Percy was admittedly a little envious of Sol’s new traits. The descriptions were short and simple, but he could already feel their positive influence on his thoughts. His main body would certainly find them useful, though he struggled to decide which of his current traits he’d be willing to trade for them.
‘I can’t think like that,’ he reminded himself.
There were so many different types of spectral fiends out there that Percy would never absorb them all, even if he converted all his cords into aspects. Hoping for specific traits was equally pointless. He should consider himself lucky if he never acquired a duplicate. That said, he was starting to reconsider his unwillingness to absorb a fifth fiend.
His future plans aside, the borrowed abilities would help him greatly during this trip. Keeping his connection to Remior in its empowered state was already effortless, because he was the only clone on a mission away from his home planet, so he wouldn’t need Multitasking for that.
However, the trait would help Sol learn how to keep Circulation permanently active much faster than Percy’s relatives. With any luck, it would also allow Percy and Micky to grant their host the Cradle, without affecting their ability to do other things.
Clarity wasn’t immediately useful, since Percy doubted that he would struggle while fighting against the beasts besieging the Melodians’ towns, but the trait would likely show its worth when they returned to the Elemental Source and trained near its magical waters – something that he was very much looking forward to.
‘First things first,’ he muttered through the connection. ‘I should point out that I’m not travelling alone anymore. The details of how I ended up this way are a story for another time, but let me introduce you to Micky – my spectral companion and dearest friend.’
Percy didn’t bother to reveal the existence of his fellow aspect to every single host, but he had no intention of keeping anything from Sol – somebody that he had a good relationship with and expected to interact with several times in the future. The woman’s eyes widened, though she reined in her surprise soon enough.
She and the Huehuan exchanged pleasantries as Percy tuned them out to do something that he should have honestly done years ago. Activating Ludwick’s Compass, he lit up a symbolic pyre right where his host stood, heaving a relieved sigh as soon as the mark was firmly in place.
He no longer had to rely on Sol’s sporadic signals to return to this planet, though finding a Melodian at the verge of death might not always be possible, due to their low population. Still, possessing at least a Yellow beast within walking distance of the cities and communicating his identity to the sapients should be doable. As callous as the thought might sound, Percy was glad that he wouldn’t lose access to the Mirror Lake, even if something bad were to happen to his friend.
With the first task out of the way, Percy took a few deep breaths to activate the Dance with both cores. His actions caused Sol – who was still chatting with Micky – to frown, though neither of them paid him much attention, clearly trusting him to do whatever he wanted. Once the boosting art was active, Percy took advantage of the spell and the two Green cores to push his domain to its absolute limit, locking it at its maximum intensity using Obatala’s Approval.
He didn’t receive a notification, because the domains his clones manifested while possessing others were limited to their temporary bodies and wouldn’t follow them back to Remior. Still, Percy was experienced enough to tell that his willpower had grown about as potent as a regular Blue’s, and the updated entry inside his Status confirmed that.
___
Domain:
· [Field – Awakened]
___
‘Much better. Now, we’d probably not lose to Doh or the other Blue even in a contest of raw power.’
Mixing the simple domain with his Sage’s Pond, he allowed his senses to expand outwards as far as possible. His range was far shorter than that of his main body, but his recently acquired mindset and Sol’s new traits did help, allowing him to envelop anything within around four kilometres from her.
The Melodian city wasn’t much larger than that. Percy estimated that the entire settlement was around nine kilometres across, based on the curvature of the section of the border that passed through his sensory bubble.
Everyone – including his host – appeared to live in small stone houses separated by narrow dirt paths. The city was much less developed than Twilight City, though it was larger than the average commoner town on Remior. That wasn’t too strange. While Melodia was a more primitive planet than Percy’s own, all of Sol’s people were concentrated in just these few settlements.
Dark-skinned men and women with bright silver hair and pupilless eyes busily walked under the scorching rays of a yellow sun. Some of the strongest mages were currently in the midst of replacing the guards assigned along the perimeter, while a few units appeared to be patrolling the streets. Even the children and adults at the lower grades had their own role to play. The civilians who weren’t studying or carrying out other jobs inside their homes were delivering supplies to the protectors stationed at the wall.
Just outside the settlement, Percy spotted barren fields that looked like they had been cultivated years ago, with the occasional broken rake or rusty shovel littering the dirt. He even saw a few ruined buildings that he assumed to have been barns or farmhouses once, though it was clear that nobody had stepped foot inside those structures in a very long time.
‘It’s not safe for our civilians to venture out of the walls to herd animals or grow crops during the beast tides. We survive by eating the meat of the invading creatures,’ Sol explained, interrupting her conversation with Micky after realizing that she had access to her own version of a Sage’s Pond. ‘This omnidirectional sense of yours… is it new?’
Percy rolled his borrowed eyes. ‘What do you think? That I hid it from you while Rei and our other comrades were getting slaughtered?’
He’d said that a little more harshly than he’d meant to. Luckily, Sol didn’t seem to have taken offense. ‘Does it work underwater?’
‘It does. Why?’
‘Our three remaining towns are located along the perimeter of a lake – a mundane one, before you ask. We needed a source of drinking water, and it’s too dangerous to venture outside often,’ Sol said.
‘Are you having trouble with aquatic beasts?’ Percy asked.
‘Not exactly.’ The woman shook her head. ‘After our strongest mages mastered the Dance, defending our borders stopped being an issue and our situation stabilized. The problem is that we’re still not strong enough to expand our territory as we please, nor guard the lake properly. Lots of beasts come here to relieve their thirst. Even the hordes that don’t attack us directly often slaughter each other inside the water, polluting it with blood and guts.’
‘I see. And I’m guessing that your leaders are planning to form a joint perimeter around the lake to keep the beasts out and the water clean,’ Percy deduced.
‘I’m actually one of those leaders now!’ Sol exclaimed with a smile, gesturing at a few pins and badges decorating her tight-fitting military uniform. ‘Doh and Tonett – our other Blue – are in charge of the remaining towns. But your assumption is correct. In theory, we have enough powerful mages to station around the expanded perimeter. The issue lies with the initial expedition to cleanse the lake. We’ll have to defend the forming border from both sides, while simultaneously deploying enough people inside the water to locate and remove the remaining beasts.’
Percy could see how that was a problem, albeit a temporary and easily fixable one. Once the Melodians were certain that the interior of their new territory was secure, their watchers would be able to focus their attention outwards, lifting most of the strain on their manpower.
Afterwards, they should be able to continue expanding their cities along the new perimeter. They would have to defend the massive border anyway, so there was no reason to waste the free land along the lake’s shores. Eventually, they might be able to join the three settlements into an even larger ring-shaped city, before continuing to grow it outwards.
In fact, there was a good chance that the beast tide would be over by then, allowing the Melodians to claim territory more easily and focus on their development. Percy had no idea how long these global calamities lasted, but this one had been plaguing Sol’s people for well over a decade, so it had to be close to its conclusion.
Once the danger was over, the Melodians would have a long period of peace to build up their strength. The boosting art would ensure that they would never have to fear another beast tide after their population recovered, and Percy planned to help them accelerate their development in other ways.
‘Sounds doable,’ Percy said. ‘I can lend you my strength and reconnaissance abilities to clear the lake. With that out of the way, I was hoping to spend a few weeks living with your people, studying those who have the same traits as me and sharing some of my knowledge. But there’s something else that we’re going to have to do before the beast tide is over.’
‘What would that be?’ Sol asked.
‘Dealing with the wildlife on your planet won’t be an issue in the long term, but other factions might discover Melodia one day. You’ll need to grow much, much stronger to defend yourselves from hostile gods,’ Percy explained.
The woman creased her brow. ‘I understand that, but what does that have to do with the current beast tide?’
‘Well, you’ll need cleansing resources to reach the peak of the Colour realm. This time, I’ve brought enough Aurora Dew to last you and Doh until your second promotion, and your other Green-borns until their first, but I can’t supply elixirs to all your people forever. We’ll have a better chance finding you a stable source of beast mana before the creatures ravaging the continent drive themselves to extinction.’
‘What if there isn’t one? I recall you mentioning that only a minority of planets have a resource like that,’ Sol pointed out.
Percy shrugged. ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. If there’s no native species suitable for your purposes, I’ll search for something that we can import during my travels. The bugs we have on my planet might work, but they need a special kind of environment to thrive, and I don’t know if you have anything like that here. Either way, we should spend some time exploring the rest of your world, and I wouldn’t mind combining that with another trip to the Mirror Lake.’
Sol bobbed her head to indicate her agreement. She was about to say something, but Percy remembered another issue. ‘By the way, where’s Zoris and Latt?’
The Melodian’s expression fell. ‘About that… It’s something we’ll have to deal with before anything else. Last time I checked, Latt was living safely in Doh’s city, but the ring… Tonett has it. It was taken from us.’