According to the original plan, Kai had been supposed to spend the voyage working on the mana and chakra plant that he had been given by the elves. He'd eaten a few pieces of it and tried to digest the strange merged power, but after a few days it spent all its time sitting in his spatial ring.
Because it was finally time to shape the Thunderbird essence. He had all the knowledge he needed, all the other monstrous powers, and no excuses. There were no urgent priorities or lethal threats. If he couldn't develop a perfect ability from it now, he never would.
All of his theoretical work had made him sure that he could create an ability that could fulfill several roles at once without sacrificing potential. He needed speed, of course, but he needed agility and mobility along with it. Ideally he also wanted something that would be compatible with his new Savage Heart abilities, even though he hadn't fully mastered them, so he didn't need to sacrifice the wings themselves. For that reason he decided to feed his aerial abilities into the new ability as well.
During the voyage they occasionally encountered monsters, none of them a true challenge for him. Honestly, the lamia sailors he journeyed with could probably have handled things themselves. Kai told them not to raise a finger and ate everything himself, because he needed all the monstrous essence he could get.
First he fixed the Thunderbird in his soul as Thunderbird's Essence, an ability that was too broad to be powerful but didn't sacrifice any future potential. He would refine it when he fed other monsters into it, which was his next task. Kai trained the abilities he'd been gathering over so many months until he was confident with all of them. Potential essence that had been unformed, especially from sacred beasts, became concrete abilities that he refined over the weeks.
Finally he had what he considered a complete set:
Thunderbird's Essence - IV (delta)
Unicorn's Speed - VIII (theta)
Garuda's Wing - VIII (theta)
Bloodprong's Charge - VIII (theta)
Based on his experience with Behemoth's Heart it was probably overkill to increase all of the monstrous abilities to the same Theta tier, but he didn't want anything to distract him. Unlike Behemoth's Heart, which merged defensive skills in a natural way to defend his life, this time he needed to develop a more precisely tuned ability.
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When it was finally time, he told the sailors not to interrupt him for any reason and then focused on the monstrous essence. Everything had to be balanced. He fused Unicorn's Speed with Garuda's Wing, creating a blend that was part speed and part agility. Then he fused Bloodprong's Charge with Pegasus's Grace, another balance of speed and mobility. And then, both of those abilities trembling with potential, he fed them all to the Thunderbird.
This time the change was quiet. When it was done he didn't feel any different and for a moment he feared that he had somehow made all of the monstrous essence evaporate into nothing. But when he looked into his soul, he saw a single unified ability.
Thunderbird's Wings - I (alpha)
There was no way to know its true potential until he used it, so Kai returned to the deck to test himself. Immediately he could tell that his reflexes had changed: the sailors around him seemed so much slower and clumsier than before. When someone dropped a cloth from atop the sails, Kai saw it twisting downward through the wind in glorious detail, reveling in every turn of the fabric.
He leapt out to catch it, as light as the air. Kai dropped back to the deck, smiling, and after he handed the cloth back, he launched himself off the side of the ship.
His first leap took him so far he left the ship behind and Kai laughed as he tore through the air. He could feel his back twisting, phantom wings trying to form as the power strained for its full potential. Once he developed the Savage Heart enough he might be able to attain true flight, but even this was a joyous breakthrough.
As Kai began to arc down toward the ocean, he focused solely on reversing direction. For an instant he felt wings snap out behind him, a thunderclap sounded, and he was shooting in the opposite direction.
The first time he hit the water he fell under, but Kai pushed up and tried again. In less than an hour he was able to skim over the surface of the water, almost as easy as running. He sprinted back to the ship, where the sailors were beginning to fear that they'd lost their most important passenger.
During the remainder of the trip, Kai pushed his new ability to its limits. It only increased to Beta rank, yet he felt far more confident in his use of it. He was eager to see what it could become once he brought out its full potential. When he looked at his soul, he was satisfied with his progress.
Cultivation: Body Refinement 48% (109)
Physique Level: D-4 (220)
Monstrous Hunger - XI (lambda)
Behemoth's Heart - VIII (theta)
Direboar's Strength - XI (lambda)
Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)
Sahagin's Soul - VII (theta)
Thunderbird's Wings - II (beta)
Tyrant's Claw - IX (iota)
Void Gaze - VI (zeta)
Baleful Breath - IV (delta)
Mutefang's Stealth - IX (iota)
Lizarkyl's Tail - V (epsilon)
Direurchin's Spikes - V (epsilon)
Wallcrawler's Feet - III (gamma)
Crystal Slime - II (beta)
Dreamleech - I (alpha)
Abominalgum - I (alpha)
Rose Piranha - II (beta)
Bloodtrap - III (gamma)
Deathvine - I (alpha)
Banchlain - V (epsilon)
Maybe he should have been dissatisfied with the limits of his soul, because he now had a large number of powerful abilities competing for limited slots. Yet what he wanted most of all was the chance to use all of this against a real opponent.
In theory, returning to Deadwaste should be an opportunity for reunions and advancement. But a part of him hungered for something more brutal.