A suspiciously potent silence suddenly turned the atmosphere in the wide lounge heavy.
The look on Aurolio's face suggested that an assortment of thoughts that utterly boggled his mind rampaged in his dome.
Replicus had the benefit of a hard helm and an inscrutable face – thankfully – which left the pale man to look shocked alone, but deep down, the Penetrator's mind, rather minds, were racing.
'What in the world is going on?' Aurolio thought as the contortion on his face switched to a light frown.
He sensed it so openly.
Null Life Essence.
It freely flowed around the figure of the armoured entity several paces from him.
But... how?
Wasn't Festos the only one who had Null Life Essence in this world?
Last he had seen that man, was when he had been watching from a distance the climax to the Royale's entire purpose, when a masked man, an extremely powerful Undeath user, had summoned a treacherously powerful soul, and Festos had somehow reacted to this summoned soul by turning into.... something else.
Aurolio hadn't had the gut to interfere or draw too close, but he had found that he needed to do so in order to save Gabel's soul from being absorbed.
Managing such a thing, had only been a benefit of being a somewhat uninvolved spectator who was confident in at least surviving the mere aftershocks of the great battle than had been taking place.
Yes. That was the last he saw of Festos before fleeing.
Aurolio would have thought that this was some kind of unusual humanoid beast that Festos had conjured and let loose.
However, he wasn't so sure.
Instead of guessing, he used his guidance field to check its status and...
...!!!
A nervous smile flashed on Aurolio's face while his eyes shot open.
Unconsciously, his hand balled into a fist.
'Seriously.... What the heck?' he thought.
~~~
[ Name : Skullius ]
[ Tier : 3 ]
[ Level : 78 ]
[ EXP : --- ]
[ Core : Blue ]
[ Class : Vehement Bone Nullmancer ]
[ Race : Titan World Storm Penetrator ]
[ Inv. Status : Doomed ×2 ]
-----
[<Stats>]
[ DUAL MANA-SOURCING FORCE (I) : 95,940 ]
[ ASTRAL BLIZZARD MOTION (I) : 78,000 ]
[ SUBJECTIVE PHANTOM INFERENCE (I) : 4 ]
[ TRIGGER DEVIANT BUILD (I): 7× ]
[ LUCK : Atrocious? ]
-------
[ PRIME PERPETUATION : 60,750/60,750 ]
------
[ MANA (I) : 351,670/351,670 (On Sage Strain + Sage Save) ]
------
[ Mana^ : 899,900/899,000 (On Sage Strain + Sage Save) ]
-------
[ Null Life Essence : 24,000/24,000 ]
~~~
Aurolio didn't know what to make of all these numbers and terms.
What kind of stats were these?
Astral Blizzard Motion?
Subjective Phantom Inference?
Sage Strain?
He had never met anyone with stats like this. Even the more unusual beasts in the Tier 20s didn't have such bizarre terminology for their base physiques.
Yeah. That's right.
This really was a beast.
There was no demotion of Tasks or Stage.
Strange.
Aurolio's face twitched as he slowly relaxed it, but his eyes didn't leave Replicus.
As for the Penetrator himself, he felt like the pale man's sight had lingered on him for a little too long. It was as though the man was seeing things that he shouldn't, and he didn't like that one bit.
Strange.
"Could I ask what's so enticing about my armour?" the Penetrator said to Aurolio, whose frown immediately intensified.
Eaniss had been watching silently for the past ten seconds, drawing some conclusions on the two.
"Are you too acquainted?" she asked.
"Not quite."
"Hell no."
The two responded almost simultaneously.
Gabel and Pherdanta were a little puzzled. Given the slightest cues the latter had learned to perceive from her master who generally didn't react like the average... anything, she had started to believe that Replicus perhaps knew the white haired man.
Despite what the two said, she couldn't buy that they had zero history.
"I see..." Eaniss said. She also had her suspicions, but she suspended them for now and instead gave her attention to Gabel.
"You've become too famous for your own good, Gabel. I didn't think the little job I gave you would lead to your renown growing in Pelian. Even common folk know you now. Has that gone to your head? I didn't give you permission to participate in the Premium Age Royale, and yet you did anyway. I sent a messenger to bring you home, and you resisted, likely killed them, I presume. You're looking to be executed, aren't you?"
Gabel sighed.
He slotted his notebook into his pocket, and stared straight into Eaniss' eyes.
"Not exactly," he replied simply. "But I did manage to get you important information."
Eaniss raised her brow, and turned to Aurolio, who had allowed his gaze to wander to Replicus again.
"I suppose this unbranded man has something to do with it?" she asked.
Aurolio turned to her and wore his signature smile.
"Well, yes. That is true. It's all thanks to me that this guy is alive. He was in quite the fucking pickle, I'll tell you that," he said.
"Oh is it?" Eaniss said, unamused at all. She then shook her head. "Very well then. Gabel, take your guest somewhere else. I'll deal with you later."
The dark humanoid that had brought the two immediately gestured for the two to follow it out of the spacious lounge. Gabel followed with a sigh and a twitch of the eye that hinted at the deep pain he was feeling within. Aurolio on the other hand...
He gave a last glance to Replicus – which the Penetrator met with his own – and then went along.
'What's his deal?' Replicus thought. It was rather curious.
He did find it interesting that Gabel was with this man though.
Gabel was a member of the Head Faction, one with a lot of privileges that extended to duties on Feinheath. He was like Eaniss' conspicuous assassin, responsible for maintaining low to medium level threats that she charged him to deal with.
The common bandits who didn't know the role he served called him a bounty hunter, which wasn't a stretch since he did do jobs like that – in a way.
Both Gabel and Aurolio had been contenders in the Premium Age Royale, and the fact that they survived, or that Aurolio saved Gabel, rather, must mean that they had quite the useful information indeed.
'Hmmm...' Replicus thought. 'Hopefully Kenno returns with more relevant news.'
"So, Bright Storm..." Eaniss stole the Penetrator's attention. She leaned close from the couch and looked him straight in the socket.
"I'm curious about this story of yours. About the masked man and this... other fellow. Can you share it in greater, more... unlimited detail?"
The Penetrator gave a short laugh.
"Of course," he said... with a certain level of delight.
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