The haven where the Anointment Exam was being carried out in was a dark forest filled with all kinds of mysterious inhabitants. The sky above the clamouring leaves was pitch black, yet the ecosystem was visible enough to see. This was partially so, due to the pale luminescent light that radiated out of the red vegetation.
But, the majority of the light shining through the crimson forest realm was the sanguine tower of light beaming into the sky right from the center of the haven.
The prophets were not given maps nor directions, but they all turned to the beam as the true center of the haven, where they would all migrate to for clues.
After all, they had been dumped into this eerily dark world without any prior information, yet tasked to conquer the omen within it.
———
The trees were rooted at considerable lengths apart from each other, making wide enough paths for people to cross. Yet, Izel treaded the forest like she was a titan, razing past the trees to make her own space.
With every strained swing of her obsidian spear, a whip of wind would slice through any obstacle in her way. Her fit of destruction seemed mindless, however it was of some use as she could sense very miniscule amounts of essence being absorbed by her body as the trees fell.
'Do these things have essence crystals?' She guessed. But trees are not supposed to have spiritual essence. Because unlike spirits and red blooded creatures, trees remain the same no matter the realm. This was despite there being clear disparities between trees in the Realm of Augury and trees on Svarga, due to deciding factors like soil and light.
In summary, a tree should be just that.
Izel made a mental note of her discoveries, before making like a prophet and continuing to harvest these trees for essence. Every bit was valuable.
Not to mention, she was still getting used to her new body and wanted to know its limits. She had fought with Lion a few days prior, but that was a battle involving too many rules surrounded by expensive objects. So these cursed grounds with less restrictions were the perfect place to rampage.
Axe, her white scaled salamander blew fire on her spear's head, burning the talisman plastered on it and setting the blade on fire.
She took another swing at a tree, instantly setting it ablaze as soon as it got cut in half. In time, that fire soon slowly spread across the dry ground unto other trees.
"Come on Quetzcoat, this involves you too. Loosen up a bit." Izel made an offer to her Totem, wiggling her arms as a gesture.
The salamander leapt off her shoulder and soared right into the sky, growing from a 45 centimeter long creature to an 18 meter serpentine feathered creature.
The blue scaley underbelly of Quetzcoat's elongated snake-like body burnt into black as the creature shook lightning clouds out of its majestic golden feathers.
The face of this massive beast was similar to that of a snake but with beaks. Its mane shimmered like gold dust as it carried an obsidian mirror-like halo above the head of its terrifying figure.
With a loud shriek at the sky, more lightning rained on its body from its black clouds, making its scales shine even brighter as it accumulated power.
Izel's eyes shone with awe and excitement.
Look at how big her little friend had grown.
He opened his mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth and roared out blasts of wind down to the forest below, fueling the forest fire Izel was starting.
The halo above its head spun to the other side, and streaks of purple lightning shot out of its maw, down on the forest beneath it.
When he had deemed it enough, the dragon blew out hot air from its nostrils pridefully, then descended to his partner, who was still somewhere within the flames.
With Izel's sword summoned and raised up in the air, the dragon opened its mouth and shrunk, before swallowing the length of the blade while the sword was still being held in Izel's hand.
The obsidian blade, after being swallowed by the salamander, fused with the creature. Its shiny surface turned to scales with one of its sides dark, while the other was with shimmering golden scales. And while the hilt and guard of her weapon remained the same colour, the sword in its entirety and grown much longer— as long as a polearm.
Izel's katana was now a whole lot heavier, tougher and stronger, but also more blunt than its regular metal blade. And rather than cut, the blade shot out crescent slashes of wind and lightning whenever Izel swung it in a direction, making those waves crash into several trees and break them apart all at once.
Izel's strength seemed to have been boosted greatly with the blade in her hands, and her body immune to the disasters she was causing around her.
———
She had already razed a few kilometers worth of forest to ash, before she decided to stop out of consideration for her limited spiritual essence, and the fact that she had already gotten a proper grasp of her current powers.
"The evil spirit that used to roam this haven must have been really weak." She guessed, looking at how much of the forest had died under her force.
Izel was sure that if she had pulled a similar stunt in a place that had been run by even a Deceiver grade spirit, the damage wouldn't have been this much. This was because the Spiritual Density of a region determined how weak the environment was, and how much force a prophet could exercise within them.
For example, the gravity of a region being ruled or was once ruled by a Deceiver grade spirit was multiple times greater than one ruled by a Sullen grade. This was because the more powerful spirits tend to stay in places with higher spiritual densities, as they had more comfortable and suitable environmental factors for their living.
These environmental factors also influence how effective a Prophet's abilities would be. Axe could have only grown for ten meters in a region with average density, however, he was almost twice as big with twice the fire power here.
"Quetzcoat!" Izel called.
The black serpent finished putting out the fire they had started with his rain clouds, before transforming into its usual self and returning to Izel's shoulder.
"You did good, Axe." She pattef the creature.
The salamander turned even smaller before crawling onto Izel's chest pocket to sleep.
The woman sighed before turning her head down at the unconscious bodies of three unfortunate prophets.
The Title pieces of all four of them flew into the air, before three of them got sucked into Izel's piece and then fly back to her side.
When she tapped on her title piece, a scroll slid out of the side, revealing the symbol of flames circling around a small fragile flower. This was her Mark of virtue. And at the moment, this blank mark seemed to be filling up with colour, symbolising the little amount of merit Izel had gained from defeating these people.
"Sorry dudes, this is how I got paired up with a bad group in my last anointment. Maybe the trick is to just avoid Believers... or maybe, you know, come back better next year."
But the prophets were busy being too unconscious to reply.
She looked down at the blade in her hand, playing with it before clapping and making it disappear.
"All the more reason to find that kid before he gets into trouble."
Although she mostly regarded Ikky as a customer, Izel dared not leave him to his fate for fear of what her mother just might do to her if something happened to the new child at home.
But Izel believed things would work out fine for him, so long as Ikky stays out of trouble for a while enough to let her find him.
After all, Izel possesses a Second/ Divine grade mark of virtue along with one of the rarest types of Totem, on top of being a Believer prophet. Very few prophets on these cursed grounds could hinder her from going wherever she wanted and taking whoever she pleases along with her.
"He's also definitely a tough one. Hardly any of these newbies should come close, especially with my charm in his hands."
Not to mention, the chances that Ikky would run into one of those few Believers here were too low for her to even be concerned. So she could take her time.
Izel turned to the two bodies on the ground, tilting her head curiously. "What happened to the third one?"
She peered into the distance, getting her answer as she watched the man abandon the rest of his friends to run away.
Izel chuckled before resuming along the road. It's not like she was going to kill them anyway.
Even if they were Sins that resembled humans, she would still consider it murder. And that was amongst a list of things Izel avoids at all cost.