There was a trick to imbuing a primary sacrifice with the byproduct of ten thousand secondary ones. Unfortunately Nexxa hadn't figured out what that trick was quite yet.
Sure the diagnostic center told her how to do it. She had very detailed instructions, in fact. That didn't mean it was as easy as pour dust on skull, have skull absorb dust, and since she hadn't really come across another dragon skull, ritual required her to battle it for over 24 hours, thereby greatly deepening the meaning and bond between her and the sacrifice. She was practicing with other skulls, imbuing them with yet more skulls' power.
“Its skulls all the way down,” Nexxa mumbled to herself.
“What was that, lady Nexxa?” Books asked as he stepped into the room, looking around. It was just her this time, since there wasn't much use for her sole research attendant, not with what she was doing at the moment.
“Oh nothing, just griping to myself about the tediousness of doing things properly.”
“Doing things properly is its own reward,” Books said with the air of a man repeating an off-quoted saying.
“Isn't it a job well done as its own reward?” Nexxa asked, tilting her head as she looked at him.
Books adjusted his enchanted glasses, squinting slightly. “No. No, I don't believe it is.”
“Whatever,” Nexxa chuckled, returning her attention to her practice project, an Inferno Drake whose head she was infusing with imp skulls. She was only using a mere hundred instead of the ten thousand she'd be using for the final product. Less waste this way.
“Have you had any success?” Books asked as he stepped forward. He'd turned out to be of great use during the research portion, especially for practice.
Turned out having an oath dedicated to knowledge and all the libraries made it easier for him to go through their vast stores of knowledge and pick out the relevant portions.
She was sure Perry was going to absolutely love it when he got back and found out he had a magically enhanced librarian. She tried not to think about how her brother was stuck on the other side of a monster horde thick enough even she couldn't break through it. Maybe after she’d incorporated the dragon skull.
“Define success,” Nexxa said, even as she held up the first of her ‘successful’ skulls and tossed it to him. It’d worked well enough but she'd realized there were several things missing from the process: First, she didn't feel at all personally bonded towards it. In addition, she didn't have any connection with the tools she'd used either.
And she didn't have the right tools, which was why she was in the research facility. Which meant… what did it mean? She hadn’t figured it out yet, but it was important.
“You did manage to improve it from a tier one to a tier two fire affinity. A valuable process.”
“Yep, only took ten times its new market value in imp skulls.” Nexxa leaned back and looking up at the ceiling. All blank stone, no one had had time to add any interesting etchings to this particular room. She hadn't wanted to ruin one of the good rooms. It's not like the Research Institute had the reinforced lab like back in Perry's workshop. That was a place where…
Nexxa slapped a palm against her forehead. “I'm an idiot.”
“After a year knowing you, there are many unflattering things I might choose to say about you but idiot is not one of them,” Books countered, setting the skull down. “What did you overlook?”
"Oh just that I have the perfect place to be doing this and this is not it.”
“Ah that seems fair. Do you need further assistance?”
“Not at the moment but if I do I'll let you know. Thanks, page boy.”
“I am not a boy,” Books tried to counter, though by the time he said anything, Nexxa was already out the window, supplies tucked away in her storage ring.
Didn't take long for her to arrive at Perry's lab inside Mount Aeternia. Then she remembered why she hadn't come here in the first place. The cat-like figure of rope watched her as she entered.
Despite her strength, it always felt like Nexxa was putting her life at risk anytime she came into the cat's domain without Perry present. For some reason the creature only liked him and Bevel. Right. Bevel. She should get her niece.
After less than a second in the room Nexxa went off to find the little windstorm in teenager form. Reminded her a bit of herself at that age, just with more magic. It took longer to find her niece than it had for her to enchant the first skull with imp dust.
“What are you doing all the way out here?” Nexxa asked. She’d found Bevel sitting on the side of a parked train halfway between Verdant Point and Southport.
“Oh just practicing magic with my new friends,” Bevel said, gesturing at a group of six elves who were arguing about… the flavor of a cake? Half of them were the pale variety that seemed exclusive to the grumpy Hydra-souled Falith’s camp. The others were the ones she’d met at dinner that let their family plant bombs in their souls.
An interesting choice of friends. But again, teenager.
“Huh. Does that mean you're too busy to come help out your aunt with some magic crafting?”
Bevel's eyes immediately lit up and Nexxa knew she had her. Right up until the moment Bevel deflated. “I mean we did kind of have plans to do things together today. Should I…” Bevel trailed off, glancing back then up to Nexxa as if she might have the answer.
Nexxa didn't.
Her immediate thought was that, yes Bevel should come with her, but she remembered Perry mentioning the girl had been having trouble making friends. If she was finally succeeding, Nexxa didn't want to tear the kid away from that.
Looking them over, Nexxa looked at the nearby ridge that’d been partially torn apart by their spell practice before they got distracted by cake. Not very durable, not like the workshop. “You know what, why don't we make a bit of a compromise?”
“Compromise?” Bevel repeated, squinting at Nexxa. “What sort of compromise?”
“Why don't you grab your friends and we'll all head into Mount Eternia together. We’ll stay in your Papa's enchanting workshop. You can help me while your friends learn a little bit about magic and enchanting,” Nexxa said, shooting Bevel with a pair of finger-wands.
“Papa said he didn't want my friends going into the workshop unless he was there.”
“I mean I might not be your papa but I'm a super responsible adult right? I'm sure that's fine as long as I'm there to supervise.”
Bevel nodded her head enthusiastically and Nexxa broke out in a grin. Yeah this was great. She was being a good aunt and she was going to have Bevel's help with her ascension grade skull. Total win-win. And she supposed the other kids got a bit of a win too.
Perfect.
It didn't take much to convince the other kids to come along, though on closer inspection, they were closer to Perry's age than they were to Bevel's. She supposed that happened when her niece’s interests were so far beyond most of the other kids around her age. Or maybe they hadn't done enough work to find her proper friends.
Nexxa shook the thought off. Wasn’t her job to choose friends for Bevel.
Soon they were back in Perry's workshop. Bevel successfully placated the rope-cat with an unholy amount of fleshy bones for it to strip clean, a strategy Nexxa had not considered: her brother and niece bribed the murderous cat with the flesh of their enemies.
Respect.
With Bevel keeping her company, they enchanted another three of the inferno drake skulls. An accident where Neta got to one first revealed that having the rope-cat clean them first helped the process, even if they should’ve been entirely scoured clean by her spells.
As she’d suspected, she also confirmed using Perry's tools increased her personal attachment to the refined product.
Finally, after a suggestion from Bevel, she discovered if she channeled her lightning through it the entire time, with a tinge of nature mana mixed in to restore its form, she could shift the affinity of the skull to match her mana pool. Though it did lose some of its strength comparatively, becoming a lower-end tier two material instead of the upper-end material it would’ve been otherwise.
Even so, she felt much more comfortable with the process at that point.
Not that she stopped practicing.
Once she had finished ten, she popped over for a quick visit to check the skulls in question at the diagnostic center. It confirmed an increase in compatibility after she was finished, though it gave her a warning not to use the skull due to its low quality.
Had she been foolish enough to do so, it could cause a permanent deviation. One so bad it might cause her to permanently cripple herself, eventually reverting to a Mage-souled.
“Best to avoid that,” the mumbled, turning to talk to Perry as she so often did when she visited the place, only to remember he was gone. “A couple weeks in his Memory Palace, and now I’m missing him more than the first time we split up. So stupid.”
At least no one was around to witness it.
Besides, she had another friend to talk to. One who’d appreciate the reams of data she was gathering.
“Oh Booksie boy,” Nexxa said, tracking down her favorite Magus Librarium.
“I am still not a boy,” Books said, adjusting his glasses as she plopped a stack of shards on his already occupied lap. “What are these?”
“Your way of helping me,” Nexxa said, sitting on the table and gesturing at the crystals. “Data from the diagnostic center. Help me sort through it for the important bits?”
“Ah. Of course,” Books said, adjusting his glasses as a smile played over his lips.
Yep. He was a good sort. Fun to tease too.
A couple of hours later, after he'd had time to look through everything, he confirmed she'd mastered the process as far as he could tell. Though she could simply continue working on the skulls until she ran out of improvement.
Nexxa was tempted to skip that step but he isolated each of the bits she could grind out. After seeing what could happen with a bad sacrifice, she set to it until the diagnostic center stopped noting improvements. It’d only taken another twenty skulls.
Good thing too, because Bevel was starting to get bored, and the teenager was an important part of the process.
Perhaps there was a way to optimize it further. Still, as long as the diagnostic center approved, any rough edges could be scraped off, metaphorically speaking, after she'd integrated the dragon skull.
Most hydra-souled didn’t get to have nearly the feedback she had. The diagnostic center was worth more than any the entire wealth of any five of the hundred kingdoms combined for its ability to help with hydra-souled ascension alone.
After all the effort she’d put in, she realized how silly it was that she’d put so much emphasis on avoiding a tail. Still, with the work she’d put in to avoid it, she wasn’t giving up.
Nexxa was able to convince Bevel to split off from her friends. After all, her niece had mostly kept her word and hung out with them. She’d even given them access to a lot of unique enchanting equipment and insight into a highly guarded secret.
It wasn't everyday a person learned about how a Hydra-souled advanced. Something that turned out to be more relevant to the kids than Nexxa had considered at first, since the three soul-bombed kids were already at Pegasus.
She hadn't thought about what it might've meant to get thrust upwards like that. It wasn't like with Perry, who was driving himself to do it.
They seemed like nice enough kids though Nexxa didn't really interact with them much. Reminded her too much of their family.
Once they were gone she finally pulled out the Dragon Skull.
“Whoa,” Bevel said as Nexxa carefully maneuvered it. “That’s huge.”
“Yep.” It really was. It barely fit in the room. “Think you can… nevermind.”
The moment it appeared, Netta was all over it. Any resemblance to the cat she normally wore disappeared as she split apart into a writhing ropey mass.
Nexxa held up a hand not sure if she meant to interject or complain. Bevel laid her hand on Nexxa's arm, shaking her head side to side. Lowering her arm, Nexxa accepted that this was just going to be a thing she had to wait out.
It took the rope cat three hours before it was finished scouring the dragon skull clean.
She and Bevel spent most of that time gossiping about her new friends. “They’re okay, but I miss Papa.”
“Me too, kiddo. But it’s important to have more than one person in your life.”
“Like Mama Ari.” Bevel nodded.
“Sure. She’s cool,” Nexxa said with a shrug. Better than any of the girlfriends Perth had had, that was for sure. There was a subtle friction between them whenever Perry wasn’t around though. Nexxa wasn’t sure what caused it, but she hoped it didn’t get worse. Didn’t seem like Perry was due back anytime soon.
“I wish I could meet someone my age like Papa,” Bevel said, leaning against Nexxa. “Or like you.”
“Thanks kid,” Nexxa said, kissing her niece atop her head. “Might be some hope for your one friend. The girl with the soul-bomb. She seemed curious enough, at least. A little encouragement might go a long way.”
“You think so?” Bevel asked, perking her head up to grin at Nexxa.
“Never know if you don’t try.”
Bevel nodded, and they started talking about something considerably less fraught with missteps, cleaning up Sahevin that snuck past the barrier.
Eventually, the rope-cat finished its work, settling directly into Nexxa’s lap. Bevel had to instruct her how to scritch the thing’s ears before it eventually freed Nexxa.
Standing up, Nexxa held her hand to the dragon’s skull. Whatever the rope-cat had done, it had improved it.
For a second she considered whether or not she should’ve had it scour the thunder imp skulls she was going to use as well. Unfortunately, they’d been ground into dust already. On reflection she decided she didn't want to go out and harvest another ten-thousand thunder imps and collect their skulls.
It had been hard enough finding the first ten-thousand. She’d had to fly all the way across the Frigid Peaks, hunting down anywhere monsters might possibly have been showing up. Even with her enhanced ability to hunt them, she’d been forced to wait for the last few hundred.
Other than the monsters falling from the sky, Nexxa was fairly confident there weren’t any left in the Frigid Peaks. Not that weren’t just upscaled local creatures like frost wolves or inferno drakes, anyway.
So, no. It didn’t make sense to wait for such a small gain.
Sitting down with Bevel beside her, they started tracing out the shape of where all the runes would go on the skull to enhance it. It only took them an hour to do the preliminary work and then another two to engrave the skull with the glowing greenish-black dust. That was all that was left of the thunder imps.
When they were finished the skull had become somewhat translucent.
“It's pretty,” Bevel said, running a hand over some of the inscriptions.
“Prettier than I expected,” Nexxa agreed.
“You're going to suck it inside of you?” Bevel asked, tilting her head as she looked between the skull, nearly as large as the workshop, and Nexxa.
“Yeah pretty much. Crazy huh?” Nexxa laid a hand on it, picturing having it as part of her. “It’s a bit more complicated but close enough. You can watch if you want.”
Bevel plopped down right next to her.
Chuckling, Nexxa shook her head. “Probably best if you do it from the other end of the chamber.” The rope-cat poked its head over, as if contemplating a return to Nexxa’s lap. “Take the rope cat too.”
“Come on, Neta,” Bevel said, patting her leg. Somehow she managed to convince the rope cat to follow to the far side of the room where it pushed up against her niece's hand as if it was a regular cat and not an animated golem of destruction. Not too far from a regular cat when Nexxa thought about it.
Ignoring them, Nexxa climbed up on top of the skull, sitting down with her legs crossed, eyes closed as she slipped into a meditation. This was the part that was most clearly explained in the diagnostic center. All she had to do was subsume the skull entirely with her aura. The same aura they’d gained at Pegasus, the one that gave every Pegasus-souled their flight.
Considering getting to Hydra-souled had required continual development of said aura, stretching it to encapsulate the dragon skull wasn't particularly difficult.
What was difficult, was getting it to encompass the entirety of the dragon skull without bringing in anything else. That was part of why she had to enchant it with the thunder imp skulls instead of simply piling them on top or including them as a secondary sacrifice.
Only part of the reason though. The other part was that she didn't want to change the nature of the benefits she was getting. She just wanted it so she wouldn't have a tail. Even this much was going to be a compromise. She knew that going in.
Eventually she managed to subsume it in her aura. Then she had to press down.
Something she didn't do consciously, especially not to objects. It was easy enough to press down on people with her aura, to project the sense of weight of her disapproval, happiness, or simple attention. Doing it with the skull of an enemy she'd killed, enchanted with another ten thousand enemies, felt different, more combative.
That felt appropriate to Nexxa. She’d fought her way to earn her power. Why would it be any different now?
Once she'd subsumed it, it was a constant battle. One by one, she fought and crushed every single imp, working her way through the entire enchantment until she had claimed them all.
Only then, did she face the dragon once more. It had been a slog of a fight the first time, when they fought over the skies of her original domain.
Thousands upon thousand of monsters had died as a mere side effect. Simple casualties of the spells and battle prowess they'd brought that day. She'd done it while the storm was empowering her. Now she faced the dragon alone, the only storm being the one within.
Yet she wasn't entirely alone. She sat in her brother’s workshop, surrounded by his tools and craft. Her niece's assistance had been woven into the very sacrifice itself. Even Ari and Books had contributed in their ways.
Friends that she hadn't thought of as being important to her, she realized, had been.
And, of course, Hash. Good ol’ Hash, and his meals, one of which was resting in her stomach.
In that moment, she defeated it. It was sudden. She’d spent more time acknowleding those assisting her than fighting it.
Her insides suddenly felt like they were on the outsides, every nerve on fire, reporting back to her the pain, the change, the presence of the slightest charge in the air around her.
Just like that Nexxa progressed more than halfway through Hydra-souled.
And then passed out.