The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 321: Signal from an old friend?

Clone #270, maybe: Percy had lost count years ago: was about to look for a random body to possess, when he caught something he hadn’t expected to see by the edge of his ‘vision’.

It was a soul. A damaged soul, much like the overwhelming majority of his hosts. But this one was different. It was actively calling out to him, and from even farther away than he was used to. He’d never encountered anything like this before.

Yet, he could harbour a guess as to what was happening.

‘Erm… I’m gonna need you to help me empower the cord.’ he sent to the main body, accompanying the message with a dense packet of mana.

Soon, the original replied, sending some mana of his own.

‘And I’m gonna need you to speak faster and send shorter messages. Communicating like this is a pain.’

The clone would have rolled his eyes if he had any. Not so fun to be on the receiving end, was it? Yet he didn’t complain, opting to follow the main body’s instructions. The two sent the mana back and forth for several minutes, until the spell activated. It did take a bit longer than usual, since the time dilation separating them made things more confusing. But they got there in the end. He even briefed his counterpart in during the process.

‘Do you think it’s her?’ the original asked.

‘Probably.’

Naturally, they were talking about the mysterious girl who had taught Percy how to mend his soul and get a spectral trait. They still had no clue how she was able to contact them, or why she hadn’t done so in all those years, but it had to be her.

Who else would it be?

Suffice to say, the clone had no intention of approaching her planet without a steady supply of mana backing him up. He wasn’t sure it would be enough to protect his life, but he’d rather try his best not to end up like his predecessor.

‘Hey, do you want to return here first?’ the original suddenly asked. ‘Maybe it would be safer if you could drop your piece of the seal with me before heading there. Just in case.’

‘Gee, thanks for the concern! We wouldn’t want to lose the seal!’ the clone snapped back.

‘Don’t be like that. You know how expensive it was.’ the main body replied in an exasperated manner. ‘Besides, if you return to me, it won’t even be you risking your life. It’ll be a new version of us. Also, shorter sentences, remember?’

The clone sighed.

‘Can’t do. Might miss our chance.’

As much as he would have loved not to be the sucker diving into that deathtrap, they had no idea how long the signal would be around. They couldn’t afford to delay for too long. Considering how many years it had taken for the girl to reach out, they didn’t want to miss the window. Phoebe knew when they’d get another chance.

Thus, his only option was to risk his life and the seal both.

‘Alright. But be quick about it. Remember that a few hours for you are several days on my end. I’ve asked Nesha and Elaine to cover for me, but there’s a limit to how long I can stay awake.’

The clone sent a nod back, before allowing himself to approach what they assumed was the girl’s soul. It didn’t take him long to accelerate towards it, crossing vast cosmic distances in mere fractions of a second.

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Just as he neared the vicinity of the planet, something bit into him, stopping him in his tracks. Percy didn’t even know what the creature looked like, but its teeth hurt like hell as they dug into his soul. However, he didn’t let the pain paralyze him, having expected some kind of trouble.

Releasing a lavish burst of mana, he unleashed a rain of needles into the monster’s mouth, practically tearing its jaw right off. He had no idea if it was dead, and he had no intention of sticking around to find out. Turning back to the girl, he willed himself to approach her once more. At the same time, he asked the original to refill his reserves, in case he got attacked again.

Sure enough, two more monsters got in his way, each causing a lot of damage to his soul. Armed with an endless supply of mana, Percy wasn’t deterred, however. He ensured they both paid dearly for their transgression. By the time he reached his destination, he bore a couple of painful injuries. Luckily, nothing too debilitating.

‘Percy?! Is that really you?!’ a female voice rang in his mind as soon as he attached himself to her soul.

So, she did remember more than he did. Over the years, he’d wondered if she’d suffered similar injuries to his own when they parted ways. Evidently not.

The next thing he noticed was that she differed from his other hosts a lot. Her wounds weren’t that severe. They appeared surgical. Self-inflicted. The girl clearly knew what she was doing, which wasn’t surprising, considering that she’d been the one to teach him how to mend his soul.

Either way, her soul was barely as injured as Elaine’s or Nesha’s had been, when he gave them their new cores. It would likely require minimal effort on her part to heal, even if he wasn’t here to help her.

‘Percy?’

That was when he remembered she’d asked him a question. It was weird, being the one confused. Usually, he was the one who had to explain to his hosts what was going on.

‘It’s me. But I’m afraid I don’t even remember your name. Or anything else about this place, really. You see… I ran into some trouble after I left…’

Over the next few minutes, he explained what little he could recall. He talked about his dead clone, and about the difficulties he’d encountered when trying to obtain his spectral trait. He even told her about Weaving, as well as what he’d been able to do with it so far.

She remained silent for a while afterwards, seemingly pondering his words.

Percy wanted to ask her a few questions too, but that would have to wait. First, he had to put his counterpart out of his misery.

‘I made it. You can go back to whatever you were doing.’

The last thing he felt was a wave of relief, as both parties stopped trying to hold the connection open.

Of course, it would have been nice if they could have kept Soul Resonance active throughout the trip. He might need more help when it was time to leave, as he’d have to escape from the blockade of monsters again. Sadly, that could easily be years down the line for the main body. They couldn’t afford to have him bogged down for that long: assuming they were even capable of keeping the connection active while one of them slept. The clone would have to find a different way to escape later.

‘Hmm… I didn’t know spectral fiends were that rare outside Melodia. It sounds like you’ve absorbed an Argalios...’ the girl replied, breaking him out of his thoughts.

‘Argalios? Is it considered a strong one? I’m still trying to figure out how to use it properly.’

Strictly speaking, Percy was happy with both Soul Stitching and his up-and-coming mana strings. In fact, every spell he’d incorporated his trait into had already reached Masterful. Still, he did wonder if there was more he could do with it. Sadly, the girl’s next sentence shot his hopes down.

‘Not really... It’s not meant to be used in combat…’ she muttered, before grinning. ‘Ah, but all our best tailors have it! You’d make an excellent fashion designer!’ she said, appearing to derive some satisfaction from his misery.

It only made him even more curious as to what had gone down between them in the past. Had he misjudged their relationship? Weren’t they friends? Or was she just kidding? It was hard to tell, as he could sense some melancholy in her soul. Maybe it wasn’t directed at him.

Alas, she didn’t torture him for too long, offering some information of her own volition.

‘Anyway, it’s not like we spent that much time together during your last visit. I COULD just give you an overview of the things we’ve talked about… But there might be an easy way for you to recover your memories. I can’t promise anything though: it’s not like I’ve met anybody in your situation before.’

Her words didn’t sound too confident, but they were more than enough to stir Percy’s heart. Perhaps, it would be faster for her to just tell him what had happened, but her offer had definitely piqued his interest. Could this method of hers be used on Micky?

‘I would love that: if it’s not too difficult. I’ve spent years trying to make sense of all this.’

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