Freddy walked into Thor’s office, and as soon as the two men made eye contact, they both sighed.

“Welcome back,” Thor said, raising his eyebrows with a strained smile. “How is your friend?”

“She’s”—he gestured in a so-so motion—”muttering sometimes. Not quite there to… being there, but I can see subtle improvement.”

“Don’t lose hope,” Thor said. “There’s always a chance she’ll recover.”

“Yeah…”

“Anyway… what about you?”

“I’m also doing a bit better.” He smirked sadly. “It sucks. But I’m slowly coming to terms with it. I’m not losing hope… but… yeah…”

“I’m glad to hear you’re doing all right. I uh…” He chuckled. “I heard from the therapist.”

Freddy winced.

“You wanna hear what he said?” Thor snickered. “Bro said, and I quote, ‘I don’t believe my brand of mental healthcare is suitable for addressing Mr. Cliff’s problem.’ In therapist speak, that roughly translates to ‘this motherfucker’s incurable!’”

Freddy chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah…”

“And what a surprise, too…” Thor got out of his chair and walked around the table, leaning against it. “All along, the man had been claiming that your treatment was going well. How did it then, so suddenly, go from going well to having gone nowhere at all?”

Freddy shrugged.

Thor sighed and shook his head. “I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that this line of work isn’t something you’re suited for.”

Freddy tensed.

Thor got up, walking around Freddy as he continued, “I understand that what happened to your friend had influenced your behavior. But you should be intelligent enough to understand that this is impermissible. If everyone in Valhalla acted like you did just because something bad happened to them recently, we’d have been destroyed a long time ago.”

“So what? Are you firing me?”

“Firing?” Thor laughed. “Come on now, it’s not like you’re my employee. But no, I’m not ‘firing’ you. That being said, I won’t be taking you to future raids.”

Freddy’s chest puffed up, but he slowly deflated as he turned his head away. “I see.” He had been expecting this to happen, even if he hadn’t been willing to admit it to himself. He wondered where he would go from there, his mind flushed with concern. “So what now?” he asked nervously.

Thor stopped. “You’re seriously powerful, man.” He held his arms behind his back, his hand tightly gripping a forearm. “I hadn’t expected you to be able to take out two three-stars by yourself. And that quickly, too. Trust me when I say I don’t make this decision lightly,” he said, his head dropping slightly. “If I could take you along on every raid, the number of casualties would drop drastically.”

“You can still—”

“No!” Thor shouted. “No, I can’t.” He pinched his brow and clicked his tongue. “Look… You need some time to grow as a person. You’re still young and inexperienced. I believe that, given a few years to mature, you’ll be good. But now, as you are, I think you’d be better off focusing on something else.”

“Like what?”

Thor adopted a serious expression. “During our raids, we leave a good number of experienced members behind to guard the base. I can be back rather quickly, too, but still, these moments are undeniably an opening for our enemies.”

“You want me to act as a guard dog?”

“I want you to act as a protector. And to that end, I’d also like you to move to Valhalla’s headquarters.”

Freddy frowned.

Thor shrugged. “I can accommodate some of your wishes, but if you want me to continue supporting you as I have so far, I’m going to need you to compromise.” He sighed again. “Honestly, if you promised you'd never go out of control like that again, I’d believe you. I’d force myself to believe you. That’s how valuable you are. But the others… You have to earn their trust back. Before that happens, I won’t be able to overcome their protests.”

“And what else do you want me to do?” Freddy asked. “I know that just keeping guard duty won’t be enough.”

“You’re right.” Thor seemingly hesitated for a long moment. “I want you to help me tame the underground passage.”

Freddy’s eyebrows jumped. “You’re planning on using it?”

“Not any time soon, no. But that doesn’t stop us from exploring it more thoroughly and finding useful paths. Maybe there’s even a dungeon or two we could use.”

Freddy nodded. “Okay. I can do that.” For now, all he could do was accept the decision. He was lucky Thor was still willing to support him.

“Don’t be down, man,” Thor insisted. “For what it’s worth, I believe you’ll be just as valuable staying here as you’d be if you went out.”

“You really think that?”

“No, honestly, not really.” He chuckled. “But hey, maybe you can find some valuable stuff in the interspace. You never know. We always need more materials.”

Freddy chuckled back. “I’ll kill a dragon or two.”

Thor snorted. “Sure thing, buddy. Have fun with that one. Anyway, enough about that. I have something to show you.”

“Hmm?” Freddy hummed. “What?”

“But first let me ask you a question. Do you still intend to go through with upgrading Abyssal Depths?”

Freddy nodded without hesitation.

Thor sighed. “If that’s the case, I have a gift for you.” He focused for a moment, and a second later, with a puff of air, a tablet appeared in his hands. It looked a bit chipped, and it smelled like stale blood. “Here you go.” He offered it to Freddy.

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Freddy looked at it with a quirked eyebrow. There were plenty of blood tablets for him to use as a comprehension reference in the library, but he could tell that this wasn’t the same thing. As soon as he grabbed hold of it, his eyes shot wide open. “A power tablet!”

Back when he first became an archhuman, Freddy had used ether scrolls to acquire a few abilities. This tablet was similar in concept, but far, far greater in quality. Those scrolls were nothing but a shortcut for relatively easy to develop abilities, and they came with a great number of downsides.

What he held in his hands at that moment was a power tablet. Its surface was inscribed with etches and symbols, and it shimmered with a bloody gleam. It, too, could be used to acquire an ability. But this was no mere shortcut.

Abilities granted by power tablets were often impossible to develop through ordinary means. And this was no question of essence manipulation, either. It was a matter of concept comprehension.

Humanity didn’t even know how to produce such artifacts yet. They could only be discovered in the interspace, and they often held incredibly powerful abilities within. These tablets weren’t single-use like ether scrolls, but they did take a long time to recharge, a decade on average.

And they weren’t as simple to absorb, either.

He took a quick peek into the inner workings of the ability it held within, only to be equal parts shocked and confused. It was a defensive ability that could harden blood in a scale-like pattern all across the surface of his body. The scales varied in size and shape, offering maximum coverage without impeding mobility in the slightest.

He could also feel that there were depths to this ability he couldn’t quite understand. It didn’t just offer physical defense, it also provided a layer of defense against essence flow.

Although he could perhaps imitate a crude version of this ability, even if he had a lifetime to do it, he couldn’t replicate it entirely. The pattern of the scales was incredibly intricate. Just the trial and error needed to emulate the sheer level of detail would take decades of work. But even beyond that, the scales weren’t mere hardened blood. They also appeared to create a profound connection to the nervous system, acting as an organic, seamless modification to the body.

Once done examining it, he raised his head and looked at Thor with a conflicted look.

“What?” Thor grinned. “Why’re you looking at me like that, you ungrateful bastard?”

“This is a priceless artifact. Are you sure you’re willing to give this to me?”

“Well, you can use it and give it back if you want.”

“That is still a huge favor, Thor.”

“I know. But you really need it.”

“Why? And what does it have to do with Abyssal Depths?”

“Because it will allow you to wear lighter armor.”

Freddy scowled. “What?”

“Freddy, you need to be faster,” Thor said with a strict look in his eye. “You are incredibly durable, and even if you take damage, it's inconsequential as long as you stay alive. Your biggest weakness, and your greatest challenge, is going to be your speed.”

“I see…”

Indeed, with these scales for defense, he could wear lighter armor, and even possibly omit armor entirely. He sighed as he remembered the cursed clothing that was still waiting in his storage ring. Not only did he have two cursed items already, he couldn’t use Leviathan’s Fury without completely destroying any armor he was wearing.

With a cheeky smile, he pulled out the cursed material and handed it to Thor.

“Ew, what the fuck is this, dude?” the man asked with a scowl as he held the filthy clothing.

“Take a look in the Netherecho.”

Thor raised an eyebrow and complied. His eyes shot wide open and his mouth gaped. “Wow. Where the hell did you get this?”

“Let’s just say it was homemade. With love.”

“Uh. Sure.” He examined the shredded, patchwork clothing. “Why are you showing me this?”

“I guess you could see it as repayment for the tablet.”

“Nah, dude, no. The tablet is an investment. I’ll get my due for that as long as you stay in Valhalla. That being said, I could arrange to have this made into a light armor for you if you want. You could get some nice effects from it.”

“Sadly, I don’t think I can make much use of armor,” he said, thinking back on Leviathan’s Fury.

“That’s not a problem,” Thor declared. “Cursed material is very flexible in use. I could have this transformed into a necklace instead.”

Freddy frowned. “How the hell are you gonna convert all that cloth into a necklace?”

“Don’t you worry about that. We got some great craftsmen on our side.”

“Hmm…” Freddy already had the Warrior King’s Pendant, so he didn’t necessarily need another cursed item. But that being said, he hadn’t really used the Warrior King’s Pendant in a fight yet. The effect was extremely obvious and flashy, so he had to make sure to keep it hidden.

Another necklace might be worth it. Given the composition of the aura, the necklace was likely to affect either the cost or the power of water abilities. Even if he didn’t use it in combat, such an item could be great for training, especially with the more stubborn abilities like Thousand Wet Hells.

“Have it made into a necklace, then,” Freddy said.

“Sure thing.” Thor chuckled. “Anyway, I’m about to go watch the trainees for a while. How about joining me?”

“I… Nah. I’m gonna go train for now. I haven’t been doing much these days. I’m feeling the itch.”

“Suit yourself.”

The two men headed out of the office, and as Thor closed the door, they immediately turned separate ways.

“Hey Freddy. See you later man.”

“See you later.”

The first thing Freddy did was rush to the library. There, he grabbed hold of the first blood tablet he could find and headed off to meditate.

He wanted to absorb the power tablet as soon as possible, but he wouldn’t do so without preparation. The ability was incredibly delicate and complex, and without sufficient understanding of blood concepts, he feared being unable to properly inherit the power.

Rather than head home for that day, he stayed at Valhalla. He had no plans to sell the apartment or to truly “move out,” but Thor had granted him accommodation in the headquarters, and for the time being, he would be living there. He also convinced Thor to let him have weekends off of training, partly to spend time with Sophia, and partly so he could work on extracting his organs.

For a few days, all he did was meditate on blood concepts. He consulted Bloodshed, who was obviously an expert on the subject, but while the skeleton had profound understanding of blood, that didn’t mean it could put everything it knew into words.

Or that everything even could be put into words.

Having the power tablet by his side was also very helpful. He could reference the inner workings of the essence flow in the ability with what he could feel in the other power tablets, allowing him to home in on the most valuable tablets to meditate on.

Thankfully, he didn’t need to fully comprehend the whole ability. Just enough to absorb it properly. After four days of meditation, he was finally ready to accept it into his soul.

As he held the power tablet in his hands, he was sweating. It was nerve-racking knowing that, if he fucked up, he would be wasting an incomparably precious resource. He couldn’t afford to mess it up.

Thus, he ended up procrastinating a bit, looking for random crap to “prepare” before he got started. He ended up meditating and pondering the tablets a bit, and spent some time asking Bloodshed for advice. Once he felt he truly ran out of distractions, he finally sighed and reached for the tablet that was now stored deep in his storage ring.

However, as he took a peek, he also spotted something interesting.

All the way in the back of his storage ring were the handful of vials of blood he had found in Janhalar’s storage ring way back when. It was one of the last three items he still didn’t know what to do with. But now that he finally thought about it…

Couldn’t he ask Bloodshed?

“Hey, Bloodshed?”

“What is it, Master?”

“Can you take a look at something real quick?” he asked as he extracted one of the vials.

“Alright,” it said as it exited its shell and appeared in reality.

Freddy handed it the vial and Bloodshed accepted it.

For the first time in his life, he saw Bloodshed react with pure, evident shock. It grasped the vial, looking between it and Freddy over and over. “Master… Please tell me you have more.”