"You never fail to surprise me. So Lesser Void manipulation is also a part of your repertoire, huh?"
Shooting her husband-to-be a teasing smile, Ninna elegantly walked up to him, claiming one of his bodies' arms for herself. She still felt a bit shy about all of this, but keeping her status in mind, as well as the competition for his time and affection that she had already been embroiled in, she didn't want to behave too prudishly. Else, she might possibly end up too sidelined for her own liking.
"More or less, yeah."
'It's actually just increased Void Affinity, and I haven't really mastered it to any proficient degree yet. It's only been a part of my bag of tricks since the last round, after all.'
Not hiding the fact that he could amass more and more Talents from his close ones at all, Theodore outwardly gave a non-committal answer, while sending her a proper explanation via Kiran's network.
'It sounds like you can obtain the Talents of the people you kill. How does it all work, if you don't mind me asking?'
Having been wondering about the exact details ever since he had begun to create surplus bodies right after eliminating a Harmony segment, Ninna finally voiced one of her questions. She was aware that knowing too much might possibly endanger him if things went wrong, but his Talent-snatching ability wasn't exactly hard to guess or figure out, even for a casual observer.
'Basically, I can get one Talent from every being I kill. Alternatively, if I don't want to select any of the options, I can get Attribute Points instead, which I can then freely distribute to my Standard Attributes.'
Considering that Ninna would become one of his wives–and also because she surely had more mind- and soul-related measures of protection to rely upon than the others–he revealed almost the entirety of his biggest trump card to her with little to no hesitation. This private conversation between the two of them could not even be spied upon by Kiran, whose Talent was responsible for creating this whole mental network to begin with, therefore he didn't have to worry too much.
'... It seems I severely underestimated your potential before. In any non-disastrous scenario, I don't think anyone other than you could possibly become the next Heavenly Emperor.'
Staying silent for a moment, Ninna soon couldn't help but smile wryly. Although it was never a good idea to celebrate too early, as all those with infinite potential could still be annihilated in the cradle, it was undeniable that Theodore's prospects likely surpassed those of all others. Even she could see this clearly!
'It's no wonder his father decided to make him, the youngest son, his successor as head of the Winter Family. Anybody with a brain would do so! This Heavenly Succession is also his optimal hunting ground. Otherwise, if he were to wantonly slaughter Named Families' descendants, or other rising geniuses, during regular times, then that would put his own family in a difficult position.'
As the two of them were exchanging messages and pondering about various matters, the others also arrived at their side. Just like Ninna, Xie Mei and Han Junqiao took a Theodore for themselves. They rained down praises upon him, with their eyes sparkling with excitement.
All the while, Ninna had been explaining the ins and outs of what was happening to everyone else to the best of her abilities, sometimes supported by Vigdis. With those expert perspectives in mind, they had been able to follow along with the duel to a pretty good extent.
One question they had been asking themselves quite early on had been why neither Sarasvain nor Theodore were utilizing their respective Numens. However, the answer had been rather simple: Because it would be improper to do so during a friendly clash.
In general, there was an unspoken understanding between all experts above a certain cultivation stage. Unless one intended to make an enemy out of a person, or unless all parties involved had specifically agreed on doing so, no attacks on someone else's Will or Soul should be made.
Physical injuries were the easiest to recover from, and even grievous wounds could be pretty much shrugged off–even if it sometimes took a long while. But to experts of this calibre, months, years or decades of recovery didn't amount to anything significant–so no hard feelings would develop.
But Will and Soul injuries were completely different. The Soul, as the innermost core of a being, should naturally be off limits. Sometimes, it might even take ages or eons to heal from more serious wounds to it.
As for the Will, prior to developing one's Numen, damaging it only had a minor impact on the psyche–getting better was still not too huge of a deal. As long as the Will wasn't shattered entirely, it was more of a minor problem. But the Numen was an integral part of the cultivation journey, and any harm done to it would take significantly longer to recuperate from than any physical injury.
Depending on the severity, a person's potential to go further on their future cultivation path could even be cut off all but entirely. Therefore, unless someone intended to fight to the death, they generally wouldn't use their Numen to clash with their foes.
Between Sarasvain and Theodore, no such deep enmity existed, and at the end of the day, it was just a friendly spar–an exchange of pointers, one might even say. It couldn't be compared to a true battle, but more so an exhibition match.
"By the way. Vigi, you'll be responsible for handling the Sarasvain Federation's incorporation into my domain, plus the follow-up matters. I'm sure Mr. Sarasvain won't mind it if you consult him with regard to any issues that may arise in the process. Right?"
Smiling innocently at his right-hand woman and the Undying President, Theodore washed his hands of the whole situation, whilst simultaneously paving the way for whatever might one day develop between the two of them.
"Understood! Then I'll be counting on you from here on out."
Nodding at her boss at first, Vigdis turned to face the man who she had her eyes on, politely bowing in a gesture of respect. But for whatever reason, Sarasvain felt a cold shiver run down his spine, as if he was being beheld by some sort of predator.
'What are these two plotting? Are they setting me up for something somehow? What is going on!?'
Looking back and forth between the duo, he eventually settled on giving a stiff nod, before intently staring at Theodore.
"Let me make something clear, though. If this is your attempt of diverting my efforts to monitor you, then I will not let it succeed!"
All he got in response to his rational but mistaken accusation was a slight smirk, as well as a suppressed chuckle.
"That was never my intention at all. I'll just be busy with cultivation or private matters a lot, so during those times, I'll be locking myself away from the outside world. In my absence, the one in charge of everything is Vigi here–so naturally, you'll have a lot of contact with her, especially if you intend to learn more about me."
Sarasvain was able to tell that there was something off with this explanation, but he couldn't exactly determine what the real issue was. Therefore, he chose to accept it for now, yet also keep his guard up. In the future, he would then be able to tell if he had been overreacting at the current moment, or not.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it..."
Utterly unmoved by his scrutinizing, doubtful glare, Theodore shrugged and addressed the rest of the group. He had done all that he could for now–what happened from here on out would be left to Vigdis' personal capabilities.
"Gather around, everyone, and have a look at the World Shard we're standing on. For now–and until we've examined every single mote of dust in this place–we'll be exploring it."
Throughout his battle with Sarasvain, although the two had exchanged plenty of blows, they had only managed to slightly damage the crater that they had been in. The sheer resilience of this dead piece of land was astonishing! Back before it had lost its World's Will, who knows what kind of powerful beings it may have housed?
"For the sake of safety–after all, we have no idea what we might encounter here–we will split in six groups, with one of my bodies accompanying each one. Always stay close enough to each other to keep an eye on every one of your fellow group members, alright? If you discover anything of note, please immediately tell the closest me nearby!"
Rattling off a few more things that everyone should keep in mind and making sure that they were all on the same page, everybody quickly split up, then wandered off into different directions. With how vast this floating landmass was, it was unknown how long they would be busying themselves here, but with Theodore around, they weren't exactly worried.
One of the six groups consisted solely of one of his surplus bodies, as well as Ninna–this way, the combat power would be evened out as much as possible. As the two of them were making their way towards the buildings that he had spotted earlier–back when they had arrived here–the Ur Family heiress finally felt that now was the right time to broach a certain subject.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask this: Who is Faavi? And why is this World Shard so important to you?"
She wasn't the only one asking that latter question. The former one didn't come up, because everyone other than her and Sarasvain was already familiar with Faavi, due to her strong presence on Kiran's network. Still, although Theodore did respond to all of the inquiries, he never revealed the full truth. Nobody here, not even his loved ones, could know about the matter of the current him being the result of a Soul Fusion.
"Right, you haven't met her yet! Faavi is my Unknown-grade Armament Spirit. I first met her shortly after the beginning of the last round..."
Giving her a rough retelling of their encounter, a smile stole itself on his lips as he thought about the little one chirping away in his mind every so often. Faavi had grown remarkably ever since they had chanced upon each other, nowadays not needing any reminders to know that she should keep certain matters confidential. Due to her plentiful conversations with others via the network, it also felt as if she had mentally matured... a tiny bit, at least.
'I'm proud of how far you've come, Faavi.'
Expressing his emotions to her directly, he was met with an overwhelming wave of joy, bashfulness and delight. Although he had always made sure to thank her for her help, and had let her know that she was appreciated, he usually didn't state it in such a straightforward manner–therefore she was especially happy today.
'Hehehe! I'll only become even better before you know it! Just leave it to me, Theo! By the way, I've thought of a few ways to improve the lance we used earlier...'
Almost instantly, the adorable Armament Spirit's words flooded his mind, even more unceasing and cheerful than usual due to his earlier, heartfelt comment. She brought forth both constructive proposals, questionable rumours she had heard on the network, as well as everyday small talk.
Despite doting on her a lot, and having a significant soft spot for her–due to the still not yet understood past that she and John shared–Theodore soon felt a bit overwhelmed. It wasn't that he couldn't handle her never-ending chatter, but there was no harm in redirecting a part of it, was there?
"By the way, Faavi's always been right here with me. You can also find her on Kiran's network. Come, let me open a private chat for you two, so you can get to know each other better!"
Pointing at both his clothes in general, and especially at his Storage Ring, he quickly set up everything on the back end so that Ninna and Faavi could start to interact. Almost instantly, he felt his mental burden grow lighter, causing the corner of his lips to rise in satisfaction.