Athelei was walking the empty streets of eastern Avina.
He currently adorned the face of Nikiri Mist as he held a single-edged sword. His recent experiments on the Undead Remnants might just bear fruit tonight. The Mind-Splitter he had liberated from the hands of Gorou should be an excellent tool for isolating the black crystals he wanted.
That was the theory, after all, the Mind-Splitter had the effect of [Mana Disconnection]. It was like the perfect answer to his problems that Athelei had saved for last.
'Since none of the means accessible to me at this moment meet the requirements, I guess this can do for now.' Athelei craved more methods of isolation, but that would be for the future.
As Athelei thought of such things, his footsteps travelled through over the ashen roads and past empty houses.
Eastern Avina had been abandoned due to the Undead Remnants having no respect for the defensive measures put down by Lotus Weizhe. The Undead Remnants simply waltzed past the Eastern Wall and into the homes of the citizens to dine on lives every night.
Distant screams of terror still echoed throughout the empty town as the more stubborn humans suddenly discovered an Undead Remnant standing right behind them. A grim atmosphere had settled on this side of Avina as the whistling wind blew through the different buildings.
U r r r r r o o o a a a a a h
A low groan echoed along an alleyway to Athelei's right, drawing his attention.
'A humanoid Undead Remnant,' Athelei lifted a brow as he lunged forward and swung his single-edged sword in a manner that mimicked Hana of the Banishers.
The Undead Remnant had already taken notice of his presence of life and had already reached out to devour him. Two grey figures struck each other at the same time, but only one was affected.
Athelei had been infected by the Manic Undeath, but with the appearance of the Nefarious Icon, the Boon of Longevity was created, devoured, and absorbed.
As for the Undead Remnant, it squealed as the Mind-Splitter cut through it like a torch slashing through cobwebs. The so-called Bane of Nightwalkers was doing its job.
Ting!
The sound of metal hitting a crystal echoed out for a second as Athelei swiftly reached out to catch a small black crystal.
When the Mind-Splitter had sliced into the red candlelight, it hit this black crystal and applied its [Mana Disconnection]. The energies that kept the black crystal inside the Undead Remnant were suddenly severed as the black crystal was faintly wrapped by a thin veil of weird energy. Thus, it sent the black crystal straight out of the red candlelight and into Athelei's hurried grasp.
As Athelei clutched the black crystal in his grey hand, he heard the Undead Remnant wail. Rapid footsteps rang out as the Undead Remnant dashed towards him.
But Athelei was ready.
His fog-body shrank as a single tail appeared behind him. The grey tail then crystallized, giving birth to a tail of ice-like shark skin.
Crack!
Athelei struck with a whip of his tail, bringing the humanoid Undead Remnant a dose of consciousness corruption. Ice slowly spread throughout it as Athelei struck a few more times, and each time it applied a stack of corruption. The ice was then dyed black while keeping its crystalline sheen as it went.
The Undead remnant lost its humanoid form, becoming abstract as it writhed and churned within itself. It was plagued by a shattered sense of being as its entire body was slowly converted into something different.
Soon, the Undead Remnant's foggy body had become a lump of translucent obsidian.
It was a lump of the Boon of Longevity.
'Hmmm,' Athelei took note of the difference between his previous killings of humanoid Undead Remnants.
The ones who had their black crystals still inside the red candlelight at the moment they crystallised yielded a much larger chunk of translucent obsidian.
As for the Undead Remnant Athelei just killed, it clearly yielded a much smaller amount.
It was a logical phenomenon and Athelei scribbled down his findings as per usual. He then picked up the Boon of Longevity and absorbed it.
A wave of rejuvenation washed over him as Athelei sighed in satisfaction. Over the course of seven days, he was able to use Inspect on his own physical body. He had utilised a range of different questions that all enlightened him of certain things but missed the point.
That was until the execution of the three small noble families of Avina. Upon witnessing their tragic ends, screaming their throats out and being set aflame, the question of lifespan had popped into his mind.
Athelei then used the [Passive Effect] of Sneaky to sneakily use Inspect on many of the people present that day.
He took note of a few things, namely;
=o=o=o=o=
● The average human had a lifespan of about 100 years.
● Evolvers had longer lifespans than the average human, going up to 200 years for the Rank 2 Evolvers present.
● Artists and Dictators had the same lifespans an average human had.
=o=o=o=o=
Athelei found such things intriguing, wondering why he had never heard of Evolvers actually living that long. On the other hand, he had heard of the Peak Rank 3 Artist of the Holy Nation of Illyas being at least a hundred and thirty years old. The old Artist was a witness of the harrowing monster surge that all of Oxhor silently feared.
'Could there be some anti-ageing Mystic Patterns out there?' Athelei wondered to himself, 'As for the Evolvers, it really is bizarre how I haven't heard of anyone reaching two hundred years...'
As for Athelei? The effects of the Boon of Longevity was as clear as day.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Orien
- Lifespan: 142 Years
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Athelei kept thinking about these things as he collected more black crystals for future use. He could feel some kind of energy spiralling inside the wine-cork-sized crystals, and he was keen to figure out what it was. Especially with how the humans were already trying to figure out what this newfound material could be used for.
Moreover, Athelei also wanted the ability to raise a few Undead Remnants himself just in case.
'Yes... just in case...' Athelei couldn't help but giggle when he thought about the Seed of Atlantis in Lotus Weizhe's hands.
'Will he plant the seed?' Athelei playfully asked himself as he slashed another Undead Remnant. He then took its black crystal as he listened to the sounds of Avina's knights fighting in the distance.
Athelei had already spoken to Lotus Weizhe with Sway active and while the latter was at an emotional low. Athelei's intuition told him that such a timing had been impeccable. His words had the most effect, bringing about a chain reaction he could not guess the result of.
'The likelihood that he will, should be high, right?' Athelei snickered as he packed up. He stored all the black crystals he harvested in a small pouch tied to his new sheath.
The face of Nikiri Mist then dissolved as the adult-sized body shrank. Wings manifested on the now child-like Nightwalker.
FWOOSH!
With a powerful flap of his wings, Athelei took the skies as he carried his belongings. He then transformed into a rather large bird of prey and basked in the moonlight.
In the distance, another beast was enjoying the silver shine of the moon. It was a serpentine colossus, swimming freely through the sea. As if orchestrated by fate, a horde of monsters sat directly opposite the serpentine beast. Their candlelights of a ghastly red flickered against the jet-black backdrop of the eastern plains.
Athelei, from where he flew, could see all these things who were waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
The Undead Remnants were approaching the centre of Avina.
The tides had already begun to flood the central castle.
Monsters would invade the high grounds,
Beasts would drown the low grounds.
The citizens were trapped,
The nobles were backed into a corner.
'In a few minutes, the first of May will arrive,' Athelei muttered as a bout of adrenaline washed across him. He could feel the tense atmosphere where impending destruction loomed.
'Oh, how exciting!'