Objectively speaking, the fight wasn’t going well.
Percy’s spinning sickles just about managed to keep the bird at bay, preventing it from tearing him to shreds. But he didn’t have an easy time landing a hit either. In fact, he’d come closer to slicing Latt’s soul up by accident a couple times, forcing the man to retreat behind a large tree. Not that the wood would offer much protection from the soul mana, but it seemed to put the Yellow-born at ease.
If that wasn’t enough, Percy had to fight with his eyes closed, unable to tolerate the burning rays of sunlight for too long. Sadly, it meant he had to forsake both Soul Vision and his regular sight, relying solely on Mana Sense to track the creature’s movements. This only made everything even harder.
Still, a grin was plastered all over his face.
Against all odds, Percy was enjoying the battle!
Over the years, his arsenal had expanded with all sorts of new additions. Circulation, his pure affinity, Reinforcement, affinity fusion, runecrafting, his mutation and his spectral trait… He’d spent a lot of time mastering all those disparate components and integrating them into his spells, but he’d arguably neglected his original soul affinity in the process. That was the one thing he’d had for most of his life – for a decade longer than everything else, in fact, even if he hadn’t known much about it during his childhood.
‘Feels good to return to my roots!’
And how fitting was it, to work on his new attack using his sickles? It was the first spell he had ever registered – his Parting Gift!
He’d stopped using it with his main body after upgrading it to the Soul Harvester. The reinforced scythes were stronger and far more lethal than the flimsy weapons he’d hunted the wasps with. But his old spell still held a special place in his heart.
In fact, this whole trip to Melodia was quite nostalgic. If he ignored all the pressure and bloodshed – that is. It was an excellent opportunity to reconnect with one of his previous hosts, and to explore his primary affinity further. To discover things about it he’d never known. Just like he had elevated the pure affinity to something others would envy, he knew there was more to soul mana that he had yet to learn.
Alas, the new spell proved a bit tricky to master.
Sol had taught him to let go of his mana. To trust it. Allow it to do its own thing. And that had been enough to breathe some life into his constructs. The spinning sickles could already adjust their trajectories by themselves, inching closer to his targets.
But there was a reason it was still a Crude spell – a far cry from his host’s own ability.
Hurling two more sickles at the eagle, he watched it effortlessly dodge them with a casual flap of its enormous wings. At least, the intense gust of wind passed harmlessly through the ethereal weapons, unable to touch them.
Yet the damage was already done. The Parting Gifts flew away, missing their mark by several metres. They tried to adjust course, shifting upwards in a wide arc, but it was too late. In the end, they disappeared into the distance.
Percy clicked his tongue. Well… Sol’s tongue.
‘Okay, I can’t just ignore the weapons entirely. I need to work alongside them.’
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The first step had been to weaken his hold on the constructs, letting them fly by themselves. The second step would be to strengthen his hold again. But instead of getting in their way – inhibiting them – like before, he would have to cooperate with them.
It was easier said than done though.
He would have loved to ask Sol for another tip, but she was currently busy keeping their boosting art active. And she was doing an admirable – if imperfect – job at it. Maintaining both the internal and the external conversion wasn’t that hard given the abundance of soul mana, but keeping the whirlpools in place was.
Whenever he drew too much mana from their channels, he threw everything out of whack, causing her control to waver and the spell to weaken. It never took her more than a couple seconds to restore it, though it didn’t look like she had the spare time to help him with his homing attacks.
‘Well, whatever. I’m the veteran mage here. I shouldn’t be relying on a kid to spoon-feed me.’
Shifting his attention back to the beast, he noticed it was starting to grow irritated. It seemed to finally realize it wasn’t going to get its meal today, looking at him cautiously from afar. Was it going to fly away?
“No, you don’t!” Percy spat.
He hurled four more sickles at it, trying to cut its escape paths off. At the same time, he manifested four more, before launching them too. If he couldn’t beat the creature with precision alone, he’d throw some quantity into the mix!
At first, the eight constructs were spaced apart by dozens of metres, but the gaps shrunk as they closed into the eagle, approaching it from every direction.
Sadly, there was still plenty of space for it to slip through.
Escaping the deathtrap, it appeared to hesitate for a moment. Truth be told, if it wanted to leave, Percy wouldn’t be able to hold it.
But its eyes glinted with greed as its gaze landed on him once more. He’d used a lot of mana to form so many constructs at once, messing with Sol’s work. The silver lines on their skin faded in and out, threatening to disappear entirely.
‘What the hell are you doing?!’ she chided him.
‘Baiting it.’ he replied.
It was risky, but it had worked, judging from its expression. It was already diving down for another attempt, thinking it stood a chance.
Forming two more sickles in his hands, Percy held his ground, threatening to hit back.
But the bird wasn’t that dumb, apparently. Turning away at the last second, it flew towards the sleeping Doh instead, thinking he was an easy target.
The man rolled out of the way at the last second, the commotion having long woken him up. The eagle would have realized too, if it had Soul Vision.
The Green-born shot a chunk of soul mana into the beast, rattling the silver flame burning inside its frame. He took care not to injure it severely, however, probably realizing Percy still needed his practice dummy.
Hurt and disoriented, the bird crashed awkwardly into a tree, smashing the trunk into a rain of splinters. Percy could have easily finished it if he wanted, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise.
Instead, he waited for it to take off, putting some distance between them.
The bird did try to escape again, but that ship had long sailed. It had a tougher time flying now, making it easier for Percy to box it in. On top of that, Doh and Latt finally decided to pitch in, preventing the creature from leaving.
‘Okay, I’m starting to feel a little bad for the poor thing…’ Percy thought, looking at the injustice painting the bird’s expression.
It’s not like he wanted to kill it. If it was alive by the time he finished training, he’d let it go. He doubted it would dare attack them again.
Between his two Yellow cores, the boosting art that Sol laboriously tended to, and an environment rich in soul mana, Percy had all the fuel he needed to test his spell to his heart’s content. Not to mention the perfect moving target – a most excellent whetstone to hone his aim.
Thus, he kept at it for hours, hurling sickle after sickle at the creature, improving his control ever so slightly with each attempt. His companions didn’t stop him either. Protecting themselves wasn’t as difficult after their recent upgrades, and they knew it would serve them well if he and Sol grew even stronger.
In the end, they were forced to let the beast go by nightfall, once a separate pack of Yellow beasts attacked them. The bird was more than happy to receive its pardon, though it didn’t miss the chance to snatch one of the carcasses on the way out, as payment for its trouble.
Unfortunately, Percy’s Status hadn’t registered the upgrade yet. But that was not to say he hadn’t improved. He was already able to manage multiple sickles at once, and his control was rapidly approaching Sol’s. He could tell their work with the Dance was also nearing a turning point.
‘I’ve no idea how potent the lake’s effect is from up close, but it should be enough. Just a few more days…’