Bro, I'm not an Undead!



The view as the two walked from the fields seemed to widen. In fact, this seemed to be true for anyone who walked from around the mansion to reach the plain fields, the gardens, the orchards, farms and other facilities featuring around this estate.

Indeed, it was the Bryne Family Estate.

A lot of workers could be seen tending to the magnificent, wide and rich fruits and vegetables, as well as the other infrastructure around the estate, making it thrice as lively as it had been before.

A lot of hiring, building and expansion had happened in the past few weeks, and Skullius was almost as proud of it as Silrat and Theurien were.

Patrolling every significant and insignificant portion of the land were a menagerie of beasts.

There were many of them.

Most radiated subdued pressures that could cripple normal folk upon reckless exposure, but thankfully, Red Rage trained the beasts well.

From Terrors, to giant flies, beefy wolves, crows, just to mention a few, the security around the estate had grown to be so effective and organised that it couldn't be dispersed temporarily in order to not frighten guests anymore. Red Rage had been particularly happy about this.

As a streak of lightning caused a shudder in the sky above Alaris and Skullius, this being one of the patrolling beasts, the older man gave a sigh.

"Coming here frequently... I'm beginning to think twice..." he said.

Skullius chortled.

"Why? The ram?"

"Of course it's the ram! I feel like he doesn't like me very much. It's like he's itching for the chance to bash me down," Alaris said with a shudder.

"He can't even hurt you!" Skullius said with mocking laughter.

Even after Skullius erected the Chieftain Screens which showed above them, the single large animal that Red Rage called Bull 1 kept to its job as a patrol around the entrance.

Alaris was unnerved by it and its large curved horns, not because it was powerful – not that it wasn't.

He was actually scared of it because he had a rare phobia. He was afraid of horned creatures. At the very best, he couldn't fight them up close and worst, he would turn tail.

This was weird for someone as unbelievably powerful as Alaris, and as soon as Skullius discovered this weakness, he couldn't help but laugh every time Alaris brought it up.

By the time the two turned toward the main mansion though, Skullius' mirth had died down, and the words of Alaris had begun to sting him again.

The pinnacle of strength required wholeness.

But perhaps Skullius wasn't only lacking in one department.

He had two sets of powers that he had yet to learn to completion, and both of them literally made up who he was.

Fulgardt's legacy was branded to his soul, steering it considerably, and Serenity's powers made up his body.

Yet, Skullius was no closer to completely understanding them both than he was to obtain the other half of his soul.

'If all this counts, then I'm still very far. I'll probably fight with Somanda without understanding even one of them fully,' he dejectedly predicted.

Speaking of outlandish powers, Skullius opened his guidance field to view his status and focus on one particular aspect.

~~~

Exp: 7,000,000

Second Trial:

Forge one of Fulgardt's PHANTASMIC RETAINERS

~~~

One of Skullius' current headaches.

He had been at Level 18 weeks ago, but since the Royale was coming up, he had decided to rise up in his levels in hopes of managing to reach the Master Stage.

Crossing past the last two levels and Tasks left in the Advancement Stage hadn't been too hard since they focused on things he could grind – the Insurgent Magnus Class skills and all.

He had hoped he'd get a similarly easy-ish Second Trial and miraculously complete it by the time the Royale began, just to boost his chances of surviving whatever he had insisted to be there with Silrat and the others to face.

However, as one would expect, the Second Trial was much, much harder than the first.

The PHANTASMIC RETAINERS were the objects or creations, he had seen on the three plaques which he had read after receiving the WILL OF UNDERSTANDING.

They were individually complex, and the plaques he had read through contained the blueprints for creating them; precise portions of darkness and light needed to model each perfectly.

The PHANTASMIC RETAINERS, according to Fulgardt's instruction were vessels more suitable for holding the Nine Seeds.

The seeds, like [Crude World Projection] and [Seramoro, Oblivion's edge], were abstruse powers that came from the object that allowed Fulgardt's powers to even be possible in the first place, the Fruit of World Myths.

All this was attractive and made one want to get to completing the Trial, but there was a huge problem. All of them required a quality of connection to both [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] that Skullius had yet to master.

His affinities to darkness and light were still B and C respectively, which made the task of even attempting to create the retainers impossible currently.

The only potential spark of hope Skullius had at mastering these things was the fact that Replicus was also in charge of raising the affinity of not only darkness and light, but all other essence forms that Skullius had come into contact with as well.

Maybe, soon, when he and Replicus were far enough apart with their powers, and had each accomplished their goals, he would be able to step into the Master Stage finally, with a PHANTASMIC RETAINER, a terrifying conduit of the Insurgent Magnus' full power that the world had long forgotten.

'I wonder how powerful they are. I've never heard them referenced in anything at all. Come to think of it, I haven't heard many tales about why Fulgardt was really called Immoral or how exactly he died either,' Skullius thought.

Indeed, there was still that mystery.

Way too much was unknown to him.

Soon, the two entered the main mansion from the back and entered into a secret space where a man with fiery hair was seated with his torso bare, his fingers locked on his lap and his eyes closed.

He turned the rectangular space around him rigid with the restless pressure that stormed from his body.

There wasn't only this unseen power around him though.

No, there was something else.

Bits of ice were circling around him, but they vanished before touching his skin. Bits of flame also orbited, following an opposite trajectory, but they also vanished before liking his skin.

But that still wasn't all.

Tongues of a cold, blue flame also flickered around Theurien for measly moments before being devoured by something else that whirled abundantly around his figure.

Plain space.