bolremgar and Aylrentyrth quite a bit of surprise.
"Oh, you have chosen to step on the Path of Yin and Yang? Interesting. It will be quite a challenge, though, won't it?" Ailren pointed out before Eisen nodded.
"Of course, it will, but it's not like becoming a true demon is my future goal. I'm just glad that I'm not a Yin Demon candidate anymore. If I get the chance to do any of these things, I'll do them, but I probably won't go out of my way to pursue anything." The old man answered with a calm smile before Bol crossed his arms with a satisfied nod.
"That's a good way to go about it. It's not like you have to rush it either, you're immortal, after all. Anyway, you've undeniably passed my trial." The Bronze Dragon exclaimed, prompting some notifications to pop up in front of Eisen.
[Quest Complete – Ancient Bronze Dragon's Test]
[Description] After passing the trials of the Ancient Gold Dragon Aylrentyrth, you are now taking the trial of the Ancient Bronze Dragon Bolremgar.
He asked you to use your demonic self to become someone known for doing good things, instead of bad ones.
Once you have been recognized by the system to have stepped on the Path of Yang, then this quest
will be seen as completed.
[Reward] Become the Champion to a second Ancient Dragon
[Failure] You can not take the test of this Dragon again
[Time Limit] One Month
[Congratulations! You have been chosen as a champion by the Ancient Bronze Dragon Bolremgar!]
[Champion Title Became Champion II!]
With a wide grin, Bolremgar then stood in front of Eisen and placed his palm on the old man's chest, before he felt a surging heat fill out every nook and cranny of his body before that heat dissipated just as quickly as it disappeared, and another notification appeared in front of Eisen.
[Ancient Bronze Dragon Bolremgar gave you his gift]
[A Part of your body has been modified]
[Due to a special action, A Giant's Strength Racial Skill has gained a new ability]
[While Skill is active, you can now change your Body's Size at will]
[Current Maximum] 50% Size Difference
[Effect] 10% Stat increase per 50% Size Increase
With a grin on his face as he gained precisely the ability that Bolremgar told him he probably would, Eisen quickly tried to figure out what to do. Since most things here were controlled by thought and will, Eisen concentrated on his whole body and willed himself to become larger after activating his racial skill.
And as he did so, his 2 Meter Body grew to be 3 Meters tall with his regular bodily proportions. As he looked down at the amazed and shocked people around him, Eisen crossed his arms in satisfaction. "This is going to be quite useful." He exclaimed, before deciding to shrink his body down again, although he noticed something peculiar as well. It seemed like he couldn't just increase his body size compared to normal, but also shrink it down.
So, being obviously curious to try this out as well, soon enough, a tiny one meter Eisen stood next to the group. "Hmm, although I'm not too sure about this…" Eisen muttered before deactivating his size-change and then turned to Bolremgar, who had a childish grin on his face.
Honestly, for some reason, this Ancient Being acted like a little kid sometimes, at least partially so. But Eisen tried to ignore that and asked his question. "I thought I would only be able to grow, so why can I shrink as well?" Eisen asked, and Bolremgar smiled.
"Well, this is the ability of Giants who are already quite huge, so it technically wouldn't be necessary for them to grow even more. They use their ability to shrink to the size of People to interact with them, so that's why they can shrink. Of course, they can still grow in size, but they barely do so. At some point, their bodies won't be able to support their weight anymore." Bol explained and Eisen nodded slowly.
"I see, that does make sense. And how do I increase my size limit? Just by ranking up my racial skill more?" The old man inquired, before Bol swiftly answered. "Yes, that is indeed how. You should see yourself to be able to grow more and more the stronger you become as well, so the higher your 'stats' are, the more you will also become capable of further literal growth." The Bronze Dragon explained with a satisfied smile.
"Although, as I mentioned before, Giants can teach their half-blooded kin the ability of growth as well, so it may be possible for you to increase your size-change range quite a bit if you visit a giant. But I cannot say for sure, as I never had the pleasure to give my gift to a Half-Giant before." Bol pointed out before Eisen nodded happily.
"Then, in that case, I'll gladly tell you if I find out," Eisen responded, before Aylrentyrth, who had been talking to Kirisho for a bit, turned toward the old man.
"I am glad to see that you were able to complete this Trial successfully. I will be returning to Melroe soon, so I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure to see you again." Aylrentyrth told Eisen with a smile before the Giant-Dwarf Halfling extended his hand forward.
"The pleasure was all mine. I will come back to Melroe again someday, so this surely wasn't the last time we've met." Eisen smiled as he said this and shook Ailren's hand before they all continued to talk for a little while longer, and then Eisen and his group left the large cave again to return to town.
When they got back to the Inn, the group somewhat split up again, and the five originals were left to have some alone-time with each other since they wanted to talk about a few things related to real life. As such, Eisen even asked Kiron and Kirisho to leave for a while, although he allowed Caria and Melissa to stay there since it wouldn't be an issue for them to hear.
First, Eisen showed them the new ability he just got by quickly growing and shrinking in size. "Hmm, that's quite a surprise. I know Bolremgar said that you would probably gain that ability, but I didn't expect it to happen." Xenia pointed out, and Eisen chuckled as he nodded his head.
"Yes, although I was hoping for it, it is a nice surprise. For every 50% that my size changes from my regular size, I gain a 10% stat bonus. There doesn't seem to be a penalty for shrinking, though. But the 50% difference is my limit for now, but it's still quite a bit of help." Eisen explained to them before he looked over at Xenia and Evalia to move on to the thing that he wanted to ask about right now.
"So, neither of you recommended anyone for the game?" He asked, and Brody and Jyuuk looked at them quite curiously as well, before Xenia quickly spoke up.
"Well, I don't have anyone to invite. I didn't expect the same to be the case for Evalia, though." She responded, and Evalia smiled wrily.
"Ya see, I did wanna recommend a friend of mine, but she was already invited to the Alpha phase cause she's a popular streamer. The Alpha's usually still have ta pay a bit for the capsule, although only like a third to half of the regular price, so my friend was just exempt from the price." Evalia explained, and Eisen slowly nodded before he looked at Brody and Jyuuk standing next to him.
"So who did you two invite, then? Samuel told me that you didn't accept the extra recommendation." Eisen said, and the two of them swiftly explained.
"I invited my sister. She's always been pretty frail and sick, so she's been spending a lot of time in the hospital since she was young, and we don't see each other often because of that. So I chose to invite her. Thankfully, the game works on a single worldwide server, and she can connect to us from Japan." Jyuuk said, and Eisen nodded with a light smile at that heartfelt story before Brody continued.
"Well, I just recommended my wife. She's been complaining that we don't spend a lot of time together lately, and I do agree. And since you can do, well, that, here, I thought it would be a great idea." Brody said with an embarrassed smirk when he was trying to paraphrase having an intimate time with his wife, and while Evalia, Jyuuk, and Eisen chuckled, Xenia was incredibly surprised.
"Wait... wait, wait, Brody. You're married?"