A grey comet slammed a few inches below Percy’s chest, his wisp trying to burrow into the tiny hole in his soul. It was having some trouble since the injury had mostly healed over the years, leaving only a faint scar behind. That said, it would have squeezed in already if it had been just that – Percy’s soul would have retracted a little inward to make space for it.

There was another problem, however.

Looking at the clone, Percy noticed there was an object hidden inside it. Well, two of them actually, but the spatial seal had no trouble passing into the rest of his soul, as it didn’t have to interact with his flesh. Meanwhile, the second item exhibited a dual nature – it could touch both his soul and his body, so it appeared to be blocked by his skin.

Soon, a rush of memories flooded his mind, making him dizzy. The clone had spent months on… Melodia… From his perspective, at least. There was a lot to take in, and just the bits and pieces at the forefront of the clone’s thoughts were almost enough to give him a heart attack.

But Percy shoved everything aside for now, still having the clarity of mind to clasp the object in front of his chest with both hands, not giving it a chance to slip away. The clone’s mana was holding it in place for now, yet he couldn’t afford to allow an accident to occur.

Only after he had worn the ring on his finger and clenched his fist tightly did the wisp finally meld into his soul, attaching itself to the rest.

‘Paranoid much?!’ Zoris’s aged voice rang through his mind, laced with irritation. ‘You really think I’d try to escape after all that? I’m not even sure I can find the way back to the lake on my own…’

Percy shrugged, not fully trusting the elder. The others noticed the commotion, soon gathering around him. Their eyes scanned him with concern, before landing on the grey ring.

“Has your clone finally returned?” Elaine asked, getting a nod back. “Man, this one has been gone for years! Anything good?”

Nesha remained quiet, but she looked no less curious than his cousin.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand, he took a couple minutes to sort through the most important things.

The strange reunion… the recovery of his memories… a trek through a bright forest… endless battles… countless losses… an Elemental Source… a storm of sickles... a dance of silver flames... and, of course, a Ring of Sacrilege.

He frowned, trying to decide what to share and what to leave behind. Percy was usually pretty open with the girls about his secrets, since he trusted both of them with his life. But the ring… the lake… those weren’t just his secrets. If they leaked at some point, it wouldn’t just be Percy paying the price. It would be all of Melodia.

‘I guess I should just tell them about my spells and keep the rest vague. I’ll return the ring as soon as I get the blessing, and I’ll never speak about it again.’

For anyone who wondered where his blessing had come from, he’d have to make up a story. Not that he felt confident in coming up with a believable alternative for something this big, but it wasn’t like people could locate Melodia without his help. If it was that easy, the Mirror Lake would have been discovered eons ago.

In any case, if he got captured by the Divine Order he was screwed anyway, so it was mostly Metatron he had to worry about. The titan was bound to notice the altered qualities of his mana, so it might be a good idea to learn to suppress them before returning to the Vault – if possible. Even if it wasn’t, he would still take the risk. This wasn’t the kind of opportunity he could afford to let slip.

“Plenty of good things.” he ultimately said, a grin forming on his face.

Taking a few deep breaths, he activated Circulation with his soul core, but he didn’t stop there. Carefully recalling his actions by the Mirror Lake, he expelled some mana from his channels, allowing it to swirl into a bunch of silver yarn balls floating next to him. Igniting them took a few seconds, since he wasn’t used to doing it without the Source’s help, but the constructs eventually lit up in a cascade of flames, dancing playfully around his sternum, spiralling in and out of the maelstrom.

“You got it?!” Elaine asked, her voice a mixture of excitement and bitterness.

He knew she was happy for him, but she hadn’t hidden her own frustration over the years, after failing to complete her own version of the boosting art. So far, she had merely copied him, extending a bunch of azure whirlpools from her channels, but she had no idea how to tailor them to her affinity. It wasn’t as bad as his soul mana, since the pattern on her skin was static at least, but her version of the spell wasn’t much better than Circulation yet.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Did it register?” Nesha asked, her voice a little calmer.

She was also interested, as Percy had shown her the spell too, but she was even farther behind than his cousin at the moment. She’d started working on it later, and she had two affinities to worry about. One was rare like his own, so she’d probably have to overcome even more obstacles than Elaine to make it work. The other should be simpler, but it wouldn’t play as central a role in the upcoming fight due to her second core’s lower grade.

“It did! It’s funny actually… This is my first time registering the same spell twice.”

Opening his Status, Percy checked the spell section, curious to see the changes.

___

Spells:

* [Wild Art: Alchemist’s Intuition – Crude]

* [Concussive Blast – Crude]

* [Soul-to-soul – Crude]

* [Secret Art: Soul Resonance – Refined]

* [Wild Art: Greater Foresight – Refined]

* [Wild Art: Grim Dance – Refined]

* [Spiritforged Cauldron – Refined]

* [Soul Conversion – Refined]

* [Replicating Soul Harvester – Refined]

* [Reinforcement – Refined]

* [Synchronization – Refined]

* [Vengeful Weapons – Refined]

* [Spectral Art: Phantomscale Regalia – Masterful]

* [Hybrid Art: Core Bestowal – Masterful]

* [Dance of the Savage Gods – Masterful]

___

‘Okay, I guess it makes sense it only got listed once.’

It appeared Phoebe’s Decree was a little smarter than he gave it credit for. It seemed to recognize it was the same spell, even if there were some differences from one affinity to another.

Percy had wondered at times how his Status decided what to name his spells. His own knowledge and intentions were clearly taken into account, to an extent. If not, it wouldn’t have retained the same names that Micky’s ancestors had used. If he had first learned the spell on Felmara, it might have registered as “Mana Flow” instead. If Percy really wanted a spell to be called something specific, he was confident his Status would honour his wishes.

Then again, the titaness had clearly built some creative freedom into her Decree, as he was pretty sure things like “Spiritforged Effigy” hadn’t sprouted solely out of his own brain.

Whatever the case, it appeared that Phoebe wanted to help people develop their spells. To what end, he still had no idea. Maybe he would ask her one day. Assuming she didn’t kill him first, of course…

Shifting his attention back to his own arsenal, he couldn’t help but notice how bloated the list had gotten over the years. He already had fifteen entries! Three of them at Masterful too!

Granted, other than his scythes or the Dance, he hadn’t upgraded anything else during his time in the Valley, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t practiced them. Percy had used all his combat spells countless times against the beasts, honing both his fighting style and his magic to perfection. Specifically, both Grim Dance and Greater Foresight had grown a lot stronger, allowing him to peer a little farther into the future. At times, he was able to see a couple of alternative possibilities at once, allowing him to choose the best course of action. He was pretty sure that both Wild Arts were on the verge of an upgrade.

‘For now, let’s try to incorporate my new Refined spell into my fighting style.’

Lifting his eyes, he saw that the others were still looking at him expectantly. Chuckling, he placed his hands on their shoulders. Stirring his soul a little, he tried to move it as close to his skin as he could. His main body’s soul felt more rigid than his clone’s, but he got there after a few seconds. Next, he bridged the remaining gap with his mana.

The girls gasped upon feeling the connection to him, but Percy ignored their surprise, sending a few carefully curated images of his fight against the Green mantis. He focused on his and Sol’s insights surrounding the boosting art. They weren’t directly applicable to his companions in their current state, but maybe they could draw some inspiration from that to pave their own path.

Next, he left Elaine to ponder over the information on her own, before chatting with Nesha privately. He told her about Zoris, though he merely described him as “a passenger on his soul” that was “related to that ring”. He asked her to help him verify the old man wasn’t lying. Of course, he left some of the more sensitive information out, which made interrogating him a little trickier.

He had the god answer a few generic questions to his girlfriend, such as “did you tell Percy the truth?” or “did you leave anything important out?” or “are you plotting against him in any way?” Only after she was done vetting him did Percy allow himself to relax.

‘Happy now?! I’m not even sure what you were expecting. Why would I lie about my past with Svarog? Or about how I got to the lake?’

Percy shrugged.

‘You could have lied about what your blessing does.’

Zoris didn’t have any eyes, but Percy was pretty sure he would have rolled them if he did, practically feeling the former god’s annoyance ooze through their bond. But he didn’t linger on that.

Taking out his right gauntlet, he modified the fingerguards slightly. He left some extra space for the ring to sit comfortably within, while also making the construct box the object in more tightly, so that it wouldn’t slip away during a moment of inattention. From here on out, Percy fully intended to sleep with the darn thing on, until the blessing seeped into his core.

‘Is there anything I can do to speed the process up?’

‘Feed your mana into the ring and back to your core. It should happen on its own over time, since our bodies always passively circulate tiny amounts of mana. But you can get there faster if you focus on it… Actually, I’ve never seen a spell like that boosting art of yours… I wouldn’t be surprised if it cuts the time further.’

Nodding, Percy left the makeshift camp once more – just a bunch of jagged boulders, really – looking for something to practice his spells on.

It was time to start consolidating that bloated list of his…