Replicus was not entirely confident. That was a lie.
However, it wasn't because there were still a lot of flaws with this process he had suggested. It was because the subject used determined the result, and since he didn't want to sacrifice his human subordinates, he went with a beast.
One that arrived conveniently at his doorstep, through the conveyer belt that was Grim.
This wasn't to say Replicus was fine with Baddan dying.
That was the thing. Baddan's Tier and mana core more than suggested a severe degree of tenacity and overall tough body. He wouldn't perish even in the worst of cases. His mental strength seemed formidable too.
Besides, Replicus would be there to stop anything bad from happening.
Needless to say, Baddan wasn't instantly on board.
"What kind of powers will you bestow?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that unless you agree. If you don't, I would have shared a secret of mine for nothing. In any case, I'm sure this will be more powerful than your original abilities. And trust me, I know. I have already read all the skills... abilities, in your body."
Baddan somehow felt naked when Replicus said this.
Read all his abilities? What did that mean?
While he wasn't at all that familiar with the practical placement of skills, and their relation to the body, Replicus was, and more than that, his level of perceiving and manipulating mana was at the peak of the Special category.
When he first met Baddan, he could already tell because of the lightless skills etched into his flesh, that his abilities could not be accessed anymore. But that wasn't the end of the line for the Sky Watcher, if he should agree.
Baddan contemplated.
"If you do not wish to partake, you can leave. The token you were given will return you where you were before," Replicus said as he moved back to his seat.
Baddan felt the conflict within reach an all new high.
What was left to do?
Should he remained weak while his fellow kin went on to get strong? And for what reason was there? If Replicus said this new set of powers wasn't that different from his original, then...
"Very well. I will do it," Baddan declared reluctantly. At the very least, he needed to stay relevant, and the only way to do that....
The Penetrator's everlasting smile seemed to grow wider.
***
Forty minutes later, Baddan was standing naked in the middle of the room.
He didn't feel much in the way of shame. Rather, his conscience, bred from his traditional values fought aggressively.
But there was no turning back.
If this worked, he wouldn't mind practicing a practical form of loyalty to Replicus.
Then again, it depended on what this power he was about to be given was all about.
The moment Baddan agreed, he wasn't given the chance to ask further questions and thus some answers were not yet revealed.
The Sky Watcher stood in the middle of a vast and complicated formation that Replicus had made. In fact, the Penetrator was inputting the final details to it at this moment.
With the tip of his finger lit with dark mana, Replicus scribbled the last set of commands, which looked like a paragraph of gibberish text as tall as himself, all hanging in the air.
Piles like this surrounded Baddan in the dozens along with strange shapes in between, and some soaring above him.
The Sky Watcher also had the feeling that there were other things he couldn't see which Replicus had drawn. What could they be?
The most astounding details in the room right now however, were the six, huge sigils marked on the ground around Baddan. Pools of text surrounded them, while strings of dark mana traced their way to him from the sigils.
Baddan felt dreadfully powerful energies screaming from the six sigils.
Oh how he wished Replicus would explain what all this was exactly. He had never seen mana applied this way.
The Penetrator finally finished and his sockets flashed.
"There," he said. "Are you ready?"
Baddan was flabbergasted. Ready for what?
"What?"
"Ah, right. Let me explain a few things..." Replicus realised and dialled back.
"I'm not quite familiar with how the soul works in relation to mana, but I do know how the body reacts when it comes to this substance. After handling it for a thousand years, I feel like I get it better and faster than most."
Baddan nodded slowly and unsurely.
"You have lost your connection to your abilities, but their marks can still be found on your body. They are written all over it. For someone skilled, reading these skills, as they are etched onto you with mana, isn't that difficult, and manipulating them can be quite easy. I am one such skilled person, but I can't restore your original powers."
This had been made quite clear to Baddan, and he wasn't agonizing about it anymore.
"To be able to temper with the natural order like that requires skill that pertains to not just man though, but all forms of energy. This is what I'm using. I'm mostly using mana, but I have to condense it so finely that the result of what I want to do almost reaches the capacity of a Super skill."
This part went over Baddan's head, but he kept listening anyway.
"Tempering is one thing. Extracting is another. You wouldn't believe how many things I have learned. I have an ability that allows me to steal the special properties of objects and imprint them onto other objects, but it has so far been ineffective on living things. I couldn't extract or imprint things onto other living beings with this ability, until I decided to abuse another one of my abilities..."
"Apostle Summon."
Indeed. A skill from Replicus' class that allowed him to reanimate prey he had killed himself.
If Replicus were to count the number of abominations he had created as Apostles only to...
Replicus' sockets dimmed.
It was worth it in the end, though.
The true prowess of the Nullmancer had been revealed to him at that time.
He ended his advanced monologue here and began to actually educate Baddan.
"The powers I'm about to grant you are modelled after what my own are capable of. Depending on how strong you are, you may be able to leave this floor as a master of SIX creatures that I made and carefully groomed. What's more, you will be able to summon them and cater for them on your own terms. And that means..."
Baddan's eyes bulked. He got an inkling of the meaning.
"Are you going to somehow tie my powers with these... creatures?" he asked, shocked.
"Why, of course. That's where the tempering I mentioned comes in," Replicus said with a chuckle, and brought his hands together.
The entire floor trembled, and became bathed in an excessive amount of Null Life Essence.
Mana also flooded in, called upon by Replicus' advanced mana manipulation skill. But it wasn't only for mana anymore. It was a Special skill that allowed him to freely manipulate others energies also.
[Sorcery of Essence].
The commands he had written started to move and shine as they approached Baddan. Their movements made him feel as though he was being crushed by thick blocks weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes from all around him.
"Arghh!" Baddan grunted aloud, and called for his purple core to erupt with powerful volumes of mana that strengthened him.
It seemed to not be of much use though. While his body held on, Baddan felt his mind assaulted by the whispers of a myriad of monsters. His consciousness started to fade as the formations pressed hard against his body.
It was beginning.
For some reason, information on what was happening and what he was supposed to do rushed into Baddan's mind and even gave him brief details about the six sigils he had seen.
The beasts were trapped in those sigils, and all they could do, was manifest their thoughts into his. These thoughts, were going to be hostile, however.
Whatever these creatures were, they were not going to submit to him without a struggle.
Baddan, after the information dump passed, felt very revealed.
It helped to make his goal clear.
He was starting to believe.
If he somehow overcame this hurdle, he would truly be strong. So strong that he wouldn't have to fear losing a home and kin again.
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