Chapter 578: Chakra and Qi in a Sea of Mana

Boosting people up to D-rank was well and good, but Omilaena was starting to view it as routine by now. She came up with a formula that she was absolutely sure could take her from D-9 to C-0, but she did it as a mere intellectual exercise. No, the real goal was to unlock the secrets of Physique and build something new for herself.

Zin Nim had advanced from E-10 to E-11, thanks to some "effective" dual cultivation, and showed no signs of stopping. Omilaena privately guessed that she would hit a wall at E-19, but she wasn't confident enough to state that publicly. This was new territory.

It seemed clear that there were two potential paths for Physique: one that followed the arc common to the entire world and one that took a unique direction. The unique option had a far higher base power, varying depending on the quality, and increased more Power per level. She was fairly sure that the Ironbody Physique would also go past E-9, though she remained uncertain about whether all Physiques would have the same level cap.

But did that alternate path start at E-rank? Would it be possible for people to develop unique Physiques at F-rank or even G? She couldn't determine anything by drawing blood or other experiments, which left her with math: she noticed that the benefits of Physique followed a pattern that leveled off.

What exactly that meant was unclear... in principle, but especially for Kai. He alone had progressed along the standard path from C-rank to B-rank, building great power, but potentially less than he might have. Was there a chance that he had limited his future growth in some way?

Admittedly, he was already one of the most powerful people in the world. But Omilaena would have been very pleased with herself if she had been able to help him transform into an absolute monster, both literally and metaphorically, with a body that would make enemies tremble and Zin Nim drool. With his monstrous essence already giving his body unique traits, she thought he had the potential to become unprecedented in raw power as well.

It still might be possible... but to have a chance, she needed to learn more about the fundamentals.

That was why she was pleased to have a few of the elites come to her for consultation, culminating in Handelrey Orgoron, one of the strongest. For most of Omilaena's life, Handelrey had beenf far superior to her, and even now that she had an overwhelming Power advantage, she would worry about losing focus on her phases and taking an unlucky hit.

Of course, the plan was to help Handelrey, not fight her. Omilaena checked her soul before the other woman even said anything.

<

Name: Handelrey Orgoron

Total Power: 886

Class: Null

Earthborn: Twiceshaken (299)

Waterborn: Twicedrowned (299)

Physique: E-9 (107)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

Hybrid Essence: Living Jungle (+100)

>

What a curious soul... containing two different elemental powers, yet both of them apparently limited. Omilaena was curious to examine the woman's soul on a deeper level, but there were social limits on ogling people.

"Are you here for a Physique breakthrough?" Omilaena asked.

"That is my intent." Handelrey lowered her head and her hair bowed with her.

"Well, I changed my mind: as payment, I want to know how the hell you did that to your soul. I've seen a lot of oddities in my time, but this is a new one."

"I'm not sure I can give a productive answer. Years ago, the Frontier elites were attempting new methods of obtaining power, and I agreed to participate in one of them. The Elemental Nations had been trying to awaken multiple powers for years, always failing, so they sought someone from an unaligned nation..."

While the other woman spoke, Omilaena pulled out new goggles and checked her out on a deeper level.

<

Name: Handelrey Orgoron

Physique: Enhanced Mortal (999 years)

Soul: Enhanced Mortal (999 years)

Supremacy: None

Talent Capacity: Null

Elemental Capacity: Twinborn

Essence Capacity: Highly Drained

Cultivation Capacity: Drained

>

Oh yes, that was fascinating: Handelrey's elemental capacity was a unique symbol that solidified in Omilaena's mind as "Twinborn", and the other notable thing was that her Talent capacity had been nullified. Her other two capacities seemed drained, but that was more familiar from glimpses at other elites.

"Let me guess," Omilaena cut in, "they burned out your talent capacity to try to give you two elemental abilities?"

Handelrey nodded, not at all put off by the introduction. "That's compatible with what I understand. The elemental awakening test ignites a portion of the soul, which either snuffs out or becomes a new ability. With me, they ignited more than usual, with this result."

"But you've hit some kind of barrier."

"Not a barrier like Physique or cultivation, but no matter how many elemental sources I absorb, I seem unable to push either beyond 299."

"I honestly wouldn't have thought to do that." Omilaena formed a needle and began spinning it over her fingers as she thought. "Unfortunately, my diagnosis is that it was a bad idea. Your abilities... spilled over into other parts of your soul, I think. They're overstuffed and can't grow properly now."

"I noticed," Handelrey said dryly.

"Oh, but I'm not here to criticize." Omilaena began spinning her needle more rapidly. "You burned out part of your soul, and your elemental abilities spilled out on the Essence side... your hair, right?"

"That's correct, it's a hybrid ability."

"Well, none of this will stop you from advancing your Physique, but more importantly, I think we can make those abilities... spill out a little more." Omilaena's needle snapped to a halt as she came to her conclusion. "Are you willing to let me try an experiment?"

"I have been stuck here for a long time," Handelrey told her. "It can't hurt."

It took Omilaena a full day to analyze everything, during which she had to make a public appearance with Kai, pet Zae Zin Nim, and otherwise distract herself from her research. Soon enough, however, she was able to convert Handelrey's blood into an extremely potent injection. Like the other elites, she was extremely easy to work with.

As Handelrey went through the transformation process, which seemed unusually painful even for her, Omilaena watched her soul through her goggles carefully. Just as she had hoped, her soul still had room to grow on the cultivation side, producing a lovely end result...

<

Name: Handelrey Orgoron

Total Power: 994

Class: Null

Earthborn: Twiceshaken (299)

Waterborn: Twicedrowned (299)

Physique: D-0 (200)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

Hybrid Essence: Living Jungle (+100)

Hybrid Essence: Terrestrial Qi (+15)

>

"Incredible..." Handelrey stared down at her own hands, arcs of water and stone rotating around them. "I expected to be more powerful, but there's something new..."

"Your cultivation capacity was being used to fuel your extreme other abilities," Omilaena explained, "but wasn't fully utilized. Now, this method will have limitations, but since you already though you were at a dead end, I hope that's acceptable."

"More than acceptable. This qi... I will have to speak to my Krysali colleagues and master it."

"Also, you're at 994, very close to the 999 Power barrier. I'm not sure if that was just the strongest I could get your qi, or if the barrier limited it, but either way, that should be able to grow eventually. Unfortunately, when it comes to breaking that barrier..."

"I can handle that myself." Handelrey clenched both fists, erasing her elements, and met her gaze. "I wish that we could do more to help you in turn."

"Perhaps you can," Omilaena said, as if the idea had just occurred to her instead of finally happening after so long. "I grow via poison... do you have any unique ones? Any colleagues who can produce phased poison? I'm not going to pretend to be as altruistic as Kai, but any power you can give me will be very useful, come this incursion."

"I'll see what I can do."

As soon as Handelrey was gone, Omilaena stopped pretending to be innocent and cackled to herself. That had been satisfying on a personal research level, and it was a nice war asset for Kai. On top of that, she even had an angle on new poisons.

For everything that was going well, she was still stuck with her current Physique. Omilaena told herself that she couldn't be expected to replicate ancient secrets from the Brightwind Sect, or the potential the Irunians had built up over generations, but that was little comfort. If she actually had to use that power, it didn't matter whether it was fair or not.

.

..

.

In a surreal way, Zae Zin Nim was in uncharted territory. For all of her struggles in her father's sect, she hadn't imagined reaching this stage in her life.

For many cultivators, sects were merely an extension of themselves, another sort of power they could accumulate, or perhaps a treasure to be collected. Her father, for all that he had built up the Brightwind Sect, had cared for very few individuals within it, and if she had not replaced him, the sect would simply have ceased to exist without his power. Life was simple that way, yet she wondered if it was truly satisfying, simply acquiring nameless minions.

This, on the other hand, was strange and unfamiliar. Sect-building was an appropriate task for cultivators at their peak, but here they were building nations. It was a great deal more altruistic than Zae Zin Nim was accustomed to, and she was skeptical that many of these actions would ever come to benefit them.

Perhaps that was acceptable. Kai's strange way of life had its advantages.

One thing that left her unambiguously happy was that both of her spouses were still so driven to improve. Omilaena worked aggressively with the elites and her own projects in order to obtain a truly exceptional Physique, which would put her on the highest tier. And Kai, who was perhaps already there, was showing absolutely none of the failings of many peak cultivators. Power and fame only seemed to make him happy insofar as they allowed him to help others, and while that was silly, she found herself smiling as he flew about changing these little cities.

Her own task, with only occasional digressions, was simpler: phased cultivation. With all her advantages, Zae Zin Nim was progressing many times faster than ordinary cultivators, but ordinary cultivators often spent decades moving from Earth Soul to Sky Soul.

By her best judgment, she doubted that she would be able to break through before the incursion. Given that such levels of power would be completely unnecessary for it, that did not concern her, and she focused on quality. After the incursion, which would surely increase their fame yet again, she would be able to reach Sky Soul and join her spouses as matchless warriors.

The only trouble with her focus was that she had less time to spend with him. One evening when Kai was engaged in cultivation, Zae Zin Nim came to sit beside him.

"How is Goralia faring?" she asked.

"They're pretty unified, they're just facing a potentially massive horde," Kai said. "Overall, they have a problem with mid-rank fighters... they have a lot of low level hunters, and Advanced Classes make for very powerful warriors, but there's fewer in the middle."

"The ones that would need to face city-destroying threats."

"Correct, glad you remember the strategy. That means elites will have to spend more time helping them... we'll do what we can in the short term, but I don't know about later."

"So we keep going north." Zae Zin Ni examined her husband carefully. "You're hiding it well, but you seem nervous."

He sighed and leaned back. "We'll be going to Monskon City soon. I know technically it doesn't matter, and it's beneath me in terms of power, but I'm thinking about it a lot. I haven't been properly back in years."

"Let them die, as far as I'm concerned. You, Juray, Inafay... we already took all the worthwhile people out of the city."

"Hey now, there are other lives worth saving."

"Hmm... I suppose there was that one archer woman who intercepted an attack aimed at you." Zae Zin Nim let her expression soften. "I am only joking, I know this city matters to you. I just hope you won't get wrapped up in it."

"Thanks, Zin Nim. I'm glad to have you with me."

Zae Zin Nim was glad to be returning with him, but she was far from excited. Her husband may have grown up in Monskon City, but her memories of her time there were almost wholly negative. She hoped that he would make it through the cesspit that had banished him without being slowed down.