Chapter 120: House of Night
A handsome young man with short golden hair was standing near a large skyscraper, with a star symbol on the peak of the tower.
This was one of the few facilities of the House of Night in the waking world.
Many passersby saw the young man and blushed at the sight. It was only natural, considering he looked straight out of a fairy tale.
'Here we go...'
Hugo had made a dangerous plan, using his [Spirit Body] to craft an alternative persona in order to join the House of Night.
In truth, he had wanted to join Valor or Song instead using the Spirit Body, as the House of Night was already allied with the government.
But he didn't join Valor and Song specifically because he had learned about the identities of the Sovereigns. They were three, all had belonged to Broken Sword's cohort.
He had gotten that info out of Sunny and through his own research.
Ki Song, Anvil and the Dreamspawn... The three Supreme humans of the War Realm. They were dreadful beings, and they undoubtedly could detect Hugo's Spirit Body and destroy it.
Naturally, Hugo had assumed each Sovereign ruled a great clan, but that was not the case as Asterion, the last and most mysterious of the Sovereigns, did not rule the House of Night.
With that knowledge, Hugo had decided to join the House of Night, hoping to further his aquatic combat abilities, grow his Spirit Body and most importantly... Try to gain knowledge about the Storm lineage and possibly even get his hands on it.
Lugan, the name of his new persona. And he was interested in the divine lineages now. His body was supremely adaptable after all, and thanks to the Omnitrix, he was certain that he could handle the powers of the lineages.
He was planning to ask Nephis for some of her blood later, which would only leave the War, Storm, Heart and Beast lineages.
'Alright, remember, I'm Lugan now. Just act naturally.'
He had gone through a lot of trouble to make this plan work.as Hugo had to craft new documents using his new government statue, make his Spirit Body get a haircut to make it look different from Gunlaug, and he even had to buy new clothes.
Delivering an application to join the House of Night was perhaps the easiest part, as he only had to send a request online and wait for them to respond.
Tricking the house of night was not something he liked to do, but he was planning on helping them a lot so it was a fair trade in his opinion.
Lugan entered the building, noticing how few people there were in here.
'The House of Night is remarkably weaker than the two other great clans.'
Reaching the main register, he found a woman there that had serpentine features and a bunch of snakes for hair.
'Must be a Flaw.'
In the Awakened society, seeing people with strange conditions was a regular occurrence, as Aspects and Flaws—sometimes even Attributes—could forever change the appearance of an Awakened.
Mundane people were usually freaked out by this, but Awakened had no problem at all whatsoever.
Naturally, Lugan—or Hugo—had transformed into creatures far more bizarre, so this hadn't surprised him at all.
"Hello, I'm here for the House of Night interview. I'm ascended Lugan."
The serpentine lady nodded.
"Master Naeve has been expecting you. Take the elevator to the underground area and you'll find him there."
"Alright, thank you."
Lugan did as told, quickly taking the elevator to the underground area.
When the doors opened once again, what he found had surprised him greatly.
It was a large area, with dozens of pools spread through the great mass, each pool looking deeper than the next.
There, hundreds of people were present. Lugan could see that there were Awakened who teaching Sleepers how to swim, and then there were a few Masters around, teaching the Awakeneds.
It was a marvelous sight, with many legacies and recruits around.
'The House of Night is made up of numerous Awakened clans, instead of being one massive clan like Song and Valor...'
The history of the House of Night was indeed rich, having been built by bunch of legacy clans as a political reaction to the rise of Clan Valor.
Clan Song appeared around the same time but it only got powerful during the time of the Second Generation, likely thanks to the prestige of Ki Song.
Finding one of the Ascended, a tall man wearing a midnight blue coat. Beneath it was a black bodysuit that was made out of a strange material and looked much more like a wetsuit than a garment. His presence was subdued, deep, mysterious, and even tantalizing. He was around thirty years old, handsome, and with eyes of an unusual, beautiful indigo color. Strangely enough, his black hair also seemed to possess slight accents of dark blue. This close, the feeling of mystifying depth radiating from the stranger was more pronounced, as if most of him was hidden from sight.
"Excuse me, sir." Lugan said, getting the attention of the Master. "I'm looking for Master Naeve. Can you tell me where I can find him ?"
The beautiful Master smiled. "My friend, you are looking at him. I'm Master Naeve, how can I help you?"
"I'm Master Lugan. I sent my application request yesterday and was told to come today to meet you for an interview."
Master Naeve looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.
"Apologies for the delay. most of our applicants nowadays are scams so we hadn't expected an independent Master to actually be a thing."
There were plenty of independent Awakened, however, very few of them made it to the rank of Master, and those that did ended up doing so through the great clans or the government. So it was no surprise that he would be doubtful.
"No problem at all. So, shall we start with the interview?"
"Of course. You just need to take off your clothes."
"..."
"Come again?" Lugan said, his smile becoming a little strained.
Naeve's indigo eyes widened. "Wait wait! I didn't mean it like that! I meant that we have to test your swimming abilities, in the pool!"
"Haha, you should've started with that."
Lugan took off his boots and his clothes—he had worn swimming shorts underneath just for this moment—revealing his chest. The seed that had come from the Soul Devourer Tree Echo was no longer there; instead, the seed was now where his heart was, making it less noticeable.
Going to a pool, Naeve took off his coat.
"How about we have a friendly competition? You mentioned you have aquatic abilities, correct?"
Lugan nodded, warming up. "I can breathe underwater and possess an affinity to it, yes, alongside some mind related abilities."
"The rules are simple. There are three flags on the bottom of this pool. You must grab one, go back to the surface, and then come back two more times to grab the other two. While you do that, I'll go to the same place as you and have a race with you to determine how fast you are underwater. Then your final score will be calculated You got that?"
"Loud and clear." Lugan said.
"Wonderful, then on the count of three," Master Naeve said, as he prepared himself to jump into the water.
"1"
"2..."
"3!"
The two Masters jumped into the large pool, diving deep into its water.
Lugan felt the cold water brush against his skin, making him shiver slightly, as he was reminded of the Dark Sea.
Thankfully, this water was not from that dreadful thing... Whatever it was.
Lugan—Hugo—was not that experienced underwater, but thankfully, he did remember the movements of his aquatic aliens, which were Ripjaws, Water Hazard and... Walkatrout...
The secret to underwater navigation was simple, you only needed to make sure your body was balanced.
Masters have a great control over their bodies thanks to their soul essence mastery, and their natural physical prowess so adapting to basic swimming was no problem at all.
That said, Lugan was currently getting absolutely humiliated by Master Naeve, as the Ascended swam like a bullet through the water, gracefully and beautifully.
'It's not just his Aspect...'
Something about the Master had not felt right, not in a bad way but in the sense that his soul was not like that of other Masters.
Lugan, as the Spirit Body, was not a Titan and so he did not possess the main body's Titan sense or the shadow sense, but thanks to the nature he had inherited from the [Spirit Seed], Lugan possessed a mystical sense of sorts, allowing him to sense souls and how powerful they were.
Naeve's soul was shining with Ascended soul essence, but it was also engulfed in an indigo light that empowered the depths of his soul.
'That confirms it... The lineage of Storm Goddess is within him...'
Him and possibly others of the House of Night.
Lugan reached the bottom of the pool, grabbing one of the flags and going up. By then, Naeve had already reached the surface of the pool and was ready to dive down once again.
Hugo proceeded to dive down after he placed the flag on the surface, going down and up two more times to get each flag.
He and Naeve left the pool, not exhausted at all thanks to their Ascended bodies.
"So, what do you think?" Lugan said.
"I think that you, my friend, will be an excellent addition to our clan. Come, let's wait for my uncle's return so that he can transport you to the Dream Realm... That is, if you're interested in tethering yourself to the Night Garden."
"That would be my pleasure," Lugan responded.
He had found out that his Spirit Body could indeed leave a separate tether, different from the main body, in another region of the Dream Realm.
Funnily enough, he could pull on both at any time, which could be useful if he ever got caught by the House of Night.
The two Masters proceeded to chat about their pasts, with Lugan making a fake backstory for himself as one of the survivors of the Forgotten Shore.
Master Naeve was not a fool, naturally. So he would likely investigate Lugan thoroughly, but Lugan was sure that he would be fine, after all the House of Night was in decline, and they needed every Master they could get their hands on.
More than that, they would never track Lugan back to the famous Master Hugo.
—————
In another realm, a majestic green dragon was flying above a floating island with an ivory tower on it.
The tower had not seen a dragon for thousands of years, not since the death of Sevirax, but now a new dragon was soaring through its skies. Of course this dragon was a bit different from the heir of the Sun.
Strangely, there were three individuals on top, screaming in both happiness and childish joy.
The dragon sighed.
"Woohoo! Go faster!" Effie said, slamming his neck and making him twitch a little.
"You barbaric woman! This is no way to treat a mighty dragon!" Hugo shouted. His new form was beautiful and majestic, and it had given him quite the attitude thanks to his flaw.
"What are you talking about, you dingus?! Are we not friends? Besides, you should be glad to have a beautiful woman like me riding!" The huntress said with a smile.
Hugo only groaned, as he tolerated his inappropriate jokes.
He had understood Effie's excitement for this, but he had totally not expected the other two to be on it too.
"And what about you two?!" Hugo said to Sunny and Kai. "For god's sake, Kai! You can literally fly!"
"Well yes, but I can never ride a dragon, which is totally different." the beautiful archer said with a hesitant smile.
"...Hey, don't blame me for this. That savage brute forced me to ride with them," Sunny said in an unpleasant voice, but even a fool could tell he was enjoying this.
Cassie and Nephis were unfortunately not here, as they were both busy dealing with politics involving valor...
'The audacity!'
After a few turns, Hugo landed on the flying island and snorted, causing many of the Fire Keepers to back away in fascination and awe.
He lowered his neck, making them dismount.
"That was fun!" The boisterous huntress said. "Who would've thought that riding a dragon would be this exciting!"
Hugo rolled his eyes, clicking on his Omnitrix and detransforming.
Truly, this was not what he had expected when he said he wanted to test out his new imprint.
Imprint: [Dragon]
Imprint Rank: Ascended
Imprint Class: Devil (Titan)
Imprint Description: [Dragons were the mightiest race in all the realms, with multiple iterations of them having been created by different gods. There were the great serpents of Storm Goddess, the mighty crimson dragons of War God, the terrifying Heart Dragons and the bestial Blood Dragons.]
Imprint Attributes: [Elemental], [Child of the Sky], [Luminous Scales]
Imprint Abilities: [Child of Elements], [Elemental Breath], [Dragon Spawns], [Draconic Presence], [Draconic Domain]
[Elemental] Attribute Description: [This imprint possesses a moderate resistance to natural elements.]
[Child of the Sky] Attribute Description: [This imprint is empowered while in the sky.]
[Luminous Scales] Attribute Description: [This imprint's scales are as hard as steel.]
[Child of the Elements] Ability Description: [This imprint can assimilate an element to change its nature.]
Element #1: Divine Flame
Element #2: Shadow
Element #3: ——
[Elemental Breath] Ability Description: [This imprint can unleash a breath of whatever element it is controlling using]
[Dragon Spawns] Ability Description: [This imprint can create draconic minions.]
[Draconic Presence] Ability Description: [This imprint can utilize its presence to bring fear into the hearts of others.]
[Draconic Domain] Ability Description: [This imprint hides a world within its wings.]
This particular imprint was one of the most legendary races in all of existence according to the Omnitrix, due to its mightiness and powers.
Its Attributes gave it resistance to the elements, affinity to flight and harder scales.
Its Abilities were far more complex, though. Its first ability was the most complicated one, as it basically granted the dragon transformation different forms and natures it could use. As an Ascended, Hugo only possessed three slots.
He had asked Nephis to use her divine flames, and through them he unlocked a form of a white dragon bathed in light. This form was capable of using Nephis's flames, although it could only use the burning element of it and not the restoration, unfortunately.
The second element he had assimilated was from Sunny, which gave him the ability to control shadows but not to manifest them... It was a form that was not truly great at anything, and Hugo planned to replace it in the near future.
The third slot had been left empty as he did not know what to assimilate. The dragon form of course possessed a 'Base' form that was unaffected by each nature.
Its second ability allowed it to use the element it had assimilated as a draconic breath, but that was not all, as it also allowed it to control that element, but only when it was produced from Hugo.
Its Tyrant ability was relatively simple, similar to the rest of his aliens, spawning mini dragons.
The Influence ability was interesting, as Hugo had noticed it was similar to will.
Will was something Supreme beings, and higher, possessed according to Azarax, however beings of lower rank could somehow control their will.
This ability was not will, but it was extremely similar to it as it was an influence of a sort, only that influence was only focused on creatures instead of the world.
Its last ability... Was a pocket dimension hidden within the wings of the dragon. It was a manifestation of his soul sea, but transformed. The small realm only existed when Hugo was in his dragon form and it could store both the living and objects, making it a great utility ability.
"My thirty-ninth alien. Only one more until forty." He whistled. It was quite a number.
"Seriously, seeing you transform like this every now and then makes me wonder what our Transcendent Transformations would be if we become Saints in the future." Effie said, stretching her body.
"I've also wondered about that, funnily enough" Sunny said. "Transcendent Transformations are strange, so it really could really be anything."
"Honestly, I'm not even sure if I would get a Transformation." Hugo said, looking at his Omnitrix. " I could already transform into anything if I scan it, so why would I need a Transformation?"
Kai looked at him for a moment, then answered:
"Maybe you'll get an ability that allows you to transform others? From what I heard, Transformation abilities aren't necessarily about transforming you, rather, they're about Transformations in general, which can be a lot of things."
"That's actually not a bad way to think about it," Hugo said, looking at the beautiful archer. "If I had to say what your Transformations will be... Then, I'd say Kai becomes a Dragon, Effie becomes a giant, and Sunny... I have no idea. He can already become a shadow, so I'm not sure. For Neph, I'd say she'd gain a fire transformation, and as for Cassie... I also have no idea."
Effie grinned.
"A giant doesn't sound bad at all! With it, I'd have the biggest ass and bo—"
Hugo grimaced. "Seriously, what is wrong with you."
"Hehe."
After some more inappropriate jokes, the four of them went on their separate ways, with Hugo specifically going to his room in the Ivory Tower.
The crystal forge and tools were still there, making this place look less like a room and more like a blacksmith shop.
In there, he summoned his newest Transcendent Memory.
Memories were either armor, weapon, Utility or charm, with charms and utility Memories being the rarest types. The Nightmare Spell seemed to award weapon and armor types memories the most to other Awakened, but to Hugo, he had been constantly getting utility Memories for the longest time—and it was no different this time round.
Memory: [Dragon Table]
Memory Rank: Transcendent
Memory Tier: III
Memory Type: Utility
Memory Description: [The majestic dragon of war, Alduin, was one of War Goddess's first dragons, created to aid her future avatar, the Dragon. In time, the avatar of War Goddess's path had diverged from that of Alduin, and the harrowing Daemon of the Underworld had gotten a hold of the dragon, changing the mighty noble beast forever.]
Memory Enchantments: [Darkness Affinity], [Sorcerer Enchantment], [Heart of the Dragon]
[Darkness Affinity] Enchantment Description: [You can imbue items with an affinity to True Darkness.]
[Sorcerer Enchantment] Enchantment Description: [All types of sorcery made on this table are augmented.]
[Heart of the Dragon] Enchantment Description: [This Memory can augment items with the tenacity of dragons.]
The Transcendent Memory Hugo had received from the Corrupted Tyrant was definitely a strange one.
It was surprisingly small, a round black table roughly the size of a small human. Sunny's size, specifically. Crimson runes traced its surface, roughly translating to "Dragon," "Enchanter," and "Change." And lastly, a black draconic head adorned one edge, its vacant eyes seeming to watch the room.
'Creepy...'
Its description detailed the life of the noble creature that had once been Alduin, who was created by War Goddess to assist her avatar. For some reason, the two of them diverged and the Daemon of the Underworld had gotten to the dragon, likely experimenting on noble beast.
Hugo shivered every time he read that description, as he felt sympathy towards the dragon... He knew what it was like to be experimented on without your will all too well.
Regardless, the enchantments were not bad at all, even if the Memory tier was lower than the original class of the Tyrant.
[Darkness Affinity] was a nice enchantment that could be placed on items to grant them affinity to True darkness which gave Hugo an interesting idea.
Should he try creating stone saints artifacts and relics?
Hugo was an amalgamation of all races in existence, so sticking to human craftsmanship was a waste of his talents.
He not know much about the stone saints, but he knew that Sunny himself had an armor related to them, which was also [Soulbound].
Through this, Hugo could definitely craft some interesting stuff, especially using his [Stone Saint] form as a reference and the omnitrix vast ocean of knowledge.
The other two enchantments were equally good for craftsmanship, as the [Sorcerer Enchantment] augmented the sorcery he would be using. Which meant the runes he inscribed would naturally become more potent.
The same likely went for weaving, so he should tell Sunny to use his Memory later.
As for the last enchantment, [Heart of the Dragon], it served as a nice boost to equipment. It wasn't capable of elevating Memories to a new rank, but it was definitely capable of augmenting their innate qualities.
Overall, it was definitely one of his best Memories so far.
'Focusing on crafting isn't so ba—'
Just as he was thinking that, Hugo suddenly got a headache, nearly falling to the ground.
'Ah, right.'
He was currently controlling two bodies using a single mind, which was extremely draining for his brain. Both his original body and his Spirit Body shared the same mind—there was no second personality or anything, they were one and the same. Managing both wasn't harmful to either body, but it definitely strained his mind.
'Maybe I should take a break.'
A small vacation didn't sound so bad right now.