LEVEL EVERYTHING UP in my Eldritch Tribe

Lyerin stood there, listening carefully to the silence between them, but when Lord Victor finally spoke, the air seemed to change.

"You did all of this," Victor said, a smirk forming on his lips, "just to impress me, didn't you? So you could take on ten special missions, right?" His voice dripped with amusement, yet there was a sharpness beneath it that cut like a blade.

Lyerin remained silent for a moment, keeping his composure while Lord Victor continued to speak.

The older man's eyes were distant, and he began to mumble to himself, lost in thought. "Having your mother saved or protected, that was just one part of it, wasn't it?" Victor muttered under his breath. His expression darkened as his mind raced through possibilities. "But there's more. Of course, there has to be.

You're without a shadow core, and no matter what you do, you'll never be accepted by the Borgias Family, at least not in the conventional way. Not truly. Without that core, you are nothing more than a ghost in their eyes."

Victor's words, filled with venom, reverberated in the air. He shook his head as if dispelling some lingering thought. "This is your only possible route. You needed those special missions to be accepted, didn't you? To be brought into the fold. It's the only way.

Even the shadowless like you can get in that way. If you survive, that is."

The explanation continued, his words growing more and more profound as he delved into what Lyerin had been pursuing all along.

Victor painted a vivid picture of the impossibility of what Lyerin sought.

The Borgias Family was an ancient and proud one. Those without a shadow core—those born without the magical essence that tied them irrevocably to the family's secrets—could never truly be part of it.

Their lives were deemed expendable, their worth measured only by what they could achieve. And Lyerin, being born of a concubine, without the family's traditional gifts, was nothing more than a tool at best, an outsider at worst.

"You've got no shadow core," Victor continued, almost musing to himself now. "And yet you still managed to reach the Fifth Stage in the Second Cycle? Even so, you won't be accepted, not unless you achieve something beyond comprehension. You're gambling your life for what? For a fleeting chance to stand beside those who will never truly see you as one of them.

You're walking into certain death, and for what, boy? To prove you're more than what you were born as?"

Victor's voice dripped with mockery, but there was a hint of respect within it. It was true, after all.

No matter how much Lyerin achieved, there would always be a chasm between him and the rest of the Borgias.

The special missions were the only way for him to close that gap, but even so, those are not enough.

These missions were legendary, passed down through hushed whispers in the family. Only those who completed them could hope to gain the recognition needed to survive in the brutal hierarchy of the Borgias.

Victor let out a deep sigh. His eyes glinted with a predatory light as he leaned back and stared directly into Lyerin's eyes. "But I'll give you credit. I see why you're doing this. And perhaps there is some merit in your plan after all."

Lyerin remained calm, though inside he braced himself for what would come next. He had anticipated every move, every word, everything to be laid out in a way that would seem like mere coincidence. But he knew better than to trust appearances.

Finally, Lyerin bowed his head in deference. "Yes, Lord Victor. That was my intention all along."

Victor let out a sharp laugh, the sound echoing off the walls of the eerie forest. He seemed genuinely amused now, though there was something sinister in his tone. "So, you want to take on the ten special missions," he mused. "Impressive. But do you even realize what you're asking for?"

Victor's gaze darkened as he began to recount the story of the first person who had ever completed the ten special missions. It was a tale filled with violence, cunning, and a level of bloodshed that few could comprehend.

The first assassin had been a prodigy, a genius whose skills were said to surpass even the most accomplished assassins in the family's history.

"He was born from nothing, just like you," Victor began. "An outsider, a nobody in the eyes of the Borgias. He was thrown into the lion's den, given impossible missions, told that death awaited him at every turn. And yet he survived. He did more than survive. He thrived.

Mission after mission, he came back with blood on his hands, but he never once flinched. Not from the blood, not from the pain. Not even from the horrors he witnessed. And when he completed all ten of the special missions, he returned as something else entirely."

Victor's voice lowered, becoming a near whisper. "They say he returned as a god of death. His presence was so overwhelming that even the elders dared not look him in the eye. He had transcended what it meant to be an assassin. He had become something more. Something greater.

But…" Victor trailed off, his eyes flickering with amusement, "that's just a story, isn't it? Reality is much harsher."

The tale Victor told stretched on, filled with more gruesome details, trials, and impossible challenges that this mysterious assassin had faced. Every mission was worse than the last. Betrayals, torture, madness—it was a trial of the soul, as much as it was of the body and mind.

"The special missions," Victor continued, "are meant to break you. Only the strongest of will, the most unrelenting of minds, can complete them. The others? They perish. Horribly."

He leaned in closer, his breath hot against the air between them. "Do you think you can do it, little no core Lyerin? Do you believe that you can complete missions that make even the most elite members of our family tremble? You'll be facing beings a full cycle above you. Beasts and men alike who can tear you apart with ease. You'll be alone, boy.

Truly alone."

Lyerin nodded, his expression respectful but resolute. "I am willing to risk my life for it, Lord Victor."

The words came out firm, and Victor's lips curled into a sly smile. "You have the conviction, I'll give you that." He paused, his expression darkening. "But conviction alone won't save you or convince you to allow me to give you a pass to take those missions."

In an instant, Victor's face twisted, taking on a demonic quality. The magic surrounding him pulsed, and before Lyerin could react, a massive magic circle appeared beneath him. The ground began to tremble.

Swoosh!

Lyerin was thrown off balance as he and his Cragar'Throm Clan Mana Beasts plummeted into the depths below. The air roared around him as they fell, and with a deafening Kabam! They landed on the ground below with immense force.

Lyerin rose to his feet, dusting himself off as he surveyed his surroundings.

The forest was dark, twisted.

The trees bent at odd angles, their roots curling through the air like twisted serpents.

The atmosphere was strangely peaceful, yet there was an underlying sense of dread that permeated every inch of the forest. The silence was eerie, broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves or the distant howl of some unseen creature.

Victor's voice echoed through the forest, his laugh bouncing off the trees. "Welcome to the home of the Carnivorous Blast Apes, Lyerin. Your task is simple—survive. Survive for a single day in this forest, surrounded by apes that are in the Sixth Stage of the Second Cycle. Some are even stronger. Do that, and I'll consider you ready for the special missions.

Fail, and your journey ends here."

Lyerin's eyes narrowed as he scanned the forest, the weight of the task before him settling heavily on his shoulders.

The Carnivorous Blast Apes were infamous, known for their explosive power and near-impenetrable defenses.

They were a terror to face, even for someone as skilled as him.

"Good luck," Victor's voice echoed ominously. And then, there was silence.

Lyerin steadied himself, his senses heightened as he prepared for the battle to come. But instead of fear, a twisted smile appeared on his facial expression.