I had no idea how many days had passed. I wasn’t even at the estate much, moving mostly between the basement and the Silverstreek gym, pushing my body, mind, and World to the limit and beyond.
Well, the results were great, to say the least. My World had grown considerably and could store a grand total of 8.6 soul energy units. My physique had also improved a lot, and I had begun refining the third ether gate after filling the gate to the brim the day before.
The best, however, was the improvement of the bond. The soulshare had grown by almost one-third, which surprised everyone. It was a welcome surprise, yet also a necessity. Why was it a necessity? What was the problem?
Aureus was too fast. Not only was he growing rapidly—both mentally and physically—but the bigger problem was how quickly he digested the pre-evolutionary serum. Even though I couldn’t tell how many days had passed, I’d only slept approximately three or four times, so a week or so could have passed at most. Yet Aureus was already back, crunching on the hind leg of a massive beast… on my lap…
But what was the problem with Aureus finishing the pre-evolution serum so quickly? Well, I had no idea, since nobody was talking to me. All they did was sit me down in the living room of the Zerog estate.
Everyone was there, even Lea and Merlin. Their presence was as surprising as it was unpleasant, given the looks they threw at me. The worst thing about that wasn’t the disgust. No, that would have been too easy. Lea looked… was that worry? Pity? Whatever. Merlin’s gaze was worse. He wasn’t disgusted either. Quite the contrary, he looked… intrigued. That was definitely worse than his initial disdain.
“He was too fast,” Bert muttered, pointing at one of the multiple holographic screens he’d shared with the others. Even my parents were allowed to look, though they seemed confused by all the data they were given. Only I wasn’t allowed to see anything.
Aureus was still on my lap, unbothered by the eyes lingering on him, and crunched on a beast’s leg. The little glutton had grown considerably.
He was no longer that small, now reaching a length of more than 60 centimeters. Aureus’ legs had grown as well, and he was broader than before, too. His black scales were still matte, but they were thicker than they used to be, resembling a Soilback’s scaly armor. It was just that Aureus’ scales were firmer and more beautiful.
His eyes were intelligent—more so than when he was born—and my connection to Paraylse was stronger than ever. However, the bond held little importance at this moment.
My hand ran along Aureus’ smooth back and only stopped at the bulges protruding from his otherwise perfect scale armor.
The bulges had grown a little—not much, but enough to notice. It felt odd to see them, and they felt just as strange; like something was trying to escape the confines of Aureus’ body. Nobody else said anything, but everyone was interested in the bulges. Everyone had their fair share of guesses, which they shared among each other, whispering just quietly enough that I couldn’t hear anything from the couch.
Sure enough, I had a few ideas—one being that Aureus was mutating further, which would be good, as it was hard to imagine Aureus evolving into a Cragling. The little glutton wasn’t a Soilback. Not really. He was more, even if it was just to me.
“A benevolent mutation?” I faintly heard Chloe ask, and I nodded to myself.
“Is the evolution serum complete?” Merlin asked, his voice cutting through the room.
Bert winced. “No, the serum won’t be done for another three days. He digested the serum too fast.”
“You’re at the fourth level of Blastor Refinery, right?” Merlin asked, turning to me.
I had no idea who told him that, but I nodded since it was true anyway. The fourth level of Blastor Refinery was still too complicated to use with the soul energy and ether at my disposal. However, I’d improved enough to refine my World smoothly—relatively speaking.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Thanks to my accelerated recovery rate, I can manage,” I added quietly.
It was hard to tell where it was coming from, but my World replenished both soul energy and ether faster than normal. That was rare, as far as Daniel and I could tell, but it was a thing. Although the improvement was slight and barely noticeable, in-depth testing showed that pushing myself to the verge of collapse accelerated my World’s natural recovery to nearly twice the rate of the average Blessed.
“You will have to thank your constitution for that,” Merlin said. “Some Soulkins have special traits that allow rapid recovery, which grants them a near-infinite amount of ether. Of course, that’s nonsense, but it doesn’t concern your condition.” He pointed at me, his eyes steely, mixed with a tinge of interest. “I researched your condition, and it’s rare, to say the least. Most children don’t survive as long as you did, and the specifics have never been made public either—you may be the first specimen with so many records in the databank—but their bodies lacked ether.”
Merlin looked at Peter Zerog, who nodded resignedly. Peter sighed and waved dismissively at Merlin, who then turned back to me.
“The other specimen died when they consumed ether while unBlessed.”
My mother looked at me, mortified.
“But I didn’t die.” I’d absorbed the ether within a pair of small etherstones my parents had prepared for me. Were the records wrong? No, that couldn’t be it. Merlin was a pain in the ass, but he didn’t strike me as foolish. If others died from unrefined ether and I survived...
Chloe Zerog stepped forward. “No, you did not die.”
“Why?”
She looked at the others and shrugged apologetically. “We are not sure either.”
My lips parted, but no word came out. I could only stare blankly at her.
“We don’t know everything, Adam. However, we can come up with a few well-educated guesses.” She offered me a thin smile. “Though given the rarity of your case and the facts Bert provided from his research on you and Aureus, we are not confident in our guesses. They’re probably wrong.”
They... could be wrong? The Zerogs could be wrong? That... didn’t make any sense. If anyone knew about everything, it would be the Zerogs... right?
“We think the malleability of your World helped you survive—adapt. Worlds like yours are uncommon, but not unheard of. Latebloomers are not unusual, nor are unfortunate unBlessed. What is rare, however, is for anyone with a malleable World to rise to great power, as their Worlds are always minuscule. The greater the degree of their World’s malleability, the smaller their World—meaning the harder they have to work to refine their World enough to bind a beast.”
That was what the World Genesis hypothesis was all about.
“We talked about that before, so I won’t go into detail. There are also other factors at play, but they’re not important right now. My guess is that your World adapted to the sudden influx of wild ether you absorbed. It altered the ether, which replicated the means of a Soulkin, making you a Blessed—temporarily. It was not much, but it allowed you to survive.”
Okay? So... what did that mean?
Merlin stepped forward again. “What we’re trying to say is that your World and constitution work in tandem. As long as you continue to temper your physique, you should be able to produce more soul energy and replenish more ether than others in the same time frame.”
“You are still weak, pitifully so,” he added, “but you can catch up with your peers. It will take time—probably longer than I would be willing to wait—but if you focus on binding eggs or recently born Soulkin to form strong bonds and utilize their growth to grow alongside them—it would be best if you could evolve them as well—you should reach the level of your peers. By then, your physique will be stronger than theirs, and your World’s versatility will allow you to do... just about anything.”
And once I reach my peers’ level, I will surpass them. If I can produce more soul energy than others can, I can refine my World more often—more extensively. I... can surpass them.
All I needed for that was time, effort, and resources.
My parents were smiling, and I smiled back at them—until I caught the corners of Merlin’s lips. They... were curled upward. He was smiling at me, even if it looked more like a devil’s grimace.
“Unfortunately, the Camp will start in a month,” he uttered nonchalantly, glancing at Chloe and Peter Zerog, who stared at him with bulging eyes. “The Council decided to push the schedule ahead. We lost too many good people in the fight against the Mistral, and we have to make up for those losses.”
Wait a moment! The Council decided to move the schedule ahead instead of postponing it for a few months?! What the hell!
“Retinues have to meet a certain standard as well. Last year, too many idiots picked weaklings, which resulted in a ‘debacle.’ The Council won’t take any more risks, and they will test the retinues.” He smiled at me, his grimace looking oddly punchable all of a sudden. “A Novice won’t make it far, that’s for sure.”
The adults looked at each other, and I heard Chloe curse her brother, but it was Bert who stepped forward.
“That’s an all-nighter for me.” He smiled reassuringly at me as he turned to the elevator. “The evolution serum will be ready by tomorrow. Be there in the morning.”