Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1048: The Upgrade! (2)

The Harmonic Ember was a gem that allowed one to combine concepts, and the meaning of the word concept seemed to remain as broad as possible.

This merging could be done within the body, which would limit the usage to a single instance, or outside the body. Replicus recalled Stylla saying that it was used once, the Harmonic Ember allowed all who were born with Bryne blood to create techniques based on combining all types of concepts. This meant the Ember was useless to all that followed after the one who found it, at least when it came to enhancing their somewhat famous Twin Contrast Sword Technique.

This was later proven wrong - though Replicus didn't know - by Theurien, the current head of the Bryne Family. Not only had he deviated from the norm of only being able to combine two concepts within himself, instead doing it with three using the Harmonic Ember, the technique he created for himself was not even strictly a sword technique.

While Replicus wasn't aware of such a loop hole, he had thought that using the Ember as it was, was insufficient. Besides that, he had also been suspicious about whether or not the Ember even worked for people outside of the Bryne Family; perhaps a security measure the Family would have added in times past.

Learning that Em-Sul could use it just fine, triggered his caution, however.

Whatever stipulations existed where the Ember was concerned, Replicus decided to bypass them entirely by transforming the gem and moulding it into something better, something a little different.

Well, that was usually what happened with [Unbound], but...

The results were beyond his expectations.

The black and white gem grew larger.

It

grew to the size of Replicus' head while still bathed in the blinding blue radiance, and attained an odd weight about it that made the Penetrator groan as he struggled to keep it in his hands.

Everyone simply watched in awe.

The Unlimited had seen Replicus use [Unbound] hundreds of times, and even while still being unable to sense Null Life Essence, they noticed that something was different this time around. Yuyui's eyes glistened at the sight while her two guardians, Bassbion and Yagrina wondered what it is that was happening here. This was beyond their knowledge. They had yet to see something like this despite being in the company of monstrous experts like the Order of the Trodden Rose.

The Harmonic Ember's shape twisted in all sorts of ways after it became a larger crystal ball. It started to adopt a curious outline that looked quite like a spiral.

But no...

That wasn't it.

When the intensity of the light lessened... the shape of the Ember became even harder to discern.

A crisp halo shone from it. It exploded outward and smote Replicus' hand away, making him stagger back.

The Penetrator shook, surprised.

The new Ember refused to let him touch it.

It was comfortable, content even, hanging in the air like a domesticated star, giving itself more than a little sacredness and importance.

'Hopefully, this isn't a bad thing,' Replicus thought as his sockets blazed.

He had no idea what he was about to face, but it truly felt different.

What Temporary Max Evolution meant wasn't quite clear to him. He had seen some of his skills reach 'max evolution', where they couldn't evolve further like [Bead of Malevolence], but what was a max evolution when Null Life Essence was involved? It was certainly different from the standard of this world, right?

Also, just how long was 'temporary'? Replicus estimated that it would, sadly, perhaps be the standard time for the basic upgrade offered by [Unbound]; five minutes. He hadn't used this aspect of [Unbound] since the Tremur Forest, but it seemed whenever [Unbound] said 'temporary', it wasn't going to be long at all.

'This is kind of like the Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity...' Replicus reminisced.

Just when he thought this, the veil of intense light behind the halo around the new Ember shattered, revealing the winding body of a large serpent.

Its body was perfectly sculpted. The serpent was coiling in growing, wider arcs from its tail below to its three separate heads above, all with different features; varying lengths and breadths of fangs, differing thicknesses to their heads, dissimilar colourations to their eyes. The whole thing was lathered in a shiny green hue, with vague, circular spots all over it that seemed to move around the fixed, winding body of the snake.

The most distinctive feature on this thing, however, was the band floating over its heads, which was also a small snake biting its own tail. Its body was a distinct shade of greenish- gold that rivalled the body below in beauty.

It was truly beautiful.

'Wow...' Replicus thought.

His instincts immediately pushed him to use the guidance field to see what this gorgeous evolution could do. Surely, it wasn't just a worthless ornament, right?

[External Fragment of cdgawx jeryxd~~

Shf xdvs ahsebrncai ahdeneksy....

"Do not insult me."

...

Replicus nearly jumped back.

"What the..!!" he exclaimed in surprise.

It didn't help that a noisy explosion rocked the skies right then, making the sea start to churn and boil despite Yuyui's best efforts. Thankfully, calm was restored in the next instant when the green-haired girl exerted a better grasp on everything around her with the Eye of Dispersal.

--

"Uh..." the Penetrator murmured.

Not only had the guidance field started to crash and write gibberish when he tried to appraise

the object in front of him, he also heard a voice in his head.

This voice came again.

"Do not look down on me, brat. Did you just assume I could not introduce myself?"

Replicus' sockets dimmed.

'Wait.. Is that the...' he thought.

"YES! You are talking to me. Why are you so slow? It's awfully clear!"

The Penetrator froze a little.

The object before him... was talking to him! From the looks of it, it was talking only to him as

its voice really seemed to only exist in his head.

Trippy.

'Uh. Sorry. I have no idea what's going on here. This isn't usually how my interactions with... artefacts, go,' he said.

"You look at me as a mere artefact? Sure, seconds ago, I was, and in a few more minutes, I will be just that again, but for now, I'm your superior. Better yet, maybe your salvation," the

serpent-themed sculpture, perhaps gem, perhaps entity, said.

Replicus didn't know how to reply. He simply said (thought):

'I'm sorry. Like I said, this is new territory for me. Shall we start over then? May I know your name your name and what you can do?'

The entity glazed in halo floated closer to Replicus.

"That's much better," it said, its voice even. "As you are the one who just pushed me beyond

my limits and extended my consciousness, I shall oblige to your requests. I am the External Fragment of Realised Choices, previously known as the Harmonic Ember. I am an alternate progenitor of all controlled, harmonised, chaotic and structured energies. Where everything related to such is concerned, I am your guide, and should I desire, I will gift you what you

seek."

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