Fox Tale Of A Dungeon Boss 70 Chapter 70: An Empty Tes

Fenrir was first, slowly coming up.

"Grr...ruff. Yah! Grr..."

I tried not to laugh okay? I really tried!

But... those cute dog-like noises as he woke up... it was just...

"Grrr...YA!"

"Pffft Ahahaha haha!"

I burst into laughter, and as I did so he startled awake. I opened my eyes to see him staring at me from the ground, on his side with his ears perked.

"Oh! Uh... sorry man."

"Merrr?"

"Never mind."

After awhile Luna woke up as well.

With a slight mewl that sounded so cat-like I can't even, she stretched herself out against the ground before opening her eyes.

She looked at me with glazed eyes, and then a second pa.s.sed as clarity came back to them.

"Whwhere? What the-?!"

I just kinda shrugged. I have no clue what you're actually saying!

"How did we get here?!"

Ah that! Why didn't you just say so?

"I brought y'all out here?"

She focused on me, and looked around while sitting. Her eyes landed on the burned circle.

"Is that the building? What the heck kinda test was that?!"

I laugh a bit nervously. "Ah it doesn't matter. I pa.s.sed and got 2 new spirits is what matters. And we can move on the second you're able to stand up without nausea."

"Huh?" She looked at the 3 small b.a.l.l.s of color(gold, red-orange, and black), and her eyes widened.

"Luna, Fenrir, meet Halo and Match. Halo, Match, meet Luna and Fenrir. All of you already know Shade, and Shade knows all of you."

I'll spare you the details of Luna's petting(apparently Match isn't hot unless he wants to be? Just pleasantly warm?) and fawning, but yeah. Spirits are cute.

I wonder how they'll evolve... they are only Juvenile's right now after all...

After awhile we got Luna walking, with some shaky legs and lightheaded issues, but it faded quickly with the energy caffeine-thing-Spells.

Yeah... that rolled RIGHT off my tongue. Sure.

As we walked up the path, some time pa.s.sed.

"Okay, what was the 5th test?"

"Test of mentality. I proved I'd push forward and stubbornly flip someone off even as I died."

Luna blinked. "Seriously?"

"No. Don't ask me what happened. It just did. Now let's keep moving."

She let out a huff in annoyance, but listened.

Fenrir gave me a look that said all it needed to.

"Yeah... I'm not buying that. When you're ready we will need to talk."

I used a neat trick I picked up and projected my voice to him as a 'soul message' of sorts.

"I am not running away from or refusing to face a problem. It's just something that doesn't need to be shared, and honestly? I'd like to leave some dignity to the deceased."

He seemed to think that over. "I'll accept that."

My eye twitched a little. I'm supposed to be the one in charge! Though I guess I do have a history of sticking my head in the sand.

Eventually we reached the next decrepit building, the 6th Test.

"Test of Ceremony is it?" I muttered to myself, seeing the imprints of the sign, which was nearly perfectly intact. This test was well sheltered from the elements because it was mostly under an overhang from the mountain.

We entered, and as I walked in I felt... emptiness.

"I'm the one who made sure there wouldn't be a 6th guardian anymore." Her words echoed through my head.

"Why isn't anyone showing up?" Luna looked about with a confused expression, but Fenrir could tell this place had no presence. He looked at me, a half-understanding playing through his mind.

I sighed sadly. "There is no one. This test has long lost its guardian it seems."

Luna looked at me with concern. "So can you just... move on? Doesn't that mean the ghost couldn't hang on this time?"

I nodded. "It's probably okay."

I stepped further in and began looking around for something, anything at all left behind.

I felt a buzzing deep within me all of a sudden.

'What the he-'

'Huh???'

I reached into my inventory(apparently when something in there is reacting, I feel it? Agh that's weird) and pulled out the tube the blacksmith had given me earlier.

'Ah? What the heck? Why is this... vibrating? I still haven't had the chance to try and open it, even though the cap didn't screw off despite looking like it should.'

I tried to unscrew the cap, and this time it worked. I looked inside, and it seemed to hold this strangely milky liquid in consistency, but it was a bright electric blue in color.

'And it's vibrating. That's just... okay. No, it's fine. Magic right? Just turn to a.n.a.lyze, get an answer.'

Oh. Oh that's fantastic.

Actually that is interesting. Enchanting, which I've done once, is pretty easy as you just put the mana frame as a 'circuit' in the material. But in this liquid, there's still a mana circuit, but each part of it keeps falling apart as the liquid shifts, and reforming into something else.

'Liquid Enchantment looks... interesting. And d.a.m.n near impossible.'

I reached my mana into the fluid, and kept examining the changes. Eventually I realized it was words.

'The enchantment... is spelling something?'

D...r...i...n...k...m...e.

"...so guys? This liquid is enchanted somehow, and the changes in the enchantment are telling me to drink it."

"Yeah... well it looks like a potion, so duh?"

I shot a stare at Luna. Well obviously it's a potion! I'm just... dumb and oblivious! Shut up!

'Like you're any better!'

<...>

Right. So am I drinking this weird potion that does who knows what?

Any smart or sane individual would say no. Or look into it further. However, I have a plan!

I put the vial down to Fenrir's nose. "Smell anything suspicious?"

"No. Do you see any poison energies, or dark?"

"No."

"Then it's probably safe."

Alright. That's a pathetic vote of confidence, but h.e.l.l. Not like I won't die anyways.

So yeah. I drank the potion. Tasted sour, in that sour candy kinda way. Really quite good.

What did I feel? Well first I didn't feel anything.

Then I felt EVERYTHING.

You have nerves inside of you, so why don't you feel your muscles touching one another, like you do when someone pokes you?

I'm not entirely sure, maybe you just get super used to it, and hey! Maybe that's the sensation that babies are always crying about before they get used to it. Or they're just hungry all the time.

But I could feel myself. I could feel the muscles and lungs being slightly shifted every time my heart beats. I could feel my lungs, expanding and pushing on me. I could feel my stomach contracting, my muscles sliding against one another.

It was... really, really overwhelming.

"Whoah hoho Ah. Okay."

Talking felt really strange when you can feel your voice box flexing and the air pa.s.sing through every part of your throat.

What... am I supposed to do now?

I looked around carefully, every fiber and thread seeming to stand out in sharp relief in comparison to before.

'I think... that?'

It was a slight, but still barely visible discoloration of the wood on one wall, as if long ago there had been paint there that long since peeled and faded away, leaving barely any mark.

I'm pretty sure I never would've seen it if it weren't for this hyper-sensitivity potion or drug. Honestly not sure which it is cause this all feels like what someone would call a 'bad trip'.
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I studied the discoloration, trying to pinpoint what exactly it was.

'Let me try...'

I pushed mana and my spirits helped, multiple lights flashing as energy covered the surface, and I began to try and outline the shapes in the wood, before deepening color and shifting gradient, trying to match up the images.

Slowly, bit by bit, a painting came back to life.

Finally I finished, letting out a heavy breath.

I heard a gasp behind me, but ignore it as I was beginning to feel the effects fade bit by tiny bit, my sensitivity to touch being the first to lessen(thank the foxes).

I looked up and finally caught sight of the painting in full.

"Wha... what the heck? Is that... me?"

"...yes. Yes it is Kyoku."