Chapter 35 – Come in Pair
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Ocelia had forced herself to stop interfering with Forus amidst the process of receiving the rewards from the white figure, feeling worried as she rooted herself on the ground, not doing anything that might disrupt his means of strengthening.

She watched as the skin of her lover turned hardened and black as multitudinous scales merged with his bones, making him monstrous in appearance. The calm expression that showed no sight of disgust or panic had almost made her fell for him farther than before, causing her heart to beat wildly.

She silently observed the changes that were happening to Forus, eagerly dreaming about how his final look and strength would become after absorbing the Life Aura and merged it with the Death Aura. No matter how his appearance and race changed, her feeling for him would never reduce, only the sensation of happiness would come with his increase in power.

Although she felt perplexed at the sight of Forus regressing into his previous humanoid appearance, she didn't wish to know the reasons why the Life Aura seemingly disappeared or the reasons why Forus didn't go crazy with ungodly amounts of power. She only wanted her lover to become stronger, not wishing for any of them to depart without each other.

In absolute silence and remorse, the couple soundlessly tested their new power to satisfy their curiosity, trying to touch the upper and lower limit of their ability, modifying their fighting styles to fit more with their current capability. Although they didn't dare to use most of their spells because of their vast consumption of the sorcery energy, they could still use their most basic ability to test their current skill.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the two finally ended their little experiment and fully recovered their lost energy, which had emptied itself in a span of an eventful night. They laid onto each other, embracing their partner's warmth and discussed their next course of action, trying to figure out the pattern and the possible mission of this endless world.

The mechanism of the Fleeting Emotion Ruin was to send the young, inexperienced sorcerers and apprentices to train their body and mind inside the pocket dimensions, honing their instinct and fighting experience, enhancing their mental mind to be able to withstand the pressure in the life-death situations. They would never send the trainees towards the place which left them zero chance of surviving because that would be against their purpose.

Not only that, but the ruin would also reward ones who triumphantly completed the trial according to the difficulty of said trial, giving out generous treasures to motivate the trainees to try to overcome the challenge, further honing the inexperienced to become the wised.

If they could survive this world and come out safely, even without them completing the unknown mission, their rewards would at least be comparable to the best of the previous rewards known to the public world, if not even better. On the other hand, they needed to not die in this world first to receive their prizes, making them concerned about getting out.

Forus' train of thoughts suddenly got interrupted by the sudden twisted movement on Oceilia's end, as well as her subtle panting sound that indicated her painful experience. Although Forus could not see her facial expression, he could still imagine that her look would be pale and weak, enduring the pain that mysteriously appeared without letting out any sound, not wishing to worry her lover.

The Snowflake Tattoo that previously gained Ocelia the power of equilibrium faintly shone, violently used its power to forcefully modify her body to become even more suitable for the Fire Element and Ice Element, turning her into a form of the elemental spirit, which would be the best form that suited the usage of elemental particles. Her hair and body gradually gained a hint of blue and red shade, becoming more crystal-like and smooth, turning from the warming human skin into the cold, hard membrane.

If the process didn't stop, soon enough, Ocelia would lose her humanity and became a new race that thrived on the concentration of the elemental particles, living in the realm of Element and depended on the condition of the Element. Her body would slowly become spiritual in nature, and her soul would transform into an Element-based soul, shedding her mortal self and becoming one with the Element.

Although becoming one with the Element would make her able to control the elemental particles flawlessly at will, her spiritual body would hinder her from ever breakthrough from the shackle of sorcery and ascended towards the higher realm of magic, unless she could find some other lost treasures that could change the aspects of the soul and body. Not only that, but her Element-based soul would also stop her from interacting with any other Element-based spells other than the ones her soul based on, which was the Ice Element and Fire Element.

Forus placed his hand onto Ocelia, feeling the violent changes that happened within her body. Her body would abruptly radiate heat wave before suddenly stopped and emitted the freezing waves instead, making the temperature of the surrounding to turn chaotic. He also could feel that some parts of her white, soft skin had already turned metallic and cold, becoming statue-like and not life-like.

Using his sorcery energy, Forus quickly used his hand to guide his power to lead him towards the source of Ocelia's suffering, quickly arriving above her chest, where the Snowflake Tattoo engraved onto her. Upon realising the precise cause of the misery, Forus decisively willed his hand to transform into its ugly, tentacle state, using them to stab into the tattoo and absorbed the overflowing mysterious energy into himself, helping lessen his desired one's burden.

The mysterious energy that ran into Forus crashed within his body violently, turning his veins into a deadly battlefield and causing his blood to erupt madly, bursting out of the vessels, creating injuries all over his arm and chest. However, before the invisible energy could do anything else, the grey soul inside Forus' realm of conscious started vibrating and extending the greyish, unending tendrils out towards the physical world, reaching the said vague energy in an instant.

Like its preceded invaders, the Skull Tattoo as well as the Life Aura, the transformative energy got eaten by the tendrils as quick as it came, becoming the sweet and delicious energy that would supply the Forus' soul and the grey light that fused with it. Although the force tried to struggle with all of its might, it was feeble when compared to the unlimited and shadowy tentacles that could devour the Life Aura without any side-effects.

Sensing its impending doom, the Snowflake Tattoo spontaneously cut off its connection with the Ocelia's body and buried itself into her chest, silently hiding from the tendrils and ceased all of its attempts at transforming Ocelia into the elemental spiritual being. Although it had already stopped its operation, the changes were permanent and would not regress unless she found the treasures that concentrated in doing so.

Ocelia was fully aware that her body had undergone a definite change, pushing her a little more towards the edge that separated between human and the non-human. Her cold hard crystal-like body was the proof of her power, as well as her inevitable forsaken of the humanity she once was. Although she knew that her love, Forus, would not change his feeling no matter how Ocelia became, she couldn't say that her Coruscare Family would accept her.

If she became the fully-transformed Element-based spiritual being, she might get rejected from becoming the legitimated successor with the excuses used to overwhelm her under the facade of righteousness and justice. If her body became too perfect, it might also risk the chance that the second-ranked sorcerers would use her as an experimental subject, trying to find the secrets of her changes.

Panting softly, Ocelia struggled to grasp for breaths, lying on the floor while watching as Forus caressed her face, slowly applying his gentle force to ease her worry and anxiety. Like the divine intervention from the higher being, his hand of healing immediately vanquished the pain that caused her inside to tear apart and filled her concerned mind with the leisure of peace.

As Forus noticed that Ocelia had already stopped panting and shaking in pain, he gradually lost his grip on her and withdrew his hand from her, letting her have some personal space. However, Ocelia didn't wish for that to happen and used her hand, which was cold from the outside yet warm from the inside, to grasp for his, gripping tightly without any intention of letting go.

Upon the contact, the symbol of love that engraved itself onto their hand began to glow, showering the surrounding with the highly intensified pinkish light, shooting towards the sky before forming a dome of lovely atmosphere that encompassed their surrounding.

The dull, emotionless world suddenly turned colourful in Ocelia's eyes, becoming life-like and alive. Her pupils contracted as they changed from their former circular shape into the rose outline, shading from the orange colour with a hint of bluish shade into a bright, charming pink hue.

In her colourful vision, she saw the crystal tower that shouldered the sky with its dizzy height, keeping the balance of the world in place as well as enforcing the rules that dictated all things. Inside the tower, countless magnificent statues of numerous creatures were waiting for everyone to discover them, safeguarding the rich history and detail behind their beautifully crafted design.

The hallway inside the tower stretched towards the lonely altar where the skeleton fo an ancient creature remained motionless, lying in waiting for those who found their way to here. The shrine was pitch-black and would absorb every bit of light that accidentally touched it, devouring all of its essences without anything left.

The statues that stood orderly behind the altar varied in appearance and style, making Ocelia not being able to find any pattern in their arrangement and order. However, all of them had the aura that could defy the mighty presence of the creature's remain, not crumbling before its power. Their weapons of choices were unique. Some would use swords while others would use bows, but then, there would occasionally be the user of scythes and spears, as well as ones that used axes, daggers, rods or staffs.

Before Ocelia could walk in and examine the altar and its protectors, the tower shook violently as the space around the hallway warped itself in a twisted manner, distorted the distance and crumbled onto itself. She found herself slipped onto the ground and mysteriously leapt from her previous location, which was in front of the altar, to a new position, which was at the beginning of the entrance.

Unlike the previous emptiness that she encountered when walking towards the altar for the first time, there was an eye-catching stand that held a greyish book in place, inviting Ocelia to open it and gained the forbidden knowledge it had kept safe from the outer world. As she carefully reached out towards the enchanting tome, a terrifying change also happened at her fingertips.

The closer her hand towards the tome, the faster it changed from its human skin into its cold, smooth, and stony membrane. If she desired the knowledge which would pave her way to make her advancement towards the second-ranked sorcerers simple as breathing and eating, she would have to sacrifice her humanity and abandoned her traditional soul into becoming an Element-based one, forever not being able to change her form of employing elemental particles ever again.

Noticing the price she had to pay, she slowly yet reluctantly pulled her hand away from the stand, not wishing to lose her humanity at the moment. Although she didn't get to have the tome at that moment, she could still use the mystical energy that the book radiated to improve her strength and supported her unique talent, adapting her body to be able to wield the Fire Element and Ice Element without any dare consequence.

"Child, this is your destiny. Accept it and grasp at your string of fate, control your destiny!" A faint feminine voice echoed the Hallway, seeping into Ocelia's soul. A powerful force descended onto her body as they forcefully took over her body.

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