Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"What is this creature doing here?" Bassbion said in an authoritative voice that lightly rattled Ferex.

She remained in her stone form, fitted within the hollow at the base of the statue of her master.

Her eyes settled on the figure of the large beast that looked at her and then at Yagrina, tendrils of Unliving Thread whipping over its bulk.

It was Ferex.

He was here for an important mission.

He quickly stood on his hind legs, his figure morphing into a humanoid form that stood in place cautiously.

"Well...?" Bassbion questioned, waiting for the creature to express its purpose.

Because of the communication barrier, Ferex had to resort to gesturing to get his points across.

The Pseudo Spirit Walker\'s Hide quickly covered his entire figure, devouring the Unliving Thread over it.

Soon, Ferex vanished from sight but...

"What are you doing?" Bassbion angrily questioned.

Did this thing want to fight or something?

In the next moment however, Ferex reappeared and pointed at Bassbion with his claw.

"Huh?"

The Hound then punched himself in the face, and spread his arms out as if in confusion.

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?"

Seriously?

Ferex expelled a shot of heat from his nostrils in annoyance before performing the sequence of gestures once again - using the Hide to erase his existence, pointing it at Bassbion and then striking himself in the head.

Bassbion was about to angrily question Ferex once again what he meant when...

"Wait, Sister Bassbion," Yagrina said, cutting off Bassbion. "I think he\'s asking how we can see him even when he is invisible."

"What?"

"Don\'t you remember? You pummelled him when he was trying to defend that man back then. He seems to not be used to getting spotted in that form. Poor thing."

During the battle between Skullius and Bassbion, Ferex had attempted to sneak up on the guardian but was bashed easily as he had been seen despite his ability to erase every aspect of his presence.

Ferex of course couldn\'t understand what the two guardians were saying but he was hoping to get some insight.

"Do you honestly think I would remember that minor detail amidst all the crazy set of events that happened during the past few days? I hardly recall it," Bassbion said. "And why should I dignify this thing with a response?"

"Come now, Sister Bassbion. He is merely asking. Besides, he is an ally, is he not. We best accept that reality sooner or later."

"..."

Bassbion didn\'t offer a retort as coming to terms with all this was still a problem for her.

She preferred to have a master, a host, who was independent and dominant, just like their masters.

She was willing to follow such a host even if they took an even darker path that ended this world.

But this...?

"Hmmph. It\'s not like its some grand revelation. It\'s peculiar how his ability to escape any notice works but as spirits we see a whole lot more of the world than any others," Bassbion said before she turned to Ferex, realising something. "Can he even understand us?"

"I doubt it," Yagrina said as she looked at the Hound who didn\'t show any reaction to what they said at all.

No show of understanding.

No nod.

Nothing.

The creature scratched its head as it then turned to the two with a new request.

On its clawed hand, it formed the image of a long sword with Unliving Thread and then pointed at Bassbion again, gesturing for the guardian to give it to him.

"My sword?" Bassbion said as her body started to emerge from the hollow in the statue. She attained vibrant colour as she came out, instead of the rigid creaking, her movement becoming smooth while her gaze focused on the Hound who actually stepped forward to meet her fearlessly.

The guardian was surprised to see Ferex requesting the same thing, repeating it over and over like a machine without considering the threat from Bassbion.

"Just give it to him, Sister Bassbion. He can\'t use it anyway and he isn\'t fast enough to escape you from close range. If worse comes to worst I\'ll even intervene," Yagrina said.

Bassbion wasn\'t too accepting of this idea.

For her, just thinking about this creature before her being a lackey of Skullius shut off any kind of compassion she could possibly feel.

Yet, she was pretty curious.

What did this beast want with her sword?

***

"Here you go Mister Festos," Rist said with a smile.

She was in charge of all formalities regarding evaluation officers and executive mercenaries on the fifth floor and while trapped in her cube, she dished out an identification card for Skullius from the slot aligned with the top of the desk.

The identification card was designed with small reflective cubes that alternated their colouration between blue and gold as one turned them to different positions from the light.

Over it, was Skullius\' name, class and Rank which were sculpted in with the intent to show that the Hybrid Luman was in fact, special.

It had to be known that he was different from the rest.

"Thank you," Silrat claimed the card and handed it to Skullius behind him, along with a pouch that had the 100 Plasma coins.

He turned back to Rist and politely asked, "Could we see the mandatory missions available for exclusive mercenaries?"

Rist smiled politely before shuffling a few files and documents within her shelf and pushing them out to Silrat through the slot.

The former Branch Head then turned back to Skullius as the two sat down and shuffled through the missions.

"Some of these are pretty dangerous. You are allowed to start a Guild without paying the fees that most other Guilds have to pay, you know?" Silrat informed.

"You already mentioned that but that\'s not what I need right now," Skullius said as he set his eyes on the missions.

There were six of them with general descriptions over location, the situation and hazard level in addition to the rewards one would get when they finished it.

They seemed to be ranked according to the grading system for exclusive mercenaries, the ones Skullius had been given ranging from Rank 4 and below in terms of difficulty.

Generally, Rank 4 would be more or less equal to the lowest B ranked mercenary, by this Branches standard, so Skullius was intrigued.

Among the six missions, three caught Skullius\' eye in terms of reward and general description.

The first was to venture to a famous tourist sighting at a place known as Creeping Chill, a hill said to have been sanctified by a Priest from old times. An abnormally large blue Cluster had appeared there and it seemed it had roughly two days before it was estimated to open according to what was known about Clusters.

The reward was 200 Plasma coins along with the two items. One Unique and Legendary, both of which were the choice of the mercenary.

The second was a mission to travel to the Belvion Union, a group of four towns that formed a haven for the people of that part of the region. A notorious group of bandits named the Ascendant Hunters were threatening the peace there and they were a rather elusive bunch.

The reward was 500 Plasma coins along with an item said to only be disclosed when the mission was completed.

The last one involved a Cluster as well but the beasts within it had already escaped and were occupying a large woodland to the South of Genhuis City, claiming it as their territory.

The reward was 280 Plasma coins along with something called the Simmering Cloud. It was identified as an artefact and Skullius was interested to see what it was.

All of these missions were intriguing.

Skullius looked up and called for Rist without turning to Silrat.

"I\'ll take these three," he said with determination, hints of urgency noticeable in his blank eyes.

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