Chapter 819 – Calm before the storm (1) (Patreon)

Percy watched his friend place his hand on the abdomen of the first Starry Knight and absorb its second core. The Void Decree did most of the hard work by violently yanking the spherical organ out of the bug’s chitinous exterior and pulverizing it on the way to the elemental’s head. As soon as the magical slush entered the cavity in the Huehuan’s glabella, he moved on to the next creature.

Unsurprisingly, Micky’s third core had taken root in the same spot as Percy’s, though he might be able to shift it elsewhere due to his malleable body.

Curiously, the Green wasps didn’t die after having their cores extracted. Despite their grievous injuries and the weakness brought about by the loss of the crystalline organs, the bugs looked like they might recover. The fact that their gravity cores had been two or three grades lower than their beast affinity had probably helped minimize the consequences.

‘I’ll ask Grandpa to heal one of them later,’ Percy decided. ‘I doubt the core will grow back, but it’ll be nice to confirm that losing a spare core isn’t deadly.’

All living creatures required a mana core to survive, and Percy was certain that beasts specifically needed their first core. Micky was even more unique in that he would likely die if he lost either of his first two cores due to the way they worked together to generate and maintain his artificial flesh. However, he might be able to survive the loss of his third core, other beasts their second, and sapients might be able to lose either or even multiple cores so long as they had at least one remaining.

‘Hmmm… that’s not quite right. There are other dependencies to consider,’ Percy corrected himself. ‘A beast that has developed a mutation related to a certain affinity probably can’t afford to lose it either, and I definitely need my soul core. Even if our fused souls don’t collapse immediately in its absence, my spectral traits will eventually kill me when my mana stops refreshing the effect of the blessing.’

This was perhaps something that Percy should have tested a long time ago on one of his hosts – just so that he’d know whether he could afford to discard a core in a pinch. In his defence, he would rather do his best to avoid getting in a situation that dire in the first place.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the notification once his friend consumed the final sacrifice.

[Congratulations! You have acquired a new mana core: Red – Gravity!]

As always, Phoebe’s Decree had treated Micky’s gains as identical to Percy’s, not bothering to include a “your familiar’s” or “your aspect’s” qualifier like it did with Nephthys.

‘Ugh… this feels even shittier when it’s happening directly to me,’ the Huehuan mentally groaned as the Void Decree extracted its heavy toll and forced him down to his knees.

‘At least you don’t have to suffer the side-effects right after getting your brain scrambled up by a sadistic goat,’ Percy pointed out, though he was also suppressing a wince and struggling to keep himself upright. The weakness wasn’t physical, but it was quite disorienting.

‘Sure, but I also didn’t get a free blessing with it,’ Micky reminded him with a shrug.

The following stretch of time passed by in a blur.

Having upgraded his sensory domain, mindsets, and Nephthys’ boosting art, Percy decided to lend most of his mental pockets to his fellow aspect so that he would master his new affinity faster.

Gravity mana was a lot like soul mana in the sense that it was transparent and capable of flowing through matter without much difficulty. It obviously lacked many of the soul affinity’s other properties but had the advantage of interacting with physical objects while passing through them.

Offensively, it allowed Micky to exert directional pressure on his surroundings, though he wasn’t trying to use the new element by itself. The Huehuan already possessed a rather comprehensive fighting style, so he merely wished to supplement his existing capabilities with his latest asset.

A week after activating the Void Decree, Micky had cleared and tempered enough channels for Circulation. Gravity pathways were thin, numerous, and traced the shape of one’s muscle fibres. Due to the resource being colourless, the Huehuan’s appearance didn’t change much while using the Refined spell, and that remained true three months later when he mastered the Dance.

The external flow involved creating an oversized replica of Micky’s body around his actual flesh, complete with its own magical musculature. The invisible projection helped him absorb and convert ambient mana while also serving as armour, protecting him and amplifying his every blow.

Much like Percy, the Huehuan completed his artificial advancement around the same time as his new core’s first natural promotion, resulting in a pair of notifications within the same month.

[Congratulations! Your mana core has advanced: Red -> Orange!]

[Congratulations! Your mana core has advanced: Orange -> Yellow!]

The contribution to Micky’s strength and lifespan was still small, because his third core was not only a grade weaker than his second core but also two grades weaker than his first. Furthermore, unlike Percy’s mind mana, the effect of the gravity affinity was mostly physical and wouldn’t show its true worth until the organ caught up with the others or the Huehuan acquired a mutation that took advantage of it.

Micky spent months learning how to reinforce every subtle movement of his body to make himself lighter, faster, and stronger. In some ways, he was using his new affinity like a domain because gravity mana shared many properties with raw willpower.

Most people’s willpower was significantly weaker than their mana, though that obviously didn’t apply to Percy and Micky who possessed an Empowered domain that kept growing stronger with each promotion of their six cores. Still, domains passively enhanced the potency of their owner’s mana and vice versa, so the Huehuan’s gravity affinity strengthened not only his body and willpower, but even his other mana types at a lower rate.

All things considered, Micky’s use of the new element was simplistic and straightforward, but that didn’t make it any less effective. He and Percy hoped that his next mutation would automate a part of the process, allowing his body to internally consume the new resource to strengthen itself, though that would have to wait until his first core advanced again.

The Huehuan’s maximum capacity for sentries hadn’t increased.

Percy and Micky weren’t sure whether that was due to the latter’s third affinity not being involved in the creation of his constructs. His other cores had yet to advance since he had registered the spell, so they had no idea how its limits would scale.

After the first year of training, Percy withdrew some of his mental pockets and spread his cognitive resources more evenly between himself, Micky, and the clone in Nephthys’ body.

He’d finished granting the Moirais’ Decree to the final batch of Starry Knights and his familiar generated a lot more royal jelly once Nesha and House Etna completed the mana-gathering array, so he decided to finally give Cradles and Gloomy Dawn to his girlfriend and Orin.

Their personal strength wouldn’t help much in the war, but the same could be said about the rest of the allied mages at that point. Having more time on his hands, Percy looked forward to extending the lifespan of his loved ones and ensuring that they remained by his side for millennia to come. Freddy and Elaine’s family would probably be next on his list.

Micky wasn’t the only one advancing. Just over two years after the Huehuan activated the Void Decree, Nephthys’ beast affinity finally reach its next natural promotion.

[Congratulations! Your familiar’s mana core has advanced: Blue -> Violet!]

The wasp’s body grew to over seventy metres from mandibles to stinger, surpassing even Micky’s full size and making the new Ruby Queen slightly larger than her mother had been the first time Percy had laid eyes upon her.

She wasn’t even close to the largest creature he had ever encountered, but the memory of the tiny larva that had hatched out of that egg just a couple of decades ago, along with the knowledge that two pieces of Percy’s own soul resided within her enormous carapace made the sight of her even more surreal. Seeing his microscopic human body through her compound eyes and imagining how easily she – or he, for that matter – could swallow himself whole only added to the insanity.

Along with the size increase, a fifth pair of crystallized antennae formed at the outer edge of her tiara, further expanding her Prismatic Crown and command over the lesser bugs. The strength and range of her signals greatly increased even without consuming any additional lightning mana, and the gem itself finally grew durable enough to withstand the strain of all three hundred-odd proxies.

Percy was naturally overjoyed that they could finally face Machaon and his goons at full power.

Curiously, a set of crystalline tendrils had also branched out of the base of the magical jewel, digging into the wasp’s glowing carapace like a series of roots. The colourful growths traced the path of her previous markings, replacing the golden patterns on her exoskeleton with a more dazzling, rainbow-coloured glow.

Percy guessed that his familiar’s mutations were on the verge of merging again into something even greater, but her evolution to Violet had clearly been insufficient to fully catalyse the transformation. Her eventual advancement to White ought to do it if nothing else did.

The Resource Monarch mutation hadn’t changed much. Nephthys’ royal jelly and ruby powder output had “only” grown by a factor of three – the standard increase that Starry Wasps experienced with each promotion – though Percy was just glad that the disproportional growth of his familiar’s beast mana in relation to her other affinities hadn’t made the improvement smaller.

Having reached maturity for her species, Nephthys should also be capable of laying eggs. She and Percy weren’t in a rush to test out that ability, since there already was a spare Princess on Remior and the hive’s population was still at a healthy level. They would rather wait and study how the reincarnated deity’s abilities continued to evolve before making any big moves.