Crimson Blood Flare, Crimson Hell Staff, Rank-up Steps

"So that's the origin core?" Isabella looked at the glowing dark red crystal-like ball.

"Mum, did Brother Erix destroy this place?" Aaron looked around with childish amazement on his face, his eyes shining. "I will also become strong like Brother Erix and beat the bad guys!"

When they saw Aaron's expression, Rin and Isabella didn't know what to think. The little guy was too young, and based on what he had experienced so far, he was coming to love this. Especially since he had seen demons and zombies in his village, and then Erix and Rin killing them and saving him and his mother.

After all, five years of age was sensitive, and he would develop and start thinking based on his experience.

"Well, it's a good thing considering our world's current situation," Rin wryly smiled.

"Yes, but I'll have to talk to him more and guide him," Isabella said, her expression serious. 'If he comes to like pure violence, it will be bad.'

Meanwhile, Erix also descended beside them.

"All creatures and those demons are scared to come here, but some other things might get attracted here, so let's get going first," Erix said before he put Aaron on the Eagle and turned to Isabella. "Go with him. We'll meet up at the top of the tower."

"Alright," Isabella nodded before she jumped on the Eagle.

'Go. Take them inside the tower's dome,' Erix commanded the Bloodwood Eagle.

On the other hand, Rin picked up the core and treasure chest before wrapping her arms around Erix. "Good work, darling~"

"It was awesome right?"

"Yeah, except that you almost killed him."

"Hahaha, I guessed he would try to defend with a skill after sensing the attack, so I went all out, and that benefited me a lot as I awakened Metal Affinity."

"Eh? Metal Affinity?"

"I'll tell you on the way, so let's get going first."

…

After arriving in the tower's dome, everyone sat down before Rin opened the treasure chest.

One dark pink orb, one crimson scroll, a mortal-order skill stone, and a supra-order skill stone.

Erix put both skill stones into his inventory while Rin touched the scroll first to check its details.

[ Crimson Blood Flare (Tier 2 active skill): A magic skill belonging to Crimson Demons of Euat Hell. Unleashes a crimson blood flare from your hands with a blood fuel effect and inflicts Burn debuff on the target for five seconds. The skill's damage depends on the user's magic and strength stats.

- Blood Fuel: the flame burns higher when it comes into contact with the target's blood.

- Scaling: Magic-6, Strength-4.

- Cost: 50 mana points, 70 stamina points.

-Do note that using the skill will cause intense burning pain in your hands for a minute and might make your hands unusable for the duration. Only learn the skill if you are able to endure the pain.

]

"Woah, this skill is powerful!" Rin exclaimed after reading the description.

"But that note at the end is troublesome. I don't know if I can use it," Isabella shook her head.

"I also can't use it because I have to use swords with my hands," Rin smiled and turned to Erix. "But you can use it without any trouble. I remember you told me about your pain tolerance significantly increasing."

"Yep, and I also have unlimited stamina physically, so as long as I have mana, I can use this skill," Erix nodded as he picked up the scroll and learned it after removing the Repairman active skill from his slots.

Next, Rin touched the dark pink orb, causing a staff crimson wooden staff with shining red patterns to come out.

[ Crimson Hell Staff (Epic grade): A staff for channeling magic, made from materials from Euat Hell. Holding this Staff will cause it to attach a flame resistance aura to you, increasing your flame resistance by 70 and granting immunity to burn debuff.

- Fire-attribute skills used through this Staff deals 15% more damage, ignore 50 fire resistance, and increase burn debuff effectiveness by 20%.

- Note: Although you have immunity from Burn debuff, it doesn't protect you from higher versions of Burn debuff such as Blaze, Ignite, and Incinerate.

"This item does look like an Epic-grade, unlike that Epic-grade Knife we got," Erix was impressed at the Staff's power upon reading its description.

"Here you go, Sister Bella," Rin handed the Staff to Isabella with a grin. "You have a flame-attributed skill and needed a better magic weapon, so this is perfect."

"Thank you. This will indeed increase my power by a lot. By the way, I reached level 50 thanks to you killing that demon, so I also need to complete the rank-up quest."

"Yep, that's why we are here. We can complete it in this undisturbed tower dome since we'll need time and focus to create our cores," Erix said before opening the Rank-up Quest for all to reread the steps.

[Rank-up Quest]

_Task: Create your magic core by following the steps.

_Important Note: Please find a safe and undisturbed place to create the core.

—> Step 1: Meditate and find the Origin Region of your body, which is an ethereal space connected and situated between your body and soul.

—> Step 2: Use exactly 99 mana points to condense and create a solid mana crystal.

—> Step 3: After creating the mana crystal, keep it intact until your magic power in Origin Region automatically refines it for an hour and transforms it into a Magic Core.

_Rewards:

—> +10 magic, +50 mana.

After reading, Rin and Erix started meditating to complete the quest, while Isabella talked with Aaron briefly before joining them.

Erix and others had to focus for half an hour before they finally managed to sense and discover the Origin Region with their consciousness.

At first, they were surprised because it had many things inside!

The most prominent things were strange floating runes, which were the skills they had learned!

Skill Runes!

The second thing was a box of transparent space with slots, which contained the items they put in the inventory function.

The box was the inventory! It seemed that they were given this storage power upon reaching level 1.

Aside from that, the Origin Region was filled with magic power and mana.

After observing it for a bit, they proceeded according to the Rank-up quest's steps.

However, the initial step was already proving difficult as they had trouble condensing a proper mana crystal.

Fortunately, the mana remained there even after their mana crystal broke and dispersed, allowing them to try again and again.

As time passed, Aaron was soon tired of playing and fell asleep on the Eagle's furry back, while the big bird also decided to take a nap because it was exhausted.

From noon to evening, Erix, Rin, and Isabella kept trying despite their crystals breaking many times and even had to take half an hour's break as they discussed their discovery.

And then, they finally succeeded in the second step.

'This... I think this is perfect,' Isabella looked at the perfectly round thumb-sized mana crystal she created with 99 points of mana properly spread and condensed.

It didn't crack or break after she finished condensing. Moreover, the mana crystal began attracting magic power as it started turning darker blue from its initial whiteish blue as the refinement began.

'Final step, I have to keep it intact, so I can't lose focus now,' Isabella determinedly controlled the mana crystal and allowed her magic power to refine it.

On the other hand, Erix and Rin also finished creating their mana crystal around the same time as they internally sighed in relief and resumed their focus to keep it intact for an hour.

However, the final hour seemed torturous to the trio as they could feel their mana crystal becoming volatile, causing them difficulty in keeping it intact.

They felt several hours had already passed despite only thirty minutes passing.

But if they lost their focus and control, it would break, and they would have to start over, so they firmly kept their focus and control despite exhaustion creeping up on their mind and body.

Aaron woke up after a long nap and saw them sweaty and exhausted, but he didn't dare to disturb them. 'Mom told me it would be dangerous to disturb them.'

'But what do I do... Everyone is sleeping.'

After spending five minutes staring at the sky in silence, his stomach made a growling sound.

"When will they finish?" Aaron muttered as he rubbed his tummy. "I am hungry."