Chapter 17: Relic - Hurriclaw

Chapter 17: Relic - Hurriclaw"Wait!" Lucien suddenly spoke up. "What if there’s danger?" "Hahaha... then that’s even better." Irelia grinned, gripping her sword tightly and raising it in front of him. "I’ll fight. Besides, the more dangerous it is, the stronger that relic must be, right?" Lucien was a little surprised by her attitude and words. Then, he also stood up, hefting his greatsword and said, "You’re right. Even if we haven’t found the Awakening Stone yet, I’m not about to pass up any stroke of luck." The two exchanged confident smiles. Irelia gripped her slender sword, while Lucien slung his greatsword over his back. They left the cave together, heading deeper into the forest toward where the glowing orbs were gathering. After about thirty minutes, Irelia and Lucien reached the place where the lights converged. "There—" Irelia gasped, immediately raising a hand to signal Lucien, who was walking behind her, to stop. Lucien didn’t hesitate—he halted right away and frowned. "What’s wrong?" Irelia didn’t answer, only gestured for him to look ahead. Lucien followed her gaze and saw a wide clearing up ahead. In the center stood an ancient, withered tree with a strange, twisted shape. What was odd was that all those glowing orbs seemed to be floating towards the tree—or more precisely, towards a small hollow in its trunk. Lucien squinted, trying to see what was inside, but the countless lights clustered there obscured everything from view. Yet... what was even more important was the massive bear sleeping at the base of the tree. Its fur was brown, with pieces of metal-like fragments embedded in its hide, and huge black spikes jutting from its back. Cracks ran along its neck, glowing with a faint greenish light, making the beast look all the more bizarre. Each breath from the bear turned into a light gust of wind—enough to tell just how powerful it was. Even though Lucien was standing nearly a hundred meters away, the aura radiating from the bear made him shiver. His instincts screamed at him: this creature was dangerous—he should run. As Lucien was contemplating, Irelia pulled him into a nearby bush, whispering, "That bear is a Hurriclaw. Its rank is very high. When fully grown, it reaches Rank 2." "Compared to a normal human, it’s on par with an Awakened at Apprentice – mid stage." Lucien, puzzled, asked, "What’s Apprentice rank?" Irelia glanced at him, then realized Lucien was just an ordinary person, so she immediately explained: "Ah! You’re a regular human, so you don’t know about the ranks for Awakeneds." "Both Awakeneds and Mages use a common power scale that has ten main ranks." "Rank 1 is Initiate. At this level, you start learning to interact with magic, energy, and some simple skills." "Rank 2 is Apprentice. Reaching this means you can absorb and use magic energy proficiently." "Each rank is divided into three sub-stages: Early, Middle, and Late." "As I learned at the Magic Academy, a grown Hurriclaw will reach Rank 2 – Middle stage. Don’t let its size fool you into thinking it’s slow." "On the contrary, Hurriclaw is a Wind-element beast, so it’s very fast—some special individuals can even use elemental powers." "That scary?" Lucien was shocked. This was the first time he’d ever heard this kind of information. After all, he’d only ever been an outer student, a reserve candidate at the academy, so he’d never had access to this sort of knowledge. At that moment, he felt so useless. The girl accompanying him was already Initiate – Middle stage, yet he hadn’t even reached that level. "That’s right, but don’t worry, I have a plan." Irelia smiled confidently. "No matter how strong it is, it’s still just a monster. It’s not as clever as we are." "As long as we can trick it, we can grab the relic in the hollow." Lucien heard the confidence in Irelia’s voice, and his heart settled. "So... what do you need me to do?" Lucien asked, frowning in concentration. Irelia shook her head. "Maybe we should wait a bit longer. It seems like whatever is in that hollow still needs time to mature, which is why the Hurriclaw is guarding it." "Mature? What do you mean?" Lucien asked, confused. "You don’t know?" Irelia tilted her head, then patiently explained: "Many relics are formed in nature by absorbing the flow of energy." "Whatever’s in that hollow is the same. Once it’s absorbed enough energy, it’ll be complete—and its effects will be much stronger." "But if you take it before it’s fully matured, it’ll be less than ten percent as powerful." "Besides, some relics, if taken before they’re finished, can bring a lot of danger to the person who tries to use them." Lucien nodded and said quietly, "So... we’re just going to wait here?" "That’s right, just wait patiently." Irelia smiled. Lucien glanced at the bear, the unease in his heart only growing stronger. "We’ll take turns keeping watch," Irelia said. "As long as we don’t get too close to the bear’s area, we’ll be fine." "I... I have a question," Lucien asked, puzzled. "How do you know the relic in that hollow will be useful for us?" "Hahaha..." Irelia covered her mouth, laughing. "Just a hunch. Besides, I have a feeling that Hurriclaw beast is about to advance a rank." "Whatever it’s guarding is definitely a relic that could help it breakthrough to Rank 3. If we can get our hands on it, even if it’s not useful to us, it could still be traded for a lot of other resources." Lucien nodded slightly, feeling that Irelia’s explanation made perfect sense. After that, he and Irelia carefully discussed their plan and divided up their shifts for keeping watch. ... One day later. To be precise, this was the third day since the Eden System had been activated. Lathel frowned slightly, slowly waking up as the sunlight streamed through the window, falling across his face. He saw the beautiful woman resting her head on his arm, sleeping peacefully, a gentle smile on her face. He gently stroked her hair, gazing up at the sky. This place was designed in a Mediterranean style, so the space where he and Selvia slept was set up outdoors—allowing them to gaze at the sky while enjoying the cool breeze. Besides, this place was guarded extremely carefully, so no one could spy on them. As for the maidservants who might want a peek? Fine by him—if they wanted to look, he didn’t mind letting them admire just how strong he really was. Lathel looked toward the system notifications and silently gave a command: "Show me the total exp points I’ve accumulated." [???? Do you want to calculate up to the current moment?] "No need," Lathel said. "Every day, just give me the total exp summary at midnight. Don’t send so many notifications—it’s annoying." [???? As of 00:00 today, your total exp is: 9,720,000 EXP (total: 34 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds.)] Lathel glanced at the notification, frowning as he thought, "With this much exp, I can upgrade both of my talents to a new level, but... it’s still not enough to buy the Basic Melee Skill Card." But Lathel wasn’t in a rush. Although he couldn’t buy the skill card yet, he was a Prince—he’d been trained in all sorts of things since he was young, including combat. So even if he couldn’t buy that skill card yet, he didn’t feel disappointed. On the contrary, he wanted to upgrade his talents first. Having experienced an upgrade before, this time he got out of bed first, then walked outside the room. The maid standing guard outside heard footsteps approaching and looked up. "Huh?!" She was startled when she saw Lathel’s perfect body, not covered by a single scrap of clothing. Her face flushed red, as if on fire, her eyes glued to Lathel, filled with fascination and just a hint of desire. She unconsciously licked her lips—she didn’t even realize she’d done it, all her attention utterly fixated on Lathel. Lathel shot her a crooked smile, then headed toward the swimming pool and let himself sink into the water. "System, upgrade the Space talent to level 2, and the Perfect Humanity talent to level 3." Lathel gave the order in his mind. [???? To upgrade the ’Perfect Humanity’ talent—Rank D—from level 2 to 3 requires 3,000,000 experience points. To upgrade the ’Space’ talent—Rank S—from level 1 to 2 requires 5,000,000 experience points. Do you wish to proceed with the upgrades?] "Accept!" [???? Beginning upgrades.]