The room had fallen completely silent. Zyric looked at that injection in his palm, and knew that this moment would lead to a change in his whole life. Exhaling deeply to calm himself down he spoke at last.
"I'm ready," Zyric replies. He slowly takes off his shirt and carefully moves the Fuzan Vault injection just below his heart, positioning it so that he can inject it directly into his chest. But Zyric is genuinely scared.
"It's going to hurt... I can't do this," Zyric says, putting the Fuzan Vault injection down with hesitation.
"Have you gone crazy? You yourself said that to become powerful, you have to bear pain. If you can't handle this little bit of pain, then how will you ever become powerful?" Velociraptor tells him firmly.
"You're lecturing me? You, who were just scared of a needle?" Zyric retorts immediately.
"Forget that. Even by merely looking at you, one feels as though you have not accomplished much in life. Based on that, you must have gone through a lot. This pain should be nothing compared to that," Velociraptor says seriously.
And suddenly, Zyric's entire life flashes before his eyes; a lifetime of being bothered, bullied, and constantly troubled. Thinking of all this, Zyric slowly closes his eyes and injects the Fuzan Vault injection directly into his Fuzan Vault. Before he even realizes it, the liquid inside that Classic Level Four Fuzan Vault liquid starts entering Zyric's Classic Level Two Fuzan Vault.
Nothing occurs briefly when he pulls out the needle. But then there is a sudden wind blowing around him. Fragrant and pleasant air begins emanating from every inch of his skin. Anyone standing there would feel incredibly refreshed by it. Zyric watches in astonishment as the wind swirls around him and then slowly enters back into his body.
"What happened? Did my strength increase?" Zyric says in amazement. This was his very first time experiencing anything like this. He immediately goes to Diana's room and places his hand on the Fuzan Vault testing machine.
As soon as he touches it, the machine announces clearly: "Classic Level Three."
"My level increased! From Level Two to Classic Level Three! Yes!" Zyric says with a wide smile as he hugs Velociraptor tightly.
"Don't get too happy, Zyric. This is just the beginning. You have barely begun; there is yet much before your eyes," Velociraptor tells him calmly.
"The beasts you've tamed so far, you didn't get them through your own power. You haven't proven yourself to us yet; you've only won our hearts. Understand?"
Zyric nods his head, understanding his point clearly.
"And one more thing. My Fuzan Vault is Classic Level Four. So, by using my liquid, you can only reach Level Four at most. To go beyond that, you'll need liquid from even stronger beasts. And if you want to make me powerful too, since I can't become powerful by myself now because you've become my master, then you have to make us powerful as well," Velociraptor explains carefully.
"We'll see about all that," Zyric says casually.
"It would be good if you give my Fuzan Vault liquid to this Fat Insect now. Maybe his strength will increase too. He's only at Level Two, right? If he reaches Level Four… Driller Stones are very powerful, from what I've heard. And yes, one more thing: after extracting a beast's Fuzan Vault liquid, it recovers after 24 hours. That means in 24 hours, you can give my liquid to this Fat Insect again," Velociraptor tells Zyric.
Zyric looks at the Fat Insect, who seems extremely excited at the thought of getting stronger.
"Zyric, will you really make me strong too?" Fat Insect asks eagerly.
"Yes, of course. You're my team member. If you get strong, then I get strong," Zyric says, picking up Fat Insect with a bright smile.
"Alright then, from now on I'll keep track. After 24 hours, that Velociraptor's Fuzan Vault liquid should come to me. Use it yourself and I will eat your Fuzan Vault!" says the Fat Insect in a dramatic manner, and they all broke into laughter.
Zyric spends time sleeping all day since he simply did not sleep at all at night, so he was completely exhausted. Because of that, Zyric finally gets proper and deep sleep. Zyric wakes up directly at night, where his sister has already come and is preparing dinner.
As they eat together, Zyric keeps glancing toward his room, where he can see the time, which is slowly about to strike 12:00.
"Zyric, why aren't you eating properly? Is the food not good?" Diana asks with concern.
"Oh no, Diana, it's not that. I just want to go to bed really, I am sleepy." Zyric replies in a hurry.
"It does not look to me like you are sleepy, looking at your eyes. I'm a doctor. Are you trying to fool me?" Diana says suspiciously.
"Oh no, no… how could I… what are you saying?" Zyric stammers nervously.
"By the way, I checked your phone. A girl called, right?" Diana asks while looking at him carefully.
"What are you talking about? I'm still a kid! Anyway, yes, that girl called because she paid my bills and everything while I was in the hospital. I have to pay her back. She was asking for her money. She thought I was poor, so she wasn't asking for it until now. Then she found out that I'm your brother, so now she wants her money back."
"Yes, well, that's normal. She's just asking for her own money," Zyric says to Diana.
"Alright, fine. What's her name? Raven, right? Okay. Tomorrow, on my way, I'll drop the money off at her school. I see her on the way sometimes anyway, so I can just pay her back there. Don't worry," Diana says confidently.
"Okay, Diana, I'm going to sleep. Bye, good night," Zyric says and heads toward his room. He goes to bed, but it is not yet midnight, so he simply rests quietly. He has the eye-shaped packet in his hand that he plans to use to fix Elysia's eyes, and he is very excited at that.
"Once I fix the Princess's eyes, I'll ask the King if I can stay there so that I don't have any trouble. I will be a citizen and I can do a lot of things there. I will slip into the forest and fight beasts, and grow stronger." Zyric thinks to himself as he shuts his eyes lying on the bed.
And as he opens his eyes once again, he is in a hut-like house.
"Oh man, has it struck 12:00 already? I must have fallen asleep again," Zyric says while getting up slowly.
He steps outside and finds the entire tribe completely empty.
There hangs a weird silence in the air. No voice, no movement anywhere.