The Lone Wanderer

Chapter 586 – Percy’s fourth fiend

“Are you sure about this?” Orin asked.

The senior alchemist was sitting opposite Percy, dressed in his usual blue robes. There was a decoration resembling a pot of tulips on the table separating them, the wooden flowers partially obscuring Percy’s vision.

He sighed. “Kinda. Metatron’s test said that I could absorb one more. I’m sure that he would have told me if hewasn’t confident.”

The titan didn’t exactly have Percy’s best interests at heart, but he most certainly had his own. He had nothing to gain by recklessly causing Percy’s death. Then again, the god’s intentions weren’t the only thing at play. Metatron could have just as easily made a mistake since Percy was about to attempt something unprecedented, so he could never be a hundred percent certain that it would work.

‘I wish Zoris was here,’ he thought, smiling bitterly.

Percy missed having the ancient ring wraith by his side. Sure, he could always consult with Nephthys, but the Amenthei goddess wasn’t nearly as knowledgeable about the broader cosmos or matters of soul affinities and spectral traits.

Phoebe might know more than Percy’s new familiar. Sadly, she had yet to show up after their previous meeting. He didn’t think that she would go back on her word regarding the mindset, but the titaness must have genuinely not kept tabs on him. Segregating his memories would have to wait until she checked up on him – which he guessed would happen in a few weeks at the latest.

This was why he’d decided to absorb the fiend first. It was something that he genuinely dreaded, and not just due to the uncertainty involved, but also the inevitable pain.

Technically, Percy did have the option of returning to Melodia to discuss the matter with Zoris, but it sounded like too much trouble for something that even the former deity might not be able to help with.

‘Well, I do need to bring Sol more Aurora Dew at some point. Not today though…’

The Melodians had probably finished drinking the previous batch already, reaching the next grade. Originally, Percy hadn’t planned to send them more elixirs, because he’d been on the run and short of resources, but things had changed greatly since then.

With Remior’s entire supply of nectar at his fingertips, brewing enough Aurora Dew to last a few dozen Green-borns for a couple of years wouldn’t be a big issue. That way, Melodia would obtain a lot of Blues to push back against the army of invading beasts. Meanwhile, he could supply Sol and Doh with over a decade’s worth of elixirs, to get them to their second advancement.

However, Percy’s friends had yet to request his assistance, meaning that their situation was still stable. Sol and her people were probably still busy trying to absorb the blessing, so it was too early for him to retrieve the Ring of Sacrilege.

Sol had kept broadcasting her signals periodically, giving Percy a way back to her planet in case he wished to return, though he hadn’t sensed any urgency so far.

On the flipside, Percy couldn’t always be available either. In fact, he’d recently spent several months without checking the signals during his long mission to the Vault, since his cords had been occupied.

This was something that he and Sol had discussed during his previous visit. Percy couldn’t afford to reserve a clone for years on end, and Sol might also need to skip one of her weekly invitations occasionally. They both had to be careful not to end up in a desperate situation.

‘I should leave a mark on Melodia using Ludwick’s Compass at some point, so that I’m not fully reliant on Sol’s trait…’ he realized.

Percy didn’t want anything bad to happen to his friend, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. The Mirror Lake was more important than ever now that he understood how much it would help with his divine ascension. He was also the only source of external help for the Melodians. Staking everything on the survival of a single person wasn’t ideal.

Regardless, that was a matter for later. Percy wasn’t going to send a clone right now just to deliver a few elixirs, place a mark and have a chat with Zoris.

‘Let’s stop postponing it then,’ he thought, getting off the couch and sitting cross-legged on the floor.

He gently kicked the nearby furniture away to avoid breaking anything or staining his stuff with blood and sweat if things got nasty. Next, he pulled several gemstone vials from his seal, forming a messy pile next to him.

The small vessels contained Green healing potions – the highest grade that he could currently brew. Physical healing wouldn’t help that much if his soul got torn to shreds, but it was better than nothing. He’d long learned that mending one part of one’s existence had a positive impact on the rest.

Percy had asked around for Orange plants with a soul affinity, hoping to brew something more potent. Sadly, it didn’t sound like anyone on Remior cultivated them, and he wasn’t going to embark on a quest to find ingredients that might not even exist, nor waste weeks inventing a new alchemic recipe.

“If the healing potions prove insufficient, you can use these,” he told Orin, passing the Blue another set of vials as he sat by Percy’s side. A similar green fluid swirled inside them, but the life mana in this batch didn’t register in Percy’s Mana Sense.

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This was naturally the divine mana that he had brought from the Vault – Percy’s compensation from Metatron after being forced to repair Cassiel’s second core with his own means due to the deficiencies in the artificial world’s system.

The senior alchemist nodded, though his gaze remained tense. Percy couldn’t blame his mentor for being worried. It was a huge responsibility that he’d dumped onto the poor Blue. Percy would have also been anxious if it had been one of his loved ones about to do something this crazy.

That said, Percy and Orin weren’t planning to attempt this by themselves.

***

Micky sat crossed-legged inside his humble hut, waiting for his counterpart to begin the operation.

He’d spent the past year helping his relatives stabilize their new territory. The neighbouring families had been wary of him from as early as when he was slaughtering Blues left and right, but forcefully seizing control of the Alchemists’ Guild and freeing his grandfather had naturally tuned the nobles’ concerns up to eleven.

Following Archibald’s triumphant return, the other Houses had meekly returned the stolen towns to House Avalon. They’d even gone so far as to willingly offer up some of their own land to sweeten the pot, as compensation for their shameless transgressions.

Even if they hadn’t been afraid of Percy or Archibald – which they most certainly had been – anyone with a functioning brain would have wanted to ingratiate themselves to Remior’s rising star. Whether they got their hands on Aurora Dew this century hinged on that.

Micky had spent most of this time travelling around the Camelot province, helping his relatives rebuild their towns – both the ones that they had originally owned, as well as those that used to belong to House Tantalus.

Those with the Clone bloodline provided labour, while Micky contributed in his own way – either through his magiscript skills, or his knowledge of building concrete houses. This was something he had learned from Sengo years ago, but never had a chance to put into practice.

Elaine had overseen the operation – partly for security reasons, partly as an excuse to hang out with him, and partly to work on her boosting art under his guidance. His cousin had already taught Galahad the water version of the Dance, and the veteran Blue had passed them the acid and lightning patterns of Circulation, which he had promptly relayed to the Starry Queen and Nephthys.

However, the external flow for the lightning and acid affinities was still a work in progress. Galahad, Elaine, and the royal wasps were jointly trying to figure it out, offering each other tips and ideas with Micky’s help.

Most recently, his cousin had acquired an earth and mud affinity as well – on top of three additional composite elements that she should be able to develop later – but the new mana types would have to wait for now. The good news was that they already knew the earth pattern of Circulation thanks to Nesha.

Perhaps, Micky would be able to learn the external flow from her too – if she had figured it out in his absence. He had to head to Twilight City pretty soon anyway, because his lightning-granting treasure was close to expiring.

Either way, Elaine was currently by his side. The hut they were in was one that Micky had personally built in Bogside town, right where his old home used to be. He’d done his best to make the new house resemble the previous one as closely as possible, though he’d built this one out of concrete.

His cousin was mostly here for moral support – since there wasn’t much that she could do if anything went wrong – but she luckily wasn’t alone. Archibald had also left their mansion the day before to join them, in case his grandson needed help.

A patriarch leaving his home was generally ill-advised, as it could leave a noble House open to an invasion, but Galahad was more than powerful enough to fend off most threats. Besides, it was silly to worry about Archibald’s absence after the old man had spent the past few years missing. His grandfather would have never returned in the first place if not for him.

“I’ll try to heal you if necessary, but I’m not sure how effective life mana will be on a body made of ice,” the Violet said.

Micky sighed. “I know. Hopefully, I’m just being overly paranoid and won’t actually need any help. At most, the two of you might have to hold me down so that I don’t hurt myself.”

Elaine swallowed hard, clearly worried about him. Truth be told, the elemental body wouldn’t do much, as it didn’t possess the soul affinity. However, his soul was shared between the two bodies, so there was no way that he wouldn’t be affected.

***

“I’m ready if you are,” Percy told Orin, getting a nod back from his mentor as his counterpart in Bogside town did the same with his relatives.

Activating his boosting art, he gathered some phantom mana to his fingertips, inflicting a series of narrow but deep incisions across his soul. This was already difficult to tolerate for the average person, though it was nothing to somebody half as experienced as him.

It was the next part that he dreaded.

Percy only injured the piece of his soul currently inside his human body. It should be more than enough to attract a fiend. The last creature that he had summoned had taken a while and his mana output hadn’t increased much since then, but he didn’t mind spending a few days on this if necessary.

Allowing the grey mana to spill out of his wounds, he laced it with thoughts of pain and fear, trying to present himself as an injured animal. He even withdrew his domain to avoid scaring the fiends off, having no idea how his powerful willpower would affect them.

Thus, he began the arduous process of luring his fourth fiend to Remior.

Several hours later, he was forced to take a break. He wasn’t working alone this time, and the others needed sleep. Resuming the operation the following morning, he kept at it for the whole day before stopping late in the evening again.

Every day, he saturated the area around his residence with more soul mana, using a hastily-drawn mana-gathering array to retain as much of it as possible overnight. His neighbours had probably realized that something strange was going on, and they had likely even connected it to the boosting art that everyone on Remior knew that he possessed, but it was fine as long as he didn’t openly demonstrate the spell to strangers.

Thankfully, his target finally arrived an hour or two before he gave up for the day.

The fiend burrowed into one of Percy’s open wounds, worming its way through his channels. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but he didn’t mind that much.

Using his phantom mana, he pinched the spectral entity in place, softly probing it with his willpower to discern its shape. His findings caused his expression to twist into a grimace, however. This was practically the worst-case scenario – other than dying of course.

“What’s wrong? Is it a useless one?” Orin asked, clearly having noticed that something was off.

Percy didn’t immediately respond, scanning the ethereal creature a second time to make sure before saying anything. It resembled some kind of spider, with over a dozen frail legs flailing erratically, their joints bent in all the wrong directions.

An Argalios.

“Worse than useless,” Percy spat, his heart sinking. “I’ve already absorbed this one.”