Merchant Of Yliaster

Artifact Created: The Dark Mask Of Drakhabgar

"Oh," Maxwell reacted intelligently, looking at the notification. The fact that there were no subsequent ones was concerning.

His concern was proven to be valid when the mask suddenly started to vibrate in his grip. He watched as it got darker and darker. Soon, it reached a degree that darkness started pouring out from the mask like liquid, and Maxwell let the mask go. He had a bad feeling about this.

The mask, though, didn't let silly things like gravity bother it; it continued to float without Maxwell holding it, and the smiling features of the mask started to look like it was moving.

A wave of darkness mana expanded from the mask in droves, and Maxwell could see that there was something different mixed in. Is this the darkness energy? The energy was closely tied to the mana, and together, they looked like they were real darkness.

The side alley Maxwell was in started to get darker, like it was nighttime, even though it was still afternoon. The area around the mask got covered by the dripping darkness, as Maxwell and the mask entered a staring contest. Felix was on the ground, strangely unbothered by the phenomenon. Blueberry, though, was nowhere to be seen. The bird was probably keeping her distance from the event.

As Maxwell stared at the abyssal eyes of the mask, he felt a mental intrusion into his mind. Since coming to this world, he had never seen such a strong mental energy. On second look, he could see that even the mental energy itself was tinted with darkness.

He watched in alarm as whatever mental defences he had started to be consumed by the darkness. Every Zephyrian knew how to build rudimentary mental defences, and Maxwell really prided himself on his ability. To see them crumble without a shred of resistance was disheartening.

He focused and directed more mental energy to stop the dark probe. He could always attack the mask more physically, but he somehow felt that that wouldn't be very different compared to this. The darkness around the mask felt beyond tier 2. How do I manage to get myself into things like this? He asked himself as he frantically tried to stop the energy.

Despite his tries, though, the dark wave continued without interruption, actually getting stronger as it consumed whatever energy he threw at it. Little drops of sweat appeared on his face, as he couldn't think of a way to stop the mental wave. If what happened to the energy was any indication, the things that would happen if the wave reached his mind wouldn't be pretty.

Fuck, dying like this would be embarassing. He thought, not really feeling the humor. He stopped giving the darkness wave more energy for it to consume, as that seemed to be a dumb move. He tried to create a barrier from mind mana, but the energy was already inside his brain, so it was hardly possible. He stopped, as the only thing that would accomplish would be giving him a brain injury. He could feel the protections around his mind disappearing in real time, but he couldn't really think of a way to get out of this situation.

Soon, though, something unexpected happened. As soon as the energy got past his mental shields, them being completely demolished, it came to a sudden halt as if it was surprised. With a moment of inspiration, Maxwell entered the space where the Compendium was.

He opened his eyes inside the green room and could clearly see that something was wrong. The room was vibrant green as always, but he could see globs of darkness just behind the walls. A shade of darkness covered the room, giving it a darker shade.

This was the first time since coming to this world that he felt completely lost. There seemed to be nothing he could do to fix this. The energy slowly closed in on the small space he was in, and he could see the room get darker, as if his soul was getting consumed by the darkness itself.

But the energy seemed hesitant to touch the green walls. This gave Maxwell some hope, as there was something still holding on in his mind against the darkness.

As a last resort, he decided to try something. The energy seemed to be reluctant to touch the walls, so maybe he could flip the table. He tried to connect to the room's walls, and surprisingly, the connection was formed as if he was supposed to do this all along. It felt like the whole purpose of this place was this.

The next step was simple. With his mind, he gave a push against the wall, trying to make it expand. If the energy was not getting any closer, he would just move the wall towards it. He didn't have many options left.

He felt a brief strain in his mind, and after that moment, there was an euphoric feeling. It was to a degree that Maxwell lost his awareness for a second. It was like he was having a migraine since he was born, and was suddenly cured of it.

The walls around him started to move, as the room he was in, which was just a few meters in diameter, started to expand. First, it expanded by just a meter, and in the next second, it moved 2 meters. After the initial slow expansion, it suddenly shot out, expanding like it was restraining itself for a long time.

It continued to expand, and Maxwell almost forgot that there was darkness energy around the room for a moment. The darkness energy seemed to be unable to consume the walls, and whenever it contacted them, it was met with an ironic fate, as it got absorbed by the walls.

Maxwell suddenly opened his eyes in the real world, his senses pulling him back to it. Here, he could see in surprise that his body was radiating a green light, actually dissolving the darkness around him. The energy was trying to fight back, but it was apparent that the tables had turned.

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Maxwell didn't relax, though, as the energy around him was definitely thinner than the energy around the mask. The said artifact was still looking at him like it did before, and to his alarm, Maxwell could almost see a figure made from darkness wearing the mask. I'm not touching anything related to gods after this. He decided.

Drakhabgar was a god from mythology in Zephyr. When he was using the god's design, Maxwell didn't think that it would have an effect, not even for a second. After all, mythology was just that, it was composed of myths. It seemed like the system disagreed with him quite intensely.

He continued to push, and he could feel that, similar to the boundary inside the space inside his soul, the area of green light was expanding here too. In the real world, though, it felt like it was straining to move even a centimeter, as Maxwell had to concentrate to keep the shape of the area of green light around him. He could hear notifications raining into his mind like there was no tomorrow, but he silenced them for now.

When the area around him reached around a meter, Maxwell felt that the metaphysical darkness around him was too much for him to expand it any further. Seeing this, he made a bold move.

Not letting the area disperse, he took a step forward towards the mask. The space between him and the mask was already small, being just around 3 meters, so this immediately put them a meter apart.

He grunted as the darkness energy bombarded whatever energy he was using now. The area of green light shrank a bit, but Maxwell stubbornly pushed, making it reach a meter once again. He could feel drops of blood falling down from his nose due to exertion, but he was too close to give up now. Just one more step, he thought. Even his thoughts were starting to get hazy.

With some strain, he took a step forward. Now, the mask was directly inside the one-meter range around him, but the area shrank once more, making it stop just before the mask. At this distance, Maxwell could clearly see that there was a figure made out of darkness wearing the mask, as the energy around the figure dispersed, revealing its form.

The mask, despite still having the same design, somehow looked angry. It was apparent that whatever this thing was, it didn't expect to meet resistance.

Maxwell watched in exhaustion as the darkness around the mask coalesced to make one last push against him. He sighed before focusing on himself. Nothing can be easy, huh?

The green energy, which shone with the light of Etherium Soul, clashed with the supernatural darkness, as Maxwell willed it to expand for the last time. There was a silent crash as two energies collided, and fortunately, the darkness was pushed back, dissolving in real time.

Maxwell watched as his energy absorbed the darkness, Etherium Soul not letting it disperse. The mask, giving him a glance for the last time, silently fell to the ground, not making a noise despite clearly impacting the stone.

Maxwell, too, let himself fall to the ground, finally relaxing his control of the energy around him. He watched it flow back into himself, returning to his soul. He was feeling incredibly drowsy, but this was hardly a place to lose consciousness.

Around him, the whole area felt devoid of energy. Even the stone he was sitting on was brittle, as the former darkness absorbed even the infused mana in the matter around it. This was by far the most illogically powerful thing Maxwell ever fought. He didn't want to think what would happen if the figure managed to form completely.

He closed his eyes and opened them again beside The Compendium. The book seemed completely unbothered by the exchange, but he area inside was completely different. The room grew to be almost five hundred meters in diameter. It was simply huge.

Maxwell was alarmed to see some vestiges of darkness still remain inside the walls, but he relaxed when he saw that they were slowly disappearing. Maybe one day, he would learn what the etherium really was.

The material they received from the Etherans was proving to be more supernatural than even the gods themselves. It made no sense, as the universe back then didn't even have mana. The questions made his tired mind ache, and he left the space, returning to the world.

He glanced at the mask on the ground. It was still as creepy as ever, but it seemed to have calmed down. Similar to the time with Felix's parasite, he could actually feel that his trait considered this mask as unique. It was not with the same intensity, but it still suggested that he created something truly interesting. He observed the mask.

The Dark Mask Of Drakhabgar - Tier 2?

A mask crafted by the Merchant in the shape of a long-lost symbol of an ancient god to hide his identity. The mask was infused with unnatural amounts of darkness mana, causing a connection to form with the forgotten ancient god himself.

The vestige was subdued, but lives on inside, making the mask's tier relative.

The wearer's identity is hidden up to a tier above.

The wearer can control darkness.

The mask is only loyal to The Merchant himself.

Maxwell sighed. Everything about the mask was wrong. There is not a single sentence in the description that he could show people without them losing their minds. In hindsight, he could see that he was reckless, but even now, it was hard to believe that an ancient god from Zephyr was actually real.

Now that the darkness was gone, he could see Blueberry standing in the same spot as she had previously stood. Apparently, the darkness before was so dense that he couldn't see the bird.

"Chirp?" the bird asked, and landed on his shoulder. Checking him frantically. Maxwell smiled.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired." The bird was rightfully worried, as she couldn't see what had happened for some time due to the darkness energy. She apparently tried to come inside, but couldn't pierce the wall of darkness around Maxwell and the mask.

Felix, though, still seemed completely unbothered. The dog actually looked pretty happy. Maxwell, with a burst of suspicion, observed the dog.

Puppy - Level-12

Maxwell was completely speechless. Apparently, the etherium was not the only thing having a feast with the darkness energy. He was not very surprised learning that the animal could absorb mana, but this was just bullshit. Also, where the fuck was the tier advancement? Maxwell could actually see that the dog looked a bit bigger than before, now that he checked him carefully, but it was hardly a tier's difference. Felix just stared at him innocently, not understanding what the big deal was.

Maxwell just gave up trying to understand the dog. Maybe the form of a puppy was the ultimate form a being could take; he simply couldn't understand why it wouldn't change with an advancement.

The fact that he was feeling his consciousness slipping didn't help with the matter. He was pretty sure that he couldn't reach The Nest or Gendor's shop like this. The solution came to his mind as he stared at Blueberry with exhaustion.

"Can you control my body?" he asked the bird.