Looking down at the effect description in front of him, Jon could not help but pause, feeling a faint pull at the corners of his mouth. Both Ashvattha Rana and Schwarz Eis noticed the gentle joyous lapping of water within his Sea Of Knowledge, wondering just what manner of ability their summoner manifested from the Fragment Of Avaritia.

It did not possess the Summon Trait. Nor did it possess the Mutation Trait. Both of them would have been able to feel the subtle connection to some far-off existence across the integrated universes, or the faint changes to his biology as a result of his mutation.

Either way, it seemed as though Jon was quite pleased with the ability that he manifested, peeking the interest of a certain winter demon spirit.

"Well Jonathan? Are you going to keep the two of us waiting?" Schwarz Eis could not help but ask, causing Jon to snap out of his trance, focusing on the sudden appearance of the White Lady Of The Winter Castle.

Despite his somewhat dazed appearance, Jon just smiled, not at all concealing the urge to grin on his face as he held the spoils of his battle against the Thick-Flesh Hound in both hands. Rubbing his hands together, Jon took a deep breath before beginning the mutterings of a Spell chant.

"Desire. Gold. Wealth. Mine. The yellow-coloured sin shall become the gates to thine kingdom. Seventy-seven statues shall be carved from thou likeness, placed within the halls of thine virtuous avarice. Thou honour. Thou glory. Thou countless victories shall all be fought under thine name, writing themselves in the annals of history".

"Sin. Treasure. War. Greed. Thine kingdom shall stretch beyond worlds, bearing the yellow of avarice as their heraldry. Thou shalt claim all things in existence and mine own. All the seas. All the mountains. All the stars in the night sky! Come forth riding upon that foul-yellow wind allowing mine eternal greed shall grasp the heavens and the earth!"

Jon felt his Seir-Glacial Heart pound within his chest, his Yaochi-Jade Prana being pulled upon in order to manifest whatever spiritual construct that his Fragment Of Avaritia had birthed. Although Jon did not feel as drained as when he first created his Archetype Green, he could still not help but lean on Schwarz Eis for a few seconds, steadying his knees as he struggled to remain standing.

Jon could feel the presence of this new pseudo-independent spiritual construct within him, tapping his foot twice and summoning it into the physical world.

The eighteen-year-old grinned, watching as a dark-yellow coloured amalgamation of war natured spiritual energy rose up from beneath his feet. Unlike when Jon summoned this Archetype Green for the first time, which transformed to mimic the form that Jon possessed, his Archetype Avarice, assumed the form of an enormous eight-legged wolf creature.

It was hunched low and somewhat transparent, giving Jon the impression that he was taller than it.

The fur across the length of its form was thick and vibrant, despite the fact that it was see-through. Its mouth was stretched and elongated, bearing far too many rows of teeth.

Eight eyes, four on either side of its face, peered around itself, lingering on the voluptuous form of Schwarz Eis before locking eyes with Jon, nudging the tip of its snout into his chest.

Jon took two steps back, feeling just how much weight this spiritual construct possessed behind it, although when he went to raise his hand and brush the fur between its ears, the human just felt his hand phase through the creature, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

'Although it can touch me, I cannot touch it back? Let me read the effect description again,' this time, voicing it out loud so that both Ashvattha Rana and Schwarz Eis could hear him.

[Fragment Of Avaritia] [With Thou In Hand, Even War Will Be Dyed Yellow] (War, Avaritia, Ability, Technique, Spell, Construct, Buff)

Effect (Mortal): Chant, then sacrifice half of your available lifeforce to manifest an Archetype Avarice. The Archetype Avarice is a pseudo-independent spiritual construct manifested from an amalgamation of lifeforce, specific emotions and desires and war natured spiritual energy.

War natured spiritual energy is expended to "claim" debuffs and afflictions from willing targets to the Archetype Avarice, on the condition that the caster shares the same debuff or affliction. Damaging debuffs and afflictions will reduce the stored lifeforce within the Archetype Avarice but will not resolve their effects nor reduce the possibility of being afflicted. Each individual instance or debuff or affliction transferred to the Archetype Avarice will generate an instance of [Avaricious Yellow] for the caster with no maximum threshold.

The Archetype Avarice will continue to absorb debuffs and afflictions until all available lifeforce has been depleted. The Archetype Avarice is incapable of being cleansed or refined, nor can another be manifested before the current Archetype Avarice has been annihilated.

[Avaricious Yellow]: The next strike made against a target will drain a miniscule amount of their lifeforce.

It was perhaps the most complimentary ability that Jon had manifested yet. [With Thou In Hand, Even War Will Be Dyed Yellow] functioned almost exactly the same as [With Thou In Hand, Wood Shalt Live Forever] with the sole exception that it could not absorb afflictions or debuffs directly from Jon himself.

The war natured spiritual construct, Archetype Avarice allowed Jon to take on a much more balanced role within a group, possessing his own method of transferring debuffs and afflictions away from a willing individual. Although his combat style leaned towards more of a lone self-sufficient close-quarters combatant, neither Ashvattha Rana nor Schwarz Eis possessed the capacity to cleanse or refine any afflictions or debuffs inflicted upon them.

Jon was able to take that role onto himself, with the use of Archetype Avarice.

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However, that was not the effect that Jon was most excited about.

It was the final line of text at the bottom of the effect description one that it shared with the effect description of [With Thou In Hand, Wood Shalt Live Forever].

"The Archetype Avarice is incapable of being cleansed or refined, nor can another be manifested before the current Archetype Avarice has been annihilated."

Both the Archetype Green and Archetype Avarice could not be effected through the use of cleansing abilities or refining abilities. This was an obvious weakness that these pseudo-independent spiritual constructs possessed, although was part of the reason why Jon wanted to integrate an Incarnation Mana Core.

Nowhere in the effect description did it state that either Archetype Green or Archetype Avarice could not be affected through other affliction transferring abilities.

"Archetype Avarice, devour the [Foul Stomach] debuff from Archetype Green", said Jon, urging the enormous dark-yellow wolf-shaped amalgamation of war natured spiritual energy towards his chest.

Although one of the conditions for activation was that Jon needed to possess the same debuff or affliction as the target, given the intrinsic connection between himself and Archetype Green Jon was still considered as being "afflicted" or "debuffed". The target was both willing and able to have their debuffs transferred away from them.

So naturally, whenever Jon passed his afflictions or debuffs onto Archetype Green, Archetype Avarice would then "claim" them, transferring them onto itself.

The wolf-shaped spiritual construct opened his gaping maw, revealing rows upon rows of sharp, serrated teeth. For a moment Jon almost thought that he had integrated a Fragment Of Gula, watching as the Archetype Avarice chomped down on Jon's arm, phasing straight through him while tearing off a dull, brown-coloured light from within the human.

Glancing towards his status page Jon watched as the [Foul Stomach] debuff had been transferred from the Archetype Green into Archetype Avarice. Jon in return, gained one instance of [Avaricious Yellow].

"That is… quite lucky, if I am being completely honest. I suspected that you would manifest some sort of spiritual storage ability given that the Fragment Of Avaritia contains concepts of greed and accumulation," said Ashvattha Rana, glancing towards Schwarz Eis who nodded, showing a small but pleased smile on her face.

The winter demon spirit did not expect for Jon to manifest another Archetype ability, although was beyond satisfied with [With Thou In Hand, Even War Will Be Dyed Yellow]. Schwarz Eis had been wondering what fragments to urge Jon to integrate, hoping for the eighteen-year-old to manifest one such ability.

Neither the Earthen Treasury Womb nor the White Lady Of The Winter Castle wanted their master to integrate an Incarnation Mana Core, and the latter knew that this was the most effective method of doing so.

Both of them thanked the System that the chaotic nature of fragments worked in both of their favours, Schwarz Eis raising an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"A Fragment Of Library would better guarantee some sort of storage ability. It would have greater synergistic effects with your Knowledge Mana Core as well. Is that still par the course for you future build Jon?" Schwarz Eis questioned, watching as Jon nodded, smiling while gazing at the enormous dark-yellow construct rolling its snout into his hand.

The combination of his Yaochi-Jade Prana, in addition to both the Archetype Green and Archetype Avarice filled Jon with an even greater confidence in himself. Although the introduction of [With Thou In Hand, Even War Will Be Dyed Yellow] threw the plans for his next Mana Core somewhat out the window, Jon knew that both of his summons were quite happy with the fact.

Jon was unsure what kind of Mana Core would tie the five had he had already integrated all together. A Time Mana Core was something that Ashvattha Rana had suggested, while Schwarz Eis often suggested a multitude of different Mana Cores, ranging from Sin Mana Cores all the way through to Creation Mana Cores.

'In all seriousness, I would not trade Archetype Avarice for a Dragon Mana Core at this point. Perhaps something a little bit more obscure, such as a Kirin Mana Core or even a Leviathan Mana Core?' Jon thought to himself, knowing that both such Mana Cores existed throughout the integrated universes.

Taking a couple of steps away from the corpse of the Thick-Flesh Hound, Jon pocketed the Lava Mana Core and Gluttony Mana Core, in addition to seven fragments he also obtained from the beast. After adding up all the fragments that he had on his person and the ones he kept within his duffel bag, Jon had amassed over thirty fragments that he had yet to integrate.

That was more fragments than what he had integrated currently.

Jon refused to rush finishing the desired build he had in mind, so he considered giving a couple more fragments away before squelching that thought back into his Sea Of Knowledge. There was a chance that Avahni and Wilheim would not come with him to explore the other areas within the small realm. Although he did consider both the lutin and floresiensis as a friend, Jon knew that his own dreams took priority over the desires and fantasies of other people.

Life had a way of… sending people down different roads. Whether one be the military, the other university or one to the other side of the world in search of different career paths.

Jon had been brought into the System Introduction on his own.

And he would not be surprised if he would have to end the System Introduction on his own.

Taking a deep breath, Jon took a single step forward in the direction back towards the campsite. Turning his head and glancing around him one last time, Jon surveyed the area for a few moments before noticing something that he had not quite noticed before.

Several dozen metres away, his Spell, [Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier], appeared withered and shrivelled. Dribbles of what Jon thought was blood seeped out from cracks and snaps within the manifested wood natured construct. Strange tumorous growths jutted out in random directions all over the wooden construct, blooming hideous and strangely coloured flowers.

Even the patch of [Purple Night Flowers] beside it looked desiccated and decayed, as if the foul hand of pestilence had touched their dark-coloured petals.

Jon tilted his head back and sniffed, smelling a putrid scent in the air.

The eighteen-year-old did not feel any movement or twitching sensation emanating from his [Monstrous Intuition]. His Fragment Of Intuition had not let him down before, so Jon hesitated in manifesting Assail, instead taking a few steps closer towards his imperial wood barrier.

Jon felt less on guard than he did moments ago, his heartrate gradually slowing as he inhaled more and more of the insidious yet inviting scent all around him.

Narrowing his eyes at the corruption that had overtaken [Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier], Jon wondered if the Thick-Flesh Hound had used some sort of ability on the wood natured construct, wondering what combination of Mana Cores and fragments would manifest such an abominable combination.

Jon almost felt lulled into the embrace of a foul crimson poison. He did not even notice Archetype Green transfer the numerous different debuffs that were affecting him, lifting his head as he heard a familiar voice emanate from within his Sea Of Knowledge.

"Jonathan, if you do not want to die, then move!" the winter demon spirit manifested herself before Jon, causing him to widen his eyes as he slowly turned around.

The familiar rumbling of the earth beneath his feet caused Jon to unconsciously take a step backwards, his breath hitching as an aura of fear and despair washed over him. The tempting and seductive scent in the air turned foul and ugly as Jon saw the approaching figure of a certain Knight Ranked creature before him.

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