The Last Primal

As the last standing Sahuagin fell to the ground with a loud thud, Aiden walked over it and crouched down. He looked at the body for a moment longer, measuring it from top to bottom, before he abruptly and emotionlessly struck down with his right hand to reach for the monster's core.

His fingers coiled around the crystalline object once they felt its cool touch. In the next moment, he decisively ripped it out, then he stood up. He looked at the strange ball-like dark blue crystal orb sitting in his palm. He raised it into the air, letting the sun trying to shine through it, and see through its mysteries. 

Before this, he only saw a similar item once, years ago, which he obtained from the defeated mutated wolf-humanoid hybrid creature that his now-master defeated, protecting them. Even then, he only got the item with the help of his now-silent and still recuperating Enya. The beasts they hunted for survival in the Pocket World, had no such things in their bodies, nor did any of the trial creatures had.

Looking at it through the sunlight, the dark blue color of the crystal ball seemed to come from a strange substance that filled out the hollow inside. It was so thick, that without the proper backlight he wouldn't have been able to spot it and would have thought that the entire ball had the same color.

"What is this thing?!" He muttered to himself, mesmerized by the strange gaseous substance resting peacefully.

"Some say it's the soul of the creature, others think it is the source of their accumulated power. In reality, nobody really knows." A familiar weak voice came from behind answering his rhetorical question.

Keeping the orb raised in the air, he kept his focus and attention on it as he answered with a thoughtful tone.

"Do you think, these balls would be a good proof that we killed these creatures and get the quest completion credit?"

Cole looked at the orb for a while thinking about Aiden's question for a bit before he nodded.

"Yeah, I think they should be okay. Although I'm not completely sure that these orbs would be taken as definite proof, I have no idea what other orbs look like. I have never seen one from this close. Still, I don't know anything else besides these orbs that could work."

"That works. At worst, we can just sell these to the guild or some of the merchants. I bet someone will take it off our hands. Take this, I will gather up the rest!"

Aiden was satisfied with that answer. While he would like to be able to obtain the credit for dispatching these ferocious monsters, he would be satisfied with just selling them as well. That way, he could keep one and experiment with it. 

He remembered a feature of the system, that he never really had the chance to make use of: the fusion. He once tested it out and saw that he could offer up these monster orbs in place of his transformations and use those instead, but at the time, he had nothing meaningful to test out. Now, however, he could think up a few interesting ideas and experiment a bit. 

A short while later, Aiden walked back with 6 bloodied but intact dark blue orbs in his hands. With each orb roughly the size of an apple, he looked like a juggler from a circus. He walked up to Cole and reached towards him with his full palms.

"Here. Put them in your bag!" He spoke calmly.

Taking the small leather pack from his side, he threw the items inside, before he responded with a slight frown.

"Why me? I will still have to take all the Gall Bladders and the Flower Buds!" 

Aiden simply shrugged his shoulders as he was already on his way towards the riverbank, where a small patch of the white flowery plants could be seen grouped up together.

"I have no bags, remember? Anyways, I'll gather what we need, you just stay there and rest!" He shouted back, as he continued pacing towards the patch of flowers just ahead. 

Plucking one of the buds, he raised it in the air and looked at it more closely. 

It looked like your average, harmless bud of a flower. From the light-green stem, it had a singular yellow pistil, surrounded by 5 large petals. It had no distinct or obvious smell either. From the outside, it looked like a completely average, useless piece of plant. Still, that was probably not the truth, otherwise, why would there be a regular quest for it placed in the guild?

Remembering he also had to consume and test out three of these buds, he plucked two more and quickly swallowed them all. As the buds entered his body, the system immediately popped up multiple notifications.

[1 Hydros Plant Intact White Flower Buds consumed!]

[Quest Objective Updated: Consume Intact White Flower Buds for Analysis 1 / 3]

[Starting Analysis… Estimated time for completion: N/A - Error: Unable to begin analysis due to insufficient volume of materials.]

The notification startled him. What did that mean? However, as the rest of the notification continued popping up, his confusion was quickly answered.

[1 Hydros Plant Intact White Flower Buds consumed!]

[Quest Objective Updated: Consume Intact White Flower Buds for Analysis 2 / 3]

[1 Hydros Plant Intact White Flower Buds consumed!]

[Quest Objective Updated: Consume Intact White Flower Buds for Analysis 3 / 3 - Completed!]

[Intact Hydros Flower Buds Analysis In Progress… Estimated time for completion: 02 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds]

Did that mean that he needed the three buds for the system to gather enough 'material' for the system to be able to begin its mysterious process?

Although he still had many questions, he didn't want to waste any more time pondering on them. Later, when the system finishes its process, Aiden could hopefully find some more answers.

He checked the Quest in the system again, and after confirming how many he would need to gather, he quickly but carefully plucked ten more buds. As the notifications rang, he quickly ran through them. Once he saw that the last one has shown that the main objective has been filled, he eagerly waited for the confirmation of the Quest Completion. 

But, contrary to his expectations, he only received a new type of note: Quest Updates!

[Quest Objective for Optional Quest: Gather Hydros Flower Buds has been updated!

New Objective has been added: Report back to the guild with the items to receive your rewards! (0/1)]

Slightly annoyed by this, he took a moment to cool down and regain his composure, before standing up and walking back to Cole. 

"Here you go. 10 intact white flower buds for the quest." He gave the flowers to Cole and then turned back to the riverbank. His eyes scanned back and forth, before letting out a sigh a few moments later.

"The other quest will be harder. I can't seem to find any more of these frogs… Were they scared off because of these monsters?" Aiden kicked the bloodied body of the Sahuagin at his feet. "How should we complete the quest now?!"

He still didn't dare to look at Cole's expression, he was afraid to see the fear or disgust ruining his complexion. He was afraid that now that Cole had seen his 'true self' he would be disgusted and would leave him as soon as he could.

Aiden kept a calm tone whenever he spoke to Cole, but his heart and mind was in shambles. He was mad, angry at himself for losing himself in the fight.

He kept looking towards the river, desperate to find some more of these ugly thorny toads so he could beat them up and vent his frustration. 

Suddenly a hand reached out and gently grabbed his left shoulders. It wasn't aggressive, no, on the contrary, there was gentle kindness behind the motion. Although he didn't look back, from the tone, he was certain that Cole was smiling at his back.

"Don't worry Aiden. We will find some more. We could follow along the river a bit, I'm sure that farther up ahead we will find some more." He turned towards the side, and following his own advice, he slowly began to walk away. A few steps later, however, he stopped. Turning his head sideways Aiden could barely make out a small smile curving up on his lips.

"What are you waiting for? Come, we still have time!" 

Aiden looked at his back with an undecipherable expression for a few seconds, before he smiled and nodded.

"Sure… Go ahead, I will follow you shortly." He looked at the bloody battlefield they left behind, he knew he couldn't leave it just like this. "I will just quickly clean up. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

Cole nodded once at his words, the smile never left his face. After that, he looked ahead and silently began walking away, following the flow of the river, searching for the remaining toads to complete the last quest.