Hmm… so this is what an essence looks like…

  The blood-red essence glowed faintly in my hand, its light casting eerie shadows across my battered armor. I turned it slowly, watching as the liquid inside swirled and splashed, almost alive, shifting with every slight movement.

  “Blood essence, huh ...hmm could be a game changer…or could be a dud…”

  The sight of it was mesmerizing, its glow both sinister and beautiful, but it wasn’t just the look of it that held my attention. It was the pull. My instincts screamed at me to absorb it, to press it to my chest and let it fuse into me. The sensation was maddening, like a hunger that couldn’t be ignored, an itch deep in my soul that demanded to be scratched.

  I clenched my jaw, forcing the temptation down.

  "Yeah… Can never mistake essences for a rock… phew, the pull is damn strong and alluring."

  I don’t know much about the essences, and although I was healed with the last essence I absorbed, there still may be a chance that the process does not heal and it's the nature of essence that is responsible for that…

  "Haaa… too many questions… and enough, I’m not in a state to be picky… God, I hate being rushed and feeling forced by situations."

  “Not the time for hasty decisions; there is one more essence here; let's get that first and then decide, I think."

  With a deep breath, I opened my ring and slid the essence inside, its glow vanishing as it was stored in my ever-growing list of junk and booties. The pull of another essence tickled the edge of my senses, weaker than the first but still unmistakable, and if I’m not wrong, it's coming from the berserk goblin’s corpse.

  I limped toward it, each step sending sharp jolts of pain through my body. My left arm hung uselessly at my side, and my legs felt like they might give out at any moment, but I pushed forward. I didn’t have the luxury of stopping.

  “I need to heal,” I muttered under my breath, my eyes scanning the blood-soaked ground as I approached the goblin’s body.

  Man… It would have been amazing if Aunt Nora’s artifact had recovering charges… or I find a way to recover these charges.

  I arrived at the goblin’s body. Its huge frame lay twisted. The pull of the essence grew stronger as I knelt beside it. My instincts sharpened, guiding me to its location. The essence was in its chest. I pressed my blade against the goblin’s flesh, careful not to wake the kitten curled against me. The blade cut through the tough skin and muscle. The sound was wet and sickening, but I didn’t stop.

  “Ughh, I’m gonna be sick from all the blood and gore...” I muttered, digging deeper. Finally, my fingers brushed against something solid. I pulled it free, holding it up to the faint light.

  Another blood-red stone. But this one was different.

  The glow was subtler, the liquid inside less violent in its movement. It swirled slowly, almost lazily, as if unbothered by the chaos around it. And yet, there was something about it—where the first one gave off versatility, or rather boundlessness, this one gave off a feeling of strength.

  My brow furrowed as I turned it in my hand, studying its strange patterns.

  “There must be something that can analyze the essence and tell me its properties…” I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. My instincts didn’t scream at me to absorb this one, not like the other, but the pull was there. The hunger, gnawing at the edges of my mind, but it was muted, restrained, almost… wary. It was the same kind of essence; I could tell that much—another blood essence—but something about it felt fundamentally different.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “My Luck...” I muttered, my grip tightening around the stone. I didn’t have time to analyze it, not here, not now. My body was close to giving up. Every second outside put me at risk of being found. Still, the thought of absorbing it lingered, tempting and dangerous.

  “Not now,” I said softly, sliding the essence into my ring alongside the first. “One mess at a time, Lexi.”

  I sighed, slumping back onto my knees as the weight of exhaustion bore down on me. My body screamed for rest, for relief, but I knew better than to let my guard down completely. The two essences sat in my ring now, waiting. And I had no idea what to do with them. I reached into my ring and pulled out the two essences, setting them carefully on the ground in front of me. Both glowed faintly, their crimson light casting an ominous hue over the darkened forest floor.

  The essence from the berserker goblin was duller in color, its surface crisscrossed with vein-like patterns that pulsed faintly, like the faint throb of a dying heart. The other essence, taken from the shaman, was different—a glowing sphere of liquid blood hovered at its center, pulsing rhythmically as though alive.

  “Huh,” I murmured, leaning forward to inspect them. “Two blood essences, both differing in shape, texture, and design."

  “Yet somehow I know that these two essences are linked with blood…”

  I reached out slowly, letting my fingertips hover over the glowing stones as I calmed my mind.

  “Fuu…” I exhaled, allowing Exira to flow through me. The familiar warmth of Exira coursed through my veins, extending outward and connecting with the essences. The moment the connection was made, a flood of sensations washed over me. From the vein-patterned essence, I felt raw strength—a primal, unyielding power that surged through me like a roaring fire. It was intoxicating, a promise of overwhelming force and dominance.

  But the essence from the shaman was… different. The moment I connected with it, I felt as though I were staring into an unbounded sea of blood, endless and overwhelming. The power it radiated was vast, but it wasn’t chaotic. It was controlled, calculated, like an ancient force that had no limits.

  “That’s something promising; Exira can tell me a bit about the essences…” I muttered, my breath catching in my throat.

  I was about to sever the connection when something strange happened.

  huh?

  The sphere essence tugged faintly at my mind, and in the corner of my awareness, I saw a thread. It was thin, almost imperceptible, but it connected the essence to something nearby—the nexus of the ritual. My gaze shifted instinctively toward the direction of the ritual site. The blood moat surrounding it hadn’t disappeared or dried; its surface was still rippling faintly with a dark, ominous energy.

  “Well, that’s not creepy at all, and the blood should have dried by now…" I muttered, narrowing my eyes.

  I guess risk is the game of life… may fortune favor the bold…

  Making my choice, I slid the vein-patterned essence back into my ring.

  "Okay," I said, my eyes locking onto the glowing sphere. "Please be what I need…"

  Instead, I focused on the shaman’s essence, but I wasn’t rushing into this blindly. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I allowed myself to rest and meditate, observing the essence closely. The forest was quiet, save for the faint rustling of leaves in the wind and the soft, rhythmic sound of my breathing.

  “Meow.”

  The faint noise snapped me out of my trance. Little Furball wiggled against my chest. She yawned softly and blinked up at me. Her wide amber eyes sparkled in the glow of the essence below.

  I couldn’t help but grin.

  “Morning, sunshine,” I said softly, reaching up to carefully scoop the kitty from her spot. She squirmed in protest, letting out a defiant little meow as her tiny claws scratched at my armor.

  “Alright, alright,” I chuckled, holding her gently. “Don’t claw my chest off, I'm already injured.”

  I reached into my ring and pulled out a strip of dried jerky, tearing it awkwardly into small pieces with my one good hand.

  “Hold on, little guy. You need water too,” I muttered, grabbing the cap of my water bottle and filling it with a small amount of water. The kitten blinked at the bowl. Curious, she stepped closer to inspect it. Then, she plunged her tiny paws into the water. She splashed wildly and got herself all wet. When she lifted her head, the cap of the bottle had somehow flipped onto her head like a tiny helmet.

  “Pfft—haha!” I laughed, clutching my stomach despite the ache it caused. “Look at you! Little fluffball, reporting for duty."

  The kitten let out an indignant meow, shaking the cap off before cautiously leaning down to lap at the water.

  “Fine, fine, you win,” I said, refilling the cap as she drank more carefully this time. Once she was finished, her attention turned to the jerky, eagerly munching on the small pieces I’d laid out. I leaned back against the log, watching it with a grin.

  “You’re way too good for a place like this,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “If I weren't stuck in this nightmare, I’d adopt you properly. Hell, maybe I still will.”

  "This dungeon needs Alexis and I need you to be my sidekick."

  The kitten’s ears twitched, but she didn’t look up, too focused on devouring her meal. Satisfied that she was content, I turned my attention back to the essence.

  “Alright,” I said softly, my golden eyes narrowing. “It’s time."

  The decision had been made. I was going to absorb the essence, and let's hope all things go well.

  HOUSE OF END DISCORD

  Dailies