447: Zoe Partner

Zoe Partner

Looking at the dark purple crystal before him, Eldrian didn't know what to say or think. He was still reeling from the overflow of memories. He only regained his ability to think when an afraid voice asked him, "Is this your soul?"

Looking to the side the voice had come from, Eldrian saw a phantom of Cephaphyr. The little Alicorn was nearly invisible in the abyss, and if not for his green feathers Eldrian wouldn't be able to see him at all. 

"It is," Eldrian replied he hadn't hidden this from them. He had shared the state of his soul and also that theirs (the Chosen) are in the Mageia Avyssos. 

"Why is it?"

"I have no idea," Eldrian admitted. 

A moment of silence befell the two, until Cephaphyr asked. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Eldrian asked, his heart racing as he already knew what the question was.

"Are we really just a game?" Cephaphyr asked, and Eldrian quickly denied it. 

Kneeling before the little Alicorn, Eldrian looked him in the eyes and said seriously, "No, you are much more."

"But..." Cephaphyr tried to avoid Eldrian's gaze, but he quickly grabbed his head to make the little alicorn look him in the eyes. 

"It doesn't matter. Why would it matter? What does it change?"

Cephaphyr stayed quiet for quite a while, before slowly trying to pull back. "But... You can stop the invasion. Why don't you!?"

"Ceph, I can't do a thing. If I could, I would have long since done so. I am trying my best to grow stronger so I can make a difference!"

"But..."

"Ceph! Tell me, why does it matter?"

"You always knew that there were gods, that they could stop things if they wanted. What does this change? The gods are still there, they still do what they want!"

Cephaphyr took a moment to take this in, as he did his ethereal phantom form started growing more real. 

"Right, they could stop it at any moment! By they never did!" Cephaphyr started fuming in anger, only to quickly calm down as he thought back to the devil attack. 

"It isn't just them though..."

Eldrian waited patiently for Cephaphyr to continue.

"The devils, demons, and monsters! They could all stop this! But they want war... Why? Why?" Cephapyr's voice turned into a whisper, and Eldrian quickly moved to comfort him.

Hugging the little alicorn and combing his mane, Eldrian said, "It is who they are, as we are who we are."

After a moment of silence, Cephaphyr asked, "Your real name is Eldrian?"

"Yes, but my avatar is Haru. It isn't a fake name."

Cephaphyr nodded and didn't say more for now. Taking his time, he tried his best to sort through what he had learned. 

"What now?" He finally asked, Eldrian sighing in relief. Happy that Cephaphyr had come to accept the news, and quite easily at that. 

'The advantage of being young.' Eldrian thought as he stood up. 

"Now... I have no idea. According to your mom, we should have our souls bonded. Maybe... Maybe my soul being in the Mageia Avyssos is a problem?"

"Or..." Cephaphyr paused and immediately turned to look to the right. 

"I see, incredible. You sensed me." A soft female voice said, belonging to Ziraili. "You Mythic Grades are no joke."

"You are one of the... Gods?" Cephaphyr said, failing to recall the term AI as it meant nothing to him and gods just made more sense. 

"I am indeed," A wisp appeared before the two. "Eldrian, the reason this isn't going smoothly is due to the type of connection technique the alicorns are performing."

Eldrian nodded, he already knew it was a unique way of bonding. Ignoring all but Tier.

"The first reason why you are still here is the shock on both of your minds from having momentarily gained access to the other's memories."

Both nodded, having already been aware that this would happen. 

"The other reason is that your soul is different compared to the natives. While all souls are unique, the Chosen are more so. I am afraid you will have to make a sacrifice to have it succeed, or abandon it now."

Suddenly, both received a system notification. 

Cephaphyr was shocked senseless as he saw the prompt before him, while Eldrian was stunned that he could receive this in the Mageia Avyssos. Reading Eldrian's confusion, Ziraili explained. 

"Due to your bonding there is a path to both your souls and bodies, thus I am able to do this. Now quick, decide."

[Eldrian (Human-Chosen-High Elf-Candidate) and Cephaphyr (Mythic Grade Magical Creature-Alicorn) have entered a ritual to have their souls bound. This is not something to be taken lightly, and can never be undone.]

[Unlike a normal taming, this is a mutual bond. You two will be equals and your lives will from now on be forever intertwined.]

[Due to the strength and potential of both, and the uniqueness of a Chosen's soul, you must also have your levels equalize. And then sacrifice 5 levels to finish the bonding.]

[Accept and continue with the bonding, decline and have it cancel.]

Reading this, Eldrian quickly did the match. He was currently level 40, while Cephaphyr was just level 15. Equalizing them would have him drop to level 27 or 28, he assumed the lower one. And then losing 5 more levels...

'No, there is no way that will stop me!' Eldrian quickly shook his head to rid himself of the worries about levels and stats. 

Currently, he had 60 free attributes, but who cared about that? Even if he were to have his attributes weakened or stripped, that was still no reason to abandon the bonding. 

"I accept!" Eldrian said, nearly immediately.

Hearing this, Cephaphyr turned to him in surprise while a warm feeling flooded his heart. 'Eldrian didn't even hesitate, so neither will I!'

"I accept too!"

With their acceptance, their environment changed again. Finding themselves back in their bodies, they both immediately discovered the link between each other.

[Zoe Partner - Cephapyr (Alicorn)]

[As a result of being a Zoe partner, you two will forever be intertwined with each other.]

[Affects:]

[Intertwined: All XP gained shared 50-50, all XP lost shared 100%]

[Call on each other: Through sacrificing 25% of your mana you will be able to call upon the other. If the other accepts, they will sacrifice 50% of their mana to teleport to you. (Does not work in restricted areas, and certain arrays and formations can increase the required mana)]

[Sacrifice: Sacrificing 99% of your stamina, mana, and health, and entering an extremely weakened state for 2 weeks, you will be able to revive your Zoe Partner. Both will also lose 10 levels.]

'Ahhhhh...' Eldrian quickly reread it and still didn't know what to say. He was happy that it seemed like the revival part would work, but the cost of making use of it seems extremely severe. 

The summoning part seemed nice, but not immediately useful. While Eldrian immediately realized that the intertwined meant that gaining levels was going to be far slower forward. Regardless, he didn't care. 

"We did it," Eldrian said with a wide smile, only then realizing that the platform they were standing on was cracked, the crystals dust, and Agamemas and Zamai soaked in sweat and exhausted. 

'What happened?'

{AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN.}1

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