Journey Of A Legend

"Sorry, say that again?"

"I said attack me like you want to kill me.", said Greg just as calmly as the first time.

However, Joe didn't look so calm and looked at Greg with confusion.

"Did you go crazy?"

"Uh? N-no. I just simply want to find out something. But for that to happen, I need you to attack me with everything you have. Simply put, try to kill me."

"..."

Not understanding what was currently playing inside his friend's head, Joe sighed and asked, "And exactly how do you want me to 'kill' you?"

"Use your weapon and try to pierce my heart. Don't worry I won't die. If I feel I won't make it I will instantly stop you."

"..."

Even after hearing it from Greg, Joe didn't quite understand why he needed to do something so absurd but still sighed.

Raising his hand holding the Jade Sword, Joe's expression turned calm and said, "Don't blame me if something happens with you."

"I won't.", said Greg with a calm smile and readied himself for Joe's attack.

While inhaling a mouthful of deep air, around Joe's body a thunder robe appeared, while around his weapon, lightning swirled like snakes.

"He truly gained bigger strength since last time.", thought Greg as he felt Joe's presence almost reaching the summit of God rank.

Since when he used his strange ability which was able to suck energy from other's body, since then his strength became several times stronger.

"Gaining strength without consuming any energy crystals... Quite powerful.", thought Greg and watched as Joe moved before him.

*BAM!*

With strong momentum, Joe's figure burst forward and appeared before Greg like a ghost out of thin air.

*Swish!*

Watching as the Jade sword was flying toward his chest like an arrow, Greg smiled simply and raised his hand to defend against it.

"Let's see the-, eh?"

However, just before he could have finished his thought, the sword pierced right through his palm, making blood flow down onto the ground instantly.

"!"

Both Greg and Joe seeing this looked stunned and looked at each other in silence.

"..."

"Argh!"

Realizing what happened, Greg pulled his hand away instantly and looked at the wide gap in the middle of his palm.

"Argh... It... Seems it didn't work... Damn it hurts like hell."

While Greg took out a potion from his shadow and started to drink it, until then Joe walked up closer and said calmly, "I am lucky that I didn't go for your heart or neck. You would have just died because of me if I didn't act carefully."

Looking at the wide gap that started to heal up slowly, Greg frowned both with pain and confusion and said, "Thanks. It seems my power is working a bit differently than I have thought."

Just right now, the moment Greg wanted to deflect Joe's attack, he imagined as his hand turned diamond solid, helping him defend against the assault.

However, what he didn't expect was that the time between his power to form from his imagination would take up such a long amount of time.

It did work, so there was no question he would have been able to defend against Joe, but the problem here was with the time.

It seems whatever he thought of would need at least a few seconds to materialize, so this power was extremely useless against enemies with extreme speed. 

"Okay, let's try this out again. But this time use bit of less speed."

"..."

Joe hearing this stayed silent, but knew that until Greg didn't find the answer he was looking for he wouldn't stop so he nodded and said, "Sure."

After reading himself once again, he looked at Greg calmly and said, "Say whenever you are ready."

Knowing that like this he will have time to manifest what he wanted, Greg nodded and started his test.

Instantly, he imagined in his head once again that his hand turned unbreakable and waited.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...

After the 4th second, his arm started to change slowly, and under in no time at all his whole skin on his hand turned stiff and hard.

"I am ready."

Joe hearing this nodded and attacked Greg with the same speed and power as before.

*BAM!*

*Swish!*

*Clang!*

Just like a few moments ago, Joe appeared before Greg, and with a powerful motion, he swung his weapon at his chest.

However, the moment his sword hit Greg's hand, a sound that was similar to meat hitting against metal sounded, making Joe to turn surprised instantly.

Since the moment he obtained the Jade Sword, there was only one thing that was able to defend against his weapon was the Echo Spirit.

Out of that, anyone or any Creature who tried to defend head-on against his weapon always ended up injured or dead.

So seeing that Greg was able to deflect his weapon with his bade arm was something quite surprising. Of course, he didn't use his 100% strength, but still, it was shocking.

Greg however looked a bit disappointed instead of stunned.

Pulling his hand away from the way, he looked at his hand and watched it turning back to its original shape and form.

"Did something happen?", asked Joe, seeing Greg's sudden change of behavior.

Thinking for a while, Greg simply shook his head and replied, "No it's nothing. Instead thanks for helping me."

With this Greg was 100% sure about the results. It was clear as day that except for shaping his body at will, he did not obtain Shapeless's abilities. 

Also, he found out that the period to materialize something that he imagined was associated with what he tried to manifest.

For example, when he imagined the shirt to appear around him, it took only a second, while his arm to become unbreakable needed 4 seconds.

It showed that the more complex he tried to make, the more time he needed.

"Now just the only thing I am curious about, what will happen if I try to shape my whole body?", asked Greg from himself and instantly imagined himself becoming Joe.

Seconds passed by in silence, and Joe watched as Greg did nothing but simply looked at him with a calm gaze.

Feeling that something was not right, he wanted to ask Greg something, when suddenly his eyes widened with shock.

"!"

Before him, Greg's body started to change from bottom to top, and under in no time at all, his whole being turned into the exactly same shape and appearance as him.

"T-this... How?"

Watching the exact same him only a few meters away from him, Joe looked stupified.

However, instead of a reply, what Joe got was Greg's sigh.

"30 seconds huh?"

"30 seconds?"

"Yes.", answered Greg and explained, "The more complicated way I try to use my power, the longer the time I need."

"Eh? But 30 seconds are relatively a small amount of time if we look at that your whole appearance became mine, no?", asked Joe with a frown.

"Well it is, but just imagine if I am in a dire situation where I need to change my form instantly to get the chance to escape. 30 seconds are way too much. I would rather use the cube we got from Russ and Wayne."

Knowing what Greg was thinking about, Joe nodded, and said in agreement, "That is true. However, you can still use this power of yours in way too many of ways. I think it is very powerful."

Greg knew what Joe meant by that but still shook his head.

"If the time I need is more than 1 second, in a real fight it becomes useless."

After he said that, Greg looked at the pond and started to think.

"However, the most important point here is that we found a priceless treasure. A power that can fuse one's Soul Creature with the owner? That is way too ridiculous."

Nodding, Joe looked at the pond and started to say, "Yes. But the question here is if there is a limit or not. I mean, can one fuse with more than one Soul Creature, or only one is the boundary? I am curious."

"Let's find it out.", said Greg and summoned his Black Larva Soul Creature atop his palm, and started to walk toward the pond.

However, just as he took a step forward, Alice's voice sounded in his head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Huh? Why?", asked Greg, halting his steps instantly.

"Your body wouldn't be able to bear it if you try to attempt a fusion with another Soul Creature. You will end up dying or even worse. Your body will become a mutated mess."

"!"

The moment Greg heard this, his whole body stiffened, and looked at the pond before him.

Seeing the abyss black yet crustal clear water, Greg sighed and unsummoned his Soul Creature from his hand.

"No, I don't think it would be a great idea to fuse with more than one Soul Creature. I feel like something bad would happen, so I won't try it. However, you can still go and try once."

As he said that Greg stepped back and glanced at Joe on the side.