However, the effect only lasted for three seconds, before Hannibal's 『Radiant Cowl』 began to flicker, after which it completely dimmed and he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
"I need to get some sleep too," Lucius sighed to himself, before picking Hannibal up and walking down the hallway back toward the altar room.
Although they were yet to build Gravenovarish's magic weapon, it was just a matter of finding the right combination of effects to mount onto a massive sword or warhammer. And now that he had an idea of the internal workings of the runes, it wouldn't be too hard to combine the simpler ones.
~After all, this is just a quality test. Once I show him I can actually create magic weapons, then we can discuss more powerful ones,~ Lucius thought to himself.
Besides, he was not foolish enough to try and give Gravenovarish a perfected product after their first exchange. After all, leaving your customers wanting was a tactic on its own.
As he was walking he noticed a small energy presence coming from right ahead. However, he didn't think much of it, as this place was teeming with smaller creatures.
"Lighted One, I've been waiting for you," a voice called out.
Lucius recognized them as one of the shroom chieftains. Indeed it had been so long that he had completely forgotten how their energy signals felt.
"Ahh, Chieftain," Lucius whispered, forgetting whether or not he had named them.
"Guardian of the third pillar," the chieftain added, before bowing. "It is okay if the Lighted One has not remembered me. After all, back then I had nothing to show," he continued.
From the way he was talking, Lucius could tell that he had some sort of motive he was trying to push.
~I'm really tired right now,~ Lucius thought to himself, as he gestured for the chieftain to follow him.
Sadly even though he was tired he couldn't very well just tell the chieftain to come see him later. He knew well that he had a tendency of getting too caught up in the things he was doing, he would no doubt completely forget about this if he slept.
"Has something happened to Lord Hannibal?" the chieftain asked, to which Lucius just shook his head tiredly.
~This is the second time I've heard this lord title being used in the colony. I wonder if it's because of the new additions,~ Lucius pondered to himself.
He had completely overlooked the fact that adding different species to the commune would bring about social and cultural changes from the individual groups. It was something that he would definitely have to study once everything died down.
"So why were you waiting for me?" Lucius asked after some silence had passed.
The chieftain struggled to find his words for a moment before saying in almost a whisper;
"I wish to join the Research Department."
"Hmm, then ask Asclepius or Hannibal. If they think you're good enough, then you don't need my permission," Lucius replied.
As much as he was the leader of the commune, he had to admit that he had no idea what everyone's current skill level was. So for him to make decisions like this would probably just be to the detriment of the commune.
"Y-yes, I've already spoken to Asclepius. We've been working on something, and she already recommended that I join," the chieftain said, his tone indicating that he was beating around the bush somehow.
"I suppose you want me to see what you've been working on?" Lucius asked, realizing that the chieftain was not going to elaborate further.
At this point, they had made it to the altar room.
"And perhaps... if you believe it to be beneficial to the entire clan, I request a rank up," the chieftain said, as Lucius carried Hannibal towards the stone altar.
There were currently two bear-man standing guard in front of it as if it were housing some prized possession.
"Lighted One," they whispered, before bowing.
"A rank up, huh?" Lucius whispered to himself, trying to recall what exactly the ranks he had created were. Still, he couldn't believe that there were people who remembered despite all that happened.
~I suppose it makes sense for the shrooms since they had an actual hierarchy before all this,~ he thought to himself.
"If you can wait, I need a little rest. We can discuss this after I've woken up," Lucius announced before, moving to place Hannibal on the altar. However, before he could get him on there-
"Lighted One... forgive us, but we request that Lord Hannibal not be put to rest on the altar," one of the bear-man explained, its voice trembling as it spoke.
"Huh?"
"Lord Pagan has deemed the altar as The Lighted One's throne. Of course, if the Lighted One wills it, then he may do as he pleases, however, our heads will be had for allowing the throne to be dirtied," the bear-man explained.
~So like a sacred item?~ Lucius wondered to himself.
Normally he would speak to Pagan about this, however he understood that for these people this was a sort of religion. And desecrating this would not only unnecessarily hurt Pagan's feelings, but also cause doubt in the colony members.
~Well, I did say I was going to go along with all this,~ Lucius sighed to himself, before handing Hannibal to one of the bear-man.
"Then can you take him to a place he can rest comfortably? Make sure there is someone on guard as well," he instructed.
"As you wish, Lighted One," the bear-man replied, before going off.
Lucius then got onto the altar, too tired to care about the fact that he was currently being watched.
*
When Lucius woke up from his nap, he found the chieftain still waiting for him, clearly, he was very serious about this rank-up thing.
So after stretching a little, he allowed the chieftain to lead him to where this 'experiment' he had carried out with Asclepius was stored.
As they walked, he remembered the skill he had unlocked in the fight against Eiknyr and opened the skill tree to check it out.
There was a new skill glowing right on top of 『Solar Relay』, which got him a little excited, seeing as how 『Solar Relay』 was probably the highest potential skill he had in his arsenal.
[Use 100,000 Evo points to unlock new skill?] the system prompted.
