"Here you go, twenty Superior Eagle Invoker Crystals." Compass Carburettor said, pushing a box filled with the crystals to Sturrala, watching her remain like a statue, too stunned to even react.
After all, it only took him a mere few seconds to create over twenty Eagle Invoker Crystals, all Superior grade at that.
Normally, it took months to make the same, and even longer for Superior Eagle Invoker Crystals. This was why, the sheer time difference between those that created the Eagle Invoker Crystals in the Lan Clan and Compass Carburettor placed Sturrala at a loss for words.
"Go on, why are you delaying things?" Compass Carburettor raised an eye at her stunned expression, placing his hand on the box, "Or, do you want me to retake this?"
"N-No, I'll keep it safe." Sturrala hurriedly grabbed the box and rushed out of the room, crashing into the door in response as all the Eagle Invoker Crystals fell out of the box.
Kieee!
Her Invoked Spirit flashed out and grabbed hold of all the crystals with dextrous movements, pouring them in the box before she rushed out of the room.
It was simple as to what she planned to do next.
She was going to raise the standards of the entire archipelago by having more than a hundred Invokers.
Compass Carburettor smiled upon seeing her actions, clenching his hand into a fist as he transformed it into a hammer by pouring in the Mental Fragments of a fish with a hammer head.
He then focused, pouring in Eagle Mental Fragments into his arms, transforming them into a pair of wings, struggling as he caused the feathers to twitch in response. He had yet to accustom himself in using them.
But that could be done through training, which was what he was doing at the moment, of course also working on strengthening the family of three simultaneously.
At the centre of the primary island in the archipelago where Sturrala had set up home, a temple had been constructed using Mental Fragments—by Compass Carburettor.
And situated in its centre was a gigantic slab, spanning a height of four metres.
Forbidden Tale!
Of course, he would be mad to not take advantage of this situation. And, within a few days since it had been established, the effects were already beginning to show.
"A-Amazing!" A youth muttered in response, watching the scant few Mental Fragments in his Dreamland gradually sink into his Nascent Soul and take form, becoming a hatchling eagle.
Normally, the result that would have taken him a month took less than an hour. And it wasn't just him that was experiencing this but pretty much everyone that had begun to comprehend the Forbidden Tale to at least the surface level.
And thanks to that, they managed to save a lot of time, effort, and Mental Strength that otherwise would have gone into constructing their Dreamland and Invoked Spirit. Now, all they needed to do was hone their Mental Strength as much as possible.
Within a week, all those that had used an Eagle Invoked Spirit had become Inferior Invokers. With that, they could now run errands, which was one of Compass Carburettor's goal.
Kieee!
Followed by a bird cry, a youth landed on the ground, retracting his eagle as he held three roosters that he had captured. Another youth landed nearby, holding a bag of mice, all that were still alive.
In this manner, all the Invokers had gone on errands to capture various creatures, returning within a day. With the eagle's superiority in the sky, capturing most creatures was pretty simple.
Compass Carburettor wasn't satisfied with just that as he even began to research on Invoker Crystal Scrolls for marine organisms, creating one after a month in time.
With that, he turned a group of fishes into Invokers.
Staring at a large fish held in the tank, Compass Carburettor observed its actions, muttering, "It's not smart enough to cultivate on its own. There should be an external stimulus."
The best way to make that possible was through its Invoked Spirit. And for that, Compass Carburettor created a Scroll.
Scroll of Sentience!
It was created using Mental Fragments sourced from humans. The function of the Scroll of Sentience was to gradually train the fish's Invoked Spirit to gain sentience, at least enough for it to wield its Invoked Spirit to hunt for fishes and grow on its own.
And of course, he also created a Scroll of the Forbidden Tale, seeing its effect on the fish. The extent was lower than his expectations, so Compass Carburettor retracted the two scrolls from the fish's Dreamland.
Following that, he experimented, placing them in the Dreamland of various types of fish, one after another to see the one most compatible with the two Scrolls.
The people of the archipelago continued to capture various fishes from different depths of the sea and river, bringing them over to be experimented upon.
Kiek!
Compass Carburettor stared in surprise upon gazing at a dolphin in the tank before him. It was staring at him with a gaze of excitement.
A single glance at its eyes were enough for Compass Carburettor to understand that the dolphin before him was significantly more developed in the mental department as compared to the rest of the fishes he had seen till now.
And as expected, the moment he placed the two Scrolls in its Dreamland, there was an obvious change to its mental state. It seemed more sentient than usual, already able to absorb Mental Fragments from the corpse of a fish nearby.
This happened without any prompts from him. Usually, it took him at least ten to fifteen minutes before he was able to make a fish take something into its Dreamland.
But the dolphin was able to do it within a minute, thanks to its own efforts without any external inputs.
It had instantly adapted to the changes, making it seem as if consuming Mental Fragments for it was no different to eating.
'Alright, this would eventually result in a powerful marine creature, the first of its kind.' Compass Carburettor nodded as he continued to feed the dolphin Mental Fragments, gradually nurturing its growth.
And once it became an Inferior Invoker, he set it free into the sea where it belonged. In its Dreamland, he placed a tool that conveyed it to return once it attained the peak as an Invoker.
Following that, he would help it become an Ascender.
The act of turning the Dolphin into an Invoker was basically him developing this world. But, the more the dolphin grew, the stronger the Main Character fragment in its mind would grow.
After all, growing against all odds and attaining the impossible was the essence of being the Main Character. Therefore, even if a Main Character System fragment wouldn't form in its body, it would still grow in its mind.
And that was enough for him. For such actions allowed him to steal Conjurer's power little by little.
With that, he had completed all his basic preparations, thinking, 'Next, I should attain the peak before the Human Conjurer's grave opens again.'
It was there that he would obtain the means necessary to become a Conjurer and leave this world. The time was perfect, for it opened a month before his time in this world would be up.
"Now, all that's left for me to do is grind nonstop." He took in a deep breath before beginning to work on controlling his limbs.
…
"Keuk…what is happening to me?" The Lan Clan Head muttered in pain as he clutched his head while starlight flickered through his eyes incessantly.
He had already comprehended five lines of the Forbidden Tale. Meaning, the growth of the Main Character fragment in his mind was reached a level enough for it to begin wrestling control over him.
As an Ascender, he had a firm control over his mind, which was why he was able to resist for the time being, muttering as he stared at the Forbidden Tale in horror, "So, this is why it's called the Forbidden Tale?"
"Aargh!" He screamed as his headache worsened, blacking out from time to time as he rolled on the ground, causing the vases nearby to crash.
Boom!
The door to the room was blast open as water rushed inside, lifting up the Lan Clan Head as Peika appeared before him, staring at his wounded state as she frowned, "What happened to you?"
"The Forbidden Tale…something's up with it." The Lan Clan Head said, "The moment I comprehended the fifth line, my head started to hurt…"
Kieee!
Peika's expression paled all of a sudden as she covered herself with her water, watching an eagle's beak peck her, almost piercing through the barrier. But the sheer force from the impact sent her flying through the place, crashing multiple walls before her Invoked Spirit caught her and braced the impact.
"Koff!" She spat out a mouthful of blood before staring at the Lan Clan Head, only now noticing starlight spew out of his eyes like a pair of torches.
And shockingly, her body trembled as she stared at the Lan Clan Head, one whose expression and presence was now strangely familiar to her, one that she had witnessed from her younger brother, Pilkan.
"Who the fuck are you?" Her tone became cold as her Invoked Spirit brought out its scythe, preparing for battle.
