Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Skullius had hit the motherlode.

He didn't even need to appraise the items that were stacked and scattered on the ground as the rich Primus energy stored within them all instead of the signature of mana he was used to sensing from most items told him a great detail.

It seemed rune work of a different order was applied to these items, imbedded deep within them to grant blessings and other effects close to that.

Though all these items didn't scale up to the genuine Mythical grade, Skullius was pleased nonetheless. There were Legendary, Legendary+ and a single Pseudo-Mythical grade treasure among these!

This was essentially a mini treasury!

Armour, thick Priestly robes, swords, spears, orbs, among many other things could be identified from the pile and Skullius couldn't help but grin. This seemed like it was meant to equip personnel from the Temple if need arose.

"Well, I guess we got capital for our operation now," Skullius said with a smile.

Instead of going through the pile right now, Skullius stored everything in his own ring, the pouch included.

Right now, it was time to deal with an urgent matter.

"You did really well, Yuyui. I'm proud of you," Skullius said much to the tired Yuyui's partly unconvinced nod.

"Look. I don't have set plans for this setback but I've learned to always be ready for trouble. We'll deal with this together, alright?" Skullius said as offered her his hand which she reluctantly took and nodded.

"Alright, Master," she said.

"Good. Now..." Skullius said, his gaze landing on the necklace that Yuyui had taken from the Priest's hand which was on the ground.

He hesitated to touch it before [High Cosmetic Body] timed out as that might cause the Binds of Fukal to react again.

"I assume that old piece of flesh was going to try and burn you up with the concentrated divine energy that's stored in this thing. He must have been convinced you were really cursed. This thing is more suited for wiping out such things."

With appraisal, Skullius had also identified the name and effects of the ring. It was called the Grace of Sky Lady's Hand.

It was also a Mythical grade tool with a single purpose – to store an astronomical amount of purified Divine energy that could erase a target completely. As ambiguous as that was for a statement, a rather terrifying note was added on the guidance field.

Apparently, the current capacity of energy within the necklace was enough to burn away the entirety of Pelian and Maqi combined within seconds, provided no protection was added!

That was ridiculous.

A release of energy of that level was something not even a peak Incandescent Stage expert, even if they were an Arch-Mage could perform!

This reassured Skullius though. This artefact was undoubtedly stronger than the one Tulnas used which Skullius guessed had also been a Mythical or a bit shy of it since his guidance field then couldn't identify its grade.

Patronage Rank constrains had been limiting him grandly.

Following this, Skullius decided to kill time by scouting the area to ensure that there would be no surprises. He had picked and searched around this spot earlier but... one couldn't be too sure.

After a relatively short wait in the cold, Skullius' human form vanished only to be replaced by the Eternal Storm Veil Penetrator, draped in his [Defiant Raiment of Perversion], ancient dark tattered robes made of Null Life Essence that swam grandly in the air.

The dark storm clouds constantly appeared around the Penetrator, striking bolts of the most condensed form of Levin about, causing a genuine brilliance so pristine that it almost brightened this dark night to the league of day, the same flash of excessive light present in the four sockets of the Penetrator that were difficult to gaze at even for Yuyui.

The sharp-ended protrusions that stemmed from his collar bone and all around to his back, rising up like a protective cage for his head made the Penetrator immensely terrifying, as did the sole white cloud above his head, but there was no one to appreciate it except the lime haired girl.

"Let's get this over with," Skullius said as he picked up the necklace.

With [Epiphany] active, bolstering his [Greater Mana Crafter]'s capacity to pick up on the presence of other energies besides mana, its weakness, Skullius felt the vibrant energy stored in the gem on this necklace, the Grace of the Sky Lady's Hand.

It was truly massive.

'I guess something like this is not supposed to be bound to anyone if its Purity property,' Skullius thought. A Mythical grade treasure like this couldn't belong to one person if it served in an organisation like the Purity.

Without wasting anymore time, Skullius wore the necklace.

The moment he did, a vast well of power bore down on him like a raging, turbulent hurricane that wanted to sweep him away!

A golden light shone from the object and engulfed Skullius within, as if sensing that it was he who needed to be bathed by it and cleansed!

Skullius made a conscious effort to control the clouds that naturally spawned around him and had them spill the Levin they held out in all directions, anchoring him to the ground in case he really was swept away by this huge surge of power that made the snow fly up as if affected by storm!

"Here we go!" Skullius called as his bright socket flames flared manically.

Yuyui leapt away to safety and watched the spectacle with wide eyes from afar.

This was it.

She was praying inside for what she had done to find meaning. So far, it seemed like it was worth it but... the final test was yet to begin!

Before the Eternal Storm Veil Penetrator, a series of guidance field messages appeared.

[An absurd amount of Divine energy has been detected]

[The graces of a Deity in the form of cleansing power embrace your form]

[The fierce power around you that transcends Divinity has detected a number of curses and impending plagues within you]

[Doom Factor 1 – can be purged]

[Doom Factor 2 – cannot be purged]

[UNCoddled – can be purged]

[<Unidentified> - can be purged]

[Compromised luck – can be purged]

[Processing...]

[The Divine energy around is only capable of removing three of the curses and plagues within you]

[The choice is yours]

Skullius was stunned.

Three?! Three of his curses could be removed?!

For real?

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" a burst of laughter leaked from the widest gap on his skull as this... this was truly astounding!

"This is too good to be true!" he called.

Last time he was in a scenario like this, he only had one chance to get rid of the curses that he had!

But now, he could get rid of the biggest problems he had!

The Grace of Sky Lady's Hand seemingly had more energy and was made with more quality than the item Tulnas had used!

'Doom Factor 2 still cannot be purged. I wish that wasn't the case but I expected that much. It's probably because nomatter how much energy is used, the artefact can't breach another world to retrieve my soul. What were they called again, Rules? As Serenity put it?' Skullius thought with a sigh of mana from his mouth.

It was a sad thing but Skullius got his mind back to thinking about what mattered.

There were two new curses to appear. Rather than new, perhaps it was safe to say that the guidance field or the item he was currently using could detect them as such.

The one termed <Unidentified> was the one Skullius wanted to get rid off immediately!

A quick check into its additional information had allowed him to not mistake it for the one termed as Compromised luck as this was simply his already existing atrocious luck.

As he had surmised, even though it was yet to affect him, the FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT LUCK would still register as latching onto him!

Success!

"Let's get rid of it!" Skullius said as he immediately selected it as the first to be purged.

[You can chosen <Unidentified> as your first target to be purged]

[An appropriate amount of Divine energy has been consumed to purge <Unidentified>]

[Processing...]

Skullius would have wanted to hold his breath if he could as he was hoping this would work.

A part of him was pessimistic as usual but with good reason.

The image of the Remnant Child of Polarity kept popping up in his mind, along with the description of its properties ever since he planned out how to get rid the FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT LUCK.

The way it was described was menacing.

~~~

[Chubby Remnant Child of Polarity]

<Unique>

A living consumable that grants EXTREME, STUPENDOUSLY DESIRABLE LUCK in one instance, in exchange for another instance of FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT LUCK.

-Caution-

Remnant Child must be chewed and consumed whole for maximum effect.

-Caution-

Remnant Child must be consumed within an hour upon summoning, otherwise it will perish and disappear. The effect after consumption also exists within the same hour.

-Caution-

The instance of FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT LUCK will claim the user at an opportune time.

~~~

Right there.

That last bit of caution.

That was what had made Skullius a bit pessimistic.

What exactly did '...at an opportune time' mean?

This feeling of dread kept punching at Skullius when instead of a confirmation, a time period for completion or something like that didn't appear after he had selected <Unidentified> to be purged. He still only saw...

[Processing...]

A second passed.

A minute passed.

The Penetrator's sockets burned fiercely.

"Come on!" he said angrily!

Do it already!

Purge it before this opportune time arrives!

Five minutes passed.

Seven minutes.

The image of the Remnant Child kept flashing in Skullius' eyes. That ugly face that he had chewed up without remorse against Yuyui's will...

When Skullius started to dig deep into his memory, he remembered Serenity's words about this as well.

'...I'm surprised you would choose to risk gaining much more in the way of horrible luck in exchange for a single instance of good luck though,' she had said.

Was there a deeper meaning in those words?

When Skullius was about to explore more of this thought, hoping to find something to sooth his pessimism...

[An unexpected scenario intrudes...]

"You're kidding me!" Skullius shouted with his socket flames flaring bright.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Wait!

The Penetrator pulled up his status. Maybe...just maybe...

Like that time when he was so glad that he had gotten STUPENDOUSLY DESIRABLE LUCK after checking the SILENT change in his status...

"Get the flesh out of here!" Skullius shouted while gazing heatedly at his luck stat!

~~~

[Luck : FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT]

~~~

No way!

Skullius had been waiting for the Divine energy to be used to purge this thing when... when...

His luck had changed already before the Divine energy could purge it?!

When had this happened?!

Right before?!

Right!

Of course.

Skullius instantly began to understand.

He was under the wrong impression.

"This was... the opportune time...? Right before I purged it?' he thought in realisation.

So this meant that, nomatter what he tried to get rid of the coming of the FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT luck, it would always spawn right before it was destroyed!

In short, the FIENDISHLY ABBHORRENT LUCK couldn't be stopped from hitting its mark?!

Skullius shook his head.

This wasn't the time to feel down about this!

Fine! It had happened!

What was this unexpected scenario, then?

What was his bad luck moment going to be?!

[An unexpected scenario intrudes...]

[The being known as Arch-Lich Somanda has transcended into DIVINITY]

[The being once known as Arch-Lich Somanda has become Transcendent of Undeath, High Lich Somanda]

[A reaction is detected...]

[UNCoddled evolves...]

[Compromised luck evolves...]

[Doom Factor 1 evolves...]

[Doom Factor 2 evolves...]

[The remnants of nourishment to your soul by a Mythical grade treasure are erased...]

...

---

[Author's Note]

Before all panic breaks loose, do read the next chapters before getting hasty.