After Damien picked up the Twin Moons, he and Long Chen didn’t stay in the Armament Hall for long. After Long Chen received his sword as well, the two quickly left.

But before they left, they received their new assignments from the General. And it was just as they expected.

Long Aotian’s unbending self that was hidden behind a cowardly exterior, and Damien Grey’s special body, they had both been properly recognized by the executive board. Once again, the duo would be separated.

Long Chen would be sent to train with the military, and as for Damien…

‘It’s exactly what I wanted but who knew it’d come so soon.’ Damien grinned to himself. Looking at the holographic briefing sheet, he was overjoyed.

Damien Grey – Transfer

Division – Biochemical Engineering

Guarantor – Lynn Carter

There was far more information on the sheet, but just this much was enough. But when Damien thought about it, this was a natural course of events.

Damien had shown off his regeneration specifically. If there was a department that could make full use of his regeneration abilities, wouldn’t it be the one that made Chimeras?

However, Aubrey Price was now dead, leaving only Lynn Carter at the head of the Chimera Research…

While also being an important member of the Core Extraction research as well.

‘I don’t know why she went to Earth, but I’m assuming it was to test their theories on a more insignificant world before using it on their target. Regardless…’

He didn’t know how many worlds had been destroyed through their actions, and he had no desire to find out.

Currently, there was only one thing Damien wanted to know about.

Bzzt!

The Twin Moons in his hands vibrated fiercely as his mana entered their bodies. With Hel on the left and Freya on the right, Damien stood stationary and continued the process.

He stood in an isolated area of the Sanctuary as he did so. Although slipping away was far harder with the current circumstances, it wasn’t entirely impossible for Damien.

It just took an excessive amount of work.

But for the sake of Damien’s curiosity, this level of work was nothing.

Voom!

As the Twin Moons absorbed more and more mana, they began to shine with iridescent light. The rays of light spread, bouncing off any nearby surface as if it was a mirror and forming a sort of prism.

At the same time, two clear gems separated from the pistols’ bodies, gently floating over Damien’s wrist.

And then, they plunged downward and submerged into his skin, searing themselves into his body and becoming a part of him. Despite the process, it didn’t actually cause Damien any pain.

Bzzt!

The two clear gems were slim ovals only 2 or 3 inches long, shaped somewhat similarly to eyes. They were submerged with half their bodies burrowed in Damien’s wrists. The two points of the oval were facing Damien’s wrist and elbow, aligning the ovals parallel to Damien’s arms.

pan,d a-n0vel But after burrowing there, they began emitting sparks of electricity. When Damien felt the mana entering the Twin Moons, he noticed that there was a large delay in between the time of him feeding the mana and the Twin Moons digesting it.

It was almost as if…

‘Something is blocking the flow.’

Damien realized it immediately. Since he’d been pondering on the question for many days, the answer came naturally to him.

Damien’s awareness entered his body and traveled to his wrists. There, he saw two marble-sized “meridians” that were built into Damien’s Ananta Matrix. And partially fused to these meridians were…

The very same gems that just burrowed themselves into Damien’s body.

He understood now. He understood why Aishia felt incomplete while the witch was different. He understood why the entire concept of Nodes didn’t match his expectations.

Because Nodes were truly incomplete. The Nodal Mana System wasn’t created to use mana the way everyone else used it. No, it was meant to be used with an external medium.

Damien curiously played with the two meridians in his wrist, as well as the ones present in other Nodal Points. With a single thought, he drew all his mana into these 12 points, completely changing the structures of his meridians and integrating the concept of “Nodes” into his Ananta Matrix.

The process took many hours to complete, but it was less time than Damien expected. Compared to the past, he was now far more adept at precision mana control. This kind of task wasn’t nearly as tiring as it used to be.

Naturally, that was only because of the Ananta Matrix. If not for its unique property to evolve, making even minor adjustments to the Mana Circuit’s path would be a task fraught with danger.

Nevertheless, Damien was able to complete the modification successfully, and when the oval gems met with his newly improved “Nodes,” they went wild.

The mana from his body was wildly sucked into the gems, while at the same time, ambient mana rushed into his body to make up the difference. Still, Damien didn’t panic.

He understood what this process was. “Nodal Linking” was exactly the process in which denizens of this world “completed” their mana systems.

The color of those clear gems slowly turned to that of ink, and then an even darker blackness. This blackness was dark to the point of clarity, causing the gems to take on a clear black glass look.

Damien frowned. According to what Eve told him, the gems would change color according to his mana. This black was either representing Space or his Void Essence, but regardless it was no good.

After all, if either was revealed it’d be dangerous for him.

But now that the gems had changed color, there was nothing he could do. The Nodal Link had been completed, the Twin Moons being bound to him for eternity.

For denizens of this world, their weapon was quite literally a part of their body. Some even valued their weapons more than their own wives and children.

But weapons and people had compatibility. Even when a weapon had no sentience, its compatibility with its wielder was still important. This was one of the drawbacks of the Nodal Linking System.

If one linked with the incorrect weapon, one would be hard-pressed to become a true powerhouse. Although Unlinking was also an available option, it was far too expensive for the common person.

Because of this, most of Niflheim and Asgard’s armies were made up of weak soldiers who couldn’t reach a desired synchronization rate. As for someone like Damien…

Voom!

His weapon chose him, so how could the synchronization rate be low? As Damien felt his mana smoothly circulate between his body and the twin pistols, he felt incomparably calm. This kind of perfectly melded feeling was blissful and addicting.

But an even more addicting feeling was what followed. Damien had no idea how to use the guns in his hand, but he simply went for it. Aiming it at some nondescript corner of the room, he pulled the trigger.

Xiu!

There was a sound of something whizzing through the air, and in the next instant, a plot of land roughly ten meters across entirely disappeared from the world.

On the other hand, Damien looked shocked. Although the damage he did wasn’t much, that was because he barely put any mana into his shot.

What shocked him was…