Chapter 301: Accelerated plans

“Good news first?” Nesha tentatively asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

“It seems to be the off-season.”

Percy had been able to tell due to the size of the floating globules. Their very existence was unique to the Valley, brought about by the different flow of time on either side of the Decree’s boundaries.

The rainwater falling into the Valley from above was tens of times slower, relatively speaking. Meanwhile, any pools of water inside the Valley tended to evaporate much faster. The accelerated steam thus mixed with the slower rainwater, forming countless bubbles that blanketed the sky like an artificial ceiling.

It made for quite a visual spectacle too, as the days and nights inside the Valley stretched for entire weeks, and the sunlight could only ever pass through the film of bubbles, bathing the barren land in a soft, azure colour.

Over time, the bubbles were further twisted by the temporal magic, their nature shifting almost entirely. The water and the steam blended more seamlessly, the bubbles condensing into the toxic globules Micky had shown him. The globules were heavier than the bubbles too. They fell closer to the ground, floating all over the place.

During the slower seasons, the globules were smaller and more numerous. It was only during the faster seasons that they grew scarcer, fusing together into larger orbs as big as watermelons.

Suffice to say, Percy was glad they were currently in the middle of the slower season.

There were a couple of downsides of course: like the fact that his time in there would be half as productive: but the positives vastly outweighed the negatives.

For one, they had a lot more time to prepare. It shouldn’t have been more than a couple of years since Acton reached Blue, so the boy was still nearly half a century away from Violet. Meanwhile, everyone in Percy’s group was a little over a decade from their next promotion, thanks to the Aurora Dew and their head start. This gave them over a year of leeway until Acton overtook them.

Had it been the faster season, they wouldn’t have had as long.

It also meant that Micky’s second core wouldn’t fall behind as quickly. Percy would still have to prioritize brewing and delivering some Aurora Dew to his familiar, but at least the damage would be minimized now.

Finally, the environment inside the Valley was more favourable for them. They would have to spend years hiding from everyone in there, which would have been much harder during the faster season, when the place was full of people. The Valley was massive, yes: over a hundred miles across: but scurrying about like rats was still going to be a challenge.

At least, it was a lot more manageable now that they only had Acton to worry about. Micky would warn them of the boy’s movements, and the lower visibility would help too.

“What about the bad news?” Nesha asked again, bracing herself.

Percy grimaced.

“He isn’t alone. They’ve assigned him another group of guards, no weaker than the last one.”

Nesha drew a sharp breath, the implications not lost on her.

This was a problem.

A huge one, in fact

. The Greens wouldn’t just twiddle their thumbs inside the Valley. They’d cleanse their cores too, and they were likely even closer to their next promotion than the kid. Percy had no idea

how

close, but he was willing to bet at least a couple of them would beat Elaine to Blue.

In the worst-case scenario, even if he and his companions all advanced before Acton, they might have to face a total of six Blues in combat! On top of that, the boy would grow stronger too. It wasn’t just about his advancement: he’d have decades to upgrade his spells and get used to his domain. Not to mention that he could use Micky against them.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Shit! What are we going to do?!” she asked, her voice cracking.

“What else? This doesn’t really change anything. We’ll just have to get in there as soon as possible.”

The worst-case scenario wasn’t a certainty. If Percy got lucky, maybe none of the guards would advance before his group did. Ok, maybe that was just wishful thinking. Still, Elaine should be able to handle multiple Blues once she got a domain of her own.

As bad as things were, there was still hope. Percy was confident in their ability to outgrow their enemies.

Nesha nodded, her expression grim.

“How is the mushroom doing?”

Percy had planted some spores on a piece of chicken breast back when they moved to the 11th district. He’d wanted to figure out how fast it would grow without Baldy’s clones.

“It’s almost fully grown. It’ll take about a week in total. And given how much space its taken, we can fit about a hundred per square metre.”

Nesha tilted her head, probably mathing it out.

“Alexander is lending us an abandoned warehouse in the 44th district. About thirty-by-thirty metres, five stories tall. He’ll provide the manpower and the meat, so we just have to make sure that’s enough space for our needs. Though the stench will be bad…”

“It won’t be.” Percy corrected her.

“How so?” she raised an eyebrow. “The place will be covered in rotten meat for weeks.”

“Not sure. But the meat in my room doesn’t smell. Nor is it covered in maggots, as you’d expect. I think the mushrooms release something in their “soil” to slow down the decay.”

“That’s good.” she exhaled in relief. “At least we won’t have to worry about the neighbours complaining. Though I guess Alexander would have handled that… So how many mushrooms is that…?

450… thousand?!

” she blurted out.

Then, she did a double take, apparently finding the number hard to believe.

“That’s

per batch.

” Percy confirmed. “My cauldron won’t be ready for a few more weeks. By the time I can mass produce the potions, we’ll have over a million mushrooms at hand. Maybe more.”

“That’s too much. Several times what we can realistically sell. Should I tell Alexander to leave a few floors out?”

“Nah.” Percy shook his head. “I have some ideas on what we can do with the excess.”

“You mean…?!” Nesha failed to contain the excitement in her voice, probably guessing what he had in mind.

“I did promise you. I’m sorry it took so long.”

Percy was naturally talking about her second core. He’d already agreed to give her the Decree, but they’d put it on hold, as there wasn’t much of a point in doing that before they had the life mana to repair it.

Finally, the solution was right in front of them.

“That’s still too many mushrooms though.” Nesha quickly realized.

“Only if it was just you. But I think I can do the same for Azure, given the circumstances.”

Originally, he’d been afraid to injure Elaine, as he hadn’t been sure he’d be able to heal her in time. He would have only dared to try if he had Micky to help him, by eating a Green’s soul. Not to mention that there had still been the issue with the life mana, and he’d promised Nesha to help her first.

But now, it seemed that all the chips had fallen into place. Not only would he have enough mushrooms for both of them, Micky would be able to provide all the soul mana he needed. After all, he’d be stuffing his face full of Yellow and Green souls for the foreseeable future. In fact, he’d be doing that twenty times faster than normal.

Hell, Percy felt confident he could have given Galahad a second core, had he been around.

“We’ll still have plenty left. Can you try to get us some more elixirs? Sell some of the potions cheaper if you have to. Maybe sell the mushrooms directly too.” he suggested.

“Not sure I’ll be able to. How important is it?”

“It’s not the end of the world if you can’t, but it would help.”

His original calculations had suggested that they had enough elixirs for everyone to advance, but he hadn’t included the losses from the scaling principle, nor had he taken the girls’ second cores into account. After all, he couldn’t have predicted that Acton would capture Micky and force them to rush their preparations like this.

If they failed to get more elixirs, Elaine and Nesha would have to ignore their new cores during their stay in the Valley. It wouldn’t be ideal, but making sure that everyone’s first core advanced was much more important.

Of course, Micky and Percy would still have to cleanse their second cores too. The crow needed it to manage his hunger, and Percy was a Red-born. He had to squeeze every potential second of lifespan out of his body, and it might still not be enough for him to reach his goals.

He had no idea if Nesha or Elaine wanted to become gods one day, but it wouldn’t be as difficult for them.

‘Anyway, let’s not give up pre-emptively.’

If Nesha could get him some extra elixir to cover everyone’s needs, it would be ideal. Every little bit of extra power might make the difference in the end.