1269: Variables

Variables

This wasn't just a small change, it was huge. However, Ryu's reaction wasn't greatly exaggerated. His vision was further, and though he saw the benefits of this matter, he also immediately saw the potential downsides.1

What did it really mean to be separated from Faith? Would the talents of his Bloodlines still carry the same power? What about their deterrence toward and pressure upon other Bloodlines? What about their cultivation methods? Would the same methods still work or would he have to create all new ones? How much would he be able to decide about them from now on? And how much of this freedom was good freedom rather than being left with a bevy of too many choices?

One might think that this freedom was a good thing, but having too many choices was just as bad as having too little. There was a reason that the best method of cultivation was to fuse all of one's talents into a single powerful path, often that was what a Dao represented in the first place.

Usually, even when well established matters were inconvenient, there was a reason that things had evolved as they did. When you started arbitrarily picking and choosing, randomly shifting and changing things, you would cause more issues than solutions.

Ryu faced such a situation now. It was annoying that his Bloodlines clashed, but it was also a reminder that they weren't perfectly designed to be synergized in the first place. It was akin to the feeling of pain. Feeling pain seemed annoying and like something one would intuitively want to get rid of, but those who couldn't feel pain were constantly in true danger of dying without even being aware.

Much the same, the clashing of Ryu's Bloodlines was a reminder to him of the issues of their coexistence. Of course, it wouldn't be as exaggerated as him dying without knowing what happened, but what could happen is his Bloodlines weakening without his knowledge. If he fitted them together inappropriately, they would shave at the sharp edges of one another, effectively dulling their blades overall.

This was the problem with unlimited freedom, but Ryu was still calm after realizing this as well. He was a Herbologist, he was very much used to using the characteristics, often very complex characteristics and wildly variable ones, to force the best outcomes. Compared to this, his body was an even easier canvas to work on because rather than dealing with the variability of the environment, his body was a closed system entirely under his control.

In addition, though his Bloodlines could now exist without the original chains of their Faith, that didn't mean that The Compendium had become useless, because the separation only function within his body and under the presence of his Bone Structure. He could still pull his blood out of his body and allow it to reconnect with the Faith of the world in that way. In fact, this would be a useful way of testing his progress.

Even so, Ryu knew that he had to be quite cautious from now on. He could very easily steer down the wrong path now if he wasn't careful. In fact, it was even possible that, if he wasn't cautious enough, he might accidentally erase one of his Bloodlines. This would happen if he strengthened one too much more than another, or in any number of other situations.

'Maybe I should just…?'

Ryu hesitated.

In his strongest state, he fused all of his Bloodlines into one, activating them in unison. He had only done it once before in battle when he faced off against Starlight. He had felt exceptionally powerful back then, but it took up a great deal of Focus.

Now, thanks to his Origin Flame, it would take up less Focus Qi to enter that state and he could maintain it for far longer despite the fact his Bloodlines had become much stronger since then. However, if he fused all his Bloodlines into one right this moment and formed a Draco-Phoenix Bloodline, the difficulty in entering this state would probably vanish.

In truth, the difficulty now was already greatly minimized thanks to his Bone Structure alone. But taking this step would make that incredibly powerful state his default, it would also minimize the risk of taking the wrong path in the future. And, of course, this fusion was only possible thanks to the absence of Faith pulling them apart and resisting. But for the same reasons it benefited, it was highly risky as well.

It was hard to simulate what would happen if he did this. What would happen to his ice and fire talents? How would the Death Qi of his Dark Phoenix Blood match with the Life Qi of his Ice Phoenix? What about the Emperor characteristics of his Lightning Qilin, Fire Dragon and Emperor Phoenix Bloodlines? Would they fuse together, becoming even stronger? Or would their different characteristics cancel each other out, stripping him their power entirely?

Would he still be able to access his Heavenly Patterns? What about his other talents? Would they evolve? Would they be dissolved? Would they fuse and become all new talents he had to unlock once again? Or would they all be available to him instantly?

The number of variables were far too numerous and Leonel's current Dao didn't seem capable of parsing them all. There were too many and it seemed that even his Founding Dao had reached its limits.

Ryu shook his head. He felt that it would be far too reckless to take such a step until his Dao was powerful enough to cover its entire scope. Although the shackles of his Bloodlines had been loosened, their history, namely all of the evolutions they had undergone through the years, along with his own unique genetics, had not disappeared at all. That length of history was too much to account for, especially when it was the histories of all five of some of the most powerful Bloodlines in all of existence.

Ryu's gaze suddenly flickered as he thought of something.

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