Eryndor's eyes became star-shaped as soon as he saw the amount of crystals in the Lich's treasury. There were more than a million crystals in a combination of low, mid, high, and top grade.
"Wow, with this amount, you can reach the first level of Divine Immortal body," the fairy said, her voice filled with excitement.
Eryndor's face lit up with anticipation, but then a weird thought crossed his mind. "Wouldn't eating so many crystals explode his stomach?" he thought to himself.
Without hesitation, Eryndor picked up one of the crystals and popped it into his mouth. The group's expression behind him changed to one of shock and horror.
The crystal tasted like stone, hard and crappy. Eryndor's face scrunched up in distaste, and he started to chew.
The fairy looked at Eryndor weirdly and said, "You know, you don't have to take everything as it is written. 'Consuming' doesn't necessarily mean eating it."
The group's faces behind Eryndor were like they had seen someone doing something really stupid. Eryndor looked back at them, feeling ashamed, and thought to himself, "Has he done something wrong?"
The fairy, noticing Eryndor's confused face, explained, "Firstly, all skills have a runic symbol on them. The creator of the symbol writes the method and usage of the skills on the symbols. You should imagine the symbol and create it in your mind, then you should activate them and push them to do what you want."
Eryndor listened intently, and then he tried to do the same. He sat cross-legged, opened the book where he had recorded the contents that the fairy had transferred to him, and looked at the runic symbol. He imagined it inside his mind, and a faint and blurry image began to take form in his consciousness.
After an hour of concentration, a runic mark appeared, very thin and almost on the verge of breaking, but he had succeeded in creating it. The next thing was activating it and pushing it towards absorbing the crystals.
A while later, a massive suction power started from Eryndor's forehead, and it began to suck the energy from the crystals. As soon as the crystals lost all their energy, they turned to dust.
Krog and Xaren were shocked by the phenomenon of what was happening. "What kind of skill is he training in?" Xaren wondered.
In just a couple of hours, all the crystals Xaren had painfully collected over the course of decades turned to dust. If he had a heart, he would have had a heart attack looking at this.
Eryndor opened his eyes, and the symbol inside of him was no longer thin and shaking, but it was solid like steel and shining in a dark green color. The energy coming out of this symbol was strengthening his muscles, and Eryndor could feel a potent strength in his limbs.
He felt like he was agile like a cheetah, able to jump high and run fast with ease. He felt like he could jump like a rabbit, covering great distances with a single bound. Although he was a human, his strength equaled that of a demi-beast, and it could even be more than a demi-beast.
"Level 1 of Divine Immortal body: Enhanced Endurance Achieved," a voice echoed in Eryndor's mind.
The fairy and the toad said together, "Congratulations, Boss!"
As Lich Xaren and Krog saw Eryndor, they were shocked to see how much he had changed. Although it didn't look like it from the outside, it felt like he was changed internally. A strange energy, like steam, was coming from him.
For a second, Lich Xaren thought Eryndor was looking like the awakened version of Lionid Kieran, perhaps even stronger than him. He wondered if his previous strong version fought against Eryndor's current version, would he have won. He got no answer thinking about it.
After wondering for a while, both Lich Xaren and Krog came to their senses. They bowed their heads and congratulated Eryndor for his success.
"Well, where is your treasure trove that you were talking about?" Eryndor asked, his eyes fixed on the Lich.
The Lich, sweating, said, "Well..., you see Master, the place where I hid the treasures opens once in 5 years. It's a Volcanic mountain, it's covered with magma for 5 years and recedes for only a month."
Eryndor looked at him angrily. "How long before it opens again?" he asked, his voice stern.
"T...two years," the Lich stammered.
"Blast it! This scoundrel is playing me. I ought to kill you right here, right now," Eryndor shouted, unsheathing his sword.
Krog reminded him, "We need him."
Eryndor sheathed his sword, still looking angry. "Whatever," he said.
He kept the rest of the treasures in his magic ring, and the Lich looked hopelessly as his treasure was sucked into the ring.
"Let's go," Eryndor said, turning to leave.
The trio, a human, a goblin, and a skeleton, left the hill and started their journey back home.