Hadrian found himself in the dull white space with the fog stretching to an indescribable distance beneath him.
This time round, he did not merely exist as sight, but took his teenage boy vessel form. This was the closest he felt to his old self.
He summoned the misty information.
[ Current vessels. ]
[ Basic lifeform : 2 ]
[ Basic sentient lifeform : 2 ]
A sigh escaped him.
He had completely rewrote the dog vessels to reform Alia. Unlike when he'd left baby Alia to exist, he could not now rewrite the dogs back out of thin air.
He had distributed the substitution between His remaining four vessels, such that The claws and Fangs on Alia would not be easily visible at a glance.
Was this whole thing a waste?
He'd lost all his rat vessels, his dog vessels and Adult Hadrian vessel and his money too.
Actually, no. I plan to get that back.I don't plan to let them walk free either, they planned to kill me and use me as bait.
Hadrian looked to the phantom like remnants of his lost vessels.
Still, this has taught me my lack of skills when it comes to combat. What good are my vessels if they can be cut down by a skilled warrior, let alone a mage?
Like the baby latching to the nipple or his natural flight, he did obtain his vessels muscle memory and skills. His current vessels however, had not been much of fighters.
How will I face them?
Hadrian thought back to how the cohort had fought, coordinated, and dealt with the creature in a matter of minutes.
Looking down at the calm fog beneath him, Hadrian sunk into it, his consciousness returning to his bodies.
I have to find a way so that entering that space does not leave me so vulnerable.
Hadrian observed the cohort through Hawk Hadrian, perched on a tree.
Four of them wrapped the dead bodies of their two comrades while the remaining six sliced the creature's surgically.
Hadrian and Alia Hadrian sat elsewhere on some rocks, cross legged, conserving their energy.
"The man's horse and dogs are gone." One of the cohort's members reported to their bearded leader.
"Who tied them down?" The bearded man asked without turning to the member, focused on slicing the creature's claws.
He stopped and straightened his back. "Forget it. Doesn't matter now. They won't make it far out here." He wiped his forehead, "this is also good for us, we got rid of everything to do with those strange people."
"Perhaps good for everyone, ay boss?" The short man with brown hair chuckled.
Suddenly, all their eyes went wide and they focused their gaze on the creature's carcass. So did hawk Hadrian.
What is that?
Something spherical wrapped in translucent glass-like lining with fog spinning inside it rose, levitating above the carcass.
Is that what I think it is?
Hadrian's eyes constricted.
The sphere itself was so small it could be pinched between two fingers like a berry fruit.
Altering his sight, however, Hadrian's guess was confirmed. The small sphere contained a vast sea of essence fog, exuding the aura of blaze and howling winds.
Soul cores can become physical manifestations?
The cohort members, including those wrapping up the corpses of their comrades, surrounded the levitating sphere of fog.
They were silent for thirty seconds, observing it with child-like longing.
The bearded boss' voice cracked the tense moment. "What's the choice?" He asked, his eyes darting from member to member.
"Sell it." The first person to reply said.
"Use it." The second suggested otherwise.
"Use it." The third agreed.
"Sell."
"Use."
"Use."
…
Eventually the "use it" party won.
Hadrian observed them with wonder. The leader reached out with his sheathed sword and pushed it from above the carcass and guided it to an open space. The rest followed.
"Alright." He said. "I'll start." He put his sword back to its place on his hip. His fat hand reached out and grasped the small essence core fragment.
His teeth gritted and his eyes pressed tightly as he groaned loudly. Veins bulged on his forehead and he let out short quick breaths.
With his eyesight altered, Hadrian saw that when the bearded man made contact, the essence flowed to his sea.
So it's true. Is this the method regular humans could use to awaken? But it seems this isn't their first time.
He flapped his wings and left the tree branch landing next to the carcass and his beak went down to its meat.
Some of the cohort members had turned to him but ignored him the next moment, back to their focus on the essence core fragment.
The bearded boss only held on for half a minute, his face was red, his breaths heavy, sweat running down his temples and drooling saliva.
"Everytime." He supported his hands on his knees. He looked up to the rest. "What are you bastards waiting for? Can't follow a line?"
The next person was the broad forehead woman, she closed and opened her fists in quick processions and took preparatory breaths.
Sorry.
Hadrian thought.
I'll be taking this one.
From where he was, hawk Hadrian was in the ten metre range. And if he could see the essence sea, then he could call at it.
Just as he had with multiple rats, he called the fog from the essence core fragment. This time round, unlike when the creature was alive, it offered little resistance.
Several fog tendrils rushed to hawk Hadrian. When he made contact, Alia Hadrian's and Hadrian's face twisted into a painful grimace. Like the bearded boss, he gritted his teeth.
Thesw fog tendrils burned like hot iron while at the same time it was as if every inch of his bodies were dipped in Ice.
When he'd grasped Alia and the drunkards fog tendrils, he'd experienced their bitter and scared emotions through contact.
This must be similar, only its essence imbued with a specific technique of magic.
Hadrian thought as he fought through the pain. His faces had turned red and he sweated just as the bearded boss. All his heads buzzing, he peered into the essence fragment. The glass-like lining and even the fog inside it got fainter.
I'm faster than they are.
Hadrian managed a smile.
I'll still be the one to reap the benefits.
The fourth member of the cohort to reach out his hand to the essence fragment prematurely winced but then his eyes widened when he made contact. It wasn't as bad as last time or as the first three had made it seem.
The ones before him brows creased as they observed him. He swallowed and shook his head, indicating he did not know what was going on.
Last time they did this, there were fifteen of them and it took five rounds and about half an hour until the essence fragment was fully consumed. With each round the painful effect would reduce until the last person would barely feel it.
Now, not even the first round had been finished and only three people had gone and the pain was mild at best.
He opened his fist where he'd grasped the essence fragment and all their mouths parted.
It dissipated in front of them, disappearing into wisps. Their eyes blinked. No one spoke.
The pregnant silence was broken by the flapping of the large black hawk's wings.
Sitting on some rocks a hundred metres away, Hadrian smiled.
He took a deep breath as hawk Hadrian perched on top of a tree branch.
The next moment his eyes rolled back and he tugged at his centre, sinking once more into that dull white space.
This time round, something new existed there. It was small like a grape and had glass-like lining. The essence core fragment.
Hadrian's eyes fixed on it as he summoned it closer.
It's not in the hawk vessel? Hadrian wondered.
His eyes darted to Alia Hadrian and he pushed the essence fragment to her as she floated, her naked body covered with the fog.
It passed through invisible layers and it existed inside Alia Hadrian's centre.
He summoned it out once more and pushed it into Horse Hadrian and Hawk Hadrian. Returning it to Alia Hadrian, he summoned his soul information.
[ Current vessels.]
[ Basic lifeform : 2 ]
[ Basic sentient lifeform : 1 ]
[ Ascended sentient lifeform : 1 ]
[ Ascended lifeform path : Elemental ]
I thought it would tell me about my new abilities.
With a smirk on his lips, Hadrian sank out of the place.
Back into the real world, he immediately began testing what this meant.
First thing was he could substitute the essence fragment instantly to any one of his other vessels.
Will that be necessary?
Since he had the second attribute "chain" where all his vessels were one, they could use the abilities of the essence fragment regardless of which vessel had it. However, they all shared the one pool of that magic technique essence. If he were to abuse it through multiple vessels at the same time, he would deplete it fast.
He reached out to his channels as he sensed what his new abilities were.