The next day.

Siderius laid down on the grass and stayed motionless. The wolverine laid right beside him and copied his movement.

Not far from them was a sandy area just outside of the Rose Springs. Siderius spotted a large burrow with a dark entrance in the middle.

"Now that is the perfect den for a tortoise."

Siderius tapped on Lycan's head. "Go get it."

Lycan the wolverine darted forward and quickly approached the burrow. It wasted no time to slide into the dark entrance.

Siderius took his time to walk to the burrow. The closer he was to it the more he heard the chaos Lycan was wreaking underground. Wolverine was a feisty creature despite their small size. It would not hesitate to face any danger throwing at its face.

Soon, Lycan returned to the surface. Its jaw clamped onto the hard shell of the tortoise to pull it up. The tortoise had withdrawn its head and limbs into the shell.

Siderius shared a loud laugh then squatted down and pulled the tortoise up alongside Lycan. It was an old tortoise and a very heavy shell.

Lycan ran around in circles once they had brought the tortoise up.

"You did good, Lycan. Now little tortoise, you need to come out."

Siderius placed the tortoise on an even area. It was in no way little and its shell was almost the size of Siderius' torso.

There were many ways to force a tortoise out of its shell. Burning it alive and drowning it were two very effective methods. However, they were going against the code of a witch hunter.

The witch hunter might hunt a beast but they should never be cruel. This had a hidden wisdom aspect to it as cruelty usually meant you were on the bad side of Fate.

No Alchemist would like to be on the bad side of Fate. It could kill you in ways you could never imagine.

Siderius simply used the <Vertigo> sigil to make the tortoise dizzy. The sigil floated in the air and illuminated. The tortoise's head came out immediately.

Siderius grabbed it and with one thrust from the assassin's knife, the head of the tortoise was pierced from behind.

"Depart in peace."

Ending the suffering of the beast was one of the most important aspects of a hunter. You should not prolong it nor let the beast suffer more than it needed to be.

"Now. It's time to dissect it."

The shell of a tortoise was different from the shell of a snail. Both were parts of their body and could not be removed. The removal of the shell would mean their death.

However, the shell of a snail was simply an exoskeleton. The shell of a tortoise was its bone. It was connected deeply to the tortoise body and grew along its internal organs.

Siderius decapitated the tortoise's head. He then hung it on a low tree branch to allow for its blood to pour out.

The blood of a tortoise was very valuable as it contained all the essence of the beast inside. It was also a very important ingredient for a tonic that Siderius wanted to make.

He placed a jug underneath the tortoise to catch the blood. Once the process was done, Siderius used the newly acquired Yellow Salt to seal them inside a yellow salt crystal.

Yellow Salt Crystal created a space where all properties of the stored material became dormant. It was one of its functions derived from Crystallized Suppression. When using yellow salt for a normal Crystallization, the formed crystal had a very unique preservation ability.

After that, Siderius placed the tortoise upside down on the ground. He cut around the bottom part of the shell, the plastron, and removed it. Then, the internal organs of the tortoise were exposed.

The next step was similar to all other gutting processes. Siderius took the organs out carefully, avoiding any tear into the organs.

Finally, he was able to harvest the meat. The meat of a tortoise focused on its limbs, neck and tail. It also had two long strips of meat that ran at the top of the shell.

Siderius removed them carefully and salted them for preservation.

Lycan observed Siderius closely. Its jaw hung open and saliva poured out without end.

Siderius chuckled then pointed to the organs on the side.

"You can't touch the meat. But those organs are yours."

Lycan stood up and saluted. Then it jumped into the pile of organs and feast upon it.

Wolverines were scavengers so naturally, Lycan would prefer organs more than the meat outside. The organs were packed with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals for Lycan to consume.

Once the meat was salted properly, Siderius hung them onto a low tree branch for it to dry.

"Now that everything else is taken care of. It's time for the shell."

The evolution from Parave to Parare was simple and required a complex alchemical seal to conduct.

The seal required Mercury, because of its role as transformation. And Salt, as its role in defensive sigils.

The Mercury seal was drawn on the ground. A circular seal that encompassed the shell in the middle. The Salt seal was drawn on the inside of the tortoise shell. The symbol of the upgraded Parare was present in the middle of the Salt seal.

Parave sigil was a diamond inside a circle.

Parare sigil was very similar with an additional cross inside the original diamond.

Once the seal was completed, Siderius flexed his left hand and summoned the system bracer.

He tapped on the surface of the black mirror and accessed the sigil slots. The symbols of his three current sigils showed up on the mirror.

The V with a horizontal line was <Vertigo>.

The second symbol was <Parave>.

The third symbol was the three interlocking circles of <Dispellera>.

"Activate manual Sigil Overdrive."

[Manual Sigil Overdrive Activated]

[Please select the registered Sigil]

Siderius tapped on the symbol of Parave. The sigil floated up on the black mirror and hovered in the air. Its white light shimmered gently, highlighting the dust particles in the air.

Siderius clasped his two hands together and began the sign sequence.

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