Seronia says "Not that I can think of. You don't have any other powers available."

"Well, what if I used life force?"

Seronia says "Where would you get the life force?"

"I was thinking I would use my own. After all, I will die after the invasion anyway, so I won't need it."

Seronia says "Your life force is provided by Krenocia, she might have need of it!"

"I will check with her first, but would it work?"

Seronia says "If you use your life force on another being, it will permanently tie that being to you. If you use Myria's life force it will shorten her life by five to ten years, but it would make it a pseudo-core."

"What kind of tie would we be talking about? And how is a pseudo-core different from an artificial one?"

Seronia says "They would always be able to sense the direction you are in. They would gain strength from you, but they would suffer when you die. A pseudo-core would be much like an artificial one for Myria. The difference is any offspring she may have would have a high chance of having a real core."

"So if I gave all living beastmen a core this way then the next generation would have a chance of having mages?"

Seronia says "I can't be sure. It might take a couple of generations before the magic was that strong in their descendants."

"So short term use mine, long term use theirs. Got it. Thank you for your help!"

Seronia says "Anytime!"

After I finish speaking with Seronia I give the others a short version of what Seronia said. They heard my side of the conversation, but only I can hear Seronia. In my description I skip the part about using my life force instead, but Myria doesn't buy it.

Myria says "Don't try to hide it, what is the other method?"

"The other method involves using my life force, but it has lower odds. I also would need Krenocia's permission before touching my life force."

Myria says "So ask her! I want that method!"

"When did you get so stubborn?"

Myria says "When I realized it was the only way to get through that thick skull of yours! Now stop trying to change the subject and ask her!"

"Krenocia? Do I need to fill you in?"

Krenocia says "No, but it won't work."

"Why not?"

Krenocia says "Ash, I'm going to be honest with you. You don't have any life force."

"I don't? How is that possible?"

Krenocia says "Life force is my sister's area of expertise, I have no ability to use it."

"If I don't have life force, then what do I have?"

Krenocia says "To be blunt, you are a soul shoved into a corpse. My power keeps you moving and your body from rotting. It is not something you can play with and putting it in someone else would kill them."

"Wait, does that mean I am a type of undead?"

Krenocia says "Yes and no. My power keeps your heart beating and your soul from leaving the body. Luckily, you have surpassed my expectations and gained your own power, otherwise you would be running out by now."

"What? Already?"

Krenocia says "When I summoned you I only had a little power available. Not to mention I thought the invasion was imminent. No way did I expect you to be able to delay the invasion by years!"

"Are you saying that if I don't get stronger I might die before the invasion?"

Krenocia says "Unfortunately, yes. That is a possibility."

"How long?"

Krenocia says "There is no way to be sure, but best guess, a year and a half to two years."

"Meaning as things stand right now I won't make it to the invasion."

Krenocia says "Correct, but you continue to grow stronger. As you get stronger that time will be extended."

"Is it possible to get to the point that I won't die?"

Krenocia says "Possible, yes. However, you would have to get close to the power of a god."

"Alright, thank you for telling me the truth."

Krenocia says "I'm sorry, Ash. Nothing has gone the way we thought it would."

"It's fine. Now that I know, I can try to do something about it."

Krenocia says "If I can help, just ask."

"Alright, Myria, you now have two choices. Either we continue and you lose some lifespan or I remove the mana and find someone else to experiment on."

Myria says "I am not quitting! Just do it!"

Taking a deep breath I close my eyes and focus my sense on Myria to try and feel her life force. This is not something I have ever done before, but I am confident I can figure it out. Her life force is not gathered in one spot, it is spread throughout her body.

If I take what I need from one spot that part of her body would basically die. Instead what I need to do is take a tiny part from everywhere in her body. Once I have gathered it all up I slowly push it into the core, but it doesn't work as expected.

My thought was that the life force would go to the center of the core, but instead it merges with the mana core. I probably should have removed the mana and started over with the life force as the starting point for the core. However, it is too late now to start over, so I will just have to make it up as I go and see what happens.

As the life force merges with the core, the core starts to shrink, so I quickly feed more threads of mana into it. To keep it the right size I have to work quickly and feed it mana continuously. At this point I am not even sure what is going on or if I am doing the right thing.

Trying to stop the process at this point would probably be very dangerous. So I just keep feeding mana into the core and wait to see what happens next. Between one strand and the next I open my eyes for a second to check on Myria.

She is gritting her teeth and seems to be in some pain, but she is staying still and toughing it out. I don't have time for more than a quick glance before I return my attention to moving mana threads. This goes on for what feels like an hour before the core stops shrinking and seems to stabilize.

The core stops accepting additional mana and over the next few minutes its color changes. Once it turns red it stops and its appearance changes to look more solid. Now it looks a lot like my core when I first started playing with it.

Before it completely settles in I use mana threads to start making the conduits. The conduits are essential since they allow the core to absorb mana from outside the body. Once they are done I start working on the mana channels to allow mana to move through the body.

At this point it would be really easy to make some changes to Myria's body. However, after thinking about how she likes to tease me I decide that making her more attractive would be a bad idea. So I just focus on setting up the network of mana channels and don't change anything else.

Luckily, since I already experimented in my own body, setting up everything else is easy. Once the last mana channel is in place I can finally relax my focus and open my eyes. When I look at Myria she is covered in sweat but she still manages to smile at me.

"How do you feel?"