Bonus chapter for the 300 Power Stones.
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Ringo looked away from the clone's perspective with a slight smile on his lips and slightly erratic eyes, but he quickly recovered, but soon he focused on... the thing in front of him.
It was night there, and he arrived in the area of the Bell of Death Island. But while training his esper power, he seemed to sense something, a change. When he reached Grade B, he didn't perceive it directly, but it was only while helping Will and Jack evolve further that he felt something.
He seemed to be able to take his evolution in a different direction, a completely uncontrollable and misshapen angle. It wasn't something positive, no, but basically accelerated every cell in the body in a different direction, causing a chain reaction. The result? Cancer, deformity, cellular weakness, genetic rejection... everything was scrambled.
Entire systems went out of order, increasing production or decreasing it. Everything that made the body a balanced ecosystem was destroyed. What was left?
Ringo was staring at the exact result, a giant, black and completely deformed creature, with arms, legs, eyes and every other body part growing randomly.
It writhed and moaned in pain continuously. This guy was some unlucky guy they'd met on the road. He'd stopped them, pointed his gun and told them to give him the money, supplies and women.
If it were just the first two, he'd just cut off a hand or something, but the women? Well, he'd become a guinea pig for Ringo to practice his new skill.
Shrugging, Ringo found this power a bit grotesque, but it was the first truly combat-focused power he'd ever received.
Ringo called it Degenerate, it was quite fitting.
Looking at the deformed thing, Ringo was momentarily speechless. How could he get rid of it?
He had no power that could burn this thing to ashes. It was at this point that he realized he still had his weaknesses, but he sighed and put that aside.
Luckily, he didn't let the girls see it. If he hadn't used his evolution to adapt to disgust, he would have vomited looking at it.
It's actually the kind of ability that deals 100 damage to the enemy and 80 to himself. Of course, if he evolves to ignore disgust, that won't be a problem.
Shrugging, he used Nightmare Blade to kill the creature and devoured its soul. Then, he simply dug a hole and threw it in, closing the hole. He hoped no creatures would dig it up in search of food. He wondered if this thing was edible.
He could have punched this thing so hard it would explode, but it would have sent flesh, blood and misshapen bones flying everywhere, so he quickly abandoned that thought.
Shaking his head, he ran back to camp a few kilometers away in half a minute.
Stopping, he saw half a dozen large black trucks. Nodding in satisfaction, he noticed Lena approaching.
-So?- Lena asked curiously.
-Very disgusting, but quite strong, at least against living beings.- Ringo shrugged.
Lena nodded, not asking for the exact test results. -Eva is still angry.
Ringo laughed lightly. She'd been sulking since the day before when he'd said he wouldn't take any of them into combat. First, he'd go in, then knock everyone out with Nightmare's Sleep and the Sleep Scream.
Then he'd let them come, take the prisoners and the operation would be over, quickly and efficiently.
Lena was satisfied, Eva wasn't, but that was okay, he'd make it up to her later.
The plan began quickly. Ringo left and transformed into his spirit form. Now that the rate of enhancement through physical stress has slowed, his greatest improvement is through Devour Dreams.
His evolutionary energy proved as useful as ever in this regard. Evolution continually improves his digestive efficiency, not only that, but also his disposal of waste energy.
Not all of a being's soul is a tonic, there are also impurities. Even if nightmares can rid themselves of these over time, it's a long and drawn-out process, very inefficient. If they ignore this residual energy, it can cause a series of psychological problems and even energy failures. This, along with the time it takes to digest, exemplifies why, despite having such a strong ability, they are still at the average power level of the nightmare dimension.
If he had to guess, there is plenty of useful material for nightmares in their dimension, but due to a lack of strength, the Nightmare Devouring Spirit had to content itself with eating outside.
Sure, they are delicacies, but in terms of enhancing strength, devouring other souls still proves less efficient than simply devouring a crystal saturated with nightmare energy.
Fortunately, Ringo didn't care about this, where the Nightmare Devouring Spirit failed, he would succeed.
His intelligence and Mystery had grown significantly in the short span of a week, at least 20% stronger.
This excited him, and the urge to devour other living beings only increased.
He had to control himself to avoid this constant thought. He could only imagine how difficult it was for others of the same species to control themselves, but he didn't think much about it now. Instead, he flew away using Hidden Nightmare to conceal his presence.
The base was located within a mountain range, inside a vast natural cave. The mountain range itself was surrounded by miles of dense forest and there were extremely frightening mutant beasts all around, some even C Grade strength. Getting there on foot would be a pain, as would getting out.
That's why any entry and exit was usually by air, even then, it wasn't easy to access because there was only one entrance in an entire network of tunnels.
Ringo didn't mind this at all, after all, he's a spirit and can not only fly but also submerge himself underground.
His speed in human form after reaching Grade B was already as astonishing as a race car, but his speed in nightmare form was even more exaggerated. If he weren't in spirit form, he would have broken the sound barrier.
Not to mention, he could teleport.
So, as he observed the flora and fauna from an energy being's perspective, he didn't feel the slightest bit of tunnel vision.
It was so fast that he covered ten kilometers in a few seconds.
Sighing at his exaggerated level of power, he felt both excited and relieved, he was no longer at the bottom of the food chain, at least not on this planet.
This was a thought that had always troubled him, as if something were going to jump out with a fist bigger than his and take everything he had.
It hadn't gone away, but since reaching Grade B, he felt much more relaxed. There was no suspense in anything. Even if he invaded this base head-on or even one of the six nations and Germinal, he wouldn't feel a thing.
He was at the top.
This filled him with extreme satisfaction.
But it didn't matter, not anymore. The base was camouflaged in the yellow-orange stone in one of the cave's tunnels, its entrance seemed perfect, if he couldn't sense the souls inside, he would have missed it.
He entered quickly, passing by the guards who didn't notice anything due to his concealment.
It's like removing the information about his existence from that point. Basically, he's there, but no one can see him.
Unfortunately, his ability isn't 100% accurate. Seers like Aesop or stronger mages can still see him, but he didn't believe he'd be so unlucky now.
Ignoring the guards, he would first check the prison's internal structure. General Joseph of the Eye of Fire base didn't have precise information about this base, and it was kept highly secret even within each country.
So he had to figure everything out on his own.
He quickly entered the prison without sneaking, floating in his hybrid form, his completely black eyes observing souls through matter. He wandered around for a good ten minutes, understanding the Layout.
The prisons themselves were located from the negative fifth floor down, for a total of 13 floors. From the fourth floor up, they were divided into several sections, such as offices, a cafeteria and kitchen, living quarters, training grounds, etc.
He then sought out the prison commander. It wasn't hard to find him, he was also in the most protected area. He soon discovered that there were actually six supervisors, one from each country, not a single commander.
So he simply invaded the dream of one of them and set to work, using the nightmare's control, now at Grade B, against a Super Grade D... even though he couldn't simply transform him into a Mob without harming his spirit, he could still extract information from him.
Through the dream's perspective, Ringo began to discover everything the man knew about the base. There was both the verbal description and the change in the dream that allowed him to see everything.
He finally asked to see the Black Spider. He was taken to a cell on the seventh level. The man was completely sealed in a metal cage, restrained, even his mouth gagged, preventing him from committing suicide.
There were monitors attached to him to monitor his vital signs at all times, clearly preparing to prevent any escape.
Ringo observed this calmly before asking to see the Emerald Grass.
The next moment, he arrived at another cell. A bald woman stood there, but the short green strands on her head were clearly visible. She was beautiful even in this state, wearing only a white prison robe with a cold, indifferent look.
Her cell was much better, due to her expertise, occasionally helping the six nations in the biological field. She was treated almost humanely, not completely chained and even having a TV in her cell.
But Ringo didn't care about any of that. The moment he saw Emerald Grass, the entire dream shook violently, the nightmare energy leaking out as the man's dream transformed into an extremely sinister one, almost waking him up. But Ringo paid no attention, he simply used Sleep on him absentmindedly as his face quickly flashed through a vast mix of emotions.
Anger, hatred, grief, happiness... love.
-Emma...
(A/N: You didn't expect that, did you? Hehe!)
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+29 chapters of Jugo - Father of Devils on P_treon.
+38 chapters of The Legendary Mechanic - Triple Six on P_treon.
+11 chapters of Hunger Games - I Choose to be a Tribute on P_treon.(Read the first 10 chapters for free on P_treon.)
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