[Your skill Mental Corrosion Resistance (D) has been integrated into Golden Eyes.]

  [Your skill Force Shield (E) has reached mastery.]

  [+2 Physique. +4 Spirit.]

  [Your skill Empower (D) has reached mastery.]

  [+8 Physique, Spirit, and Mind.]

  Insights and attribute points blasted through my form, so much so that I didn’t even need to use the skills for them to reach their mastery.

  While Marvel had told me that patience was the key, I knew for a fact that time was a luxury right now.

  In the end, all it came down to was my reptile brain.

  At first, I thought the process of advancement would be autonomous, much like an RPG game. Instead, it was more like forging the perfect path for myself. At Copper rank, even with the sacred rank path, it only allowed me another new aspect. However, I had found a way to cheat to get more out of it. Well, somewhat.

  The concept of hunger had birthed Essence Eater, so logically, the concept of light should have its own aspect to fill the empty slot. But there was Golden Eyes, upsetting the natural order of things.

  [You have comprehended the Minor Light Elemental Law of Reflection.]

  Golden Eyes was integrating the concept of light, weaving illumination and reflection within it, becoming a light-attuned aspect. However, there was still more to it. Illumination and reflection simply didn’t cut it.

  Finally, I touched upon my due rewards of insight into Concealment. It was easier than eating pie.

  [Skill Gained: Stealth (E)]

  [Golden Eyes affecting your skill: Stealth (E).]

  [Stealth evolves into Concealment (D).]

  [You have comprehended the Minor Light Elemental Law of Shadow.]

  That’s it! That’s the last piece I needed.

  [Congratulations! You have comprehended the Major Concept Law of Light.]

  [Golden Eyes (A) has ascended to the Eye of Insight.]

  [Be aware, your advancement is imminent.]

  At the very last stretch of my advancement, I decided to use all the insight in my grasp to evolve Advanced Meditation. The skill had reached its mastery long ago and wasn’t as impactful now that my attributes had grown.

  It would have evolved along with my advancement, though not to the league I wanted it to be. So while my body went through the evaluation process outside, I proceeded to use the last strand of my consciousness on the skill.

  [Advanced Meditation (E) has evolved into Luminescent Tranquillity (C).]

  Straight to C? Nice!

  Then, finally, Grandpa’s words blossomed in my mind.

  [Congratulations, you have advanced to Copper Rank.]

  [Your path Favoured Hatchling has advanced to the Sacred Path of Eye of the Crusader (Apprentice).]

  Are you proud of me now, Grandpa? Unfortunately, I would have to postpone my gloating, as it seemed something terrible had gone down while I was advancing.

  ****

  The vile creatures had come dangerously close to a flock of fledglings, inducing panic in their numbers. It was only Elegy’s soothing empathic wave that restored a semblance of order, while Marvel urged them back to the right way.

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  Relieved, she turned her focus back to the fight. Both pairs of appendages, on her front and rear, sharpened with jagged edges as she clashed with a monstrous lizard four times her weight. Although two of her appendages were barely mended, she had no other option but to use everything in her arsenal.

  At her rear, Serenity engaged half a dozen enemies at once, proving far more effective than Marvel was with just one iron-ranked foe.

  She grumbled inwardly, feeling her balance waver as her jagged appendages sliced through the lizard’s neck. Her mental attack slowed it down, but even so, it took half a dozen blows to finish it off.

  [You have slain Cursewalker Level 58.]

  [Your path Empathic Fledgling grows to Level 44.]

  [+2 Points to all Primary attributes, +4 points to Mind, +4 free—]

  Before she could recover, more enemies swarmed her. Different shades of chaotic, dark aura pressed against her.

  Marvel was barely holding her own against two iron-ranked opponents when a third and fourth joined the fight, pushing her back, straying too close to where the fledglings had taken shelter.

  [Basilisk - Cursewalker Level 87]

  [Chilopod - Twisted Spawn Level 61]

  [Iron Inix - Cursewalker Level 71]

  [Iron Inix - Cursewalker Level 66]

  What’s Solace doing right now?

  She didn’t have the answer to that question, nor the time to mull over it. A humongous basilisk threw her off the rail. Only by putting up webs and using her superior balance did she manage to cushion her fall and prevent herself from crashing into the fledglings.

  Marvel spun, her jagged appendages cutting through the sticky webs. Lunging forward, she shot cobwebs at two opponents in the front before turning and firing at the one that had trailed too close to the younger members of her clan.

  Marvel dropped onto them, piercing one of her jagged appendages into the back of a centipede. Its thick carapace obstructed her attack until she found the weak spot. Meanwhile, the other inix escaped towards the fledglings.

  Her cobwebs glued onto its back, and she pulled it back just before it could take a bite of the disoriented fledglings.

  “On your way,” Marvel shouted at her younger siblings, who were looking at everything with disturbed awe. “Nothing is here—go, go, go!”

  She flung the centipede away with a force that took everything out of her, yet it barely sent it tumbling down. Meanwhile, the two other cursed creatures managed to break free from her webbing, and only Elegy’s constant mental assault kept them at bay.

  “Serenity, I need a bit of help here!” Whom was she kidding? That basilisk could devour her whole in one gulp.

  The guardian spider returned nothing but a grunt at her request. She was really missing Shai in this battle. Although the little snake was low-levelled, she was an apex predator in her own right. She would have been a tremendous help against multiple enemies. Unfortunately, it appeared her advancement was taking longer than usual.

  Marvel was thrown off once again by another dark blast of its chaotic aura. It left her empathic powers rattled, her balance disoriented, yet through sheer will, she swung her way back before the monster.

  She barely managed to shake off the disorientation when the vile thing blasted the chaotic aura once again. What was worse was that she couldn't even avoid it, because if she did, it would assault her helpless siblings behind her.

  Marvel forced her own empathic assault and aura to obstruct its attack. Although the basilisk’s attack didn’t have enough direction, merely an outward burst of its will, it was still twice her level. Marvel wondered how long she would be able to withstand its power when help finally arrived.

  Unfortunately, not in the form she wished.

  Empathic waves flared from behind her, restraining the serpentine cursewalker. Marvel didn’t have to turn to know who it was.

  “Sanctity? Haven?” she shouted telepathically. “What are you doing here?”

  “We—I can help!” Haven’s voice came first, cutting through her twin. “We can help!”

  “I advanced.”

  “We advanced,” Sanctity corrected.

  There was no question about it—no Foundation-rank creature could even slow down this cursewalker they were facing. Unless you were a particular little serpent.

  Even at Copper rank, Haven and Sanctity were petrified at her rear, within the range of the aura blast. They were not combat class, either.

  Marvel had no time to consider their involvement. She ensnared the basilisk with her cobweb, all she could muster after such a tough day.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t know what everyone else was doing, as soon she found herself trampled by another aura. Although weaker, the Iron Inix flung Haven and Sanctity away before lunging towards them.

  “NO!” Marvel cried, thrusting her mental assault towards it. It barely slowed it down.

  And yet still, there was no sign of Serenity.

  If things couldn’t get any worse, a pack of creatures broke through Midnight’s veil of darkness and scurried to where the fledglings had withdrawn, immediately slaughtering more than a few members of her clan.

  Alarm bells rang in Marvel’s mind as she flared with empathic waves. “Get the hell off them, vile spawns!”

  Elegy concentrated her mental attack and unleashed it all at the vile things before dashing after them. Her empathic power was the strongest among the guardians, except for Solace. Where in Mother’s name is she now when we need her?

  The abominable creatures were still moving, albeit slowly. Thankfully, Elegy reached them before they could wreak any more havoc.

  Marvel’s heart broke looking at the mangled forms of her siblings, yet she couldn’t waste a moment even in sorrow. The whole thing had left all the fledglings in complete disarray.

  They stomped in all directions, some even trying to flee beyond Midnight’s protection. And there was no one left to guide them but her. Elegy’s energy was wasted on dispatching the threat.

  Oh, Mother. Please…

  Marvel was at her limit, on the verge of losing it. Her limbs flailed, already losing steam, while on the other side, the cursewalkers trampled over her younger siblings and elders.

  Then, at the darkest moment, bubbles of white flame surged through the haze, like blossoms of dandelions. Followed by an arrow of Golden light that blasted straight into the eyes of the Basilisk.

  The bipeds had arrived to their rescue. Along with a Very Fat serpent which she hardly recognised.