Percy double and triple checked his math, to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. No matter how he reasoned about it, the result was clear as day, however. Even after eating the leaf, he’d fall short of reaching Violet by over three thousand years.

And the worst thing was the knowledge that this could have been avoided, if only he hadn’t lost so much time during his childhood. Had Percy consumed a leaf, obtained his second core, and gained access to the Aurora Dew as soon as he awakened, he could have lived nearly twenty thousand years, reaching Violet with time to spare!

‘No sense in crying over cracked eggs,’ he decided, shaking the pointless thoughts out of his head.

He couldn’t change his past any more than he could change his birth grade. Still, that didn’t mean that all hope was lost. Percy was only thirty-seven years old right now, and he’d accomplished so much with his bloodline in so little time. There was no telling what he could achieve in the next fifteen thousand years.

It was a bit of a bummer that his first greater spring since the Moirai couldn’t do enough to get him to the next grade, but it would still bring him so much closer. And there were hundreds of worlds as advanced or more for him to visit.

‘Let’s be real though… most of them are relying on either Crystallization or the saplings. I already got my second core from the Moirai and I doubt I can copy the divine beasts’ methods. I wonder how many discoveries are left that are still applicable to me…’ he reminded himself, tempering his expectations.

The good news was that Percy had a lead of his own to test. Between his boosting art, the compression principle, the Vault’s runecrafting and pre-casting, he still hoped to give himself an artificial advancement. Reaching that goal might require a lot of time or several additional insights, but he was confident that he could make it happen. After all, the Dance of the Savage Gods already did most of the heavy lifting.

If Percy succeeded, he would skip a grade and triple his lifespan without delaying his next advancement. For all intents and purposes, it would be like turning himself into a fake Orange-born, since all his future promotions would effectively require a tenth of their original cleansing time to reach. Even better, this would automatically give him the extra bit of time he would be missing toward his fifth natural promotion after eating the leaf. All of these effects would compound nicely, allowing him to reach White with ease!

Depending on how early he gave himself the artificial advancement, Percy might end up quite close to the Clear grade – just a step away from becoming a demigod, forging his internal world and attaining godhood. Thinking about that, he suddenly felt a lot better. Especially since his host had already provided him with another clue as to where he could get the final push he would be missing!

‘Those first-generation leaves that triple your lifespan… Will they still work on me after I eat one of yours?’

Kassorith shrugged. ‘They will, but don’t expect the effects to stack. You’ll only get the difference – an extra one-and-a-half times multiplier after the second-generation leaf.’

‘How do you know that if you don’t have them?’

‘It’s been tested extensively. Our allies might be stingy with their saplings and seeds, but they’re more than willing to reward our strongest demigods with one of the better leaves in exchange for exemplary contributions to the Void Hand.’

‘Is there a chance we can win one during the final rounds of the tournament?’ Percy asked, some hope finding its way into his voice.

Giving himself an artificial advancement was far from a certainty, but the combination of that and a first-generation leaf would actually be enough for him to reach his goal.

‘No way,’ Kassorith said, bursting his bubble. ‘Our leaders keep most of the leaves for their own people. Even the few they give us would never end up in an event meant for Blues or Violets – no matter how talented we are. In fact, don’t expect to find any of the second-generation leaves in the prize pool either. The organizers don’t bother to offer them, since all the participants have already eaten one by the time they are eligible to register.’

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Percy nodded, not letting his host’s words get to him. He’d never expected this to be easy, but the path forward was clear at last.

His best bet was still to get the leaf from Syrreneth. After returning home, he would have to work on upgrading his boosting art as quickly as possible. Of course, that would have to wait until after he created his wasp familiar, since Nephthys’s pyramid had already started showing signs of decay – even before he set out for Thess’kala. Finally, Percy would have to continue sending out clones and searching aggressively for more greater springs, looking for one of the planets with a first-generation sapling – or something equally useful.

If he managed to complete all three of those steps fast enough, he would be on track to become the first Red-born god in the universe!

Forcing himself to calm down, he shifted his attention to something else.

‘Have you seen anything like this before?’ he asked, showing Kassorith an image of his family’s jade tree. Naturally, he removed the background and any other distinguishing features that might allow his host to link the strange plant to humanity or Remior.

‘It’s definitely a World Tree sapling,’ Kassorith confirmed, though his next few words smothered Percy’s growing enthusiasm right in its crib. ‘Third-…? No. Probably fourth- or even fifth-generation. I’ve never been to our tree before, but I’ve seen plenty of illustrations. They look almost identical – save for the size difference. Where did you find it?’

‘Just some barren world. I don’t know its name,’ Percy lied. Then again, that might be exactly where the Divine Order had found the plant, before bringing it back to Remior and gifting it to his family. ‘Would its leaves also extend one’s lifespan? Don’t tell me I should have grabbed a handful while I had the chance.’

‘You’re overthinking it. Only first- and second-generation leaves do that. Third-generation leaves only have some minor healing properties, but the one you showed me probably doesn’t even have that. It’s only good for meditating on life magic. Even then, its effect should be a far cry from a true Elemental Source’s. Lower-generation saplings have leaked to lesser springs and barren worlds a long time ago. By now, they’re pretty widespread, though I doubt many of the people living there know of their origin. It’s really not that surprising that you stumbled upon one, considering your bloodline.’

Percy sighed. This was only to be expected, though he wouldn’t have said no to a way of boosting his relatives’ lifespans – even slightly.

‘What about the original World Tree? Are its leaves more effective than the first-generation saplings’?’

Kassorith frowned. ‘Possibly. Nobody knows, since the war started almost as soon as the World Tree was discovered. By the time people learned of that effect, none of the original leaves remained. If you want to know the answer to that question… well…’

The Thess’kalan didn’t complete his sentence, but his meaning was clear. Percy would have to unite or destroy all thirteen of the saplings, allowing a new World Tree to emerge. Perhaps it was an impossible dream. The Moirai, the Void Hand and the divine beasts had all failed to do that – what hope did a lone mortal from some backwater planet even have?

Then again, Percy could go where nobody else could. Maybe there was a chance. And if his experiments with the Dance failed, this might become a necessity.

‘It’s something to consider if the opportunity arises and I run out of alternatives. For now, I should focus on the tournament and Syrreneth. No matter what, I can’t afford to leave this place without everything I want.’

‘If you’re done interrogating me, I’d like to grab something to eat,’ Kassorith suddenly said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Percy nodded, remembering that his host’s body was still that of an adolescent. It hadn’t mattered much during their fight with the plasma mage, but they had yet to regain their full size since they used their bloodline after the third round. And they would need a lot of food to give Kassorith the height and mass he was missing. Based on what the Blue had explained, consuming his own discarded body was by far the most effective way to recover, followed by eating the corpse of another Thess’kalan. Regular food barely even did anything.

Luckily, the tournament held a banquet for the participants during the intermission – both the winners and the losers were allowed to join. Kassorith didn’t even wait for a response, already slithering out of their private cavern. Summoning one of his flying greatswords, he rode it toward one of the neighbouring pillars – the same one where the finals would be held – before entering a tunnel near its mid-section.

It was time for them to unwind a little.

‘Go on then,’ Percy said. ‘I’m not sure how much restoring your body will help, but we’ll need every advantage we can get. I bet our next fights will be a lot tougher…’