Chapter 220: Union or Separation (1/2)
Rakna yawned as he entered the Pavilion's commune section. He had left while the others were still sleeping. No one had noticed him except, of course, Nyx who almost gave him a heart attack by taking control of his shadow form out of curiosity…
”Well, her Shadow Control is a Nirvana Skill,” a certain cat said from the top of his head. Just that fact alone was attracting more stares to him than usual. ”And she is, by birth, the Shadow Goddess even though she lost her divinity. I wouldn't be surprised if she is immune to anything Shadow or Darkness related.”
”Yeah, yeah,” the therian muttered as he rubbed his neck a tired tone. Unluckily for him, his Sin of Sloth passively made it harder for him to wake up. At first, he thought it would be easily fixed now that he had an augmented brain, but there was barely any effect. ”Bullshit,” he said irritatingly as he started swiping randomly at the Quest Board.
”{Well, the power of Sins obviously beats technology. High-tier spells affect the very existence of something. Even a robot can sleep if the highest order of magic is used on them. Magic is supposed to transcend common sense after all,}” Fray commented.
”{If you want to counteract it, you should either raise your level or acquire other sins to balance them out. It might also be a good method to get around your Obsidian Blood. Your Eye cannot fix everything.}”
'I know… Say, you three, what do you think is the best? Union or separation?' He asked mentally.
Higure jumped on the Board and sat down as he continued to look through quests. She eyed him with a hum. ”{Union is the way to go… but separation is less risky. That's all I can say,}” she replied in kind.
”{I agree with Union,}” Fray concurred. ”{You have already seen glimpses of it, haven't you?}”
'Yes,' Rakna nodded and stopped navigating quests to look at his hand. He conjured a hoarfrost crystal and before it could disappear, he consciously activated Obsidian Blood whilst concealing the change in his fur color from the busy people nearby.
The result was the blue crystal blackening before shattering and releasing a lukewarm breeze to the surroundings. A few Hosts around had their clothes and hair flail with the wave and they all stepped back in surprise.
Rakna's red eyes glowed for a few seconds before returning to purple. 'See that? I thought it would be possible to create a Union Magic out of Hoarfrost and Volcanic… But it doesn't seem compatible at all.'
”{Well, they are polar opposites…}”
”{But you know the true reason why, don't you?}” Higure asked right after.
Rakna nodded slowly. 'I think so... 'Cold' evolved into 'Hoarfrost'. But my Volcanic element is still at the Exceled level whenever I change states. I need to find out how to break through.'
[Why not use a Skill Point, Rakna?] Ceres suggested. [You possess three, after all.]
”{I would not recommend it,}” Fray retorted.
”{I agree with the youngster,}” Higure followed.
'And I also agree,' Rakna followed up with a sigh. 'The problem, Ceres, is that my magic element was evolved in a specific way. I regained a part of my emotions and the Sage affected it. I have no idea if using a skill point will do something significant like it did to Cold Star. In which case, Union Magic might become even harder to use. I need both of them to be… crystal, for the lack of a better term.'
”Sounds reasonable…” Higure muttered out loud. ”Wait, 'Ceres'? Who is that?”
[That would be me, Dusk Lioness,] the AI responded. [I would like to be referred to as Cerestia if you do not mind.]
”{Ooh?}” Fray raised his voice in interest. ”{How interesting… really…}”
”Cerestia, huh?” Higure grinned. ”So, what, 'Ceres' is reserved for Rakna's personal use only?”
[…yes.]
The cat burst out laughing and Rakna faintly smiled. He finished taking quests in the 50th Plateau and closed the Quest Board's interface.
”Hey, Xiorra, is that you?” A voice said and the therian looked at the source with a raised eyebrow.
”Ah… you,” he muttered as he saw a familiar pair of twins coming his way. The blond siblings from the Walker Orphanage, who had helped him fight Aquila. ”Leis and Leia, was it?”
”Yes,” the brother said with a polite smile. ”We haven't met since the Tutorial, right? We did come across Allan a few times though when our Guilds cooperated.”
Rakna nodded with a hum and observed his attire. Compared to the Tutorial, he was now wearing a white and black uniform with stripes around one of his sleeves. His weapon was still a katana but obviously of a far higher quality than before.
As for his sister, she seemed as brash as ever outwardly. She carried a heavy hammer on her back and wore metal armor. She almost looked like a heavy knight in the making. Their eyes crossed and Leia blushed a bit before looking away.
”What? What are you looking at?” She uttered and her brother chuckled.
”Nothing… You two seem to be doing well,” Rakna ultimately said.
”Nowhere near as well as you,” Leis responded drolly. ”We've seen you on the news several times and you're also a bigshot with many connections already.”
”Yeah, and your hair and tails,” Leia added with a frown. ”Why are they blue now? And how come we didn't know you also had a twin?”
”I don't have a-” Rakna paused and facepalmed. ”Right… forget that. Karna didn't go to the same school as me. He was taken from somewhere else,” he improvised a story for his supposed brother. ”As for my fur, it's just mana dying. It's due to my magic's nature.”
”Since when black holes had anything to do with blue?” Leia asked in confusion and Rakna threw a deadpan look at her. ”W-what?”
Leis sighed. ”Leia, you don't just pry into someone else's abilities like that.”
”Oh, my bad…”
”But I have to admit I'm curious about something. That,” the swordsman pointed at something and Rakna followed his line of sight to his tails. ”Didn't you have four? Why are there three now?”
As he said, Rakna only had three tails behind him. The last time he appeared publicly, he still had four so Leis had no idea that there were actually two of them missing.