Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Several minutes after Skullius watched Ferex in his new body dash towards the Temple of Unlusted Tears, the Apostle returned with Yuyui.

The poor girl couldn't walk steadily for some reason as with her movement came a weird limp.

Skullius couldn't see it, but she was roughed up quite a bit, her skin turned purple over several patches of her face with bruises and scrapes also noticeable on different parts of her body.

"Master, you called for me?" she said with a few rapid blinks.

"Why are you walking like that?" Skullius asked with a brow raised.

"Uhmm.... I—"

"The servant has a broken leg, Master," Ferex interrupted, sensing that Yuyui was about to lie to their Master. Or at the very least, was taking too long to answer.

Yuyui yelped.

She had found it surprising that Ferex could now talk but unfortunately, the communication barrier still existed between them as the Apostle could only speak in a language she had never heard.

"A broken leg?" Skullius asked in surprise. He then moved closer to Yuyui whom after hearing what he had just said, knew she couldn't escape having to explain.

Her eyes darted to and fro as she fiddled endlessly with her own fingers anxiously.

She always felt nervous in front of Skullius' Hybrid Luman form.

"Well... you see..." she began when Skullius held her shoulder with his right hand.

"Hee?"

A strange energy embraced Yuyui, sifting from Skullius powerfully with a soft feel.

In the blink of an eye, Yuyui's wounds were all healed, including her broken leg.

"Ah. Thank you, Master," Yuyui said with a bright smile. She flexed her leg with a joyous kick and felt that it felt even better than before.

"You mind telling me what's going on in there? What have you been doing with those two for the past few days?" Skullius asked.

Yuyui had been visiting the Temple of Unlusted Tears quite frequently and Skullius was sure she had a similar growth mission to Ferex's.

Thankfully, Skullius didn't have to bite it out of her as she freely talked.

"I was trying to have Bassbion and Yagrina teach me how to fight. I figured that with proper practise... I could do what I did before when we fought those fire creatures, better," Yuyui said while continuously shifting.

She was nervous.

How would Skullius take it?

Skullius nodded.

In his opinion, this was for the best actually. He wouldn't know how to train Yuyui on his own except having her grow skills continuously, which wasn't the best method to truly become strong.

He could also just fling her into a Cluster and have her fight until she killed all the monsters within but that would take too long and he wasn't even sure Yuyui was ready for something like that, especially without Demion's Dance.

"I see. Has it been working out well?"

"Ughh... yes. It working very wel—"

"The servant was being beaten and insulted when I arrived to bring her to you, Master," Ferex snitched.

"Hmmm?" Skullius tilted his head. "Beaten and insulted? Do those two still not want to accept you? Should I knock some sense into them?"

Skullius had taken a step when Yuyui blocked his path with a pale face and vigorous waves of her hands to discourage him from the sentiment.

"No, no, no, no, no! You don't have to do that, Master! I can handle it! Bassbion was just being typically aggressive! It's fine!" the lime haired girl hurriedly said with determined eyes.

Skullius felt her heart race but her stance was firm.

She really meant it.

"If that's the case, fine. The reason I called you, is to give you this..."

The Hybrid Luman placed his hand on Yuyui's vaguely protruding chest.

[You have chosen 'Yuyui Yuyui Yuyui' as an <Attachment>. Are you sure you want to proceed with this action?]

"Yep," Skullius affirmed the detail the notification before him presented.

[Processing...]

[Guidance field generation in process...]

[Patronage Rank 0 benefits loading...]

[Process will be completed in 00:00:05:59]

"What... are you doing, Master?" Yuyui asked, alternating her gaze between Skullius and his hand. She didn't have a problem with his touch as social cues were still slowly returning to her mind but she was curious.

"Something will show up in your sight soon. It's the same thing I see and use. It will help you identify things better and will you also help you grow stronger faster. You can keep track of your progress and techniques with it as well. Use it well," Skullius explained as he retracted his hand.

[Please note you have reached the upper limit of <Attachments> you are able to create with current Patronage Rank]

This was it.

Yuyui and Kenno were Skullius' <Attachments>, both with different purposes.

Yuyui's was obvious but when it came to Kenno, his role and goals would become clearer after tomorrow when the avatar was born – the one who would be managing all of Skullius' extra plans.

For now, this was enough.

"Oh, right. I also got you this," Skullius said as he pulled out from his spatial storage ring, a Legendary grade dagger. An item he had chosen from the treasury as his reward along with a Unique grade Prompt Spell.

Yuyui received it with both hands, her eyes shining bright as she looked over its gleaming, stainless surface. It was slightly heavy, with a length similar to her arm from the elbow to her hands.

Its black, red and gold design was exquisite but for a brief moment, Yuyui felt like it was a waste.

She refused to show traces of the reason why to Skullius as that was her own problem which she swore she would solve but still...

'Nomatter what... I'll pass the Tasks!' Yuyui thought.

"Thank you very much, Master!" Yuyui bowed without pause.

Skullius nodded and turned, pulling out the Prompt Spells he had.

"I'll be in the mountains if you need me," Skullius said to the two as he departed.

There was no time to waste. The Kindling Heath was sapping all kinds of energies from the concepts on the stout mountain and till morning came, Skullius was going to suck up all he could to passively learn more about Distorted Gravity and the other concepts.

Along with that, when [High Cosmetic Body] timed out, he was contemplating using [Unbound] to find out what other new skill he could develop. But he was currently in a dilemma as he had a few different options to think over for the 12,000 Null Life Essence he had.

As their Master departed, Yuyui and Ferex looked at each other for a few moments, the former not able to keep a steady gaze on Ferex because of his intimidating presence.

As the atmosphere got more and more awkward though, Yuyui found the courage to say something.

"I could teach you to speak other languages if you want," she offered.

***

Second Day of the Preliminaries...

The excitement cascaded down the curved rows of human shaped adrenaline to barrel down on the platform where the first two contenders for the day were already standing off.

On one side stood a woman with pink hair, downturned purple eyes that showed a burning fighting spirit contained in her oval face. She wore a tight fitting leather armour with a fairly expensive looking design with features that emphasised that it was probably a Legendary grade tool.

On the other side stood a man already in stance, around his head a large black bandana that pulled his medium length chestnut brown hair back with narrow eyes that barely looked open piercing towards his opponent on his face. He held a long spear with a black, rough pole and a silver head that gleamed at the edges, announcing it's sharpness.

No doubt it was a Legendary grade tool.

Both contenders looked to be ready for fight and thus the Game Master shot up on glass pane, signalling for them to begin!

---

Name : Maxim Flatbed

Stage : Second Phase Master

Core : Blue

Family : Flatbed

-

Name : Hocce Ian

Stage : Second Phase Master

Core : Blue

Family : Ian

---

Within the tent that housed the contenders, Skullius clicked his tongue.

With Crude Vision, he recognised one of the contenders.

"Ugh, that bitch," he grumbled as he wished misfortune on that damned pink-haired woman.

---

[Author's Note]

Don't worry. The PAR seems to be moving painfully slow only because the important characters are yet to be fully introduced. In the end, we are heading to the actual Royale so there will be some time skips after a few key events take place.