Percy found himself on the ground, near Micky.

Unlike the last time, their mana hadn’t gone berserk – largely because they’d mentally prepared themselves for the unlocked memory. Even while immersed in his friend’s thoughts, Percy had retained some awareness of his own body, and he was willing to bet the same was true of his familiar. Perhaps, the presence of a third mind – his clone – had helped too.

However, that didn’t mean nothing had changed.

Examining himself, Percy gasped as he noticed what had happened to the two cords linking him to the crow. Previously, one of the connections had been rooted near his sternum, whereas the second link had been located a few inches below that.

Right now, his soul had deformed slightly, bringing the two cords closer. Leaving his body, the ethereal threads were twisted together, rolled into a single, larger cord. It spiralled all the way to Micky, before splitting off into two parts again, one sinking into the bird’s soul as the other was attached to the clone.

Even more strangely, both cords were currently in their empowered state, even though everyone involved had stopped paying attention to them a long time ago.

‘How is this possible?’

Examining the weird structure again, he soon understood what exactly had happened. There was some soul mana constantly travelling around the two cords by itself, without anyone’s input. It had somehow formed a stable, self-sustaining loop.

“Hey, are you seeing this?” he asked out loud, not ready to tamper with the connection just yet.

“I can see our souls got a little deformed, but that’s about it. Why aren’t we using the cords to speak?” the crow asked back, though Percy wasn’t sure whether it was the familiar or the clone who had said that.

Micky’s eyes came with passive Soul Vision thanks to his Soul Predator mutation. This allowed him to see souls, but it wasn’t as good as Percy’s mutation in the sensory department. The latter could even see the ethereal cords directly, thanks to his Secret Art feeding into the Sorcerer’s Eye. This was why he had been the first to realize what was going on.

‘I guess we’re gonna have to,’

Percy shrugged, this time answering through the cord. ‘Something weird is happening with our connections. It could be a good thing, but I’m not sure how robust it is just yet.’

‘Well, I don’t know what you saw, but I can hear you just fine,’ the clone replied.

This time, Percy knew it was him, because he could differentiate which of the cords the message had come from. To his relief, their brief conversation just now hadn’t disturbed the strange balance either, the two cords still feeding mana into one another.

Seeing this, his heart skipped a beat. If they could keep this up, it would do wonders when they trained and fought together in the future. Maintaining both the Carnival and two instances of Soul Resonance was a little much, so the value of automating some of it couldn’t be overstated.

But there was one final thing they had to check, to make sure this was truly usable.

Gathering as much mana as he could from his core, he pushed it through the connection. At the same time, his gaze remained glued to the cords. Sure enough, the mana travelled through the empowered connection unimpeded, without even disturbing the passive flow there.

‘Thanks… I guess?’ the clone said upon receiving the mana, clearly oblivious as to why he had sent it.

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Percy didn’t even get a chance to explain himself when his Status broke its silence.

[Congratulations! Your spell has evolved: Secret Art: Soul Resonance – Refined - Secret Art: Soul Harmony – Refined!]

‘Fascinating…’

Over the next few minutes, Percy brought the clone up to speed. Next, the two talked about their new spell, speculating about its uses. Even though its tier hadn’t changed, it would be far more impactful than its predecessor.

‘What do you think will happen if I leave Micky’s body though? I hope it’s not too difficult to recreate this with a new clone…’

Percy frowned for a few seconds as he contemplated his counterpart’s words, before ultimately shaking his head.

‘It shouldn’t be too hard. Even without Micky recalling a new memory, we can manually twist our souls and the cords. They’re quite malleable, after all. I don’t think my Status would have bothered to register the upgrade if I didn’t have the means to reproduce it at will.’

That said, he doubted he would be able to use the new spell with his regular clones. For that to work, he would obviously have to send them out in pairs. Even then, it was entirely possible the clones would just fuse into one, undoing all his efforts. Regardless, it was something to test in the future. For now, he was more than happy that he could use this with Micky...

‘Right, Micky!’

Percy felt the urge to slap himself. With all the confusion about the cords, he had forgotten to check up on his friend. The memory the crow had just recovered had been quite an emotional one. No wonder he had remained silent all this time. Walking up to the giant bird, he squatted next to his face, gently placing his hand on the crow’s beak.

“Micky… how are you feeling?”

The crow let out a melancholic sigh. He had clearly regained awareness a while ago, but he hadn’t been in the mood to join their conversation.

“My family… They were good people… I didn’t even know how much I missed them until now…”

His eyes seemed to regain their focus as they looked at Percy.

“Say, did I tell you what happened to my father before I lost my memories?”

Percy felt a lump form in his throat, not knowing how to respond. He didn’t have to be a genius to tell where his friend was going with this. No, he didn’t know what had happened to the man – the old Micky had never even mentioned him.

But he didn’t want to give him false hope.

It was clear from the memory that Micky’s father had loved his family dearly. Percy couldn’t imagine him ever abandoning them of his own volition. Since he hadn’t been with them in the other memory, there was a very good chance that he was dead. Yet, he didn’t want to lie to Micky either.

In the end, he just shook his head.

“I see…” the crow muttered, sinking into his thoughts.

Percy plopped back on Micky’s wing, using the soft feathers as a cushion. The two just gazed at the drifting globules around them, remaining silent for a couple hours. They were both tired, but they shouldn’t have any issue dealing with any beasts – should any show up. As for their training… Well, that could wait a little longer.

Eventually, Micky spoke again.

“Percy… Can we go back one day? To Huehue, I mean.”

“It was always my intention, buddy. I’ve promised you already, didn’t I?”

Micky nodded.

“I know… But I don’t just want revenge anymore… Sure, I want to get back at that Rhaziel guy and all his conspirators for everything they did to my world. And I want to help free my people… Yet, I want so much more now… I want to learn what happened to my father… To see those places in my memories with my own two eyes… Even that bloody coliseum and those frozen wastelands… Not that any of it was fun, but it was mine – you know? I want to visit the Dying Hero’s village – if it still exists. I want to hear the Second Hero’s story too – the god who invented the Dance – if there is one… And to learn more about my heritage.”

Micky turned his head away, not daring to look Percy in the eyes. But he continued speaking.

“I know I’m being selfish. You have your own goals, and you don’t even know if it’ll be possible to reach them… Yet, here I am, asking you to go out of your way to take me to some faraway planet occupied by hostile gods… I–”

“You don’t have to say anything else, Micky.” Percy stopped him, gripping the crow’s wing tightly. “We’re a team, remember? Your goals are just as important as mine. We’re going back to Huehue together. I’m not just doing it for you either. I’m quite interested in those places too. Both your father and that Dying Hero were amazing people… Let’s learn more about them.”

Micky turned to face him again, his eyes burning brightly once more.

“We need to get stronger first. A lot stronger.”

Percy nodded, leaping back to his feet. Taking a series of deep breaths, he activated his boosting art, before stretching his limbs and cracking his fists. Taking the hint, Micky stood up too, both of their souls singing with new resolve.

“Yes, Micky. Yes, we do.”