Chapter 375 Completing the Mask
Alex answered all the questions Venedikt and Andrei had, telling them about being awakened and how one could become one, what he knew about the changing world and big powers, but keeping his knowledge about the ancient world to himself.
When asked if he believed the virtual world was real, Alex lied, knowing it would do his brothers no good, but he didn't shy away from sharing how anything their avatar naturally had in the ancient world was also in their arsenal in the real world, while also sharing about the galactic system and the number of awakened individuals and related information.
The information Alex acquired from the galactic shop made it clear that any human can be awakened if their body can survive exposure to pure filtered mana directly pumped into their body.
If not, then the result would be a severe illness that, if not appropriately handled, would result in a long, painful death, and both the process of awakening and, if failed, curing the individual was by no means cheap.
Zero was also generous enough to share that only one among a thousand individuals could awaken, and the cost of awakening a single individual ranged from 10 to 200 million galactic coins, which didn't include the price of the Awakening Pod, each costing twenty million.
While the time of awakening could range from a day to a year, varying from person to person, and after knowing all this, it made sense why there were only 431 awakened members.
In the past few months since Alex had joined, the number of awakened had grown by 92, which was being seen as an amazing expansion by the awakened individual in chat compared to previous months.
Alex thought the sudden increase could be because the number of players in the last five months had tripled, but it could also be because players had started to advance to the fourth Rank.
Alex believed it to be the latter because the fourth Rank was a milestone that less than 1% of players would achieve, but even if he was wrong, he didn't care because he had the means to build an army of awakened who were loyal to him and become free from the fear of powers who controlled things from the shadows.
The training plan for Venedikt and Andrei required them to spend four hours after a grueling training session inside the Awakening Pod, which was similar to the Awakened exclusive VR capsule but didn't have the feature to connect to the Ancient world.
In the four hours spent inside the Awakening Pod, the exhausted bodies of Venedikt and Andrei would be supplied with a steady stream of pure mana to force them to adapt to mana and use, and only when this process ends will they receive a diluted version of the Life Serum treatment to heal them enough so their bodies don't collapse from fatigue.
The process was brutal, as with every passing session, the physical and mental fatigue would only increase, and the only way to fully recover was to take multiple Life Serum treatments and long rest.
However, the silver lining in this process was that unless one's health was neglected, a person would not succumb to fatigue or mana poisoning.
So, with the things explained and the preparation made, Venedikt and Andrei started their assigned workout while Alex returned to the Ancient world as seven hours had passed since he logged out.
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{In the Elven Room} "Sir Erlan, How long before you think he would regain conciseness," A calm voice tinged with concern inquired.
"Guardian Liayra, I have healed all his injuries that I could, but as other healers said, his internal injuries are beyond my capabilities of healing,"
"I am sorry to say, but I don't think Sir Aeon would regain conciseness any time soon because to gain the strength to kill a Beast King at just peak fifth Rank, he must have paid an enormous price," The elf said to the lady as looked at the unconcise dark elf.
"However, all hope is not lost, as the clan has sent Eclipsian Warlord Sir Taeral Elsatra to not only take back the mineral mine city and deal with the clan leader of Thunderstorm Reavers but also meet the Hero who had saved two cities and its inhabitants from certain doom," "Guardian Liayra, before I take my leave, could you kindly share with me what it was like to experience the formidable beastly aura?" The elf inquired, their demeanor marked by a reserved and hesitant expression as if approaching a delicate subject.
"I apologize If I caused you any inconvenience," The elf said, seeing the elven lady's color drain at his request as she looked at the unconscious dark elf with fear-filled eyes.
"It was an overwhelming experience, suffocating in its intensity. It felt as though a colossal mountain pressed down upon my shoulders while a relentless claw tightened around my neck."
"The presence was eerie, like a malevolent entity breathing down my neck with an ominous weight, making me realize how insignificant my existence was, with my subconscious telling me to kneel while my every instinct screaming at me to run."
"I was a low-ranking soldier in the battle against the Naejor Clan and experienced the aura of the Three-Headed Serpent Beast Emperor when he gave himself to the primal rage,"
"However, compared to what I felt mere hours ago, even though it lasted for mere moments, the encounter with Beast Emperor wild furry appears utterly insignificant." Lady Liayra said, the fear in her voice and the slight shiver in her body evident, revealing the horror she had experienced.
"Thanks for your insight," The elf said before he walked toward the door with Lady Liayra following behind him.
'I caused more of a sense than I expected,' Alex thought as he opened his eyes after hearing the door close.
Alex had logged in a few minutes ago, and besides hearing about his handiwork, he had also felt its consequences as his body felt like a piece of metal with pain coursing through his body like blood.
Besides the excruciating pain and the debuff that made the worldly laws murky, making them extremely hard to understand for the following seven days, he was also experiencing a 90% stat debuff that would last for three days.
'It even looks the same, but let's hope it was worth a platinum-grade wish,' Alex thought as he said upright before he took out thin dark masks.
Alex had used the platinum-grade wish to acquire the second part of the Daunting Reality mask, and to his surprise, it was a carbon copy of the one he had from the appearance, skills, and even the description.
Alex didn't pick an identity-changing item of similar capabilities from the treasury because he wanted to know the full potential of the complete mask, as just half of it was already so special.
He had not heard of or seen a mere low-quality unique identity-changing item or any other item be so good in their field as the mask was capable of transforming its user so well that it could not be detected by even the eyes of an elemental Ruler if they don't use special means.
Alex took off his mask, placed both masks on each other, and received a notification asking him to combine them. As he agreed, the masks floated into the air with their obsidian material liquefied in mere moments and seamlessly fused, creating little mana disturbance in the process. Alex collected the floating mask and, with growing anticipation, used appraisal on it, and as he looked at the changes in detail, it put a bright smile on his face.
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Name: Daunting Reality
Equipment Type: Mask
Quality: Legendary (???) Bound: None
Rank: Fourth Rank ⁌▂▂▂⁍
•Skills:
•➊-[True Record] Record any being, humanoid, animalistic, physical, or ghostly, capturing their appearance, voice, physique and their nature to their core detail. {Recorded specimens (6/50)
⁌▂▂▂⁍
•➋-[True Reality Shift] Transform into a recorded specimen, gaining some of their physical attributes and bloodline abilities. The shift is mana-intensive and challenging, even for the strongest users. Repeated use would affect the user's mind as they become accustomed to the instincts of recorded specimens.
⁌▂▂▂⁍
•➌- ?????? (Locked): One Law Core of a pure-blooded Aegisian Morphosphinx is required to unlock the skill.
•➍- ?????? (Locked) Three Law Core----.
•➎- ?????? (Locked) Seven Law Core----.
⁌▂▂▂⁍
•Description: A unique mask forged by the Monarch of the Forge from the essence of a king among the Aegisian Morphosphinx, an elusive race lost to the annals of history, who was feared for their bloodline ability to replicate any creature's form flawlessly to its very core.
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'I knew it, I knew it,'
'This is a broken item,' Alex thought as he laughed and checked the details of the skills.
There were no new skills, but the boost to the two original skills was tremendous as previous limitations were gone. Now, he could record a specimen to his very core, which required some extra steps, with the main requirement being the blood and their mana signature, but additional requirements included samples of core, brain, and things unique to various species.
With the limitation of species gone, Alex could now turn into an Ant or aliteral Giant, and on top of that, could gain their abilities, depending on how detailed the recording process was.
Despite the considerable mana drain, the pain during transformation, and the untested struggle with primal instincts, the undeniable truth remained that the skills were exceptional and unparalleled.