TDE Book 6 Chapter 16 - Circuits

It was evident that the Divine Bird shared a lot of similarities with the Seraph tribe. The notable metallic wings were a clear indicator. However, unlike the old Divine Bird transformation Calron underwent, the Seraph wings didn’t transform his exterior appearance.

He still looked like his previous self, besides the additional pair of wings on his back. This wasn’t to mean that the Seraph wings were weaker. On the contrary.

“It’s actually the essence’s heart. How fascinating…”

Calron curled one of the wings towards him and softly brushed his hand over the metal feathers. The Seraph wings’ purpose wasn’t to enable flight. In fact, it was the core of the cultivation system.

Normal human cultivators started their cultivation with their elemental core in the center of their chest, near their heart. Most beasts functioned in the same way. Their cores were the source of their essence. However, this changed for Calron the moment the dark-golden wings formed on his back. He could feel a network of circuits that now redirected the lightning essence from the wings to the rest of his body.

Just as the dao circles served as the core for Blood Dao, the Seraph wings were now the heart of his essence cultivation. Calron could experience the subtle changes currently ongoing inside his body as it adjusted to the new circulation. Why did the wings pick now to come out, and not before when he’d just ingested the Titan core?

“It’s almost like a second heart.”

Calron mused.

All the lightning essence within his body rushed inside the wings, which then regulated the essence to circulate evenly inside. Unlike when Calron manually channeled his lightning, the essence was moving more uniformly. This resulted in less wastage and improved the efficiency.

In simple terms, whenever Calron would transmit the lightning to concentrate towards his right arm, sometimes a slight amount of essence could also head towards his chest, shoulder, or back. That was wasted essence which could have yielded a stronger attack if 100% of it went into his arm.

Calron brought one of the feathers closer to his face. The metal feather was cold to the touch, like any steel. Yet, its center was slightly warm and felt malleable enough to bend. A certain glint from the edge caught his attention. Inside the feather, sparks of lightning clashed against more and more bolts.

It’s actually generating lightning essence!

The reflection of the lightning flashed over Calron’s irises. The feathers were indeed producing lightning essence. It was a miniscule amount every minute, but regardless, Calron’s once stagnant essence reserves were gradually ticking higher.

This should have been impossible. Calron was stuck inside a dimension with frozen time and he’d already absorbed all the lingering lightning essence when he ate the Titan core. This was what alarmed Calron. The metal feathers weren’t drawing in essence from the outside. They were genuinely producing the lightning essence itself.

“That can’t be real.”

Calron shook his head and channeled his lightning. Ropes of electricity coiled around him, emerging from his back and crackling towards his limbs. He continued to transmit the lightning, sending waves of bolts all across his surroundings. It was a brute discharge of the lightning essence. After a few minutes, all his precious lightning essence was utterly spent.

The few remaining straggling sparks fizzled out, his reservoir devoid of any essence.

crackle

The faint sound of lightning popped into Calron’s ears. One by one, traces of lightning emerged inside the majestic metal feathers. Calron’s empty essence tank was slowly getting replenished.

“How?”

Calron whispered to himself in confusion. It went against the laws of cultivation. How could lightning essence be produced out of nothing? As far as Calron could detect, the Seraph wings didn’t take any energy from him or the Blood Dao. Then how was it able to produce the lightning?

“Hmm.”

Just as Calron was thinking about this puzzle, a plausible answer came to him. The Seraph wings can’t convert the dao into essence. That was a nigh impossibility. If it could do that, then Calron wouldn’t have to search for an answer to combine his two systems. If that conclusion was true, then it only left one possible theory:

The wings were converting the other element’s essence into lightning.

Calron stretched out his wings as wide as he could, his senses on high alert as he paid close attention to the metal feathers.

There!

Although Calron couldn’t make out which type of essence it was, he definitely felt some foreign essence make contact with the wings before it was devoured. Calron could only test it out further when he left this dimension, but he was sure of his conjecture. The Seraph wings converted other essence into lightning essence.

That meant Calron would never truly be out of essence.

“Just how un-killable do you want me to become?”

Calron tilted his head up and ran his fingers through his hair. His Blood Dao was geared towards absorbing other people’s blood to continuously heal his injuries, while the Seraph wings now allowed him to fight nonstop, inflicting an unending amount of devastation. Calron had an inkling that the wings would be upgraded every time he broke through a cultivation rank. The question remained whether it would be potent enough to out-produce the essence Calron consumed mid-fight.

Rearing up his wings, Calron crouched low to the ground and prepared to take off. It was not his first time flying, but the wings’ wider span was bound to have an impact on the maneuverability.

Sending blades of grass whipping around him, Calron burst into the air. The dark-golden wings sent forth gales of wind with each powerful flap. He flew faster and faster as he grew accustomed to the feel of the new wings.

“I missed this.”

Calron laughed with joy, spinning mid-flight as the wind parted before his face. It was smooth. Much smoother than when he flew as a bird. The Seraph wings had an invisible effect on the air currents revolving around him. It was like they parted before his path, letting him fly without any resistance or friction.

He whizzed through the sky, reveling in the freedom flying gave him.

“Are you seeing this, partner?”

Calron glanced down at his chest, addressing the slumbering azure lightning within.

“Just like old times, huh?”

He continued to talk to the unresponsive electric snake.

But it didn’t matter to Calron. He stayed conversing with the azure lightning by himself. He hoped some of his words could reach it. For another ten minutes, Calron happily chatted with the Divine Element, reminiscing about the first time he transformed into the Divine Bird and learned how to fly.

His memories soon took him to Rory, Ellie, Rebran, and the rest of his friends. He hoped Master Elias was taking care of his health, and the fiesty raccoon, Tarnila, wasn’t having much trouble raising those little beasts by herself.

He thought back to the little wolf pup that he’d taken under his wing. She should’ve grown by leaps and bounds now. Hopefully, she wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore.

Calron thought about the little monkey who constantly stole his food, and the baby leopard who clung to his ankles. Out of nowhere, Calron felt drops of rain on his cheeks as he flew through the clouds.

It wasn’t raining.

He rubbed his eyes. They were wet.

Calron stopped moving and floated in the sky. He stared at the tears smudged on his hand.

“At least Martial isn’t here to see this.”

Calron mocked himself. He’d been growing more and more powerful as the years went on, but he was also more alone than ever now. Would any of his friends recognize him now? On his quest to search for answers, he had to abandon all his loved ones. Even the ones he met a while ago, like Serina and Kirren.

He missed them.

It was an ache that had been building without his knowing.

“I’m getting you out of there, partner. And then, let’s reunite our family.”

Calron thumped his fist against his chest, and his eyes blazed with intensity. It was a solemn promise Calron made to himself, and the world was a witness.

Like Martial said, his only path was to become an immortal and uncover the answers veiled from him. He will complete his domain in these 50 years and head to the Archaic council.

He contracted the wings and descended to the ground. Right before he neared the earth, he unwrapped the wings and landed in a smooth motion. Testing out a mental command, Calron willed the wings back into his body. They retracted into two bones and latched around his spinal cord. They continued to absorb the essence in that form.

On the outside, no one could tell that Calron had wings.

Once he became an immortal, Calron’s first step would be uncovering everything he could about the Seraph Tribe. After using the dark-golden wings for only a short while, Calron realized just how heavenly they were. Did all the Primordials’ tribes have a unique trait like the Seraphs?

However, that had to wait. First, Calron had to complete his domain to break into the 5th circle.

Raising his head, Calron gazed into the black gash within the frozen sun. The Dao Geyser.

It was time to finally ‘see’ it.