With the Shin mess handled and a future list of baddies to deal with, I opened my status and began to plot in preparation for the next leg of the fights to come.

HP: 350/760

SP:920/920

AE:520/520

DE:700/700

Strength: 56

Dexterity: (60)73

Endurance: (77)92

Vitality: 83

Angelic Energy: 52

Demonic Energy: 70

According to the dates, Bruce Banner was set to turn two weeks from now.

Jean and I planned to contact him a week before then and glean the formula from his mind.

Once that was done, I was certain I had almost everything I needed to create the an Uber super Serum.

The Supersoldier Formula and Dr. Whitehall's Notes on the Absorbing Man laid a steady foundation, but the Hulk Formula would be the real star of the show.

Chucking in Extremis felt like going overboard, but I might, depending on how difficult I find it to combine items and formulas with Rebellion.

With it, I could turn Rin or Jean into an unstoppable Juggernaut. Whether either of them was ready for that kind of power-up was another question entirely.

Still, if it was a question of gathering allies to empower, I could always do that after attaining the serum.

Now more than ever, I understand the importance of having powerful people by my side. I couldn't fight the demon army alone, even if I wanted to.

Our current roster wouldn't fare any better.

I would've offered Natasha and Clint a bottle each if I could be certain they'd be loyal to me.

But couldn't I?

I stroked my chin in thought.

It'd take some finagling, and I already had a pretty good idea of how to permanently get into Natasha's good graces. I wasn't so sure about Clint. Turning over my secret sauce to Fury was, of course, off the table because of the type of man he was.

Why did I decide not to apply this potent cocktail to my own body?

For one, it was designed for humans. Two, I had many techniques, affinities to master, and a super body enhancement skill to synthesize. On top of that, I needed to smith more weapons, make shit ton more guns, and find a way to roll all of it into a class. Needless to say, my work was cut out for me.

So, instead of trying to go it alone, making the same mistake I did before the Quellitrax fight, I turned to Yao, who had lifetimes of experience to pull from.

Yao was in the forge when I found her disposing of a few demonic items she described as 'stubborn.'

I laid it all out for her, and as I predicted, her eyes lit up, and her lips spread with a calculated smile.

"Quite the enviable position you've found yourself, to be spoiled for choice of power. Very well, let's start with the most important choice. Your Class."

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Nephilim Berserker

Nephilim Weaponmaster

Mimic Sorcerer of Limbo

Dark Knight

Nephilim Weaponsmith

Boom Boom Tinker

Runic Samurai

…

"They're as diverse as they are interesting," she mused. "Even I am tempted to sign a deal with this Shin. However, there is no contest. There's only one real choice, really, given your proficiency with Rune forging and weaponsmithing."

Arcane ForgeMaster—Become a true master of the forge and Arcane.

Grants: +2 STR +1 DEX +2 END + 1 VIT +2 DE +2 AE

(L)Decode and Forge: All Enchantments are bare before you. Peer into the underlying structure of the runes that empowers unique weapons, armor, and artifacts, create a version of your own and craft unique runes. Skill is limited by your knowledge of runes, control over your energies, and your underlying affinities.

E(Arcane Lexicon): Grants a 50% boost to all future Arcane runesmithing and records all new runes.

E(Harvest): Harvest the remains of your fallen foe and gain intuitive knowledge on their potential applications for weapons and armors.

E(Enchant): Confer unique, permanent characteristics onto your equipment of choice based on the material used.

"While it might not provide a direct power boost like the other classes, it shows the most promise of the lot. Your only true limit would be time, which brings us to our second choice—where to use your skill upgrade."

I was leaning towards a Grandmaster Tier Angel Evade. It wouldn't be easy grinding the skill up to the master tier, but it was possible. Taking it straight to Grandmaster tier would be game-changing, and I was even sure it would allow me to teleport or travel through dimensions, but Yao pointed out that upgrading my Simulacrum would probably fetch me even greater results in the long run.

If I could upgrade it to master tier or beyond. Who knew how much extra time it would give?.

We also both concurred that upgrading my Martial Mastery to Grandmaster after pushing it to Master would do wonders for my overall attack potency.

However, if attack power was the primary concern, Demon Evade seemed like the better option. At Grandmaster, it would be ridiculously broken, probably lasting for up to a minute and providing me with an unreal damage amp.

However, we settled on postponing the choice until I created my overpowered Body Skill. Depending on just how good the skill turns out to be, it might be worth holding onto a free upgrade ticket.

As for the weapon's upgrade token. It was obviously going to Rebellion. After clearing the 15k cost, we planned to use the free upgrade ticket to hopefully push it to Grade 5

To that end, Yao wanted to send me to a heavily warded wizard facility in the Sahara, where they imprisoned some of the most dangerous Lesser demons with formidable elemental control.

She figured it'd help me get the Red Orbs I needed and add a few resistances to my already impressive list before the final baptism of pain began. Yao had committed to bolstering and finishing my resistance herself after reviewing my list.

Pain Resistance (Adept)

Fire Resistance (Adept)

Earth Resistance (Adept)

Arcane Resistance (Adept)

Mental Resistance (Adept)

Cold Resistance (Adept)

Lightning Resistance (Basic)

Dark Resistance (Basic)

Affliction Resistance (Basic)

She wanted to raise all of my Basic-tier resistances to Adept and add a few more high-tier resistances, namely Gravity, Dimensional, and Blood Magic.

But before I headed out, I touched base with Jean. Construction just finished on the Alaska facility the week before and Jean had been spending every moment she could spare getting the place ready so that mutants could move in. She'd spent a chunk of the money we…requisitioned getting the best of everything.

"You look like a happy camper," I said, sneaking up behind her as she poured over the online brochure of a gym equipment manufacturer. They offered home deliveries all over the US for a substantial markup, but we had to spend money now, so it was a non-issue. Even the total had me coughing.

"Don't you think that's a little too much?"

"Against what we're up against, not in the slightest."

"It's 2 mil Jean. Money doesn't just grow on trees!"

"Didn't we steal it?" Jean turned to me, blinking.

Words escaped me. We did steal it, and she'd even done the heavy lifting, but llike a frustrated parent stuck with a smart-ass teenager, I continued with the lecture.

"That's not the point, Jean. You don't know the value of money!"

"Couldn't we just steal more. Didn't you plan on robbing that Klaue guy next week?"

I sputtered. "That may be true, but I'm going to make sure that every gram of his precious Vibranium is put to good use."

"Well, same here," Jean said. "I had to cut down on the indoor swimming pools since we had a lake on the property. I kept the Jacuzzis in though."

"Of course," I sighed in defeat. "How very frugal of you."

Jean nodded, so sure of herself, likely deliberately letting my sarcasm go over her head. She could read minds, after all.

"How much do we have left, again?"

"About 103 million."

"Leave some over so that we can invest, will you?" I said. And don't splurge too much on the children's wing. We're trying to start a training camp, not a daycare."

She blushed when she noticed I saw the long list of toys and 'must-haves' she had penned down. I gave her a tight shoulder squeeze before I popped over to Rin.

He was busy getting his ass beat by Kaecilius, who seemed a little too happy. He seemed glad facing somebody he could actually beat.

I didn't interrupt and circled back to the Ancient one.