Chapter 4580: Carried to the Top (Part 2)

The First Magus shapeshifted into an Indech with seven eyes and six wings wreathed in elemental energy. It took her but a slight effort to turn her wings in blazing elemental flames, yet no matter how much she tried, her body never turned emerald green.

"I stand corrected. The rest of my forms don’t share the issue of the Valkyrie’s wings. I can’t circulate my Spirit Magic as an Indech either."

"I can answer that." Baba Yaga said. "Let’s start with the good news. Your mana organs aren’t atrophied from not being used for a thousand years, Lochra. You didn’t have them until a few days ago.

"They are as weak as a baby’s because you just got them, just like it happened to Lith when he first achieved his Indech form. The bad news is you’re also wrong about everything else.

"All your forms share the same issues as your Valkyrie’s wings. The only difference is that your white core is powerful enough to overcharge the Balor, Fomor, and Indech form with its boundless mana flow and force them into the six-winged state.

"It’s the same thing I did for Lith back when we wanted to check why his Indech form had only two wings despite being already Awakened. Neither your Indech nor Valkyrie forms become emerald simply because your white core doesn’t affect your life force.

"The solution to your current problems is to train long and hard as Lith and Tista are doing."

"Are you saying that this is just me being supercharged with elemental energy?" The First Magus pointed at her blazing wings. "That I’m hurting myself by straining my mana organs beyond their limits?"

"Correct." Baba Yaga nodded. "You don’t experience pain or discomfort because your regenerative abilities far exceed the speed with which your wounds would open were you a true Indech. In your shoes, I’d stop doing that. This isn’t a bard’s tale. Self-harm is not training, and it won’t make you stronger."

Silverwing followed the Mother’s advice and reverted to her human form.

"I have a question." Solus said. "What do you mean, if Loka were a true Indech, Malyshka? Is it because the Valkyrie is her true form and the Indech is just a stepping stone?"

"No. The answer is more complicated than that, and it should help your friend with her research, Solus." Baba Yaga replied, and turned to Quylla. "You probably think I’m a heartless monster for turning my back on my brethren, but I’m not, child.

"I’m not punishing the trolls for what the Odi did to me. I just don’t care about them more than I care about the Balors or any other Fallen Race. I think all the Fallen Races deserve their fate, and I never moved a finger to help any of them.

"Still, to help my friend Lochra and in respect for your goodwill, Quylla, I’ll teach you all something. Tell me, Solus, if Lochra or I were to get pregnant, what race do you think the baby would inherit from us?"

"Respectively, Indech and whatever rank 3 Odi become, right?" Solus knew that the power of the white core couldn’t be passed on, but Elysia and Raldarak were living proof that the Indech bloodline had no such problem.

"Wrong. Human and Odi." The Mother’s reply left her class flabbergasted. "I had many children and met many white-cored humans. Their children, like mine, possessed bloodlines above rank 0 only if the other parent did."

"You’re right. Inxialot is Ayleen’s son, and he’s a regular human. Yet how is this possible?" Solus asked. "Lith, Loka, and probably Ayleen are all Indeches, and Lith’s children inherited the traits of all his bloodlines."

"The same way Surtr and Rethia are white cores like me, yet their children are born with the Griffon and Dragon bloodlines, Solus." Baba Yaga replied. "Like Lith, they have inherited the bloodline of a genuine rank 3 creature and can pass it down.

"In Lith’s case, the presence of the Divine Beast’s life force pushed his human side to evolve step after step, reaching the Indech. People like me, Ayleen, and Lochra, instead, never truly evolved.

"We just reached the white core, and our bodies changed to adapt and harness the infinite energy it gives us. My Asura and Lochra’s Valkyrie are called apex forms because they represent the evolutionary limit of our respective races and bloodlines.

"Our peculiar nature allows us to break the boundary between matter and energy like Ajatar does, but in our case, it also gives us nigh-unlimited power. That power forcefully breaks through the evolutionary walls and elevates us to apex, but the walls are still there.

"Lochra and I never uncovered the secret of our races’ evolution. We never took a single step up the evolutionary ladder; we were carried to the top by our white cores. That’s the reason Lith and Surtr can pass down their bloodlines while we can’t."

"What if I evolved naturally into a Balor?" Silverwing asked. "What would happen then?"

"You’d still be a Valkyrie, but your children would be born as Balors." The Mother replied. "Alas, that’s impossible. The walls have already been torn down, and even if Quylla discovers the secret of human evolution, it would be useless to you.

"To break them down the right way, Lochra, you should turn off your white core, revert to a human, use Quylla’s technique to become a Balor, and then turn your white core on again. Yet that’s impossible.

"Nobody can weaken their mana core at will, and our condition is irreversible. Mana poisoning doesn’t work on us, and even Orulm’s Break would leave you a maimed white core, but a white core nonetheless. I speak from experience."

"I’m sorry, but how is this supposed to help me?" Quylla asked.

"Think, child." Baba Yaga sighed. "Didn’t you notice any change since Lochra reverted into a human? Here, let me show you."

The Mother shapeshifted into her Asura form, drawing vast amounts of world energy that her body split into its elemental components and channeled them into her arms. Quylla and the others felt like candles staring at a star, their lights insignificant and their wax ephemeral.

"Well?" The Mother said after reverting to a less conspicuous form.

"You absorbed a lot of world energy." Quylla replied. "So much that I felt weaker for it. I still- Good gods!"

"Yes, child." Baba Yaga said as Quylla’s eyes widened in amazement. "Odi and humans follow a different yet similar evolutionary path. While beasts grow mostly in size and lifespan, we grow in strength and magical power.

"Just like a man can’t hope to beat a wolf or a lion bare-handed, an evolved human can’t beat an Emperor Beast with sheer might. We belong to different species and move along different paths.

"Odi and humans used their brains and affinity to all elements to build tools and harness magic. That’s how the Odi almost conquered Garlen, and how humans became one of the four dominant races despite both being stuck at rank 0.

"When you study the evolved forms of your patients, Quylla, you must consider their body as the tool they need to harness the power of their mana cores, not the other way around."