Chapter 309: Possessing a crow

‘There. That’s got to be him.’

Percy thought, diving into the only healthy soul in his vicinity that didn’t push him away.

Sneaking into Micky’s body was a vastly different experience to what he was used to. The bird’s injuries had healed a long time ago, so his usual strategy of slipping his soul wisp into the cracks wouldn’t cut it.

Luckily, his familiar’s soul seemed to welcome him with open wings, shrinking slightly into its body to make space. Still, it was a bit stuffed in there. Percy had to wrap himself around the crow tightly, like a thin, invisible film.

‘It’s probably better this way. It would have been even harder to leave afterwards if I got lodged into his wounds…’

This was nothing like his other hosts. Usually, he had to put some effort to stick to their souls, fighting tooth and nail not to get kicked out. This time, he had instead found himself glued to Micky almost instantly. It was prying himself off that would probably be a challenge.

That said, it shouldn’t be a problem in the short-term. Percy was confident he could still leave right now if he wanted to, but he’d have to be careful not to stay too long, or he might end up permanently fusing into his familiar.

‘Hey, buddy. Been a while, hasn’t it?’

he asked, allowing his senses to blend with Micky’s.

The crow didn’t say anything, but Percy felt a wave of warmth spreading through his friend’s soul. The bird was clearly elated to have him by his side, even temporarily.

He sighed internally, fully aware of how tough the past few months had been for the crow. He still didn’t know how old the original Micky had been, but the bird was quite young. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that, due to how rapidly he was growing, but he’d only been alive for around seven years before he got captured by Acton.

For Percy, only a few months had passed since the Holy Child had dragged Micky into the Valley, but for him, it had been several years: a significant chunk of his life. And he’d never spent nearly this long away from Percy.

Alas, if they wanted to make their reunion permanent, they had work to do…

Looking through Micky’s eyes, Percy scanned his surroundings carefully, gazing at the strange environment inside the Valley with awe. Granted, Micky had sent him some images before, but their usual connection wasn’t nearly as direct as a full possession.

Fortunately, the water globules were still small and dense, indicating that the Valley had yet to enter its faster season. Each season was supposed to last for several decades, but they had no idea how close the current one was to ending. Nesha had naturally tried to ask about it, but it was much easier to gather information about the Valley’s perimeter than its interior, as the former was visible from the outside.

‘Is it difficult to deal with the globules?’

he asked.

Rather than replying directly, Micky chose to show him instead. He waited a few seconds for one to drift near him, pushing it away with a soft burst of wind. The globule was quite light, and the crow’s mana expenditure had been minimal. That said, constantly keeping so many of them at bay must’ve been unpleasant.

‘You kinda get used to it after a couple of months. At first, Acton’s guards had to take shifts while the rest of us slept, but we’ve all learned to do it passively by now.’

Micky explained.

‘What about the beasts? Don’t you have to keep watch?’

Percy asked.

‘You’ll probably have to do that when you enter… but we don’t. The beasts can sense Acton’s Blue core from a mile away. Nothing dares to approach, even when he’s asleep.’

Percy nodded.

As a mage advanced through the grades, their senses: both mundane and magical: grew sharper and more defined. The boy had explicitly ordered Micky to behave, but even if he hadn’t, Percy would have advised him not to attack him in his sleep. It would have most likely failed, and the consequences would have been dire.

‘I’m really sorry you have to go through all this, buddy. I wish I‘d been strong enough to stop him from capturing you…’

he smiled bitterly.

‘But I swear I’ll free you. Just wait a bit longer.’

Micky shook his head.

‘Don’t worry about it. He hasn’t done anything to me since Goldenfield town. He’s only asked me to hunt down a bunch of beasts, but I would have done that anyway…’

Percy remained quiet. It was good the boy had stopped torturing Micky, but knowing that a murderous psychopath held absolute power over his friend wasn’t a good feeling.

Looking inwards, he soon located the spatial seal inside his soul wisp. He’d brought a quarter of the seal with him, as an eighth wasn’t large enough to contain over a decade’s worth of Aurora Dew.

Next, he used some of his stashed mana to push the seal into Micky’s soul. The object resisted as it exited his own wisp, and then again as he tried to force it into his familiar. Still, it only took him a couple seconds to pass it over.

‘Can you access its contents?’

Percy asked.

Micky stood still for a few minutes, seemingly trying a bunch of different things.

‘I can sense it inside my soul, but I can’t do anything else with it.’

he eventually said.

‘Hmm… try borrowing some of my mana.’

Percy suggested, passing him a sliver from his stash.

Normally, he was able to use the cores of his hosts to attach his own willpower to their mana, but they had no way to do the opposite. Luckily, Micky wasn’t just a typical clone: he was also his familiar. They already had the ability to freely share each other’s mana.

Sure enough, the crow took control of the mana as easily as breathing, pushing it into the seal. And the results were immediate.

‘Ok. I’m in!’

he cawed softly, struggling to contain his excitement. Getting his talons on some Aurora Dew for the first time in years must’ve felt good.

‘Wow! You’ve brewed a lot!’

‘You should be able to drink them directly from the storage. Just imagine the liquid appearing into your stomach, without the vial.’

Percy had already tested this months ago.

With that, Micky’s progress was back on track. In fact, other than the few years of missed core-cleansing, his familiar seemed to have done a great job staying on top of his training. Percy had already noticed that Micky had both Circulation and Regulation active.

‘I see you’ve figured out the ice pattern.’

he noted.

Not very surprising, given how long the crow had worked on it. Still impressive though.

Other than the green and azure lines glowing on Micky’s plumage, there was a third type. These were pale, decorating his feathers in an intricate, hexagonal grid. Even more notably, the centres of the hexagons appeared to function as intersections of the three networks, allowing him to freely fuse or separate the ice mana into its components even outside his core.

‘How curious… I wonder if this is how all the composite affinities work…’

Percy would have to check with Gabe and Leo the next time he visited the Vault. Other than that, he really wanted to start working with Micky on their combination spells right away. To teach him pre-casting and to begin exploring the mysteries of the ice affinity alongside him. To see if they could fuse it with pure or soul mana, or to incorporate it into his armour and weapons…

But this wasn’t the time to lose themselves in their experiments, nor to boost Micky’s fighting strength.

‘What else have you done?’

he asked.

‘I avoided working on my other spells, like you told me to. I’ve only focused on Circulation and Regulation. But I’m much better at them now. I can keep them up while sleeping.’

‘Seriously?’

Percy would have raised an eyebrow if Micky had any.

This was something that even he couldn’t do. Granted, he’d never tried to learn it, since he didn’t really need his boosting art while sleeping. But Micky was a different story. The crow needed every drop of mana he could get, to manage his hunger.

‘Your conversion efficiency seems quite high too. I think you’ve surpassed me there as well.’

Percy noticed.

He used to have an edge over Micky at this, being able to convert about 30% of his pure mana into soul mana. But he wasn’t that surprised his familiar had overtaken him. It was bound to happen sooner or later, given how much time and effort he was putting into Regulation. The accelerated time only sped up the process.

From a cursory glance, it seemed Micky was converting about 35% of his mana: his mutations probably playing a huge role in it.

‘Yeah, I think I can last multiple weeks without food now, assuming I don’t exert myself. Though I haven’t had a chance to test it.’

A wave of relief flushed over Percy. He’d long hypothesized Micky would reach this point, but guessing wasn’t the same as knowing for sure.

Still, they couldn’t relax just yet. This balance that his familiar had reached after years of painstaking efforts was extremely fragile. It would be broken if his first core advanced before his second. They’d have to make sure his elemental core kept up for as long as possible. Even then, they’d merely be delaying the inevitable.

‘Oh well… No sense in stressing over that right now… So, where are the bastards?’