37 || Fragment of Light!

Wind and Lightning came easier while it took a moment or two to conjure the Dark derivatives. As frustrated as she is having met a dead end, this means she could at least practice and experiment with the elements available.

Two or so hours later, after getting the hang of filtering through the elements, Tara floats a Water orb in one hand and a Wind cube in the other. Pressing them together would cause a light blue five-sided shape of Ice to form. Tara soon realizes that more of the Water element results in ice.

[Cloud Element Created!]

"Oh!" Fusing more Wind instead of Water created a pentahedron of gray Cloud. She dispels the shape and restarts with a Wind cube and Lightning pyramid. This time a seven sided orange shape forms.

[Sound Element Created!]

Following this she does some more experimenting, even throwing the different shapes of new energies at the gem: Fire and Earth create Magma which is a deeper brownish red, Water and Earth create the aquamarine Wood element, while Earth and Wind create beige Sand. What confuses her is when she combines Lightning and Earth. Instead of a shape, an item appears. Tara had channeled more Lightning and so a white mushroom had appeared.

Curiously, she repeats the combination but this time with more Earth, which results in a black mushroom. In that moment of inspiration, she throws the black mushroom at the orb. Two statuses pop up: Poison and Corrosion. The first slowed down healing while the second dealt damage continuously.

With this trick now in hand, combined with her other abilities, the orb's HP finally bottoms out and it explodes into shards! Almost immediately the pieces rapidly reform into three objects: A white key, a white pearl, and a red bead. Before Tara can collect them, they fly into her spatial ring and a notification rings out!

[Trial of Fire Passed! Awarding Key to Light 1/3! Fragment of Light 1/3! Energy Pill (Basic)]

In the next breath, Tara's expelled from the chamber in a flash of white light. When she reopens her eyes, she stands before the transportation gate.

After some thought, Tara decides to share this hidden chamber with her friends. Bria and Sahi, who were focusing more on auxiliaries than combat, would benefit from the Trial's potent Fire energy when it came to crafting. Meanwhile, the rest of her crew could use the trial to hone their abilities and become stronger!

The thought to at least peek at the Trial of Water crosses her mind, but her curiosity about the items she had just acquired was greater. After returning the key to the desk Tara finds that more than 12 hours had passed within the Trial. For her it certainly hadn't felt that long at all but Tara's happy that she had some gains from the time spent. Tara quickly heads back to her room, setting up several rune-enhanced inscriptions.

"So, what do we have?" Tara says to herself as she pulls up the screen for her spatial ring and selects the pearl. It had caught her attention as it was called the Fragment of Light. The key was an obvious reward for clearing as was the flaming red pill, which was probably used for cultivation. Just by holding it, however, it turns into two lines of white light that shoot into her eyes.

[You have begun the Path of Illumination! Inspect (Lvl 1) Learned!]

<Passive Ability: Identify Items Name | Quality + See NPCs Identities | Health Gauge>

<Active Ability: Learned Detailed Information On Object | NPC>

<Cooldown: 2 Minutes>

<Proficiency: 0/100>

<Additional Skill, Hidden Sight: 3% Chance To Uncover What's Hidden From Plain Sight>

Tara is caught unawares as she looks at the new info screen. Unlike the orange box of her spatial ring or the chatbox wisp, this one was white and had the name of the skill in bold black letters overhead with the information below it. It is so unlike her other skills which she had learned that Tara finds it refreshing. Finally something classically game-like!

Instead of feeling herself grow accustomed to a move like with teachings from the ancient memories, she had more of a guide to follow! Excitedly, Tara pulls the key out next!

[Key to Light | Iron Grade]

Items have their own tier system as did monsters. Obsidian tier items are currently the highest attainable gear on the list for Guild players. This is two ranks above that.

The gap between Porcelain and Iron weapons is huge but the difference between Iron versus Silver, not to mention beyond that, is even larger.

Tara's eyes flash white for a moment as she actively uses Inspect on the key.

[Key to Light | Iron Grade]

<Forged from pure light by a legendary figure of old, this is but a fragment of Key of Illumination. Used to open the Trial of Light.>

Tara's kind of bummed she doesn't get more information than that. However, it is an Iron tier item and she had only just acquired the [Inspect] skill. It was then that the familiar jingle of a system notification met her ears!

[Inspect Proficiency +5! Hidden Sight: Tap item to equip as an Accessory.]

"Is +5 proficiency good? And do I have to give up my bracelets to equip the key?" Tara wonders aloud, as she had no frame of reference. Unsure, Tara taps the key as instructed.

[Equip Key to Light as a Charm Accessory or Badge Accessory? Effects do not change.]

"Let's go with Charm, a Badge might draw too much attention," As Tara chooses an option, the key appears on her bracelet next to the charm of Sun Claw. Another white info box appears this time with what attributes the new charm.

Firstly it raises her Wisdom and Intelligence by 10%. Despite not knowing what her main stats were, such an increase wasn't something to look down on. It would further her energy gathering and recovery, possibly letting her reach Bone Crystallization high tier all the sooner.

Secondly, the Charm increases her Inspect by 2 levels! It also enhanced her ability to open chests and disarm traps with its Unlock skill. Finally there is the active ability Pinpoint, which finds weak points on a target. The next strike would then deal 50% more damage with a 25% chance to critical that damage by 100%. It has a cooldown of a minute which means she should probably use it at important moments during a fight.

Somewhat impatiently, she summons her weapons in her hand. After another minute passes, she uses her upgraded Inspect on both weapons, raising her proficiency by +3. As she knew before both were Bound to her and that they grew stronger as she did.

What was new was that Sun's Claw gave +13 Attack and +10 Defense and Vitality. Moon Fang on the other hand gave +13 Wisdom and +10 Intelligence and Spirit.

Moreover Hidden Eyes found out both held locked Passive and Active abilities, alongside the chance to be evolved! Excited about the prospect of her weapons getting stronger, Tara takes out the final reward from the Trial of Fire.

[Energy Pill (Basic)]

<A pill brimming with fire energy! When consumed by a person, it can further one's growth greatly. When fused with a weapon it can unlock it's potential.>

It seems that her good luck came in waves! Since her weapons were bound to her aura all she had to do was take the pill and then they both would benefit. Without a second thought she pops it into her mouth which melts upon touching her tongue. In the next second she feels fire rush throughout her body.

Suddenly, the energy in the room suddenly goes into a frenzy as Fire type energy bursts from her body and envelops the whole room! As the berserk energy flows from Tara she screams out in pain, eyes rolling back as if every cell in her body was burning. The fire energy soon floods the entire Dark Saber wing all but for a moment before zipping back to its epicenter.

Beiling's already in front of Tara's dorm, having sensed something amiss the second Tara took the pill. Unfortunately, her disciple's room is blocked off by red-orange crystals that are as hot as the sun. In a slight panic, Beiling strikes the crystal wall with all her might. The crystal cracks, a piece actually falling away, but it reseals quickly. Her aura is actually burned through upon contact as if she touched pure magma!

"Damn it!" 'Tara, can you hear me?' She curses before trying to send a telepathic message only for it to be blocked. Beiling hesitates, punching the crystal again. "Someone get me our best alchemist and summon a sect elder. Please!" She shouts as a crowd starts to gather. As the disciples scatter to fulfill her wishes the mental suppression of her aura makes some of the weaker students struggle to breath.

Tara opens her eyes, unknowing of the situation outside. Wearing a flowing white dress, Tara recognizes her location: the dream space version of the ancient ruin!

Sitting before her the star skinned woman, a cyan tiger cub--Wolyung? Tara wonders--in her lap and a young girl about her age with dark brown skin whom Tara doesn't know.

"W-what's going on?" Tara asks as she attempts to stand up. When she does, however, pain wracks through her as if her entire existence is on fire. The girl immediately rushes over to her side and lays her hands--which have claws where nails should be--on Tara's shoulder. Almost immediately the scorching pain recedes and it's much more bearable.

"You now see what I mean, youngling?" The star-skinned woman, not looking up from petting the cub. "It's in both her and your best interest for a change. Her body can't keep up with how fast she's growing and sooner or later it will collapse."

The girl in question replies to the woman but no sound comes out of her mouth. It's then that Tara realizes she can't see many of the girl's features outside of the clawed hands that haven't left her body and bright orange hair. Everything else, such as her eyes or facial details, even the outfit she's wearing, is obscured or blurry for some reason.

"Yes I understand your concern, it was your territory up until now but you know as well as I do it was only by chance. The same can be said for your sister as well. She'll have to trade places with you before long. Once in your proper spots, despite how much you've grown already, you'll be amazed at how strong you'll be soon. You have my word." The woman continues as if Tara isn't even present.

"What are you talking about? Who is that and what's going on! Stop acting like I'm not here!" Tara demands as she tries to take a step forward and shrug off the girl. This proves to be a foolish thing to do as the moment the connection broke Tara's body is flooded with the same burning pain. Tara falls to her knees as the pain becomes unfathomable.

"You're simply going through a qualitative change, child, but you aren't holding up well from just a Basic Energy pill. I was already planning on shifting your guardians around so why not take up the opportunity to do so now? You'll be better for it." The woman finally acknowledges Tara, eyes looking pitying but excited at the same time.

In the next moment, the young girl is before Tara as a familiar red-pink dagger in hand swings at her heart before it shifts into an axe. There's no impact when the weapon hits, only a notification:

[Update in progress! You will be ejected from the game!]