All the way back, Lohan couldn’t resist and kept testing his new abilities.
"Lisa, let’s try something," Lohan said excitedly. "I want to see if I can project my defensive structure directly onto you, without having to expand it like physical armor."
Using the [Synergy Link], Lohan focused on his [Obsidian Exoskeleton] and felt a constant drain of Mana as he "lent" the ability’s matrix to Lisa.
"Halon, I think I’m feeling something..." Lisa said in surprise, adapting to the new information emerging in her mind.
As expected, the ability wasn’t forced onto the fox’s mind; it was as if the information asked for permission to enter, and could be interrupted by the recipient at any moment.
Lisa didn’t refuse, and upon activating the ability, using her own Mana to activate it for the first time, small black hexagonal plates instantly began to sprout from her white fur.
The appearance was very similar to when Lohan physically enveloped her, but there were clear differences; the scales were less bulky than his, and the resistance seemed to be slightly less than the original.
Lisa ran a few meters, feeling the light weight of the scales. "It’s interesting, Halon. It’s as if I’m wearing metal silk. It doesn’t protect me from heavy impacts like you do in person, but it increases my passive defense tremendously without compromising my agility." She remarked, noting that the scales mitigated wind resistance but lacked the density of Halon’s.
This was because Lisa had received only the Exoskeleton, and not the full set of Lohan’s defensive abilities such as the reinforced membrane, extra mass to cushion impacts, and Non-Newtonian Resilience.
With this sharing of the Exoskeleton, Lisa was fully protected from sharp and cutting attacks, with even a bit of resistance to impacts thanks to the trait the Exoskeleton gained upon evolving at Level 11, which grants the Scatter Damage effect.
Next, they decided to have Lisa test Lohan’s [Superior Magic Core].
Upon receiving the energy flow, Lisa felt her perception of the ambient Mana become frighteningly sharp, as if highways of high magical conductivity had opened up within her system.
However, disappointment followed soon after.
"I feel the power... but I can’t access your spells," Lisa said, frustrated. "The [Ice Spike] and [Smoke Blast] didn’t come to me as memories, nor did they appear on the Status screen. It seems the core only gives me the energetic hardware, but the ’software’ of the spells remains locked in your consciousness."
Furthermore, they both realized that the link was restrictive: at the current stage, they could only share a single ability at a time. If Lohan tried to pass the exoskeleton while she was using the core, the first connection would drop instantly.
Sure, if Lohan kept the Core active in Lisa constantly, she would receive its benefits, and if she had enough talent, she might even learn spells on her own, but those spells could only be used when Lohan provided the Magic Core to her again.
But even that was already incredible.
Lohan thought about how insane a skill like this was, and how crazy people would go at the possibility of suddenly receiving other skills to battle with, and he was extremely satisfied.
And considering how many different skills he had, this new evolution fit him like a glove.
Lohan, satisfied with the data, decided to reverse the flow using the [Mimicry Link]. This time he targeted Lisa’s signature ability, [Spiritual Fire], and tried to borrow that ability for himself.
The moment he mimicked the flame, a sensation of intense but not painful heat flooded Lohan’s gelatin.
He felt a strange familiarity run through his body, as it was the same energy he had involuntarily "tasted" on the various occasions when Lisa, annoyed by his teasing and nicknames like "kitty," had shot flames at him.
He tried to project the fire out of his membrane, attempting to shape a plasma claw or a ring of flames as he had seen Lisa do. However, although the heat was there, he lacked the refined control over Spiritual Energy that Lisa had inherited from her legendary lineage, nor the training she had undergone over the past month by constantly using this ability.
The fire merely flickered over his skin like an unstable mist, refusing to obey his more complex commands.
’It’s as if I know the taste, but don’t know how to cook the dish.’ Lohan thought, frustrated.
In a final test of curiosity, Lohan activated his [Efficient Digestion] at the spot where the mimicked fire was burning.
He tried to "swallow" the very flame he was generating to see if he could gain extra Biomass or if he could absorb this ability by digesting a large amount of the flames he produced, but the sensation was bizarre and futile.
It was exactly like someone trying to swallow their own saliva to quench their thirst... the energy was already part of his linked circulatory system. There was no physical gain, just a closed loop that consumed Mana without generating any real benefit.
"Hmm, it seems that copying direct combat skills isn’t as efficient right now as sharing utility passives or skills that don’t necessarily require user practice to function," Lohan concluded, retracting the link as the silhouette of the Tree of Astralis appeared on the horizon.Lisa swayed her two white tails, feeling Lohan’s energy return to its normal flow.
"Still, Halon... if we find combinations of other speed-boosting abilities, like your [Explosive Steps], [Colossus Charge], or other new abilities in that style while I use my [Spectral Step], we’ll be practically untouchable when dealing with enemies of the same level!"
"Yeah, we’ll have to practice our synergy even more to find the best way to use this skill, but it’s definitely going to level us up a lot!" Lohan said excitedly.And looking at the Tear of Petals inside him and the Magic Staff he’d taken from Varkas, Lohan was very excited to see what he could gain from that as well,
after all, apparently the Tear of Petals could open up a new path of magical power for him, something that might even allow them to raid the Level 15 Dungeon without having to level up again!