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16. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Lilith stepped through the portal and immediately heard a scream. She was on high alert, until she recognized that it was Aurora in her senses.

“what are you doing here child?”

Aurora screamed again in fright after hearing Lilith’s voice come from just behind her. She jumped as she turned around, expelling a breath of relieved air once she saw Lilith staring down at her.

“Is she okay?”

Lilith ignored that her question went unanswered, responding to Aurora as she looked up toward the dangling Drake.

“No, but she will be,” said Lilith, walking over to the caved in tree that held Drake. At the angle that the tree was leaning, Lilith was easily able to walk up the slight incline to retrieve Drake; the tree making for a sturdy ramp, supported by the tree nearest to it.

“What happened, I’ve been trying to reach her for a while now and then all of a sudden if felt a migraine that filled my head with a sensation like fire?”

“She experienced an undead at the Genius rank, as a level 70 plus monster it was well outside the bounds of what she could defend herself against, even as talented as she is.”

Aurora went silent, and Lilith lifted Drake into her arms. The girl’s magical minions came flying through the air holding both the Dragon Fruit Drake had bitten, and another of the powerful crop.

The pair of magical weapons reconnected themselves to Drake’s shoulder mounted minion,, placing the fruits onto Drake’s chest before intertwining their fingers, becoming motionless at her back once more.

“You did good you two, I am sure she will appreciate this,” said Lilith, speaking to Drake’s minions. The shoulder mounted minion, flipped its offensive partner into a reversed grip, holding its handle as the hammer fisted weapon opened its hand, grabbing the upper arm of its partner.

“Now that I have seen these creatures I cannot unsee how useful they are, their utility is seemingly unrivaled…,” muttered Lilith to herself. She stepped down the tree, and began to walk away from the portal she summoned.

“Where are you going?”

Lilith glanced backward at Aurora, giving the girl a small smile.

“Your friend has done something today that deserves recognition, I wouldn’t feel right if she didn’t wake up to a reward.”

Lilith knew where to go to find what she was looking for, as the undead that she wanted to find, was one of the most powerful currently residing within the forrest. The monster’s powerful fragment of a soul, shown in Lilith’s senses even more brightly than the light coming from the sky ceiling above.

“You know she did this to prove herself to you, right?”

Lilith nodded at Aurora’s comment, disturbed by how she felt admittedly shameful for allowing Drake to become so injured.

The girl had countless lacerations, was bleeding from a multitude of severely severed tendons, and had numerable broken bones. Yet the detail of Drake’s current state that bothered Lilith the most was how she currently smiled even as she slept.

“Her family ties worry me, this is something I can’t seem to shake no matter how many times my mind tells me to ignore it and push the girl to her limits, I’m not used to being anyone’s caretaker.”

Aurora scoffed.

“That’s obvious, my parents run a kingdom and still have more nurturing qualities than you, and they let me be dragged from our home by my ankles, without a single word of protest, if that tells you anything.”

Lilith scoffed in return, nodding slowly. She didn’t want to feel affected by the words, but she was.

“The beliefs of the younger rulers of Imperial are very callous and uncaring, and the good versus evil structure they’ve built to control the powerless has long grown to become ridiculous, it is their fear of the unknown and anything unlike themselves that has allowed the absurdities practiced by the church and their royal following to continue, I, I’m sorry that you experienced any of that,” said Lilith, not knowing what else to say. She’d never had children of her own and was the youngest of her siblings, which had come with a lack of experience understanding the needs of children and young adults.

In her youth she’d wanted to be a mother, but quickly learned that her monstrous power often alienated her from those she was interested in, losing many partners during her rise to power, something Lilith believed Aurora may one day face herself.

“Thanks, but if I’m being honest with myself I’d probably stay even if I was able to take my life back and return, I don’t know that I will ever be able to forgive my family for their choices.”

Lilith sighed, nodding in agreement with the girl. She hadn’t forgiven her parents for their betrayal of her, so completely understood Aurora’s perspective.

“Do you think she will forgive me for how I have acted,” asked Lilith after a moment, unable to look away from the bleeding child in her arms.

“I don’t know her temperament toward forgiveness, we have only known each other for a couple of days, and though she has seemed to accept me, she doesn’t feel to me to be the type that is not going to hold a grudge from what I’ve learned so far.”

“I see, and what guides you to believe that?”

“She didn’t like that you seemed to want to help us all at first, only to show us where we’d be sleeping, while you took Vanish aside to begin his training immediately, but once you pulled us in to train with you, her mood changed.”

They walked silently and Lilith digested what she’d been told, Aurora speaking up again after a few moments of silence.

“I doubt that you will share with me what her family could have done that was so impactful, I mean I don’t know what could have been so treacherous that you wouldn’t even take an orphaned member of their family into your tutelage, Especially with how excited to learn from you as Drake seems to be, I’ve always been told that true masters of Cultivation desire talented students above all else, its the only way to ensure that their legacies live on if they die or leave the realms of Cultivation , but from what I have seen of her so far, you will be making a big mistake if you don’t bring her into your fold, and soon, she is going to shake all of Imperial to its core, and Vanish will be a part of that disruption if it is up to Drake.”

“Agreed…”

Lilith knew what she was being told was true. What she’d seen of Drake was astonishing in the least, and absolutely terrifying at its peak.

Drake had survived an encounter that may have even killed a Godling at the Adept rank, or even the Crafter and Journeyman rank above it. The plausibility of an Inventor surviving a strike from a Cultivator or monster a single rank higher was unlikely, but far more reasonable to consider than what Drake had done.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

An unranked Cultivator shouldn’t be able to do what she is…

Lilith looked down, considering the minions that served as armor and weapons for Drake and began to wonder if this was what was allowing for the girl to bridge the gap between her and ranked foes.

A full skeletal minion is an incredible drain on the soul, which is why necromancers hav always had to level up considerably fast to manage the drain on their spiritual energies. Yet Drake is gaining the skill selections of an entire minion for her much smaller bonds, giving her access to far more skills and magical categories than a necromancer with a single minion at her level.

“Add the fact that she is gaining achievements that add to her access to unrefined spiritual energy, and you have a walking arms cache,” mumbled Lilith to herself.

Lilith didn’t know that attribute points were unrefined spiritual energy before she was given the secret of this after she ascended, which was much of the reason why she didn’t comment on Drake’s willingness to leave her points unspent.

I wonder if this is why she is actually able to produce such powerful attacks, or if it just adds to the culmination of everything she has manifested so far…?

“So you mentioned a reward for what she’s accomplished, what did you have in mind,” asked Aurora pulling Lilith from her contemplation.

Lilith glanced at Aurora, and shrugged.

“She is arming herself with powerful minions, so just more of the same, I let that assassin classed minion free as an opportunity for her to fight it again, but I’m sure she would appreciate a few more options to work with beyond what she already has, and hopefully the Steel plated Assassin will offer her options of stealth that may help her traverse the forrest at night.”

“Wow, she did say that she wanted some leg armor to increase her height to support her use of Genocide.”

“It is a balanced martial art, but taller, more long limbed Cultivators do tend to do better with the forms.”

“Yeah, but Drake is a natural, she’d only seen a few forms a single time, and replicated the attacks near perfectly before we entered the manor, and you saw her pull some of the forms off during your test, I’m sure that that was only the second time she’d tried to attempt those forms.” Lilith chuckled.

“I wish that surprised me—“

Lilith cut herself off, noticing that they closed in on the form of the undead she hunted for.

The assassin stood tottering in the shade of a tree. It was taller than the majority of the skeletons roaming through the darkened parts of the forrest, and Lilith couldn’t help but notice Aurora’s worried glances as they approached the area densely populated with undead.

“Don’t worry child, my aura will dissuade any of the skeletons from approaching us.”

Aurora nodded, and the two walked deeper into the forrest, the skeletons around them separating as Lilith grew closer. Another portal opened, and the assassin stopped swaying. Its body going rigid as it was lifted into the air and sent through the portal.

“Come child, its time to return home.”

Aurora walked through the portal, stepping into an entirely glass pyramid to see Vanish.

His eyes were closed, and to Aurora’s amazement he was standing upright. His clothes were drenched with sweat, and his hands trembled; the slight tremor barely noticeable at first.

“wow Vanish, your already standing,” Aurora said excitedly, oddly proud of the young man’s accomplishment.

Looks like your going to try that much harder to keep up with these two, thought Aurora watching Vanish. Her inner competitor turning her feelings away from celebratory to envious in a way that made Aurora clench her fist with the desire to grow stronger as her peers were.

One step at a time Aurora…

Vanish nodded incredibly slowly, and Aurora looked over toward Lilith, who’d set Drake atop a nearby table, checking the girl’s wounds.

“Is he okay,” asked Aurora.

“Yes, he more than likely needs his full attention to be on the flow of his mana, I’m honestly surprised he’s standing already,” responded Lilith not looking away from Drake.

“That’s amazing right, I mean he was moving only slightly just yesterday,” said Aurora, stepping to Lilith’s side.

“Yes, but his journey will be the longest to power of the three of you,” said Lilith. Aurora’s face bunched up in confusion, as she thought for a moment.

Even more than myself, she has to be mistaken right?

“I am nothing but a spiritual body remember, from what little I was able to read in the library about Godlings says that they will be able to brush me aside like sand caught in a breeze, I’m sure Vanish will put up more of a fight with how quickly he seems to be growing.”

“That would have been true maybe if he hadn’t broken his spine, but maybe not, who knows with you three at this point, he has to relearn everything from walking to running, if he is going to commit to this path rather than trying to fix his injury, and even then your assumptions about your own growth are without a doubt coming from a place of ignorance.”

Aurora frowned, even more confused than she’d just been.

“I’d be lying if I said I understand what I have become or the powers I have been given, but they dont seem as immensely powerful as the notifications I received said that they are

“An how long exactly have you had these skills?”

“Around a day.”

“So you have only just received them yesterday, or the day before, and have managed to conjure light.”

Aurora nodded even though she felt the woman was making a statement, responding even though she didn’t have too, surprised that Lilith knew what little she’d been able to complete so far.

“My master was a noble born as you were, and received his first skill of matter manipulation before he even unlocked his Overlay, do you know how long it took him to conjure light, or gain the ability to manifest an item from his imagination?”

Aurora shook her head, beginning to wonder if her simple accomplishment was actually an achievement worth being excited over.

“Guess…”

“He somehow received a skill before he was seven, so I’d assume that he was a unique talent, a savant of skills maybe, I’d guess he pulled it off by his 6th season cycle,” guessed Aurora.

“Lilith shook her head, trying to pull away Drake’s minions, coming up short as the bonds refused to move in the slightest.

“Not at all, he finally managed it after a century of life, and completely by accident, by the time it occurred he’d begun to believe that the skill was nothing more than a tease at power given by the heavens to distract him from his normally functioning skills.”

“What, why did it take so long?”

Lilith picked up the near melon sized fruit that Drake had bitten into from the side of the table, dribbling the juices that leaked free of the powerful crop into the lacerations across Drake’s arms and upper torso.

“The skill takes a bond with the spiritual realm, and he hadn’t faced death since he was three season cycles old, he didn’t come to understand this until he faced death again more than ninety season cycles later,” said Lilith, smiling as the wounds all over Drake’s body began to close and then scar over, before they all started disappearing completely.

Aurora watched in amazement, momentarily forgetting the dozen questions that had just filled her mind, until her thoughts drifted back toward what Lilith had just told her.

“So my ability is probably easier to use because I am completely in a spiritual form even though I am not in the spiritual realm,” questioned Aurora, wanting to know why Lilith believed that her path would be less tumultuous than Vanish’s own. She no longer wanted to compare herself to Drake, feeling the girl to be an absolute monster, but had settled on competing with Vanish for second place on the power scale of their small group.

Lilith simply nodded, moving onto Drake’s lower body, draining the fruit of all its liquid, soaking Drake in the juice, allowing the fluids to flow from the front to the back of her limbs, letting everything pool beneath her in hopes to get her back and upper torso from what Aurora could understand of what was happening.

She continued to watch as Lilith lifted Drake with one hand, and pushed at the juice, resettling the healing liquid under areas that she missed, setting Drake back down to let everything saturate the previously untouched areas of her body.

“But you said that in Reliquary I will be as tangible as any other student there, I don’t see how my ability will help me against those who can easily pull apart my soul and spiritual body with skills?”

“You must learn to trust your imagination above all else child, if you are going to survive you will need to resign yourself to become limitless in your mentalities,” said Lilith, tapping her temple, and then Zen at Drake’s side.

“Your friend more than likely is in the believe that anything is possible with magic,, and is now designing tremendously functional near relic like bonds with mere skeletal minions to create remarkable magical constructs,” started Lilith, pausing a moment to wipe untouched sections of Drake’s body with the remaining liquid in the almost entirely crushed fruit, before gently feeding the rest into Drake’s slightly open mouth before she continued to speak, finishing her thought as if she hadn’t stopped.

“she does all of this naturally, making her bonds fulfill her wants with ease, by pure force of will, and her need for versatile weaponry alone, this mental strength may come from her formerly living in a land without magic, but I don’t believe so, I am beginning to think this ability is a direct result of an endless desire for more, a overwhelming wish for a power her people know they are capable of achieving, long lost skills left unused and flowing through their veins that push their minds to be suited to imagining absolutely anything,” explained Lilith, turning toward Aurora, crossing her arms as she leaned up against the table. Drake left to sleep without a single scratch remaining on her body from head to toe.

“So it is because she is from earth, or is it that we have long limited our mind sets underneath the restrictions set in place by those more powerful than us?”

Aurora was truly confused, but felt she was beginning to understand. Lilith shook her head, shrugging simultaneously.

“Who knows, their society has long fantasized over what the power of mana would do for their lives, but that is because of the immeasurable talents that are locked away in their bloodlines and souls, an untapped and unrivaled source of strength left dormant that teases their consciousnesses with what they instinctually know is possible, so now that she has obtained it—“

“She is pushing the confines of what we believe to be possible,” finished Aurora with an accompanied gasp of astonished enlightenment.

“Exactly, I’d be lying if I said that I am not going to be pushing myself to see what I may be capable of before I level any further,” said Lilith.

Aurora had run down this path of thought while watching Drake the first day she’d been bonded to her, but hearing Lilith confirm her hypothesis, made her begin to believe that she may have been entirely right. Yes, Drake did have a potentially incredible bloodline, but how much of what she’d achieved was based on gifts given by the gods, and her own want to experience everything magic had to offer. The girl simply pushing the world around her to yield to her desires without fear or hesitation.

“So what should I do, I still don’t see why you believe that I will be able to overcome my weakness, or how for that matter?”

Lilith once more tapped her temple, and then Zen.

“Vanish, Drake and even I am limited by what resources we have available, while you are only limited by this,” said Lilith tapping her temple for a third time, truly emphasizing for Aurora that she was her only limiting factor with the gesture, and the words she spoke next.

“Want a physical body, then make one, or ten, what can stop you from truly hiding yourself from your enemies in a countless number of vessels, I mean you could learn rune craft and situationally change what runes you used, making your self invisible while piloting a body and—“

Aurora didn’t hear another word. SHe’d already began rushing toward the library to research, unable to stop her mind from racing.

What’s wrong with me, I could have been reading so many more things. Books on anatomy, core formation, crafting manuals, technique manuals, even rare skill manuals should be possible for me to recreate if I can manifest the various mana types or void energies used!

Lilith scoffed, watching the former princess rush off. She shook her head, and began to contemplate the advice she’d given the girl, before looking over at the Steel plated Assassin standing rigidly in the corner of the room.

Why shouldn’t I follow my own advice…

Lilith straightened, rising from the table side that she leaned against and approached the skeleton, looking over the monsters entire form.

The girl want’s the legs, and maybe even an arm, and I was going to suggest that Vanish use the torso, but that leaves…

Lilith raised her hand, wrapping her titan like grip on the shoulder of the creatures right arm, and squeezed, freeing the limb as easily as if it had been sliced off by a diamond edged blade.

*Notification* Reanimation attempt initiated -

Would you like to create a bond? Yes / No*

“Why not…”