Chapter 66 - Workshop Battle (12)

Merrie's Shinsoo quality was a staff made of white metal. Like the rest of the group, she was able to manifest it with ease.

Merrie held the staff with a frown on her face. Her Shinsoo quality looked bland compared to the rest of the group, and she wasn't happy about that.

"A staff isn't a bad Shinsoo quality," Gustang commented. "It can ȧssist you with your Shinsoo control, and you can defend yourself with it as well."

"It just looks dull compared to theirs," Merrie replied. Everyone else had something better in her eyes.

"I don't think so. I haven't seen a Shinsoo quality with a white metal like yours. I believe it has a special property to it, but I don't know what it is. That's something you will have to find out on your own." Gustang told her. He was the most knowledgeable person in the Tower when it came to Shinsoo.

"I hope it's a useful property," Merrie said dejectedly.

"That would depend on you as much as it would depend on your Shinsoo quality. Worst case scenario, you could try obtaining another one in the future. You will start facing Tests that are given by the Guardians of each Floor from now on. Being granted a Shinsoo quality is something you can receive as a reward." Gustang explained.

There were various rewards you can request when taking a Guardian Test. Most of the 13 Great Warriors had received rewards such as increased Shinsoo resistance, increased physical strength, an additional quality, etc.

"However, the difficulty of the Test would be increased. You would already have to face a challenging Test, considering how powerful Lumen is. Your group is also not weak. When we were climbing the Tower, we were slightly stronger than what you currently are." Gustang said.

He was surprised by how strong they are. Considering they were all Regulars that came from the Tower. The people that are born in the Tower had a limit on how much Shinsoo they can control.

Gustang theorized that maybe that limit could be increased by the boons granted by the Guardians. However, he wasn't sure if that was possible since they never needed to make such a request.

"Really?" Merrie asked in surprise.

"Yes, Lumen is even stronger than most of us when we were on the 30th Floor. However, thousands of years had passed since we climbed up to the top. Right now, the Family heads could kill all of you in the blink of an eye. We've spent so much time training and mastering our Shinsoo qualities at this point." Gustang explained.

"The most important thing for you right now is to master your Shinsoo quality as soon as possible. That would give you a boost to your strength. From there, you would have to rely on the rewards from the Guardians." Gustang told her.

"I see," Merrie replied and looked towards the white staff in her hands. "I will try to master using it as soon as possible."

"You should also know that a Shinsoo quality can be manifested externally and internally. Yours could possibly have a greater effect when manifested internally. We will work on that after your main group has finished practicing manifesting it externally." Gustang told her and looked towards the rest.

Ran had a lightning spear as his quality, but that was something that he already knew about. His sister, Maschenny Zahard, had already checked that for him. Knowing that he has a lightning spear, she had taught him most of her techniques since she also had the same Shinsoo quality.

Novick's quality was a red fist. He was also already aware of his Shinsoo quality, so he didn't need to check that.

Yihwa, the black-haired girl from the Yeon Family, had a pair of flaming wings as her Shinsoo quality. However, she was someone that had trouble controlling her flames, to begin with, so she wasn't able to manifest her quality.

Agnis had an ice spear as his quality, but he was also having trouble manifesting it. Nevertheless, he had more success compared to Yihwa. He was able to manifest a little bit of ice and somewhat control it. His Shinsoo control was also better than hers.

Wangnan had a golden crown as his Shinsoo quality. Gustang was able to recognize it as it was one of the qualities of Zahard, who had at least six Shisnoo qualities that he knew of. The King of the Tower might be hiding a few more, but Gustang wasn't sure about that.

'I wonder how would Zahard react when he sees you, Prince of the Red Light District.' Gustang thought to himself.

Due to one of Zahard's Shinsoo qualities, he was unable to conceive a child the normal way, and the Princesses of Zahard weren't the only ones that had received his blood.

Before they were even able to make the first Princess of Zahard, they had done numerous experiments. One of those was injecting his blood inside a pregnant woman. Most of those experiments failed, but a few had succeeded.

However, all the kids that were born were male, which was something that Gustang wanted. He was hoping a child of his blood would be able to go against Zahard and possibly kill him.

Sadly, Zahard had taken the precaution to this and killed them all. Well, almost all of them. There were two that had survived the purge, and Wangnan was one of those two.

Gustang had spoken to Lumen about Wangnan's identity, and that's one of the reasons why he had accepted him in the team. He had also told Lumen that Wangnan carried a part of the key that was needed to unseal the 135th Floor.

Unfortunately, Wangnan had not inherited Zahard's incredible physical strength, nor most of his special abilities as well.

Gustang shook his head at how weak Wangnan was considering the blood he had inherited and looked towards Anak. The only second generation Princess of Zahard.

In front of her was a reel with a line made of green scales. The line extended and spread around her and looked like a snake floating in the air.

In a moment, Anak applied her ability of a Circle User, and the line started spinning at high speed, creating a tornado of green hell.

Anak then dispersed it and created a shield in the shape of a circle made of green scales.

'This is more like it. Someone who had inherited Zahard's blood should be capable of at least this.' Gustang thought.

Anak dispersed the scale shield and turned towards Lumen, who was also observing her. She looked at him wanting to see his reaction at her display. Seeing him smile at her, made her tail spin wildly in happiness. The two didn't need to talk to know what the other was thinking.

"Well, then. How about we check your Shinsoo qualities as well." Gustang told Androssi and Lumen. He couldn't wait to see what they would be.

Androssi was a Princess of Zahard that had become a Living Ignition Weapon after the Thorn merged with her, and Lumen was an Irregular with powerful abilities.

"Me first!" Androssi exclaimed, and Gustang tossed her the device for checking Shinsoo qualities.

"I bet mine would be better than yours!" Androssi then told Lumen.

"We will see about that." Lumen replied to her.

Androssi then gathered Shinsoo around the device. A pink orb with a pink tail that looked like an arrow with a heart-shaped end formed in front of her.

"Interesting," Gustang commented.

"An orb is one of the best Shinsoo qualities as it's one of the most versatile ones. However, your seems to be a bit different than what it's normally supposed to look." Gustang explained.

"You heard that? An orb is one of the best Shinsoo qualities, and mine is even special!" Androssi stuck her tongue at Lumen.

"I suppose the Thorn had something to do with the way your Shinsoo quality looks," Gustang said.

Androssi's eyes trembled a bit hearing that, but she shook her head, and looked at Lumen with a grin.

"Let's see what you got." Androssi tossed him the device.

Lumen gathered Shinsoo around it, and something he didn't expect to see formed in front of him. It was a fruit that was constantly changing its shape and color.

"What is this?" Gustang asked in surprise. He had never seen a Shinsoo quality that was constantly changing it's shape before.

"It looks boring," Androssi said and then noticed how surprised Lumen was from seeing it. "Do you know what this is?"

"I do, but it shouldn't be possible." Lumen replied. He couldn't believe that his Shinsoo quality was a Devil Fruit, but he didn't know why it was constantly changing.

"So, what it is?" Androssi questioned, and Lumen explained to them what a Devil Fruit is.

"So, you are saying this is a magical fruit that is supposed to give you special powers?" Gustang asked in surprised. He had never heard of such a thing before.

"It should, but I don't know how it will work as a Shinsoo quality." Lumen replied.

"Try manifesting it," Gustang told him.

Lumen tried doing so, but no matter what he did, he wasn't able to create it with his Shinsoo. Every time he tried forming it, he would only end up creating a simple Baang of Shinsoo.

"I... I can't do it." Lumen told them.

"You can't? What kind of Shinsoo quality is this?" Gustang questioned. He knew how talented Lumen is at manipulating Shinsoo, so he never even thought that he wouldn't be able to manifest his Shinsoo quality.

Meanwhile, on the 1st Floor. Loki was observing this scene with interest.

"My, my. This wasn't something even I anticipated. I thought he would have inherited a Shinsoo quality from one of his parents, but this is something else." Loki laughed out and turned towards Phantaminum, who was bound by whips of made of darkness beside him.

"Fuck you!" Phantaminum cursed out. "You will pay for killing Enryu!"

"Ah, don't be like that. Unlike you two, I didn't want to take a chance with only sacrificing Guides. So I put an artificial Axis in the mix to make sure the process went smoothly." Loki replied to him.

Loki had met Enryu outside the Tower, and he had tricked him into revealing that he had become an artificial Axis. He was known as a Trickster God for a reason. Knowing that it's possible to become an artificial Axis, he hatched a plan of his own.

At that moment, two fellow divine beings had successfully conceived a child. Loki had stolen that child and sealed his powers. He then hid him away on Earth, where his parents wouldn't consider searching for him.

"I will kill you, you fuċkɨnġ bastard!" Phantaminum threatened him. Enryu was his only friend and the only divine being that supported him. Knowing that Loki had used him as a sacrifice to become an artificial Axis infuriated him.

"First, you would have to escape from your bindings to do that. And even if you do manage to escape, you don't have the power to kill me. The only reason I'm keeping you alive is so that you can keep me company." Loki replied.

"Second, I've heard this phrase numerous times from beings that are even stronger than you. Yet, here I am alive as always. If you were strong as that guy's father, I might feel threatened, but you are not." Loki said while pointing at Lumen.

"Thankfully, his parents are searching for me outside the Tower while I'm here growing in power thanks to my little champion," Loki stated with an evil grin.

"You piece of shit. You will pay..." Phantaminum cursed at him again, but a whip of darkness emerged and bound his mouth.

"Enough of that. You keep repeating the same thing over and over again." Loki said. He was starting to get bored with Phantaminun's threats. If this continued, he might end up killing him, but he didn't want to stay on the 1st Floor with only Headon. The Rabbit was also a boring fella in his eyes.

"I have to admit, Lumen is as monstrous as his father. His powers were sealed for most of his life, but he managed to grow so fast after I unsealed them." Loki stated. He had never given Lumen any Devil Fruits. All of his powers were divine abilities inherited from his parents.

Loki then tried manifesting Lumen's Shinsoo quality, but even he wasn't able to do it. He tried using his divine energy to form it, but even that didn't work.

"Interesting," Loki muttered and looked towards Lumen, who was also trying to manifest his Shinsoo quality without luck.

"I did well by picking you as my champion. Depending on how your Shinsoo quality works, I might have to change up my future plans." Loki evilly said.

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So, Lumen will receive a Devil Fruit. I will go into more detail about it soon, but for now, what's important is to actually pick the Devil Fruit.

Everyone could leave a comment with one Devil Fruit of their choice, I will then gather them all in a list, and use a random number generator to pick a few of them. Then I compile those in another list and use a random number generator to pick his Devil Fruit.

I would prefer if the Devil Fruit you want is canon in One Piece since it would be easier for me, but if you have an interesting idea and give a few examples and explanations on how it works, I would accept that as well.

******* supporters can pick two Devil Fruits and theirs would be instantly placed in the final list.