Chapter 26: Mucus spray
Atlan went over to Wemby and asked him a simple question.
"Why did that mage's attack suddenly curve towards its target?"
"Oh, that's because his skill probably has a tracking mechanism, so even if his opponent is wildly moving, his attack will still hit them."
"So if it doesn't have a target, then he wouldn't be able to activate his LifeSkill?"
Wemby shook his head. "Not necessarily. He can still shoot out his magical projectiles anytime he wants, even if it's towards nothing but air."
He then raised his hand in the air and demonstrated it to the newbie. "See? I don't have a target in my mind right now."
Just then, his hands glowed a royal blueish color until hemp rope burst out of his palms and shot towards the red sky of the Remedium.
It went straight up, slowed down, and fell back to the white ground.
"I can still activate my LifeSkill without a target. But if I try to target that lamp post…" Wemby raised his right hand, guided by his left, and aimed at the stop light in the intersection of the street.
He promptly activated his LifeSkill again and this time, the rope shot towards the post and wrapped itself into a knot.
With one tug, Wemby shot towards the stop light until he was able to squat just over the top of the pole.
"If I have a target in mind, I can also do that," he shouted back towards Atlan.
Wemby used his powers again and maneuvered through the air back beside Atlan without much problem.
"Any more questions?"
"...Do you know if there's a LifeSkill that can't activate without a target?"
This time, Neumann was the one to answer. "Yes. My tank LifeSkill allows me to imbue protection to the teammates I target.
Without anyone to target, my LifeSkill can't activate."
Neumann raised his hands, which suddenly glowed in a reddish maroon glow. He aimed his hands at Wemby and suddenly, a spherical bubble materialized to cover Wemby's entire body.
And without a warning, Neumann punched the bubble, surprising both Wemby and Atlan.
His punch was so strong that it sounded like a large elephant stomping on the ground.
"Woah! Uncalled for," complained Wemby in the transparent bubble.
But even with Nuemann's full-powered punch, the bubble barely even wobbled. Atlan guessed that it could withstand the force of a couple more punches before it started to crack.
But with this demonstration, Atlan finally found the reason why he couldn't activate his LifeSkill. It was because he wasn't thinking of a target!
He always tried to use his Cherubic Retribution LifeSkill, just for the sake of activating it. He just wanted to see if he could manifest it, so he wasn't thinking about actually trying to hit anything with it.
This led him to be unable to activate it at all.
He desperately wanted to try and activate it now that he knew the root of the problem.
First, he tried to activate his Mucus Spray.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the brown planet in the distance. Ever since he upgraded it to D class, the pattern on its surface changed to be more complex, having streaks of black everywhere.
A giant hand materialized in the dark space of the Soul System. He took great care to make sure that it didn't dissipate like last time.
Thankfully, all those practice sessions paid off as he was able to keep the integrity of the giant hand.
He maneuvered the hand to go over to his Mage LifeSkill. And now, the moment of truth came as the hand slowly grasped the planet in its palm.
And the moment the giant hand closed and enveloped the whole planet, Atlan suddenly felt a strange power flow from his veins and towards his hand.
He opened his eyes and saw that his hands were glowing a slight brown hue.
If he continued to hold the planet, the LifeSkill would activate!
He quickly stopped himself when he realized where he was. Neumann and the others were still talking beside him.
They would definitely notice it.
As he let go of his grip on the LifeSkill planet, his hands stopped glowing and he felt the strange power retract back to his veins.
He wasn't sure that this Remedium was safe.
Neumann said that this Remedium was built by the Operators from the HeadQuarters. This could mean that they're surveilling the whole place at all times.
Even though that possibility wasn't that realistic, Atlan still didn't want to risk it. He couldn't show his other LifeSkills here.
And even in the real world, he had to be careful.
This was a place that lied to everyone and kept the extinction of the Angels a secret. What would happen if they suddenly saw Atlan display angelic powers?
Atlan could practice his Mucus spray, but he couldn't show any hint that he had angelic powers.
"I want to go to the bathroom," Atlan said. "I don't think I'll make it up back to the real world."
Wemby, of course, made fun of the newbie. "Kukuku…as long as your poop isn't nuclear, you can drop it anywhere you like. Don't worry, I've done it a hundred times before."
Atlan quickly went down the steps and jogged to the very edge of the city in a discreet corner just in the middle of two houses.
When he was sure no one was looking, he activated his mucus LifeSkill and successfully replicated his previous attempt.
His hands glowed until he felt it become filled with power.
After a second, a spray of black goo flowed out of the palm of his hands like an intertwined spider's web. The spray spread out as it traveled out his hands, enveloping a large conical shape in front of him.
The Mucus Spray slammed on the walls and stayed there. It enveloped the whole wall about 4 meters tall and 4 meters wide.
When he touched the black goo, he found that it wasn't as sticky as he thought. However, when he tried to pry it off the wall, it took him a tremendous amount of effort to take it off.