Woken up with irrational pain, Hadrian's eyes shot open.

His eyes went to his torso, where the beak of a massive sea bird pierced his gut.

Shadows moved over him, and he realized other such birds were circling above them.

Channeling essence, his right hand rose, intending to manifest earth to trap the bird, instead, it got rubbed out of existence.

Hadrian's brow furrowed for a moment, then looking at his hand and seeing the metal box, he understood what had happened.

Channeling essence once more, the bird reappeared and he trapped it in the earth, converting it into his vessel.

It was a regular creature.

Next, he substituted rodent Hadrian to heal his mutilated gut, and let go of the rodent's remains.

Looking around, it seemed to be noon.

I must have slept through the night.

Hadrian thought.

Luckily, only these birds had gotten to him.

The other circling seabirds descended but were met with the same fate, being converted into Hadrian's vessels.

The others, with their own form of intelligence or intuitions, opted to stay away.

Listening to the rhythm of the waves and the howling wind, Hadrian looked up and down the shore line.

Manipulating the earth, he got off the rocky cliff, ending up on a grassland surface.

The beauty and serenity wasn't lost to him.

Taking a deep breath, Hadrian stopped.

He had things to see to before proceeding further.

Earth rose all around him, and he, Haldon, Alia and his new bird vessels sat in a circle.

He glanced at Haldon for a second, then made him grin his usual half smile.

Looking at his wrist, one of the six rock beads of the bracelet had already turned black.

Hadrian suspected it wasn't consumed by teleportation alone, but also him holding it out through the night.

Looking at the box, he was filled with anticipation.

Calming himself, he pointed the box at one of the large seabirds.

He'd turned the birds into vessels specifically for experimental subjects.

One by one, he carried his other vessels, scared to make a mistake with the box if he were to do it all at once.

When he was alone in the rock shelter, he hesitated for a moment then carried the box.

This time, however, it wasn't as bad as the previous time.

Channeling Haldon's rank two essence, the carry ability had undoubtedly received a mystical boost, more than he'd calculated for when it came to the box.

This meant he would require less time to replenish his essence.

With a perceptive nod, he tugged at his centre, sinking into that space, and finding himself in the first layer.

He looked at his current vessels, and the phantom soul bodies of his lost ones.

Now, how do I go about this?

He thought as he flew to Baruch's core that was tied with a mist string to the fog below, studying it.

"It's continuous .... " he muttered.

Baruch's core and the string merged seamlessly.

His consciousness in the second layer had already summoned the box and his vessels out the box.

Not having to manifest their forms from the fog was a new experience.

At the moment, they stood still, similar to their soul bodies in the first layer as Hadrian pondered.

Try the simplest solution first.

He thought as the fog reacted to his intent, wrapping around the soul body of one of the sea birds.

Previously, when he'd attempted to manipulate the fog in the first layer, it had only been superficial.

His eyes narrowed as he observed the fog tendril go beyond his will, taking shape seemingly following its own intent.

Right, the space can do it for me.

He stood back, not interfering.

The difference between this time and last time was that the real body of the vessel was within this space too.

His consciousness followed the thread of fog descending through the fog and into the second layer, coming into contact with the real body of the bird.

For a moment, nothing happened, then in the first layer, the soul body of the bird dissolved into fog, gradually disappearing.

There was little worry in Hadrian's heart.

If he wasn't aware of the ongoing attempt, and it was an important vessel, he would have panicked.

As the seabird's soulbody faded, life returned to its pools of black eyes in the real world.

It twitched, shook its head and flapped its wings.

Relief, then excitement washed over Hadrian's body.

Not everything is a difficult problem to solve.

Granted, without the box's cooperation, it had been an impossible task.

The bird took calculated steps, looking around the fog.

Hadrian had solidified the fog beneath them.

Suddenly becoming aware of Hadrian, it flapped its wings, flying up and away in the fog.

This all happened without a shred of Hadrian's influence.

It had completely regained control of itself.

Hadrian felt the slight burden of controlling it released from him.

His consciousness descended into the bird, freezing its body for a moment, and he controlled its flight trajectory, making it circle back to him.

It had become like Baruch, its own self, but subject to Hadrian's will at any moment.

Hadrian repeated the attempt with the other two seabird vessels.

He needed to make sure. One success wasn't a guarantee.

Neither was three, really, but that gave him some ground for confidence.

All three seabird attempts succeeded, and he stood in the second layer, watching them circle around in the fog at their own will.

His face took on a serious expression as he looked between Haldon and Alia.

The birds were different. They were simply animals.

However, he wondered how much Alia and Haldon would remember.

Would they see everything he'd done? See him carry them into this space? And more importantly, how would Alia react if she did?

The whole point was so that the burden of controlling multiple vessels, and the corruption of himself that made him dump those brute vessels back then would be lifted.

In any case, I'd still have control.

While he didn't want to give Haldon the "honour" of being the first, he made the decision for it to be him so as to gauge what would happen.

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