Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Five hours after reverting back to normal, Skullius was walking among the humans freely again, entering Genhuis in the depths of the night without the trouble of meeting resistance at the gate this time.

He momentarily stopped what had been his practice with gathering Aura in his body – the chillingly dark Aura that he could produce which wasn't the same as the others he had seen.

He could produce lumps of it, not nearly enough to form a Full Body Aura but just enough for him to practise combining the skills in his body.

It was no easy task.

With enough focus, he could sense all his skills etched into his body but fusing them by attaching one lump of Aura to one skill and then stretching said lump to another skill placed a distance away from the first one was... agitating.

He had had outbursts of pure rage on the way here that even he was shocked by.

It was maddening.

'This is ridiculous. If it's this hard then no wonder it happens naturally for everyone. Why bother do it manually?' Skullius thought, the remnants of his fury registering on his skin which turned a bit red.

No matter.

He would get there eventually. As long as he kept up the grind, he would have a Full Body Aura in no time and his finesse when merging skills would only continue to increase.

That was the best attitude to adopt otherwise he would go insane before Doom Factor 2 struck.

That said, it seemed that only similar skills could be merged together reasonably. At the very least, skills with a similar level could be merged. For instance, normal skills that hadn't evolved would probably be the easiest to merge with the difficulty ramping up when merging Special skills.

When it came to fusing a Special skill and normal one... that was likely impossible.

That much Skullius could understand on his own.

Additionally, as Skullius saw it, it was likely impossible to merge his class skills with normal skills. He couldn't understand how that would even work.

How would [Basic Evil Sanction] merge with [Great Rush I] for instance? Not only where they different, but no matter what skill it was, they were completely incompatible with his Insurgent Magnus skill series.

Also, withholding the issue of skill, higher levels skills probably used up a lot of Aura to merge, which meant this wasn't going to be a quick process. The Hybrid Luman intended on creating powerful skills too, so there was no way he was going to half ass this.

'Thank goodness I have Replicus. Between focusing on attaining high level concepts, merging skills, creating new skills with [Unbound], looking into the Severed Union and all that... I'd waste the limited time I have left,' Skullius thought.

'That said, I guess I should try to put levelling up [Brisk Storm Avatar] higher on my priority list but... Special skills aren't the easiest to level up.'

Thinking about these things brought a lot of conflicting emotions from Skullius.

Mostly stress.

He couldn't afford to be downcast right now but he couldn't help it.

There was just so much bullshit!

Speaking of stress...

The Hybrid Luman pulled out Demion's Dance from his storage.

At this point, he had passed the general business areas and was closing in on the largely spaced sets of mansions built for the Families within Genhuis City.

The area was less populated, especially in the night and the activity therefore, was limited.

The green bladed curved sword Skullius held had several cracks on it and with a quick look through the guidance field, Skullius saw that its durability had plummeted hard.

Back in Inhone, he had gotten it partially mended by HammerDown Gruff, and since then, he had forgotten that it wasn't quite whole yet. Some of its skills were not as effective still.

The blacksmith had already made him aware of that.

'I completely forgot about it,' Skullius thought as he caressed the blade's surface. 'Just when you had acknowledged me as your wielder too...'

Now that the Hybrid Luman wasn't in a pinch, he could fully appreciate the notification he had seen.

He felt a close bond with the sword now, but through that bond, he could tell that the sword was weak.

During his fight with Bassbion, the technique inlaid within the sword, the [Swindling Death's Dance] had crept its dark red clutch on his heart, making him feel like if he didn't perform each slash with everything he had, he would die. When his body was reforged, this dark clutch had forged the <CURSED HEART> and his <CURSED BLOOD>, things he was sure were not yet living up to their fullest potential.

Now, with the sword cracking, Skullius felt like he was a bit far from seeing that potential being realised, however it was supposed to. He needed a really good blacksmith.

"You hold that sword as if it were a lover. Is it?' a voice asked from a short distance.

Skullius' senses flared and he hurriedly tried to discern the shape of this person.

When he did...

'Oh come on!' Skullius complained in his mind and he didn't have the decency to hide his discomfort at meeting this person either.

It was a very shapely woman walking a few steps behind him.

Her long, navy blue hair and breath-taking gaze made her easily recognisable, her skimpy but stylish clothing that revealed a little too much making her stand out.

Since Skullius had to rely on tracing shapes, he was smacked right in face with a cold reality when this woman was so close to him for a change.

He might have missed other finer details about her but...

Damn, she was well carved!

He didn't have any particular ability to savour a woman's body and was practically immune to getting charmed but sheesh!

"Don't look sooo excited to see me," the woman said with charming sarcasm.

She was Vali Kinn, a woman Skullius was wary of.

The Hybrid Luman sighed.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Vali chuckled.

"Come on, I wrote to you didn't I? And sadly I got the feeling you didn't intend to meet with me for a chat," she said with an unintentionally seductive smile, her gaze towards Skullius, if it had been directed to any 'feeling' man, absolutely dominating.

"I didn't," Skullius said bluntly as he stopped and turned to stare at her with his blind eyes. "So you decided to stalk me instead?"

"Oh no, no. This is simply a chance meeting. I enjoy lonely walks through the city at night. It just so happens to be the most REAL time of any day."

Skullius wasn't convinced.

Either she was stalking or his atrocious luck was getting a good sense of humour.

Yesterday, the Hybrid Luman had decided to meet with Darwel, who had sent out her desire to speak to him in writing as well, but the person he had decided not to meet at all was the one he was looking at right now.

She seemed happy about it too.

Vali took steps to reach Skullius, the two now standing face to face with their similar heights allowing for an aligned gaze.

Not that it mattered.

Skullius relented.

Might as well get this over with.

"Just tell me what you want from me?" he asked with apparent annoyance.

Vali backpedalled and sat on a rock behind her, her eyes never leaving Skullius' face.

"Want is a strong word but it fits. You know exactly what I want," she replied with the cute tilt of her head that flung bits of her blue hair to the side.

"Right. You want to use me to get to the Bryne Family?" Skullius recited what Vali had said in her letter.

"That's a bit oversimplified but yes. I'm taking a page out of the EverSword's book. Rallying Families under mine for mutual benefit. The Bryne Family isn't exactly better off, is it? Besides, such a talented man like yourself would do so much better with me."

Skullius sent out a hard breath.

"Well aren't you very forward and honest," he said while also sitting down. 'Looking' down at the seated Vali wasn't exactly pleasant.

"As I should be. Women should be transparent while men should be the tough, hard nuts they were meant to be. That's how I see it," Vali said while drawing a circle playfully in the air. "When you're that tough, you appear immovable and the more you withhold, the less weaknesses you appear to have. Now that's a man."

Skullius twisted his lips.

What an outlook.

"And me? Do I somehow fit that standard of yours for a man?" he asked curiously.

Vali's smile grew wider, her mana slightly spiking

She had an outrageous amount of it.

Its quantity was incredibly abnormal when stacked even against Mages!

"I always admire a man who has secrets, who is decisive, hides many of their cards and has a knack for flare. I saw all that in that one battle of yours. It was genuine and arousing."

Vali's eyes showed a feverish desire.

She set one leg on top of the other while taking smooth breaths to calm her heart.

Skullius got the desire to run away.

Lady, are you alright?

"I'm interested in you, Festos. I haven't met a man like you in a long time. I understand the human body pretty well. Flesh, bone, mana and all. Every aspect about I've seen and expedience is drawing me to you. Even now I feel that you're repulsed by me unlike most. You've been feeling over me voraciously but you feel nothing but wariness. The reason for that, among other things intrigues me. I'd assume you've heard more bad things about me than the good but still..."

'I've heard no good things about you, lady,' Skullius replied inwardly.

He was growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

"I'll have to refuse your offer. I'm quiet happy with where I am," Skullius said as he stood, preparing to walk away.

Vali grew even more excited. She remained seated and swung her legs like a little girl.

"Hmmm..." she hummed to herself as she let Skullius go on his way.

She didn't stop him.

Best not to obsess.

The many generations of lesser men she had seen drove away her interest by doing the same thing. They too wouldn't like the treatment.

Vali giggled.

Her eyes twinkled as she engraved Skullius' figure into her mind.

***

Skullius sighed without end as he entered the Bryne Family Residence.

What an uncomfortable encounter.

If he were any lesser of a man – than he already was, literally – he would have fallen for Vali's charm.

The worst part was, he couldn't tell what her true intentions were. Her words were like a honey trap and most likely this woman could use his interests to capture him if he didn't stay cautious.

One thing he was sure of though, was that some people were hard to fool.

People like Vali could read even hidden aspects of him like a book.

Tsk.

How annoying.