Chapter 1267: Gift Giver!
Chapter 1267: Gift Giver!
There was a perk to the powers of the Insurgent Magnus that Skullius had been very curious about since his astounding growth in the Temple of Unlusted Tears.
He had read from three plaques written by Fulgardt about the PHANTASMIC RETAINERS, the Immoral's thoughts on the fall of his Chosen, and of course, the uncanny ability to grant ANYTHING with darkness and light.
(A/N: Refer to Ch.425.)
Fulgardt had written that when the affinity for [Just Light] and [Evil Darkness] reached the peak, the Insurgent Magnus would gain the ability to give anything, like some wish granter.
As appetising as this ability was with that bit of information, the reality was that it wasn't nearly as convenient as it sounded. Its results were solid, however. Skullius had seen them first hand.
Fulgardt had used this ability to bolster the bodies of his four Chosen in the Second Grand War. Their bodies had become so strong that the cause for their defeat had come only by way of a Transcendent grade treasure that manipulated their souls.
During the battle across the Central Boundary, Actuass had summoned two corpses of Fulgardt's chosen, one of which he drove the soul of Eobald into, and the other which he had turned into a whip for his own use. Both these bodies were incredibly sturdy. Even Jerthrax had had trouble dealing damage to them.
Skullius was about to grant the same durability to his subordinates.
But it wasn't a simple thing to do.
For Skullius to 'grant a wish', the recipient had to be open and ecstatic. They had to respond to his intensity with their own, whatever shape it took. Skullius had fulfilled that condition just now by bringing out the zeal of his Stark Troops - though Kintar had nearly driven that work to the ground.
Additionally, Skullius - for the most part - was the one who decided what was granted. He decided the gift given. That said, the parameters for what he was able to grant, were not as expansive as one would hope. Skullius had seen exactly what he could give through Fulgardt's memories received through the WILLS.
He could only grant something possible within the bounds of the world he inhabited; if it was power, it had to be something limitable within the power system established in that world, if it was a treasure, it also had to be according to the limit of that world.
The glimmering light and the consuming darkness in Skullius' hands rushed forth and smothered all the Unlimited Stars and Stark Troops. (Elita and Soidon were excluded.)
The hundred and some experts felt as though they were suddenly being stretched out, pulled from the heavens and the earth simultaneously!
Their physical forms were dyed in darkness and light at the same time, giving their existence in this moment, a contradicting feel and look.
Skullius watched closely.
He would have done more with his wish granting ability, but asides from its granting parameters, it also had two other bothersome limits: It couldn't be used on the same person twice, and it could only be used twice every thirty days.
The number of uses was counted by the type of gift granted at one time, not by the number of people gifted, which was why Skullius was able to gift the supernatural durability to all of his subordinates at once.
Yuyui felt herself shaking. She couldn't imagine what her master was possibly granting them all... until her guidance field chimed.
[The individual known as 'Skullius Festos Dawn' gifts to you the Unranked, 'Pseudo Immortal Physique, Intemperable Shell'!]
[All your stats are brought under the 'Intemperable Shell'!]
[Host's *ENDURANCE* is bolstered by 5,000,000 (III) units!]
[A fifth of the user's mana is constantly expended for the sole purpose of hardening their skin]
(A/N: To not cause confusion, I have simply denoted it as Endurance for Yuyui, but her stats have also been altered with [Unbound].)
...!!!
Yuyui gaped.
Her endurance stat had long been transformed by Skullius, but to think it had just been empowered by such a staggering value!
What was this Immortal Physique thing, she wondered.
And 5 million units of gold quality?!
Yuyui didn't even have a gold mana core, but this applied to her still.
In fact, it applied to everyone at once!
As the darkness and light waned, Skullius confirmed the success of the effect over each one of his subordinates with the guidance field. This was good.
'I probably didn't do it as well as Fulgardt could have. I never would have imagined that the reason Eobald's body was so strong then was because he had this knock-off Immortal Physique Fulgardt granted,' he thought.
He had tried to replicate the exact Physique Fulgardt had created, but he found that it was too hard. Details of how Fulgardt had made it were fuzzy and if Skullius were to give too much of
a stat increase to his subordinates, he feared he might harm them. Most of them weren't as strong as Fulgardt's four Chosen had been, after all.
The Troops were in awe. They gasped and looked at each other, then at Skullius, then back at themselves.
"Why do I feel like I could..."
"Like you could take a whole continent to the face and come out alive? Yeah. I feel the same
way."
"This is... absurd! At this point, if it wasn't for the Starmations, our armour wouldn't be contributing much to our safety at all!"
The joy, surprise and shock spread to the Unlimited Stars as well.
The Intemperable Shell offered way less to them given how much stronger they were when compared to the Stark Troops, but the durability gain was still extremely significant.
"Boss!" Grim yelled as he felt the fresh sensation coursing through his skin. "How many more times do you intend to outdo yourself?!"
Kenno was looking at his guidance field with just as much surprise as anyone else. (He and Yuyui were <Attachments> - the two people Skullius had shared his guidance field with.)
"I guess we don't have to go into battle with just blind faith carrying us, haha," he said with the shake of his head.
Skullius smiled.
"Pherdanta," he called.
The Unlimited Star reeled when she heard him. She swiftly approached, though, the closer she got to his lead-grey cloud, the more she sensed an imminent threat from it.
She stopped when she was a meter away from the Hybrid Warmoth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Skullius gave her an intense look.
"I believe the Commander of all these bold men and women deserves mantles and powers to back their strength," he said to her. "You've already become an outstanding Swordmaster, and for that I'm proud, but you need to be a lot more than that for what's to come."
Everyone suddenly became quiet.
They watched with rapt attention the scene unfolding ahead.
Pherdanta wasn't sure what this was about all of a sudden, but she did not disrupt Skullius.
The Hybrid Warmoth waved his hand and two swords appeared, floating in the air.
The Bashful Abomination.
Demion's Dance.
...!!!
Pherdanta was alarmed.
She backed away slightly.
"Master... You can't mean to..." she began.
"I do," Skullius said and he drew closer to her and touched her shoulder. The pressure he exuded from up close was immense. Pherdanta barely managed to keep her body from keeling over. "You will put these two swords to better use than me. I have decided on what kind of path I will focus my strength on, and it doesn't restrict me to the path of the sword." Pherdanta's feeble stern expression cracked. She was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions.
She thought Skullius was going to say something about no longer needing these weaker weapons - and she wouldn't have had a problem with that - but this?
Skullius continued.
"I believe you've been lagging behind your peers for too long when it comes to Classes, and
so...."
At once, the guidance field chimed in Skullius' vision.
[You have made the Supreme Skill, 'Infinite Sword God: Primordial Sword' into a Hidden
Class!]
[Would you like to pass it to the individual known as 'Pherdanta Wykes'?]
Skullius smiled, and confirmed.