Chapter 17: Characteristics and Talents 2
Nyx looked at Brandon, whose mouth had already started watering, and said, "Oi. Chill. You have a long way to go if you want to become a World Devourer. Right now, even a small iron ingot will give you indigestion."
Brandon looked at Nyx and said, "You created a plan for Max. You also have one for me, right?"
Nyx looked at him and said, "I have. But it's not complete yet. I have already thought of the Animakin for your first and third Anima Tattoos. But I can't decide on the second one. I need some more time."
Brandon had complete trust in Nyx so he knew that he would figure it out. At this point, Max said, "What about your Anima, Nyx?"
Nyx shook his head and said, "Unlike you two, I have a Plant Anima. I need to conduct some tests on it before I can make a plan for it."
Brandon asked, "What type of tests?"
Nyx replied, "Tests to determine the abilities of each part of the Anima. It's difficult to explain it like this. I'll need your help anyway so, you'll see. But let's eat first. Brandon, stay for lunch."
Brandon replied, "Of course, I will."
The trio went downstairs, and sat down at the dining table. Bella and Yvonne were already sitting there, chatting. Amelia was nowhere to be seen. The children greeted them. Bella looked at the boys and asked, "How was training?"
Nyx replied, "We didn't train today. Instead, we organized the abilities of our Anima and our development direction to design the most efficient training schedule for ourselves. We'll begin training tomorrow."
Bella nodded. Yvonne started talking to Max about his day while Brandon looked around and said, "Where's Grandma?"
Bella replied, "She had some work to do. She'll be back later tonight."
The maids soon brought their food. When they were done eating, Max and Brandon were about to get up but Nyx stopped them. He said, "Brandon, you trust me, right?"
Brandon had a bad feeling but still replied, "Yeaah…"
Nyx said, "Then trust me on this and eat until you literally cannot take another bite."
Bella interjected, "Why Dear? Brandon could get sick like that."
Nyx replied, "He won't. But he might if he doesn't eat."
Seeing everybody looking at him, Nyx said, "Brandon's on the verge of achieving Copper Skin and he needs a lot of energy."
Bella looked at Brandon and asked, "Already?"
Nyx said, "Well, if he had just been even fatter before awakening, he might have achieved it right then and there. Right now, he just needs a little boost."
Forty five minutes later, Brandon had a bulging belly. He said, "No more. I can't eat even a single bite."
Nyx nodded with satisfaction and said, "Let's go."
He took them to the garden. Originally, he wanted to take him to the training facility that he had created but his body had already started digesting the food. When they reached the garden, Bella dismissed the staff. Then, Nyx said, "Except your underwear, take everything off. Cover your eyes with your hands and brace yourself cause this will hurt. Do not open your mouth under any circumstance. And when I say, 'Now', activate Rapid Digestion. Am I clear?"
Brandon nodded. He took off his T-shirt and shorts, closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. He then said, "Ready."
Nyx summoned his Anima. The Banyan of Life appeared behind him and took root into the ground. He controlled the vines and spun them around Brandon rapidly with their needle tips facing him. He muttered, "Sorry, bro."
Then he decreased the radius of the circle and the rapidly spinning tips touched Brandon very briefly. But that was enough for fine cuts to appear all over Brandon's exposed skin. Although they were very fine, they stung a lot. Brandon wanted to yell but he didn't.
When the cuts had covered Brandon's skin, the vines stopped spinning. He controlled two vines tips to insert themselves in Brandon's back, just like he had with Yvonne. He yelled, "NOW!"
Brandon immediately activated Rapid Digestion. At the same time, Nyx started infusing life elemental Essence in his body.
Brandon's bulging belly started shrinking almost immediately. His Anima converted all of the food into energy. That, along with the life elemental Essence, started healing the cuts. Brandon got a crazy itch.
Every part of his skin was itching. As the cuts started healing, a copper sheen started appearing on some parts of his skin. Seeing this, Nyx smiled and increased the intensity of the infusion.
The copper sheen grew until it covered the entirety of Brandon's skin except one tiny spot. Nyx went all in and raised the intensity to the limit. Finally, the spot disappeared and the copper sheen glowed brightly before dimming again. Then, copper sheen was absorbed by Brandon's skin. Nyx retracted the vine tips and healed the puncture holes. Brandon took his hands off
his eyes and opened them. He was looking at his body. He could feel that his defenses had grown stronger. He willed it and the copper sheen appeared on his skin once again.
He looked at Nyx and said, "I did it!"
He hugged Nyx and Max. Max said, "Congrats, Brandon."
Brandon said, "Let's go train. I want to test my limits"
Nyx replied, "Sure."
Before leaving the house, they grabbed their Anima reports. Then they went to the training facility that Nyx was talking about. It was in a plot near his house. It was a big plot. The gym only covered about half of the area. In front of the gym, was a lawn.
The rest of the area was filled with trees and other plants. They walked to the lawn and Nyx summoned his Anima. His Anima appeared and took root in the ground. Nyx sat down, with his back resting on the trunk. He closed his eyes and focused on his Anima. He could feel that his Anima was like a real tree. He let his senses roam around. He then went to the roots.
They were passively absorbing all energy from the soil. Instead of remaining passive, he tried to actively absorb the energy. Suddenly, he could feel that his body was filled with energy. He remembered this feeling and moved onto the trunk.
He couldn't feel anything special from the trunk so he moved onto the branches. The branches had the ability to absorb the atmospheric Essence. Wait. He went back to the trunk and analyzed its structure. He realized that the trunk acted as a filter for Essence. He thought, 'So that's why the Essence in my body was so pure.'
He went back to the branches. Along with absorption, they could also convert the absorbed Essence into pure life elemental Essence. He moved to the leaves. That's where the Spirit Nature of his Anima came from.
The leaves had a strong ability to charm other creatures and make them hallucinate. Finally, he moved on to the vines. The vines had a single ability. They acted as channels. Through these channels, he could either infuse Essence, or he could plunder all energy from a creature's body. The needle-like tips of the vines were very hard and durable, most likely to freely pierce into prey.
His senses returned to his body and he opened his eyes. He realized that it was already dark. He dismissed his Anima and went inside the gym. Brandon and Max were doing push ups. He waited for them to finish. After they were done and saw him, they walked to him. Max said, "How about it?"
Nyx replied, "Good. I can create a report for myself. I just need Brandon's help for a few tests. Also bring your hammer."
Brandon was confused as to why Nyx wanted him to bring his forging hammer with him but still replied, "Of course."
They walked to the lawn and Nyx summoned his Anima again. He looked at Brandon and said, "Use the hammer to hit the trunk and hard as you can."
Brandon looked at him and asked, "You sure? You could get hurt."
Nyx replied, "Just do it."
Brandon shrugged his shoulders and said, "Alright."
He picked up his hammer and a copper sheen appeared on his skin. He got into position as if was about to sound a gong. Then, he hit the tree with the hammer using all of his strength. But as soon as the hammer hit the trunk, Brandon was confused.
Why wasn't there any rebound? He looked at Nyx all confused. Seeing his lost face, Max and Nyx couldn't help but laugh. Nyx said, "I'll explain everything later. Now, grab a vine and stretch it with all your strength."
Brandon did as he was told but even after using all of his strength, he wasn't able to rip it apart. He was still trying but Nyx stopped him. Then, Nyx controlled the vines and kept on expanding them using his Essence. At some point, he stopped and hummed. He dismissed his Anima and went inside the gym. He took a sheet and started writing.
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