PathOfPen

Chapter 357 – Fireworks

Panicking, Acton allowed his domain and his mana to expand outward. Grabbing thousands of drifting globules, along with several colossal chunks of dirt and rock from his surroundings, he forced them into the maelstrom of mud. If his mana wasn’t enough, he’d have to supplement it with mundane matter from outside!

The walls of sludge rose even higher than before, spinning with renewed fury. More constructs formed, piling toward his opponent one after the other.

But it was futile...

Chapter 414 – Gate

Percy was more confused than ever.

His initial understanding of Gallimus was that their Greens had to complete some task to be given their titan’s Decree. That would grant them a domain – or a weaker version of one – ahead of time. It wouldn’t necessarily be very useful before their advancement, but it would turn them into stronger Blues down the line.

According to Duwa, this wasn’t quite right, however.

Not only were their Greens somehow capable of awaken...

Chapter 356 – Pieces and links

If Percy’s body had felt like a furnace before, it was now closer to a volcano’s magma chamber.

Every inch of his flesh convulsed with each violent heartbeat, small rivulets of blood streaming out of tiny holes in his vessels. His higher grade and the life mana muted the side-effects to an extent. That said, he’d injected himself with a lot of ink, and his body had already been on the verge before. Some of his bones cracked under the strain, his skin painted crimson from head to t...

Chapter 413 – Brawl

Initially, the sight of their opponents hadn’t left Percy particularly impressed.

A Green mage – any Green mage, even a young and inexperienced one – would have made quick work of a bunch of Yellow beasts. Thus, he hadn’t thought the ensuing battle would have posed much of a threat to his host’s survival. Percy had simply assumed the boy had spent this long searching for the perfect sparring partners – just strong enough that they wouldn’t die from the very first ...

Chapter 355 – Mud

Percy chased Acton, though he had trouble catching up.

He was confident he would have killed him already if they had merely run on level ground. However, the Holy Child wasn’t that dumb, apparently, having recognized the threat he posed. Constantly expelling colossal amounts of mana from his body, the Green-born allowed it to mix with his domain, hiding himself inside an ever-expanding blob of mud. Like that, he put more and more distance from Percy, shielding himself from the attacks...

Chapter 412 – Centipedes

As soon as they reached an agreement, Duwa started moving.

It didn’t take Percy long to understand how the child had ended up brushing with death. The environment on Gallimus was quite harsh. The scorching heat and the crushing gravity were already difficult to endure, but that was merely the beginning.

Each individual bush didn’t offer much resistance, but trudging through hundreds of them slowly chipped away at his host’s stamina. Whenever the loose ground under their feet...

Chapter 354 – Watchful guardian

“Don’t ever attack me for any reason.”

“Don’t touch my guards either.”

“Listen to what they tell you too, as long as it doesn’t contradict my own commands.”

“Don’t try to harm yourself.”

“Never stray too far from me.”

“If your old master tries to get you to violate my orders, I want you to actively fight against his control.”

Acton had spoken many commands over the years – many of them off-handedly. Yet, the weight of his b...

Chapter 411 – Duwa

The Decree – assuming that the natives’ strange ability truly was one – hadn’t appeared in Percy’s Status yet, but that was in line with his expectations. His host’s fire affinity wasn’t anything special either, nor did the boy seem to possess anything else of note.

Percy would consider fixing the child’s second core if the situation called for it. Having learned from his blunder on Melodia, he had cultivated a ton of green mushrooms inside the Valley, ...

Chapter 353 – Crush

Elaine almost dismissed her idea by instinct. It was crazy. Nobody in their right mind would even consider doing something like that.

But playing with it in her head for a few seconds, she realized it might actually work. Scanning her hand with Mana Sense, she noticed the raging flow of Circulation inside her channels made it shine in a bright Blue colour. There was no way her enemies would see anything obscured by her flesh. Closing her palm, she gathered some mana inside it, before ex...

Chapter 410 – Firm wills

Once again, Percy found himself in the space between worlds, shopping for a host. And just like many clones before him, his “gaze” eventually landed on a rather promising destination.

‘Another lesser spring…’

Most planets in the universe were devoid of life. Had Percy been forced to sift through all of them, he would have never found anything useful. Thankfully, no lives meant no souls, and no souls meant that he couldn’t even perceive those places via his cur...

Chapter 352 – Clash of domains

Fighting against four Blues, Elaine was at an even greater numerical disadvantage than the last time she’d faced others of her grade. Granted, her second core helped a little, bridging the gap to an extent.

Her domain, on the other hand?

Not so much.

In terms of raw power, it was certainly stronger than those of her opponents. Sadly, domains were versatile tools that required a lot of skill to wield properly. If only she’d had a couple more years with hers, this might ha...

Chapter 409 – I won’t get caught

Galahad was sitting behind the desk, at Archibald’s usual spot.

He appeared stronger than the last time they’d seen him. Even without consciously releasing his domain, the pressure he radiated was undeniable. He’d clearly mastered his new affinity already. The man was dressed sharply as always, without a single wrinkle visible on his silken trousers or his shirt, buttoned to the collar. His dark hair was neatly cut, and even the office itself was tidier than when Archibald had bee...

Chapter 351 – Devastation

Nesha’s situation was a little strange.

Her Chaotic Execution was one of the most lethal attacks in the entire Valley, allowing her to take out any of the Greens with ease if only she had a second or two close to them.

Unfortunately, aiming the horrific butterflies accurately was tough, which limited the spell to short and medium range. Her opponents had clearly noticed, banding together to protect themselves. Whenever she tried to approach one, they would all pelt her location ...

Chapter 408 – House Avalon’s fate

Elaine walked along the dirt path, her fists clenched tight. She couldn’t bring herself to enjoy the gentle morning sunlight or the cool breeze teasing strands of her hair. It was hard to do so, after the unsettling news her aunt had shared the night before. She and Percy had anticipated consequences, of course. Still, the revelation had shattered the warm, homey mood that had settled over the small hut during their shared meal.

At the time, she’d wanted nothing more than to storm o...

Chapter 350 – Opening shot

Nesha took a deep breath after the other, activating Circulation. Soon, a series of black circles of various sizes formed on her skin, many crossing freely over one another while others appeared perfectly isolated. At the same time, a jagged set of brown lines branched out of her abdomen, glowing all over her body like a bunch of cracks.

It sucked she couldn’t tap into Synchronization like this, but she’d still take a Green core over a slightly stronger boosting art any day of the w...

Chapter 407 – Percy’s domain?

Elaine was currently sitting in her aunt’s kitchen, dining with her extended family. Or was that her grandaunt?

Percy hadn’t paid much attention.

She looked like she was having a ton of fun too, catching up with relatives she hadn’t seen in years.

‘I have to hand it to Uncle Gawain for not having a stick up his ass…’ Percy thought.

Typically, nobles only bothered to marry a commoner if they were a Yellow-born, bringing more talented mages into the ...

Chapter 349 – Third cord

After filling his second core up, Percy revelled in his new strength for a few minutes.

Activating his boosting art, he exhaled in relief upon sensing the restored balance between his affinities. The first thing he did was try to combine Synchronization with the Dance. Like before, each instance of the boosting art strengthened his body and soul, allowing him to push its counterpart just a little farther, until the spells reached a higher ceiling.

Only, this time, it was the Dance...

Chapter 406 – Pinesap town

Seeing the first of the small houses appear on the horizon, Elaine exhaled in relief. It had been around two months since they’d left the Valley, but they’d finally made it back to the Camelot province.

They’d completed the trip much faster than the last time, too. Elaine’s higher grade and their Insomnia trait had certainly helped – along with the fact that they didn’t have to worry about any companions keeping up.

They could’ve arrived even sooner, but they’d tri...

Chapter 348 – Fighting style

Percy was more than happy with his new spell upgrade, but this was merely the appetizer.

Before entering the Thirsty Valley, he had resolved himself to upgrade his boosting art by the time he was out. And sure enough, he had tried his hardest to accomplish precisely that, spending every waking second working on some aspect of the spell. Only, the way he viewed the Dance was different from how someone like Rhaziel or Metatron did.

For them, its only value was in supercharging one�...

Chapter 405 – Soul-freezing

Sitting on Micky’s back, Percy was preparing the ingredients for his mana threads as he paid the clone some attention. After seeing the latter make some tangible progress with the new mana type, he’d started sending him soul mana to accelerate the process.

Another week had passed since the battle against House Ypnos’s mages, and the clone could already reliably produce about a talonful of augmented snow every couple of minutes. Only, the substance now sported a dull grey colour, a...

Chapter 347 – Harvest (2)

More tremors coursed through the Valley. Deafening ones this time, the first orbs of Green shining through the suffocating darkness.

The Divine Root always gave the weaker beasts a head start, before waking the stronger ones up. They had to, lest they all got killed before they even made it into the Valley proper. Should that happen, the Greens would starve that much sooner.

Colossal shadows the size of elephants barrelled toward Percy, their slightest move sending the dust in tur...

Chapter 404 – Silver snow

The clone exhaled in relief as Micky flipped over the Blue’s corpse, pecking out his core – and a large chunk of his crumbling soul with it.

The man’s high-speed regeneration had been annoying to deal with, but overpowering him had only been a matter of time. After all, the mage had probably been in his current grade for years, his strength having long plateaued. His weaker affinity certainly hadn’t done him any favours either.

Micky, on the other hand, was still in a stat...

Chapter 346 – Harvest (1)

“Are you sure you want to fight them alone?” Elaine asked.

Her forehead creased with worry as the very earth beneath their feet shook. The smallest pebbles bounced up and down with each violent quake. Everyone in the group was strong enough to handle a couple of Green beasts with ease by now, but this wasn’t what Percy was planning to do. Instead, he was about to take a risk that they generally tended to avoid.

The trio was currently standing about a mile away from the weste...

Chapter 403 – Second Parade

A grey streak shot through the battlefield, bouncing from platform to platform around the earth mage. It was naturally Percy, who took advantage of his higher mobility to dodge all his opponent’s attacks.

Domain blasts and stone constructs of all shapes and sizes fell everywhere, leaving the rocky terrain full of craters as wide as houses. As for the snow, it was long gone, the ground beneath the two combatants laid bare.

No matter what the woman did, she couldn’t get anywhere...

Chapter 345 – Bloated list

A grey comet slammed a few inches below Percy’s chest, his wisp trying to burrow into the tiny hole in his soul. It was having some trouble since the injury had mostly healed over the years, leaving only a faint scar behind. That said, it would have squeezed in already if it had been just that – Percy’s soul would have retracted a little inward to make space for it.

There was another problem, however.

Looking at the clone, Percy noticed there was an object hidden inside it. ...

Chapter 402 – Good matchups

Two domains landed on Percy with crushing force, causing him to sink deeper into the snow, his feet stepping on the bedrock beneath. Rather than panic, he merely grinned, however.

‘As expected, one of them is much weaker than the other… Micky, do you think you can take him down by yourself?’

Between the man’s pure affinity, his relative inexperience and weaker domain, Percy was confident his familiar could win without help this time, even while having to resist a ...

Chapter 344 – Yellow

With a satisfying click, the Yellow strands inside Percy’s core snapped together, forming a dense blob of mana. Relieving the organ of the accumulated pressure, the magical substance then splashed onto its base, filling the core by about a third of its volume.

Taking a few deep breaths, Percy absorbed more ambient mana over the next few minutes, soon filling his reserves to their new capacity. At the same time, waves of euphoria rushed over his body, cleansing it of the accumulated fa...

Chapter 401 – The hunted or the hunter?

Percy raised an eyebrow as he examined the footprints a little more closely through Micky’s eyes.

‘Only two sets?’

They should have sent more, shouldn’t they? Hadn’t they heard about the dead Blues from Femel’s House?

Then again, Percy expected the people hunting them to be somewhat disjointed. There was the Divine Root which was looking to punish him for his crimes and potentially extract his secrets. Then, there were the families of the Green-borns he�...

Chapter 343 – Leaving Melodia

‘Percy should take the ring first. It would be nice if he could give Sol a go after he is done. Then, we can return it to the lake.’ Doh said, getting a nod from Latt.

‘What about you?’ Percy asked, finding this a little too easy.

The Green-born shook his head before elaborating.

‘If it was just an inanimate object, I wouldn’t have minded bringing it home and sharing it with the other Green-borns. The extra boost could help us protect our co...