After a few days of rest, it is time to complete some more quests and bring me closer to A rank. I walked into the guild and viewed the available quests on the quest board. Hmm, okay, let's go with finding a wyvern nest and slaying at least one wyvern. What else should I pick? Oh? There's too many ants? I heard fire is the best solution, time to test out my newly gained abilities. Hmm, it seems no one is taking my quest for finding the Tengu's Sky Island...guess I'll take it.

I walked up to the guild receptionist and signed the quests that I'll be taking. "I'll take these."

"Okay."

Walking out of guild, I sent a mental transmission to my mount and friend Blackie. "Time to go gain some experience."

A sharp screech pierced the sky, and a black flaming shadow speedily approached the guild at a distance. The shadow is Blackie. When he landed, I hopped on and we flew towards the Ant Nests in the south.

..........

Because of Blackie, what would take hours by walking took minutes by flying, I was able to reach the Ant Nests quickly. Looking the numerous ant nests, I decided to chose a nest that was located further away from the rest. While the ants are still inside the nest, I carefully, quietly, and quickly brought out many firewood and made a small encirclement around the nest. Then, I wet the firewood and the nest with all the alcohol I have. Afterwards, I grabbed my mask - Mask of the Fiery Demon - and wore it. After gaining fire-based abilities, I cast a fireball at the nest. With the boost of my Flames of Wrath, any fire attack I use contains the Flames of Wrath and will burn continuously until nothing is left to burn.

The fire starts spreading on the surface of the nest, but is contained by the firewood. Seconds later, many giant ants start pouring out of the nest and catching on fire. Most of the ants that flow out of the nest gets burned to ash quickly, however, there are some ants who took cover behind their burning comrades and jumped out of the fire's range.

"Blackie! Take care of those that escaped!" I exclaimed.

*SCRREEEEEE!!* Blackie screamed before casting intense Darkness on the giant ants' minds. The Darkness clouded and poisoned their minds that the ants started attacking each other. Then, Blackie breathed black fire at the ants - killing them.

There were many ants but none were able to escape my and Blackie's flames. After killing all the ants and flattening the ant nest to the ground, I jumped on Blackie and we flew east towards the hidden village between the Snowy Mountains and Shadow Mountains.

..........

Seeing the hidden village below me, I could immediately feel a sense of being watched. Grinning, I told Blackie to fly up into the clouds. As we flew upwards, an indescribable sense of pressure fell upon us. So this is the real test eh?

"Blackie! Hang in there. This is the real test, if we endure it, we'll grow stronger." I shouted. This type of pressure is also sometimes called Spiritual Pressure which, if properly incorporated, can be used to help temper the body and the soul.

We continue to ascend and struggle. At the halfway point, I was finally able to see a spot in the distance. That spot must be Sky Island. Knowing that the destination is in sight, we pressed on. At three-quarters of the way up, I found that Blackie could not reach any higher. So we descended to the ground. I racked my brains to see how I can increase Blackie's strength. Suddenly, I remember his mother's beak. I will use that beak to make a mask for Blackie. I told this plan to Blackie and after some thought, he agreed.

Opening Maker's Domain, I took out the beak. Now this beak was the only part of Blackie's mother that did not show any sign of rot and decay. This means that the beak can be considered as a top grade rare material. I began to compress the beak into a ball and then knead the ball, shaping it into a bird-like mask. I take out the 8 darkness attributed hobgoblin masks and used a forbidden technique of mine "Mask Recycle" which recycles the masks into component materials - in this case Darkness-type component materials.

Then, I fused the component materials with the mask - forming a layer around the mask. I take out a moon rock from my bag and fused with the mask while chanting incantations. This moon rock added with the incantations will give the user the ability to see and fight better in the dark. In addition, I took a vial of Blackie's blood to mix into the mask, allowing it recognize Blackie as the only owner. Finally, I add a drop of blood filled with my Maker's Essence onto the mask which fuses with the mask granting it a few more increases in stats. After making the mask, I appraised it:

Mask of the Nightingale Queen: A-rank

No cooldown

No-limit

Indestructible

Binding Mask (only recognizes Blackie as owner, always worn on Blackie)

Enchanted Normal Mask

No Stamina Drain

Special Attributes:

Darkness Resistance 200%

Light/Holy Resistance 200%

Unholy Resistance 100%

All Stats Increase 150%

Special Skills:

Cry of the Nightingale - a high pitch wail that poisons the mind and cause all enemies below A-rank to faint

Special Abilities:

Summons - any Nightingale species must obey user

Wings of Darkness - grows two more wings made of pure darkness greatly increasing Blackie's speed and affinity to Darkness

Warrior of the Night - fights better and see better in the night/dark

Finishing with the mask, I decided to also create some pills for Blackie to further boost his strength and vitality. I took the two Firebird corpses I killed the other day and extracted their blood and monster cores. I crushed the cores to release the essence. Taking the essence, I mixed it with the blood. Then, I compressed and condensed the blood until two small blood pills were formed. Finished, I closed my domain.

"Here." I said as I give the mask to Blackie. "This will fuse with you but will you give you many benefits."

Blackie wore the mask and transformed. Now with four wings and an increase in size, Blackie could feel his overwhelming increase in capabilities. Then, I gave him the two blood pills. Blackie began cultivating as soon as he swallowed the pills and after a few hours, he was able to completely cultivate and refine the pills.

"Ok. Let's try this test again." I said as I jumped on Blackie's back once again.

We flew straight up...past the halfway point...pass the previous stopping point...all the way to the top - the pressure wasn't as hard to overcome anymore. Landing on the Sky Island, we were greeted by Xeck Qoju.

"Congratulations on passing the first test. I have seen your strength and determination." Xeck applauded, "Truthfully, there's no other tests to give. I had thought you wouldn't be able to complete the first test. I was wrong. We of the Tengu Tribes are willing to trade with Adventurer City. Here's a feather of mine as a seal of approval."

"Thanks." I say as I received the black feather. Then, Blackie and I descended once more and headed north to the North Mountains where I heard of a wyvern nest located around there.