Chapter 523: Enhanced Life Form
Zero didn't have to do or say much to convince Jynx to lend him a hand. He didn't even tell Jynx about his crazy idea when he enlisted her help. All the banshee knew was that the doctor needed an assistant urgently for something that concerned Baku. As her child's other mother, how could Jynx refuse?
That was how the banshee was promptly kidnapped into Zero's ultra-secret time-inflating lamp. This new dimensional space made Jynx nervous simply because she felt creeped out by many captive souls and mana emitting flowers in the room.
"Where are we?"
Zero smiled. "My room. I can give you a room tour later but for now, please chug this down and help me maintain a simple soul binding spell."
The doctor didn't give her any further explanation and while Jynx was still extremely confused, she did as she was told. There were two other fairies in the room and Jynx wondered if they were Zero's acquaintance.
Whatever drink Zero made her drink was working. Jynx felt her mana churn inside of her uncomfortably. She'd never had such an aggressive build-up of mana and it was making her ill. If she didn't use some mana now, she felt like she was going to become sick!
"What did you make me drink?"
Lily smiled. "It's just a mana potion that master makes. It sells very very expensive and is usually diluted about a hundred times to be sold. You just drank the undiluted version so if you don't use mana, it will simply continue building up until you explode. Are you feeling sick now?"
Although the banshee was naturally pale, she was never this white. Wii took that as a yes and told Lily to get into position. Zero was very serious when he looked at the soul and the mana lotus. This time, there were eight seeds in the pod. Instead of binding the soul to the entire mana lotus, Zero told Jynx to target the smallest seed in the pod.
"Tie the soul using the array to that seed in the pod. Don't tie the soul directly or it might suffer a backlash if we fail again. I need you to hold onto that soul binding spell tightly while I do my thing. Once both sides are charged to the point of almost bursting, I want you to tell me the situation of that soul binding and who is tugging at what. I need both of them to pull at each other and form a bond willingly. Once they've started to reach out to each other and start strengthening the new voluntary bond, slowly ease up on the soul bringing spell. We're starting now."
Jynx didn't have time to ask questions and simply nodded for now. If Zero delayed it any longer by explaining, she would barf all over the bed.
The soul binding spell was quickly cast and Jynx concentrated on holding the spell tightly under her control while the soul struggled to break free from it. Zero told her to keep it steady as he coordinated between pumping mana to the seed and qi to the captive soul. This time, he was more successful in controlling the different outputs as the seed was less mana hungry.
"It's changing colours," Lily informed Zero who nodded. That was a good sign of a maturing seed and Zero quickly forced the soul to its limits.
The soul vibrated strongly in its array and pulsed violently with the oversupply of qi. Jynx struggled to hold onto the soul who tried to defy the soul binding spell.
"Force it to obey you and tell it that the only way to stop the pain is to take that vessel as its home!" Zero gritted his teeth and tried to keep his hand steady with the soul misbehaving in his hand.
The banshee wasted no time and expertly exerted dominance to suppress the miserable soul. They had a long tug of war session with Zero alternating between easing up on the qi and pressuring the soul to forge the bond. It took them a few attempts and nearly two hours in the lamp before the soul started seeking out to the seed that Lily harvested.
Zero could hold the soul and the vessel too close to each other because his hands were supplying them with different things. Hence, Wii had to assist by weaving gentle air spells to carry the seed closer to the soul's array.
At this stage, Jynx was starting to feel the oversupply of mana fade away. She was exhausted and struggling to lead the soul to the vessel. Lily saw that and quickly fed her another bottle of mana recovery potion. They needed all the help they could get to win this battle.
The soul was definitely evolved. Zero could tell. After absorbing so much qi and nourishing itself, the cultivation level of this soul was higher than the rest. Was this why it had troubles resonating with a common vessel?
"Lily, can you grab some mana gemstones from the inventory? I think we have a few lying around. Also, give me some chaos fragments. We're going to try glueing the soul and the vessel. Get some nature mana gemstones. The one from Axel would be best."
The flower fairy didn't hesitate and retrieved the things Zero wanted. Wii busied herself by taking over Zero's control of the mana supply to the seed. With one hand finally freed, Zero was now able to grab his pre-drawn talisman to slap it on the stubborn soul.
"Sprinkle the chaos fragment now," he told Lily who complied quickly. The soul that behaved very erratically earlier started to calm down into a lazy buzz despite Zero's intensive qi input. It seemed to have cultivated into yet another level and Zero wasn't surprised.
"Wii, use these mana gemstones to force the seed to evolve. I want it to take in all those nature qualities."
The eggplant fairy struggled with maintaining the intensity of mana output so Lily assisted her in setting up a simple magic circle so that the mana gemstone will be absorbed into the seed in the centre of the circle while Wii controlled the flow and balance of the mana given. Slowly but surely, the seed changed colour and even started to germinate.
"The struggle has become lesser. There is finally some harmony between vessel and soul but I feel a third force trying to break his connection," Jynx informed Zero who already expected it.
"Resist it with all your strength. Let us know if you need more mana potions. The scheduled soul is trying to enter this vessel but we are denying it entry. Force this soul to make a connection with that vessel."
Together, the team toiled for a few more hours, constantly assisting both soul and body to evolve to a level that they can accept each other. The scheduled soul eventually gave up due to the incompatibility of the upgraded vessel. The bond was very slow and fragile when it started and Jynx found herself downing two more mana potions before it was stable enough for her to ease the soul binding spell.
Everyone was exhausted, including Zero. However, they pressed on. "Just a little more!" Wii said and downed a mana potion herself to keep pushing the vessel to its limits.
Zero had to be fed at some point by Lily because his stomach protested. In fact, the flower fairy diligently prepared easy to eat portions for everyone, taking turns to feed them while they worked hard.
The soul bond couldn't be seen to Jynx, Lily or Wii. Initially, Zero didn't see it either. After all the soul binding spell was invisible and can only be felt by the spell owner. However, after the bond between soul and vessel strengthened as they grew closer in compatibility, Zero started seeing a green thread. It was similar to the mana thread he could see using the tracing spell but this time, it was linked from the soul to the small plant.
"How does the soul binding spell feel now?"
Jynx was unsure. "I don't feel anything. It is very calm at the moment."
Taking this as a sign and wanting to test what would happen if he reduced the mana and qi output, Zero told the necromancer to hold the bond steadily in case there was a rejection. The fairies held their breaths and Wii slowly let Zero take over her role to rest.
The doctor watched the green thread very closely and was pleased to see that the more he let up with the qi and mana supply, the bolder the green became. In fact, the soul started to gravitate around the small plant until it was making small circles, unable to get any closer due to the array.
Boldly, Zero released the output of qi and mana to focus on undoing the soul's alchemy array. Jynx held onto the binding strongly but Zero told her it was alright to release the spell. The banshee was hesitant but did as she was told slowly. To everyone's amazement, the soul continued to hover around the plant as if looking for a way in.
Zero grinned. This was exactly how he thought it would be.
Quickly, the array was carefully undone and Zero watched the magical moment as the last shackle was undone. Like a powerful magnet, the soul was sucked into the plant and the green thread disappeared with it. For a while, nothing seemed to change with the small plant so Zero waited.
After a minute, the plant started to emit small traces of life energy and grew by itself without external help. The grin on Zero's face was so wide that it started to hurt his chubby cheeks.
"We did it!" he announced with joy despite the tiredness. The entire process might have taken them almost ten hours but at the end of it all, Zero proved that the method was possible.
Jynx was glad that it was finally over. She needed a nap and the mindscape assistants shared a hug. Lily decided to update Gaia about their experiment's success after several failures. However, Zero didn't look too satisfied yet. Sure, he might have created a higher life form using this method. However, he was unsure if the fragmented broken soul of a wandering god or the vessel of a cross-pollinated world tree was compatible.
For now, he would record his experiment to discuss it with Merlin and Gaia. He needed more proof and evidence to ensure that the actual soul transplant operation for Baku and the Tree of Fertility will not fail.
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