Chapter 857 – Concoction of souls (Patreon)

Percy anxiously tapped his foot against the glowing minerals, struggling to calm himself down. His back rested against the oversized seed of the World Tree, under his fellow aspect’s colossal carapace. He’d naturally moved the seed to Nephthys’ cavern, as he would need both the body and the soul of his new familiar in the next few minutes.

‘Relax guys...’ Micky scoffed through their connection. The Huehuan hadn’t even bothered to join them. He was still in East Coast City – one of the major hubs of the Tournament Association – testing out the latest iteration of their stadium’s protective enchantments. ‘Even if this fails, we’ll have plenty of time to think of something else. Just make sure to retrieve the sprites’ soul, so that we can place it in a new body.’

‘You know it’s not that simple,’ Percy replied, rolling his eyes. ‘If the seed gets destroyed, we might never find another one. Besides, you do realize that, of the three of us, you’ll definitely be the first to die of old age, right?’

They still weren’t sure whether Micky’s natural lifespan was shorter than Percy’s, but all three of them would probably perish if Percy did, so the outcome would be the same for the Huehuan.

‘That’s tens of thousands of years from now, at the earliest.’ Micky shrugged. ‘Before I met you, I never thought I’d even live that long. And... well... technically, I was right.’

Percy didn’t necessarily disagree with his friend’s sentiment. Whether or not their plan worked, they weren’t going to give up. Even if all their attempts failed, he could take solace in the fact that he’d lived a long and exciting life in pursuit of his dreams.

Still, there was too much hinging on this project to relax completely. While his soul clone searched for the optimal spot to plant the seed, he decided to check his Status for the first time in years to keep his mind occupied.

___

The Lone Wanderer

Aspects [3/8]:

·         [Percival]

·         [Mictlantecuhtli]

·         [Nephthys]

Concepts:

·         [Soul – Foundational]

·         [Mind – Foundational]

·         [Cognition – Auxiliary]

·         [Connection – Auxiliary]

·         [Illusion – Auxiliary]

Mana Cores [9/9]:

·         [Mana core 1P – Blue – Soul]

·         [Mana core 2P – Blue – Pure]

·         [Mana core 3P – Blue – Mind]

·         [Mana core 1M – Violet – Beast]

·         [Mana core 2M – Blue – Ice]

·         [Mana core 3M – Blue – Gravity]

·         [Mana core 1N – White – Beast]

·         [Mana core 2N – Violet – Acid]

·         [Mana core 3N – Violet – Time]

Domain:

·         [Dead Winter – Empowered]

·         [Merciful Spring – Empowered]

Bloodlines [1/3]:

·         [Clone] – Create a copy of yourself. Effect varies by affinity.

Blessings [3/9]:

·         [Blessing of Permanence] – Enhance the durability of your soul.

·         [Blessing of Connection] – Enhance your ability to link multiple minds together.

·         [Blessing of Frost] – Produce colder ice.

Mutations:

·         [Saint’s Eye] – Draws from the cumulative knowledge listed in the Status to enhance one’s senses, allowing them to discern details previously unseen.

·         [Divine Spark] – Grants endless inspiration when developing one’s magic.

·         [Twin Heartbeat Physique] – Massively enhances one’s physical strength, agility, flexibility, toughness, endurance, metabolism, reaction speed, natural regeneration, as well as resistance to extreme temperatures and toxins. Grants Thermal Vision, Night Vision, and Internal Sight.

·         [Dead Wintersteel Elemental] – Uses ice and gravity mana to regenerate, shapeshift, reinforce and sustain one’s body. Allows every part of one’s body to interact with souls and grow denser and larger without becoming any heavier.

·         [Merciful Spring Monarch] – Allows one to efficiently generate, utilize, and convert various magical resources, interact with and preserve the souls of others, temporarily project the stored minds into compatible vessels, or permanently infuse their souls into special eggs.

·         [Temporal Chamber] – Allows one to selectively accelerate or decelerate specific body parts using time mana.

Spectral traits [9/6]:

·         [Beacon] – Allows one to broadcast their location to their soulmate.

·         [Clarity] – Allows one to focus on a given task more easily.

·         [Multitasking] – Allows one to perform multiple independent tasks more easily.

·         [Weaving] – Boosts one’s proclivity in manipulating one-dimensional structures.

·         [Insomnia] – Eliminates the need for sleep.

·         [Scribing] – Boosts one’s proclivity in expressing meaning onto any written medium.

·         [Mimicry] – Boosts one’s awareness of their physical appearance, as well as their ability to maintain or modify it.

·         [Command] – Boosts one’s proclivity in directing any entity that can be perceived as a subordinate.

·         [Topography] – Boosts one’s spatial awareness.

Mindsets [326,900/3,100]:

·         [Percival’s Star Atlas] – Automatically tracks your movements and allows you to construct a mental map of your surroundings.

·         [Heavenly Tapestry] – A comprehensive restructuring of a mind too complex to be contained within a single body. Some functions require the consumption of mind, dream, or lightning mana.

Spells:

·         [Advanced Pure Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Air Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Water Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Lightning Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Ice Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Acid Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Sound Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Gravity Control – Masterful]

·         [Advanced Time Control – Masterful]

·         [Spectral Art: Cradle of the Savage Gods – Masterful]

·         [Hybrid Art: Fiend Bestowal – Masterful]

·         [Hybrid Art: Core Bestowal – Masterful]

·         [Ultimate Art: Hepta-Woven Arsenal – Masterful]

·         [Ultimate Art: Symphony of a Dead Winter – Extreme]

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

Alchemic principles:

·         [Extraction] – Separate and condense an ingredient’s essence.

·         [Pacification] – Delay an ingredient’s activation rate.

·         [Redirection] – Adjust an ingredient’s effect.

·         [Deattunement] – Prevent multiple conflicting ingredients from reacting with one another.

·         [Bonding] – Enrich an ingredient with crystallized pure mana.

·         [Restructuring] – Alter an ingredient's phase.

·         [Scaling] – Brew a greater volume of ingredients at once.

·         [Compression] – Elevate an ingredient to the next grade.

·         [Consolidation] – Infuse multiple similar ingredients into a concoction while eliminating the redundant alchemic steps.

·         [Recombination] – Combine ingredients of various affinities into synthetic beast mana.

Mental-type Decrees [4/5]:

·         [Phoebe’s Decree – Reserved] – Grants access to your Status. If the mental-type limit is exceeded, an attempt will be made to consolidate existing and new Decrees such that they occupy fewer slots. Additional functionality will be added in the future. This Decree cannot be discarded.

·         [Ea’s Decree – Ea’s Gift] – Grants the Saint’s Eye. This Decree can be discarded at will.

·         [Obatala’s Decree – Obatala’s Approval] – Allows you to effortlessly hold and deploy your domain in its strongest state. This Decree can be discarded at will.

·         [Ningirima’s Decree – Ningirima’s Mercy] – Grants resistance to demonic infestations. This Decree can be discarded at will.

Active-type Decrees [2/3]:

·         [Metatron’s Decree] – Open a one-way portal to the Vault of Magic at will. This Decree can be discarded at will.

·         [Kerfyl’s Decree] – Establish a spectral contract between two willing parties. Infringing upon its terms will result in the destruction of one’s soul. This Decree can be discarded at will.

Core-type Decrees [2/2]:

·         [Moirais’ Decree] – Grants the seed of a second mana core to your aspects, familiars, clones, and hosts. Life and/or mind mana may be required to germinate the seed. The acquired affinity cannot be controlled.

·         [Void Decree] – Can be activated to grant a third mana core to any of your aspects. Seventy-three mana cores and eighty percent of the corresponding aspect’s remaining lifespan will be consumed. The acquired affinity will be restricted to the consumed elements.

Bloodline-type Decrees:

·         [Iapetus’ Decree] – Grants a bloodline.

Free-type Decrees:

·         [Penitent’s Decree] – Allows one to shed small pieces of their soul to infuse into their bloodstream, producing spiritual blood.

___

Percy took it all in, appreciating how much the information had changed after a century of peaceful training. Some sections were already quite saturated and were unlikely to receive any upgrades in the near future, but there were others he planned to fill up soon.

For example, he’d spent a lot of time comparing mental-type Decrees of different factions, and had finally decided which one to stuff into his last empty slot. His Status claimed that it could potentially assimilate additional Decrees beyond its capacity, but Percy had no idea what that process would involve.

Phoebe’s Decree probably wouldn’t be able to preserve every feature of the extra Decrees. Otherwise, there would be no point in mentioning a limited capacity. For now, Percy would rather prioritize the most useful Decrees and only attempt to augment them with less important abilities later.

Of course, Percy hadn’t considered all the available options, as he had yet to visit some of the most powerful factions like Sixiang or the Moirai.

‘Perfect is the enemy of good,’ he reminded himself.

He just had to accept that some worlds were much harder to infiltrate than others. Even if he managed to investigate every single greater spring in the universe, there could always be a superior mental-type Decree hidden in some unknown lesser spring, or one that hadn’t been created yet.

Having been to several hundred of the most developed worlds, he felt he’d given the matter enough thought to single out something truly useful. Delaying its acquisition any further would hurt more than it helped. It was the next thing he was going to claim – right after planting his new familiar. And there were plenty of other missions lined up after that.

Percy had more than enough soul clones to attempt multiple such operations simultaneously, but he had decided to deal with the greater springs one at a time, so that he would be in a better position to handle any unexpected issues. Ideally, he wanted the freedom to redirect his brainpower, willpower, cords, mana, and spiritual blood to whatever task required them, instead of having to ration them between clones.

It would delay his expeditions slightly, but the wasted time would be a drop in the ocean compared to the century he’d already waited, or how long he still had until his next promotion. Besides, the rest of his clones wouldn’t be twiddling their alien thumbs – they’d be continuing their eternal survey of the universe, constantly uncovering new destinations and mouth-watering treasures for Percy to look forward to.

‘The clone’s in place,’ Nephthys said, jolting Percy out of his thoughts. ‘Are we absolutely sure about the planet? We won’t be able to move the seed through the seal once there’s a non-plant soul inside it.’

Metatron’s enchantments had only made an exception for the unique flavour of spirituality that resided within plants, probably because it was easier to differentiate from the souls of animals and sapients, and because it allowed Percy to transfer valuable herbs across planets. Placing the Yaksha soul into the seed likely wouldn’t change the soul’s type, but Percy’s own wisp would.

‘We went over this. It can’t be Remior, Melodia, or Gallimus, otherwise we’ll just doom our friends. It needs to be a faction that can take care of itself.’

The peak factions wouldn’t have any reason to track down the new sapling at first, but they would eventually put their karmic trackers to work once weird things started happening to their own saplings as a consequence of Percy’s actions.

The good news was that the first-generation sapling would be a great boon for its new home, so its people would have every incentive to hide and protect it.

They might not want it to evolve into a true Elemental Source on their main planet and force all their children to be born with a life affinity, but the greater spring Percy had picked was more than advanced enough to move even a fully grown World Tree to a different planet if push came to shove. As for all the other implications of this move... he’d considered them carefully and felt that the benefits greatly outweighed the drawbacks.

With his mind made up, Percy lent his domains to his alien host – a random rabbit-like creature he’d found in the wilderness – and dug out a pit just wide enough for the seed but around eighty metres deep.

Percy transferred a tank’s worth of Clear life mana that he had stored inside his spatial seal in anticipation of this mission through the cord, pouring it all into the pit.

The seed looked healthy enough that it shouldn’t need any external life mana to take root, but Percy had no idea what the Moirais’ Decree would do to his new familiar. It definitely worked on regular plants, since it had given the Yaksha a secondary earth affinity. In the case of the sentient forest, a series of Orange nodes had formed in the trunks of every tree, which had disappointingly accomplished very little besides giving their sap the properties of two separate alchemic ingredients at the same time.

Either way, the World Tree was an Elemental Source – not a common plant – so Percy wasn’t sure whether his new familiar would even possess a mana core, let alone whether it could awaken another one. If the sapling inherited the Moirais’ Decree, the second core would certainly try to suck the life mana out of the seed itself. Percy had to provide his familiar with an alternative reservoir of life mana to prevent the Decree from killing it.

With his seal mostly empty, Percy was able to transfer the seed through the cord as well, though he couldn’t help but hesitate for a few seconds. He’d treasured and protected the priceless object for decades, so he was naturally unwilling to send it off to a foreign – possibly hostile – planet.

‘It’s fine... This was always the plan,’ he told himself as the dazzling seed vanished from his main body’s sight and splashed into the well of Clear mana at its destination. ‘They won’t find it immediately, anyway. It’ll have to grow for a while before it draws any attention. By then, the locals will know what they’re dealing with and won’t dare to harm it...’

Only one final step remained.

Nephthys passed Percy the Yaksha’s soul, which he gently wrapped within a large chunk of his own. He’d grown skilled enough with his bloodline to send out a compressed clone in an instant, and he could use dream mana to enrich his cords to provide his counterparts with as much mana as they might need, but he wasn’t going to compress the wisp this time. He needed a larger wisp to carry and balance out his friends’ soul, and it wouldn’t hurt to saturate it with an extra stash of phantom mana like the good old days.

Before severing the wisp, he withdrew the influence of two of his spectral traits from that part of his soul, leaving only Command, Insomnia, Mimicry, and Scribing within it. It was only a temporary thing, as he wasn’t capable of permanently discarding his traits – Topography and Weaving would spread back into the wisp in mere moments.

But he wouldn’t give them a chance to do that.

Activating his bloodline at last, he launched the clone containing the Yaksha’s soul toward the rabbit clone standing over the seed, with the reduced set of spectral traits frozen in place. This was a skill that Percy had developed under Zoris’ guidance over the past century, in preparation for this very mission.

His soul clones were basically “dead” chunks of his soul, preserved by his bloodline and prevented from degrading. That was what kept their set of traits frozen. The problem was that his wisp would be reborn into a new lifeform once it turned into a familiar, and having too many spectral traits could cause its soul to collapse.

Percy had only possessed three traits when he had created his wasp familiar, so Nephthys had started off with the same number that anyone with a reinforced soul could support. Percy had only needed to keep supplying her with soul mana augmented with the Blessing of Permanence at regular intervals to prevent her soul from collapsing – something which was no longer a problem after their fusion.

But the Lone Wanderer had since absorbed two additional traits, which his new familiar might not be able to handle. Three, technically, but Command didn’t count.

Maybe Percy was just being overly paranoid, since he hadn’t been able to test any of his theories. Delving into unexplored territory with no margin for error meant anticipating everything that could go wrong and planning around it.

The exact combination of traits didn’t really matter. Percy wasn’t sure which abilities might prove useful for the familiar, but he could still grant it the rest via a clone until it turned into an aspect.

And yes... this time, he was going into the project with the awareness that the new familiar was more likely to end up as another aspect than not.

He wasn’t going to rush the fusion, but he was also planning to keep the seed possessed by a second soul clone and permanently linked with him via Dream Harmony from the very start, so that he would be able to intervene more easily if something went wrong.

Percy’s anxiety peaked as he waited for his disembodied clone to reach the seed, even though he could more or less track the wisp’s location through his Star Atlas.

It wasn’t until the two souls entered the “stillborn” body of the seed that Percy allowed himself to take a deep breath, only to hold his breath again a moment later.

‘The easy bit’s over... now let’s see if this weird concoction of souls I’ve brewed up can sprout into something viable...’

________________________

________________________

A/N: Book 6 went live on Kindle yesterday, so if you want to freshen up on the story, re-read the polished version of the book, or just support the series, you can do so here.

The audiobook has unfortunately been delayed slightly, so you'll have to wait until Nov. 4th for that one :/ Apologies for the inconvenience.