“I wonder if I could make anything out of these pigs,” Syrus muttered as they transversing the danger zone. “We got a lot of their cores.”

“Is there a limit to how many you could make?” Tia asked.

“None that I’m aware of,” Syrus replied. “As far as I know, I can make as many as I want as long as I have the resources.”

Unfortunately, Tia also lacked knowledge on how summoners worked, so Syrus couldn’t get a proper comparison on his class.

“We’re here,” Tia said, but Syrus didn’t see anything different from the same trees they passed by.

Before Syrus could say anything, Tia continued walking and a structure began materializing around her as she walked. “Damn...” Syrus muttered as he followed her inside the structure. “Do we just walk in and grab it?”

The structure resembled an Egyptian pyramid but made from mossy stone.

Tia shook her head and got into a fighting stance. “We have to go through them,” Tia said as monsters revealed themselves.

Groaker level 20

In terms of appearance, the monsters resembled apes with four arms. They had dirty brown fur and puffy tails. As for their faces, they look like an ugly mix between a bull dog and a boar.

“Disgusting,” Syrus commented as he summoned Gluttony.

“I shall vanquish the vermin in my lord’s path!” Gluttony stated as he raised two axes.

“You tell them buddy,” Syrus said with a smirk as he began the fight by having two rats explode underneath the Groakers.

Gluttony roared, taunting the monsters and cleaving past them at same time. Tia swiftly dashed in, slicing through any Groakers that Gluttony missed. Syrus occasionally stepped in to finish off any monsters to get the full share of experience.

“There should be away to fix this,” Syrus grumbled.

“Maybe in the future,” Tia said as she swung her sword to get rid of the blood on it. “We’ve cleared the monster. The only thing left is the challenge of the nexus.”

“The what?” Syrus’s eyes twitched. “It would have been good to know that before going in.”

“My apologies,” Tia replied.

Syrus sighed as they continued inside the nexus structure. Once they reached what seemed to be the main chamber, Syrus sent several rats to check for any traps. Even when the rats didn’t find anything, Syrus had Gluttony take the lead and waited before he arrived at the altar before stepping in himself.

The altar resembled a giant humanoid creature’s torso but it lacked a head and had four large muscular arms. The arms went around a display case that had a swirling brown energy on top of it.

“What’s the challenge?” Syrus asked.

“It’ll appear once we get close enough to the altar.”

True to her words, a system message appeared in front of Syrus.

Nexus challenge: Carry the weight of your sins

Task: Approach the heart of the altar

Syrus raised an eyebrow, but didn’t get the chance to question it as an intense pressure bore down on him. He quickly fell to his knees and barely held himself up with his hands. He turned to his side to see Tia was in a similar situation, but was still standing. On the other side, Gluttony was unaffected.

Syrus glanced back at the altar and saw the chest of the humanoid statue was glowing. “Gluttony, touch the statue,” Syrus ordered.

Gluttony wasted no time and touched the statue, but had no effect.

“Fuck!” Syrus cursed. “Carry me.”

Gluttony rushed back to his side and carried Syrus on his back. It seemed the pressure didn’t affect Gluttony at all as he effortlessly carried Syrus to the statue. The summon supported Syrus’s arm and guided it to the statue’s chest, completing the challenge.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I was not expecting that,” Tia commented as she began stretching her limbs.

“It was a pain, but easier than I expected,” Syrus mentioned as he approached the swirling energy.

Nexus skill: Sentinel’s oath

Indomitable bastion – The user is immune to all crowd-control effects and reduces all damage taken by 90%

Shield of the soul – Transfer all damage received by an ally to the user

Unbreakable oath – The user is an eternal servant to their designated master. They cannot act upon their own self-interest, stripping them of their free will. Upon the master’s death, the user will perish as well.

As Syrus read the description of the skill, he considered the potential of the skill. But after reading the last skill provided, any appeal the skill had to him was thrown out the drain.

Being reduced to a slave was the last thing Syrus wanted even if he became an unstoppable beast. “Power at the cost of freedom,” Syrus shook his head.

“All nexus abilities are like this,” Tia mentioned. “The risk outweighs the benefits.”

Syrus rolled his eyes and was about to take out the nexus core to store the skill when his eyes landed on Gluttony. “Hey Tia...”

The female goblin turned to him.

“Can Units take nexus skills?”

-------

“Why did we have to go with just the two of us?” Synthia asked as she cut down another vine that attempted to snare her.

“Because I don’t trust the others,” Heather replied as chains fluidly moved around her, the blade at the tip tearing through the vines effortlessly.

Heather leaped into the air and spun, sending multiple chains tearing through vines and branches. When she landed, the ground was covered in torn vines. She flicked her chains, wrapping them around her shoulders.

“How do you move like that?” Synthia asked in amazement as she dusted of the twigs on her clothes.

“... I did... ribbon dancing?” Heather replied.

Synthia just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t question her further. They continued inside the nexus structure until the found an altar. It was surrounded by floral vines hanging across the ceiling of the chamber.

“Are those going to attack us?” Synthia asked, but Heather just walked through the vines without worry.

Once she reached the altar, the system informed her of the challenge.

Nexus challenge: Endure the twist of the past

Task: Break free from the mental cascade of your past regrets

In an instant, painful memories flooded into Heather’s mind. The people she failed to save and suffering she endured at the hands of the monstrous bastards that called themselves saviors. The tyranny of the false heroes and demise of the people she cared about.

But in the same instant, everything was gone as Heather snapped back to reality and grabbed the swirling energy in front of her.

She heard Synthia fall on her ass as the mental attack stopped. Glancing at her, Heather saw her panting on the ground with a dazed look in her eyes. It was clear Synthia didn’t farewell from the mental attack, but she’ll recover soon.

Heather directed her attention back to nexus skill in her hands. Upon closing her palms, the skill was absorbed into her body.

Nexus skill: One with the world

Wrath of lightning – Imbue your attacks with the lightning element

Swift as wind – Enhance your mobility with the wind element

Sturdy as stone – Enhance your defense with the earth element

Bond to the world – The user can no longer use any form of mana other than nature energy.

Heather smiled. Among the nexus skills, this was the only one that had a drawback that she could work with. It didn’t directly endanger her life, and she still had a lot of options for her growth.

Now that she was done with what she needed to do, Heather directed her attention to her companion. “Synthia, are you alright?” Heather kneeled beside her.

“I couldn’t save them,” Synthia mumbled.

Heather bit her lip. Synthia was someone that’s been with her till the end before regressing, so she knew her biggest regret involved her family. In the future, the only person she’ll get to reunite with was her niece, Samantha. That was when the lowest point of Synthia’s life began.

Had she not gone through with it, she could have grown stronger. This time, Heather will make sure Synthia gets the opportunity and help her save her family.

“Synthia, let’s leave the settlement and go find your family.”

That got Synthia out of her daze and look up at Heather.

------

Syrus cackled as he found out what he wanted.

Units could not gain nexus skills. But if Syrus stored the nexus skill inside a core, then used that core as a material to upgrade his unit, then he could give the skill to his unit.

“Tia, protect me,” Syrus said before he activated his skill and found himself in the familiar void that he repeatedly visited during the past few days.

Before the skill could even talk to him, Syrus spoke up.

“Use the nexus core in my inventory and upgrade Gluttony.”

“It shall be done,” the skill replied.

Once Syrus found himself back into the real world with Tia staring at him in confusion, the first thing he did was try to summon Gluttony. But due to his excitement, Syrus failed to consider the cost of using his skill.

“AAAAGGGHHH!” Syrus roared in pain as it felt like his body was being ripped apart from the inside.

He coughed out blood as he fell to the ground, causing Tia to panic at the situation. Before Syrus could pass out, he used every strength he had left to summon Gluttony with the order to take him back home.