Chapter 826 – Merciful (Patreon)

[Congratulations! You have acquired a new aspect: Nephthys!]

The first notification was the most obvious, though Percy was slightly surprised that his Status had registered the addition of the new aspect before anything else. Back when he had fused with Micky, Phoebe’s Decree had only recognized the shift in their identities after briefly struggling to decide who to assign ownership of the Ultimate Art to. Evidently, the current iteration of the Lone Wanderer’s Status was more robust and would no longer need to recalibrate itself whenever a new mind joined.

In any case, that was just the tip of the iceberg, so Percy kept reading.

[Congratulations! Your mindsets have merged: Shimmering Constellations + Supercharged Cognition + Parallel Minds + Automatic Motor Control + Synchronized Transmission + Rapid Cognition -> …]

[…Heavenly Tapestry!]

While some of the changes to Percy’s mindsets had occurred automatically during the fusion, he was deeply cognizant of the details thanks to Nephthys’ experience in the subject and the intimate nature of one’s mindscape.

Phoebe’s Decree had claimed that Rapid Cognition – the weaker version of Supercharged Cognition that Percy had granted his familiar – was a component of Heavenly Tapestry, though he knew that that wasn’t entirely accurate.

The original mindset had simply subsumed its cheaper imitation, giving the reincarnated deity a much higher boost. Not only that, but the base multiplier of Supercharged Cognition had increased from forty-five to sixty percent across the board, bringing it on par with something that the Amenthei goddess could have designed in her prime.

By their estimates, they would need to labour and accumulate experience for over twenty thousand years if they wished to improve the boost beyond that point. Consequently, it was probably best to stop studying mindset creation for the foreseeable future, since they had better uses for their time.

Like Micky and Percy’s soul clones, Nephthys couldn’t benefit from the active component of Supercharged Cognition without mind mana, though the Lone Wanderer’s improved mastery of the affinity might allow Percy’s fellow aspects to generate small amounts of it without his help.

‘Something to investigate later,’ he decided before moving on.

The rest of their mindsets had greatly restructured themselves to work together more efficiently. The biggest changes had occurred to the two versions of Synchronized Transmission which had fused into one while shedding any redundant components.

If Percy had to summarize the effects of Heavenly Tapestry in one word, he’d probably go with “flexibility”. Ever since his fusion with Micky, he’d felt that their original, mortal minds had been too restricted by their biology to fully capture the potential of the Lone Wanderer’s unique existence.

Like a human born without limbs or a bird born without wings, they’d been forced to use mindsets created with Phoebe’s assistance or Percy’s third core as crutches to master abilities that should have come naturally to them.

The components of the new mindset had already granted them excellent control of their clones, sentries, and proxies before the fusion, but integrating the constellations into something greater had removed much of the lingering “clunkiness”, making their abilities feel less like spells that they had to activate and more like breathing or blinking.

Percy’s heart was already racing, and that was after only going through the changes to his mindsets. Upon reading the third word of the next notification, his lips parted into a bright grin.

‘There it is! The big one!’

[Congratulations! Your spells have merged: Hybrid Art: Head of the Hydra – Refined + Secret Art: Dream Harmony – Masterful + Spectral Art: Adaptive Arsenal – Masterful + Hybrid Art: Saint’s Sea – Masterful + Wild Art: March of the Savage Gods – Masterful -> …]

[…Ultimate Art: March of a Merciful Spring – Extreme!]

Percy wasn’t very surprised that his new spell had been classified as both an Ultimate Art and an Extreme spell like the Symphony, but seeing Head of the Hydra listed among its components caused him to raise an eyebrow.

The other components made sense, because he’d used Micky’s sentries, their sensory domains, instantaneous formations, and enriched cords extensively during the battle. However, the only soul clone that had participated had been the one inside Nephthys’ body, and Percy was pretty sure that he hadn’t placed that wisp of his under a spectral oath.

‘I guess that Phoebe’s Decree simply views my ability to discard my soul clones as an inseparable part of my evolving identity,’ he concluded with a shrug.

Percy had no idea whether there had ever been another mortal who had mastered multiple Extreme spells, though he was glad to have more choices. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to simultaneously fuse his mind with both of his fellow aspects just yet, so he could only activate one of the spells. Micky had still contributed to the battle with his sentries and in other small ways, but Percy and Nephthys had been the main focal points of the three-eyed giant.

The March was arguably the most powerful of Percy’s Extreme spells at the moment. Fusing with Micky would only raise his strength to somewhere between the Eighth and Ninth Circles, while the three-eyed construct had wielded power between the Tenth and Eleventh Circles – almost on par with the weakest deities.

The catch was that the March was highly conditional.

Percy and Micky could theoretically combine their power wherever and whenever they wanted, and they could keep growing stronger with each promotion, new mutation, blessing, better equipment, or any of a million other upgrades.

Meanwhile, the strength Percy could exert with Nephthys’ help depended mainly on the wasps. The swarm was restricted to areas with high mana density such as the Fungal Spire. Even with the ability to draw temporary mana-gathering formations, the bugs wouldn’t last long if there was nowhere to draw ambient mana from.

Furthermore, the wasps’ growth prospects were limited. The hive could only support a certain population, and the bugs were biologically incapable of evolving past Blue even if their mana expenditure stopped being an issue.

Percy could look into ways of making the wasps stronger, developing some kind of mobile mana bank for them, or simply establishing a new independent colony on any planet he wished to have a permanent presence on, yet his Ultimate Art would inevitably hit an insurmountable wall when he attained divinity.

‘Once we replenish the hive’s population, grow the artificial hive, and strengthen the wasps as much as possible, we’ll at least have another divine-level combatant on Remior,’ he consoled himself. ‘That’s good enough for now. We’ll have plenty of time to fix the spell’s flaws before it becomes irrelevant.’

Satisfied with his tentative analysis, he moved on to the equally predictable notification about Nephthys’ mutations.

[Congratulations! Your mutations have merged: Prismatic Crown + Resource Monarch -> Merciful Spring Monarch!]

After completely melding into her carapace, the wasp’s ten-pronged crown had grown far better at drawing lightning mana from the rest of her body and offloading the strain of projecting the minds of her proxies.

This change hadn’t been very important during the recent battle, because the wasp had been capable of utilizing all three hundred and thirteen of the slumbering souls without issue following her evolution to Violet. However, the new mutation would likely be more relevant in the future, as tens of thousands of new silver dots had appeared within the Queen’s carapace.

Percy and Nephthys had saved as many of the dead Greens and Blues as they’d been able to, though they’d unfortunately failed to recover some of the most severely injured ones during the heat of the battle. They also hadn’t bothered with the Violets or Whites at all, as they considered them far more responsible for the invasion and not deserving of a second chance.

Admittedly, Percy wasn’t sure what to do with the stashed souls.

Unlike the Amenthei and the late Ruby Empress, the dead nobles held no loyalty toward him or Nephthys. Hell, these people had just tried to kill him and paid for it with their lives. It was entirely possible that they wouldn’t respond well upon awakening.

That said, storing them inside the wasp’s magical carapace hadn’t cost him anything, and he could always leave the deceased humans asleep or even get rid of them entirely if they created issues later, or just asked to be left alone.

Perhaps, some would appreciate the opportunity to serve their planet as the Lone Wanderer’s proxies. Nephthys’ evolved mutation might have even created an alternative option. Percy would have to read the description carefully later, though he’d rather finish going through the notifications first.

[Congratulations! Your domain has evolved: Field – Empowered -> Merciful Spring – Empowered!]

That… was another eyebrow-raiser.

While Percy had admittedly experienced the new reservoir of willpower first-hand during the battle, he’d never heard of anyone possessing multiple distinct domains. Then again, he’d never heard of anyone with multiple bodies and minds either.

The second pool of willpower had largely been produced by Percy, Nephthys, and the clone possessing her, though Micky should still be able to borrow it, in the same way that the wasp should be able to wield the other one.

Broadly speaking, the Merciful Spring domain felt just as powerful as the Dead Winter domain, though it exhibited a less destructive and more utilitarian nature. It carried many of the properties of Percy’s sensory domain, and could stretch as far as his Saint’s Sea.

By spreading it so thin, Percy could turn his domain completely imperceptible to other people, while preserving its ability to scan and interact with distant objects, albeit weakly.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the new domain could also replicate the functions of most of his enchantments to a small extent, allowing him to pull more ambient mana from farther away, produce mild environmental effects like a small increase in heat or pressure, or convert one of his mana types to another more easily.

Based on his experiences during and after the fusion, he knew that the Starry Wasps were uniquely sensitive to this domain, allowing him to directly convey simple instructions to them or guide the use of their own domains without having to command them through Nephthys’ mutations. Finally, it could be used to induce weak illusions thanks to Nephthys’ mastery of the corresponding concept, which would have all sorts of unique applications.

Of course, the Merciful Spring domain wasn’t a replacement for his Ultimate Art.

If Percy wanted to control the swarm as effectively as he had during the battle, he would still have to fuse his mind with Nephthys’ properly. If he wanted to carefully scan a large area, he’d still need to deploy Micky’s sentries. And if he wanted to draw significant quantities of ambient mana or use his enchantments, he’d still have to draw proper runes.

However, the Merciful Spring domain would give him, his fellow aspects, and even his soul clones faster and more convenient access to a simplified version of those abilities.

The best part was that even though he couldn’t use both of his Extreme spells at the same time, there was nothing preventing him from stacking the two domains, which would give him and his friends more options in combat, alchemy, and magiscript.

‘That was the last notification, but it seems that there are a few silent upgrades that my Status has neglected to mention,’ Percy realized with a frown upon recalling what he had experienced during the battle. ‘And they seem no less important than everything else. Maybe more.’

Pulling up his page, he noticed that there was indeed a brand-new section that had appeared near the very top, right between his aspects and cores.

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Concepts:

·         [Mind – Foundational]

·         [Cognition – Auxiliary]

·         [Connection – Auxiliary]

·         [Illusion – Auxiliary]

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