The Awakening of the Crystal

After successfully passing the trials of the guardian spirits in the Misty Forest and obtaining the leaves of the Light Tree, Lucas, Finn, and Evelyn headed north to the vast grasslands known as the home of wild creatures. There, they hoped to find the Small Shadow Dragon, a creature known for its ability to hide in the shadows."According to Eldon's information, we should look for areas with lots of shadows and large rocks," said Lucas as he led the way. "The Small Shadow Dragon likes to hide there.""Well, then we need to keep our eyes open," replied Finn enthusiastically. "I'm curious to see what it looks like. Is it really small or smaller than I imagined?""If we're lucky, maybe we can catch it without much resistance," said Evelyn, watching her surroundings. "But small dragon or not, they can be very aggressive."The grassland in front of them stretched out, with tall grass and a few large rocks scattered here and there. The atmosphere here felt calm, but they knew it could be deceiving. The sun was beginning to set, making the shadows around them longer and creating the perfect place for the shadow dragon to hide."We have to be careful. Even though they're called 'small', they're still strong enough to give us trouble," said Lucas.As they approached a more rocky area, Lucas opened the System Window in his mind to check his quest progress. He wanted to make sure they had all the materials needed by Eldon.System Window - Quest Progress.| QUEST: The Alchemist's Request || Status: In Progress || Goal: || 1. Aether Tears from the Aether Cave (Completed) || 2. Leaves of the Light Tree from the Misty Forest (Completed)|| 3. Blood of the Small Shadow Dragon in the Grasslands || Complete the quest to get the materials || to activate the Celestial Crystal |Lucas saw that they had completed two of the three goals in the quest. "We just need the blood of the Small Shadow Dragon to finish this," he thought. He closed the System Window and refocused his attention on the search."There's something there!" exclaimed Finn, pointing towards a shadow between two large rocks.Lucas and Evelyn immediately focused their gaze on the direction Finn was pointing. Sure enough, something was moving quickly under the shadow. For a moment, they saw a small, spiky tail and glowing red eyes glancing sharply at them."That's it! The Small Shadow Dragon," said Evelyn, whispering. "It seems like it noticed us.""Wait for my signal," said Lucas. "We have to corner it so it can't escape."Lucas gave a signal with his finger, and they began to move slowly to surround the creature. Finn took a position on the right, Evelyn on the left, and Lucas in front. The dragon began to growl softly, sensing the danger approaching."Now!" shouted Lucas.Evelyn cast a spell, "Binding Roots!" Small tree roots emerged from the ground, quickly crawling towards the dragon and wrapping around its legs. The Small Shadow Dragon growled angrily and began to struggle to break free."Quick, we have to take its blood!" shouted Finn, advancing with his knife ready.The dragon opened its mouth and released a small burst of black fire towards Finn. However, Finn managed to dodge with a nimble jump, and the fire only burned part of the grass behind him."Lucas, use your shield to deflect its attacks!" shouted Evelyn.Lucas raised his Celestial Shield and stepped forward to protect the team from further attacks. The shield glowed brightly, and when the dragon tried to shoot another burst of black fire, the attack was blocked and bounced back towards the dragon."Good! Let's make it calmer!" Finn attacked with a small silver knife, targeting the dragon's hind leg that was entangled in the roots. Just as his knife made contact, the dragon let out a deafening roar, but it slowly weakened."I think that's enough," said Lucas after collecting enough blood in a small glass bottle. "We should let it go now."Evelyn nodded and released the spell binding the dragon. The creature immediately darted away into the shadows, disappearing from their sight."Good, we did it," said Finn with relief. "Now we have everything we need."Lucas opened the System Window once again to check the quest progress.System Window - Quest Update.| QUEST: The Alchemist's Request || Status: Completed || Goal: || 1. Aether Tears from the Aether Cave (Completed) || 2. Leaves of the Light Tree from the Misty Forest (Completed)|| 3. Blood of the Small Shadow Dragon in the Grasslands (Completed) || Return to Eldon to complete the quest and || receive the materials to activate the Celestial Crystal. |"Our quest is complete," thought Lucas. He smiled and said to the others, "We have all the ingredients. Now, let's go back to Eldoria and give this to Eldon.""I hope he really keeps his promise," said Evelyn, smiling. "But at least we don't have to look anymore."With the last ingredient in hand, they headed back to Eldoria. After a few hours of travel, they arrived in the city as dusk was falling.The next day, they went to Eldon's shop, the Emporium Eldon, where the alchemist was waiting with a wide and enthusiastic smile."Ah, welcome back! And I can see from your faces that you brought what I wanted!" Eldon chuckled. "Interesting, very interesting!""We have all the ingredients you asked for," said Lucas, handing him the bottles containing the collected materials.Eldon took them and examined each bottle with great interest. "Perfect! You did a great job. As promised, I will give you the materials to activate your Celestial Crystal."He went to the back of his shop and returned with some additional potions and crystals. "Here you go. Now, if you want to activate that crystal, pour this potion and use the spell that's in this scroll. But be careful, the power it releases can be very... unpredictable!"Lucas took the materials carefully. "Thank you, Eldon. We will be careful.""And don't forget! I'm not responsible if something strange happens!" Eldon laughed again and went back to the back of the shop, as if his business was done.Lucas and his team returned to the inn, ready to activate the Celestial Crystal with the materials they had obtained. They knew this could be a big step in uncovering the secrets of the cult and their plans.