He took a moment to try and digest what he had just read. Intellect stat above twenty, or not, it was a lot to take in all at once.

"Why do things like this keep happening?" Blackthorne was at a loss. He did not understand why various forces and factions seemingly chose him for things out of the blue.

In the beginning, all he wanted was to enjoy a second chance at reliving his life. He hoped to find something new, something his own in the dream world. Yet, time and time again he was pulled various ways by some manipulative force or another.

"I'm constantly being led around by the nose, and now there's some sort of weird skill-based destiny crap, too?" The dragon flared his nostrils briefly then growled loudly toward the ceiling.

Part of him wanted a do-over. Start from the beginning. He would not be a dragon or any of that business. Of course, that was also the part of him that always gave in when things got rough.

Instead of giving into the tantrum brewing inside of his heart, Blackthorne raised his paw and looked at it. Slowly he closed his digits and made something that resembled a fist. The scaled flesh around his eyes crinkled together as he narrowed them. Maybe it was the thirty-two points of charisma talking, but he'd had enough.

Briefly, he considered his skill points but dismissed them. The glitch in the system, or whatever it was supposed to be, had no doubt made it possible for his recent growth. It would be easy to believe that it was on his side, but at this point it was hard to believe that anyone was truly acting for his benefit. Shara's voice being the one he heard as the system's voice was proof of that.

His thoughts turned back to recent events. "Powers from outside the system? Don't make me laugh," said Blackthorne with a grunt. There was no way that it could be true.

Still, he was curious about them. Eyes of Judgment was the skill he already knew about. What were the other two?

He read through the blurb for dark judgment then frowned. "Basically, I can send assholes to hell or something?"

It should not work on unintelligent beings, or those without a soul altogether. Even so, it would force a soul to judge itself. If it knew itself to be irredeemable, it would be dragged into the abyss. Strong-willed creatures could resist if their defenses were significantly higher than his charisma, however the power itself could not be blocked from usage.

The third exceptional skill was the so-called 'Awakening'. The only information that it provided was that unlocking the first level of awakening would reveal more of the truth about his existence. It warned him again that with each new ability gained he would draw further from his current nature and further toward his true reality.

"Intelligent people would spend their skill points and hope that they might gain some incredible boost when they are about to fight a boss," said Blackthorne. He was tempted to do that, but he refused. That would just be one more instance of him allowing himself to be forced to react by outside forces. His choices needed to be his own from now on, not just what he needed to do to get through whatever scheme had cropped up.

However, there was one thing that he did want to check out. He checked to see if he equip his new necklace in dragon form then felt relieved that he could have equipment in that state for once. Accessories larger than a ring were fun like that. He took a moment to focus on his new bauble then got a sense for what it supposedly did. "A shadow wisp is a soul drawn from the abyss to serve its master..."

"A ninth level shadow wisp will cost me a lot of my life force given that it will be drawn from a much better accessory, but I still need to see what it is," he said quietly. Blackthorne took a deep breath then began to chant the words that entered his mind.

~ Oh, you who wander lost in the dark below...

Come forth once more to the land of light and life...

Let me be as a guide, a beacon through the eternal dark that a wandering soul may depart the land of darkness and be born anew in my shadow. ~

“Shadow Wisp!” cried out Blackthorne.

At first nothing happened, but soon he realized that a deathly chill had stolen across his scaled flesh. All was silent, even his breathing made not a sound. Movement caught his eye. Blackthorne glanced quickly to the side and noted that his shadow had begun to flicker strangely.

A twisting mass of darkness rose up from his shadow and soon took on the form of a jet black sphere bathed in blue-tinged black flames. A soft voice reached his ears, though it sounded heavily distorted. It was a childlike giggle that seemed strangely nostalgic.

Soon, a brilliant light formed at the center of the sphere of darkness. The natural darkness of the room fled from the area as the shadow wisp took on a feminine form made out of light and shadow.

“Morning Wispy. Did you sleep well?” he asked in a congenial manner. There was no need to make their first meeting awkward.

The wisp glowed and then dimmed and then glowed again. It made a gurgled whisper then moaned a little. Despite its lack of speech, there was a sense of comprehension that blossomed inside of Blackthorne's heart. Yes, it had rested well considering the fact that it lived in the endless abyss reserved for wicked souls, or the truly unfortunate.

“Good! Shall we go brutally slaughter some wildlife for fun and profit?” asked Blackthorne.

The shadow wisp flickered a little in response. It almost seemed excited. Strangely, it drew close to him then tremulously reached out one vaguely human hand as though it wanted something but did not expect to receive it.

It took him a moment to realize it, but Blackthorne reach out and took the wisp's hand gently into his paw. She tried to move forward with him, hand-in-hand, but it proved difficult for him to do so with four legs. The wisp gurgled once more, a happy sound, then she drew away from him and spun around in a whimsical circle. She did not stray far from his side, however.

His new associate was not exactly a combatant. She could perform a few feats, but she was best at being a quite observer or guide. In his human form, she would light a path for him. In his dragon form, she could serve to scout ahead. Able to render herself invisible, she could do many things.

They moved on, and soon found a long corridor at the end of the treasure room. They followed it for a time, then located the entrance to what seemed to be a massive room. What little they could see of the place was completely open in their view. Even his true dark vision would not allow Blackthorne to see all of the way to the other side, but he did see numerous broken pillars and piles of debris.

He started forward but the wisp moved in front of him. She spun around in place then crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" asked Blackthorne.

She rapidly shook her head and then uncrossed and re-crossed her arms repeatedly. Even without her emotional projection, her opinion was clear. He should not continue forward.

Not long after her dire warning, he heard the sound of skittering claws on stone. It was a truly eerie sound that grew louder by the second.

The wisp tried to fly away from his direction a soon the light drew the attention of the skittering monster in the darkness. Out of the shadows skittered a multi-legged horror. It was a giant black scorpion with a massive stone tower on its back. It was far larger than any that he had faced before, and immense in both its ugliness and the terror that it radiate.

As it loomed closer, the size of it increased tremendously. The dim light and his own senses had played tricks on Blackthorne. Giant was not the word, nor was the word scorpion appropriate. The beast was a colossal creature of ridiculous proportions, but some of that ridiculousness came from the fact that he had been mistaken. What he took for a stone tower was actually a stony-skinned humanoid figure that was melded with the top of the scorpion at the waist. The massive mouth of the creature's humanoid head opened wide then it flung its human arms out water. In each hand it wielded sharp scimitars that were wider than Scott was tall. Information rose above the creature's head, further solidifying its place in the pecking order.

Girtablilu, the Ancient Devourer

Legendary Big Daddy Scorpion – Level ???

For the second time that day, Blackthorne's intellect shined through brilliantly as he eloquently spoke the words that were conveyed throughout the core of his being in that moment. "Well, shit."