Leon snapped shut the book in his hands when he felt heat flare within his bones.
‘Hmm?’ He frowned, bending his head down when the sudden flare of heat turned into a spike of pain.
‘What’s wrong?’ Nedra noticed his discomfort and quickly unfurled herself from the top of his head where she had curled herself.
‘I don’t know. I just suddenly felt pain.’ Leon replied quickly and got up. He could feel that burning heat building up again.
“Lex? What’s wrong?” His sudden movement startled his frazzled new companions. He did not answer them and just stared around. He turned to move toward the edge of the camp, but before he could take five steps away, he collapsed to his knees.
“Ugh…” He suppressed a cry of pain as he felt as if his sturdy bones were being broken and grinded to dust. Quickly, he lost the ability to move, and simply laid down on the floor, with his vision swimming.
‘Nedra, watch over me.’ He told her and quickly opened his Spirit Container, letting out all of his summons. The next moment, everything went black. In that blackness, a status screen popped up with writing on it.
[Core Formation process shall begin now… A special seed has been planted in your soul. This will affect the formation of your core. Core formation process shall begin now…]
On the outside, Leon had gone entirely still, and the light of life in his eyes had dimmed to a nearly unnoticeable level. Seeing that her master was in trouble, Nedra did not hesitate to command the millipedes to surround Leon.
The sudden appearance of the millipedes all around them scared the adventurers silly.
“Lex! What’s going on?!” Adrian yelled with wide, fearful eyes. He suspected that Leon had turned against them, but seeing Leon’s prone form on the floor made him doubt that assumption.
“STAY AWAY!!!” A powerful mental wave physically pushed them back when they took a step in Leon’s direction with their weapons at the ready. The white, necklace sized millipede instantly expanded into a massive meters long millipede that possessed wickedly sharp claws and a mandible that could probably shred a troll to pieces in one snap. Her eyes shone with red light as she looked around, raising her upper body up intimidatingly.
The sight of the massive, and powerful millipede immediately froze all of them. They felt the aura of a Peak C rank creature pressing against their minds, and the fact that she possessed mental powers did not make the oppressive air pressing on their minds any gentler.
Bella and Helen held themselves at the back of the group while the men stood in front to protect them, albeit they knew in their heart that if anything went wrong, they would all die together.
For a moment, they contemplated running, but one look around was enough to tell them that it was a bad idea. There was barely enough space within the clearing where they had made their camp thanks to the appearance of so many millipedes, but even more, dozens more, gathered around the clearing, their mandibles clacking together as they gathered to protect their master.
All of a sudden, a pulse of very visible, purple mana pushed out from Leon’s body, passing through Nedra’s and his summons’ bodies, but pressing the adventurers down to the ground. From beneath Nedra’s protective legs, his body rose up into the air, floating of its own volition as it was wrapped up in a swirl of what looked like purple smoke. The smoke gathered around him, layering itself upon more and more smoke until it turned into a dark purple crystal that oozed power.
The concentration of mana in the clearing, especially mana that was dark and malevolent in nature, was so high that the grass, leaves, and trees, began to get affected by it. The grass and leaves began to turn dark in color, turning into black blades that turned into more purple smoke and was drawn into the crystal cocoon. Some of the mana did not get converted into that of the Unholy element, and remained true to itself. Wisps of brown mana that represented the earth, blue mana that stood for water, an almost invisible grayish mana that stood for air, and red mana that stood for fire, gathered in the center of the clearing, swirling together until they formed a sphere of concentrated mana that could kill any weaker being if inserted directly into their body.
WHOOOSH!!!
A mighty gust of wind blew through the clearing as the orb of mana crystalized itself, turning into a diamond that contained several distinct colors. There was red, blue, brown, white, green, and a couple of other colors.
When Nedra saw this crystal of concentrated mana, she felt a wave of hunger race through her body, but instantly clamped down on that desire. She held herself back because she knew that it was all for her master. If she consumed it, then she was sure that she would be immediately promoted to B rank, but she had enough self control to prevent herself from doing anything detrimental to Leon.
After a few seconds of floating there in a tantalizing motion, the colorful mana crystal floated forward and sunk into the cocoon that wrapped Leon up. When it sunk into the cocoon, a bright, blinding light shone out of it, forcing everyone to close their eyes.
When the light receded, Nedra turned to look at the cocoon, and found it was gone, leaving Leon hovering in the air. A mighty power radiated from his body, and he looked as if he could smite anything that came his way right this moment. Slowly, that aura receded, leaving something more manageable and something that resembled what a C rank being would be able to release.
Nedra sighed. For a second there, she thought Leon had already been promoted to B rank, but then she shook her head. He had not even reached level 100, so a Race Advancement was not yet due.
Leon’s body slowly lowered itself to the ground where it remained standing until his consciousness returned. Purple fire blazed through his skull when his consciousness returned to his body, and a mighty aura was released from his body. All his summons prostrated themselves before their Lord, and the adventurers felt the need to do the same. For this mighty being was not on their level.
