He gave them food. Real food, not just roasted meat and grass.

Crypt Master conjured a stone table and chair for them, and then he put out meat, vegetables, bread, and clean water. "Eat up, get energy, and be ready for death."

They all ignored him and instead focused on the food in front of them. Who knew when they would have the opportunity for this type of food again?

So they ate as much as they could.

Alex even joked that maybe the Crypt Master was trying to kill them with food. And maybe it was true because the man kept the table always full.

When they finished eating, each put away portions into their storage space. It would serve them for a while.

Crypt Master asked them, "Are you ready?"

"No," Stallus said flatly. "We just finished eating. We need time for it to digest first, or at the very least, settle before you try to start fighting to the death."

Crypt Master frowned and shook his head. "You humans have such strange habits."

Stallus smiled wearily. "Tell me about it."

Crypt Master gave them time as Stallus asked, but it was not much, and soon they had to focus on trying not to die. And Crypt Master made that a very difficult thing to do. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He told them to stand in front of him, then he would send blasts of energy their way, and they must not move from their places.

So, of course, they moved. It’s not like they would just stand there and allow themselves to be vaporized. Crypt Master growled and would ask them to return to their positions, which they did.

"I won’t let the blast reach you. This is just to make your brains and souls think that you are in danger, and so with your shield in your thoughts and your will, you will be able to manifest your essence shield," he reminded them.

They didn’t believe him. They couldn’t. Not when they were facing an energy blast that melted stone. So each time they moved out of the way of the blast, their instincts took control before they even knew what was happening.

And that was how they spent their first day of training inside the crypt. At least they gained food this way. But apart from that, there was nothing else to write home about.

Crypt Master left them on the mountain and went to do whatever a manifestation of a crypt does in its free time. Azaroth didn’t want to know, so he went and sat against a large stone, ignoring the others.

With everything that happened today, his body was tired, but first, he had something to do. He closed his eyes and focused. He pulled the part of his mind that was dark, and it swallowed him.

When Azaroth opened his eyes, he found himself in a large cave, most of it hidden in darkness. A black tree with purple leaves stood in front of him, and on top of one of its branches, looking at him, was Corvus.

He was currently in a big raven’s form, but he had only one eye at the center of his head. "You sure took your time in coming here."

Azaroth saw Corvus shift his feathers in annoyance. "You were waiting for me?" He knew Corvus was, but he wanted to hear it from him.

The red eye rolled. "You know I was waiting for you. It’s been months!"

"Busy," was all Azaroth said. He stood up, not surprised that his training robe was new here and his sword was also by his side.

"I can see that. Feel it. You empty and fill your cores at least twice a day. Sometimes more. And you use your Chaos core more often," Corvus said.

Azaroth shrugged. Hunting monsters will do that to a body. But he was not here for chit-chat with Corvus. So he asked him, "Do you know what happened to my Chaos core? It seems inactive."

Corvus focused on him. "I...don’t know. The amount of energy that entered it was unexpected, and since the core is a vessel, of course, it will take that amount of energy. What happens after is something I can’t predict."

Azaroth just stared at him. "I thought you were my trainer and you know everything about this?"

Corvus shifted again. "Technically, but the Chaos core was made to accept..." He cut himself off immediately and narrowed his eye on Azaroth. "Are you trying to get restricted information from my mouth?"

"No, I just wanted to know why I can’t make use of the essence in my Chaos core. That’s all," Azaroth said.

"It’s possible that your core is going through evolution."

Azaroth looked up. "You mean advancing?"

Corvus shook his beak. "Don’t forget that your core is not a real core. It’s a vessel. Something more. And all the skills in the Chaos technique were made to protect it. So it might be using that energy to evolve your Chaos thread skill."

Azaroth’s eyes glistened, the red in his eyes glowed softly like embers. "Evolve. I can’t wait to see what happens after then."

Corvus nodded in agreement. In as much as he was the instructor of the Chaos technique, there was also a lot he didn’t know, and something about the Chaos vessel evolving was something he had no idea whatsoever about.

"How did the massive energy affect your fire core?" he asked Azaroth.

"Nothing much. The Chaos core took almost all the energy, and the rest was left only to fill my fire core. Barely." It was good that he had the Chaos core or else the energy would have blasted him whole. He still couldn’t believe that the Crypt Master would do something like that.

He thought he had the man read and that he was just after their training and nothing more, but it seems he was greatly mistaken. He would now be very careful of the man.

Crypt Master is dangerous. Very dangerous.