Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1246: Forging The Strongest... (1)



Third Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher.

A great Strawler with a wide face upon which ten white eyes were embossed, sat in the endless, nebulous space that his master had created a very long time. His hair, which was quite literally made of bolts of Ju`wtte flying wantonly in every direction seemed to mirror the state of his thoughts right now.

The Strawler's name was Susu`k.

He was the greatest among all the Strawlers his master had made and he had a lot of authority. However, his master had restricted this authority to the Empyrean Hatcher alone. Susu`k could manipulate things to do with the egg-shaped building, but for anything else, he was only able to observe.

Susu`k had no desire to leave the Third Layer of the Hatcher. There was nothing else in the Empyrean Bosom, Warmoth's Treasury or Pestilent Vault that intrigued him. The Empyrean Hatcher among all the demesnes his master made, had the most personality; it held the most intimate gestures of his master.

But all the personality left within the Hatcher was now being muddled, he thought.

The newcomer, the individual who was supposed to be the second coming of his Jan`ind was defacing the Hatcher.

The Strawler had been startled when the Progeny of the Warmoth messed with the sacred murals branded to the ceiling of the First Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher. He had nearly climbed down from the Third Layer when the successor made a shelter for berserk, strange creatures in the Bosom; how uncalled for it was!

Susu`k would have accepted any changes this successor desired to make if he at least possessed strength comparable to that of his master, but no. The Progeny was leagues weaker and vastly underwhelming in his eyes.

He had seen the whole arsenal of this individual. Susu'k could peer into any of his master's demesnes, after all. He had analysed how the Progeny wielded his powers and improved upon them in the Timemould Mirror Box. Yes, there was a lot of ingenuity in the way the successor crafted his abilities and refined every aspect of his body, not to mention those of his allies, but it was all so... mortal. It was inadequate.

More than a few times, Susu`k had almost dived down to Mirror Box to counsel the Progeny but he stopped himself. That wasn't his job. He was there to serve the successor of the Jan`ind, not nurture him. If the Jan`ind needed nurturing, then he wasn't worthy of being the Jan`ind in the first place.

It was Susu'k's pride that his master had left him a great degree of free will. He could decide if he wished to serve the Progeny or not. While Susu'k had chosen the latter option, he felt that it was a shame he didn't have the power to interfere with the higher authority the Progeny had over his master's possessions. He would have kicked the Progeny out of the Hatcher by now. "It might be centuries before I even consider this creature worthy of even having his name spoken in the same sentence as the majestic name of the Jan`ind," he said, and a smile crept up on his face. He was fine with that.

BOOOM!

...!!!

The Empyrean Hatcher suddenly trembled violently. It was as though Jiggorrhax had slammed into it!

Susu'k was alarmed.

What in the world...?!

The entire mass - all the Layers of the Empyrean Hatcher - kept on shaking, and the intensity of whatever was causing this kept increasing. Pulse after pulse of force shuddered through them!

"What's the meaning of this?!" Susu`k cried and immediately searched for the source of the disturbance.

At once, he found that the turbulence was coming from the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher, where the successor had gone a few minutes ago.

Susu`k hadn't bothered keeping track of his or his subordinates' movements after sensing the Progeny travel to the Second Layer. He hardly had any interest in what the successor was trying to do.

Now, he did.

Suddenly, Susu'k's arrogance faded.

The moment he gleaned what was happening with the Progeny, he shuddered.

"What is he doing to himself?!" he wondered.

*

"It worked!" Replicus cried joyfully. "It really worked!"

Maximum Catalyst had answered his desperate call, and the guidance field echoed the victory.

[The Special Skill 'Brisk Storm Avatar' has evolved into the Supreme Skill 'Restless Storm Companion'!]

Replicus grinned.

During his two months in the Timemould Mirror Box, he had discovered that Maximum Catalyst's basic effects, Progression and Reversion did not work on skills as well as they did for anything else.

Well, in truth, the same was true for most complexly structured entities and objects. Maximum Catalyst's Progression and Reversion couldn't simply cause any living species - as a whole - to evolve or devolve on a dime, for instance. An individual was composed of too many volatile components for that to be done successfully. There was no way for Maximum Catalyst - as godly as it was - to reasonably Progress or Reverse a complex body.

It was also difficult for Replicus to effect any change outside his own body. This was why he always manifested the porous orb of purple-gold particles in his hand when he wanted to cause Reversion or Progression on an external target.

Additionally, most of the changes Replicus effected were not permanent.

Eventually, depending on the complexity of the target and the effect, they would wear off. When applied on himself, however, any changes Replicus effected would last much longer.

That said, Replicus had found that skills were similarly difficult for Maximum Catalyst to handle, but not because they were as complex as a living thing, but because of how fragile their physical representations were.

Skills were branded onto the body as complicated symbols that would be charged with mana. Basic Progression and Reversion wouldn't work on something so delicate. Skills were more intricate that most cores.

Thus, under the guidance of his phantoms, Replicus had tried borrowing the properties of an application of Maximum Catalyst he had learned from the scrolls in the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher to handle skills: [Maximum Constant].

Replicus had used [Maximum Constant] against Skullius in their battle. It worked like an ultra-specific version of [Neutral Maximum]. It kept one aspect of the user - be it a limb or skill - working at peak performance as long as a large amount of mana was introduced. Activating [Maximum Constant], Replicus had applied its effect on the skill [Brisk Storm Avatar] in Skullius' body - which proved to be extremely taxing. The purple-gold particles of [Maximum Constant] traced the skill perfectly, and Replicus, with immense effort, had quickly applied Progression to the skill, causing it to evolve into a Supreme Skill!

At once, the error the guidance field had noted vanished.

Everything was on a straight course now.

Levin exploded from around Replicus and Skullius' body and started creeping into their finest

recesses!

"Here we go!" Replicus cried.

And in the next moment, he felt his body get broken apart!

A pulse immense energy rushed forth from him when this occurred. An ungodly amount of

Ju'wtte sprang forth angrily as well, shooting in every direction.

The same happened to Skullius.

While Replicus' consciousness remained intact, he felt a sense of existential dread for a few

moments. What he witnessed around him was bizarre.

His memories.

His souls - the copy and the original.

His skills.

His cells.

His mana. His Hybrid Luman bodies.

His Eternal Storm Veil body. His Warmoth's Progeny body.

His weapons: Warmoth's Spine and Fallen Reincarnator's Shadow.

His phantoms.

Fulgardt's WILLS.

The Stolen Angel – it was forcefully pulled over from the dark enclosure it had retreated to

earlier.

His Territories: Purified Cadaver's Impartial Felicity and Aphotic Catacomb of the Daemon.

Everything was spread out individually throughout the entire space of the Second Layer of the Empyrean Hatcher while tethered to interconnecting webs of Levin and Ju`wtte.

It looked surreal.

"Wow," Replicus said, and his phantoms voiced their wonder as well.

[The merging process will now begin, starting with the least significant and modifiable

component...]

As the guidance field announced this, Replicus felt himself get bombarded by a series of memories that he did not recall.

There were flashes of images, voices, sounds, smells, tastes.

There was useless information... and then there were especially mind-boggling details!

If Replicus' consciousness had physical eyes, they would have popped out.

No way...! Suddenly, as memories of the Immoral Fulgardt, Skullius, and the Angel were swiftly

processed between him and his phantoms...

"Oh... oh...my sockets..."

Replicus, no, Skullius... had no words.

As seconds ticked by, he and his phantoms reached a dark yet splendid conclusion.

No.

No, no.

No, no, no.

With all this information, it was impossible NOT to be overcome by arrogance!

With all this in their grasp, it would be an insult to any kind of power and authority out there NOT to walk away from this merging as gods!