Every step sent a jolt of pain up his legs, his shoes already soaking in blood. Over the past couple of weeks, Percyās group had averaged over 20 hours a day on the road. Not to mention, he had it the worst among the three due to his grade.
His only relief was the gentle breeze softly caressing his tired features, mercifully brushing away the acrid scent of sweat surrounding him. Though more seeped through his forehead, his eyebrows failing to prevent it from trickling into his eyes.
Still, he refused to stop, knowing that the battle against the Holy Child had already begun. Sure, they were currently separated by a vast: albeit constantly shrinking: distance, but the race to their next promotion was no less important than their eventual clash would be.
And Percy had more on his plate other than merely
reaching
the Thirsty Valley. After all, he wouldnāt be able to advance fast enough without Aurora Dew, and his enormous stash of elixirs wouldnāt convert itself. Certainly not before he procured the right ingredients, or completed his preparations to accelerate the process. Thus, heād had no choice but to improvise: to find ways of spending his time on the road even more productively.
āThe bag is full againā¦ā
Reaching at his waist, he unstrapped the cloth bag heād hastily fashioned a few days ago, giving it a quick shake. The teal marbles made crisp sounds as they rolled and collided with one another.
Grabbing one of the amulets around his neck, he poured some mana into it, causing the cube to expand. Holding it clumsily with one hand, he struggled not to drop it as it grew to the size of a crate. Next, he pressed his chin on a rune, using some more mana to open the box.
Emptying his bag into the container, he willed the marbles to shatter into powder. Then he shrunk the amulet, hanging it back around his neck, and the bag to his waist, right below the modified Effigy.
The spell hadnāt changed much. Heād only made the links between the crystals and the beak even thinner, so that they wouldnāt hold under the weight of a fully grown marble. This way, the crystals would break off on their own whenever they reached their full size, rolling into the bag. It wasnāt the most ground-breaking idea, but it allowed Percy to passively accumulate teal dust as he walked, by simply pouring mana into the construct, leaving his hands free to do other things.
āWell thenā¦ I have another hour until itās full againā¦ā
Next, he grabbed another object from his pocket. A rectangular slab of reinforced mana, as big as his palm. It glowed in an eerie teal light, much like everything else he crafted. Strictly speaking, it wasnāt very different from the Effigy, sporting a single self-repair enchantment on its back, its front face smooth as glass. Perhaps, this was why his Status hadnāt seen fit to register it as a separate spell.
Yet, its function was entirely different.
Lifting his free hand, Percy gathered some more mana to his fingertips before carefully carving a few lines into the object. Keeping his fingers steady was a struggle, neither his exhaustion nor the bumpy ground doing him any favours. But he was already experienced in runecrafting by now, seeing this as just another challenge to overcome.
At first, he drew three concentric circles, before filling them with more details. Soon, the outermost ring resembled a heat rune, the innermost two containing overlapping control runes, linked in a very special manner. One of them was constrained to the inner circle, while its sibling was free to span both regions.
Suffice to say, this was one of the cascading control enchantments heād studied in the Vault. All the craziness since Gentlebreeze town had prevented him from working on this before now, but he was keenly aware heād have to upgrade his cauldron soon. If everything went according to plan, he could significantly boost his brewing speed, which might just be the difference between rescuing his familiar or losing him forever.
Thus, he continued to push himself to his limits, and beyond. His body ached and protested as he forced it to keep moving, his cores burning under the relentless rush of mana. Even his mind wasnāt spared as he focused on his runecrafting.
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āAnother failureā¦ā
he grimaced about forty minutes later, once the enchantment failed to activate.
He knew there was nothing wrong with its design. Not only had he copied one of the illustrations from the book, heād spent way longer than necessary to ensure the intricate symbol was flawless. The problem lay with his visualization of the composite enchantment.
He sighed, pouring some mana into the self-repair rune. At least that one worked, flashing brightly before slowly erasing its malfunctioning sibling from the other side of the slab. This was the objectās true purpose: a convenient training tool that allowed him to practice his runecrafting on the move.
āThe bag will be full again in a few minutesā¦ā
he frowned.
He didnāt have enough time to start another attempt, so he should probably wait to empty the bag first.
Turning to his companions, he noticed they werenāt slacking either. Nesha didnāt look quite as exhausted as he was, but mana continuously surged through her channels as she slowly forced them to expand. She hadnāt started working on her Circulation pattern just yet, but her pathways were almost fully tempered by now.
Of course, she hadnāt had much time to exercise while travelling: none of them had. But they didnāt need to. The only reason one had to strengthen their body before practicing Circulation was because it allowed them to push their channels further, letting them contain more mana. Once they got to the tempering stage, pushing mana through the channels grew physically demanding in and of itself, allowing them to easily maintain their physical condition.
āI should talk to her at some pointā¦ā
She hadnāt spoken a word about it, but he knew that losing Micky had weighed heavily on her. Moreso than him or Elaine, in some ways. Granted, she hadnāt known the crow for nearly as long as them, but she also felt guilty over her inability to help them against the Rootās men.
Percy wanted to console her. It wasnāt really her fault she couldnāt fight against a bunch of Greens at Yellow. She was already doing plenty. But he ultimately chose not to disturb her right now. Letting her channel her frustration productively would benefit her in the long run.
āElaine also seems to have been affected by the fight.ā
His cousin was the only one who hadnāt broken a sweat, but that didnāt mean she was taking it easy. Her forehead was creased, mana constantly rushing to her feet, enveloping them in a thin film of water. Clearly, she wasnāt satisfied having only elevated
one
of her newest spells to Refined. Heād seen her work on her magic before, but never thisā¦ relentlessly. Something during her fight against the three Greens must have shifted her mentality.
And there was another bit of good news, despite all the recent chaos. His latest clone had been gone for a while, which was always a great sign. Doubly so, given his efforts to return to Huehue. It didnāt necessarily mean heād succeeded, but he mustāve found
something
of value regardless. And Phoebe knew, Percy needed every advantage he could get right about now.
āJust hurry up and return already, wherever you are...ā
Though he shook his head the very next moment, forcing himself to calm down. There was no sense in getting impatient. He still had plenty of things to do, so he should just stick with his current plans for now. If the clone brought anything useful back, he could adjust course accordingly.
Seeing that he had a couple more minutes to kill until his Effigy was done, he turned his attention to the cord.
āMicky, how are you holding up?ā
The response came delayed.
āā¦Iām not. Heās holding me up, with that spell of his.ā
Micky joked, trying to put a brave front.
But Percy didnāt miss the deep pain and despair simmering beneath his friendās words.
āI donāt suppose youāve been able to keep your spells up?ā
Percy asked again, though it wasnāt difficult to guess the answer.
āNot Circulation. My body hurts too much when I try. But I can still feed some of my elemental mana to my beast core.ā
Percy nodded. As serious as Mickyās injuries were, they werenāt life-threatening anymore. Despite his senseless cruelty, Acton had still been careful not to inflict any lethal wounds. As for the soul injuries, Percy had done his best to stitch them up properly. Though it would take Micky a while to fully recover, and it wouldnāt be a fun process in the slightest.
āThe hunger?ā
āAbout as bad as it gets. But weāve entered a forest, and heās already fed me a couple of critters. Barely a snack, but itās only a matter of time until he finds something bigger. He moves fast.ā
Percy increased the flow of fused mana a little. Heād had to tune it down a notch since the massacre, to avoid provoking Acton again. But he also knew the crow needed every drop it could get, given the circumstances.
āHang in there, buddy. I swear Iāll get you back if itās the last thing I do.ā
Though Micky shook his head.
āI donāt care about that. Promise me something else.ā
Percy felt a bitter lump in his throat, already knowing what the crow meant, Mickyās words only confirming his suspicions a moment later.
āWhatever happens to meā¦ kill the little shit.ā