Percy nodded contentedly. His cauldron’s evolution wasn’t that major – just an upgrade within the same tier – but it always felt good to have his efforts recognized by Phoebe’s Decree.

  Before resuming alchemy, he spent a couple of hours replacing the base of his construct as well. This time, he went with something more elaborate, designing the stand so that he could easily attach or remove as many legs as he needed – anywhere from three to five.

  He even made sure that the magical limbs could be screwed at adjustable angles, and crafted multiple sets of limbs of varying shapes and lengths, enchanting the constructs with amplified self-repairs, preservation runes and structural integrity enchantments.

  This way, he would be able to modify his trusty tool to get a proper grip on any surface, making brewing comfortable regardless of his working environment. Perhaps it was a little silly to worry about this when he’d spent the last few years brewing on the back of a flying crow or the uneven floor of a cavern dug out by giant wasps, but it was a small investment anyway.

  Once he was done, he started working on the principle. To no one’s surprise, it only took him a couple of days to register it.

  [Congratulations! You have mastered a new alchemic principle: Consolidation!]

  The concept behind this one was straightforward, and Percy was experienced enough to put everything into practice – not to mention that the powerful enchantments on his cauldron had done most of the work. He’d merely had to familiarize himself with his new options and weave them into his brews.

  In fact, it could be argued that Percy had already started working on the consolidation principle months ago, through the collaborative efforts of his clones to hone their magiscript skills.

  Diving into work once more, he knew that it wouldn’t be long before his Wild Art also evolved.

  The main purpose of the enchanted cauldron and his new principle was to remove the cost of scaling, but there was still a secondary benefit that he was undoubtedly about to enjoy: the same passive influence that each of his registered principles had on his mutated eyes.

  ‘If I’d known that my clones would have brought one from the Vault, I wouldn’t have spent the past year working on the spell,’ he thought, a bitter frown forming on his lips.

  The gap between his previous yield and his desired output had been small to begin with, so the new principle might have been enough to bridge it by itself. On top of that, Nephthys and the Starry Queen had also grown slightly better at generating royal jelly over the past few months.

  His familiar, in particular, had mastered three new versions of Circulation, meaning that her conversion rate was currently held back only by her lower grade and lack of elemental mutations. Even better, her second core had recently reached Yellow, having caught up to the first one. Her beast core was only a little over half a year away from Green and the next wave of mutations.

  Meanwhile, the Queen’s second core had reached Yellow even earlier, and she’d made some progress on the water version of the Dance. The combination of her acid core’s slightly higher grade and her rapidly improving boosting art still had a marginal effect on her stamina consumption, but it was better than nothing.

  One way or another, Percy knew that they would have collectively arrived at their goal within the next few months, even if the new principle hadn’t been enough by itself. As for the upgrade to his Wild Art – it was largely redundant.

  ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I would have needed to upgrade the spell at some point anyway,’ he thought, shaking his head.

  Besides, he shouldn’t be complaining about getting a higher yield than necessary. It would let him stash some Gloomy Dawn away for a rainy day.

  As expected, the consolidation principle was the final push that he needed to register the second spell upgrade later that afternoon – he only knew what time it was due to his elemental body on the surface – and tick yet another important milestone off his mental checklist.

  [Congratulations! Your spell has evolved: Wild Art: Alchemist’s Intuition – Crude -> Wild Art: Sorcerer’s Guidance – Refined!]

  Having seen the notification coming from a kilometre away, he didn’t allow it to break his concentration, keeping his attention on the ongoing brew. At the same time, he didn’t shy away from exploring the effect of his upgraded Wild Art.

  The fleeting visions that had lingered at the edge of his mind finally manifested before his eyes, the shadows of several solid lumps coalescing inside the concoction, indicating that they were about to form in reality.

  Brushing his hand over various enchantments, Percy heated up certain regions inside the cauldron that enveloped most of the tiny projections while cooling down the rest. He even lowered the stirring speed slightly, forcing the denser masses closer to the centre of the magical liquid, allowing him to target more at the same time.

  The fact that his eyes now passively predicted the appearance of the cancerous obstructions meant that he no longer had to split part of his attention to actively guess where they would appear, greatly reducing the strain on his mind.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The brewing session was over a few seconds later, though Percy didn’t bother to measure the product, knowing that it would take a few more attempts before he reached his new limit.

  For the next week or so, he brewed one batch of potions, elixirs, Aurora Dew or Gloomy Dawn after the other, slowly eliminating his lingering deficiencies and familiarizing himself with his new capabilities. Once he felt that his growth had plateaued again, he finally stopped to count how many doses of Gloomy Dawn his most recent attempt had yielded.

  ‘Eight hundred and eight drops, or just over eight doses,’ he concluded, raising an eyebrow.

  This was more than enough for sixteen cleansing sessions per day – or five different mana cores – with an extra half a dose to spare. Not only was it plenty for himself and the royal wasps, but he would even be able to accumulate some. It wasn’t enough for an extra person, but having some spare doses in his seal would help if he had to skip a day of brewing.

  Taking his current output into account, Percy calculated his yield. The consolidation principle had essentially turned Gloomy Dawn back into a five-step recipe even when he mass produced it inside his oversized cauldron, though that was ultimately just a matter of convenience, since he could have achieved the same result with a smaller tool – it would have just taken longer.

  Either way, the eight or so doses that he had just produced indicated a yield of over forty-four percent, suggesting a stepwise yield of around eighty-five percent. Translated to regular elixirs – the benchmark that the Guild’s alchemists used – it would place his yield at over sixty-one percent.

  ‘Hmmm… the improvement wasn’t as drastic this time. Wasn’t it already like fifty-seven percent before?’

  Clearly, the higher his yield got, the harder it would be to keep growing. Still, if he had narrowly surpassed the five elders before returning to the Fungal Spire, he had now left them solidly in the dust.

  At the end of the day, Percy wasn’t even sure that it mattered. Other than using his resources slightly more efficiently, he had no idea if there was any point to aiming for a higher yield, though he couldn’t help but hope that there was some greater cosmic mystery waiting to be discovered – somewhere beyond his current reach.

  Whatever the case, this was enough for the time being.

  ‘I wonder if Sorcerer’s Guidance can be used for anything else,’ he randomly thought.

  He hadn’t missed the fact that the name of his Wild Art was following a similar trajectory to his mutation. Enki’s people merely possessed the “Alchemist’s Eye” – a mutation with mainly alchemical applications. In Percy’s case, it had evolved into the “Sorcerer’s Eye” shortly after his return from Atlantis, indicating that it could be used more broadly.

  In the same vein, he felt that the scope of his new spell might have expanded beyond his concoctions. It wouldn’t be that surprising either. Percy had developed it by deepening his understanding of mana itself – the very fuel of magic – so it made sense that its effects would transfer over to other fields.

  Putting his hypothesis to the test, he stored away his equipment, focusing on the drifting motes around him for the first time in over a week. The results were immediate.

  Much like what happened to his opponents during a fight, he instantly saw numerous projections leaping in front of the particles, drawing elegant arcs in the air that the actual motes closely stuck to mere fractions of a second later.

  ‘Interesting. Unlike the lumps in my brews that are never one hundred percent accurate, these predictions seem reliable enough…’

  Turning to his familiar who was laboriously producing royal jelly and working on her boosting art by her mother’s side, he reached out through the cord.

  ‘Nephthys, could you spare a couple of minutes for a quick sparring match?’

  ‘Huh? That’s a bit unexpected. I don’t mind, but I don’t think I’d pose much of a challenge. I can get you a stronger opponent if you want,’ the former goddess replied, clearly surprised by the strange request.

  Percy shook his head. ‘It’s fine – this isn’t anything serious. I just need you to hurl a few simple water and lightning spells at me from random directions. I won’t even fight back. I’m trying to test something.’

  The Starry Princess sent a mental shrug before walking closer. Heeding his instructions, she separated her composite affinity into its components, shooting azure blobs at him or zapping him with thin indigo sparks.

  Percy didn’t even bother to dodge, letting the attacks splash harmlessly against his reinforced Cloak. Even if he’d been naked, spells this weak would have barely tickled.

  Ignoring the non-existent danger that his familiar’s magic posed, he carefully observed her channels, soul, willpower and body, using his Greater Foresight spell – which was now just a small part of his Ultimate Art – to predict the trajectories of the “blasts”.

  He had a hunch that his new Wild Art would influence his ability to foresee the attacks. While many aspects of Greater Foresight were useless in alchemy, the opposite wasn’t true. He felt that improving his understanding of various mana types could only be a good thing.

  ‘Well?’ Nephthys asked about an hour later, sounding a little tired.

  It was understandable, of course. Her second core and its corresponding channels were still full, since she had paced herself well, but this was her first time physically exerting herself in her new body – not to mention that Hibernation left her perpetually exhausted.

  ‘It’s enough,’ Percy said. ‘Thanks for humouring me.’

  ‘Don’t leave me hanging! Did it work?’ the former goddess asked again, clearly unable to contain her curiosity. ‘You were trying to see if that new alchemy spell of yours had any impact in other areas, right?’

  Percy nodded. ‘It’s hard to tell. I think that the window of my predictions has increased slightly, but I don’t have anything to compare it to. This is my first time watching you cast spells, and it’s been a long time since I last fought a Yellow. Pity I didn’t consider testing my limit before starting work on the project.’

  Either way, he was more than happy with his new Wild Art. If he was right about it, it would help him in all sorts of subtle ways, whether he realized it or not. A surge of excitement rose in his chest as he looked forward to its next upgrade.

  ‘Hmmm… I wonder what that one will look like.’

  After obtaining Obatala’s Approval and merging it into his Status, he had turned his Sorcerer’s Eye into the Sovereign’s Eye. He wasn’t sure whether his new spell would evolve in a similar direction next time. The main change in his Sovereign’s Eye was its ability to read the flow of willpower – something completely unrelated to alchemy. Percy would probably have a tougher time when he tried to upgrade his Wild Art again.

  ‘Oh well… It’s a problem for later,’ he thought.

  Satisfied with his analysis, he considered his next steps. There were two things currently pressing for his attention. About sixteen months had technically passed since his return to the Guild, so his mentor and the other elders had been waiting for him to teach them the new principles for a while now.

  Also, there was another spectral fiend that he had to absorb.

  Books 1, 2 and 3 on at no extra cost, grab copies for your shelf, or listen to the audiobooks on .