The Lone Wanderer

Chapter 622 – Escort

Metatron didn’t even bother to greet Percy, being too busy summoning a strange vial from seemingly nowhere and throwing it to Kassorith. “Drink. Use your mana to carry the liquid to your second core as if it were a cleansing resource and circulate it through your lava and fire channels.”

Percy barely got a chance to examine the substance as his host caught the vial and obediently guzzled its contents down in a single motion. As much as he despised the guy, Percy had to commend the Blue’s decisiveness. The Thess’kalan hadn’t even flinched upon tasting the vile concoction. Then again, it wasn’t like defying Metatron had ever been an option.

From what little Percy had seen, the vial had contained the foulest liquid that he’d ever had the misfortune of laying eyes upon – and that was saying something, coming from him.

It was thick, viscous and sticky, sporting a questionable brown colour that reminded him of sewage more than any potion or elixir. There were traces of mana scattered inside the substance, but they were merely of the Red grade. Worse still, it stank of rot and didn’t taste much better, with an added hint of bitterness and spiciness that stung the Thess’kalan’s throat.

Despite the discomfort, Kassorith allowed lava mana to mix with the substance inside his stomach, pushing it to his abdomen with practiced ease. At first, the sludge behaved no differently from an elixir – at least until it entered the snake-person’s core. The moment it got dumped into the organ, it clung to its crystalline walls and started displacing the composite mana.

There was more than enough liquid to fill the spherical container up, so it didn’t take long for it to spill into Kassorith’s channels, spreading through half of his mana networks within seconds and forcefully expunging their contents from his pores.

The substance nearly seeped into the Thess’kalan’s earth channels too, though he was careful not to let it, since those were shared between both cores and had to remain usable for the tournament.

‘Not the most pleasant feeling,’ Micky complained with a mental groan.

Percy agreed with his friend, though he didn’t care. The purpose of the liquid was obvious by now, and it wasn’t like Metatron was trying to hurt them. Besides, this wasn’t his body anyway, so he just observed the process with interest.

A few minutes later, the substance slowed down and started coalescing. It had already expunged every mote of lava or fire mana from the Blue’s body, causing a wave of weakness to permeate his muscles.

Percy’s thoughts grew sluggish, his senses dulling. Kassorith’s connection to his second core had been severed so thoroughly that Percy was willing to bet that even his lifespan was now being consumed a little faster than before, though he didn’t have any way to confirm that.

Either way, Metatron’s concoction was quite potent. Focusing his Sage’s Pond inwards, Percy struggled to locate the Thess’kalan’s second core, despite knowing that it was still in there. Pulling the scaled man’s Status up, he focused on the first section.

___

Kassorith (The Lone Wanderer's clone)

Mana cores:

[Mana core 1 – Blue – Metal][Mana core 2 – Green – Lava]___

Evidently, Phoebe’s Decree hadn’t been tricked by the sludge, but that might just be due to Percy knowing the truth about the dormant organ. Regardless, Kassorith would probably have to spend weeks removing the filth and clearing his channels before he could use it again.

Perhaps this was a little overkill. They could have hidden the Blue’s second core with concealment runes or simply by emptying it and making sure it stayed that way, yet Percy understood why the titan had chosen to do things like this.

‘I suppose that even Metatron isn’t confident in tricking the Void Hand’s detection systems with a bunch of half measures. After all, this isn’t a typical greater spring, but one of the top factions in the universe…’

Glancing at the god, Percy couldn’t help but ask, “what’s the sludge called?”

The purple pentapus regarded him for a second before replying. “We haven’t bothered to name it. I’ve had my subordinates try countless combinations of herbs from dozens of planets until we stumbled upon something with the right effect.”

Percy nodded, not very surprised by that. “How much for the recipe, a seed of every ingredient, and detailed instructions for cultivating them?”

Metatron chuckled, summoning yet another object from seemingly nowhere and tossing it over. This time, it was a black cube no larger than Kassorith’s fist. The moment Percy tried to pull it into his spatial seal, the container dissolved into dark motes of space mana, though its contents still appeared inside his storage as intended. There was a small pouch filled with what he assumed to be a bunch of seeds, as well as a few pieces of paper.

“I had a hunch that you’d want it,” the titan explained. “It’ll be fifty thousand credits for the whole bundle.”

Percy frowned. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it – since he still had nearly three times the required credits left over from his previous trip – but it was a lot to spend on something like this.

“Seriously? Fifty thousand for just the seeds of a few Red and Brown plants? How about twenty?” he asked back in protest, though he seriously doubted that the god would reconsider.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sure enough, the pentapus shook his head. “I can’t be bothered to haggle with you today. If you don’t want it, give it back,” he said, extending a tentacle towards the Thess’kalan.

Percy obviously wasn’t happy, but ultimately decided to pay the titan’s extortionate price. The strange potion wouldn’t make him stronger directly, yet he felt that it would be nice for his clones to have a few doses at hand.

The Moirais’ Decree was undoubtedly one of Percy’s luckiest finds, but it could still get quite inconvenient from time to time. There had been many situations where Percy had been forced to avoid healing potions like the plague, and others when he’d worried about keeping his second core hidden after repairing it.

Having a reliable way of sealing the organ would grow more important as he visited greater springs, and that would be doubly true if he managed to acquire the Void Decree as well.

Besides, Percy was planning to stay away from the Vault for several centuries after the tournament, buying time until he could explain at least one of his upcoming promotions. Consequently, it was wiser to spend some of his credits now, instead of letting them collect proverbial dust in his account for half a millennium.

“Alright, so what am I working with here?” he asked both his host and Metatron, eager to change the subject. “We’re clearly not going to have access to Kassorith’s second core, nor its passive benefits. Am I right to assume that blessings and Circulation are also off the table?”

The titan nodded. “We don’t have a choice. I could have lent him a ring or two, but you can’t explain him suddenly acquiring a blessing. Circulation is a bit different. I don’t care if you want to use it and claim that it’s Kassorith’s invention, but I don’t think that you’re willing to deal with the consequences.”

Percy grimaced, knowing that the god was right. Should he use his boosting art even once, he would be handing it away for free to the Void Hand. He wouldn’t delude himself into thinking that none of the spectators at such a high-level event would be smart enough to figure out how the Refined spell worked.

Strengthening one of the top factions would make it even harder for Percy and Remior to catch up in the future, and that was without even considering the repercussions of giving the alliance an edge over Sixiang and the Moirai. The last thing Percy wanted was to be personally responsible for upsetting the cosmic order and maybe even directly causing a devastating war.

“That doesn’t leave us with many options, does it?” Percy asked again.

Metatron performed a gesture akin to a shrug. “After pondering over the issue, I decided that there is no need to expose too many new skills. The things that you and Kassorith have revealed in the previous tournament are already an excellent starting point. We just have to capitalize and come up with believable explanations for them.”

“I’m listening.”

“The good thing about spectral traits is that their effects aren’t very obvious to an outsider. On top of that, similar things can often be achieved through mindsets or bloodlines,” the titan said. “Am I right to assume that Insomnia and Scribing are among the biggest problems here?”

Percy nodded. He’d used Weaving to stitch up Kassorith’s injuries, but he didn’t think that anyone had noticed that. However, his host’s people would have definitely questioned how he had kept fighting for so many days without sleeping or drawn such powerful enchantments at impossible speeds.

“Good. We’ll blame everything on Kassorith’s bloodline,” Metatron replied, a conspiratorial grin flashing in his eyes.

“His bloodline?” Percy asked, instinctively pulling up the corresponding section of his host’s Status to refresh his memory.

___

Bloodline:

[Moult] – Rebuild your body by shedding your skin and any damaged organs. The amount of discarded flesh and thus the size of the new body are determined by the extent of your injuries.___

Percy creased his brow as he tried to understand the titan’s plan.

He and the Thess’kalan had long established that his bloodline wasn’t usable in combat. Discarding and rebuilding his body took time and left him vulnerable, so it was better used to recover rapidly after a battle.

However, it didn’t take Percy long to figure out what the god had in mind. “Are we going to claim that he has a mutated strain?”

“Exactly! It’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s more believable than admitting that he’s been possessed by an alien with all of your abilities. I’ve even thought of the perfect ‘variant’. If anybody asks, you’ll say that activating his version of Moult leaves behind a copy of his personality – like an echo of his soul that continues to cohabit his new body.”

Percy would have raised an eyebrow if his host had any. This was ingenious. It was simple, and it sounded like something a slight offshoot of the Blue’s ability could potentially accomplish, and yet it neatly explained most of their peculiarities.

If anyone spotted Percy’s wisp lodged inside Kassorith’s body, they could just say that it was the side-effect of the bloodline. It would also explain how they could freely use a second domain, stay awake for longer, and rapidly draw complex enchantments.

“I’ve had Kassorith study magiscript and hone both his ranged and close combat skills extensively over the past decade,” Metatron continued. “I don’t think he’s quite at your level yet, but he has progressed enough to not be a burden. This is doubly true now that he has access to your Scribing trait. That said, it would be best if you’ve also prepared a couple of things for the tournament.”

Percy gave the titan a brief overview of his Sage’s Eye, carefully avoiding any mention of Atlantis – though he understood that Metatron might draw the connections regardless. He also told him about the red powder. He hadn’t offered any to his host just yet, since he wanted to receive the okay from Metatron first.

“Very good. It might just be enough. Remember that your goal isn’t to win this time. You just need to get through the first few rounds to qualify for the Decree.”

Percy exhaled in relief, happy with how things were going. Last time, he and Kassorith had barely been strong enough to fight a grade above their own, but their greatly improved magiscript skills, sharper senses, and tougher body would hopefully make enough of a difference.

That said, there was one final issue that they had yet to address. It was arguably the most serious problem by far, which they had been ignoring since the start of the conversation.

While Kassorith’s “mutated bloodline” would explain most of his strange abilities, it wouldn’t explain how the Thess’kalan had come to know the Vault’s magiscript, nor the circumstances under which he had defected from his home world.

Percy was about to voice his concerns when Metatron beat him to it, having clearly seen the question coming from a kilometre away. “With the small details taken care of, let me explain how we are going to get around the holes in your background.”

The titan pointed a tentacle at one of the cube’s walls, causing the metal to part into a square opening that was several metres across. The movement was accompanied by a thick burst of hissing steam, a tall and burly silhouette standing on the other side, a pair of horns jutting out of the person’s temples.

“This is Lanthaniel,” Metatron said. “He’s going to be your escort during this trip and the god who has secretly sponsored you your whole life. He’s also the one who snatched you from your sect shortly after your victory in the regional tournament, as well as the mentor who has taught you the potent runecrafting language that he has stolen from the Vault of Magic.”