The Lone Wanderer

"There. Looks like a decent spot."

Micky descended to the tundra below them, landing behind a small hill. They could have probably hidden themselves better in the forest, but it would have made it harder for them to detect a potential ambush too. Besides, they'd wanted to put some distance from the location where they'd killed the Blues, in case their opponents had informed others of their whereabouts.

As soon as he set foot on the ground, Micky finally deactivated his boosting art. Percy leapt off his familiar's back promptly, unwilling to burden him any longer than he had to. Given the crow's injuries, he would have loved to have carried him instead, but he knew it would have been slower and more awkward due to the size difference.

Unclogging their connection, Percy allowed his friend's feelings to seep through the cord, trying to get a better sense of his injuries. He wasn't looking forward to experiencing the crow's pain, but this would be faster than manually examining all the wounds one by one. Bracing himself for something quite unpleasant, he was a little surprised to realize that it didn't hurt that much.

"What the hell? I can literally see some of your bones sticking out. Shouldn't it sting more?"

Micky shrugged.

"It was worse when we received the injuries, but still better than you'd think. And the situation has improved even more since then."

Percy was happy to hear his friend hadn't suffered that much. Still, this was strange, to say the least.

"Well, whatever. Let's treat the most serious wounds first. We'll figure it out later."

His healing potions wouldn't be very effective on a Green, but beasts recovered a lot faster than humans, merely by eating a few meals. Suffice to say, Percy wasn't too worried about Micky. They just had to set all the displaced bones properly, to make sure they healed correctly.

Over the next couple of hours, Percy methodically scanned the crow's body, snapping the broken bones back in place one after the other. Many of the wounds had already begun to close, so he was forced to reopen some of them, which did hurt quite a bit. However, there was something else he noticed while he did that – something that might explain why Micky wasn't in as much pain as they would have expected.

"Is it me, or did all the holes in your body get filled with ice?"

Back when Micky unleashed all his mana against their opponent, Percy hadn't missed the ice spilling into his wounds. At the time, he'd assumed it was just a side-effect of Micky's latest spell. Upon further examination, the crystalline patches appeared both more extensive and more purposeful than that. The ice only covered the interior of the crow's wounds, not a single flake sticking out. It was as if some invisible law had forced the material to replace just the crow's missing flesh, and nothing more.

"You're right. Is this what's numbing my pain?"

Returning the last displaced bone to its rightful place, Percy fed Micky a handful of healing potions to stop his bleeding, before investigating the frozen patches again. This time, he focused on them more carefully, using his mutated eyes to read the mana flow beneath the surface.

"I think it does more than that. There's a lot of ice mana there, but that's just the start. The beast and water mana in your bloodstream are circulating through the frozen patches too. It's almost like the ice has grown its own veins and arteries, connecting with the ones on your flesh. Can you try activating Circulation again?"

Micky acquiesced, the four sets of glowing lines appearing on his plumage once more. This time, Percy keenly noticed that they passed through the frozen patches too, treating them like regular body parts.

Ignoring the cold, Percy traced his fingers on the ice. It didn't feel as smooth as he would have expected. It was rough, densely covered in tiny barbs. Examining the surface of the patches a bit more, he saw tiny amounts of air and soul mana gathering on the tips of the barbs, in a rather familiar ratio.

"What the hell?! Micky, I think you're growing new feathers made of ice!"

Listening to Percy, Micky lifted his left talon a few inches off the ground, drawing Percy's attention. The crow was missing its rightmost digit, having lost it during the fight. A chunk of ice was covering the stump, though Percy could swear it had grown a little since the end of the battle. It had already extended past where the joint was supposed to be.

Micky held the talon in that spot for a few seconds, apparently trying something. At first, nothing happened, but Percy heard some cracking sounds at some point. Letting his senses blend with his familiar's, he soon realized what the crow was trying to do. Sure enough, they both felt the joint budge after a while, the frozen tip of the stump wiggling slightly.

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Not missing a beat, Percy pulled up Micky's Status, having a pretty good idea about what was happening.

___

Mictlantecuhtli (Percival's familiar)

Mana cores:

[Mana core 1

–

Green

–

Beast]

[Mana core 2

–

Yellow

–

Ice]

Mutations:

[Soul Predator]

– Allows one to more easily interact with the souls of others.

[Wind Dancer]

– Allows one to augment their flight using air mana.

[Thin Blood]

– Allows one to survive on fewer nutrients.

[Ice Sculpture]

– Allows one to replace missing body parts with functional chunks of ice.

Spectral traits:

[Weaving]

– Boosts one's proclivity in manipulating one-dimensional structures.

[Insomnia]

– Eliminates the need for sleep.

Spells:

[Wild Art: Regulation – Refined]

[Wild Art: Freezing Tornado – Refined]

[Frozen Shards – Refined]

[Circulation – Refined]

Decrees:

[Moirais' Decree]

– Grants a second mana core.

___

"Amazing," he spat, before sharing the images with Micky.

They both ignored the obvious changes in the crow's spell section, focusing on the fourth trait. The question marks had finally been replaced by actual text, confirming Percy's suspicions.

"Do you think the wounds will close properly after a while? Or am I stuck like this?" Micky asked.

"Does it feel worse than your flesh?" Percy asked back.

"Strangely, no…" Micky shrugged. "The spots that have fully closed feel exactly the same. I bet I won't even notice the difference once the new feathers and the missing digit are back… Still, it's a bit weird – to be literally made of ice."

Percy nodded, not disagreeing with his familiar's assessment. At least, he couldn't imagine having his own hand suddenly replaced by ice, no matter how natural it felt. It would definitely take Micky some time to get used to this – if he ever did.

"Well, if it doesn't heal by itself, we can look for a life mage to do it for you," he said.

Surely, if they were to forcefully carve the ice out and flood the surrounding flesh with life mana, it would close properly.

This was still a good thing in the short term. At the rate Micky's injuries were healing, he would be back in fighting condition by tomorrow. And if they got lucky, the ice patches would consume even fewer nutrients than regular flesh.

'I wonder if every beast with a second core and a composite affinity can mutate like this…'

Maybe not. Ice was quite unique even among composite affinities. Between ice mana itself and its components, Micky had all the ingredients to reproduce both the solids and liquids in his body. The only other affinities Percy thought might work like this were mud and lava.

'Actually, I think the fact that Micky is a familiar might have also played a role…'

Percy hadn't missed the silver tint on the frozen body parts, indicating that the Soul Predator mutation had also interfaced with the new one, breathing life into the inanimate material. Perhaps, this wouldn't have been possible if Micky's soul wasn't as flexible and partially foreign to his body as it was.

In fact, his Thin Blood mutation – which came from his water affinity – had likely also helped. Lava was made of fire and earth, and Percy had no idea what mutations those affinities might produce. There was a good chance that only ice and mud familiars could accomplish something similar.

In any case, this was good news. Percy wasn't sure whether Micky would grow comfortable with the new body parts anytime soon, but even if he didn't, it was bound to be better than his hunger coming back. If the new mutation truly allowed him to sustain himself more easily, it might be a good trade-off regardless.

What were the odds of his wasp familiar getting an ice or mud affinity too?

Probably not high.

Shaking the pointless thoughts away, he turned back to his friend.

"For now, try to use Regulation with the ice patches. It should let you recover your stamina even faster. Obviously, you won't be able to do it once your flesh regrows, but there's no reason not to take advantage of this while it lasts."

Micky nodded, before thinking of something else.

"What do you think the limit of this mutation is?"

"Limit?"

"Well, it says 'missing body parts', but it doesn't really specify which ones can be replaced, or whether there is a maximum volume of ice I can sustain at once… Do you think it could replace an entire wing? Or my heart?"

"Hmmm… That's actually a good question." Percy said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I doubt it can replace your cores. I've no idea how they work exactly, but I would be shocked if you could recreate them by hollowing out a piece of ice. As for the rest of your body… Let's hope we never find out."

Based on what they'd seen so far, most of Micky's body should be eligible for replacement. Even his wings consisted mainly of blood, muscles, bones and feathers – all of which had already been replaced elsewhere, to smaller extents. Even his heart was essentially just a muscle, so Percy wouldn't be shocked if Micky could replace it too. But he didn't know about the rest of his organs. Certainly not his brain. And this wasn't something he was willing to put to the test.

At any rate, Micky should be able to fly again. And they'd rather not spend too long here. The more distance they put between themselves and their recent battlefield, the safer they would feel. Hopping onto his familiar's back, Percy was about to ask him to take off, when he noticed something shooting straight at him at a tremendous speed.

He was about to roll out of the way, but he caught himself at the last second, realizing this wasn't anything to be wary of. In fact, he might have noticed this sooner, if he hadn't been so busy dealing with Micky's situation.

One of his clones was back.