I Reincarnated As A Stick Chapter 156: Awakening

Ding!

'The name 'Marquis of Magical Destruction' has been given to the equipment set. Due to the name of the equipment set, all abilities that use up of energy will have their damage be increased by 35 percent. In addition, the amount of energy needed to activate those abilities shall be decreased by 10 percent, while the cooldown time shall be reduced by 20 percent. There is also a 5 percent chance to deal double damage to an enemy hit with the ability.'

Looking at the effect he obtained from the name, Aurus could not help but become incredibly satisfied with it. He was incredibly satisfied with it that he could not help but ask himself, "Herellia's equipment set doesn't have such a strong effect like that. Would she be mad if she knew the effects of my own set?"

"I'll just hide the information of my set from her if that's the case." In the end, this was what Aurus decided to do. Once he finished crafting the Legendary and Mythic level 'Blessed by the Heavens' set for the normal, Executive, and Pillar level members of the alliance, he would go ahead and meet up with Herellia to show her the Transcendent level 'Devourer of the Living' set, as well as her own unique 'Marchioness of Blood' set.

"I should finish this up," Aurus said to himself, going through the usual steps laid out by the equipment fabrication feature. He did modify the equipment set's appearance to look like each piece of equipment was made of white stones that gave out intense light. As for Herellia's set, he did the same as well, making her set look like it was forged from a vat filled to the brim with blood, giving off an intense murderous aura.

Whoos.h.!.+

'Please input the amount of FP you would like to infuse into this equipment set.' Soon after, the system asked him how much FP he wanted to put into the equipment set, which dictated the equipment set's grade. Since he had evolved [Supreme Spirit-Flux Chiliocosm] to its X-grade Transcendent variant, the amount of FP he now had was multiple levels beyond what he previously had, his maximum capacity being a couple hundred thousand points.

Of course, he knew that once one put more than enough points into the equipment fabrication screen, the system wouldn't use it to enhance the equipment set even further, but instead discard it to who knows where. Using the amount he infused to obtain a Mythic grade equipment set, he placed in double the amount, which allowed him to successfully craft a 'Marquis of Magical Destruction' set at the Transcendent level.

Ding!

'Divine success! The equipment set [Marquis of Magical Destruction (Transcendent)] has been created.'

'Due to the equipment set reaching the Transcendent grade, the equipment set has been imbued with the [Protection of the Transcendent Beings] effect.'

After crafting his own unique set, he placed it inside his weapon inventory, preparing himself for the monotonous process of crafting multiple equipment sets yet again. But then, just as he was about to start producing 'Blessed by the Heavens' sets…

Rumble…rumble…

A rumbling sound started to resound throughout the room, with Aurus not knowing where it came from. He went closer to Fenrir and Charisa, asking them if they heard any rumbling sounds. Surprisingly, they responded that they didn't hear any, returning back to grinding their skills while Aurus was left contemplating as to where the sound came from.

Ding!

Amidst the rumbling sounds, a notification screen appeared in front of his field of vision, prompting him to open up the weapon inventory at the very instant he finished reading.

'Something unique is happening to two Transcendent level sets in your weapon inventory!'

Whoos.h.!.+

At the instant he opened his weapon inventory, the two Transcendent level sets he crafted for Herellia and himself, namely 'Marchioness of Blood' and 'Marquis of Magical Destruction', were currently floating in the air, their auras spreading all throughout the vast s.p.a.ce that const.i.tuted the weapon inventory.

A few seconds later, the auras they emanated condensed into strands of energy, which then headed towards the opposing equipment set. The 'Marchioness of Blood' set's red energy strands headed towards the 'Marquis of Magical Destruction' set, while the opposite also happened.

Eventually, a balance seemed to be struck, with both sets radiating a mix of red and white aura as they gradually landed on the ground of the weapon inventory's s.p.a.ce.

Whoos.h.!.+

Ding!

After that phenomenon, the weapon inventory automatically closed itself as a notification screen appeared in front of Aurus' field of vision once more. Although he was quite perplexed as to why that happened, he decided to place the thought of finding out why in the back of his head, wondering about the notification he obtained instead.

"Eh…?" This was the first word that came out of Aurus after reading the notification. "Are you serious?"

'Due to 'Marchioness of Blood' and 'Marquis of Magical Destruction' having names related to n.o.bility, the pa.s.sive effect [Royal Resonance] has been bestowed to both equipment sets.'

Aurus was at a loss for words from this occurrence. He only gave those names due to the fact that they sounded powerful, but never did he expect that giving such a name to those equipment sets would actually trigger something like a new effect being given.

Of course, his interest was piqued by the new effect. Since it came from the name he gave, surely, the buffs given by such an effect wouldn't be low, right?

Ding!

Commanding the system to identify the effect, a screen appeared in front of his field of vision soon after. It only took a single quick skim over the information on the screen to know that this unexpected occurrence actually gave him something good.

________

[Royal Resonance]

Effect: Whenever two users of equipment with this effect come into close proximity with one another, both users obtain a 30% increase to all of their stats, as well as a 20% increase to the damage dealt by them. They also gain access to the [n.o.ble Domain] skill, which reduces all enemies' movement speeds by 50% for a certain amount of time.

________

"…" Aurus was at a loss for words yet again. Although he fully understood the buffs of the new effect he obtained, he still couldn't bring it to himself to speak about it. In the end, he just let out a sigh before muttering, "I should…make those equipment sets."

Around eight hours have pa.s.sed since Aurus decided to start producing new equipment sets used by most of the members in the Tempest Branch Alliance. Of course, he opened up his weapon inventory to make sure if he made fewer sets than specified, or an equipment set of lower quality. Fortunately, just like before, he did not do so, allowing him to finally let out a sigh of relief as he was truly done with crafting equipment sets for the whole alliance.

"I can finally go to Herellia and show her the equipment set I've made," Aurus muttered to himself, glad to finally be free of this burden…although he volunteered to do so. Informing Fenrir and Charisa that he was going to go to where Herellia was, he then disappeared from the room, taking a few more teleports to appear in the place where both Herellia and him have met before.

Whoos.h.!.+

This time though, when Aurus appeared in front of Herellia, instead of seeing Herellia immersed in her grinding, he noticed that Herellia was not grinding at all. Instead, Herellia was looking at him with a slightly expectant aura surrounding her as she said, "I wonder why you came here all of a sudden. Is it good news?"

"Eh…" Aurus replied with a sound that bordered between approval and disapproval. Soon after, Aurus made the sound of clearing one's throat before replying, "Yeah, I guess you could say so."

Whoos.h.!.+

Not long after, a rift in the s.p.a.ce appeared on top of Aurus' body, slightly surprising Herellia. Of course, Aurus knew that her surprise would grow to a greater level as he used his FP to form a tendril that attached on an equipment set he made. It took a while for the equipment set to get out of the weapon inventory, with Aurus placing it between him and Herellia.

"This is what I wanted to show you before we fought against Chonk and his army, though I showed you earlier than what I said," Aurus said, noticing that Herellia's attention was affixed to the equipment set he brought out. "This is a trump card we could use throughout the war, since it's an equipment set that's meant to boost our defensive and offensive properties. The name of the equipment set is 'Devourer of the Living', which enhances our ability to deal damage to Animates like Chonk and Chungus."

Although Aurus was finished explaining what the equipment set was, Herellia's focus was still stuck on the equipment set, prompting Aurus to make a large sound that brought her back from her daze. Fortunately, Aurus did not need to repeat himself since Herellia processed all of what he said subconsciously. She looked at Aurus with an aura of slight curiosity surrounding her, asking, "Have you only crafted this single equipment set for me since I'm the leader? Or did you also craft one for yourself?"

"I've crafted one for me and for you, yes," Aurus replied, before adding, "But I've also crafted equipment sets for every member in the Alliance to enhance our survival rate. We would have a greater chance of winning against Chonk if more of us survives to deal damage, right?"

At this point, an aura of admiration emanated from Herellia's body, wondering how much Aurus had to sacrifice in order to create that much equipment sets. It was also at this point that Herellia realized why Aurus asked for information about the members of the alliance. With that, she thanked Aurus inwardly as she asked him, "How do I wear this thing?"

"Uhh…" Aurus was at a loss for words as he had not taken that into consideration before, thinking that wearing it was automatic. He then asked the system in his mind about this, taking only a few seconds before replying, "Just hover it and say 'Wear Equipment Set'."

"Got it," Herellia responded to Aurus' words, getting close to the equipment set Aurus brought out. Then, she hovered it for a while before saying, "You know what? It'll be better for me to wear it later. I'm guessing you're going to distribute this equipment set to everyone else later, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm planning to do," Aurus radiated an aura of affirmation around him, agreeing with Herellia's words. "Could you ask everyone to congregate towards the Main Hall in an hour? I still have something to do in the Main Hall anyways."

"Sure, I can do that," Herellia replied with an aura of slight enthusiasm around her. "Do you need anything else I can help with?"

"No, that's all," Aurus replied back. "You also have to come to the Main Hall as well since you're the leader. I have a feeling why you saved wearing the equipment set for later is to let everyone see how to wear the equipment set, right?"

"Precisely," Herellia answered with an aura of cheerfulness about her.

"Got it," Aurus said soon after. Then, he radiated an aura of excitement as he said, "After the meeting in the Main Hall, I have another equipment set to give you. I'll keep it a secret for now. I hope you're prepared to receive it."

Whoos.h.!.+

And with that, without even saying farewell, Aurus disappeared out of Herellia's sight, leaving Herellia with no words to say. It was only after a few seconds did she finally say something.

"Haah…now you're just making me nervous."

Whoos.h.!.+

It only took a couple of minutes for Aurus to appear in the center of the Main Hall near the front of the Tempest Branch Alliance, since he had access to an ability that allowed him to teleport, albeit in a limited range. Nonetheless, Aurus had no qualms about it since being able to teleport is better than not being able to.

Anyways, after arriving in the Main Hall, Aurus focused his sense of vision towards the ceiling of the Main Hall, the sight of a green blob of energy entering his field of vision. This blob of energy was none other than the Animate clone Aurus made as a trump card for the upcoming war…though the main reason for it was the fact that he wanted to revisit the feeling of looking over the world.

A few days have pa.s.sed since the clone started forming, with the size of blob becoming considerably smaller while a figure could now be faintly seen through the green energy surrounding it. Aurus looked at this blob of energy for a bit as a thought he had from before resurfaced in his mind, prompting him to ask the system, "System, how much time left till the clone is fully formed?"

Ding!

'Time remaining: 02:02:47:10.'

"Hmm…" Looking at the time given to him by the system, he then asked, "System, is there any way to speed up the formation process of the clone?"

"…" At first, there was no response from the system, making Aurus feel that there was no way for him to speed up the formation of the clone. But then, around half a minute later, he heard a ding resonate throughout his mind as a holographic screen appeared in front of his field of vision.

"To speed up the process of formation, the user must infuse a huge amount of FP into the blob of energy." This was what was written on the screen.

"How much FP would I need to speed it up? Also, how much time would be reduced with the amount?" he asked not long after reading through the response.

"10,000 FP for a one hour reduction in formation time." The words written on the screen changed, which slightly surprised Aurus.

"Eh? 10,000 FP for an hour?" Aurus could not believe the conversion rate. Well…it was not that he couldn't believe that he needed to use a lot of FP to reduce the amount of time, but that he needed to use a lot less FP to reduce the amount of time. In actuality, he was prepared to see a rate of 100,000 FP for a 10 minute reduction, and he would have no complaints since he would just have to wait for his FP storage to fill up.

"If that's the case..." In the end, Aurus would rather accept the former than the latter after being informed of the former, knowing that he would need to wait for less time instead of a time that could possibly span until the start of the war.

With an excited aura surrounding him, Aurus then summoned all of the FP in his body before saying, "It's time to awaken this clone of mine."