A soul’s energy can be absorbed, but that doesn’t destroy the vessel. A soul cannot be destroyed, but reawakening memories of past lives becomes extremely arduous if the vessel is drained enough. A person’s talent is derived from those memories which will significantly impact their rebirth.

~Arianrhod, Goddess of Rebirth and Fate

Crow was stunned when the bare-chested statue pressed him against a stone wall that hadn’t been behind him previously. Her hot breath on his face was enchanting, and her stone-like eyes stared into his.

“Y-you don’t feel like stone,” Crow blurted out, trying to control his raging hormones. Stone or not, the woman was beautiful, naked, and pressed against him intimately.

Hawthorn giggled and gave him a light peck on the lips.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to take advantage of you. I only have a sliver of a soul left, and now that I’m active, that is slipping away quickly. Although, I’m sure the real me would be interested. You just need to find me in the upper realms—you need to do that either way.”

“Why?”

“You are my disciple in a way because you have learned my technique, and your compatibility with it is high. I want to see what you do with it, and I have more to teach you.”

“What if…?”

“I’m dead? I’m not. While this fragment of a soul disperses, most of it is being absorbed by her—or me?”

“So she’ll know who I am?”

Hawthorn pulled her head back some to stare at Crow’s face, and suddenly, a huge smile blossomed on her face.

“You are way more intelligent than I gave you credit. Now, back to why this challenge exists. The only way to master this place is to master the techniques given to all of you. Considering how much you’ve focused on mastering my ability, I’m sure you’ve already realized this. This Shrine is a… nudge to put you on the right path.”

“Ah, so you are going to provide your insights?”

“Sort of. I will share the thought process behind Seeding with you because no matter how smart you are, I know it is a massive bottleneck. The concepts are abstract, so prepare your mind and let me know when you are at your peak.”

Crow nodded and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that both their bodies were naked and tangled. Unable to control himself, he reached out and grabbed her ass. Surprisingly, she only giggled, so he opened his eyes to find that she was trying hard to contain her full-on laughter.

“You beautiful, silly boy. You should probably look between my legs.” Crow was worried as his eyes moved down her breasts and past her navel. Not seeing a cock swinging, he breathed a sigh of relief but realized there was nothing there at all. Not even womanly parts. “I won’t say I’m not interested, but nothing will come of this—for now. So focus because we don’t have a lot of time.”

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The only thing he could do was take deep breaths to clear his mind. It was odd feeling this attracted to something that wasn’t even alive. After another five minutes, he finally regained his focus and willpower. A few minutes after that, he nodded toward Hawthorn.

A stone finger reached out and tapped his forehead. Knowledge entered his Sage’s Mind directly, which was something he thought only Bards could do. However, after a few moments of absorption, he became incredibly shocked. Hawthorn was both right and wrong. The bottleneck she thought would exist was something he’d already touched on through the creation of his Auras. However, this was like two steps beyond that.

Seeding was like planting an aura within his Source and allowing it to take root there. Unlike the Auras he created already, these Seedings wouldn’t conflict with each other and were much more efficient.

Auras were still a new technique that Crow had developed, so it wasn’t as evolved as this Seeding ability, but that didn’t mean it was the lesser of the two. Seeding was limited to techniques based on Wood Mana. Auras would bridge the gap between mana types even if he was currently limited to only using two Auras simultaneously. Crow felt if given enough time, his Auras could rival or surpass Seeding, but that might only be hubris. He hadn’t enough time to really understand Seeding.

Hawthorn didn’t give him much information because she wasn’t trying to guide his cultivation. It was just a nudge to help him gain enlightenment and follow his own path. Either way, he realized how precious this gift was.

“Do you understand now?”

“I do, and the only way I can thank you is to vow upon limb and root—”

“Don’t. For now, don’t bind us together with a vow, or the consequences for you would be catastrophic. Find me, and then you can officially become my disciple or repay my kindness then.”

“Then I’ll do that,” Crow said and understood her concern.

“Good. Seeding is the culmination of my research. Possibly even the basis for a new age of techniques and abilities. Learn it well because this kind of knowledge might be commonplace when you reach the upper realms.”

“That happens?”

“New waves of techniques?” Hawthorn asked and saw Crow nod. “It does. Discoveries like Seeding often change the balance of power. That doesn’t mean old methods aren’t powerful, but as time passes, the thing that made them domineering will be tempered by a suppressing technique.”

“Doesn’t that mean it is equally possible that this method is obsolete too?”

Hawthorn smiled and nodded. “Now you are getting it. In the end, the most powerful techniques are those that you made personally to suit you and your needs. Even trending methods are useless if your understanding of them is superficial. If you want my advice. Keep with the few abilities you have and master them. In the early stages of cultivation, that’s the right approach, but by the time you reach the middle floors of this tower, you’ll definitely need to broaden your understanding of all techniques. Only then can you be sure to shore up many weaknesses you probably didn’t even know you had.”

“My father taught me to always repay kindness several times over. I won’t vow it now, but in the future, I’ll do just that.”

“I hope so, you beautiful fool. I’ll be waiting…” Her voice trailed off as she slowly crumbled to dust in his hands. Even the cacoon thing and altar below him crumbled away, leaving a glaringly empty spot in the Shrine’s challenge.

Crow reappeared in the main Shrine, naked and holding piles of stone dust in his hands. Hooligan and Munro were both staring at him until she started laughing.

“That was interesting,” Hooligan said.

Crow turned and sighed, but Munro threw him a set of clothes before he could ask.

“You need to stop destroying clothes,” Munro said. “I don’t pack many of them, and I’m getting dangerously low.”

All Crow could do was nod and even thanked the guy. It felt awkward, so they both mumbled something and walked away, and Hooligan burst out with laughter.

“You two are so cute together.”

“Bite me.”

“Piss off.”

The three of them looked at each other, and this time they all laughed.