Chapter 487 Three Little Things
(A/N: Cliché/Not cliché at the end of the chapter).
"We make a great team, don't we Ferex?" Yuyui said with a big smile on her face while trying to get a high five from the Limitless Body Null Demon Hound.
Ferex's sockets dimmed as he seemed to be contemplating on whether or not it was worth it to be all buddy-buddy with this woman.
Just because she was his master's servant didn't mean that they had to be friends, right?
Yuyui started to sweat while trying to maintain her big smile, but time slowly passed with Ferex looking at her blankly, even going as far to transform into his humanoid form and sit down with his 'hands' on his chin as if really giving this some much needed thought.
'Seriously?! We made a good team, didn't we? I was hacking and slashing left and right! I thought we were bonding!' Yuyui thought while waiting for the response.
Skullius was sitting down a distance from them, watching this 'exchange'.
He had been successful in retrieving what he needed from the Cluster, the throne on the mountain where the Cluster General had been seated, right before it closed, though it had been too close for comfort. The Penetrator had had to lose his lower half to the collapsing Cluster but he soon restored it with [Silent Revelation of The Bright King].
At the moment, Skullius was digesting three things.
First was the unexpected boon he had received from extracting the nullification ability of the greatsword that the Great Flame Bringer had used which was now in his possession, the skill called [Defiant Raiment of Perversion].
~~~
[Defiant Raiment of Perversion | Lv. 1]
An ancient robe is summoned, one fitted with a unique type of Null Life Essence. The capabilities of the raiment are a bane that the Nullmancer wields against any form of magic grown in distant lands.
<Passive>
• Nullifies any low to middle level Special Skills and below
• +5000 Mana with absolute conversion
• +2500 Intelligence
<Active>
Any skill or concepts the user completely understands with the use of <Epiphany> becomes ineffective against them.
Mana Requirements: None
Duration: None
Cooldown: None
~~~
This was a Nullmancer exclusive skill, just like [Epiphany]!
One with ridiculous effects as well!
This was pretty much a free ticket against normal skills and some subpar Special skills!
It now made sense to Skullius why the flame serpent that had been summoned by the greatsword, which was called the [Cross Pyre] was instantly broken into fragments when this robe had appeared!
By all accounts this was a ridiculously good boon for Skullius and it added to the unique aesthetic he had.
This robe he wore as a result of [Defiant Raiment of Perversion] was said to be made from a different type of Null Life Essence, which confirmed his theory that stemmed from the skill [Serration Zone]. Null Life Essence was a much more broad concept than he had thought before.
That aside, the fact that the active effects of this skill allowed him to progressively grow, continuing to break apart concepts he had already comprehended through [Epiphany]...
'That's way too good!' Skullius thought with his bony hand rubbing against his chin. 'Still, it requires a lot of Null Life Essence to comprehend just a bit of a high level concept, so there's still a long way to go.'
The abilities of the [Cross Pyre] which heavily focused on flame had even prompted [Epiphany] to activate but Skullius wasn't too hot on gaining a greater understanding of normal fire at the moment.
He still had three high level concepts to deal with, after all.
The second thing that had Skullius thinking was Ferex's flaw, which kept blinking in his sights through a guidance field notification.
A rather troublesome one.
[The mandatory effect known as RESET for Apostle 'Ferex' is about to apply. Do you accept?]
Ferex's flaw, which was that he had to RESET after every intense battle, was flashing before his eyes. With it came Ferex losing the experience in combat he had gained, along with the personality traits and insights he had obtained to balance out his overwhelming potential in Aigas.
As Skullius thought about it, he realised that Ferex had never been in a rough battle until now.
With the Bulk Terrors, he had been killing them easily while miniaturised, most of them dying without knowing how. With the Bookworms, he had targeted Kotaman and killed her without conflict. In the Temple of Unlusted Tears, he had been one shot by Bassbion.
But now, he had had a bitter fight in the hands of Yuyui and then in the hands of Skullius.
'This time, I'm given the choice to choose whether to do it or not to do it, huh?' Skullius thought. It was different when he had merged with Ferex to create Ogwulf the Limitless, as that time, it had been a RESET that didn't ask his permission, probably because they were merged.
Now, with him holding the decision of whether or not to clear Ferex of his growth...
Obviously, he didn't want to but the flaw had a consequence.
There was a CHANCE that Ferex would turn into the world ending Null Terror, the Full Deck Bone Tender!
Whatever that thing was, Skullius could tell it was bad news.
Fortunately for him, the silver lining was... there was a CHANCE that this Bone Tender would be summoned. It wasn't something definite.
'I can't have Ferex losing all that he has worked hard to achieve. He's working hard to get stronger and seeing him start from scratch again...' Skullius thought as his socket flames turned to Ferex who in this moment finally gave a pat to Yuyui, acknowledging that indeed, within the few minutes of badassery they had made a good team.
Skullius just couldn't do that to Ferex.
For now, he bit down on his teeth and...
"No," he ordered against the RESET, his core cringing at the immediate side effect of the flaw that... didn't happen.
Ferex and Yuyui who wiped the sweat off her brow continued with their conversation, the lime haired girl pointing at Skullius from the distance as she seemed to be making fun of him.
How carefree.
The Penetrator wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.
This scene was contrary to what he thought.
He expected an explosion to erupt right where Ferex stood because of his atrocious luck but as the trend seemed to dictate, nothing of the sort occurred!
Things were going fairly well!
'I dodged another one!' Skullius exclaimed in his mind.
Thank the father of all bones!
He would try to ensure that a solution to this anxiety inducing flaw was found before he had to face that dreadful notification.
Phewww.
The third thing that had Skullius thinking was Yuyui.
Her Eye of Dispersal which could seemingly disrupt skills even at the Supreme level like his as well as her ability to use Demion's Dance effectively without having the [Swindling Death's Dance] technique.
The former was something he could dissect with time but the latter...
Skullius' theory on why that was, was that it probably had to do with how Yuyui was constantly dying. Perhaps her understanding of death allowed her have a subconscious understanding of the inner workings of Demion's Dance which manifested as the dark thread from the tip of the sword that slew enemies beyond her level!
The Penetrator was sure this was it.
During the past two days, Skullius' plan for Yuyui had only been for her to use her raw strength to cut down a few Fire Breeders for Null Life Essence required to use for [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge] that time.
His speech to her which worked a lot more than he intended, had lead to a spectacular outcome where his guinea pig now had the will to fight!
It was as if she was reborn!
"Speaking of being born," Skullius said as he cradled the object that he had laid on the ground minutes after exiting the collapsing Cluster.
An egg.
This was one of the three eggs that were on the throne, absorbing the fire essence in preparation for adsorption by the Cluster General!
With the spawning of creatures catalysed by his Null Life skills, these strange beasts coming from wherever he got his Null Life powers from, especially the latest one...
The blue skinned creature that had actually said a set of words that he understood, another mystery that bugged him, Skullius was very much interesting in seeing if possibly...
Possibly...
Maybe...
Was there a way to [Unbound] the flesh out of this egg and summon a creature from the 'other side' that was subservient to him?!
The Apostles were cool and all but... the mystery of Null Life... it was enticing.
His Apostles couldn't teach him more, after all.
It wouldn't hurt to try right?
What was there to lose?!
Skullius grabbed the egg, his sockets flaring.
The criteria was probably the same as with upgrading an object so... if he funnelled all 6000 units of Null Life Essence he had right now...
[What would you like to upgrade with 'Unbound'?]
"This egg," Skullius responded.
[6000 Null Life Essence points expended for 'Permanent Random Upgrade']
[Permanent Random Upgrade decided]
"Here goes."
...
Skullius watched in silence as the dark egg he held, one of the two smaller ones that had been on the throne, become suffocated with a light blue hue, its size beginning to rapidly expand, its shell starting to crack!
This was it!
Yuyui and Ferex were drawn by what their master was doing.
Though Yuyui couldn't perceive Null Life Essence, the enlarging egg that rapidly cracked, releasing a sharp blue light from within it drew her attention.
Skullius was anxious.
Maybe this was where his atrocious luck would finally catch him.
Maybe something incredibly dangerous in the Null world or whatever would suddenly appear and swallow him whole!
That was a possibility, right?!
The Penetrator stood and took a defensive stance as the egg finally shattered, releasing a concentrated burst of Null Life Essence... something emerging from it!
What monstrosity...!
What calamity...!
What... cuteness?!
"Aaaaaaaaaawwwwww!" Yuyui's eyes sparkled as a figure was reflected in her eyes, its mass seated atop the shards of the shattered egg.
Skullius looked at the creature with incredulous flames while Ferex was indifferent.
What lay before them all... was a chubby... baby.
A bold humanoid child with colourless slime oozing over it, its skin a light shade of turquoise blue, its muscles looking so fat and squishy one couldn't help but want to squish them (if they weren't an undead or former undead of course).
Skullius couldn't understand what this was supposed to be.
The blank eyes of the child as it giggled without a voice, a big smile on its face as it sat upright completely naked, though with no EXPECTED organs, gave him a weird feeling.
Yuyui rushed over to grab the child in her arms with a nurturing touch, the way she carried herself growing soft from the tough she had earned during the fight.
Skullius couldn't help but feel like he was duped.
There had to be something more to this.
He narrowed his socket flames as he searched for the description of this thing with his guidance field and...
Just the first line of description lead the Penetrator to yell out a never before heard bone expletive!
~~~
[Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity]
<Unique>
A living consumable item that grants EXTREME....
~~~
"CONSUMABLE????!"
"We make a great team, don't we Ferex?" Yuyui said with a big smile on her face while trying to get a high five from the Limitless Body Null Demon Hound.
Ferex's sockets dimmed as he seemed to be contemplating on whether or not it was worth it to be all buddy-buddy with this woman.
Just because she was his master's servant didn't mean that they had to be friends, right?
Yuyui started to sweat while trying to maintain her big smile, but time slowly passed with Ferex looking at her blankly, even going as far to transform into his humanoid form and sit down with his 'hands' on his chin as if really giving this some much needed thought.
'Seriously?! We made a good team, didn't we? I was hacking and slashing left and right! I thought we were bonding!' Yuyui thought while waiting for the response.
Skullius was sitting down a distance from them, watching this 'exchange'.
He had been successful in retrieving what he needed from the Cluster, the throne on the mountain where the Cluster General had been seated, right before it closed, though it had been too close for comfort. The Penetrator had had to lose his lower half to the collapsing Cluster but he soon restored it with [Silent Revelation of The Bright King].
At the moment, Skullius was digesting three things.
First was the unexpected boon he had received from extracting the nullification ability of the greatsword that the Great Flame Bringer had used which was now in his possession, the skill called [Defiant Raiment of Perversion].
~~~
[Defiant Raiment of Perversion | Lv. 1]
An ancient robe is summoned, one fitted with a unique type of Null Life Essence. The capabilities of the raiment are a bane that the Nullmancer wields against any form of magic grown in distant lands.
<Passive>
• Nullifies any low to middle level Special Skills and below
• +5000 Mana with absolute conversion
• +2500 Intelligence
<Active>
Any skill or concepts the user completely understands with the use of <Epiphany> becomes ineffective against them.
Mana Requirements: None
Duration: None
Cooldown: None
~~~
This was a Nullmancer exclusive skill, just like [Epiphany]!
One with ridiculous effects as well!
This was pretty much a free ticket against normal skills and some subpar Special skills!
It now made sense to Skullius why the flame serpent that had been summoned by the greatsword, which was called the [Cross Pyre] was instantly broken into fragments when this robe had appeared!
By all accounts this was a ridiculously good boon for Skullius and it added to the unique aesthetic he had.
This robe he wore as a result of [Defiant Raiment of Perversion] was said to be made from a different type of Null Life Essence, which confirmed his theory that stemmed from the skill [Serration Zone]. Null Life Essence was a much more broad concept than he had thought before.
That aside, the fact that the active effects of this skill allowed him to progressively grow, continuing to break apart concepts he had already comprehended through [Epiphany]...
'That's way too good!' Skullius thought with his bony hand rubbing against his chin. 'Still, it requires a lot of Null Life Essence to comprehend just a bit of a high level concept, so there's still a long way to go.'
The abilities of the [Cross Pyre] which heavily focused on flame had even prompted [Epiphany] to activate but Skullius wasn't too hot on gaining a greater understanding of normal fire at the moment.
He still had three high level concepts to deal with, after all.
The second thing that had Skullius thinking was Ferex's flaw, which kept blinking in his sights through a guidance field notification.
A rather troublesome one.
[The mandatory effect known as RESET for Apostle 'Ferex' is about to apply. Do you accept?]
Ferex's flaw, which was that he had to RESET after every intense battle, was flashing before his eyes. With it came Ferex losing the experience in combat he had gained, along with the personality traits and insights he had obtained to balance out his overwhelming potential in Aigas.
As Skullius thought about it, he realised that Ferex had never been in a rough battle until now.
With the Bulk Terrors, he had been killing them easily while miniaturised, most of them dying without knowing how. With the Bookworms, he had targeted Kotaman and killed her without conflict. In the Temple of Unlusted Tears, he had been one shot by Bassbion.
But now, he had had a bitter fight in the hands of Yuyui and then in the hands of Skullius.
'This time, I'm given the choice to choose whether to do it or not to do it, huh?' Skullius thought. It was different when he had merged with Ferex to create Ogwulf the Limitless, as that time, it had been a RESET that didn't ask his permission, probably because they were merged.
Now, with him holding the decision of whether or not to clear Ferex of his growth...
Obviously, he didn't want to but the flaw had a consequence.
There was a CHANCE that Ferex would turn into the world ending Null Terror, the Full Deck Bone Tender!
Whatever that thing was, Skullius could tell it was bad news.
Fortunately for him, the silver lining was... there was a CHANCE that this Bone Tender would be summoned. It wasn't something definite.
'I can't have Ferex losing all that he has worked hard to achieve. He's working hard to get stronger and seeing him start from scratch again...' Skullius thought as his socket flames turned to Ferex who in this moment finally gave a pat to Yuyui, acknowledging that indeed, within the few minutes of badassery they had made a good team.
Skullius just couldn't do that to Ferex.
For now, he bit down on his teeth and...
"No," he ordered against the RESET, his core cringing at the immediate side effect of the flaw that... didn't happen.
Ferex and Yuyui who wiped the sweat off her brow continued with their conversation, the lime haired girl pointing at Skullius from the distance as she seemed to be making fun of him.
How carefree.
The Penetrator wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.
This scene was contrary to what he thought.
He expected an explosion to erupt right where Ferex stood because of his atrocious luck but as the trend seemed to dictate, nothing of the sort occurred!
Things were going fairly well!
'I dodged another one!' Skullius exclaimed in his mind.
Thank the father of all bones!
He would try to ensure that a solution to this anxiety inducing flaw was found before he had to face that dreadful notification.
Phewww.
The third thing that had Skullius thinking was Yuyui.
Her Eye of Dispersal which could seemingly disrupt skills even at the Supreme level like his as well as her ability to use Demion's Dance effectively without having the [Swindling Death's Dance] technique.
The former was something he could dissect with time but the latter...
Skullius' theory on why that was, was that it probably had to do with how Yuyui was constantly dying. Perhaps her understanding of death allowed her have a subconscious understanding of the inner workings of Demion's Dance which manifested as the dark thread from the tip of the sword that slew enemies beyond her level!
The Penetrator was sure this was it.
During the past two days, Skullius' plan for Yuyui had only been for her to use her raw strength to cut down a few Fire Breeders for Null Life Essence required to use for [Serration Zone: Baneful Edge] that time.
His speech to her which worked a lot more than he intended, had lead to a spectacular outcome where his guinea pig now had the will to fight!
It was as if she was reborn!
"Speaking of being born," Skullius said as he cradled the object that he had laid on the ground minutes after exiting the collapsing Cluster.
An egg.
This was one of the three eggs that were on the throne, absorbing the fire essence in preparation for adsorption by the Cluster General!
With the spawning of creatures catalysed by his Null Life skills, these strange beasts coming from wherever he got his Null Life powers from, especially the latest one...
The blue skinned creature that had actually said a set of words that he understood, another mystery that bugged him, Skullius was very much interesting in seeing if possibly...
Possibly...
Maybe...
Was there a way to [Unbound] the flesh out of this egg and summon a creature from the 'other side' that was subservient to him?!
The Apostles were cool and all but... the mystery of Null Life... it was enticing.
His Apostles couldn't teach him more, after all.
It wouldn't hurt to try right?
What was there to lose?!
Skullius grabbed the egg, his sockets flaring.
The criteria was probably the same as with upgrading an object so... if he funnelled all 6000 units of Null Life Essence he had right now...
[What would you like to upgrade with 'Unbound'?]
"This egg," Skullius responded.
[6000 Null Life Essence points expended for 'Permanent Random Upgrade']
[Permanent Random Upgrade decided]
"Here goes."
...
Skullius watched in silence as the dark egg he held, one of the two smaller ones that had been on the throne, become suffocated with a light blue hue, its size beginning to rapidly expand, its shell starting to crack!
This was it!
Yuyui and Ferex were drawn by what their master was doing.
Though Yuyui couldn't perceive Null Life Essence, the enlarging egg that rapidly cracked, releasing a sharp blue light from within it drew her attention.
Skullius was anxious.
Maybe this was where his atrocious luck would finally catch him.
Maybe something incredibly dangerous in the Null world or whatever would suddenly appear and swallow him whole!
That was a possibility, right?!
The Penetrator stood and took a defensive stance as the egg finally shattered, releasing a concentrated burst of Null Life Essence... something emerging from it!
What monstrosity...!
What calamity...!
What... cuteness?!
"Aaaaaaaaaawwwwww!" Yuyui's eyes sparkled as a figure was reflected in her eyes, its mass seated atop the shards of the shattered egg.
Skullius looked at the creature with incredulous flames while Ferex was indifferent.
What lay before them all... was a chubby... baby.
A bold humanoid child with colourless slime oozing over it, its skin a light shade of turquoise blue, its muscles looking so fat and squishy one couldn't help but want to squish them (if they weren't an undead or former undead of course).
Skullius couldn't understand what this was supposed to be.
The blank eyes of the child as it giggled without a voice, a big smile on its face as it sat upright completely naked, though with no EXPECTED organs, gave him a weird feeling.
Yuyui rushed over to grab the child in her arms with a nurturing touch, the way she carried herself growing soft from the tough she had earned during the fight.
Skullius couldn't help but feel like he was duped.
There had to be something more to this.
He narrowed his socket flames as he searched for the description of this thing with his guidance field and...
Just the first line of description lead the Penetrator to yell out a never before heard bone expletive!
~~~
[Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity]
<Unique>
A living consumable item that grants EXTREME....
~~~
"CONSUMABLE????!"
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