[Formation of core is now complete.]
With those lines, the darkness faded from Leon’s vision and he found himself standing in the middle of the clearing where he once was. His summons were all bowed before him, the millipedes laying their bodies flat, while the humanoid summons remained on their knees. Only Nedra was not overly affected by the urge to bow, as she was his Spirit Companion, not his summon.
As for the adventurers, they seemed to be struggling with the pressure Leon was radiating as they resisted that urge to bow that tried to dig into their skin and bones.
Leon took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, retracting the intangible layer of mana that was seeping out of his body. He had seen Nedra do it before, so he was not absolutely clueless. As he pulled back his aura, instead of the mana settling just in his bones like it always had, most of it flowed into Leon’s chest area underneath his clothes, and sank into something there.
He felt rejuvenated, as if he had been born again. It was almost like the feeling after he went through the Race Advancement process, but more subtle.
‘Status.’ He called mentally, and the status screen popped up before him.
[Status]
Name: Leon Cromwell
Race: Obsidian Skeleton Noble (Human Form)
Level: 82
Health Points: 8230
Mana(Core): 4310 (+4000)
<Strength: 130> (+26) -[+5]
<Agility: 118> -[+3]
<Durability: 155> -[+4]
<Intelligence: 150> (+15) -[+20]
<Dexterity: 118> (+24) -[+3]
Skills:
<Apprentice Weapon Mastery level 28>, <Spell Weaver level 30>, <Spirit Summoning level 70>, <Spirit Storage Level 70>, <Apprentice Fire Magic level 28>, <Beginner Weapon Enhancement level 52>, <Beginner Curse Eyes level 50>, <Adaptable Body level 12>, <Apprentice Water Magic level 2>, <Apprentice Wind Magic level 2>, <Apprentice Earth Magic level 2>, <Apprentice Dark Magic level 2>, <Apprentice Gravity Magic level 2>
Titles:
<Slayer of Ghosts>
<God’s Disciple (Michael’s Blessing)>
Title Perks:
<Slayer of Ghosts>: You have stood tall against adversities, both living, dead, and those in between! This title is your reward!
+10% Intelligence.
<God’s Disciple (Michael’s Blessing)>: You can now carry out the will of your God!
+20% Dexterity, +20% Strength.
—
(A/N: Someone suggested I add the increase to Leon’s stats by the side so readers would understand what has changed. The numbers in ‘[-]’ is the increase to the stat.)
At first, Leon simply went over the top part of his status in silence, but when he got to his mana, his jaw nearly met the ground at the astounding numbers.
‘Plus four thousand?! Is this one of the benefits of having a core? I’ve been losing out all this while!’ He exclaimed in his mind, but his face remained stiff and stoic on the outside. ‘And th-these skills! When the hell did I learn Dark magic? GRAVITY MAGIC?! What nonsense is this?!’ He kept getting more and more stunned as he read through his status.
It took a few minutes for him to process all the drastic changes, and while this time passed, although his body remained still, the air around him turned darker, growing more turbulent. His aura began to take a physical form as it manifested in reality, no longer something just intangible. In the eyes of the adventurers, Leon resembled some demonic being from the depths of the Demon Continent in the south. That was where most evil lurked, as the Demons did not hide their bloodthirst. Right now, Leon was not holding back at all as he thought to himself.
‘Leon!’ Nedra’s voice snapped him out of his train of thoughts, and the dark aura around him receded into his body. The air instantly became much lighter and everyone found it much easier to breath.
From what Nedra had felt, Leon’s aura was much denser than hers. It made her jealous, but alas, what could she do? She would still stick with Leon, because that was the only light she saw in this dreary world. Her life belonged to him.
‘Ah, sorry. I was just thinking.’ Leon chuckled in his mind before turning his attention back outwards. When he saw the frightened looks on the adventurers’ faces, he felt a little bad for scaring them. They probably thought he was going to kill them, didn’t they?
“Sorry for scaring you guys. Everything is fine now.” He raised his hands in a friendly, non-threatening manner. They eyed him warily as they got to their feet, hesitantly lowering their weapons.
“What was that?” William was the first to regain his wits, so he voice his thoughts slowly.
“Oh, that was just me breaking a small limit. No biggie.” Leon shrugged and smiled. He did not want to elaborate, and his tone made that clear.
William hesitantly nodded, and so did the others.
Rustle…
At the moment, in the tent behind them, a rustling sound escaped, drawing their attention to the tent. The tent flap opened, and a fairly young brunette stepped out, holding his bandaged head.
“Will? What happened?” He asked slowly, wincing slightly as he looked up and the bright light that filtered through the leaves blinded him for a moment.
When the light in his eyes cleared and his vision had adjusted, he was stunned to see and undead with a giant white millipede around it, as well as dozens more undead surrounding his brother, wife, and some other unknown people.
“What’s going on here?!” He exclaimed and immediately drew on the mana around him, infusing it with the mana running through his own body. The air around him turned red as fire burned around him. His hair turned into a burning haze of fire, while snakes of fire wrapped around his arms, giving him a ferocious look.
He easily ignored the lance of pain that tore through his head and brought tears to his eyes as all he could think about was saving his family.
“Wait, Harry!” William tried to stop his brother, but it was already too late. Harry launched himself forward like a fireball, aimed straight at Leon, who looked at him with faint surprise.