Zachary summoned his strength and his soul sea surged. Like a high tide, soul energy rose as one toward Wander, crashing against his shell in great waves.
“Waa! That’s great!” Wander shouted excitedly and once again activated his healing ability.
The soul energy that touched his turtle body was a pure form of Eternum with no attribute, only raw power. But as it traveled through him, it was quickly converted into his own soul energy with rich elements of life and earth. The spiral patterns on his shell glowed with renewed vigor. It was even brighter than before.
His healing breath swept over Zachary’s broken sky path. Everywhere it touched, the old wounds retreated. The dead flesh and withered areas were returned to their original form, a wide channel that led from the soul to the outside world.
This session lasted three times as long as the first one. Zachary finally ran out of energy. They were both exhausted. It was also lunchtime and they were hungry, for utilizing Eternum required both the mind and the body.
“Let’s see… what’s on the menu?” Zachary asked.
“Sugo!” Wander exclaimed.
Zachary snorted and shook his head. “It's too early. Sugo needs time to recover. Eating its seaweed twice a day is already the limit. How about a roasted salamander?”
“Bleh… I’ll just eat some grass.”
Wander wandered over to a patch of blue grass in the shallow water and started munching.
Zachary started a fire on the beach and reheated the carcass over the flames. He was getting good at cooking wild animals for food. It also helped that he had Onkie. The pig had an innate sense of what was edible. The New World had surpassed his knowledge of Ensouled and he could no longer rely on it anymore. Things he had thought were safe to eat, Onkie wouldn’t dare to touch them. Other things he thought would be wildly poisonous like this salamander with bright yellow flesh were surprisingly tasty.
“So, why do you like Sugo’s seaweed so much?” He asked after filling his stomach. “What did you eat before?”
“Hmm? I can eat lots of things. Mostly mosses and plants, underwater or otherwise. But Sugo’s seaweed tastes the best because it contains the attribute of life. There is nothing like that growing in these caves.”
“Ah.” Zachary silently thanked his penchant for keeping useless summons around. He might not have been able to meet Wander if he had thrown Sugo away. “Anyway, how did you know that it would work? That you could utilize my soul energy?”
“Huh?” Wander tilted his head, “Why wouldn’t it work?”
Zachary spluttered for a few moments, unable to find the words, “This… you… argh! What I meant was that shouldn’t have been possible. I’m only an adept rank summoner. And you’re still at the novice rank.”
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“So?”
“So?” Zachary was incredulous. “So… this ability to transfer Eternum between souls that we just performed, it should only be possible for expert rank summoners and their expert rank summons. People call it borrowed power, an ability unique to humans and only available at the expert rank or above!”
“Oh, like this?”
Wander let out a tiny pulse of soul energy. It shot through the air and entered the spot between Zachary’s eyebrows without resistance. It reached his soul sea like a droplet of water, disappearing into the swirling mass.
Zachary’s eyes widened. It had just happened again. Only this time, it had been Wander supplying him with a tiny bit of Eternum, just to prove a point. This shouldn’t have been possible. This defied his understanding of summoning and broke all the rules.
“Is it because of the eternal summoning?” He wondered out loud.
It seemed like the only possibility. He was able to talk to Wander even though the turtle was still at the novice rank. Now, they could even use borrowed power on each other.
“Don’t be so shocked.” Wander said casually, “Didn’t the ancestors say that the heavens will be jealous? Haha!”
“The heavens will be jealous… is this what that meant?”
Zachary continued to think about the issue. The half-eaten salamander was forgotten. This opened up whole new possibilities. It wasn’t just about recovering his soul path. He might have a great advantage against the other survivors.
Borrowed power was an incredibly useful ability. It allowed a summon to stay in battle far beyond their limits. As long as the summoner had enough soul energy, their summons could keep fighting. If a person had a particularly vast soul sea and great endurance as their natural talent, they would be even tougher opponents.
This was why, in the human world, the expert rank marked the first watershed for summoners. Adepts were common soldiers while experts could become commanders and leaders. Even in the civilian world, only experts could become government officials or gain upper positions in corporations.
“Okay!” Zachary picked up the stick with the roasted salamander and took a big bite, “First, food. Then, rest. We can fit another healing session in before dinner!”
“I better get some seaweed!”
“No problem!”
---
Five days later, which just happened to be a full week after Zachary and Wander formed their eternal bond, Zachary sat atop a falling statue’s head, deep in meditation. He sat cross-legged, his back straight, his head slightly lowered. His long black hair hung down around his face, soaked wet by the rolling fog. His eyes were closed and his breathing was faint. He was solely concentrated within his soul sea, drawing upon all of his strength and energy.
Like a fish in the ocean, Wander swam around with Zachary’s soul sea, gathering every last strand of Eternum. His entire body glowed bright green as he charged toward the sky path and let out a deep healing breath.
Zachary’s sky path looked completely different from before. Where there used to be mangled flesh and withered wounds, there was a wide and powerful river, ready to connect to the outside world. There was only a small blockage left at the very end that stopped the flow of Eternum.
Wander swam through the sky path, letting his breath spread in all directions as he passed. He took aim at the final obstruction and gave it everything he had. Supported by Zachary’s strength with borrowed power, Wander’s breath crashed ahead. It carried Zachary’s past pain and regrets as well as his desire to fight back. It also carried Wander’s desire to escape this prison and explore the world so that he could live his life to the fullest.
Woosh!
With a great surge of Eternum, the sky path was finally opened. Soul energy from within poured out while at the same time, fresh Eternum from the outside gushed in.
“Yeah!” Zachary leaped to his feet.
“Yeah!!! We did it!” He shouted at the underground lake, at the sky, and at the world, “I’ve recovered. I’ve fully recovered. Hahaha! I’m back!”