“Chirp.” Blueberry sent Maxwell a weak message, telling him to continue walking.

  Maxwell was not sure what the bird’s intention was but he didn’t want to risk Blueberry’s life. I won’t, he sent to the bird. Maybe he could bring the bird back some kilometers north before continuing.

  Blueberry seemed to sense his intention and started fidgeting. Despite her weakness, she managed to peck him on the ear pretty hard before sending him another thought.

  Are you planning to evolve? Maxwell was surprised. He didn’t know how animals evolved, but it was safe to assume that this was not an optimal environment. He received another message from the bird, and this seemed almost pleading.

  He sighed before starting to walk again. “As you wish. If something happens, I’m going back.” He said. He cranked his prima sense to full to watch what was happening to the bird.

  Usually, he could see mana particles flooding into creatures according to their affinities. Right now, though, he was surprised to see that there were no particles flowing into Blueberry’s body. On the contrary, he could actually see that more and more mana particles were leaving her body.

  He watched as particles got sucked out from the bird's body and floated in the air before moving lazily towards the south. He was thoughtful seeing the phenomena. He was unsure if he could command the particles inside the bird's body, but he had a couple of things in his mind that he could try.

  He focused on the most common mana type flowing outside of the bird’s body before letting himself dive into his own soul. Soon, he could see the compendium sitting in his soul like before. He hurriedly opened the book’s cover and let himself go back to the real world. It was similar to unclenching a muscle you didn’t know you had.

  Now, he would be able to identify Blueberry’s affinity. He looked at the particle, ignoring the other nine notifications summoned by the different ones.

  Mind Mana – Available for absorption.

  Such a thing exists? He was pretty surprised by the affinity of the mana. He quickly shut down his other mind and pushed through the flooding memories coming from it.

  He focused the second mind on the bird and gave it one purpose. He commanded the mind mana in the atmosphere as it willed it to flood the are around the Blueberry.

  He watched as mana got pulled in increasing quantities, but there was something quite wrong about its density. It was way too thin compared to the usual times Maxwell did this.

  He glanced once more at Blueberry, and he saw that the bird was in an even worse condition. Mana coalesced around her, but it seemed like the bird couldn’t absorb any.

  Taking in a deep breath, Maxwell focused once more. He discarded everything except the mind mana in the air. There was only Blueberry and the mind mana in his vision as he forced the meditation skill to do something extreme.

  He felt his mind strain as he gave only a single message to the mana around the bird.

  You belong to her.

  He watched as mana reacted. It gave a confused response as it was pulled by the foreign presence and Maxwell’s command in two different directions.

  For a second, there was a stalemate as mana stayed where it was. Maxwell felt his mind strain even more as he felt like he was trying to do something against nature.

  I don’t give up that easily. Maxwell was many things, but pride was one of his defining characteristics. He wouldn’t fail this, because he felt like he should be capable of it.

  He himself was fine, so why wouldn’t he be unable to do it for others? He refused to lose someone else again because of something like this.

  He willed the world away as he ignored its laws. Whatever influence caused this phenomenon felt like a law. He pushed against it with his mind as he repeated his command. He felt something give in as he suddenly felt himself getting faint in an unexplainable way.

  He heard his command echoing in his mind as if it was not spoken by himself alone but by many others, too. For a second, he felt like he was back on his spaceship, giving a command that would claim billions of lives. He focused on the message as he felt his strength dwindle with alarming speed.

  You belong to her. No more sacrifices.

  The command was incomparable to any he produced before. It felt different in scale.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He felt mana flood around him, the command pulling the mana in as his mana alone was not enough for it. He watched as mind mana around the bird suddenly started behaving completely differently. It directly started flowing into Blueberry like there was no contest at all.

  Maxwell fell to his knees. He had no mana left, and he could feel a deep exhaustion settle into his soul. It felt a lot more fundamental than the usual exhaustion.

  His mana was regenarating with a measly 0.1 per minute and his soul felt like someone pushed the world through it.

  He could now hear many notifications as his meditation was finally interrupted. He discarded the level ups for now and looked at something looking far more important.

  Trait Modified : Etherium Soul

  Etherium Soul(Unique Trait):

  A soul tainted and forever changed by the extraordinary substance Etherium. May your brethren endure through you.

  Increases Telepathy Efficiency

  Mind and Spirituality are fused prematurely into the attribute Soul.

  Your soul is hidden.

  You are not alone.

  Maxwell checked the trait with tired eyes. Looking at the last sentence in the trait's explanation, he didn’t know what to feel. This certainly explained why he could become the Prince Of Zephyr back when he was doing his tier advancement.

  He didn’t know what exactly happened. Back when he was trading the planet for transmigration, the system only listed grade 1, 2 and 3 souls, making Maxwell a bit curious about the souls of his people. Back then, he assumed they were not traded because they were gone.

  It was apparent that that was not the case. How much resource did the system use for me to transmigrate? he questioned. If what he was seeing now was true, then he had billions of souls inside his own.

  Maxwell's feelings were complicated about this. He was not someone very connected to his emotions as he never had time to care about them. He touched his eyes with a finger and found that he was actually crying.

  Huh? What would people say if they saw me right now? He thought before realizing they might actually be watching him right now.

  He checked on the Blueberry to see a most beautiful sight. An insane amount of mana flooded toward the bird, forming a cyclone around her. The bird already seemed more energetic, but she knew that this was a chance she shouldn't miss.

  Maxwell watched as she initiated her class evolution, causing the mana around her to move with even more excitement. The man completely ignored the outside presence as it moved toward the bird, disappearing, becoming the fuel of her evolution.

  Maxwell noted that this was a lot different from Bob’s tier advancement.

  At that time, mana was much more organized and seemed to be controlled by the system. In this case though, the system seemed to ignore the evolution as it just watched.

  Maxwell watched too, as Blueberry’s body started to become less and less material. It was like the bird was starting to become a projection of light. His prima senses strained as his soul was beat up very bad but he refused to miss this scene.

  The mind mana swirled with joy as this scene continued. Maxwell watched as Blueberry’s eyes turned towards him. And he felt something slam into his mind. He couldn’t understand what was happening at first, but his doubts were answered as a system notification appeared in fron of him.

  Mind Link Detected.

  Do you agree to forge the bond?

  Y / N

  Maxwell didn’t hesitate to press yes. He would go all the way once he started. He watched as mana around Blueberry was tinted with a green light. The bird which was becoming etheral a second before was now glowing with a green light as Maxwell felt his soul getting linked with the bird.

  Etherium Soul Welcomes A New Companion.

  "Mind Link" readjusted to "Etheric Bond"

  Etheric Bond:

  Mind is a mere facade as the soul reigns supreme. A bond of the soul is forged as two paths are linked together until death.

  Loyalty shall be rewarded by the loyal and bonded shall be elevated.

  Maxwell watched as Blueberry’s new etheral body turned to green as it became more material. He could see mana particles stabilize as they set the new shape for the bird’s body.

  Her name will be weird, he thought as he watched the evolution end slowly. Blueberry who was in a trance just now looked around, seeming completely confused. Her eyes locked in on Maxwell and in that moment, Maxwell was surprised to feel bird’s mind with immense clarity.

  “Chirp?” Blueberry chirped as always but the voice it made was different. The chirp continued to echo in his mind and he felt that a message enter his mind along with the voice.

  “Yeah, that was very cool,” he answered Maxwell answered as he checked out the bird’s final form. She was similar enough except that her feathers were now only streaked with blue instead of being completely blue. Her main color now was green and her green eyes shone with brilliance.

  Maxwell noted that Blueberry looked more real than everything else. It was like she was more present than other things. He was really curious about what the birds new form was and observed the bird.

  Blueberry - Etheric Sialia – Lvl-14

  Maxwell focused on the species name to see if he could find out anything more with the observation. He felt that he should as he was bonded with the bird. He was not disappointed.

  Etheric Sialia (Unique Race): A race that solely exists because of the Merchant’s interference. The race has an unsurpassed affinity of the mind and a body only partially physical. Race has a soul attribute prematurely fused by the interruption from the Merchant’s trait.

  Maxwell could see some parallels between his class and this new race. This also showed that his partial ethereal body was probably due to his etherium trait.

  Blueberry having the soul attribute would also help as he would now not be the only one he could see with the attribute. He couldn’t see any stats but guessed neither could Blueberry. Their system was quite different, after all.

  He took a deep breath and got up. Finally, he could feel some of his strength returning. It was not much, but it would be enough to go somewhere more secluded.

  He walked to a big rock slowly and laid his back to it before sliding down. He would rest a bit before continuing on his way.

  A man and a bird took a rest as people a couple of kilometers away still tried futilely to push through a phenomenon they couldn’t explain.