The three skills were nothing short of extraordinary. Shadowmeld on its own was already a very formidable ability. Although Padva's Doomsday Panther, Shadow, thrived on void energy, the void was not completely a singular force. It borrowed strength from darkness itself, and in doing so, it granted Shadow distinct command over shadow energy.

This was why Doomsday Panthers, and other mechbeasts that derived its skills from void energy were ranked very highly when it came to power and dexterity. Being able to summon power from two energy elements: void and darkness was extremely overpowered.

The cultivation module, Veil of Umbral Shards, explained these three skills, two of which were derived from shadow energy and one was from void. Through the pathway, the first skill that would be gained was Shadow Refinement.

This particular skill gave Shadow the ability to turn its shadows into weapons, enhancing them to fight on its stead. When his shadows are refined, depending on the number of them in a room created by light placement, they are temporarily upgraded, increasing their effectiveness and damage.

The next skill, Phase Displacement, was a stealth skill. But it went far beyond speed or mere vanishing acts. It was slightly more complicated than teleportation. With Phase Displacement, Shadow could make various clones of itself appear in multiple areas. They were called 'phased' copies. They didn't cause damage, but were only there to distract or disorient enemies. The skill also offered temporal invisibility.

The final skill was Umbral Lance, which was a skill that Skarion's Silverbeak already had. Jetrho had stolen that information after a sneak peek at the bird during the assembly. It was a skill that was formed from condensed shadow-energy, forging pure entropy into a giant spear of annihilation. It had a very high aether cost which was understandable given it was mainly a finisher reserved only for perfect synchronization and boundless reserves of focus.

Jethro studied the glowing schematics projected above his beastlinker. His gaze tracked the intricate lattice of the three skill nodes, his finger brushing across the holographic screen.

'How could her Panther still have three more Skills to unlock when these three are already so powerful?' he thought.

Jethro was jealous. He couldn't help that he was. However, it was kind of pointless to be jealous of someone who was already positioned to be more successful than him. Scorch was Grey Rank and Shadow was Platinum.

It wasn't really his place to be jealous here. Wishful would be more like it.

He wondered still if it was worth it to let her know about the other three skills Shadow could unlock. Padva had been nice to him, though he wasn't sure if it was just her guilt for supposedly leaving him inside the Rift. Whatever the case, it felt sort of wrong to let these three skills go to waste.

Shadowmeld. A skill that would let Shadow meld into darkness to become intangible and almost invulnerable, locked somewhere between Shadow Refinement and Phase Displacement.

Wraith Split. A skill that would allow Shadow to create a void double at 50% strength that mimics every attack it makes and can move independently for a brief time. It was the hidden skill after Phase Displacement.

Then, Singularity Maw. This skill was a high-tier shadow technique that summons a collapsing shadow vortex beneath a target.

The maw drags in the target's aether, draining their powers and destabilizing the terrain. It was an AoE type skill that also temporarily empowered the tamer— Padva —with all the aether drained from the target while allowing her to pierce through whatever shields or armor layers they have. It was the final skill, hidden after Umbral Lance.

Jethro was dumbfounded. 'What the hell kind of Skill was that?' he thought. 'Yes, the aether cost to activate it was high and the cooldown lasted several days but still… No wonder Doomsday Panthers are one of the most feared Platinum Ranks, and mechcats overall.'

He realized that Padva had started to give him a weird look. He must have been staring at the screen for a while.

In pretense, he twisted his lips to the right, and pretended to be thinking vividly.

"It's… sophisticated," he murmured at last. The respect in his voice was genuine. Padva and her mechbeast were the big leagues compared to him, of course head to give her his respect.

He leaned closer to the diagram, narrowing his eyes. "Phase Displacement is particularly nasty. Re-entry calibration has to be locked within zero-point-zero-three delta or else Shadow risks— well —being sliced apart by its own trajectory. And here—" he tapped at the node for the Umbral Lance skill, "the containment matrix for the entropy charge looks unstable. Without a secondary harmonic dampener woven into the lattice, that thing is primed to collapse… maybe catastrophically."

Padva froze. For once, her usual calm seemed pried open, shocked into fragility. Her silver eyes widened, pinning him with a stare sharp enough to cut.

"You… understand the harmonic dampener requirement?" Her voice, though quiet, vibrated with disbelief. "You have to at least be Silver ranked to have that kind of information. I don't think there are any void or shadow powered mechbeasts below the Silver rank talk more of Grey…." She drew back slightly, as though reevaluating the boy across from her. "How did you—?"

Jethro's jaw flexed. Damn it. He had slipped. Too much detail, too much precision. He forced a laugh and scratched at his temple with exaggerated awkwardness.

"Uh… lucky guess?" he said weakly.

She lifted a brow at him. "Lucky guess?"

Jethro realized immediately that she didn't believe him. Of course she didn't. She wasn't stupid. "Eh, okay. Maybe not really a lucky guess. But having a Grey Ranked beast doesn't mean I can't study on other mechbeasts, right?"

Padva shrugged. "You must have studied quite a lot to know about this."

"I read something like it before. Maybe. Don't quote me." His tone shifted quickly, desperate to redirect attention. "Still— Shadow's going to be a terror once he's running this. Makes me wish Scorch had anything remotely this… powerful." His mouth twisted in a wry half-smile. "But I guess I'll have to get used to reading about it, rather than being it."

Padva didn't reply. She only stared at him for a while before turning away. "You do that a lot," she said.

Jethro paused, blinking his crimson eyes at her. "Do what?"

"Change the topic," she replied in a whisper. "Like you want to be in control of the conversation." Her gaze caught his again. "Cause you're scared you might slip up about something."

There was silence for a while. Jethro slowly moved his face away from hers, unable to bear the accusation that was slapped across her features. He looked down at his glyph. "We should probably get on with the project."

Padva looked away too, almost even smiling in a somewhat disappointed manner. He had just done it again.

"Although I might have caused a little holdup," he said, resting backwards and folding his arms. "I couldn't get a cultivation module for Scorch."

Padva's body almost locked, like she was caught in an anxious moment, a moment she might have been expecting.

As Jethro watched, still unsure of what was happening, she slipped her hand into the satchel at her side and withdrew a small grey case. Nestled inside was a crystalline cylinder. She pushed it across the polished table toward him with an understated grace.

Jethro blinked at the object. Then at her. His bewilderment was plain. "What's this?"

"It's a cultivation module…" Padva answered nervously, "...for your lizard." The faintest pink stained her cheeks and Jethro caught it. With Deep Sense, he could also feel the subtle rise in heat against her skin. Her eyes avoided his, trained instead on the glyph she fiddled with.

"You mentioned yesterday… how impossible it was to find one. And it was. Took three mechshops and a favor from one of my family's suppliers." She hesitated, softening just enough to admit: "It's called Lake of the Insect Hunt. Basic, but I don't think there was anything flashy for Red Lizards."

Jethro was lost for words. He lowered his eyes gently from Padva, then at the module. She heard him talk about it once and she went and got it for him? Why? Was this that same guilt?

He picked it up gently, his fingers brushing the cylinder's cool, lifeless surface. His chest cinched, strange warmth rising. This was the first time someone had done something like this for him. Ever. And for that, even his jokes and sarcasm couldn't hold still any longer.

"Padva…" He muttered. "This… this must have caught a lot of credits."

She shrugged with a single shoulder. "Not a lot."

"Thank you," he said. "But, I have to pay you back."

Padva looked at him. "No. No. It's fine really, you don't have to."

Jethro gazed at her, his eyes studying her features for a while before saying, "I'm sorry, but… I insist."

Padva chewed her lip, accepting tentatively. "Okay."

Once that was decided, Jethro lowered the cylinder on the table, staring at it. And then, out of nowhere, the humor was back. He chuckled. "This is the third time you're helping me. First was the Liongolem's core, then in Professor Uriel's class, and now this…? If I wasn't smart I'd think you're in love with me."

Padva's face stiffened.

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