Bro, I'm not an Undead!

A brighter light than the one that had emanated before raged all over Red Rage’s body. Slowly, Skullius saw the Apostle’s body start to get mended, a crunching sound acting as the background effect.

Red Rage’s core also started to get patched up, returning to its white spherical magnificence from its shattered state!

Throughout all this, Skullius would have loved to smile, hiding the bleeding he felt at losing all those Null Life Essence Points, but he couldn’t.

Perhaps an emotionless skull face was not bad for this.

While he had planned to use them for Red Rage’s benefit, the Penetrator had hoped to have some spares left for other things.

1000 points would have to do for now. Until he went hunting for more that is.

Soon, the brilliant flare-like effects ended as Red Rage dropped to the ground, standing heroically as the flash of light died down.

His silvery appearance was restored with his above average height paling in comparison to Skullius’ form.

It was finally done.

The Penetrator was right after all. [Apostle Armament] was the key.

Unfortunately, Red Rage didn’t receive a skill from [Apostle Armament].

‘That’s unfair…’ Skullius thought to himself. But then again, it seemed that the skill’s formal effect had been sacrificed to revive Red Rage.

“This is the second time I’ve had to revive you, bro. This can’t keep happening. Well…. I guess truthfully, both times it wasn’t exactly your fault but I hope you learnt a few things from this,” Skullius lectured.

Red Rage first scratched his skull and then nodded.

On top of this…

[Red Rage approves of your actions. +50 Favourability]

“Huh? 50?” Skullius was shocked.

He had had more than 50 favourability points prior to this and now, he had a 100.

Red Rage then bowed to Skullius, his golden glowing eyes facing his master reverently.

“Oh…”

Skullius understood Red Rage’s intent instantly. The Apostle was thankful to Skullius for bringing him back._.

According to Red Rage, it was his own fault for not taking the opponent (Jackpot) seriously and he only had himself to blame.

Accountability.

A trait of a true hero.

Skullius was impressed.

It even seemed like Red Rage was being more respectful than before.

With all this happening, Skullius couldn’t help but recall what VOW bro had said about favourability.

This was indeed different from undeath. Only his actions could attract the respect of his summons.

As he pondered over this…

[A 100 points of favourability have been reached between you and your Apostle]

[Apostle ‘Red Rage’ has made his first pledge of loyalty to you]

[The following options are available for your Apostle. You may choose one:]

[-Skill Amalgamation | Tier 1]

[-Rank Bestowal]

“Hmmm. So this really is a big deal huh? VOW bro did say that there would be boosts available the higher the favourability, right? What can these do I wonder?”

Skullius tapped to get more information.

~~~

[Skill Amalgamation]

You are able to combine any two skills into a more powerful one regardless of their differences.

<Chances – 2>

—

[Rank Bestowal]

Bestow upon your Apostle a Rank. The effects of a Rank will be exposed after the Vehement Bone Nullmancer has 5 or more of the 10 Apostles they are allowed to summon.

~~~

“WAIT! Am I seeing this right?!” Skullius bellowed as his eyes immediately rushed over to the [Rank Bestowal].

“10 Apostles! I can only have 10 Apostles?! Why wasn’t I ever told this?!”

Skullius clutched his head.

A few things started to make sense in his head a he thought about this.

It just made sense.

No wonder [Apostle Summon] just seemed like a skill that wouldn’t budge in terms of levels.

No wonder there were so many aspects of his class that pointed towards quality more than quantity.

This was insane!

It also meant that Skullius couldn’t be reckless when summoning his Apostles. He didn’t know if he could unsummon them or not but still…

He was gravely limited in terms of quantity.

“Hmmm… well, I guess it really is different from what I thought,” said Skullius as he once again re-read the two options while releasing his disappointment.

“If a Rank is only useful when I have five Apostles then flesh that! I’m still quite far from getting that much. I’ll choose [Skill Amalgamation].”

[You have chosen ‘Skill Amalgamation’. Please choose two skills to combine from Apostle ‘Red Rage’s arsenal]

—

[ Skills ]

[ Null Life Aura | Lv. 2 ]

[ Storming Charge | Lv. 1 ]

[ Dead End | Lv. 1 ]

[ Flash Throw | Lv. 2 ]

[ Swift Stab | Lv. 1 ]

[ Dash in Dust | Lv. 2 ]

[ Climb | Lv. 1 ]

[ Basic Bow Mastery | Lv.3 ]

[ River Dance Technique | Lv.5 ]

[ Solid Punch | Lv. 8 ]

[ Weaver | Lv. 6 ]

[ Mana Shroud | Lv. 2 ]

[ Basic Mana Manipulation | Lv. 5 ]

[ Blessing of Serenity ]

<Racial>

[ Tusks of Justice | Lv.1 ]

[ Brilliant Boar Balance Buckler | Lv.1 ]

[ Pelvis Boar-Man Majestic Attire | Lv.1 ]

[ Hero’s Fist | Lv.1 ]

[ Hero’s Hero | Lv.1 ]

<Class>

[ Tempered Armament of the Hegemon | Lv.1 ]

[ Tempered Ascension | Lv.1 ]

[ Forged Steel Bones | Lv.1 ]

[ Glorious Rebirth of the Berserk Hegemon | Lv.1 ]

~~~

“Hmmm….the only options I think are worthwhile are probably from the class and race. Oh…. hold up! Where the hell did all those skills come from, Red bro?!”

Skullius pointed to the skills that had popped up which he had never seen before.

[River Dance Technique]?

Wasn’t that Shirota’s sword technique?!

[Mana Shroud], [Basic Mana Manipulation], what the flesh?

“How did you get all these?”

Red Rage happily explained through his link with Skullius.

The Penetrator was dumbfounded.

All those times that he left his Apostle to his own, the bastard had been mastering these skills.

Furthermore, that wasn’t all.

According to Red Rage, he had used Null Life Essence to see through Skullius’ eyes when he was training with Oliviana or learning new skills even while hidden in the spatial storage ring!

This bro could manipulate Null Life Essence!

Apparently, he had learnt it out of desperation. Doing nothing had caused him to evolve while in the ring.

“That blessing of yours. I need to have a chat with Serenity about this on my next evolution. And with you too. I was just thinking about how to manipulate Null Life Essence.”

Tch! Honestly!

The Penetrator shook his head and then turned back his attention to the current matter.

Skullius read through the descriptions of all the skills and made his two choices quite easily.

He turned to Red Rage who looked at him with confusion and emitted a laugh.

“Let’s make you the strongest Pelvis Boar-Man!”

The guidance field immediately responded to Skullius’ intent as two chances were used to make the Pelvis Boar-Man the strongest he could be at the moment.

~~~

[‘Tempered Armament of the Hegemon’ has been combined with ‘Pelvis Boar-Man Majestic Attire’]

[…]

[The skill ‘Incandescent Attire of The Omnipotent Pelvis Hegemon’ has been born!]

—

[‘Hero’s Hero’ has been combined with ‘Glorious Rebirth of the Berserk Hegemon’]

[…]

[The skill ‘Berserk Guardian of Golden Legends’ (Special), has been born!]

~~~

“Oh… there’s a Special Skill?” Skullius muttered as he stroked his chin.

He had not expected such a development but it was welcome nonetheless.

He read through the descriptions of the two skills and grinned to himself.

[Skill Amalgamation] was very intriguing. Surely Red Rage was about to get vastly more powerful. At least with the first skill.

As for the second…

“I guess I’ll have to find a way to grant you a blue core. Speaking of which…”

Skullius immediately remembered. Perhaps it was time to find out what a particular skill could do for him.

The skill [Depths of Core]!