Percy was currently laying on his bed, his bedsheets soaked with sweat. Suffice to say, he wasn’t doing so great. His heart raced like crazy, his brain throbbing painfully against his skull.

‘I guess I should be happy about this… The more it hurts, the more useful stuff the clone has brought back…’

He sighed. Technically, his latest clone hadn’t been gone for too long. Even if he included the extra week in the Vault, some of his previous adventures had lasted longer. Still, he had worked non-stop during his stay on Felmara, and that was without considering how fruitful his time in the Wiseman’s Chamber had been.

Suffice to say, fully assimilating all these experiences would take a while. Incorporating everything into his arsenal and adjusting his plans accordingly wouldn’t be a breeze either.

‘First things first… this clone really made a mess, didn’t he?’

Percy was used to reaping the benefits of his clones’ adventures by now: this was why he even bothered sending them out in the first place. But having to clean after them was a relatively novel experience.

Sure, this wasn’t the only clone that had run into trouble. There was the one that had literally died on the way back. And the one that had ended up marked by Metatron. Still, neither of those clones had made things harder for his main body, really. After all, he could have simply chosen to never return to the Vault if he’d wanted.

Thus, this clone was completely different in that regard. Not only had he somehow managed to pick a fight with a god, but he’d also revealed the existence of Circulation to Metatron. Both could bring long-lasting consequences to Percy.

Moreover, the other times had been complete accidents, out of his control. This time, his clone had actively chosen to do those things. If he’d wished, he could have simply abandoned the others in the auditorium, leaving Felmara quietly.

‘Oh well… it could have been worse…’ he shrugged.

As inconvenient as it was, Percy stood by his clone’s actions. If he had to make the same choice again, he still wouldn’t have left Tlaloc there to suffer, nor would he have allowed Leo to die.

Besides, it wasn’t so bad. Rhaziel had no idea how to find him. Or even what he looked like. Percy had all the time in the world to build up his strength and return to Felmara on his own terms, when he was ready.

As for Metatron… well, Percy had made the most of a tough situation there. At least, he’d managed to leverage the boosting art, getting the titan to start treating his hosts better. That alone was enough to lift a huge weight off his chest. Not to mention how much easier the combat challenges would be from now on.

And then, there was the best part about this trip. The thing that excited Percy the most.

His gains!

Most of his successful clones tended to only bring one or two valuable things back. Yet, this one had actually brought quite a few things with him. Since Percy wasn’t in any condition to resume brewing or runecrafting, he figured he might as well go over everything in detail, and to see how it all fit into his plans.

First, was his new storage seal.

Percy focused in his chest, in an area a couple inches below his sternum, where the recently retrieved chunk of his soul was already attaching itself to the rest. Inside it, he felt a foreign object floating harmlessly. It didn’t interact with his flesh at all, existing exclusively within his soul.

‘Let’s see how much control I have over this thing…’

Drawing some soul mana from his core, he gave the seal a gentle push, feeling it moving through him. It was a little uncomfortable this time, unlike when he’d tried this in the Vault. The main part of his soul was more rigid than the disembodied wisps he equipped his clones with, offering some resistance to the seal whenever it tried to move.

Still, it only took him a few moments to push the seal to his hand. And a few more to get it to his foot, or even inside his head. Clearly, Metatron hadn’t lied about how easy it was to move. Percy now had complete freedom to choose whether he lent it to his clones, regardless of what part of his soul he fashioned them out of.

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Nodding in satisfaction, he tried something else.

Clamping the seal with his mana, he pulled at it from different directions, trying to split it in half. It resisted at first, forcing him to increase the pressure slightly. Still, the seal eventually obeyed, soon snapping into two smaller copies, each of them bouncing on opposite boundaries of his soul.

Examining one of them, it didn’t take him long to confirm that it worked exactly like the original. The only difference was that its internal storage was smaller.

‘Now, the cubes are about 5 metres across. That’s quite a loss…’ he frowned.

This meant that each seal could only store about an eighth of the original, shrinking the overall volume to a quarter.

Regardless, this was dozens of times more than all his spatial amulets combined!

Just like that, Percy had solved his storage problem! He now had the means to bring as many ingredients into the Thirsty Valley as he wanted!

Of course, he still wasn’t planning to try brewing in there if he could avoid it, but he now had another option to fall back to, in case he failed to prepare adequately. Even better, the seal might help with another problem he’d been grappling with.

Sadly, Micky didn’t have a spatial amulet on him right now. He’d travelled to Goldenfield town with Elaine, and she’d been the one to carry all their stuff. Once Acton chased him off, he’d been left with nothing.

That said, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Had Micky possessed an amulet, the boy would have probably found and confiscated it by now, along with all the elixirs inside it. Besides, the crow didn’t need the regular elixirs, since he could cleanse his second core using his own beast mana, at roughly the same rate.

It was only when it came to Aurora Dew that he needed Percy’s help, because he couldn’t replicate the intricate cycle of destruction and regeneration by himself. Granted, they didn’t have any Aurora Dew right now anyway, but Percy would have needed a way to deliver him some, once he brewed it. He didn’t want his familiar’s progress to stall for decades.

‘Thanks to the seal, that’s not a problem anymore.’

It was the perfect solution: Percy had all the tools he might need to bring it to fruition!

He’d already practiced creating local clones on Remior, and he’d even verified how easily his clones could locate Micky. After all, his familiar’s soul was the only one that didn’t reject him, even when at full health. Well, besides his own, of course.

This meant that he shouldn’t have much trouble possessing Micky and dropping a seal inside his soul before leaving. Acton would never know. Even better, Micky might be able to pop the elixirs directly inside his stomach, given how easy it was to store and retrieve objects from the seal.

That said, this wasn’t without risk. Percy had never tried possessing his familiar before. There was a small chance of his clone getting stuck in Micky’s body, unable to escape. If that happened, he could permanently lose a second cord.

‘It’s still worth a shot.’

This wasn’t guaranteed to happen. Even on the off chance that it did, it would serve as a valuable datapoint, informing him how his clones interacted with his familiars. It was something he’d have to investigate sooner or later, as he didn’t know what other benefits he might be missing out on.

Besides, even in the worst-case scenario, he would be advancing to Yellow relatively soon. That should increase his capacity to sustain multiple cords, meaning that he wouldn’t handicap himself entirely.

Thinking of something else, Percy couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

‘Actually, possessing Micky is probably a good idea regardless…’

Now that they could share each other’s mana, fitting Micky with a clone would help them master their new abilities faster. Practicing was currently a chore, as Percy had to get used to several things at once. Empowering their connection, accessing Micky’s cores from afar, and getting a feel for his ice affinity, all at the same time.

Taking over the crow’s body would vastly accelerate the process. He’d be able to play around with Micky’s mana directly, without having to go through the other steps. It was akin to breaking a more complicated task into smaller, bite-sized portions, so that he could digest them more easily.

In fact, it was even better than that. Percy would effectively have two minds working on the same task. He could have both the clone and his main body collaborate with Micky, to attack the problem from various angles.

‘At any rate, let’s not get ahead of myself.’

Right now, mastering Micky’s affinities wasn’t a priority. It was best to leave that for after they rescued him. Not only did they not have the time for it, he didn’t want Micky’s personal strength to grow any more than necessary, as Acton might use it against them.

For the time being, Percy only wanted his familiar to focus on his core’s purification, and on mastering Circulation and Regulation. Those were the things that would help with his hunger. The rest could wait.

‘The same goes for pre-casting.’

Percy didn’t have the time to adapt it to his own affinities, nor to integrate it into his spells. The technique was more useful for Micky right now, but he’d rather not teach him while he was still on the opposite side. This wasn’t the time to possess the crow either. He had to brew some Aurora Dew first, else there wouldn’t be much of a point.

Pulling some more mana from his core, Percy then pressed the two seals back together. They resisted at first, just like before, but they merged with a satisfying click, restoring the seal to its original size.

‘Alright then. That settles the seal and pre-casting…’

He grinned.

It was time for the big stuff.

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