As fervent as his rage might have been, Jake knew all too well that no declaration or threat would amount to anything in the absence of the man at its focus. Time, relentless and unforgiving, continued its steady march, and the prognosis for the disciples and his companions grew ever more uncertain.
Shoving aside the cloud of his dark thoughts, Jake addressed Siri, which had just recovered from the accidental psychic assault on her electronic chip, with a growl. "I ask you one last time: android or organic for your replacement vessel? Either way, it's only temporary."
Without missing a beat, Siri responded with resolution, "I stand by my choice. If you affirm that the organic body you can lend me can support my consciousness, then I will trust you on this matter."
"Very well. Any specific requests regarding your future appearance?"
Siri seemed to hesitate for a moment over this dilemma. Sensing Jake's impatient gaze, she eventually murmured, "The same as before?"
Jake gave an indifferent nod and stated matter-of-factly, "A girl, then. Same skin color too? The white plastic finish of the Delkron androids isn't very natural on humans, but it's within my capabilities."
Siri stiffened within her electronic chip but clarified eventually, "A normal skin color."
Jake clicked his tongue in disapproval. Considering the ivory plastic of her previous form, was she referring to a white skin as 'normal'? Fortunately, they were far from any anti-racism activists, or such a request would have surely sparked an uproar.
"Give me a moment," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.
The process was rather straightforward. Jake materialized some of the stored biomass, conveniently stashed away in another dimensional space bound to himself. This was somewhat similar to the Spirit Dimension dedicated to his fairy spirits, but not quite the same.
Although the anchoring and creation process were somewhat similar, the former relied only on his understanding of space and a sufficient energy supply. In contrast, the latter came into being as soon as he obtained his Cosmic D Starfeyrves Bloodline and existed somewhere in the deep recesses of his Sea of Consciousness.
This Sea of Consciousness was, in a way, the tip of the iceberg that represented his soul and his last line of defense. Psychiatrically speaking, it could be described as his subconscious mind, those 90% of the brain over which he had no control.
At least, not until a year ago.
Evolvers with strong soul cultivation could also control their Sea of Consciousness as an independent dimension within their Spirit Body, but this was rare at his stage, except for a few special species.
The challenge in controlling this Sea of Consciousness, besides the high spirit requirements, was its location at the junction between the submerged, inscrutable soul, and the perceptible, controllable Spirit Body.
A further obstacle was that the building blocks of this realm were a hybrid blend of Soul Power and Spirit Energy. Soul Power wasn't something consciously controllable.
At most, an Evolver could indirectly wield it by, for example, diligently developing their True Will. That's why his Spirit Dimension was so precious.
As soon as he obtained this ability, he became capable of using this hybrid of Soul and Spirit Power to create a livable environment for his Familiars. His only limit was his imagination, and with his current mental strength, the possibilities were vast.
In this realm, Jake was akin to a god, and any overconfident foe who dared cross him here would soon regret it.
Whether it was Jeanie, Trash Runt, or even Xi, they spent most of their time munching on popcorn, engrossed in the live broadcast of Jake's existence, streaming 24/7.
"Oh? Jake is crafting a body for someone other than us?" A chubby faerie spirit bearing a disturbing resemblance to a demonic cherub squawked in glee, staring at the orb of biomass that their creator had summoned out of the blue. " Isn't he afraid she'll run off with it? Unlike us, her life isn't tied to his."
"Quiet, Zephyr." Jeanie rebuked him, her voice adorable yet stern, her plump fists resting on her hips. "Jake knows what he's doing. As easily as he can bestow life, he can also take it back."
Electrical tension surged between the two rival fairies, glowering at each other. It was far from the first time such an exchange had occurred, and the other faerie spirits carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Trash Runt, silently seated to the left of Xi on the sofa woven from spiritual energy, let out a weary sigh, "I'd kill for a spare body like that android."
Xi cast him a look of bitter empathy, knowing well his longing. "You were supposed to be dead. It's better than nothing. And despite your complaints, you do possess a body of your own. You faerie spirits can live independently of Jake if he so wishes. If he keeps you within him now, it's for your protection. Your spirits are quite weak at present, except for Jeanie. Feast on the energy the Spirit Dimension provides, and soon, I promise, you'll roam freely without being a liability to him."
While Xi comforted and educated the dispirited faeries, confined within the Spirit Dimension and assuming the role of an elder sister, Jake completed his work on the new body.
At first glance, one might think he was shaping a mass of liquefied flesh with his telekinesis, molding a human body as one would with clay, but the process was far more complex.
At each step, Jake would execute a myriad of DNA modifications in the cells, placing certain restrictions to ensure the body wouldn't be too powerful or slip from his control. Altering the DNA of this biomass, originating from his own cells, was necessary to prevent Siri from becoming a mere clone of him.
With his Life Manipulation and advanced biological knowledge, Jake could have easily created a new body by accelerating the embryonic process from a single modified stem cell. Had he proceeded in this manner, he would have saved time.
The downside was that the new body would have been fucking weak. Despite identical DNA and Aether Code to his own, the final stats would be like night and day.
This was due to the tremendous amount of Aether needed to increase the density and compression of his Aether Code. On top of that, the fulfillment of stringent conditions unique to his bloodline was required to achieve this. Although his bloodline was an above-Grade 10 enigma with more flexible maturation conditions, it was nonetheless a lengthy process.
This is also why many prodigious Evolvers with near-resurrection regeneration avoided serious injuries. If they lost a limb during combat, they typically did everything in their power to recover the lost part.
Otherwise, while the healing might appear complete on the surface, weeks or months of effort spent cultivating their bloodline and body would be wasted. This same constraint limited Blood Essence production and made the acquisition of high-Grade bloodlines so expensive.
Jake had partially solved this limiting factor with his Grade 10 Energy and the adaptive properties of his new bloodline. His Aether Code and cells recovered terrifyingly fast, even after dozens of consecutive mitoses.
Through experimentation on his own body, enduring countless mortal injuries during his Ordeals, he had discovered his strength would not regress immediately after fully regenerating his body from being disintegrated.
Even when he was still a Myrtharian, it generally took two or three complete destructions of his body in quick succession for significant weakening to take lasting effect.
The problem was, during high-intensity combat, where thousands of obliterating blows could be landed in a second, getting nearly annihilated multiple times in a flash was quite feasible.
Keeping this fact in mind, Jake had practiced his Life Manipulation in his spare time by playing with his own cells, forcing them to divide and altering their genome in various ways.
Initially, he couldn't control how much Aether the new cells stole from the original cells post-division. It was a 50/50 split. But over time, he honed his senses and could now finely tune how much Aether the old cells would transfer to the new.
This was crucial for his future plans, or creating a body for each new Familiar would drastically weaken him, though the new Familiar would gain strength very close to his own.
During his experiments, Jake also discovered why he could regenerate his body several times before seeing his Body Stats and bloodline level decline. In essence, all bloodlines of Grade 4 or higher with more than one level possessed the ability in their Aether Code to store Aether.
Under normal circumstances, this reserve energy would be used for the next advancement when conditions were met, but in emergencies, it allowed Evolvers to maintain their combat strength.
When he was a Gold Myrtharian, this limit was three near-total body destructions. If he exceeded this limit, days or even months of seclusion in an optimal environment would be required to regain his initial strength.
Now that Jake was a Cosmic D Starfeyrves, this limit was 16, and he recovered unaided by any environment in less than two hours.
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