Chapter 80: Black Demonite Heart Core

-----

Takeshi and Laura showed us their Unique Skills effects. They were interesting, to say the least.

Takeshi's [Fisher] allowed him to convert any stick into a fishing rod which had the ability to trespass material objects. It is as if everything it touched was water itself.

The hook it has is very sharp, and the fishing rod can pick up things and grab them tightly, allowing them trespass material objects to bring them to him.

He has been practicing with it ever since he gained consciousness, but its power was lacking by quite a lot. Plus, it required him to have higher stats to show off its true potential.

Apparently, he utilized it to escape by grabbing the key to open their cell using it. And the stick he made was created through the bones of the meat given to him as food.

And well, [Water Absorption] is quite literally the ability to absorb water.

It makes him immune to water attribute magic, and it should be possible for him to also survive underwater, though the true effects of this power had yet to be completely discovered…

And then there's Laura.

[Twin Connection] is a bizarre, Unique Skill as it allows her to choose someone as her "twin." Through this connection, both of them share certain abilities, such as being able to talk with one another through Telepathy, sharing each other's Mana, and even being capable of using each other's abilities to an extent, although their potential is reduced by 50%.

Meanwhile, her second Unique Skill, [Detonation], allows her to detonate objects that she touches and decides to explode.

The issue here is that this is not free as it takes too much Mana for her to even make a tiny marble explode. Also, the explosion itself is not that strong either because it is based on her Magic stat, which is very low at Level 1.

Nonetheless, she also used this to break through the facility, although she ended up completely exhausted…

In total, their Unique Skills are more than promising, and both of them could become pretty incredible fighters if they developed further. Even more, as they have the bodies of genetically modified superhuman Homunculus with the power of harboring the demon energy of the Fragments of the Dark God…

Though, after being told such explanations, some arose with questions.

"Wait, if you had such abilities, why didn't you use them to fight back?" Asked Emeraldine.

"We did, thanks to them, we managed to escape the facility… but they're not so good to fight, and consume a lot of energy, which we spent running away… Our stats are too low as well…" sighed Takeshi.

"We are Level 1 after all. Not much we can do even with Unique Skills, and our basic skills don't help either… What can a Level 1 do against a Level 30 monster? We can either die or escape," Laura explained.

"O-Oh… Sorry," Apologized Emeraldine.

"Mana is extra hard for us to gather than others…." Takeshi added.

"Huh? Why is that?" I asked.

"Well, the crystal in our chest is constantly absorbing our Mana so, we never have it at full. It sometimes satiates itself and lets us recover sometimes, but after the Mana hits max, it begins to consume slowly once more," Said Laura.

"Oh, that's odd…." I muttered.

"Hmmm…"

Lucifer inspected the kid's black crystal, and I did as well, through [Analyze].

…

[Black Demonite Heart Core (Grade: S-Rank)]

A special alchemy-made Core made out of pure Demonite; a special ore formed from the crystallization of secretions made by a Fragment of Evil of the Dark God.

It possesses the ability to produce Demonic Energy or Miasma in exchange for draining Mana. It enhances magic strength and proficiency, but the power it has can affect the minds and bodies of others, and therefore, it cannot be used without caution.

…

I see. It provides them with power they have yet to train, but in exchange, it constantly drains Mana.

If they level up some more, they can form enough MP, so the amount drained won't be as much, and they will be able to use the rest of the Mana for Skills.

But what about this Demon Energy or whatever? They did say they could use it to conjure some weird explosive magic, but it gets out of control, and it can even damage them back. They also mentioned that they felt tons of pain around the chest when they used it and often passed out on the spot.

I guess they have yet to mature enough for their bodies to be able to take the complete burden, despite being the "perfect" Homunculus that can use this power without breaking.

"Demonic Energy also has the power to mutate… We didn't look like this before. Our hair color, eyes, and even the horns we grew happened after that man forced us to use this power over and over again…" Said Takeshi.

"Huh?!"

"But even then, not many mutations have happened to us aside from this, meaning that we won't be as affected as… well, the failures, as he calls them," Laura added.

"The tests subjects… that failed became those monsters you fought. After he forced the demonic energy into their bodies, they ended up mutating into those chimera-like monsters… Some even became completely different beings from their former human bodies, turning into slimes and other things…." Said Takeshi.

"…Miasma or Demon Energy can do such a thing… And… Erm, how many failures were there?" I asked.

"He said there were at least a hundred before us… this is why we were named 101 and 102," Said Takeshi.

So the reason these monsters had the souls of people inside wasn't because they were inserted inside but because they used to be tests subjects with humanoid bodies like these kids… but then they just mutated into horrifying creatures after overusing this energy.

"Oh well, the past is in the past. If they come, we'll kill them. There's nothing to talk about in this regard… Now, what should we do? I was planning to wait until night before we strike," I said.

-----