It's been 2 months since he had any contact with his class. Cori felt as if years had passed in the blink of an eye. Having mastered "Shell", he was finally able to store the corrupted core away without affecting his dimensional storage.
Wyman looked at Cori. The once golden slime is now covered in fine golden fur. Even the slight bluish hue had disappeared.
"You have grown a fine mass of fur," Wyman said. His boyish features are similar to those of a 7-year-old.
"And you have grown even younger!" said Cori, fascinated by how he managed to reverse the ageing process.
"Shall we have a look at your progress?" Wyman asked with a proud smile.
Cori stretched his hidden paws and balanced on his shaggy tail into a camel pose. An image projected from his belly, showing 2 stable cores oscillating around a tiny grain.
"With enough time, your soul core and god core will diminish and birth a heart for you." Wyman said with his eyes sharpened. The tiny "blood clot" pulsating in the centre of the grain, slowly sapping energy from the 2 cores. "That's enough, it's time you leave. It will be a while before you return. And... take this." Wyman handed him a box. "Open it only when you have returned to your dormitory."
"What's inside?" Cori asked.
"You will know when you open it. My sister will haunt you if you open the box here," the boy warned.
"And how do I return?" Cori asked, worried he might take another wrong turn.
"Follow the tombstones. It will lead you back to the entrance since you can see them now." Wyman pointed, suggesting Cori travel down the red brick pavement with tombstones and statues neatly arranged on both sides.
"Why are there so many tombstones here?" Cori asked.
"You must not have heard... the history of the village, it is best you don't know," he replied, pausing briefly, "for your own good."