Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius couldn't go to the stout mountain at this time as he would be obliterated by the conditions there. For that, he needed his Penetrator form which he couldn't use if he wanted to forge his new core.

But that was not important as the Discount Human had already begun to weave the mana softly flowing out the Centre.

This was a tremendously arduous process that required Skullius' entire focus.

The mana he weaved, the edges, crevices and bumps he created to mimic how Gravitational mana behaved was rough at best.

What he was creating now was like a template for all the coming mana which would surround the Centre in a circular coat and act like a copier that churned the mana expelled from the Centre into a knock-off that Skullius put his heart and soul into.

He finely etched his focus and skill that he progressed at a such a horrendously slow that effectively made a snail's stroll on the ground look like super speed in comparison.

Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration but the idea was understandable enough.

[Elevated Mana Manipulation] levelled up quite a lot during the hours that Skullius buried himself in the focus, his brow actually beginning to leak sweat (still water) as he focused. His soul constantly pulsed as he fine tuned this mechanism that would ensure that his mana would transform into... whatever this he whenever going to create was, whenever it streamed from the Centre.

This skill was an anomaly that most wouldn't recognise.

If one were to recall, [Elevated Mana Manipulation] had evolved from the skill [Mana Sense], which had been the only skill Skullius had which had had the tag, 'Permission to evolve' when he first came to Aigas.

Back then when he gave the go ahead, it had transformed into [Basic Mana Manipulation] which seemed like quite the leap from merely being able to sense mana.

The reason this culminated as such was because Skullius' proficiency at feeling mana had advanced to him being able to draw it from the mana gems in Deadmanland but for the skill to grow further and actually show his competence in handling mana, Skullius had to grow out of his limiter.

His race, the Moronic Undead.

After that, Skullius' thousand years of experience had been taken into account, evolving the skill to [Basic Mana Manipulation].

Now, it was uncontested that this skill was definitely a reflection of the beauty of the path he had taken, casting away what the other Moronic Undead religiously followed. His efforts weren't wasted.

The hard work that followed, with Skullius feeling even his body burning and his soul churning, would be something that the Discount Human and Penetrator would look to in pride, UNTAMED pride, using it to move on as he forged a path ahead.

Skullius employed [Mana Force] which had also been levelling up crazily to compound the mana that slowly streamed from his Centre to the limit, as he then shaped it.

The mix of [Mana Force] and [Elevated Mana Manipulation] created the perfect mix of skill that Skullius required for his task yet the result after thirteen hours was a whopping 2% completion rate!

The progression was firmly cut off by [High Cosmetic Body] timing out, which led to the Penetrator appearing.

Fortunately, when Skullius used the skill again, he would continue from where he left off as continuity was assured each time he switched between bodies.

"Ah... That was intense," Skullius said as he stood. "I wonder how long it will take for me to finish. I really need to get that core before the Premium Age Royale otherwise Silrat won't let me hear the end of it."

Skullius began his walk out of the forest, his mind deep set in thought when he suddenly injected mana into his spatial storage ring.

Like a whip, the Chains of Damnation swished through the air to rapidly wrap around his body!

"I had almost forgotten about you, bro," Skullius said as he patted the chain which wriggled, clearly happy to be out again.

Since the Aegis of Damnation had been split into two diagonal halves, Skullius had salvaged the Chains as he figured they would be a pretty great weapon to use.

As the Penetrator, they were hard for him to wield because the moment he did, he'd have to use them to pierce and stab which was ridiculous. Thus, the chains normally acted on their own when he was in his Penetrator form.

Skullius thought they would be a better fit for his Discount Human though.

Speaking of dark chains, Skullius recalled the time during Sila's take over when the bastard had used an [Evil Darkness] to link the Lord-Slayer and Demion's Dance.

Did Sila not think to use the Chains of Damnation or was it that he thought the chains would reject him.

Unlike a body, the chains were pretty sentient after all.

And as far as that subject was concerned...

"Hmmm... Maybe it's time I talked to the sockethole," Skullius said.

He had confirmed that he had full control of Sila's soul before so there was no harm in having a conversation especially now when he made sure to focus his all on the task.

Skullius slowly left a window for the piece of soul trapped in his own and spoke.

"Hey sockethole..."

"..."

"There's something we need to talk about."

Silence.

Skullius had begun to wonder whether Sila was sulking or something but then...

'What do you want, tomato flinger?' a hoarse and sullen voice echoed within the Penetrator's mind.

'Hmmm? Is this really Sila? He sounds... different,' Skullius thought.

"So you are in there?" the Penetrator said as he made doubly sure that there wasn't anything wrong. "I'll get straight to the point. You and I don't like being in this situation and we clearly can't trust each other. So, instead of focusing on how badly we want to get rid of each other, how about you tell me where that place you said could grant me a blue core is, so that I get stronger, faster."

'...'

Sila did not give a reply. At least not immediately.

Skullius waited.

As strange as it might sound, after the initial rage, and with him finding out that he could reverse his core situation, Skullius had actually come to reflect on how terrible of an experience this was for Sila.

He could kind of relate, after all.

When considering that he had also brought some of that latest disaster upon himself by taking up Bek's deal, he knew there was only so much he could say to rightfully justify himself.

'Hmph. After all that, you expect me to help you?' Sila said with a scoff.

"It's not like you're innocent either. Besides, helping me is helping yourself too. Now that you know about me I'm sure you've seen that I wasn't lying about anything we agreed to back then. If I get strong enough, I could bring your wife back and even get you a body."

The previous agreement with Sila and Skullius had involved the latter taking advantage of Sila's fondness over this person called a wife, lead to a sealed deal.

On Sila's part, now that he had seen through Skullius' memories, he knew the extent of power that the Insurgent Magnus possessed, but bringing back the dead was merely a possibility at best.

'... You say so as if it is some kind of leverage. I have eaten my fair share of a dark reality. Perhaps I should perish and meet my wife on the other side instead.'

'The heck!'

Skullius was once again shocked by Sila's new demeanour. He was no longer loud and rambling every damn second.

However, he wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"You're just going to give up when you lived such a terrible life? Didn't you get defeated before and get locked up for many years? I know how that feels. At least now I do. I have been given a chance at making myself... someone, anyone other than another skeleton's minion. If I can understand that, why can't you when you've spent ten times the amount of time living in even worse conditions?" Skullius said with an uncharacteristic tone and energy.

Yes. For what seemed like the first time, Skullius was encouraging someone.

Sila felt these words.

He would have argued against them but... he knew Skullius' story now and he certainly couldn't believe that he was being lectured by a former undead right now.