There is no despair without hope and no hope without despair. To change one’s destiny, hope and luck are needed.

~Taliesin, God of Rhapsody

For lack of options, the wood nymphs merged into the Fireheart Oak trees Crow planted. It wasn’t long before they were all cowering inside the only trees that didn’t seem affected by everything.

The devastation was widespread and disheartening. Everything Crow created, the park-like areas, walls, cottages, sculpted paths, and gardens, were in ruins. Crow’s brow furrowed in anger, but he didn’t know who he could be angry with. The only thing he claimed as an upside was that all the nymphs were alive—if only for now. Without their trees, they were like uprooted plants.

It was like watching his ancestral home burn or a bastard grandfather stealing his mother. There was a hollow feeling in him as he watched everything happening without the ability to prevent it.

As the last of the nymphs’ trees exploded, their previous grove was like a graveyard, and the burning stumps were their tombstones.

“Lily, what is happening?” Crow asked but realized that Lily was giggling non-stop.

“You really despise them so much that you laugh at their misfortune?”

“Pfft, what misfortune? Idiot. They just had a massive gain. Look again.”

Crow suddenly felt a scorching fire roasting him from the inside. He knew something strange was happening within his Soulscape again and could feel his body shuddering so much that his consciousness almost dispersed. Stabilizing his condition, he looked up at where the nymphs took refuge and felt his jaw drop.

“What the hell!?” The changes he felt were definitely related to these nymphs.

With their previous look, they gave off an aura of purity. Now… their green hair was now a fiery red with streaks of black, and as it swayed in the wind, it looked like fire. Their once brown-green skin was probably one of the most significant changes. Their hands and feet were a rich dark brown color that faded into a dark tan for the rest of their body. Even their clothes changed, which wasn’t surprising since their magic manufactured them. They now wore tight-fitting leather pants and a tiny piece of cloth that barely covered their breasts. Their midriff exposed lightly toned abs, and Crow couldn’t stop gawking.

“Since when are these nymphs? They’re clearly succubi—little seductive devil queens. What the hell is this, Lily?”

“Stop drooling, fool,” Lily grumbled. “I don’t know if I should commend your luck or fear it. Not only have you given birth to Fireheart Oaken Treants, but you can add Fireheart Wood Nymphs to your list. I don’t even know what to call this anymore because it’s way beyond the scope of a normal Soulscape.”

“Soulverse?” Crow supplied.

“What?”

“A book I read. It mentioned there are ways to… evolve a Soulscape into what they called a Soulverse. So I’m not unique.”

“Not unique, my tight little ass!” Lily shouted. “You think the monkey that wrote that book built something like this before the age of twenty? And that Fireheart Oak is clearly unique, you blind moron.”

“Yell at me again. You’re adorable when angry!” Crow laughed but choked it off when he saw her golden glow intensify before she blasted him with a lightning bolt the size of his arm. “Fuck, so fierce,” Crow groaned but still had a grin on his face.

“Soulverse… what else did this book say?” Lily seemed interested.

“It is in the cave over there. That was the one I looted when Mara and I were raiding crypts. Anyway, maybe this Soulverse is why my little Soulscape had a fairy ring—I can connect the worlds with them. It takes way too much energy to connect to an external ring. But here, it might not take much effort since I can borrow the Yggdrasil’s power to link them. Wonder if that applies to Litavis, too.”

“Maybe, but Litavis being in your Soulscape when it isn’t something you control is strange. That world isn’t yours.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Crow said, furiously processing all the changes inside him. “The Fireheart Oak is technically my Soulscape, or Soulverse now. That means the acorns are somehow mine, too—at the very least, they are linked to me. However, unlike my original Soulscape world, I can’t interact with that acorn—that’s really weird to say, by the way.”

“Weird, but it is accurate.”

“True. Anyway, it’s like you said, it’s a strange culmination of connections, namely, the embryo god thing at Litavis’s core is definitely linked to my Soul. I imagine I’ll experience more changes once it awakens. On top of that, my Soul is literally anchored in Yggdrasil. What if I can claim more words by planting these Fireheart Oaks there? I can sense that those trees previously lacked a certain spark, which meant they’d never be able to seed themselves or spread. However, that’s not true anymore. I can even feel some of them developing acorns.”

“You understand that if you harness Yggdrasil, it might fundamentally change you from being human, right?”

“I can’t harness that power even if I wanted to. It would destroy me. Using it to nurture my soul is different. I don’t need to use it to replace my Source.”

Lily wasn’t sure. She had a lot of knowledge as a shared collective from being fae. There were things she knew, but then this was something new. It was hard to say what would happen when this had never happened before.

“I want to emphasize that your Soul is your Source, and using an outside power to nurture it might mutate your Source.”

“Lily, I’m not debating whether that will happen. The problem you aren’t seeing is that it’s already done whether or not I want it. My Soulverse is rooted in that power. It’s nurturing itself, and I can’t stop it.”

“Oh,” Lily looked down and knew he was right.

“Did you also notice that you are standing next to me and can look me in the eye? I’ve been trying to keep my eyes on your face, but your perky breasts are really distracting.”

“You think I’m afraid of a pervert like you? Besides, I’m not the only one naked. I destroyed my clothes when I shot up in size.”

“Is this change… permanent?”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you are really asking. Sadly, I don’t think so. I’m only maintaining it because the energy here is abundant.”

“How long can you maintain your size once you leave here?”

“Forget it. Not happening.”

“I’m just asking.”

“I’ll shrink fast and even faster if I’m burning off energy. I’m not letting you put your little dragon in me as I’m shrinking. And don’t give me your ‘I’ll be quick’ speech that you use on those other girls. I’m not falling for it.”

Crow chuckled guiltily.

“I don’t have any clothes,” he said, changing the subject.

Lily looked at him and then laughed while leaning on him. She wasn’t shy about having various parts of her naked body press against him. If this wasn’t his consciousness, he’d have taken her right then and there. Lily laughed until she cried and quickly created a gossamer dress from nothing. Crow glared at her while she stuck out her pert little tongue.

“Is the transformation done?” Crow asked, changing the subject.

“Mostly. It’ll continue to expand and grow, but the initial process damaged your Soul. Your body is not in good shape, either. I’d focus on opening that fifth chakra and transforming your physique into an immortal body, whatever that means. Your Source isn’t crippled, but you won’t be able to draw on it while your body adjusts.”

“Any good news?”

“Besides the fact that with this abundant energy, it shouldn’t take me long to gain a human form?” Lily grinned mischievously. While her body was currently temporary, she’d already doubled in size. Crow’s Source was now a cultivating paradise for her because Yggdrasil’s energy could substitute Lightning Mana. It wouldn’t take much to reach Nin’s size, at the very least. “And, I’m not sure it’s good or bad news, but it’s like you said, that golden stream is nurturing your Soul, so it should recover pretty quickly. Oh! You have sewing supplies. It was in the package the girls prepared for you, so you can be our little dressmaker.”

Lily snickered, and Crow chuckled at the little vixen.

“Maybe I don’t have much choice,” Crow sighed and left his Soulverse. He was still curled into a ball, shivering, and racked with pain. Soul damage was no joke, and it limited his power. Typically, it wasn’t a big deal to wait it out, but he was about to enter some unknown event or trial. Sadly, the timing of all this was perfectly in line with his status as an unfated.