Between the Conforming Trickerteer and the Paired Interregnum, Skullius held the latter in higher regard. He appreciated what the slender armour could do, with its mimicking capabilities and all, but the pair of estocs right here were on a completely different level in terms of their functionality, which happened to be similar to that of the slender armour.
~~~
[Paired Interregnum]
<Legendary>
Fashioned by the Auspicious Mare, this pair of estocs is imbued with the natural ability to duplicate various kinds of phenomena – physical and conceptual – as per the user's wishes. The Mare was especially motivated when forging these two slender pieces.
-Damage-
287,500 – 298,000
-Durability-
345,950/346,000
-Special Effects-
? Doubles all stats with Absolute Conversion
? +200% reactionary instinct
? Concentrates Null Life Essence around the edges of the blades
---
[Skill: Duality]
Create a perfect replica of any construct magical or physical. With the insertion of 2,000 Null Life Essence points, said replica will be twice as powerful as the original. Creation lasts for 60 days. Usable on two targets at a time.
---
[Skill: Paired Grace]
The blades can impose a twofold variety to any phenomena and material of the user's choosing between – [ durability, size, quantity and quality ] – with the insertion of 4,000 Null Life Essence points. Effect lasts for 60 days. Usable on two targets at a time.
~~~
Once again, Skullius printed a smile on his face. If not for the fact that he had to keep expending Null Life Essence while in the city to ward off Divination, he would have begun upgrading a lot of his weapons with the full 12,000 units of Null Life Essence points he had just to see what he could come up with. Even if he had excess of the terrestrial energy though, he wouldn't choose to spend it trying to potentially spawn absurdly powerful tools for him to use. In his opinion, having a few select weapons that maximised his current skill set was better, and that had been what he was doing all along.
The results weren't bad at all, so he stuck with it.
"All right. Since I rarely use these, I might as well put them to go use here," Skullius said as he stuck the estocs into the firm ground.
Before exploiting their abilities, he had to make something worth empowering, and that something, was the runes.
Skullius was currently only limited to using the Mundane Gravel Runes for reinforcement, sealing, protection and temporary storage with the use of the skill [Lesser Gravel Rune Mastery], which he had extracted from Hobbu Gogo. But that was fine. It was enough for what he needed to do now.
And what he needed now was to increase the security around the Estate, first by reinforcing the wall.
The Hybrid Luman stepped over to the towering off-white mass that was hulking over several meters and touched it. It really was firm. As far as common, non-magical standards went, it was the pinnacle of sturdiness.
But that wasn't enough.
One of the things Skullius and Silrat had put on the table for possible negotiation options with interested Families, was the guarantee of a safe haven to all their partners. While he wasn't involved with the many people who obliged to meet and discuss the terms himself, he knew that those who had been freaked out by the beasts roaming around before today, were probably seeing them in a new light after the Silrat had introduced the idea of refuge here at the Bryne Estate in dire times.
But the beasts weren't all there was supposed to be, which was why Skullius was adding a few integral layers.
With his palm on the wall, Skullius injected mana onto the rough surface and then drew back his hand. A clear, sky blue hue attached itself to the wall, maintaining a quivering, unsteady form, with a thickness of ooze, like an ethereal gel.
This was the colour which manifested when one intended to mark Reinforcement with Gravel Runes, different from the red of Sealing.
With his finger, Skullius injected more mana and used the squirming gel-like substance, which was really just mana mutated into a form more likely to last for a longer period, to form a rune.
He pumped a large amount of mana from his core to craft a symbol akin to a 'P' drawn by a toddler, with a thin line crossing its half loop. When Skullius extended his mana output, the symbol grew larger and larger until it almost covered the entire portion of the wall from top to bottom. In width, it was roughly seven meters, and its shape had turned firm without its previous restless budging of a whining infant.
Though the effect of this symbol wasn't apparent visually, Skullius knew that he had done a good job. He had used about four times the amount of mana the goblins used to craft three Reinforcement runes on their walls, and with what he knew, the difference was significant.
'When I'm done with it, Somanda himself will want to caress this wall!' Skullius chortled to himself.
Over the next dozen of minutes, the guards were puzzled by their employer's zipping from one part of the wall to the next, with a strange symbol left where he departed with a thick scent of mana. He looked quite enthusiastic about this activity too, and they wondered what it could be... and if they should be concerned.
When they had been scouted and offered contracts, it had seemed like the usual jolly opportunity to stand like a statue all day in places that barely anyone ever visited, but for some reason, this gig felt different. Not only was it looking to be a long ride, it almost seemed like some time in the future, their skills would be exerted to a profound degree, and it wouldn't be just a handful of them standing on the wall on patrols in the long run.
The cheeky grin on their auburn haired employer's face promised this.
After about an hour, Skullius was done imprinting the runes on the inside and outside of the wall, each as majestic, foreign and grand as the last.
He beamed at the sight.
This wall was going to be legendary!
Hopefully.
'Now. For the battery. Wait... what's a battery?! Ah forget it!' Skullius thought while scratching his head.
He didn't know what a battery was – stupid word really – but what he needed now was something to power these runes so that they didn't fizzle out from having the energy within them (mana), run out.
His own mana was potent, but it wouldn't last forever, and for that reason...
Skullius rushed back to where he had first started, to the 'P' and grabbed the Paired Interregnum.
These swords, as a pair, could create a replica of most non-living things the user desired; material or otherwise through the skill [Duality]. On top of that, they could double aspects of a particular item or phenomena, such as the durability, quality, quantity or effectiveness using [Paired Graced].
The special effects of the Paired Interregnum on the user were splendid – mainly the damage and combat related ones – but Skullius saw it more efficient to exploit the actual skills the pair of estocs had on something else.
With a breath, Skullius summoned something from his spatial storage.
It was one of the glass boxes he and Red Rage had used to capture the abnormally unique goblins before. Now that the Apostle had found a home for all of them, Skullius had retrieved the boxes since they were quite useful.
He set the box down and sat behind it. The Hybrid Luman then jammed the two estocs deep into the ground on either side of the box until all that was left seen was the tips of their sunken hilts.
"I'm already burning through the reserves I had stored for the month. Tsk. Well, at least its going to be worth it," he said with a pained expression.
The Hybrid Luman had managed to store a vast amount of mana from foes of different kinds, all of which could be valued in the several millions, and in mostly blue quality. With the battle against the Null Devil King, he had expended some and now, he was about to spend a whole lot more.
With a thought, the inside of the glass box which was about the size of a large stool, a blinding white light shone within. At first, it appeared as a simple harmless, concentrated, starry point of luminance, but as the brightness grew, a certain groan of weight and authority bellowed.
The air wiggled around the box as it turned to a grand cubic glow within Skullius' hands, and the Hybrid Luman also seemed greatly unsettled by the cantankerous force in his hands.
However, his skill at handling mana was not so fickle that he could be overpowered by something he had robbed from humans and beasts alike millions of times, and made into a solar system around his mana core.
"[Greatest Mana Crafter]" Skullius called, as in an instant, the terrible radiance in his hands grew dull before forming into a large, blue sphere fitted perfectly within the glass box.
It was a mana core.
A real mana core with a Centre, Refinery and Shell like his own.
"Oh, my little beauty," Skullius said with shining blind eyes, and caressed the box.
A total of five million units of mana had been used to create this glowing ball, and it would serve as the energy source for all runes he was going to implement within the Estate.
He wondered if it would be enough, but this was a start.
The mana he had injected into the glass box had come from his Temporary Storage. He had stored half of all his excess mana within the unseen storage space, and him manifesting it only required a thought. With the rune he had carved on his own skin – over his abdomen, close to his mana core – the emergence of anything in the Temporary Storage to where he wanted was rather impressively fast, only licks of time behind the speed of his spatial storage ring.
And now...
With his will, the Paired Interregnum jabbed into the ground accepted the mana core held within glass box as their target for the skill [Paired Grace].
A thrum like that of a vivacious heartbeat pumped from the glass box, and instantly, it grew twice as bright, its quality raised two fold.
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