“Is my yield good even by the standards of a greater spring?” Percy asked.

  The titaness smiled, a hint of envy finding its way into her eyes.

  “More than you know. I’m an alchemist too. Care to guess what my yield was as a mortal?”

  Percy wasn’t surprised to hear that the million-year-old goddess had dabbled in the art at some point. He was willing to bet that she was more talented than the Guild’s current elders too, so it had to be over sixty percent.

  As a Green-born, it would have taken her over fifty-five hundred years just to become a demigod, plus however many tens of millennia she had spent stuck at the Clear grade, trying to forge her internal world. Her yield could have easily surpassed seventy percent in that time. She also had a mind affinity, which Percy assumed hadn’t hurt.

  “Seventy-five percent?” he tentatively asked.

  Phoebe’s smile stiffened. “Sixty-three. It was barely better than yours, and I was five grades higher and hundreds of times older right before my ascension. Even a million years after becoming a goddess, I’m still stuck at seventy-six. Rumour has it that the most talented alchemists in the universe – figures like that Ea guy whose Decree you have ‘borrowed’ – have yet to cross ninety percent. The leading hypothesis is that attaining a perfect yield is synonymous with mastering the concept. And this one is especially coveted.”

  “Coveted? More than others?”

  She nodded. “Alchemy is the field of manipulating foreign mana of affinities that you don’t necessarily possess, so what do you think that its corresponding concept would do? This is obviously unconfirmed, but we have reason to believe that it might allow a god to more easily acquire additional affinities – among other things. And I shouldn’t have to explain how valuable that would be.”

  Percy’s heart skipped a beat as he pondered over the implications. Didn’t that mean that the first person to reach a perfect yield would automatically gain access to countless new concepts? This was the equivalent of a Yellow instantly jumping to the Clear grade – only at an even more terrifying scale, and from a being who had already left the Colour realm far behind.

  This might be the single most straightforward way to conquer the universe!

  ‘What the hell?! How close is anybody to accomplishing that?!’ he couldn’t help but wonder, his mouth agape.

  Phoebe was clearly using the Guild’s standard for evaluating an alchemist’s yield. If someone like Ea was at eighty-nine percent on a three-step recipe like the elixirs, it would put his stepwise yield at around ninety-six percent – just four points away from the end!

  Would the Moirai or the divine beasts even allow him to succeed? Would his allies? Or would he get assassinated the moment he showed signs of coming close?

  ‘No, a better question would be what it would even take for him to bridge the gap…’ Percy realized.

  He had no idea whether Ea had managed to give himself his own Decree. Probably not, as a god’s body should be harder to affect than a mortal’s. Even if he had, he was probably stuck with the basic version of the Alchemist’s Eye, and there were plenty of alchemic principles that hadn’t been discovered on Atlantis. Could the titan take the final few steps if he had access to all the things that Percy had stumbled upon in his travels? Or was this seemingly tiny gap an insurmountable obstacle?

  Percy’s eyes scanned the colourful motes dancing around him and their playful projections, developing some newfound appreciation for his new Wild Art. Perhaps, his slightly higher yield wasn’t all that useful at the moment, but Sorcerer’s Guidance had already helped him more than he could have ever imagined.

  It had earned him a premature meeting with Phoebe – who clearly hadn’t planned to reveal her presence anytime soon – and it had even allowed Percy to climb a little higher atop the tall mountain of alchemy.

  The titaness’s explanation had also helped him understand the difference between mortals and gods better.

  In the Colour realm, one’s talent was mostly decided by their birth-grade, with their affinity taking a secondary role. However, everything changed upon attaining divinity. A mage’s grade stopped being a factor, as it made no difference whether one had started off at Orange or Green.

  Meanwhile, their affinity and its associated concepts became much more relevant. Percy was lucky to have a rare affinity, though he might have to reconsider what to do with his second core.

  ‘That also answers why the Moirais’ Decree and the Rings of Sacrilege are so valuable. They basically grant access to free concepts – isn’t that the same as effortlessly skipping grades?’

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Turning to the goddess again, he hoped that she would be willing to answer some of his questions.

  “Do you know how divine ascension would change for a person with multiple cores?”

  “Not much. You’ll still end up with a single internal world. The additional mana should allow it to start off a little larger, but that is ultimately just a small head start. Internal worlds passively grow over time, so it’ll only save you a few years. The greatest benefit is the opportunity to comprehend concepts from multiple affinities during your ascension. Of course, you can still choose to ignore all but one of your cores and turn into a regular god if it proves too difficult, but that would be a terrible waste of a priceless gift.”

  This was in line with Percy’s suspicions. His unique situation would give him a tremendous advantage when the time came, but it seemed like the difficulty would be much higher too.

  “How exactly does a god normally comprehend additional concepts? Assuming that the external ones are all nearly impossible to master, does that mean that they’re stuck to those of their original affinity?”

  “Not quite,” Phoebe replied, before elaborating. “Fledgling gods begin their journey by exploring their existing mana types. This is known as the Self-Discovery stage, and it can easily last tens or even hundreds of thousands of years – depending on one’s talent. The Elemental Acquisition stage is the one occupied by the vast majority of deities in the universe. As the name implies, it involves trying to add more affinities to their internal world.”

  “Wait… are you telling me that anyone can master every mana type? Doesn’t that make the Moirais’ Decree obsolete?”

  The titaness shook her head. “Only common affinities have ever been acquired, and it’s a difficult process. Each element takes more time than the last, because comprehending the new concept isn’t enough by itself – you also have to resolve the growing number of conflicts that it creates with the other concepts in your internal world.”

  “How about you? Are you also in the Elemental Acquisition stage?” Percy asked, unable to suppress his curiosity.

  “I am,” Phoebe confirmed. “I went for air and water first. These are popular choices, as they allow a god to generate as much oxygen and drinking water as they need to survive off-world. For one with a mind or soul affinity such as myself, any elemental affinity also gives substance to their internal world which is extremely useful. Once that happens, cultivating food in your internal world isn’t that difficult either, so it’s one of the simplest ways to become completely self-sufficient in outer space.”

  ‘Nephthys was probably still in the Self-Discovery stage…’ Percy realized.

  He had no idea whether his now-familiar had ever finished mastering all the mind affinity concepts, but she had clearly never managed to comprehend any of the common affinities, nor had she known that it was even possible to do that – since her internal world had never turned into a physical place.

  Zoris had mentioned that there was a well-known method to give substance to one’s internal world. He was probably referring to this, though he had never elaborated. That said, Percy was still worried that one of his most cherished Decrees would prove redundant if obtaining new affinities was so widespread.

  “How long did it take you to master air and water?”

  The goddess smiled, clearly guessing what his concern was. “Air took me three hundred thousand years, and another one hundred thousand to learn all of its concepts. Water took another six hundred thousand to complete, and I comprehended earth another six hundred thousand after that, though I’m still exploring it.”

  As shocked as Percy was to learn of the tremendous timescales involved, he couldn’t help but exhale in relief. It sounded like the Moirais’ Decree was far from useless. Even if one only had common elements, they would still save themselves hundreds of thousands of years of hard work after attaining divinity.

  “What about composite affinities?”

  “Composite affinities are part of the process I’ve just described. Mastering a second common element essentially requires that the corresponding composite affinity is also understood. A mortal with a composite core or two elemental cores can basically skip some of the early parts of the Elemental Acquisition stage.”

  “But there aren’t any affinities that involve three or more elements,” Percy protested. “How would one continue adding concepts afterwards?”

  “Incorrect,” the titaness said. “It’s debatable whether these can be referred to as ‘affinities’, because no mortal core can contain them and deities deal with concepts rather than mana types… however, the equivalent of three-element, four-element and five-element composite affinities do exist.”

  Percy’s eyebrows shot up. “Doesn’t that mean that a Moirai with two non-overlapping composite affinities can basically skip most of the Elemental Acquisition stage?”

  “In theory. Their ascension would be extremely difficult, because they would not only have to comprehend all the concepts already present in their cores, but also the corresponding three-element and four-element combinations that they never had a chance to come in contact with as mortals. From what I have heard, even the most talented Moirai demigods are usually happy if they can retain three of their elements upon ascending, ditching the fourth one – though they have an easier time figuring it out again later. For them, half the Elemental Acquisition stage is identical to their Self-Discovery stage. They still have to master all the auxiliary concepts of their elements – things like the concept of permanence that you are familiar with.”

  Phoebe had given Percy plenty to think about already, but his mouth kept spouting more questions. “What comes after the Elemental Acquisition stage then?”

  The titaness sighed. “Nobody knows. The next logical stage would involve acquiring rare affinities but, like I said, no god has ever accomplished that. You either have them from your time as a mortal, or you don’t. Elemental Sources make it much easier to acquire a new affinity, but even the factions that possess them have failed to pierce through this barrier so far. So the most powerful gods in existence are merely at the peak of the Elemental Acquisition stage right now.”

  “So, the Moirai…” Percy muttered.

  “Yes. A demigod with two composite cores can potentially skip much of the Elemental Acquisition stage, but it’s infinitely better to have two rare affinities. In that case, you’ll still have to master all the common elements the tedious way, but you’ll end up with more concepts after all is said and done. This is the crux of why their Decree is so valuable.”

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