Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1294: Exora Mead



Beyrmir's giant head sprouted from Skullius' [Entropy's Harmonising Nimbus] for a third time and sprayed jets of Clear Fire at the incoming enemies, obliterating them with ease. The ordinary Cavern, far from Divinity, were no match for the heat. Clear Fire was invisible. Its intensity increased the more it spread, burning material aspects or space itself. It could even be adjusted to target a single enemy, leaving everything else unharmed.

Beyrmir was only too happy to take care of the small fry for his master. Skullius after all, no longer earned experience, but Beyrmir did and he was obtaining a massive amount of it. The Apostle reaped cumulative mana experience and Null Life Essence for his core all at once with each enemy felled.

After Skullius had sent Silrat out on the mission to rendezvous with Vali and Maxim, the Apostle had decisively hidden in Skullius' body; he had known he was unneeded for most of what had followed in his master's domain.

He had only shown himself once Skullius called and told him to deal with the many enemies. The Hybrid Warmoth had more pressing concerns after all, and his partner wasn't too interested in fighting the hordes of Cavern either.

Skullius was deep in thought. Elita would answer some of his troubles when he turned to her, ready to spill his anxieties.

"Like I said, Skullius. There's more than one way to evade a Primeval Deity. There's no need to stress yourself over this right now," the former Paladin Champion said.

Skullius shook his head.

"No. D'JORRO's threat isn't what's troubling me the most. If worse comes to worst, sure, I have the means to hide. It's this TITEMIUS that scares me. We know where D'JORRO stands, but TITEMIUS... He didn't give a response."

And indeed. After Skullius had chosen JOISEN ANTERRAS' contract over the other two, the Deity had expressed his elation, D'JORRO had made known his ire, but TITEMIUS hid his thoughts.

If VOW hadn't just warned him about this particular Primeval Deity, Skullius wouldn't have given the matter too much thought.

TITEMIUS was probably a busy guy. In the grand scheme of things, he had bigger concerns than the choices of a mere Phase 1 Broader Existence Divine being, right?

That would have been Skullius' stance, but he just felt that something sinister was brewing. "I got rid of my atrocious luck, so why does this keep happening?" Skullius said as he rubbed his forehead. "I didn't think I'd encounter Primeval Deities hours after ascending to Divinity dammit!"

Elita chuckled.

"You're an anomaly. That's par for the course. I was only a Master Stage expert when I got dragged into the great void to fight Divine beings - well, I'm still a Master, aren't I?" she said. "You're not all that special in that regard."

"I suppose," Skullius said. His anxiety persisted.

"At least look at the bright side. You earned a few things you probably weren't going to get for a while otherwise," Elita said with a shrug.

Skullius hummed in agreement. His lead grey nimbus spat out something into one of his hands.

It was a large diamond-coated wineskin with a sparkling golden cork.

This skin contained the Exora Mead he had acquired from the terms of his contract with JOISEN. He had gotten three of these, in addition to a Realm rank Wicked Treasure, the Malefic Gold Hand and the Immortal Realm Physique, Expanded Shadow Fiend's Leather. Because of how anxious he had been, Skullius hadn't given himself the chance to check the look of these items. He looked at the skin.

"Looks luxurious," he commented and pulled the cork out. An odd, yeasty smell wafted from inside the skin. It wasn't entirely unpleasant. "Alcohol."

"What gave it away? Was it the name, Exora Mead?" Elita said.

Skullius grunted.

He put the mouth of the skin to his lips and downed the contents.

A sweet and faintly bitter taste touched his tongue and then swam down his throat. The liquid

was a little thick and rich. Skullius thought it tasted like apples mixed with apricots and

dunked in a vat of the cheap brandy he and Silrat used to drink.

As he drank, a notification popped in his view. With the seconds ticking by, it showed his Amras replenishing. However...

[Exora Amras (Beginner Sage Affluent): 287,370/287,500]

[...287,380/287,500]

[...287,390/287,500]

[...287,400/287,500]

...

Skullius stopped drinking.

"That's it?" he said with a frown while wiping his mouth.

Elita gave him an I-told-you-so look.

To Skullius' utter amazement, the Exora Mead recovered only 10 units of Amras every five seconds, and this effect only worked when he drank the Mead continuously. With a quarter of one skin, Skullius was able to recover all of the Amras he had used when he was in the Empyrean Bosom and that which he had used when fighting the six Divine Cavern before, but this did not delude him about how pathetic the rate of Amras regeneration actually was.

"This is crazy. There're no other alternatives? Like higher quality Exora Mead?" he asked Elita.

"Not that I know of," she said. "Like I said, without a large amount of the Mead..."

Skullius facepalmed.

The only saving grace about this Exora Mead was that it worked like Absolute Conversion on Aigas. It could recover all ranks of Amras from World to Cosmic Affluent, and the rate of regeneration was consistent across the board.

Skullius sighed and recovered the rest of his Amras. He stored back the skin in his nimbus with a click of his tongue. A thought came to him as he did.

'Serenity. Do you know everything about how Immortal Physiques work? Is it possible to have two at once?' he asked.

"I know for certain that an expert can have more than one Physique, but I'm not sure how they would interact. There is some nuance there, quite like with Wicked and Prime Treasures. You could use a <Counsel> to ask Vow how that works."

Skullius considered it.

After his guidance field's Patronage Rank had risen, he had acquired two pieces of <Counsel>. Sadly, VOW had used one of them to warn him about TITEMIUS and he was left with only one.

The Hybrid Warmoth shook his head.

'I'll save that one for later. There might be something pressing I'll want to know.'

With how knowledgeable VOW was - being privy to things that Serenity didn't even know about her own treasure, the Null Verse - it was best to save the piece of <Counsel> for later. Even if he had wanted to use it right away, Skullius wouldn't have found the time.

Right then, he and his two companions were already flying over Maqi, their first destination.