Ball of Nothing

Zero returned to the tower after a quick visit to the Natural Plane using his mindscape projection and the first thing he did after returning was to look for Sylvia. He had a way to stabilise the suffering soul and wanted to nourish it a little more before he took the rest of the day off to figure out a way to create a soul glue using the chaos fragments.

Sylvia looked unsure when Zero mentioned he was going to improve Baku's soul state for a while.

"It's a temporary relief for now but better than nothing. I will do the purification ceremony after I confirm a few more things. As we speak, I am testing out the new soul operation and transfer techniques. If things go right, Baku will be able to have a body very soon and not just have her soul repaired. Although I must warn you that there are heavy consequences that you must pay for Baku's new vessel..."

The solemn tone made Sylvia worried but she did not waver. "If Baku can truly be safe and have a vessel that wouldn't reject her soul, I would give even my body. If you require my soul to fix hers then I will give it too."

Zero quickly shook his head. "Nothing of that sort! It's just that the appearance might not be very desirable... would you still be able to accept that if Baku is handicapped or disfigured?"

Sylvia blinked. "Is that it? As long as the body doesn't reject Baku's soul, I can deal with everything else. Our part replacement techniques in the U.N.U. are very advanced. I'm sure with some medical procedures Baku will be able to lead a normal and functioning life."

Her answer made Zero silent for a while. Sylvia was still very positive about things but Zero didn't want her to have her expectations too high. "What if it cannot be done? As a sylph, you should know the order of life and how vessels are chosen for the souls they host. Baku's soul is too damaged. Even if I can repair it, Baku can never become human-like or even an animal again."

Sylvia was silent. Indeed, she knew the rules of reincarnation for souls. If Baku's soul was truly too damaged for a proper vessel after reincarnation of salvaging, she could only become a spirit in the natural Plane or a low lifeform like a plant.

"As long as I can be together with Baku for as long as I can, I will still accept and love her in any vessel. It doesn't matter if she turns into algae or a blade of grass, I will take very good care of her. The part trading was merely to make a perfect vessel that wouldn't reject my child. Baku wasn't particularly good-looking in her original body even if she was cute when she transformed. However, how she looked wouldn't matter to me. Her kind heart is what matters the most. Baku brought a lot of joy to Jynx's and my life, I cannot do without her."

Zero didn't sense any lies in Sylvia's words and smiled. "You said it yourself. If I manage to find Baku a perfect vessel that wouldn't reject her, you must be responsible for her until the very end. That's the duty of a mother. It's a very heavy responsibility."

The Great Sylph smiled. "No responsibility is too great for me when it concerns my child. I'd rather be crushed under the mountain of responsibilities than suffer a broken heart of parting with her. I did her wrong previously, I was a terrible mother. I only wish to ask for her forgiveness and shower her with the love that I failed to deliver in her last life."

Satisfied with Sylvia's answer, Zero taught her how to care for the unstable soul.

"Don't use mana," he told her. "It will only inspire corruption to fester quicker. I'm going to be using qi to keep the soul peaceful and stable. It should nourish the weak soul with life energy to hold itself together while I'm gone. I need to leave for a while to do some research. If something happens to Baku's soul like the corruption spreading quickly, find Bob quickly."

As a precaution, Zero told Bob to use his time-freezing magic on Baku's soul if something bad happened. He should be able to hold up for a day and Zero promised that he will return after one day in the mindscape. He left a word for Truen as well and without delay, Zero quickly left Sylvia's lab to retreat into the lamp while Bob held onto it faithfully.

The first thing Zero did in the mindscape with Lily and Wii's help was to withdraw the captured souls. Cleo passed them several fruits harvested from plants that she grew in different stages and Zero couldn't be happier that all his mindscape assistants were fairies who could aid in growing plants.

For his first test, Zero used the same kind of seed but grew them differently. With his left hand, Zero used qi to accelerate the growth while with his right hand, he used life magic to accelerate the seed's growth. The results were interesting. The seed grown with qi started to develop a golden core in its soul while the seed grown with life magic that was a combination of light attribute and healing magic started changing structurally.

Once the two seeds became small bushes, Zero stopped the acceleration and examined the souls. The seed grown with qi nourishment was able to absorb nature's energy to store it within its soul and if given enough time, it would develop a higher state of intelligence with the evolution of its soul. It could become a demon and with enough time, a human and finally a god.

On the other hand, the ordinary seed that Zero used life magic to grow transformed into a healing herb full of mana in its weak chakra network along the stem and leaf veins. Its properties were affected by the mana it was doused with but nothing happened to its soul. The soul was still the same as before and Zero quickly drew his conclusions.

The physical vessel was strengthened with mana while the soul was strengthened by qi. Now, the only question he had left was what he should be doing to fuse a soul into a vessel.

"Lily, bring me the mana lotus. I need a new seed from the pod, don't extract it yet. Wii, get me the soul on the right. We're going to start the soul fusion operation."