The Lone Wanderer

Upon seeing the new Decree take shape in his Status, Percy was ecstatic and, most of all, relieved.

The weeks of blindly brewing pills in an air-tight cooking pot at the bottom of an alien ocean, and the several hours spent in agony trying to repair his Status…

It had all been worth it! He could finally get some well-deserved rest!

Or so he thought.

While his Status was back in order, his mutation was still underway. His headache might have disappeared, but his eyes still felt like they were on fire, greedily absorbing his mana without end, forcing him to keep both Synchronization and Mana Sense active. Too scared to interrupt the process half-way through, Percy was left with no choice but to grit his teeth and soldier through it, running his boosting art at full power for however long his eyes demanded.

Nesha stayed up with him the first night, keeping him company. She gave him some excuse, saying she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping when House Tantalus could attack them at any time. She claimed she was worried Percy wouldn’t be able to fight – or even run – like this, so it would be up to her to get him out of town.

It was all true of course, but Percy could tell there was more to it than that.

Feeling her genuine worry warmed his heart up, reminding him he wasn’t on this journey alone. Besides Nesha and Micky, there was also Baldy and Elaine out there, fighting alongside him against their common enemy. They might have not coordinated – or hell, even spoken – in the last two years, but it was because of them, applying pressure on all fronts, that Percy had been able to develop peacefully during his stay in Bogside town.

The second night, he asked Nesha to just go to sleep and not worry about him. She argued back a little, but her exhaustion won out in the end. Besides, Micky would warn them if something were to happen. It wasn’t until the third day that Percy’s eyes finally finished mutating. Naturally, he was quite eager to discover all their secrets, but something else took precedence.

“Nggghhh… What happened?” Percy asked upon waking up, his voice raspy. “Have they attacked yet?”

“Finally done sleeping?” Nesha asked back.

“Why? How long has it been?”

“Over two days since you passed out. And no. At this point, I don’t think they will.”

Percy nodded.

They’d known this was a possibility since the start. The lotus was going to bloom in just four short months, so they’d have to return to the Avalon mansion soon regardless.

Sitting up on the bed, he turned towards Nesha, both of them drawing a sharp breath as soon as they exchanged glances. He wasn’t sure what she was surprised about, but his shock was due to the bizarre sight before him.

Concealed within her figure, he spotted a person-shaped silhouette of silver, flowing like a liquid flame through her body, flickering and wavering with her every thought. In her sternum, a bright Yellow star thrummed against her chest. Strictly speaking, neither of these things was new to him, but he’d never seen them like this before.

Nesha’s flesh, soul and core were interwoven seamlessly with one another, revealing details to Percy’s mind that he had previously been unable to glimpse. Usually, whenever he focused on one of his senses, the others would blur and fade out a little, meaning he could only ever partially observe an object. Right now, however, the three channels in his mind were fully integrated with one another, almost as if he had grown two more heads and just as many pairs of eyes.

“Your eyes! They’re glowing!” the girl exclaimed.

Ah, right. That. It was only now that Percy remembered this would be a permanent side-effect of the Decree. With everything else happening, he hadn’t even considered this, though it might prove troublesome if it ended up garnering him unwanted attention. ŔἈŊÓ𝐁ЕȘ

“How bad is it?”

“Very. If you go out like this, expect people to stare.”

“Shit.” he spat. “Could you please go fetch me a mirror from Dylan’s? I need to know what I’m dealing with.”@@novelbin@@

Nesha nodded before heading out.

Percy then picked his tools up from the spatial amulet, along with a few elixirs, setting his equipment on a table. Next, he grabbed a bowl, filling it up with some teal powder from his stash.

‘I’ll be damned if I let myself get bogged down by the negatives of my new Decree before even getting to enjoy the positives.’

Honestly, they could use a few more doses of Aurora Dew, their stock having fallen a little behind during the past week. Still, Percy would be lying if he said that’s what was going through his mind right now. No. First and foremost, he wanted to play with his new toy!

The results were immediate, and staggering.

Whether it was his extensive practice brewing with just Mana Sense, or his new eyes mixing his senses together, he could see cues in the concoction he would have certainly missed before. He could tell when a lump was about to form a second before it did, and he could more accurately estimate the correct temperature and pressure needed to deal with it.

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Overall, both his brewing time and his yield saw massive improvements by the end of the session.

‘Wow. 50%! And less than 20 minutes!’

It was shocking, considering he normally needed around 25 minutes, only successfully converting around 46% of the elixir into Aurora Dew. But this was just the start.

[Congratulations! You have mastered a new alchemic principle: Bonding]

Percy grinned.

He was pretty sure this was a new feature exclusive to him and him alone.

‘Can I do even better now?’ he wondered.

Now that his eyes had gained another principle to draw knowledge from, that should increase his yield even more, right?

Sure enough, the next session only took him 15 minutes, and he ended up with a 56% yield!

Of course, brewing elixir into Aurora Dew was a two-step process, down from the regular three-step process of converting nectar into elixir. After a quick calculation, Percy estimated his actual brewing yield – at least when compared to the Guild’s alchemists – should have jumped from around 32% to over 42%.

‘Holy shit. That’s insane!’

It might not appear like a large increase to the uninitiated, but Percy was well aware of how difficult even the slightest improvement was after 30%. Hell, Orin had been doing this for centuries, and his yield was ‘only’ 44% – just two points higher than this!

“Are you done playing around?” Nesha asked.

It was only now that Percy realized she had returned. That said, she should have been here for a while, clearly hesitant to interrupt him.

Grabbing the mirror, Percy examined his eyes. They glowed brightly, much like the Atlanteans’, but his were a different colour. Shining in a pale teal, his irises were split down the middle by a vertical pupil.

“Can’t you turn it off or something?”

“Afraid not.”

It was a little inconvenient, but Percy would have to avoid meeting people from now on. At least until he found a solution.

‘Crap. Will all my clones have to spend several days growing new eyeballs from now on?’

That was another issue he hadn’t considered. Perhaps he could skip all this if he didn’t link himself to his hosts’ eyes, but that wouldn’t be much better.

In any case, that was a problem for later. Percy had yet to fully explore his new mutation. Pulling up his Status, he read everything from beginning to end, appreciating the recent additions.

___

Percival Avalon

Mana cores:

• [Mana core 1 – Orange – Soul]
• [Mana core 2 – Orange – Pure]

Bloodline:

• [Clone] – Create a copy of yourself. Effect varies by affinity.

Mutations:

• [Sorcerer’s Eye] – Draws from the cumulative knowledge listed in the Status to enhance one’s vision, allowing them to discern details previously unseen.

Spectral trait:

• [Weaving] – Boosts one’s proclivity in manipulating one-dimensional structures.

Spells:

• [Secret Art: Familiar – Crude]
• [Phantomscale Gauntlet – Refined]
• [Spectral Art: Soul Stitching – Refined]
• [Soul Conversion – Refined]
• [Soul Harvester – Refined]
• [Reinforcement – Refined]
• [Synchronization – Refined]
• [Mantle of Deceit – Refined]

Alchemic principles:

• [Extraction] – Separate and condense an ingredient’s essence.
• [Pacification] – Delay an ingredient’s activation rate.
• [Redirection] – Adjust an ingredient’s effect.
• [Deattunement] – Prevent multiple conflicting ingredients from reacting with one another.
• [Bonding] – Enrich an ingredient with crystallized pure mana.

Decrees:

• [Phoebe’s Decree] – Grants access to your Status.
• [???] – Grants a bloodline.
• [Moirais’ Decree] – Grants a second mana core.
• [Metatron’s Decree] – Open a one-way portal to the Vault of Magic at will.
• [Ea’s Decree (Modified)] – Augments and enhances your Status. Grants the Sorcerer’s Eye.

___

As expected, the description of the Sorcerer's Eye was nearly identical to that for the Alchemist’s Eye, save for one minor detail. Rather than drawing from the knowledge listed in Ea’s Gift, it would now draw it from Percy’s expanded Status.

‘But that is massive… After all, there’s so much in there…’

While Ea’s Gift was merely a tool for alchemy, the new version of Percy’s Status covered a far wider variety of topics. If his eyes could draw information from all of them, he could hardly imagine all the possible applications.

‘I suppose that’s just something I’m going to have to explore over time.’

Shrugging, he then pulled his familiar’s Status up too, to see if anything had changed there.

___

Mictlantecuhtli (Percival's familiar)

Mana cores:

• [Mana core 1 – Yellow – Beast]
• [Mana core 2 – Orange – Air]

Mutations:

• [Soul Predator] – Allows one to more easily interact with the souls of others.
• [Wind Dancer] – Allows one to augment their flight using air mana.

Spells:

• [Wild Art: Acceleration – Crude]
• [Circulation – Refined]

Decrees:

• [Moirais’ Decree] – Grants a second mana core.

___

Percy’s eyes widened upon seeing the new section listing Micky’s previously hidden mutations. While he had often referred to them as such, he had no idea they belonged in the same category as his Sorcerer’s Eye.

Had Ea drawn inspiration from the beast affinity when designing his Decree? Or was this just some kind of coincidence? Perhaps, he’d merely reached a similar result through completely unrelated means?

Either way, gaining the ability to see Micky’s mutations was a fortunate accident. Not that there was anything there Percy hadn’t previously inferred, but it could be helpful if he gained any new mutations during his next evolution.

“Nesha… Wanna head back to the swamp?” he suddenly asked.

“Sure, I guess. It’s not like I have anything better to do. But what do you want from there?”

“Well… I haven’t had my fill of the new Decree yet, and I know the perfect place to put it to the test.”

“Where?”

“Remember that tribe of trolls we’ve heard about a while back? I think it’s finally time to pay them a visit.”