Chapter 16: Did you just read my mind?

Saransh tried out the skill 'Illusion Master' for the first time within the walls of the Dismantler Union building.

"This is nothing like its name!"

Saransh just couldn't accept what the skill has to offer.

"It's not an illusion at all… It is the real thing… It makes a copy of me and somehow it is creepy"

*[…]*

"And stop ignoring me like a child… and just say something"

Saransh was furious at both the skill and Mira.

*[Illusion Master allows the user to make a copy of himself/herself at level one. The copy can only use one skill but you can give out feasible commands to the copy if you want. This is all the info I can provide right now]*

"I'm grateful Mira"

*[Never mind… arguing with you makes my brain hurt]*

There was a copy of Saransh right in front of him. The copy looked exactly like him and it was creeping him out because it looked like an emotionless doll of him.

'Let's try something else, hmm… maybe a slap?'

Saransh slapped on the right cheek of the copy.

"Ouch!! It hurts…"

'I expected the copy to transfer the pain, maybe I should pull my punches on my copy from now own… wait… Does that mean it will transfer all my senses too?'

But out of nowhere he received an unexpected notification.

*[You have unlocked the skill 'Pain Resistance'. The passive skill was auto accepted.]*

"Whoa… that was unexpected! Did it happen because I slapped a plasma copy of me?"

*[How should I know?]*

"Never mind"

Saransh was startled.

"Well, let's try something else"

"Hey Copy! Use the skill Replenish and don't do anything else"

"Yes, Master"

"Did it just call me, master?"

*[Yupp… Now it is creeping me out too]*

Saransh now wanted to see the amount of plasma consumed by the skill.

'Discerning Eyes'

'No… Way'

He could see the plasma entering the copy through the 'Replenish' Skill but the amount of plasma he was consuming because of 'Illusion Master' was far greater.

"Replenish cannot sustain the Illusion Master skill… Ah… this is so stupid"

Saransh thought for a second and then.

"Then that means, I also need to use Replenish. Let's see who wins… Replenish vs Illusion Master"

After a couple of hours,

*[Skill 'Replenish' has levelled up!]*

"And… It's the victory for Replenish"

"Show all my skills"

<Skills>

(Passive skills)

Vital Point Insight (Lv6), Regeneration (Lv3), Faint Resistance (Lv99), Smell Resistance (Lv99), Pain Resistance (Lv?)

(Creator's skills)

Creator's Skill Mastery (Lv1), Creator's Space (Lv2), Creator's Gateway (Lv4), Replenish (Lv5), Discerning Eyes (Lv1), Dismantle Time (Lv99)

"Yay… Replenish levelled up two times. Now maybe I will get to…"

"No way…"

Saransh noticed something weird.

"How is Faint resistance skill already at Max Level?"

*[Try to figure it out yourself]*

"Well…. I was in comma for two years so… Ah… that could explain my Faint Resistance being at Max Level, somehow it is hilariously sad"

Saransh was frustrated.

"But, what about pain resistance? Why is there a question mark instead of level count?"

*[I'm not sure about it either, I wonder why it isn't showing any level count]*

Saransh decided to stop thinking too much about it, since Mira also wasn't clear about it.

'Never mind, I can now use my replenish skill to sustain my plasma for all other skills, that's all that matters'

If it wasn't for the Replenish Skill, Saransh would have exhausted his plasma long before the 120 hour mark. But now can use his copy to Replenish the plasma which he had lost by all other skills combined.

"It would have been so much better if I can use Replenish simultaneously with all other skills, then I wouldn't be in such a Dilemma to begin with"

*[Well, I think you are too stupid to comprehend the complex process]*

"Oh… Shut up!"

'Now there is one more thing left'

There was just one more skill he wanted to try out.

'Creator's Space'

He pulled out his long sword and put it back using the skill in between.

"Well, there is too much time wasted between dumping of the corpse and when it is pulled out after dismantling it. So I can use that time for levelling up my Creator's Space skill".

*[…]*

*[You are no longer human… I'm honestly worried about your future]*

"Oh… Come one, I'm not doing that much"

Meanwhile inside the top secret lab of the DRDO office,

"Ma'am, plasma is cut off and prototype is now offline"

Ajay said with a sad expression.

It has been 4 days since the trial started but there were no positive results. The prototype or the teleportation device manages to use up the plasma but it just shuts down after holding up for a period of 2 seconds. The team had perfectly reverse engineered the broken gate which laid next to it but somehow it doesn't operate as intended.

'We have tried everything up until now but even with doubling the strength of the source, it just shuts down'

Kaveri thought.

"But with doubling the source we are able hold it up for 2 second"

Ajay added to ease up.

"Yeah, that's right but it doesn't add up. Maybe we are not handling the flow of plasma correctly"

Kaveri had an idea finally.

For the device to operate, plasma is transferred at a constant rate and the spread along the device to work. She was thinking of changing the complete layout of this structure and change how plasma is spread.

"But wouldn't that mean…"

"Yes, we need to revamp the whole layout because the current layout is too much inefficient"

Changing the whole layout was too risky for the final phase but they didn't have any choice.

"Why don't guys take a break for today?"

It was none other than the director who said those words.

"Director, Good Evening"

Kaveri greeted the Director. She was so much indulged in work that she didn't notice the director coming in again.

"Good Evening… Today is the agreed date right? Why don't you check on the super dismantler on whether he will be able keep his end of the bargain?"

"Oh… It was already that time huh?"

Kaveri had totally forgotten about the deal.

"Then, let me call the Dismantler Union to check up on him…"

Kaveri picked up a landline phone and made the call.

"Beep… Beep… Beep"

"Beep… Beep… Beep"

"Hello… this is the Dismantler Union"

"Hi, I'm Kaveri from DRDO, we had an agreement with one of your dismantlers on…"

"What is with all this noise?"

Kaveri has hearing a lot of noise from the other side of the call.

"Ah… if it is regarding the deal with Saransh, then you might have to call it off…"

"Why… What happened?"

Kaveri was surprised.

"We are out of manster corpses at the vault and Saransh is making a huge fuss about it here."

"Oh… Is it? Then how much did he dismantle anyways?"

"It is around Forty Nine Thousand Nine hundred and Ninety"

"Huh? So he is short of ten mansters?"

"Yes, that seems to be the case"

An hour earlier, inside one of the rooms in the Dismantler Union building.

"So, there are just eleven life stones left for both my deal and the quest… haha"

Saransh was super excited about clearing the quest.

"Dismantle Time"

A life stone appeared in his right hand.

"And now, ten more to go"

Saransh pressed on one of the switches which dumps the manster corpse.

*Nothing Happened*

He was staring at the pipe in the ceiling but it was not dropping anything.

"Is it broken?"

Saransh was confused.

Suddenly, a thought striked his head.

'Is this all the manster corpses? Is the storage empty?'

But that was the only feasible explanation he can think of right now.

"Or maybe the Union is conspiring against me or something?"

*[You are thinking out loud, you know]*

"Then, how would you explain all of this?"

"Or is this all because of my extreme bad luck?"

*[Yes, that is another possible explanation or maybe the actual reason]*

"Oh… Shut up!"

Saransh was boiling up.

'Let's check the quest tab then'

<Advancement quest for 'Dismantle time'>

Requirement: Dismantle 50,000 manster corpses in 9 days.

Remaining Time: 4 days. Current count: 49,990

<Advancement quest for 'Smell Resistance'>

Requirement: Endure the smell of corpses for 120 hours continuously

Remaining Time: Unlimited. Current hours: 119

Advances to the skill 'Resistance' if certain conditions are met.

"So I just need to endure 1 more hour and then I would just vent out my anger"

After an hour,

*[Advancement Quest completed for 'Smell Resistance'. Conditions of evolution are met. Combining 3 Resistance based skills into a single skill]*

*[Skill 'Resistance' is created]*

"What…? Did it really just combine all those skills?"

*[Yes, 'Resistance' skill works not just against smell, pain and losing consciousness but also against multiple physical and mental complications]*

"Wow… that is just so cool"

During the past 5 days, Saransh not only gained an Advance skill but also was able to level up multiple other skills. But still in the end he was heartbroken because he couldn't get to see his favorite skill evolve.

'Maybe I should take a bath before I head out'

Saransh thought to himself.

*[Yes, you should definitely do that]*

"What… did you just read my mind?"

*[You are just imagining things]*

"No way"

Saransh stopped arguing with Mira and headed for taking a bath. The allotted room had a bathroom and everything that Saransh needed.

After taking the bath, he went straight to the reception but this time he didn't use the Gateway skill since the elevator was already in use.

"What happened to all the manster corpses?"

Saransh had erupted.

"About that Sir… there were requests from prominent clans, so we had to…."

"What nonsense is that? You could have left out at least ten manster corpses and that's all I needed"

Saransh was going crazy and by this time a call arrived at the reception from Kaveri.

*TRRR TRRR*

*TRRR TRRR*

And the receptionist picked it up.

"Hello… this is the Dismantler Union"

Saransh was very mad about picking up the call by ignoring him. But receptionist tried to explain everything to Kaveri about how he was short of just 10 manster corpses. After hearing everything, Kaveri thought it was because of her that Saransh was being this infuriated to keep his end of the bargain.

"Please give the phone to Saransh"

"Sure, Miss Kaveri"

'Kaveri?'

Saransh took the phone from the receptionist obediently.

"I understand the situation. We can close the deal successfully since it was not your fault. Please come to the DRDO office for the compensation."

After hearing her spoke, Saran thought for a second.

'Ohho… She thinks that I'm worried about the deal. Even though it was one of my concerns, I was not thinking about it. Let's calm down for now brain. It is enough drama for today'

Saransh agreed to the meetup and no longer made any fuss about it. Beside there were still 4 days left for completing the quest.

"Please transfer all the life stones at once"

"Sure sir"

Receptionist gave a prompt response after seeing Saransh relaxed.

Saransh was planning to head to the DRDO office next. He asked the receptionist for the directions and also restocked his food pills. For the members of the Dismantler Union all the services came at a yearly fee.

'Time to level up like crazy.'

Saransh was thinking about using all the life stones from the compensation for levelling up.

*[Don't overdo it though…]*

"Did you just read my mind?"

*[It is just your imagination]*