The trio ran for hours until they felt safe enough to take a break. And even then, they only gave themselves a few minutes to catch their breath and rub some more dirt on, before resuming their journey until nightfall. Perhaps, the Green or Blue bugs could still track them down, but Percy guessed the queen wouldn’t bother sending her elites that far from the hive.

‘Do you see anything suspicious?’ he asked his familiar.

Ever since they exited the tunnel, he’d had Micky fly lower than usual, to ensure he didn’t get spotted by anyone on the Spire. It wasn’t until the colossal structure was naught but a distant silhouette on the horizon that he gave him permission to climb higher, acting as a scout.

‘No…’

Percy’s eyebrows shot up.

‘What?’

‘No.’ the bird repeated.

The young man was sure he hadn’t misheard. His familiar hadn’t merely transmitted his thoughts – he’d sent an actual word over! Of course, the bird hadn’t uttered a sound – it was all in Percy’s mind – but Micky had talked through their connection in a high-pitched, childlike voice.

‘Can you speak normally now?’

‘No.’

Percy frowned.

‘What words do you understand?’

‘No. Yes. Percy. Micky. Eat. Fly…’

The bird kept going for a while until the young man cut it off.

‘Ok, I get it… I guess this is something to work on...’

Micky’s vocabulary wasn’t too varied, and it didn’t seem like he could form a complete sentence just yet, but this was promising. While he might have been able to achieve all this even before the evolution, it would have probably taken more effort.

As expected, the promotion had boosted Micky’s intelligence. All advancements did that to an extent, but not as much as other aspects of one’s existence. For instance, while Percy’s thoughts had grown a little clearer upon reaching Orange, he certainly hadn’t turned three times as smart or anything crazy like that. Still, as far as he knew, beasts tended to benefit more than sentients in this regard, and he had a hunch his familiar was an outlier even among them. After all, he doubted other beasts started to speak upon hitting Yellow – though he wouldn’t rule it out for the higher grades.

‘Are his old memories beginning to resurface?’

Percy sure hoped that was the case. At least, this was the first real sign his friend was on the road to recovery. However, it had taken them nearly five years to reach this point, so if the past was any indication, it was going to be a long road…

‘Oh well… For now, let’s just teach him a few more words and see if he can actually speak them out. But I suppose that has more to do with his vocal cords than his intelligence…’

In any case, this wasn’t the only change Micky had undergone during his advancement. As early as back in the tunnel, Percy had noticed some additional differences in his appearance – besides the obvious size increase – though he hadn’t had the time to dwell on them. Now that they were finally free, he could examine them in more detail.

‘Micky, come over here.’

Hearing him, the familiar dove downward at great speed, partly to show off, and partly to simply revel in his newfound strength – as he had been doing ever since they escaped the claustrophobic walls of the underground cavern.

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He landed in front of the young man, raising a cloud of dust with a flap of his wings. Percy rolled his eyes at the theatrics as he stepped closer, scanning the crow’s body carefully.

‘The colour has spread to cover the entire talons and beak… Even his eyes are completely silver now…’

Just like the last time, Micky’s nature as a familiar seemed to have bled into the rest of his being, furthering his evolution towards this unique direction. They’d have to test the sharpness of the bird’s claws in an actual fight, but Percy suspected they were on par with his sickles now.

However, the crow’s abnormal soul wasn’t the only thing to have induced some unexpected mutations. Looking closely, the young man noticed Micky’s plumage had undergone a subtle shift too. The dark feathers were now tinged with a hint of green at the edges. The difference was minuscule – barely perceptible under the soft moonlight – but Percy knew his friend well enough to spot it.

‘Is it because of his air affinity?’

Nobody could answer that, of course, as Micky was possibly the only beast in the universe to have a second core. They were pretty much in uncharted territory. Still, this sounded about right – nothing else could explain this oddity. In fact, Percy had a hypothesis as to why the crow was mutating in such a manner.

‘This must be how affinity fusion works for beast mana.’

They’d tried to combine Micky’s two mana types before, though they’d never succeeded. At first, Percy had chalked it up to the mismatch between the two grades, though he was now confident there was more to it than that. Even on its own, the beast affinity seemed to revolve entirely around empowering and transforming its user’s body. Perhaps all its fusions involved incorporating other mana types into the body, resulting in mutations like this.

Percy felt his speculation was close to the truth, though at the end of the day it didn’t really matter. Whatever the cause of these changes, the most important thing was figuring out how to take advantage of them.

‘Can you gather some air mana on your feathers?’

Micky heeded the request, releasing a faint green aura by the underside of his wings. Percy had watched him do this many times before, but it was different now. Bathed in the air mana, the crow’s feathers lit up, apparently resonating with the substance! Activating Mana Sense, the young man observed a layer of Red coating them, sticking to them without dispersing!

“Fly?” the bird asked, clearly eager to put its new trick to the test.

“Fly.” Percy nodded.

Taking off, the crow sped through the night once more, this time doing so with even greater ease as the air seemed to part in its way, aiding rather than hindering it.

‘Interesting…’ the young man noted.

It wasn’t the first time Micky used his second affinity to augment his flight, but the effect had never been quite as pronounced. This, in tandem with Circulation and just the overall boost from the advancement, and the crow was guaranteed to be a menace in aerial combat!

“Are you two done playing around?” Nesha asked in annoyance, snapping Percy out of his thoughts.

The girl had remained oddly quiet since their frantic escape, apparently contemplating a great number of things during their journey.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.” Percy said.

Honestly, he felt a little guilty over letting her join without knowing much about him. It was true she’d followed him of her own volition but, in hindsight, he should’ve probably come clean beforehand. Between Micky, his clone, Circulation and his second core, there was plenty he’d have to bring her up to speed with.

“I do.” she nodded, but then shook her head. “There’s only one thing I want to know right now, however.”

Percy tilted his head, waiting for her to elaborate.

“Where are we going?”

Ah, that! They hadn’t really discussed their plans for after leaving the settlement, had they? In Percy’s defence, it was a miracle they’d even survived this long.

“Well, I did have a place in mind.” he said. “It’s a small town about two weeks from here. I have my reasons for going there. Unless you wanted to go somewhere else?”

“No, that sounds fine. Anywhere is good, as long as I can buy a new pair of glasses.”

Percy’s jaw slackened upon hearing what her priority was.

‘Though I suppose I’d also want that if I couldn’t see properly…’

Shrugging, Percy gestured at her to follow him as he strayed away from the dirt path. The road was easier to walk on, but it wasn’t the safest place to camp the night. Moving a couple hundred metres, they made their way around a hill, hoping to rest behind it, hidden from plain sight until sunrise.

‘Take the first shift, will you?’ he asked Micky.

It was a rhetorical question. Percy knew he deserved some sleep after fighting a damn army of wasps for his familiar’s sake. Picking a nice-looking patch of dirt, he patted it a few times to soften it, before lying down. Sadly, they hadn’t brought any camping equipment, as the amulet had only had enough space for some food and water. But it was ok. With his enhanced physique, even weathering the frigid midnight winds with his bare chest shouldn’t be too difficult.

Thinking of something, he turned to Nesha who was also preparing her own resting spot, before speaking.

“I thought advancing fixed things like poor eyesight.”

“It does. You should have seen me at Orange.”