As he bore witness to the deliciousness of the unseasoned bird meat, Null gulped; it had been a while since he last ate.
However, at the same time he could sense something all around him: the ambient magic (mofei) and that of the fire and the ground and trees and plants all around.
He was surrounded by a new force he had no contact with on any other planet.
As he channeled the power of the vortex, he could feel new substances swirling around with the spirit energy inside of it. They were the fire, earth, water, and air mofei and if he perused further, he would be able to sense the more complex mechanisms of the substances.
He glanced at the fire and circulated just that aspect of the mofei into the palm of his hands.
A flame was born from his palm, the same as the campfire.
Theef's mouth hang open, dripping with saliva and amazement.
"You have access to this world's laws? You have intrigued me yet!" The pauper was equally surprised.
"Haha! Fireball!" Null swung his hand and released a burst of flame that flew upwards before fizzling out into the night sky.
"Aww lucky bastard! Just how do your damn powers work... able to access the laws of the world without even trying."
"Aren't you the best thief out there? Can't you steal something as basic as the laws of the world?" Null snickered while circulating a new strand of mofei before creating an orb of water.
"You're all backwards you freak!" Theef spat.
"But you respect me for it. How bout this: I give you a taste of the magic and you cut me a nice piece of that roast."
"DEAL! Now gimme!"
"Haha! Okay chill out," Null held his hand out, "Gimme five!"
Clap!
"Alright!"
Their hands met in a loud clap.
Null held onto the hand and felt for something inside of Theef; he remembered giving him a sort of energy that formed the basis of a bond between them.
As he searched, he found that there was no such energy left, only a suction force that threatened to steal Null's powers itself. It seems like Theef's evolution had generated a combination with the orange energy and allowed him to convert to his chimera form.
As such, Null simply filtered some of the mofei straight into the suctioning force; a rainbow light flickered between colors as it was implanted inside Theef's body.
In response, Theef took on a different form unlike his chimera transformation. His body straightened out and his large head shrank a size, but the transformation ended there.
Theef now looked a lot more humanlike— much like an Imeni in fact.
"So, this is the magic I've heard about. It's much different compared to the violent nature of other mages. I feel... in control." Theef spoke more softly than before, his tone gave off a more sophisticated air to him.
'Woah. What the hell happened to him?' Null wondered if he had somehow caused this.
"You good buddy? No pains or anything like that?" He was concerned for the new form he was now seeing. It was highly unlike the ruckus that usually came with Theef.
"As I have just stated, I feel in control over this new power. Bear witness," with his instruction, Theef held out both hands and a litany of lights were produced.
For each element, a corresponding light shone in his palms before he threw out his palms similar to how Null had done it and a scene unlike no other took place.
A series of 'pops' rang out like fireworks as the elements converged into each other and gave birth to new ones just after fusing and creating more complex elements.
There was a whole spectacle above their little camp, and it did not go unseen.
Far away in the distance, a pair of eyes had also bore witness to the spectacle and was in awe.
Their figure suddenly blurred as they rushed to the scene of the incident, every step building up faster and faster speed.
---
"No way! You fucking rule!" Null was entranced by the series of 'pops' going off.
"Tis but his nature as a theif I presume. Not much use in plundering if you have no clue what to do with your bounty." The pauper deciphered as much.
"No kidding. So that's why there was an absence of the energy I had left in his body. He was actually able to refine it into something like an adaptable body for whatever given energies he ingests or absorbs."
"Same as I. I suppose that means he will have a bit more trouble advancing to the realm of Transcendent though, given that he has such broad capabilities. However, at that point he would already surpass most Transcendent with his gift. He already has the power to utilize my law with his chimera form."
"That's true. I hadn't thought of it that way," Null mulled over the pauper's words.
While they spoke, the person in question finished his display of power, but as he did the form no longer had any support to function with and was naturally dismissed.
"You guys like that?" He boasted.
"You're a real beast yourself, y'know that?" Null was the first to give his compliments.
"As Null says, your race was definitely something if they were even slightly as capable as you are now," the pauper said his regards.
"Too bad I have no way of getting my hands on that stuff without your help." Theef went to carve the roasted bird with a premade golden knife.
"At least Goldie still can make stuff with his powers, otherwise he'd be the useless one of the bunch."
"Don't say that. He's also good for some information at the least. Although, you are right. I guess I should help you out with that." Null responded to Theef's banter.
As he said so, he filtered the mofei into a strand of earth mofei that was deepened into the metallic aspects of it all before completely refining it into a suitable, golden form.
"One power up, coming right up!" He grabbed the permanently kneeling pauper's shoulder before transmitting the mofei into him.
The golden coin on his forehead reappeared and shone lightly with a golden light, getting brighter and brighter the more mofei was inputted.
Before long, the golden coin was at its brightest and had more detail on it as the face of the pauper appeared more distinctly on its side.
He produced a golden coin in his hand and pointed at a nearby branch before gravity fell hard onto the branch and caused it to break and fall down.
That was not the only thing that occurred in the moment however as a muffled cry was heard.
"Someone's there!"
The two were confused by this happenstance and looked at the pauper with dumb looks on their faces.
"I'm back baby," he dryly remarked with a dumb smirk of his own.