That another one who had absolutely nothing to do with him was now also hunting him didn’t faze Thalion in the slightest. One more prince among all the elves, vampires, and humans coming for him didn’t make much of a difference. Thalion even thought that the prince’s bloodline would suit him better — or rather, it would suit the crippled Eclipsari better. Instead of the dark green smoke, it could be sothing like his own umbral miasma, made from darkness.
He still wasn’t sure how the prince had managed to destroy Eric’s armor so easily. The fact that a single touch had been enough to completely stun and immobilize soone like Eric was far too strong in Thalion’s opinion.
He had a bit too much ti to think about what had just happened. At the mont, he was darting through the water at full speed, desperately hoping to find another reef with one of those crystals. Since helping Eric, he had gathered three more crystals, but that was nothing compared to the hours that had passed. Now the stage was almost over, and he only had a few hours left until nightfall. He really hoped to find at least one more reef to make the best out of this stage.
After killing other trial-takers and various marine creatures, Thalion was sitting at roughly twelve thousand points, which put him at the hundred-and-first position on the leaderboard. At the end of the stage, he would get another four thousand points from his crystals, which would place him roughly within the top fifty — depending on how many crystals the others had gathered. Right now, he just hoped to find another reef and that the next stage wouldn’t be disadvantageous for him. If it was sothing similar to this one, he’d be very, very happy.
He had already found a map showing a few nearby safe zones, so he could take his ti searching for a reef. So far, he hadn’t found a single skill usable in any of his forms. A speed boost for the Tidecaller Serpent would’ve been great, but as things stood, it didn’t seem likely. It was as if the beasts in this system event either had no usable skills or were highly resistant to having them stolen, if that was even possible. It made little sense to Thalion, but who knew what the trial makers were thinking.
This system event was pretty wild, in his opinion. Making an entire ocean as a stage but filling it with almost no loot? Ridiculous. Even the five hours of oxygen granted by the crystals ant little. That was why Thalion had assud there would be plenty of reefs — but it turned out there were barely any at all.
As the tir ticked down and the water grew darker, Thalion continued searching the periter while refining his water control. He had created his own current that gave him an extra boost in speed — pretty cool, if he had to say so himself. If only he had such powers back on Earth… that would have been a fun ti.
Hours passed, and Thalion still hadn’t found another reef. Eventually, he gave up and headed toward the nearest safe zone. He wanted to have enough ti to reach another one if a Chosen happened to occupy the first. Thalion wasn’t ready for another battle. Underwater, most of his forms were useless, and he didn’t trust the Tidecaller Serpent’s current skill set in a serious fight. He could easily kill anything below a Chosen, but against one of them — even underwater — he stood no chance. Unless they wielded opposing elents like fire, he had little hope.
He rembered the fight between Eric and the prince. Neither had even a hint of water affinity, yet both had fought with incredible power. If Thalion hadn’t kept his distance from the prince, he doubted he would’ve been fast enough to escape that monster.
It got darker and darker until Thalion finally abandoned the search and approached the safe zone. The zone appeared as a red cylinder extending endlessly up and down through the water. Thalion settled inside and continued forming spirit veins.
Improving his water control wouldn’t help much in the coming stages, but strengthening his soul would be useful in general. With luck, it would help him resist the corrupting energy of the crystals better. Thalion also wondered how his spirit could still be twisted even when he wasn’t using his Tidecaller Serpent form. Maybe the different forms existed in separate spiritual spaces that continued to digest energy even while he was in another shape. Perhaps part of his soul remained anchored to each form? In the end, Thalion had no real idea how it worked — only that the crystals twisted his soul, and a stronger one might be able to resist that effect.
In ditation, it felt like the night passed in an instant. The four crystals vanished from his amulet, and he received four thousand leaderboard points in exchange, putting him exactly at 16,420 points and in 79th place.
It seed most others had a much harder ti with this stage. Thalion waited with quiet expectation for what the next one would bring.
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