A few months earlier
‘It’s almost done. Make sure your domain is ready for the upgrade,’ Percy warned the Ruby Princess.
The thick bands of Blue mana hugging the enchanted walls of his familiar’s second core looked like they were about to fuse.
Nephthys remained quiet, but the clone felt the minor exertion on her soul as she heeded his advice. The reincarnated goddess had unfortunately begun her second life without Obatala’s Approval, so she had originally lacked a way to keep her willpower locked in its strongest state.
While the clone did possess the ability and expected his own Awakened domain to evolve into an Empowered one after the advancement, he knew that his enhanced willpower would be temporary. He would lose it the next time he returned to his own body and sent a new clone in his familiar’s.
Thankfully, his predecessor had had the foresight to fuse back into the original after registering the Basic Water, Lightning, and Acid Control spells, so the clone who had helped the familiar with her artificial advancement and was currently inhabiting her body was a new one that wouldn’t need to leave anytime soon.
The good news was that Nephthys had since found an alternative path to tempering and solidifying her willpower. A pair of Green cores boosted by the Dance had been more than enough to give her an Awakened domain on par with a true Blue’s. Her willpower would weaken if she deactivated the spell, but her promotion to Blue should not only strengthen her domain but also make it permanent.
A couple of expected but still exciting notifications manifested before Percy’s borrowed compound eyes over the next few minutes.
[Congratulations! Your familiar’s mana core has advanced: Green -> Blue!]
[Congratulations! Your familiar’s domain has evolved: Field – Awakened -> Field – Empowered!]
In the past, the clones possessing the familiars hadn’t received such notifications, because the familiars technically belonged to his main body, and the clones wouldn’t bring their hosts’ powerups back. However, Phoebe’s Decree appeared to have made the connection after one of its most recent upgrades, realizing that the Lone Wanderer and his clones were ultimately the same person.
More fascinating was the wave of euphoria that he could feel washing over the elephant-sized creature. The second-hand effect on himself was barely worth mentioning, since this wasn’t truly his own mana core, nor body, though it was still a pleasant feeling.
‘I can’t believe that we managed to elevate her second core beyond the first,’ Micky mused.
‘It’s just a temporary head start,’ Percy reminded his friend.
Even with access to Gloomy Dawn, he didn’t think that his familiar’s second core was being cleansed faster than the one in her upper body. It should still fall behind in due time, and wouldn’t have been the first to reach Blue if not for the artificial advancement. Sadly, Percy and Micky still hesitated to construct a Cradle for the Princess’ beast affinity, as her body would likely kill her from within if the enchantments failed after her physical evolution.
‘Well… if we ignore the time we exerted ourselves against Machaon, the Cradles have proven quite robust. After ensuring that she can keep the boosting art active by herself, I think that we should consider elevating her other affinity as well,’ the Huehuan suggested.
‘Agreed,’ Percy said, before turning his attention to his familiar. ‘Congratulations, Nephthys! I suppose that these advancements don’t mean as much for you given your past as a goddess, but at least you’re another step closer to regaining your power.’
‘Thank you, Percy! I wouldn’t have made it this far if not for you,’ the Princess replied, sounding genuinely grateful. ‘Also, please rest assured that every single promotion means more to me than you could possibly imagine.’
‘Because of your Structured Amnesia mindset?’ Percy guessed.
The giant bug nodded. ‘I believe that my mind has grown strong enough to endure another batch of recovered memories.’
Percy would have frowned if his host’s mandibles had been capable of making that shape. ‘Do you want me to leave your body? I don’t want to intrude on anything private.’
A spectral chuckle rang within their connection, putting him at ease. ‘Percy, I’ve told you before that I have no intention of keeping anything from you. Please don’t retract your clone and give up on your newly strengthened domain for no reason.’
Nephthys fell silent for a couple of seconds, presumably tinkering with the seal that her divine self had placed on her mind. Percy guessed that she had successfully loosened the restriction when an ocean of information assaulted his borrowed senses, replacing the shimmering minerals of her cavernous chamber with a new setting.
Percy found himself standing on two legs again, though not his own. His body was tall and slender, while his vision was partially obscured by a thin veil. He was inside a vast hall, its architecture slightly reminding him of Nephthys’ Sanctuary.
The floor, walls and ceiling were constructed out of massive blocks of stone and densely covered in hieroglyphs – just like the now-destroyed and repurposed pyramid – though there were several differences.
The most glaring one was that his current surroundings weren’t monochrome. Unlike the deep crimson colour of mind mana that had permeated everything inside his familiar’s internal world, a rich tapestry of natural hues now enveloped the goddess.
The surfaces of the hall sported a light brown colour, her elegant dress had been woven out of a vibrant red fabric embroidered with beautiful patterns sewn out of golden threads, while her skin was actually far paler than Percy had imagined. That said, Nephthys wasn’t alone in this memory, and the mortals surrounding her were significantly tanner – likely due to their constant exposure to their planet’s sunlight.
Paying closer attention to the people present in the memory, Percy realized that they were all dressed much more formally than the slumbering Amenthei he had seen inside the pyramid. Instead of cheap loincloths covering their privates, all the men and women in the room wore long trousers, buttoned tunics or flowing dresses that reached all the way to their bare ankles, making everyone look almost as elegant as their deity.
‘This must be some sort of important ceremony,’ he reasoned.
Most of the mortals surrounding Nephthys had to be guests, though the man standing next to her and gently holding her right hand obviously had a different role.
Through his borrowed Mana Sense, Percy could tell that his familiar’s companion was “only” a White. It wasn’t a low grade in any other context, but still barely worth mentioning when compared to Nephthys, who had clearly already ascended to the Concept realm by the time of this memory.
A part of Percy wanted to ignore everything else to play with his borrowed body for a few minutes. He could feel the ridiculous power contained within its deceptively slender frame and the wide assortment of magical senses that the deity had access to. If nothing else, Percy at least wished that he could mess with Nephthys’ internal world for a while, to see how it worked.
Unfortunately, this was merely a memory, so neither Percy nor his familiar could control their actions. He also understood that this wasn’t the time to get in the poor woman’s way as she tried to recover her forgotten past, so he decided to focus more on the contents of the vision.
‘She was close to this man,’ Micky pointed out. ‘He has to be more than a mere subordinate.’
Paying closer attention to the goddess, Percy realized that his friend was probably right. A warm smile tugged at the corners of her lips, her palms were drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing at a hundred kilometres an hour.
‘She loves him…!’ he realized, gasping internally. ‘Is this their wedding day? Nephthys never mentioned that she was married!’
Percy wanted to ask his familiar about it, though he didn’t want to bother her during such an important moment. Through the passive emotions that the reincarnated deity inadvertently leaked through their connection, Percy realized that she was just as shocked by the revelation as he was.
‘I suppose that she didn’t know either…’
He’d only chatted with the goddess for a few minutes before she discarded her body and shrank her internal world for him to carry through the soul plane. It wasn’t that strange that she had lacked the time to divulge everything about her personal life during their brief meeting. Afterwards, she had presumably prioritized the memories related to her status as a goddess and the leader of the Amenthei over her family, leaving the reborn wasp oblivious to the information during the following decade.
A few moments after Nephthys and her husband shared a kiss under the cheers and vigorous applause of their guests – an intimate moment that Percy tried his hardest to filter out – the world shifted again.
Rather than lingering on another long memory, the deity’s recovering mind brushed through hundreds, if not thousands, this time. Having lived for hundreds of thousands of years, Nephthys had obviously accumulated too many experiences to carefully comb through them all.
Percy guessed that his familiar still absorbed the rest of the information like a sponge, but he didn’t get the opportunity to learn all the minor details himself – nor did he really want to. As interested as he was in the wasp’s past, he obviously couldn’t afford to spend millennia watching it. Eventually, the dizzying flashes of information stopped, giving time for another longer vision to unfold.
‘It must be another memory that she’s deemed especially important,’ he concluded.
This one was located outdoors, in the shadow of a towering palace. It was shaped like a cone rather than a pyramid, and Percy guessed that this was actually the exterior of the hall where his familiar’s wedding had taken place, since the size and shape of the building matched.
A clear blue sky stretched above everyone’s heads as a bumpy sheet of fine sand unfolded beneath their feet, complete with a picturesque oasis faintly visible on the horizon, and numerous smaller buildings standing next to one another in a different direction entirely.
Much like the previous outdoor memories that Percy had barely caught glimpses of, there was no sign of the dark clouds or the black rain that had eventually consumed Amenthes, suggesting that these visions were still from before the onset of the demonic infestation.
Nephthys was sitting on a wooden chair, dressed in more casual clothes. The fabric on her belly stretched due to the bump, as Percy felt a second, softer heartbeat pressing against his borrowed skin.
The deity’s husband was a few dozen metres away, looking almost as youthful as he had during the wedding. He was wearing nothing more than simple shorts and a pretty but cheap-looking amulet around his neck, and he was holding the hand of a young child. Percy wasn’t too familiar with the Amenthei, but he figured that the kid was only six or seven years old, and probably female.
Paying closer attention to the girl’s face, he felt that she resembled both Nephthys and her husband more than the other Amenthei. In fact, the girl and her father were the only ones that Percy had seen so far whose eyes sported this really distinctive shade of pink, while everyone else’s were a deeper red. The girl was pointing excitedly at something in the distance, while the man was laughing and explaining things to her.
Following the invisible line stretching from the child’s index finger, Percy noticed that the duo was watching a few older children play some local game. They were kicking around an oblong object seemingly crafted out of several patches of leather that had been stitched together, trying to hit the tip of a tall wooden pole. Nephthys was also carefully watching the boys while caressing her abdomen, her gaze occasionally lingering with pride on another child that shared her husband’s eye colour.
Even without asking his familiar, Percy could tell that this had been one of the happiest memories in her long life. However, he couldn’t help but notice something else – something that gave him a bad feeling.
Both of her children – the two that had been born so far, at least – had Orange cores burning in their chests.