Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The Brisk Storm Avatar was a copy of the Eternal Storm Veil Penetrator bearing half of its stats and a majority of the original abilities.

The soul it bore was a replica of what the original had, indistinguishable by means within the bounds of normalcy. However, when it came to finer details, especially for Skullius, not everything was retained.

A replica of Sila's soul couldn't be made within Replicus' body. The skill wasn't strong enough to copy two souls, especially with the fact that Sila's soul was leagues above Skullius' in quality.

Why was this relevant?

Replicus, at this moment in time couldn't use Sila to help him form multiple Ties of Exchange with these bandits. This had been something Skullius considered way back, before acquiring the [Brisk Storm Avatar]. Back then, with UNCoddled still a threat to him, he had considered that once he split, he would need new allies.

Since a Tie of Exchange wasn't something he could do himself, he had chosen something else.

When Skullius acquired his rewards for the missions he had taken, he had been entitled to claim one Legendary grade item as well as one Unique grade item from the first Treasury through one of said missions. Therefore, on top of the Simmering Cloud and Plasma coin rewards, he had taken a Unique grade Prompt Spell and a Legendary grade dagger which he gifted to Yuyui.

The Prompt spell he took was something he selected for its ability to act as a discount substitute to a Tie of Exchange. At the very least, it gave him some form of assurance.

After extracting the skill held within the scroll, Skullius had decided not to use [Unbound] on it then because he had decided to save all 12,000 units he had saved to use them on his mana core and since then, he hadn't had time to entertain the idea.

~~~

[Ungenial Bind (Special) | Lv.1]

The user is able to give any living target one restriction which they cannot break. A bind is placed on the target's heart and should the target break the restriction placed on them, they will die instantly.

<Limit â€" 0/10>

Mana Requirements: 200 (I) Mana Points

Duration: 1 year

Cooldown: 7 minutes

~~~

"Hmmm..." Replicus hummed.

He contemplated.

The restriction he gave lasted to for one year. That was more than enough time.

The Penetrator chuckled while stretching out his bony fingers towards the group.

He pointed at Udo and activated this skill.

This man would the first victim of [Ingenial Bind].

A golden thread snuck from Replicus' finger and stabbed into Udo's chest.

The bandit tensed as he felt around his heart, something winding to eventually strangle it lightly.

After, this words of the Penetrator came out.

"You will not disobey anything I command."

The moment he said it, the golden thread around Udo's heart squeezed hard before loosening and disappearing from his body.

Udo shook.

The impact of Replicus' words smacked against his brain like a hammer, constantly ringing in his head.

No one needed to explain what was happening.

It was obvious.

This one order was profound as with it, given that this was coming from everyone else, there would be no easy means of escape.

'It will take too much time to form a bind with everyone else with this skill,' Replicus thought. He made the decision to 6,000 Null Life Essence Points to enhance it with [Unbound]. Using 10,000 for the Special Bonus was risky in his opinion. There was a downside to having the skill become so strong as that meant he wouldn't be able to use it. If it evolved into a Super skill, which could only be activated with mana from a purple core, then it would have been a waste.

As he upgraded [Ingenial Bind], Replicus' sockets flared.

'Might as well make conversation in the meantime,' he thought.

"Now, tell me. How do we get to the Severed Union?" he asked the group.

Soon after binding everyone, he wouldn't waste time with more irrelevant stuff. The next order of business would be to go this mysterious place and uncover its secrets.

***

The four disembarked from the carriage.

A massive, well maintained space was all that could be seen.

Stylla wore a small smile as she saw the wide gates to her Family's estate, with guards adorned in high quality armours waiting to receive her and her everyone else.

A lean but fit man with one of the most ordinary faces in existences walked up to Stylla from the line-up of guards, his steps leading him to the woman who lead the group's march from the carriage.

From this man's appearance, however normal it seemed, one could still perceive an unusual firmness about him.

His golden eyes burned with integrity while his medium length amber hair made a conscious effort to hide them with low bangs.

This man bowed deeply before Stylla.

"Welcome back, Lady Stylla," he said to which the red head in question smiled.

"It's nice to see you, Ed," Stylla reciprocated the warm greeting. As the guard stood straight, Stylla's eye twitched a bit as her gaze fixed into the man's eyeballs without a blink.

The guard didn't show a reaction to this.

He only smiled.

"I was beginning to contemplate coming to Genhuis City after you didn't contact us for so long, Lady Stylla. My duty may be to protect your father but surely, he'd devour me whole if any harm found you."

Setkh snorted at the hearty conversation.

His reaction attracted the guard, Ed's attention, and he gave a perfunctory bow coupled with a greeting laced with an indifferent tone to Setkh.

The red headed male didn't mind. His choice to leave the family had earned him no shortage of loathing from everyone here, no doubt.

Conversely, it earned Stylla a lot of respect as the one who remained, taking care of things despite how terrible the situation had gotten.

Ed turned to Skullius.

"This is...a new member of our family. Festos. He's with me. That... is Karrun," Stylla gave introductions that depicted openly how much she disregarded Setkh's inducted choice.

Karrun didn't mind though, and neither did Setkh.

Ed nodded before having the large black gates to the estate opened.

"We'll walk from here," Stylla said as she lead the journey once more. She urged Skullius to keep up with her which he did, though with a suspicious hum.

From the gates and extravagant decorative white fence around the massive estate, a clear pathway followed, its direction into a beautiful arrangement of exceedingly tall trees that looked like a mix of eucalyptus and weeping willow marvellously layered on by splendid masonry.

It was classy.

The lined up trees on both sides of the road stretched for half a mile, making the slow walk quite a long one.

As they trekked, Stylla turned to Skullius.

"You know, I believe my family has always had a knack for finding beautiful things. I rarely ever indulge myself in such a thing but... father did. As did his father and many that came before," she said, her gaze turning up to the draped branches of these trees that offered shade. "Dizzy Lowtides are rare but father managed to secure them and insisted that we added them from the house to the entrance. I can barely remember, but it was funny how he was so adamant about it."

"I see," Skullius said.

'Lady, have you forgotten again?' he thought while gazing blankly at these trees.

Why was Stylla suddenly interested in talking about something like this with him?

That was unusual.

"The rarest thing my family has ever collected is something that gave us the opportunity to grow from common folk. The origin of our technique. Hmm," Stylla explained as she gave a subdued laugh at the end.

She looked straight at Skullius, her gaze making the Hybrid Luman a bit uncomfortable as it literally pinched at his skin.

'Hmm?'

Skullius... got the hint. A little bit.

She wasn't just expositing for no reason?

"That item, regardless of how rare it is, served its purpose and is no longer of use to us. Once used many years ago, it altered our bloodline and that was it. Still we've kept it under high security storage. If it ever finds different hands, we may no longer be the only ones with our technique. Thus father was particularly... adamant about its safety."

Skullius narrowed his eyes.

As he and Stylla were walking ahead of everyone else, with Ed following close behind... the distance between them and the rest grew continuously.

Additionally...

'What's going on here?' Skullius thought.

He sensed Ed spewing bits of mana and Aura that occasionally brushed against Stylla and himself regularly as light breezes.

The piercing gaze.

Stylla's gait.

And now this...

Sure, this information was important.

As Skullius had read and learned from many sources, most Families discovered their techniques in the Age of Patkmas Yujgi. Some mimicking beasts while others learned from other phenomena.

So what...?

Stylla didn't say anything after this which puzzled Skullius a great deal.

He spend the rest of the way from the trees mulling it over until finally, the group reached an enormous mansion sandwiched by three smaller ones.

From here, it was easier to see the other works going on beyond the houses.

A large farm.

Multiple gardens.

Several orchards.

An expansive field being tended to by both male and female tenders dressed for the job could also be seen but there were many other sites in this place.

Setkh wore a bit of a melancholic look as he looked at the mansion, a mix of emotion raging within him.

He emitted a sigh that would have tasted bitter if a flavour was something it could churn.

This place.

How he had missed this place when he was in that dreaded cavern.

No one knew the worst of it.

"Ed," Stylla said with a slightly broken tone as they all gazed at the face of the mansion. "He's still the same isn't he?"

Ed merely nodded with a stern face.

Of course.

Nothing had changed which was both good and bad news.

"Would you like to see him before anything else?" Ed asked while paying attention to Stylla's face.

He understood Stylla quite well as someone who grew up tending to her. To her, he was more than a guard. He was a friend.

Stylla nodded.

She didn't intend to waste time. She wasn't here to continue gazing at the weakening of the Family from its remaining comforts. She just had to see her father again.

Skullius felt a bit of tension rising.

Ed was tense.

Stylla was tense.

Setkh was tense.

Even Karrun was tense.

This wasn't a casual visit to show-off poor cursed daddy, was it?