The sun shone brightly over the lush forest, its blinding rays bouncing off the smooth surfaces. They banished even the tiniest shadow from existence, immersing the exhausted hunters in a world of light.

So intense was it, that Percy regularly disconnected himself from his host’s eyes, wholly incapable of enduring the sights during the height of noon. Hell, this place was so bright, it made even the white districts of Twilight City look like their profane neighbours by comparison. It was only during the mornings and evenings that he managed to marvel at the almost sacred realm he found himself trekking in.

The ferns and trees carried some of the familiar traces that all plant life in the universe seemed to share. But they differed in many ways too. He hadn’t noticed at first, but the bark and leaves were often covered in tiny barbs, likely to discourage the hungry beasts from taking a bite. The trunks were thinner, as was the foliage, probably because there was more sunlight than the poor plants knew what to do with.

It was beautiful, even if there was too much on the hunters’ minds to appreciate it. It was alien, even though Percy had been to hundreds of worlds already, each stranger than the last. It was dream-like, even if the nightmare kept rearing its ugly head.

Every now and then, they saw traces of battle. Old bones and orange bloodstains nearly licked clean. Shattered earth and scarred trees. A record of Melodia’s brutal history, carved in every corner of the forest.

The days and nights were a little longer than Remior’s, the starving abominations attacking at least once before each sunrise. Everyone fought together to fend them off, though a couple people always lost their lives at minimum.

But they never paused. They never stopped moving forward or fighting for their world’s salvation. While they walked, they cleared their channels. While they ate, they tempered them. Even while battling for their lives, they practiced the movements Percy showed them.

They took shifts every night, some on guard duty while the rest slept: at least for as long as the cruel beasts allowed them. Though a few people didn’t seem to require sleep at all, likely due to a spectral trait.

He and Sol weren’t slacking either.

Occasionally, he left her in charge of Circulation, teaching her how to use it by herself. He instructed her on her footwork. Granted, she’d never trained her body much, but this version luckily only relied on the strength of her soul to activate. Her physique still held her back a little, as did the lack of a second core, but her Yellow grade more than made up for it.

He also showed her how to guess the monsters’ thoughts. Sure, he didn’t have his mutated eyes, but his years of using them had still taught him things the natives didn’t know of.

Even more importantly, Percy’s boosting art had never been easier to use. The air here brimmed with soul mana, barely requiring any effort to absorb. It would save him a lot of time when he began learning the rest of the Dance, though he wanted to get a little better at working with Sol before they got started on that.

Sol had plenty to teach him too.

“I don’t get it. How can you guys control so many projectiles at once?” he asked one night.

They were fighting a flock of avian beasts. Some cross between bats and cats, rendering his close combat skills nearly useless. Luckily, the hunters didn’t have much trouble shooting the creatures down, launching countless homing projectiles that seemed to always find their mark.

At first, he’d chalked it to specialized traits, but he knew Sol didn’t have one. He considered it might have been due to the improved control afforded by a higher grade. But it was too much to be just that, plus the Orange hunters managed too.

Stolen story; please report.

“Not sure what you mean.” Sol shrugged. “Take over the reins. Let me see what you’re doing wrong. I can keep Circulation going in the meantime.”

Percy nodded, doing as she said. Leaving her in charge of their body, he tried to shape the soul mana into those bird constructs Sol liked to throw around.

It sort of worked: the Yellow mana responded to his will more easily than his own mana did. And he’d seen her use the spell plenty of times over the past few days. Still, the shape came out crude, and he felt the constructs would crumble before they reached their target.

Sighing, he started over, this time going for something simpler: just a bunch of throwing stars. He was already familiar with those, and it was his control he wanted to work on, not the flavour of the attack. Once he had a dozen of them floating beside him, he shot them at the creatures, trying to hit the two closest to him.

It was hard. The beasts were constantly moving. He steered the weapons halfway through, yet he still missed.

“I see…” Sol said, dodging a diving beast going for her throat. “I think I know what the problem is. You’re trying too hard to control the spell.”

Percy raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t interrupt her.

“Maybe you’re biased by how other people use their magic where you’re from. I wouldn’t know: since we only have soul affinities here. But it seems you’re not allowing the mana to do its thing.”

“Its thing?”

“It’s hard to explain. But the mana can help you, if you let it. Try telling it what you want it to do, instead of telling it how to do it.”

Percy frowned.

Her explanation did make some sense, admittedly. He thought back to the time he’d discovered the pattern for his soul affinity. He’d struggled a lot to get there, only succeeding once he gave in, losing himself in the spell. Perhaps soul mana was more responsive to its owner’s will than other types.

‘Well, only one way to find out…’

Following her instructions, he gave it another go. He shot another round of throwing stars at the creatures, but he allowed them to fly in a straight line this time. Instead of trying to change the trajectory of his attacks mid-flight, he merely concentrated on his opponents’ souls, and on his desire to see them full of holes.

It didn’t work.

The constructs missed again, flying even farther off from their target than before.

“Keep at it. It takes a lot of practice.” Sol encouraged him.

Not one to give up easily, Percy tried again. Round after round, he did his best to pin down the creatures, though he only got one by accident every once in a while. The other hunters were forced to clean up after him, but nobody complained.

Even though Percy himself was disadvantaged against these opponents, this was honestly one of the easiest waves for the others to handle. The bat-creatures’ souls weren’t as sturdy as the others’, so they didn’t need as many hits to die. In fact, even a glancing hit was quite debilitating for them. It was enough to knock them out of the sky, sending them crashing down.

Come morning, Percy hadn’t quite succeeded yet, though he had made some progress. At some point, the throwing stars had started moving by themselves, the mana beginning to respond to his will. It would be weeks until he could weave this ability into a proper spell, but he did have high hopes for it, thinking of his replicating scythes back home.

Luckily, there was no shortage of practice dummies in this place either.

Days went by, and then weeks.

Everyone was growing at a steady pace: some faster than others. Doh in particular had almost finished tempering his channels. As a Green, both his control over his mana and his endurance were higher than anybody else’s, though Percy could tell the man’s discipline and dedication had definitely played a role. He and Sol had already shown him the Circulation pattern again. As soon as he got a handle on the ability, the expedition’s strength would shoot through the roof.

The others were a lot slower than that, but they’d at least learned to move as they cast their spells, improving their survivability a little. Percy didn’t think any of them stood a chance of mastering the boosting art before they reached their destination though.

Sol had grown a lot too. She could now keep the spell active by herself, and she was currently working on her close combat skills. She wasn’t nearly as good as Percy just yet, but she could at least hold her own for a while.

Meanwhile, Percy had made some progress with his new spell. It wasn’t that impressive yet, but his Status had still been kind enough to acknowledge his efforts.

[Congratulations! You have mastered a new spell: Living Weapons: Crude!]

It wasn’t all good news though.

They were over a month away from their destination, and their numbers had dropped dangerously. Faster than their strength had grown, in fact.

There were only fifteen of them left: A Green, four Yellows and ten Oranges…

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