“Step up evolution not a side evolution? Are you sure? And why is it happening at such random timing? Did Ripcaller got some magic powers from the leylines?” Jin stopped what he was doing and looked towards the console which now showed the stats interface of the dagger goblin Ripcaller. He noticed that his body vitals were deteriorating while attempting the evolution. Even if he is not a doctor, it was obvious enough with the blaring signs given by the System.
“Negative, the goblin is attempting to unite its spirit with the Shaitan Noble of Fire, Ifrit.” The System stated the reason behind the sudden drop of his vitals. Jin was shocked due to that particular information since the last he heard from Ripcaller was that they were going to initiate the leyline ritual, not unite with a Shaitan Noble. The System said it does not have the time to explain at the moment and demanded Jin to make a decision immediately.
“Of course, assist him.” Jin did not hesitate for his reply. If his goblin could obtain one of the powers of the Shaitan, it might significantly influence their operation’s preparations although he also wondered how Orc King Hamu would react to that particular fact they might lose an Avatar of Shaitan. As of yet, he did not know what was happening and told the System to do whatever it takes to assist him.
“Understood. Peppers and Milk to the scene immediately. Do User wish to be there to ensure your bellators’ presence would not startle the goblins assassins?” The System asked as it had the coordinates to the dagger goblin and was able to teleport Jin to that location.
“Please do so. I do not want an unnecessary fight among my bellators and the Goblin Assassins to happen when Ripcaller’s life is in danger.” Jin replied and in an instant, he was teleported to the scene alongside Peppers and Milk who had their very own customised half panda masks. Daga was surprised at first but he immediately recognised Jin in his half Panda mask and knelt in front of him. He knew that as a master, Jin must be anxious for his young goblin and respected that about him but he asked Jin to not do a thing.
“Venerable Jin, please do not do anything that can disturb the current situation. Ripcaller has to overcome this trial by himself or else the Shaitan Noble would not acknowledge him.” Daga said with his head down and Jin knew that it could possibly be related to their tradition.
Ripcaller was in desperate pain and he could feel the fire eating him up inside out but even with his blurry vision, he saw the silhouette of his Master Jin right in front of him. “Ah, damn…I made Master worried for me.” Ripcaller thought since he prided himself as a cool dependable goblin among the trio. “Then all the more I should not let him worry…” Ripcaller took a deep breath and shouted out.
“COME IFRIT IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?”
Ifrit who was already in the midst of possessing the goblin body for his own use, laughed at Ripcaller’s desperate attempt to taunt him. “You might regret what you had said.” While Ripcaller was unable to see it, he could feel that Ifrit was smiling behind the scenes and in an instant, the greenish flame that was engulfing him became larger, fiercer and more aggressive. The green flames also turned blue and later bright orange in colour as if to show the intensity of fire energy being pumped into Ripcaller. The rest had to fall back at least a few metres away to prevent themselves from being caught by the flames. Ripcaller trembled and fell to the ground because of the weighted flames but he gritted his teeth and tried to stand up. Yet, each time he tried to stand, the fire got heavier as if pushing to resist his will.
“I have my own tricks too!” Ripcaller shouted as he raised his hand out, making a triangle hand sign and later interlacing his fingers together. He remembered precisely how Assassin Savant did the first Jutsu. Suiton no Jutsu, a technique that released the element of water at his disposal. “SUITON NO JUTSU!” The burning goblin utilised all the chi he could garner, opening every pore of his skin to release the chi which eventually turned into the form of a magical mist which was not extinguished by the flames of Ifrit. Instead, the Mist enveloped around the burning goblin and created a bubble of water that caged him up with the flames.
Ripcaller was able to do this because the goblin could copy any particular skill technique they found worthy and used it for themselves. However, that would reserve one goblin grade worth of power. (Imagine the goblin silhouette being occupied to do such a technique. That was why their silhouettes were always filled with various styles when they portrayed their ‘cultivation’.) Similar to how Piecestriker had copied Jia Ying, the Stag cultivator’s skills, Ripcaller did the same copying the Assassin Savant’s technique but its powers were depending on which grade he allocated it. At the moment he placed it at the highest tier of Grade 7.
“Why are you doing this act of futility?” Ifrit asked and Ripcaller only had one simple reason. To drown himself in his own water bubble if he ever failed the trial of fire so he could deny Ifrit what he wanted. He remembered his father telling him how the orcs became the Avatars of Shaitan.
If one failed the trial of said element, their soul would leave the body and the Shaitan Noble would consume its body while its soul would manifest as magic power. However, the nobles would only consume if the body was still alive the moment the soul leaves the body. It was the sweet spot which all Shaitan nobles desired.
Even if it failed to be consumed, the Noble would possess the body and that was when the Assassins come to play with their imbued weapons. Ripcaller was sure that the System could replicate his body and soul with the data backed up in its servers. He would rather be killed by his mates then have his body being eaten inside out by Ifrit. Especially when he heard rumours of orcs being ‘resurrected’ as puppets for the Noble’s use if both their souls and bodies were consumed by the Nobles. If that was true, the Nobles might gain a Ripcaller clone and he knew he could be deadly in an onslaught against normal goblins.
Therefore, Ripcaller would kill himself the moment he failed the trial of fire, making him lost his soul but not his body to Ifrit.
He knew that the said purpose for this particular trial of ascendancy was a lie and all the orcs knew about that too. It was basically a ritual to sacrifice one’s soul to the Shaitan Noble’s consumption. Only if one’s soul were sturdy enough not to be moved by the trials of the Shaitan Noble, they would be rewarded with the noble’s powers to enhance and strengthen their souls even more.
Also if the chosen orcs ever die, the nobles themselves would have a more luxurious experience eating their souls using the bodies as a gateway to consume them and be stronger. Red Hurricane and Green Fire were exceptions. The Light Magic from King Sol and Dark Magic from King Hamu had prevented the Avatars’ souls from being eaten, hence breaking the cycle the nobles created between themselves and the said Avatar. Yet many orcs attempted to do that as they felt the benefits outweigh their miserable lives. (And also because the desire of wielding powers held prestige in their society.) That was why Garuda and Ifrit appeared pissed when their Avatars died since they had put in quite a lot of effort nurturing their ‘livestock’.
“You think I cannot burn out this tiny bubble of yours?” Ifrit said and poured more fire energy into Ripcaller’s soul, hoping to break him even further. But it was a first for Ifrit to discharge in this much fire energy into a soul. Most Orcs’ soul no matter how determined they were, would have burnt out long ago from it and yet this little goblin here was still resisting and even talking back against Ifrit.
The Orcs at least have more respect for him than this little green guy here. What Ifrit did not know was that Ripcaller’s soul was tempered tens, hundreds or even thousands of times by the System and the cultivator’s use of dungeon instances. Ripcaller had been resurrected so many times that he did not know if his soul was broken beyond repair but one thing is for sure. He would not go down against this trial of fire without a fight.
Therefore the more fire energy that Ifrit threw in, the more he started to feel it’s a lost cause and guessed he should let the goblin pass the ritual. Besides, he noticed that the water bubble was revolving quickly around Ripcaller, extinguishing the excessive fire energy that was emanated out of him. This was all possible because of the System. Even though Jin was not allowed to touch or assist Ripcaller on the scene itself, it did not mean that he was not able to utilise the System to aid him. After all, why risk the chance of letting his soul be burnt to death by the Shaitan noble? Souls were expensive, and the budget was somewhat tight!
Jin would rather spend it on something more cheap and viable like inserting more chi into Ripcaller via the System, ensuring that the dagger goblin was able to overcome the trial. The chi was in turn, used to power up his revolving water bubble, dispersing the fire energy which Ripcaller could not handle.
In the end, Ifrit realised there was indeed something more to this goblin than he had hoped to toy around with. He stopped the channelling of fire energy into Ripcaller’s soul to burn him but instead now to cure him. The fire turned bluish instead of the usual bright orange, and suddenly Ripcaller felt a calming wave of peace throughout his body.
“You have proven yourself more than worthy.” A portal suddenly appeared and Ripcaller was able to peer through what was inside the portal entrance. Ifrit was lazily sitting at his throne with a foot on the seat. From his hair, Ifrit picked something up and flicked it towards Ripcaller. It was an orb that was glowing dull when Ripcaller caught it with his own hands.
“This. This is something that I did not even give to those power hungry orcs. Put it close to you and you will understand. You better keep your promise. I look forward to being sated with difficult fights.” Ifrit swiped his left arm lazily and the portal began to close slowly. Only then, a dagger and a bow were being flung out of the portal as if Ifrit was throwing some leftovers into the trash. Ripcaller’s hands were reserved with carrying the precious looking orb that the weapons were being left on the ground. He also felt it was the right time to pick them up as it was apparent to see the weapons were burning the ground.
Ripcaller decided to use the orb first and as he placed it close to his chest, a sudden eruption of lava came out from the orb, engulfing Ripcaller like an octopus wrapping around a ball. The System then notified that Ripcaller was going through his step up evolution. The lava cooled down and there were signs of cracking seen on Ripcaller’s lava coated body. More cracks appeared and it seemed like he was struggling to come out of the lava coat but as time goes by, it did not seem like he was having much trouble with it at all. The layer of lava disintegrated and Jin saw that Ripcaller skin was now brownish red in colour and to his surprise, slightly taller too. (Probably just a goblin head taller.)
Other than that, his features still looked the same but ahhh…abilities wise. Jin quickly took out his Tact Tweak and checked Ripcaller out. The System now called him Flame Ripper, but his official title was . Not to mention, his ability stats were off the charts, at least twice for most parameters, if not three times for his specialised areas like dexterity. Previously, Flame Ripper had a chi component but now, it turned to a category called Shaitan Chi. Instead of him being just an Avatar of Ifrit, a mere container to hold a fraction of Ifrit’s power, Flame Ripper had fused a part of Ifrit in him. That orb was, unfortunately, Ifrit’s dandruff and nonetheless still part of Ifrit. (Perhaps, he did not dare to wash his hair with water being a Noble of Fire…Teehee~!)
Flame Ripper picked up the burning weapons on the ground and it felt very comfortable to hold and felt as if he was proficient with it for a very long time.
Daga and the rest of the goblin assassins cheered as they have obtained a battle advantage with a goblin that possessed the powers of a Shaitan Noble. He could probably be the first Shaitan Noble that the goblins ever had. Jin was then curious about King Sol himself. “Hasn’t King Sol been bestowed with Shaitan power abilities too? I mean he can cut and kill off powers of a Shaitan Noble.” Daga heard it and laughed.
“No way King Sol is an Avatar of Shaitan Noble. King Sol was born with it. It was only during the rebellion, something happened that allowed him to awaken those powers of light in him. Surely, if it were not for him, we would not have proceeded with the rebellion.” Daga explained.
“In any case, it looks like we came here for nothing. At the very least, I get to see a step up evolution in progress.” Peppers yawned while Milk looked slightly agitated at the mess that was left behind. Everything all charred and left a very bad foul burnt smell.
“Let’s get back. We do not have time to lose and I need to inform Ayse about this so she can think of ways to make the Orc King stay on track for the operations, else we prepared everything for nought.” Jin said and the System opened a portal for him and his bellators.
“We will explain the rest to Dagger General and shall liaise with Ripcaller if he has any opinions of this outcome that we achieved,” Daga said as they returned to the tavern and guarded for the rest of the day until Igni completed his ritual.
