Chương 87: Meanwhile, in Space!

Against all reason, all logic, and despite not wearing a space suit, WARHOL heard Signet's voice in his ear: "Can you hear me, friend? I am speaking through you via a tiny drone hovering near your ear." Warhol focused his aura and found the drone Signet mentioned; the fact it had been able to sneak up on him completely unaware, startled him — had it been an assassination drone, he would have been cooked like a holy day goose!

"I hear you, Signet," he said drolly.

"What do you want? Can't you see I am busy?" He wasn't technically busy anymore because, after a long fight, he had done it. He had killed a Major Tentacle! His System lit up like holiday fireworks with all the level ups he gained and the energy the artifact claimed. He was going to roll in it when he got back to The Grotto!

"I CAN see that you're busy. My drones have given me your battle in full, with the Horror. I must say, Human, you look mighty different. I think it is time you and I have a talk. Care to teleport to my observation deck?" This wasn't good. Signet was no fool. If they had seen his fight with the Major Tentacle, then that meant he couldn't afford to hide this stuff any longer.

"Very well. I will be there in a moment." True to his word, a twitch of his finger was all it took to open a portal to the Neon's observation deck. He stepped through a greeted Signet, whose unflinching expression gave him away as a man — alien man? — made of stern stuff, for they took not a single step back when his huge, domineering form entered the space station. Warhol spread his wings and shook off the viscera which had taken to coat them during the battle.

Many of Signet's lesser men scrambled away in fear, but not Signet himself, who stood steadfast as ever.

"Thank you for joining us," Signet said.

"Warhol, let me get to the point. What in your hell is this? What have you become?"

"I have become something better than human, Signet, and it is because of my artifact."

"Your artifact?" Signet asked.

"You mean my artifact! You agreed to abide by my terms, Warhol. That artifact does not belong to you!" Warhol suppressed a flare of rage. He put his arms on his hips akimbo and bore his gaze into Signet's eyes, trying his best to deliver an intimidating glare. Signet was unimpressed, of course.

"Yes, your artifact. Would you like it back? Do you want it back despite the fact that using this thing's power, I have the power to save humanity, my whole planet, from destruction?" Signet held his glare.

"Empty the artifact of the power you call 'monstrous energy' and return the artifact. I will not ask you again." He narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Fine. Just one moment, friend." A second later he was back in The Grotto. A place safe from Signet's peering eye machines. Although his rage kindled with Signet's short-sightedness, he would not give in, not now. He had his ace, after all.

Warhol opened his main status screen to begin: The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. [Name: Warhol Chaucer] [Level: 23, 100] [Martial Prowess: 51, 200] [Magical Prowess: 16, 384, 000] [Stamina: 768, 000] [Mastery Dynamics: 5525] [Unallocated Boon Points: 155, 000] He dumped about one-hundred thousand points into Mastery Dynamics; he doubted, after this, that he would ever again need to worry about this particular stat line.

Next, he went to his shrine and prayed. It took the longest time yet for his mind to clear enough to give him access to the Holy Shop, but when he did see the Holy Shop, he purchased every Boon which had to do with keeping his mental health, his mind, and his humanoid thought processes healthy and clear. [Purchases Confirmed! Thank You! -5000 Boon Points Subtracted] Five thousand Boon Points to buy all of the remaining mind-related Boon had been more than he had estimated previously.

Which meant, he had either estimated abysmally, or additional Boons had come into the Holy Shop. Either way, five thousand points was nothing to him. Per the norm, once the purchases were confirmed, he felt their benefit right away. Warhol felt himself become monk-like as the anger, frustration, and non-human ways of thinking vanished from his brain. He could only hope that with these final Boon purchases, he would be able to retain his human thought forms across the remainder of his mutations.

If his mutations were to be no more than four, well, this one, perhaps, then he should be safe. It was time to mutate! He opened the artifact sub-menu and browsed. What would be the best single mutation for him to get right now? His pursuing of the mutations led him to [Hide Hive]: its description did nothing to retain his humanness, but when it was so, who cared: [Description: Swarms of Micro-Creatures will live inside of your thick skin. You can call upon these creatures at will to perform a number of covert and overt actions which expand with proper training and direction.] Remembering to cast [Pain Relief] along with an [Extension] sub-routine, he confirmed the selection and endured the hours long transformative process. When the artifact was done burrowing into his skin at every possible bodily curve, he looked like a walking, draconic honeycomb, with patterns etched into his skin denoting the new homes of tiny, lizard bee-like creatures.

He tested his new mutation by giving them simple mental commands.

'Pick up that dagger,' 'destroy that pane of glass,' 'bring me this flower from outside.' They performed their actions to the best of their abilities and Warhol was more impressed with them than he thought he would straight from the get-go.

"Yes," he mumbled to himself.

"These guys will work splendidly..." Before he returned to Signet, he checked his artifact sub-menu one final time: [Human: 25%]. An instance later, he was back on the Neon observation deck.

"Here is your trinket," he told Signet, his voice deep, as he tossed the alien the artifact, which they fumbled and had to pick up from the ground.

"Until our next meeting, perhaps..." Before he left, he heard the start of a reply from Signet's lips, but Warhol did not stop to listen to it. Signet had back the artifact, beyond that, he cared for nothing on what his 'friend' had wanted of him. Their relation was over; the artifact was returned to Signet; therefore, they had no more need to communicate with each other, except, perhaps — and even that was a big maybe — during the final battle. Another instance later and Warhol was back in The Grotto. He smirked.

Signet no doubt thought they had gotten the better of him, like a fool. As Warhol pulled from his dimensional holding space the other artifact, the first Living Flesh Forge he had discovered upon its crash-landing planet side months ago, he knew that it was he who had come out on top. Using this first flesh forge, he would forge for himself a new identity. Not that of the Omni-Wizard, but of the Omni-Human, the most powerful Human to ever live and which would ever live.

At his last mutation, his stats, again, exploded. Now, with a fresh flesh forge, and the ease on which he would fill it and use it to transform, his destiny was clear as the night was dark — power, glory, domination — which would all come to him once he slaughtered that little Cosmic Horror hurtling through space.