Chapter 4282: Monster Half (Part 2)

"I have no idea if it will happen right now or if it will take some more time, but if I’m right, the moment the obstructions are gone, my entire life force will become stronger. Until this moment, the Warg aspect weighed me down and halted my evolution.

"My Eldritch and Fylgja side can’t develop further without crushing the Warg under their might, so fixing the Warg side will be enough to improve my life force as a whole."

The Suneater donned the Skull and the Maw of Bytra as he entered the madness and sealed its Adamant lid.

’Now watch.’ He pushed the button that filled the gene-tank with nutrient liquid and switched to the mind link.

As soon as no air was left and he received a steady flow of world energy and vitality from his allies, Tezka began his work.

’As you can see, time and experiments have brought my Warg aspect above the mere flame of a rank 1, but it’s nowhere close to the size and power of the star of a rank 2. Moreover, the color and density of the Warg’s flame change constantly due to its Fallen state.

’So far, the best it could do was to use the energy scattered by the elemental stars to keep its shape and orbit stable, but that’s it. This is where I’m going to start the procedure.’

The Suneater used his tier five Body Sculpting spell, Starsight, to observe his own life force while another spell, Life Well, to alter it. A strand of powerful mana enveloped the comet, forming several protective layers around it.

Life Well seemed to double the comet’s size, but it was just the spell reaching and surpassing the might of the Warg aspect. When that happened, Tezka pulled at Life Well and forced the comet to alter its course.

The Suneater brought the Warg aspect near the emerald dwarf first, placing the comet in a stable orbit. The layer of Life Well opened on the dark side of the comet, so that the raw Spirit Magic coming from the front was blocked by the spell.

It allowed Tezka to control the flow of the Spirit element that entered the Warg aspect and monitor the changes it underwent. As soon as the comet showed signs of instability, Tezka pulled it out of orbit and moved it to the light star.

Here, he repeated the procedure, opening an even smaller fissure in Life Well since the light element released by the light star was several orders of magnitude greater. The comet stabilized, yet soon became unstable again.

At that point, Tezka moved it into orbit around the next star, the fire elemental star.

’You see, our monster life force is compatible with our original life forces, or we would have never come back to life.’ Tezka explained as he moved the comet to the water star. ’Yet it’s also Fallen and weak.

’Our other aspects are so much stronger that direct contact would end in the annihilation of our monster side. Yet the innate instability from its Fallen state prevents it from growing without external intervention.

’It’s the reason our life forces repel each other instead of growing closer over time.’

’He’s right!’ Bytra’s eyes widened in understanding. ’Our original, Eldritch, and monster aspects want to survive, so they limit the interactions between them to remain stable. Yet if they don’t interact, they can’t adapt to each other. It’s a paradox!’

’Correct, but only if you leave their condition as it is.’ The Suneater inwardly nodded. ’What I’m doing is to expose my Warg aspect to controlled amounts of energy from my Fylgja aspect to stimulate its development.’

The comet had grown in size with each new temporary orbit, but Tezka just added more mana to Life Well to keep the Warg aspect’s movements under his surgical control.

’Yet that’s not enough.’ He said, grunting in pain and effort. ’Without darkness, it’s only a matter of time before the unbridled vitality of a monster will turn against itself.

’Our Eldritch aspect is so strong that it keeps the monster aspect’s rampant life force stable even from a great distance, yet close interaction is necessary if I want the Warg side to become capable of harnessing the power of Chaos.’

Tezka kept the orbit of the comet around the black hole wide, and created an opening the size of a pinhole in Life Well. The Chaos felt the exposed prey and pounced on it mercilessly.

The contact provided the comet with the darkness element it needed and restrained the ever-changing Warg life force, yet it also allowed the Chaos to spread. The Suneater raised wall after wall with his spell, buying the Warg aspect precious moments of respite.

During that time, the comet fought back the invasion of Chaos until it was purged. Yet when that happened, Tezka let the barriers collapse so that more Chaos could seep in. The constant battle consumed the vitality of the Warg aspect, but it also improved its strength.

Each time the comet cleansed itself from the Chaos, it developed a bit more resistance to the Cursed Element and could withstand a greater amount of it before Tezka had to seal the comet again.

After a few cycles of that, the Warg aspect’s light dimmed. The Suneater groaned in strain as he pulled the comet away from the black hole and back into the orbit of the emerald dwarf.

This time, the Warg aspect absorbed the Spirit element and then the other five elements as a dry sponge absorbs water. It recovered all the vitality it had lost and gained some more.

The comet’s fire was now more brilliant and stable. It still mutated from time to time, but the process had become slower and less dramatic.

’Do you see now?’ Tezka said, giving the Warg aspect a bit of time to rest and recover before moving it to the black hole again. ’Growth is possible. Adaptation is possible. Yet you can’t just sit there and hope for the best.

’You have to do it yourself.’ The interaction with the Chaos lasted longer and was much more painful than the previous, but the Suneater soldiered on without making a sound.

He repeated the process until the Warg aspect had reached half the size of the emerald dwarf, and he felt such a strain on his life force that he knew that progressing any further would have meant death.

’Behold!’ The second last step of Tezka’s procedure was to find a new stable orbit for the comet as it moved across the quasar.

He kept changing and adjusting the comet’s trajectory until he found an orbit that passed close enough to the seven elemental stars to allow the Warg aspect to exchange energy with them, but far away enough to limit the contact and keep it brief.

After two full cycles of the Warg, Eldritch, and Fylgja aspects freely interacting, Tezka’s life force started to pulse with new strength. The emerald dwarf grew in size, and so did all others, allowing the Suneater’s Spirit Tail to grow several centimeters as it received a constant yet weak flow of power.

The Eldritch-hybrids gave Tezka a loud round of applause, many of them exchanging hugs and handshakes despite the millennia of rivalry.

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