Chapter 218: Control (part 1)
Geth looked through the Talents and Skills he had available. His head had started throbbing, but he persisted with using his Points before their big battle.
Of the 140 Attribute Points he'd gained, he decided to put 50 Points into Intelligence and 90 into Wisdom.
Even though it was an incredible amount, he had a limit to what he could store in his memory. His Intelligence would need to stay in a specific range so that his learning speed from Wisdom wouldn't overtake the amount of knowledge he could store.
He used 17 SP to bring his Greater Mending Skill from Rare to Epic. The Skill that he learned was called Minor Resurrection.
It couldn't bring someone back to life, but he could instantly heal someone or something on death's door.
It had the added benefit of being able to regrow appendages, no matter how much time had passed. Geth figured that Bruce would appreciate this spell.
He hesitated before spending any more points.
'I can get a few more Skills to Epic... but what about getting this Skill to Legendary?'
If this was Minor Resurrection, then wouldn't the next be Resurrection? What capabilities would it have?
He nor Albus knew how much it would cost to upgrade a Skill to Legendary. If it followed the usual pattern, it would be in the ballpark of 41 SP to bring from Level 0 to the next Rarity.
Geth decided to upgrade the Skill to Level 4, costing him 23 SP. What he saw after made his heart drop.
To move from an Epic Level 4 Skill to a Legendary Level 0 Skill was a whopping 100 SP! That was almost all he had left!
He was about to look through his other Skills when the headache suddenly became worse. It felt like his brain had ruptured.
Geth was taken aback when his mind withdrew to his mental sphere, his body becoming nothing but an empty shell.
"Albus, what the fuck is going on?"
He called for his friend, but there was no response. None of his selves were wandering around his usually lively mental sphere.
Geth tried to summon one but to no avail.
He closed his eyes and spread his senses, finding that the blockage had finally been removed. Not only that, his senses extended much farther than they had in the past.
Though it seemed a cause to celebrate, he didn't have any wish to do so. What he saw didn't make any sense.
His body was standing on its own. Or... at least he assumed it was his body.
Geth's hair and beard had turned a pure white on the outside. Purple highlights ran along the white.
His skin had turned pitch-black, making it difficult to see him. His equipment wasn't anywhere to be seen.
The figure stood near the entrance, its eyes were closed, and purple energy was pulsating around it. The rest of his party was scattered around the room.
It looked as if some force had pushed them back into the walls. Each of them began to stagger to their feet, looking at Geth's body with both concern and trepidation.
"Did... I do that?"
Geth used his senses to observe the purple energy pulsating around him. It was strange.
It reminded him of a mixture of that Demon Energy he'd seen before, Mana, and his own life force. The aura was so thick that it was practically physical.
His head turned to the nearby wall. Geth could tell that it had sensed the Mana that the place had absorbed due to the Mana Geyser.
At that exact moment, Geth felt the agonizing hunger that this... thing... was feeling. It was insatiable.
The figure put its hand on the wall, a strong suction force forming in its palm. He could feel the Mana in the wall being absorbed and transitioning into the purple aura around him.
Jack, being the closest, walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. Geth could feel the sensation and hear the words as if he weren't in his mental sphere.
"Uhh... Geth... Is everything all right? Is this some new Skill of you- acckk!"
Geth's body had turned and grabbed the young man by the throat, lifting him into the air and looking at him curiously.
"Stop!"
Geth shouted inside his mental sphere, but it simply echoed back to him. He watched as the creature's suction ability pulled some of the life force from the man.
What was worse, Geth could feel the surprise his body felt at the increase in power and then the delight when it realized this was a better source for quelling the hunger that it felt.
Jack looked on in fear as he watched his health slipping away. Just when Geth started to become worried for Jack's life, he felt a force slam into his side.
His body slid a few feet, but his grip on Jack loosened, allowing the man to get away. Geth took that moment of surprise and tried to suppress whatever this thing was, but he didn't know where to start.
That's when he found that the black sphere some distance from his own was giving off that same purple aura.
That aura had pushed down the long hallway and was seeping through the now open door. It looked like it was trying to consume his outer sphere.
'Is that it..?'
He controlled his Mana to attack the energy that was invading his mind. The moment he retaliated, he felt a burst of power on the outside.
The creature had definitely felt his attack.
'Alright then, let's see what you think about this.'
Geth controlled the lake of condensed Mana and brought it out full force. It roared as a tidal wave formed and rushed toward his outer sphere.
'Hmph.'
Geth smirked as he felt the creature's fear. Maybe it could have taken over a weaker mind without much of a fight, but not his.
While the creature was distracted, chains rose up around his body outside. It seemed his friends were trying to suppress him.
"Good. Let's see how you handle your attention being split."
Thus, the fight for control began.