Upon hearing the name of the newly appeared prototype, Seo Hana, who now had blazing, clawed, ethereal limbs, Katline, who had a new sets of scars marring her lust enticing body, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim frowned, feeling something amiss.
No, they weren't feeling scared nor were they getting an ominous feeling, but it was just that something.... felt out of the place.
"I need a dead prototype's body." Arngrim stated, and continued when he saw the members of the Freaks nod their heads.
"So it's safe to assume that they have an hive mind and can copy the abilities they see?" Arngrim asked while also voicing his findings upon hearing the explanation from Katline and Seo Hana.
"Huh?" Katline glanced at Arngrim strangely, wiping off the tears welled up in the corner of her eyes.
"... Why do you think so?" Hana asked, sniffling.
"Huh?" It was Arngrim's turn to be confused now.
"Wha.... don't tell me, that you couldn't even conclude such an open secret? You guys were the ones who narrated the story to me, how could you guys have not realised such simple clues and connect them?" Arngrim asked, he was dumbfounded upon learning that he was surrounded by so many dumb, no, muscle heads.
"....."
"....."
"....."
"Ha-haha, O-of course, w-we realised that, we were just testing you." Reynolds said, but his profuse stuttering gave him away, as Arngrim's deadpan expression faced each at a time.
"You-" Arngrim was about to curse at them uncouthly, but
".... Shhhh.... it's alright, it's not that we are dumb, you are just too smart...." Louie hugged Arngrim, forced him shut up and stroked Arngrim's back gently, trying to calm his anger.
"....."
"....."
".....Get off!" Arngrim abruptly roared and wiggled in Louie's arms.
"It's alright. Its alright...." Louie muttered, consolingly.
"Arrrrrggggghhh!!!"
*
A few minutes later.
Arngrim's frustrated tantrum ended and Neal rushed out to get a prototype's body.
"Ahem...." Arngrim cleared his throat, under burdeningly weird gazes of those around him.
"Listen. First, the prototypes were using the same abilities when you guys first met them, and as you guys rushed towards the exit, you noticed that the prototypes were using familiar yet unfamiliar but strong abilities, and due to how dumb you are, you ignored them thinking they were stronger than those from before. And, on your way out of the forest, the prototypes continued to pop up in front of you, didn't you find it strange that they knew the exact path you guys were taking to get out of the forest? No, I'm dumb for asking you this question, since you guys are clearly too dumb." Arngrim stated, taking to himself in the middle which irked those around him, but they couldn't refute him as they realised that he was only stating quite obvious facts.
"And, lastly, the most annoyingly dumb part, how the flip did you guys not realise that they were copying your fighting abilities? Seo Hana's ability is one and only! Her ability is one of a kind! They copied her abilities because she was the one his fought against the most!! You d-" Arngrim, who was about curse at them again, was stopped by Hana.
"Wait. But from what I heard from Katline's explanation, there ability is just a mimic, and not an exact copy like Jiwoo's...." Hana stated, but became depressed when Jiwoo's name left her mouth, her fully bloomed phoenix kin trait acted up, as her overwhelming emotions boiled within her, but remembering that was not the time for that, she steeled her mind while ignoring the pangs in her heart.
"I can, with my current strength, burn everything..." Hana stated.
"You mean too say that, "that" prototype's stomp wasn't anything significant, with your current strength?" Arngrim, who observed, derived, and understood the implications, asked with his brows raised in surprise.
'Well, if compared with Eshwar, things like these are definitely insignificant....wait! Have I been too influenced by Eshwar's strength? Why does my comparison scale seem so messed up?' Arngrim pondered as a frown marred his face.
"..... Yeah...." Hana confirmed Arngrim's words with a nod and a sniffle, though she looked adorable at this point, they kept such thoughts to themselves.
"Huuu....." Arngrim sighed.
'That prototype guy is strong, though the timer to kill the fallen hadn't started yet, it won't be too long before people begin to get over confident and do something stupid.... I guess, I should be thankful for these prototypes, who have caused havoc and brought back caution amongst the survivors....' Arngrim pondered.
"And the are uncleared dungeons too...." Arngrim mumbled out loud involuntarily, but his words brought caution amongst those present.
*
In the middle of nowhere.
A four armed, maroon haired man was seen walking towards an assigned "territory" of a fallen.
He was none other than Prototype-Ace, or Ecrirn, who had succeeded in transmigrating his consciousness into a prototype permanently. His prototype body had absolutely no weaknesses and if not for the presence of the fallen-s, he would have been an almighty being, like THAT existence!
Although his prototype body didn't have a single, even a minor, weakness, his old body which was currently a literal dead body was his weakness, a single, strong damage on the old dead body was enough to force his consciousness back into his old body.
Which meant that if the body rotted according to the natural laws, Ecrirn would die together with his body, hence, Ecrirn created an artefact which had the effects of preserving whatever was under its effects, but its durability was 1, meaning a single flick was enough to shatter the artefact.
With these heavy, burdening conditions applied for him to become an almighty being, Ecrirn came up with a absurd but brilliant idea.
He adorned his body with the preservation artefact, placed the body in a coffin, sealed it and asked the other prototypes to bury his body minimum 100 metres deep into the ground. Of course, the prototypes, who neither had a will nor a consciousness of there own, complied with Ecrirn's command.
Now, as long as no damage occurred to his old body, he would be invincible!
And all of this, all of his efforts, and all of his persistent will that kept him moving forward, everything,
Absolutely everything about himself was thanks to the god, who always believed in him.
Even now, the reason he was going towards the territory assigned to a fallen was because his god advised, saying that the survivors will take him and his creations more seriously if there was a time limit for their existences, if there was a limitation placed on them, their wills would break soon and would willingly(?) submit to Ecrirn. These were the words of the god he believed in the most, but he wasn't dumb enough to follow every advice, because they were merely advices, meaning he had an option to refuse, but
While his rejection and acceptance mattered, he wasn't dumb enough to refuse advices that he knew would benefit him on both the short and long term, and currently, the benefits he could see were just too true and too alluring to refuse, hence the reason he accepted his wise god's advice.
[You just need to walk in and walk out, as I do not want to lose my precious believer.] The God's hypnotic, genderless, voice sounded deep within Ecrirn's consciousness.
[New Hidden Quest Initiated!]
====
[God's mission]
[Difficulty: Easy]
Clear Condition: Walk in and out of a Fallen's territory and active the timer!
[Reward: Marionette (Rank-???)]
[Time limit: 15 min]
====
'Oh my god.... I can't believe my god is offering me an unknown ranked skill for such an easy mission! My god is such a pushov-' Ecrirn mumbled in his mind, but as soon a those last words flashed in his mind, he ceased his thinking entirely, and
"My God is the best!" He muttered under his breath with a sigh of relief escaping his mouth. Though him thinking about "his" god was too arrogant, since none would know of his thoughts, he didn't mind his thoughts, but he still believed that he should be grateful for "his" "pushover" god, so he would cease his thoughts if something unwanted thoughts about "his" god flashed in his mind.
A large smoky dome had marked a territory, and according to Ecrirn's knowledge, the dome covered about an entire kingdom.
As soon as he appeared in front of the done, he felt a shiver that felt ominous, but was soon replaced by a pleasant shiver, which made him tremble as he reached out to touch and feel the smoky dome.
His hands were extended out to touch the dome without his knowledge, but he wouldn't have stopped it even if he was out of his trance. Everything about the dome felt is surreal that Ecrirn couldn't stop himself as he reached out.
He was a researcher, and a proud one at that, once he was curious, he needed to dig deeper, into the depths of whatever made him curious, and he wouldn't leave it alone until he had satisfied his curiosity.
His curiosity was like an undying flame, thirst for knowledge that would lit up in the very depths of his very being, and it was so addictive that he wouldn't be able to think of something else if his curiosity wasn't satisfied, though his traits could be considered dangerous, it was what made him who he was today, so he had no regrets in the way he lived, nor would he ever have a regret about his life, that was filled with curiosity and satisfaction of satisfying his curiosity.
With these thoughts clouding his mind, he had already arrived in front of the dome, feeling the ethereal barrier enveloping the assigned territory or area.
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