Hovering two stories above the sandy shore, Rosalia drew a semicircle with her hand and pressed her palm forward. The magic circle in front of her pulsated and rotated to completion.

SHWOOOOON.

[255 damage]

A searing beam of light immolated the male spinosaurus again, toppling it onto the sand with a resounding thud. Smoke billowed from the beam wound, its skin mangled and twisted near where the light hit it. Rosalia’s light magic was the equivalent of taking a magnifying glass and concentrating the sun’s rays onto an ant, on a much larger scale.

The female spinosaurus spun around to observe me in mist form, as blood and bodily fluids leaked from the gaping hole dimension ripper left in its belly, exposing even a part of its intestinal tract between its layer of fat. I needed to be a little sparing with my mana now, since both dimension ripper and shadow costed a fair bit of mana with each use.

Rosalia panted in fatigue, resting her hands on her legs, which were squeezed together at her knees as if she just ran several miles. Casting higher level magic took a huge toll on the caster, and she already used her beam spell twice in quick succession. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled and prepared another magic circle.

Thwack.

[47 damage]

Reappearing back in my physical body after running circles in mist form around the female spinosaurus, I directed love whip to lash directly on the female spinosaurus’s snout, smacking its head to the side. Without missing a beat, I swung my poleaxe and slashed at the spinosaurus’s side, targeting a flesh wound I made earlier with dimension ripper.

[108 damage, critical hit!]

I thrusted forward, aiming for the same spot but ended up hitting a part of the body with full hide.

[70 damage]

As the female spinosaurus’s health bar hemorrhaged from bleed damage and its open wounds, a mist began to seep out of my left arm. I swung downward with both arms at the spinosaurus's flank, causing it to reel in pain from the poleaxe impact, and then ran toward its underside with my left arm extended.

Squelch.

With a gorey finish, I executed the female spinosaurus, pulling out its massive still-beating heart and crushing it in my hand. The female spinosaurus fell to the ground.

You have slain a Female Adult Spinosaurus.

You have gained 22 souls.

You have obtained a Large Femur.

You have obtained a Gold Invitation.

Huh? Gold invitation?

No time to dwell on it though. I grabbed the poleaxe from the sand, right as the male spinosaurus charged me. Shit. Shadow was still on cooldown. Lunging at me with its jaw wide open, I held my ground and lifted my poleaxe right at its gaping mouth and began running forward.

As the massive male spinosaurus tried to clamp down on me, I thrusted the adamantite poleaxe right into his mouth, puncturing its vulnerable oral membrane.

[207 damage, critical hit!]

The spinosaurus sank its teeth into me.

[-570 health, critical damage!]

Health: 216/856

[Due to your low vitality, you have been staggered.]

[You have been infected by the bacterial bite of an animal.]

[You are now bleeding.]

Its teeth sank deeper into me. I felt my rib cage on the brink of collapsing from the pressure, and the deep lacerations made me nearly faint in pain. Right before the male spinosaurus could tear me apart, it collapsed on the ground with a thump after being smited by a fat beam of light.

Male Adult Spinosaurus has been slain.

You have gained 37 souls.

Rosalia has obtained a Large Dinosaur Bone.

Rosalia has obtained a Gold Invitation.

Right as the notifications lit up my screen, Rosalia began falling to the ground, her body slumped forward. It seemed that three consecutive casts was too much for the girl. I extended an arm out and ordered love whip to soften her fall, lowering her to the sand slowly.

[-7 health.]

[-7 health.]

I uncorked one of my last health potions and downed it, restoring a good amount of health. Technically I still had the reraise buff status, but I didn’t want to test my luck just to save a single potion. The blood seeping out of my body from the laceration wounds began to clot as I splashed the health potion on top of the affected areas.

Both adult spinosaurus lay dead at our feet, and further ahead the dead juvenile lay rotting on the shore alongside all the other soldiers, with a few bites taken out of it. I couldn’t see the surviving juvenile anywhere. It must have run off. Anyway, I wasn’t too afraid of it now that both the parents were dead.

Rosalia was vulnerable at the moment while unconscious, though. I walked over to Rosalia and hoisted her onto my back, and then made my way through the sand towards my golem core.

The spherical core was just like how I left it, what felt like an eternity ago. Setting Rosalia down gently in the sand nearby, I placed my palm on the core and began the reconstruction process.

[Golem reconstruction in process, 0.02% to completion.]

I sat on the sand and let out a weary sigh, waiting for the process to continue. Bits of stone and metal coalesced around the glowing core, until the core was no longer visible underneath all the rock.

[-1 health.]

I was still taking infection damage, but it would take a while before I was in any danger.

[Golem reconstruction in process, 7.12% to completion.]

Rosalia began to stir. “Spoon?” She looked around at our surroundings, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the midday sun. “Did we win?”

“Yeah. Killed both adults, but one of the juveniles escaped. You got the male one with your last spell before you fainted.”

“Oh, I see.” Rosalia took the pendant from her chest and pressed the warm pendant on my wounds, casting a healing spell. “That’s the best I can do for now… I’m out of mana,” she said, exhausted. With that done, she began tapping the air in front of her, going through her notifications.

“Gold Invitation… we both got one too… hmm.”

I almost completely forgot about that. I opened my inventory to find a white colored envelope with a gold seal on it.

[Gold Invitation]

Due to your outstanding achievements in Eclipse Online, you have been offered a gold rank ticket to the first Hidden Challenge. This challenge is meant for the best players across the continent to test themselves and compete for the highest level rewards.

By accepting this invitation, you will be teleported to the testing grounds on the day of the challenge. If you are dead during this time period, you will be revived and any death penalties will be forgiven.

You will be alerted one day before the challenge begins. May the stars shine brightly on your fortune.

“I’m doing it,” Rosalia said once she finished reading the contents of the invitation. “It forgives death penalties, and there must be some amazing rewards at stake.” She crushed the envelope, which emitted a soft glow before melting away into thin air.

[Would you like to accept the Gold Invitation?]

Confirm.

[Invitation accepted. You will be alerted one day before the challenge begins.]

[Golem reconstruction in process, 100.00% to completion.]

Shhhukkkk-

Standing taller than even the male spinosaurus, Siege Tank Golem whirled back to life. The reconstruction took a lot longer than I expected, but words could not describe the sense of security I got once that massive hunk of stone with whirling metal plates and a cute derpy stone face stood back up.

[-1 infection damage.]

[Your infection is festering. Seek medical attention immediately.]

“Rosalia,” I began. “Let’s head back to the dimension room. I need to get rid of this infection before it kills me.”

Rosalia nodded. “Okay, and it’s good timing for me to recharge my holy power as well.”

With a wave of my hand, I opened up a portal. My wounds still stung like crazy as I stood up and walked over. Siege Tank Golem looked at the opened portal curiously.

I looked up at him. “Hey, buddy. Can you come in here?” I asked, redirecting the portal to the storage room so he wouldn’t destroy the entire dimension room just by landing in it.

Siege Tank Golem, or Siege Golem as I liked to call him as well, shook his head. It made a circle with its left hand and poked it with its right finger, trying to get through the circle but being unable to do so because of the size.

“Em....” Rosalia blinked, blushing at the rather obscene gesture.

“I think he just means that he can’t fit because his size is too big,” I explained.

Rosalia blushed deep red and crossed her arms. “Really, Spoon?”

I shrugged. “I mean it literally, haha...”

Rosalia puffed her cheeks out. “Teach your golem some manners, Spoon.”

Laughing, I returned to the issue at hand. Patting the golem’s foot, I thought out loud. “So how am I supposed to move you if I can’t fit you in the dimension room?”

“You can move… my…. core.” came a baritone voice from the golem. I nearly fell over in surprise hearing the behemoth talk.

Rosalia was equally shocked, falling backwards butt first into the sand. “Ouch.”

“You can talk?” I asked the golem tentatively. I had a sneaking suspicion that my 530 golemancy stat contributed to this phenomenon.

Siege Golem nodded, his large rock head moving down once, and then back up in a rather solemn confirmation.

“So what do you mean move your core?”

The stone behemoth pointed towards its belly, then made a circle with its hand and stuck his finger through successfully this time. Watching the golem make an obscene gesture again, Rosalia bit on her tongue slightly exasperated.

“Deconstruct…. reconstruct when…. needed.”

I understood him clearly. Having intelligent minions was very nice. I felt like a senior manager with a big, strong worker that never complained, always worked hard, and was cute to boot.

“Stay out here and guard for now, buddy. We’ll be back once I’m fully healed and rested.”

Siege Tank Golem nodded and moved to a defensive stance, monitoring the shore for enemy life forms as I headed into the dimension room with Rosalia for a much needed reprieve.

“Home sweet home,” I sighed, heading straight for the bath before the infection could fester any further. Throwing off my clothes and putting two towels nearby, I free fell face first into the hot, inviting water. Instantly, I felt my pain begin to assuage.

[Your infection has been cured by the healing waters of Luxuria’s Hot Spring Bath]

[Buff has been renewed]

[The Goddess Luxuria looks upon you favorably for treating her Angel well]

[As a token of her appreciation, she has given you a hint for the Hidden Challenge]

The lake is not safe at noon.

I took a mental note of the goddess’s hint, and swam over to the far end of the massive tub. A few flaky colored orbs sat in a row near the ridge. I picked one up and felt it. This had to be a bath bomb. Without second thought, I tossed two of them into the water near me, as they bubbled pleasurably and dyed the water in my vicinity a deep shade of blue and pink.

“I’m coming in~” Rosalia chimed, stepping into the water as her slender figure slowly enveloped itself in the bubbling water. Although I had seen her fully nude a few times now, the sight was something that I’d never get tired of.

“Oh, my…” she sighed. “It’s going to take a while to rejuvenate all my holy power. One reraise uses almost all of it up.”

“Well, with great power comes great cost.” I tossed her a few multi colored bath bombs. “Here, try these. I’m pretty sure they refill every time we come in, so no big deal.”

She laughed, tapping the floating orbs into the water as they floated right back up and fizzled. “Aren’t these supposed to sink?”

“Maybe.”

I splashed some water on my face and sank into the water, submerging my head. Holding my breath, I stayed underwater for half a minute before re-emerging. “We’ve been spending a lot of time here recently, huh.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing~” Rosalia bantered playfully. “We get to enjoy ourselves, chat, and heal up. It’s wonderful.”

“Summon cat.”

Plop.

Meat Shield dropped on the side of the bath, eyeing the water. “Master, you know I can’t swim well right?” She edged away from the water fearfully.

“Oh?”

I cupped some water in my hands and threw it at Meat Shield, who dodged out of the way with some quick footwork, or should I say, paw work.

“Why didn’t you help us more during the fight?” I asked, picking up a bath bomb and aiming it at the cat.

“I’m just a small cat, I’m not effective against a dinosaur~” Meat Shield yelped while dodging a bath bomb projectile fired from U.S.S. Spoon.

“What kind of fire breathing cat is scared of a few dinosaurs?”

“Nya~”

Meat Shield leapt into the air and belched out a plume of fire, roasting the bath bomb I carefully aimed at her.