Speed Is King

"Uhh. I don't really have many items to combine or upgrade. Let me try with this [Left Eye of the Elemental Heretic]." Elliot said as he dumped it into the box.

Immediately, a slightly different AI voice sounded from the box.

[Ding! Elemental Ring detected.]

[Upgrade its effects by putting in items with similar effects. Other items will be consumed to upgrade the Elemental Ring.]

[Combine its effects by putting in items with different effects. Other items will be consumed to enhance the Elemental Ring.]

"Wow, now that you put it this way, it's really cool! With this box and my strength, I could easily dominate several Resource Boxes and then combine all the power-up items into stronger items!" Elliot's eyes shined at the thought.

At that moment, a slightly different thought struck Elliot.

"If they can combine items, they should be able to combine beast cores too, right?"

Elliot took out the [Left Eye of the Elemental Heretic] and put in the highest grade Beast Core that he had, the Mythical Spider's Beast Core.

[Ding! Mythical Grade Beast Core detected.]

[Upgrade its effects by putting in beast cores with similar effects. Other beast cores will be consumed to upgrade the Mythical Grade Beast Core.]

[Combine its effects by putting in beast cores with different effects. Other beast cores will be consumed to enhance the Mythical Grade Beast Core.]

"Hohoho! This [Forbidden Box] just became extremely useful to me!" Elliot barked out a triumphant laugh.

"That's right, I wanted to give Frosty the Mutated Gojira's beast core to upgrade her Ice Beam into Glacial Beam. Let me see if I can strengthen that Mutated Gojira beast core first.

Oh, and I can give the Mutated Primal Feline Warrior beast core to Rex as well! Let me combine it with the Mutated Sabertooth Tiger Lord beast core."

Immediately, Elliot took out the Mutated Primal Feline Warrior beast core and placed it with the Mutated Sabertooth Tiger Lord beast core.

[Ding! Two similar beast cores detected. Combine?]

"Combine." Elliot ordered.

The plain looking box shined brightly for a brief second.

[Combination successful!]

Elliot eagerly took out the newly enhanced beast core.

"Hawk! Estimate the effects if I feed this to Rex!" Elliot ordered.

[Primal Feline purity level enhanced. Rex will rise one grade to become Legendary Grade. She will unlock a new skill - Destructive Bite. Her physical strength will also undergo a general increase in all aspects.]

"Ok. She won't grow two heads like the Mutated Primal Feline Warrior right?" Elliot asked to confirm a very critical point.

[Affirmative. She will not grow another head.]

"Good. Let's try combining the Mutated Gojira beast core. Hawk, any recommendations?" Elliot asked.

[To maintain the core upgrade of Frosty's Ice Beam into Glacial Beam, please upgrade the Mutated Gojira's Beast Core with the Hell Venom Anaconda's Beast Core as well as the Mutated Broodmother's Beast Core.]

[Ice Beam would transform into Venomous Glacial Beam.]

[Frosty will gain a new skill - Web Shot.]

"Web Shot… From her paws?" Elliot frowned lightly as the image of a childhood superhero of his that was able to shoot out spider web from his wrist began to superimpose with the image of Frosty.

[Negative. Web Shot would be fired from her mouth.]

"Ah yes. That's much better. She doesn't need to swing around since she can already fly." Elliot agreed wholeheartedly. "In that case, let's do it."

Once more, the Forbidden Box lit up brightly for a brief moment.

"With this, the only beast cores I have left are the Mythical Spider beast core, the Bangtol Frosty killed, and the four Stitched Pixie Witches." Elliot began to think aloud. "The Bangtol can fire off its spikes. Hey Rom, do you-"

"No." Came Rom's immediate reply.

"Are you sure? It'll be useful if you can fire off your spikes as well." Elliot pressed him slightly.

"No." Came his reply once more. "I will not sully the purity of my Lord's bloodline with a Bangtol's."

"Ah, yes you're right. I suppose by mixing up cores from different races together, I am deviating from the beast's purity. Like Frosty, if I give her this newly combined beast core, she would gain strength, but at the same time she would have less chances to evolve into a pure White Dragon." Elliot quickly built on Rom's line of thought and extrapolated his own conclusions from there.

"But if I control the direction of her evolution carefully by not allowing drastic ones, like becoming an Arach-Jin, I think she might even be able to evolve into a being which is stronger than the original. No White Dragon would be able to fire off a Venomous Glacial Beam afterall." Elliot nodded and quickly came to a startlingly accurate conclusion.

"Purists like Rom who worship their ancestors would never agree to doing such a thing because of honor and respect. But that's fine. Each Apostle and Beast have their own way of life. It's better to build on their strengths rather than forcing them to do things they don't want."

"Thank you for that… young man." Rom said quietly. He still couldn't bring himself to call Elliot "Master".

"All good." Elliot replied agreeably.

"Now that I'm done with the items, Hawk, show me the skills and other stuff I can buy." Elliot ordered the AI.

[Acknowledged.]

[Available points: 340]

[Skills available for purchase:]

[Summon Sand Dragon - Active skill which allows you to summon and control a temporary Epic Grade Sand Dragon] [Cost: 60 points]

[Summon Flame Grizzly - Active skill which allows you to summon and control a temporary Epic Grade Flame Grizzly] [Cost: 60 points]

[Summon Iron Golem - Active skill which allows you to summon and control a temporary Epic Grade Iron Golem] [Cost: 60 points]

[Summon Flower Demon - Active skill which allows you to summon and control a temporary Epic Grade Flower Demon] [Cost: 60 points]

[Summon Greater Orca - Active skill which allows you to summon and control a temporary Epic Grade Greater Orca] [Cost: 60 points]

[Beast Forms available for purchase:]

[Divine Elementalist Warrior Beast Form - 50 points]

[Specter Wolf Beast Form - 50 points]

[Runes available for purchase:]

[Minor Gold Element Resistance - 20 points]

[Minor Wood Element Resistance - 20 points]

[Minor Water Element Resistance - 20 points]

[Minor Fire Element Resistance - 20 points]

[Minor Earth Element Resistance - 20 points]

[Minor Gold Element Attack Boost - 20 points]

[Minor Wood Element Attack Boost - 20 points]

[Minor Water Element Attack Boost - 20 points]

[Minor Fire Element Attack Boost - 20 points]

[Minor Earth Element Attack Boost - 20 points]

"Runes?? What are runes??"

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