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Sina snarled, but the torok didn’t budge. It pointed to the lurvine. Weak. It pointed to me. You… weak. Pure. Strength. Fight. It stood, and the others did the same. Strength. Pure. You. Fight.

As if they were satisfied with their message, they walked on, continuing south toward the Bramble as they continued their chant like a mantra.

Pure… strength… I thought.

Aiden and the lurvines approached from the forest, taking silent, skeptical steps. Neither we nor they could believe what just happened.

"Everything good?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. Peachy. What do you think?"

"Well… you’re alive. And that’s kinda badass, given the situation."

I glared at him. His fake positivity was slightly annoying, but it was also better than the alternative, so I nodded and said, "Thanks," dryly.

His cheek twitched as he forced a smile. "So…" He paused and frowned and looked away, clearly unwilling to ask me a question. "Never mind."

"I pulled out my gatling laser and blasted one in the face," I answered. "Fucker laughed it off and tried to attack, but Kline sprouted wings, and he flew us around like Pegasus until they got bored and left."

Aiden furrowed his brows.

"That’s my story."

"Got it…" He looked grateful for my unwillingness to disclose, but a moment later, Kael and Sina turned to him, and then he cupped his face in his hands and groaned.

I frowned, getting the impression that he learned everything I held back and more. "What’d they say?"

"Nothing bad… it’s just none of my business."

"What’s none of your business?"

He took a deep, frustrated breath. "They’re sayin’ that the torok are seers. That’s a bad word for it, but… they see souls… cores… potential. And apparently, the torok see you as special. They say you’re pure, but many beings achieve purity. So Kael and Sina want to know what’s special about you."

His voice was sharp but it wasn’t warning and he looked nervous just being around me.

"I don’t know. That’s the honest truth."

I had ideas as much as anyone. I had waited and threaded and cleansed with nearly unlimited resources. I thought I was approaching the "maximum" and Yakana seemed to validate that. But it seemed there was more about maxing out a core than I imagined.

Kline meowed softly. I looked down, I saw that he was moping around, fishing for attention. The poor thing had to evolve prematurely to save my life. It wasn’t a loss. Kline threaded while I did alchemy and at night when I did Mental Shielding training, so he ate through more cores than I had in two months before he evolved. That said, I was better at threading, and I had improved in the last three months, allowing me to obtain elegant control over my core. There were some things raw force, resources, and talent couldn’t handle. Only time could achieve greatness.

"You gotta a third ev core to thread and you’re only a first," I said to Kline. "And you got all winter to turn that little core of yours into a raging sun." I rapped his spine with my knuckles. "You’ll be a god."

He looked up at me with big, hopeful eyes.

"I mean it." I reached out my hands, and he jumped inside. It was strange to see him so vulnerable, but that was the result of the problem being permanent. No matter how strong he got, he would never have a

"pure" core. It was heartbreaking and I could feel that.

Still, his core didn’t change his power. Yakana taught Kline to thread; he took cleansing elixirs and drank regularly from the Diktyo. He ate through second evolution cores and had serious talent. Kline was a god amongst beasts already, and nothing, Nothing! was going to challenge my little warrior one day.

Not even me.

Kline perked up, allowing me to shift my focus to Sina.

"Thank you."

Sina huffed and sneered and looked away.

I turned to Aiden. "Did she say, ’It was my duty,’ or something else super insincere?"

Aiden chuckled but shook his head. "It’s about honor."

That hit me in the feels, and I looked at Sina, who turned and lay to let me hop onto her back. I nodded and put Kline down, mounting her and then facing the forest.

"Hey Aiden," I said.

He turned to me. "What?"

"I’ve got honor, too." I looked him in the eye. "So don’t make me save your ass."

With those words I took off, leading the pack with Kline, rushing right into the Migration. We had barely reached it and almost died—and there was still a long way to go. I had to get stronger. We… had to get stronger. We rode on.

2.

The hours of peaceful travel ended after that. The torok were like natural barriers that no beast would willingly walk ahead of, but they sure had no problem walking behind them.

We encountered beasts every hour after, and I flew through their ranks like a Napoleonic cavalry member, using my machete to slice down beasts that Kline and the lurvines didn’t kill on the first strike. I wasn’t skilled at riding so I always fell off after one or two attacks, but my dilation magic allowed me to retain my balance and recover.

After every battle, Aiden would say a prayer and kill the survivors. Then, I would steal some meat from each species and hit the trail once more.

It seemed doable at first, but our progress quickly slowed to a crawl, and the fights became more fierce.

Something had to change.

"Let’s go up there," I said, looking at a rocky cliff hugging the mountain.

Aiden turned to me sharply. "For a break? We’re already a day behind."

"Yeah, and we’ll be a week behind if something doesn’t change."

"So what’ll change?"

"We needa find quick power ups. So I’m gonna go through my rewards and learn soul cooking."

"Wait. You’re gonna learn how to cook? Right now?"

"Yeah, right now. And it’s not normal ’cooking.’ It accelerates soul-force intake. And unless you’ve forgotten, we’re toast if we run into another third ev. We need power, so if this’ll help, we’re doing it."

He gripped Kael’s fur and looked away. I knew he saw my point, but at the same time, we were already behind. To him, a long break signed Halten’s death warrant.

"Up," I said to Sina. She got the message and scaled the bluff, filled closely behind by Keal and the rest of the pack. It took an hour to make it up the jagged bluff, but once we were on a flat section, we had a vantage point that showed us the open forest from a bird’s eye view.

I unmounted and sat on the ground, giving Kline wiggle fingers. He "reluctantly" came to me, allowing me to pet him. He then lay beside me, two inches away from my leg, saying, "Fine, human. I will lay here, but I refuse to give you the attention you have deprived me of."

I smiled and pulled out my pop out oven that I had yet to use during our intense riding schedule.

"What’s that?" Aiden asked.

"It’s a stove." I hadn’t used it because we were riding non-stop, even through the night, so this was the first chance I got. "I’m going to get to work."

Aiden nodded. "Okay." He walked away, leaving me in silence, and then I began.

I opened my Guide, and reviewed my rewards. I had three diamond rewards from my legacy quests, and three platinum from winning this year’s Trial of Worth, but I was quickly disappointed. Unlike requests, I was given options, and they were always within the context of my class, which included poison, alchemy, and soulmancy. Soul cooking wasn’t included.

Additionally, my legacy rewards were special. I had to choose options from the specilization of the god I got it from. It wasn’t ideal, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good the options were.

There were three out of the nine that really stood out. The first left me stunned.

-

Wood Wide Web

Become one with the "Wood Wide Web," allowing you to tap into the communication network of roots and mycorrhizal fungi that allow plants to exchange nutrients, information, and chemical signals. You cannot hear with this skill, but in areas with mana and soul-feeding plants, you will be able to sense and "see" mana and soul fluctuations from long distances. It also allows you to find specific plants you’re searching for, so long as you understand their mana signature. The stronger your soul force becomes, the farther you will be able to see; the stronger your mana core becomes, the clearer the information will become. Before long, this skill can spread out for tens of miles with ease, covering whole planets if you become a god. You will become a seer, just like one of the many dryads in this forest.

Note: This skill can be upgraded to be able to give orders to soul-reaping plants and transfer water, nutrients, mana and soul mana over long distances.

-

I felt a deep pull to this option on sight. The Wood Wide Web was a concept on Earth as well. It’s when mycelium creates vast webs miles long, connecting the roots of trees and countless plant forms in a phenomenon called plant-mycorrhizal symbiosis. In some locations, like the Amazon, many plants require the spread of water, nitrates, and carbon to survive in the clay-rich soil. It was a fascinating and powerful concept that had magical capabilities, and since I was already specializing in soul magic, it could become a powerful tool for scouting beasts and finding certain plants.

It also sounded necessary for powerful spells I would need in the future. I couldn’t imagine a world where I didn’t get it—but I kept reading anyway.

The next option was also powerful.

-

Soul, Reaper, and Harvester Pacts (Microbiota)

In a stunning reminder that you’re becoming far too complacent, you have completely disregarded the obvious possibility that soul-reaping and harvesting plants and fungi aren’t "poisonous," and they aren’t necessarily trap plants. Therefore, you have walked past over a thousand species that were just waiting to kill you dead.

Thankfully, you can turn these freakish enemies into your friends, weaponizing their souls to do your bidding in exchange for providing them with nutrition, removing threats, or any other exchange they may need. It’s a natural addition to your soulmancy legacy, giving you a headstart on a skill that you may unlock years from now.

Note: As a legacy reward, this skill comes with the diamond book, "Identifying and Taming Soul Plants: A Guide to Identifying Soul Plants and the Spirits Inside. It provides you with soul plant highlighting in pure white. The highlight only works for species known for living in the fourth and fifth rings.

-

I shivered when I read it and looked at all the unhighlighted plants around me. It made me wonder how many types of dangerous plants were there. Soul plants. Razor brambles. Freakish mushrooms.

I’d buy it for the highlighting, I thought. The thought of soul eating fungal and poisons cranked my danger senses through the roof—and it got worse when I bought it.

The forest lit up below me and when I looked over, I saw whole trees lighting up like Christmas trees.

I guess it is the forest of souls… I thought. I’ll have to check ’em out later.

I still had one last diamond reward. So I looked for it.

-

Alchemic Plant and Fungi Processing

Some skills take thousands of hours to master, and your time with Elana is sparse and specialized. To maximize your time with her and have her accept you as a talented pupil instead of a blessed pupil, practice high-level processing skills that go beyond your basic alchemy skill and become better at your craft.

-

I groaned when I found it. These diamond requests were extremely powerful, but they weren’t what I needed at that exact moment, and it was unwise to buy anything without instant value. After all, there was no value in buying something in advance—but there was value in waiting.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it was illogical to buy the Wood Wide Web skill right before learning another skill—

—but I selected it anyway and got the chime. I had no regrets about it. Of all the skills that I could use, being able to see the enemies long before they saw me was an invaluable skill. If anyone challenged me on the sanity of accepting that skill, I imagined they would need to bring their A-game and a willingness to lose.

I didn’t have time to learn it, but there might be a time soon when I needed it in my arsonal. In the meantime, I saved my alchemy request and all my platinums, turning my attention to what I needed most.

Lithco, I said in my thoughts. Help me learn soul cooking.