Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Past the door to the small cabin, was a spatially augmented area that was equal in size to a single floor in the Honing Fortress. Wooden tiling made everything underfoot, the space clear and clean – initially – but Replicus’ subordinates had packed a lot of supplies into the space.

Tools, weapons, shields, spears. All of these could be seen leaning against the walls, though their purpose wasn’t so straight forward. A large cubical object had been positioned in the first third of the large space, full of cooked food, all of it enough to last at least a month, even if the group ate unsparingly.

Curiously, the Faction members had also compartmentalised the large space, creating five rooms that had luxury almost equal to that of the Honing Fortress.

At the moment, in one of these tidy rooms, Replicus was seated with Baddan.

The Sky Watcher sat on the floor. His body spotted the same kind of outfit he always wore, but much cleaner and in dazzling white. The baggy pair of pants, and the long sleeved, low necked baggy shirt that fed into the pants couldn’t have looked any more ceremonial. Replicus had honoured Baddan’s desire to keep the garb.

With his white furs, the Sky Watcher looked like a sacred beast from mythology which fickle souls would sent their prayers and offerings too.

He sat on the floor, one of his legs angled up to support his elbow. His dark eyes never left the Penetrator who sat on a chair ten meters away.

“Has it all sunk in?” Replicus asked.

Baddan remained silent for several moments, and then he spoke.

“…Creeds. I’ve never heard of such things until now. They do seem rather… dangerous.”

“Oh they are. Beasts tend to celebrate reaching the tenth tier and earning a Majestic Territory, but for humans, it’s different. A Territory is a trump card, but Incandescent Stagers normally won’t use it even a pinch. The more experienced ones will use complex Creeds before exhausting themselves in Territory battles.”

Baddan sucked in a slow, deep breath.

The information that Replicus was adding, was only building up to what the Penetrator had inserted in him just now. Implanting small quantities of knowledge into the brain using mana seemed like a very simple feat for this ridiculous being before Baddan.

“If you were to enter into a battle without knowing about Creeds, I fear I would lose my investment. And don’t be fooled, Incandescent Stage experts can use their Creeds on anything and anyone lower ranked than them. If you see a weaker opponent, don’t dare rule them out. The Faction leaders are almost as messed up as I am.”

Baddan grunted in agreement.

A few images that had been transmitted to his brain reacted to what Replicus was talking about, giving him a better representation of what he was talking about.

Creeds.

After one passed into the Incandescent Stage they would begin to understand their soul to a terrifying degree. For the most part, very few creatures were able to manipulate their souls consciously. Perhaps Mages could cheat their way into learning intricacies of the soul because ultimately, their powers relied more on mastery of their Class than Stages, but every other normal Class holder could only gain the added advantage of swaying their inner self, as they would their body, at the Incandescent Stage.

Once a firm understanding of the soul was granted, Incandescent Stagers would begin to generate Creeds.

Replicus had heard an extreme, but very accurate definition of Creeds.

Fragments of Rules.

The same Rules that Deities were able to impose on their worlds for protection and progress. Creeds were a deeply diluted version of that.

As such, Creeds could be used for almost anything. They were a currency to break out of rigid systems and make the impossible or set in stone, possible and flexible. That was dangerous thing.

The soul was able produce Creeds over time, and the quantity depended on the quality of the soul. Tasks also generated a few Creeds due to their difficulty at the Incandescent Stage, but this was the poorest method to acquire them.

The best way was a little more difficult, yet blissfully rewarding.

“How are you doing with your technique?” Replicus asked.

Baddan narrowed his eyes lightly, and looked at his palm.

“It was difficult to handle even after I subdued all six, but now…. it’s easier. I have already integrated the technique into my Territory. It worked surprisingly well with my old abilities, as you said.”

Replicus was taken aback.

“You already… integrated it into your Territory? That is some monstrous talent,” he said.

He wasn’t faking surprise.

As ridiculous as it seemed for Replicus to be able to inject techniques into living beings using [Wealth of Spoils], it was much nearly impossible to achieve this on fully grown living things.

The reason Replicus had been more inclined to use hatchlings from different species for this, was because their brains were easier to shape and manipulate, and their bodies would be yet to take proper form.

This was different for older beings.

If it were that easy, Replicus would have been overloading his subordinates with all sorts of powers.

Once the body grew, and the brain too, they would become less malleable because of already chosen Classes, habits and all.

Replicus only succeeded with Baddan because his abilities, as his race and class suggested – Sky Watcher – were owned by the Cluster he had been born in. As such, when he lost them, his body was like an empty vessel strained by old habits, yet greedily awaiting the return of its original powers.

And even though Baddan succeeded, Replicus didn’t expect the Cluster beast to familiarize himself with the new powers in just a matter of hours.

That… was truly terrifying.

“Well. Good job. If a Territory springs up, I’ll be expecting you to counter it. This will probably happen a lot more times than is tolerable,” he said.

“I thought you said Incandescent Stage experts don’t normally use their Territories,” Baddan asked.

“They don’t,” Replicus said while standing up. “Unfortunately for us, all of top enemies are Incandescent Stage experts, and all of them are crazy – one moreso than the others.”

The Penetrator left a thoughtful Baddan in his room and exited into a corridor with the beautiful wooden tiling.

Replicus passed nine doors to nine spacious rooms, one of which invited many eyes to see past its open door, and spot Allora, who was sprawled on a large bed, fast asleep.

The Penetrator shook his head and closed the door to her room

He wasn’t averse to Allora getting some shut-eye. Once the trip picked up its pace, he doubted there would be too much time for rest.

‘I still can’t believe she managed to convince me…’ Replicus thought.

He had initially decided to leave Allora because she wasn’t good at controlling her powers yet, which were fairly demanding.

However, she won him over with several good points, one of them being that if Replicus wanted her to grow faster, there was no better training ground than this voyage to catch the masked man.

Allora even used his speech for his subordinates against him.

Apparently saying that he would prefer to see Deign burnt down when he came back instead of it thriving, but with his subordinates polished from the carnage, worked a little too well for Allora’s case.

In the end, Replicus decided to leave the duty for Kenno alone.

After passing by Allora’s room, Replicus reached a door at the end of the long corridor.

The door led to the deck, with no prelude of a step ladder or stairs. Magic rightfully allowed for such tedious things to be omitted.

The Penetrator saw Pherdanta standing in the middle of the deck with her hands behind her back.

Unlike others, Replicus could spot her easily because he had several degrees of perception that were vastly different from the norm. After once getting annoyed at having so many eyes, Replicus had decided to give them another purpose that one which could simply be replaced by a torch.

Grim was leaning against the edge of the deck while looking down at the flowing waters below. He seemed so distracted that he didn’t notice Replicus reach him.

“What’s on your mind?” Replicus asked.

Grim was a little startled, but quickly relaxed.

“Oh, boss. Nothing much. I just… remembered the day I got these abilities,” he said, and a smile crept on his face. “I didn’t believe I would survive the trials in that place despite itching to become an Unlimited.”

“Really? You looked so confident when you came back. I thought you had been confident about it from the get go,” Replicus said.

“No. The attitude, the smile and the confidence all came with the Hidden Class. I wasn’t usually so cheerful… or brave. But I guess I did have the opportunistic touch of a bandit. Kenno made sure we all had it.”

Replicus’ sockets flashed.

“How do you feel about your Class?” he asked.

At this question, Pherdanta turned to the two with an odd look.

Grim looked at Replicus curiously.

“My Class?”

“Yes.”

Grim scratched his head.

“Well, I love it. You gotta appreciate what you fight hard for, right? Not a day goes by where I don’t admire my claws,” he said with grin. “It’s made me feel more… authentic, you know? Like I’ve become bigger than the man from my dreams.”

Replicus nodded silently.

Inwardly, his visage turned dark.

—

[Author’s Note]

MASS RELEASE ON 10/09/2023!!! 

GET READY!