The Third Portal: Chapter Sixty-Three

A few days after the celebration that Elio had held for everyone that had participated in the defense of Crysite, I sat at a table with Mead

A few days after the celebration that Elio had held for everyone that had participated in the defense of Crysite, I sat at a table with Meadow, Edgar, and Jinwei, the Huli Jing. 

I hadn’t spent the last few days working, but instead, had spent them in a training fugue state. I had suggested both Dusk and Dawn one of the Bronzepick Pills that we’d been offered, but Dusk had flat out refused hers, stating that she was too far ahead of her siblings to want to try and make even more progress. It was time for me to catch up. 

Dawn had taken one, to finish carving out the steps to peak third gate, so I had taken the remaining two, using them to dig out the steps of my life and death gates. A part of me had contemplated using them on space and time, purely because life and death always seemed to be surging ahead, but ultimately, that was just pointless contrarianism. After all, Fungal Armor was ingrained, while most of my space and time spells weren’t yet. 

I’d practiced with my spells, though, and thanks to my use in combat in the defense of Mossford, Foxswap had ingrained smoothly, improving its synergy to cast alongside Foxstep and exchange my place with someone else. Magical Echo and Reposition Anchor had both ingrained easily enough as well, improving my echo spells and anchor spells respectively. 

Though it wasn’t flashy, the combined effect of so many layered improvements to my echo spells was really causing them to catch up in power, and letting me hit far harder than I had before. After all, when I had ripped through the crowd of desolants, it had been the echo magic that had allowed me to work at such a scale.

The improvements to anchors synergized well with everything. Given the ingrained effect of both my anchoring spells was an improvement to all spells using those mana types, improving the anchor also improved my mana types. When combined with the strength of the Kirin spell that was spiraling threads of rainbow through my spirit, I had seen a noticeable uptick in the potency of my spells. 

The main way I’d been able to achieve such benefits in such a short time, apart from the picks, was the Elysian Mastery Tournament testing orb. It contained thirty-one different simulated scenarios, most of which were combat related in some form. The simulated combat might not actually put me in physical danger, but the pain inside was still very real, as was any mana I spent. It made it perfect grounds for training spells. So far, I’d only completed a handful of the challenges, but I was making slow and steady progress.

The very tournament that the orbs was for had been why Meadow and I were meeting with Jinwei… At least, that’s what I’d thought. When Edgar had shown up as well, I’d started to question that, and when he showed the glowing knot of rainbow magic that had formed within his spirit, I’d known there was more to our meeting than just a bit of tournament chatter. 

“I felt it,” Edgar said quietly. “When the Terminarch’s title formed, there was a part of it that accepted me as someone who understood the loneliness. But there was also a part of it that rejected me.”

“I’m still jealous that the two of you were able to see it,” Jinwei said wistfully. “I’ve felt it now, but to feel it form…” 

“Please continue, Edgar,” Meadow said, cutting Jinwei off before she could go anywhere.

“A fundamental part of my essence rejected the power of Elio’s Title,” Edgar continued, then paused and shook his massive tortoise nose. “No, that isn’t quite right. The world rejected my own resonance with the Title. Like playing a note and expecting a crystal to vibrate, only to find that the crystal isn’t right.” 

“That was when the imprint of fortune formed?” I asked curiously, continuing when Edgar nodded. “Then I think you’ve gotten very lucky, Edgar. Fortune governs connections, good or bad, and you were partially rejected from the title of Terminarch, and offered healing through the mark of fortune. You know what that means, right?” 

Meadow gave me a small smile and put her hand on top of mine.

“Partial healing, dear, but yes.” 

“Partial?” I asked. 

“When you take a heaven’s gate elixir and falsely ascend, it does massive damage to your spirit,” Jinwei said. “There’s not a great body analogy, but it’s like… I dunno. Eating your own spleen?” 

“Gross. But I knew that – what about things like the Garden Rebirth Phial, or this imprint? They fix your ascension, right?” 

“No. The phial liquifies the first layer of your soul,” Edgar explained in his low, rumbling voice. “That is why it won’t work on false ascensions above fifth gate – you break into the second layer. Even then – it doesn’t advance you. It merely gives you the opportunity to try again.” 

“And I suspect that this imprint will do the opposite,” Meadow said. “Edgar is old – older than I am. But he intentionally cut off his advancement.” 

“I was not strong enough to survive the games of the Magi, not a hundred and fifty years ago. Maybe not now. I knew I couldn’t form a Title. I couldn’t even develop roots, let alone a Title.” 

I frowned, leaning forward and crossing my arms to put them on the table.

“But you think you can now?” 

“Maybe,” Edgar agreed. “The world has changed. I suspect that if I can complete the imprint, it will grant me a true advancement to seventh gate and help me form a Title, but burn out my future advancement. I will never be an eighth gate, but I could become a peak seventh, with all the power therein.” 

I paused, ready to argue, then remembered that Meadow had mentioned that most people who broke through to fifth gate wound up breaking a part of themselves, and even with a true advancement, weren’t able to advance again. 

And for all that I liked him, Edgar had never formed roots. Not the natural way, and not through an imprint, like I had. 

“I don’t know what I need to do to complete the imprint, however,” Edgar continued. 

“Really?” I asked, cocking my head like a dog. “I thought that part was obvious. Find the rest of the Hudau Tortoises.” 

“There are no–” Edgar started to say, the words coming to him by rote, before he paused. “I was partially rejected by the power of the Terminarch. Which means… I am not one?” 

Meadow frowned at our deduction, and tapped her chin. 

“I do not know of any others, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” she finally said. “Did you see anything when you called for connection?” 

Edgar closed his huge eyes and focused. For a moment, I felt the winds of fortune swirling around him, fainter than I’d experienced, but still distinctly there. 

“A warp in the air. Shuddering. Eggs. It’s… East? It’s far beyond my range of senses, I don’t know how I got this much.” 

Dusk and I shouted our answer at the same time, her shooting up into the air while I slapped my hand on the table. 

“A time catch!” 

I started speaking quickly before Jinwei could ask what I meant, since I saw the question forming on her lips. 

“Within a time catch, there are often echoes of multiple different things that can actually be absorbed or brought out into reality. Not full people, with souls, they’re more like ghosts or echoes.

Dusk chimed in, mentioning that the soultoad seat mushrooms that I’d used, as well as my blademoss, had both come from within a time catch. Even the cabin had come from consuming the stone that existed throughout the iterations of the time catch and reforming it into a new shape. 

“But if there was a time catch that had eggs within them, eggs that hadn’t fully developed into actual tortoises with a soul and all, we might be able to take them out. Instead of existing as temporary echoes in an echoed world, they could become real!” 

Jinwei’s eyes were sparkling at that, and she leaned forward. 

“I’m not some great conversationalist or anything like that, but I think most people would be interested in trying to return a species from the brink of extinction. But… Will there be enough? If we only pulled out like two eggs…”

Meadow leaned back, coughing a few times before dabbing at her mouth with a napkin and speaking. 

“In the short term, fifty eggs would be needed to ensure that there was enough genetic diversity to prevent genetic issues from cropping up. To keep the population stable and prevent genetic drift, a magnitude more.” 

“Fifty eggs…” Edgar said, his massive shell slumping slightly as he heard the bad news. “With our size, we have smaller clutch sizes, usually something more along the lines of two to six.”

“If we can take them out from multiple loops,” Jinwei started to say, before cursing and shaking her head. “But even if they develop different souls, their bodies would be identical. Primes.” 

“Not necessarily,” Meadow said, tenting her hands. “I believe you could call on the Healer. He’s incredibly busy, but if you managed to find the eggs, he could alter their genetics. Keep them close, but not the same. He has done so for grandspine raptors, heritage fox kits, and tunnelbore ferrets.” 

“It’s really possible, then?” Edgar asked, his voice tense, as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “I thought I was the last…” 

“You partially are. There is a reason the Title partially rejected you,” I said. “You are the only one alive. But you don’t need to be the only one to remain alive.”

“Look at you, grasping titles,” Meadow said. “Before long, you’ll not need my guidance any longer.” 

“Don’t say that,” I said, “You’ve done a lot for me. I can’t just turn that aside. We’re bound together by ties of Fortune for the long run.” 

I looked up, and for a moment, I could swear my imprint burned, showing me the thick and powerful cord binding me to Meadow. Another, almost as thick cord reached out to Orykson, and a slightly thinner cord out to Ikki. But they weren’t the only mentors I had. Though not as intense as the connection to Meadow or Orykson, I had connections of mentorship with Edgar, and even some with Elio, and through Dusk, with Idyll. There were even faint traces connecting me to Jinwei, though they were hair thin, still forming.

But as I focused on Meadow, I saw thousands of cords extending from her, reaching across the entire planet. She had simulacra across the globe. I wasn’t her only apprentice, let alone the only time she intervened for others against powers.

Jinwei coughed, and I blinked, vanishing the cords. 

“For all that this is interesting, I still don’t entirely know why I’m here?” the Huli Jing woman asked. “I mean, I can potentially delve into a time catch, but I don’t think you’re looking to hire the guild for this as an official mission. I was told this was about the Tournament?” 

“Ah, apologies, I must have gotten distracted. Yes, this is about the tournament. Or rather, what method you want to take to get there. Malachi, I do believe Kene should be at the bakery, do you mind opening a portal?”