The far smaller list this time ‘round really gave him a lot of time to think about things deeply. Specifically which of these soul-related bloodlines he ought to take.

But before any of that, he quickly dismissed the least interesting bloodlines. Calamitous Fate didn’t even need an explanation, did it? Then he also removed Weather Manipulating palace, although it did somewhat synergise with his Stormbringer bloodline, he felt it a bit of a waste to use an evolution to achieve what Adept true spells could accomplish. Lastly, he ignored Divine Storm but that’s because its name didn’t accurately reflect its effects.

The ‘divine storm’ as mentioned by its name instead referred to a way to infuse Divinus runes into a rainstorm. In effect… it was a method to create a divine spell and merge it with storms!

However, the mana to activate such a spell has to come from somewhere, and just as Darak showed, it depended on his own MP. Creating a rain cloud which healed a whole city sounded rather interesting, but if each mouthful of healing water equaled an Apprentice true spell in requirements… How the hell could he afford a rainstorm?

It sounded cool but really wasn’t ever feasible. Besides, the group had Darak if anyone needed healing.

Spatially Linked and Necromantic Regime were on the fence for him, but rather than dismiss them immediately, he decided to take a closer look and compare them. With even more time to complete this evolution, he really wasn’t concerned in the slightest about rushing.

[Pure Auric Ice-cream: Instead of a unique organ to both generate and store aura, it is far more effective to transform an already magical body into one which may also hold aura. While it cannot store both mana and aura at the same time, the two will not interact whilst stored. Besides this, control over aura explodes, allowing for near complete control whether emitted as a formless pressure or a liquid enhancement. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +80% max MP, +100% max aura, +60% auric damage, +50% aura generation]

Certainly not a bad option. It dealt with the major aura problems that plagued him for the past months, and the massive boost in damage likely applied to spells enhanced by aura as well. Not to mention, the great MP boost allowed him to cast a huge array of Intermediate true spells. Only a few of the most expensive were outside his reach.

Well, there were quite a few more choices to look over first.

[Draconic Heart Ice-cream: No longer is the aspect of dragonhood merely part of your bloodline, instead breaking forth to take place in your heart. From here on, your heart will cleanse draconic blood to strengthen your own, granting greater power to the draconic will that sleeps within, as well as granting mutations in line with that of a dragon. Every mutation attempts to return to the roots of dragonkind, pushing you towards the primordial dragons of times gone. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +50% heart transformation speed, +100% MP regen, +60% max MP, -50% non-draconic mutations]

“Won’t the random draconic mutations destabilise my bloodline anyway?” He couldn’t help but pick up on the very obvious flaw in such a bloodline, in fact, the same reason he could never take the Volatile mutant evolution.

[Yes, and no. But a majority of expected mutations would clash with your state]

A simple response from the Nexus throwing this rather nice bloodline in the trash. He certainly saw some hope in the idea at first, a way to truly transform his body back into flesh and blood… But he needed a full, reconstitutive effect which guaranteed no breakdowns of his entire body during the process. And random mutations simply couldn’t accomplish that…

Besides, he saw more potential in keeping the annoying ice-cream body for a while longer to rack up several more evolutions. Why stop now when he had at least two more evolutions planned out?

[Spatially Linked Ice-cream: Spatial control evolves beyond merely folding space, to instead form pockets of densely connected subspaces which are undetectable under most normal senses. From there, these pockets may be used as teleportation markers from anywhere in the universe, if enough mana to facilitate the teleportation is given. Each marker is a mental link which must be endured, with no limits on the number of markers. Grants innate ability ‘Teleportation link’. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +60% mental defence, +80% spatial manipulation, +100% max MP, +200% spatial defence]

Spatial defence?

Why was it so high…

“Ohhh, it doesn’t teleport me through stable space, does it? What a damn trap!” He shook his head in disappointment, although not surprised given that such teleportation roughly matched the spells available to him at this level. In fact, taking the shortest path when teleporting is simply the smart option at these levels as few had the mana to afford long-distance travel.

But if he wanted this ability to last long-term, it would mean having to overcome the dangers that came with long-distance direct travel. In other words, he’d be passing through a variety of potentially dangerous places. Random spatial tears, some gravitational anomalies… The things that lurked in those spaces as well.

[Spirit Tattoo Ice-cream: All things with a will have a spirit. Whether a will to live, grow, devour, or kill, they all mean that something has a spirit. And that means it can be captured. The spirit and its will may be captured and controlled, transformed into a tattoo which resides on your body. Spirits are subservient and may be corporealised with mana to give them form relative to their power. Only things killed by you may have their spirits removed, regardless if their power exceeds your own. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +80% max MP, +50% soul defence, +50% mental defence, +10% magic damage for every active tattoo on body]

A rather good offensive and defensive option. It would remain useful even as a Sage, and he didn’t have to worry about the spirits rebelling as they lacked any egos… Definitely one of the options he’d shortlist. He grouped up the next three due to slight similarities.

[Deathspoken Ice-cream: One who speaks with death and knows its voice, who feels its chill yet seeks out every further breath. You may speak with the recently departed, but that is merely a side-effect, those who speak with death also have the ability to preserve intact souls for years to come, delaying the true death of a soul. And lastly, your mind, body, and soul are given the right to learn Carronis, the great language of the afterlife. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +100% Carronis learning speed, +60% soul defence, +100% death magic, +60% fear induced]

[Soul Capturing Ice-cream: Capturing a soul means to take away its right to die, denying it an end that many see as rightful. There is no such thing as right. Captured souls are tools and resources, materials to be used at whim or a weapon to recast as pleased. You may chain a soul, storing it as you please, and use it for a myriad of purposes that must be excavated, or perhaps they already have… In addition to previous bonuses, grants +80% soul damage, +50% soul defence, +60% soul manipulation, +90% max MP]

[Necromantic Regime Ice-cream: To pluck fragments of ego and instinct, spirit and soul, as well as remnant ashes of existence from the rivers of the afterlife themselves, granting them a new form as undead monsters. Necromancy is to take from death, an attempt to overthrow a supposed rule of nature. With a corpse and components in hand, the result will be a hideous and deformed thing, combining multiple existences which were never one. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +80% soul defence, +100% death defence, +60% necromancy, -50% undead creation mana cost]

These descriptions were really just growing in length at this point.

Three bloodlines which revolved around souls and death in some way. The reason he grouped them together was due to their similarities in treating souls as objects to be used, although the bloodlines’ uses naturally extended beyond that. He didn’t have any intention to start an undead army… Not that building such a thing gets anyone a good reputation. That applied to dragons too.

Meanwhile, Soul Capturing seemed the best of all three. While very sparse, dragons did have some records on using souls for rituals and such, and this effectively gave him a way to cast spells far above his current limit. Just a few Bronze ranked humans were enough for an Intermediate true spell… Although there was a limit to how far above his limit this ritual allowed for.

But just a single Master true spell meant the death of any gold tier, not to mention rather significant injuries on a mithril tier. He felt it was a good trade.

Meanwhile, learning Carronis didn’t appeal to him in the slightest. Talking to the dead is a useful ability and all, as is preserving souls to potentially grant beings a new body, but he simply didn’t believe such things would come up that often. In the first place, most souls only stuck around for seconds after a person’s death, as he’d seen on the mountain when using the soul lantern. Only as souls grew significantly more powerful could they even survive outside the body for short times. It took the mithril tier to survive outside a body for days, maybe weeks… But any serious injury would still instantly kill them.

In other words, the ability might only be useful to preserve the occasional soul of those at mithril tier or above.

[Soul Blade Ice-cream: As some say, anything can be a sword. In some cases this is taken literally, and blades condensed from various attributes are a prime example. A blade formed from the very power that forms a soul is no different, taking on the shape of the wielder’s desire and possessing several attributes. Besides its formless base existence, it can materialise to fight like a standard blade, and even be overlaid onto weapons as to also attack a soul alongside the physical. This blade also meets the requirements of a manifestation. In addition to previous bonuses, grants +80% soul defence, +50% max MP, +100% soul-strengthening speed, + 100% soul blade damage]

A purely offensive soul… He had to admit the temptation was there. While defending with one’s soul is a rather obvious thing to do, it was ridiculously powerful to attack with it at this level. By overlaying the blade on Korridan or Rebecca’s weapons he could also focus on spellcasting while they instead attacked the soul.

But just because it sounded powerful, didn’t mean it was the best ability. One thing he clearly liked was the soul-strengthening speed offered by the Nexus, however, whether or not it mattered depended on another fact.

“Will all the Spiritcaller evolutions cause my soul to awaken?”

[Yes]

A short and sweet answer.

He couldn't put off this awakening any longer, and with the perfect time to choose one of many options, the next choice he got might be just one or two bloodlines in a full set of ten. What if it meant giving up the Elder guard evolution, or even the elephant’s options?

That couldn’t be allowed to happen, also, how much time remained?

[2 minutes 37 seconds]

Still a short while then, and he had quite a choice to make.

Well, first he narrowed down the list immensely. Pure Auric, Spirit Tattoo, Soul Capturing, and Soul Blade were his final picks for this evolution. There simply wasn’t even a question about it, the rest didn’t interest him enough, or lacked the broad utility he’d want from them.

What did he lack more than a method to fight without the Auric spirit?

“I need some opinions on which is best from my choices.” They all turned to face him, not expecting it to take this long for a choice to be made. As a few seconds of silence passed, Mala swivelled her finger to get him speaking. Rather than read off the full descriptions, he gave a brief summary of each bloodline’s main abilities.

Almost as soon as he finished, Rebecca spoke up with a point, “Pure Auric sounds the weakest. That golden spirit uses aura, I think you told us, but you also said the problem was that it absorbed the aura too slowly. Nothing about how much you have.” Everyone nodded along with this analysis, besides Raccelline who just listened but didn’t really understand what the group meant.

Still, it pretty much put an end to Pure auric’s chances. And only the Spiritcaller’s evolutions remained…

“Soul Blade sounds pretty good for us three, but don’t you mostly use spells when fighting? The blade would rarely help you alone,” said Korridan, referring to himself, Rebecca, and Jaren in that statement. Obviously, Icy had imagined himself using it over a blade controlled with Telekinesis, or merging it with said blade. But their leader’s point remained strong, his forte was spellcasting, not using weapons, although he did occasionally make use of them.

Though, he didn’t want to just value others’ opinions over his own entirely. Soul blade still seemed a great choice as it wasn’t limited to the point of his Auric spirit, at least it didn’t give off that sensation.

“I’d definitely pick between the tattoos and soul Capturing… Although I don’t particularly like abilities that engrave into my body. Speaking from personal preference, souls make excellent power sources. Don’t look at me like that, it’s a magical fact.” The others rolled their eyes at Mala, not for what she said but rather for the overly defensive statement she made afterwards. She’d draw blood from a stone if possible, purely because it didn’t make sense and she wanted to understand how it worked…

Though, it turns out the answer is usually some creature transformed into a stone to recuperate.

What really intrigued him most about the Soul Capturing bloodline wasn’t the ability to cast higher level spells with souls… But rather how it called souls, ‘tools’ and ‘weapons’, a description rarely seen. The closest he could think of were either soul furnaces, which did exactly as one expected but with souls as the fuel…

Or souls forcefully merged with many other, non-synergistic, souls along with some volatile energies to create a sort of bomb. Aptly called a soul bomb.

Icy said in Draconic, “No need to wait any longer. I’m not in immediate danger, and I’m in it for the long haul… I choose Soul Capturing Ice-cream.”

In retrospect, perhaps it was ever-so-slightly beneficial to lose the lantern. Only a smidge though… He absolutely planned to ‘request’ it back from the wyverns one day, even if by then he no longer had a use for such a weapon.