Kyon wrote a note to Diana, letting her know of his transition to the 10th stage, and asking for transformation medicine. He added that he would need supervision during the process, his master would help in everything.

In the afternoon, Diana sent a reply, wis.h.i.+ng him good luck and expressing a desire to spend more time together. She also sent The Rising Chickadee pill of a high (3) quality. It was meant for a successful breakthrough (transformation) to the advanced phase. The Rising Hawk pill, which he had received at a party and which the brazen thief had stolen, was intended for a successful breakthrough to the superior phase. It also had a chance of a successful breakthrough in the n.o.ble phase.

Each transformation pill can be used once in a lifetime, as well as a development acceleration pill. And every medicine of transformation, breakthrough, acceleration has certain limits. For example, if a first-phaser takes a pill for the 4th phase, it will mean death. If a fourth-phaser takes medicine for the 1st phase, there either will be no effect or it might lead to failure and a sudden, uncontrolled kickback.

The value of medicine didn't result from the "one-use-only." It was about something else. Most ingredients that make up the pill tend to grow only in their natural habitat, and the process may take years. Artificial cultivation comes at a cost, therefore, some ingredients can only be found in the wild, which explains the popularity of the herbalist profession.

Besides, high-quality transformation medicine is rarely sold in the markets, because demand is greater than supply. It's usually made to order. The customer provides the alchemist with the ingredients and pays for the manufacture of the pill (very expensive). There is no refund in case of failure (the chance is always high), and the ingredients turn to dust. It's a risky business.

A breakthrough (transformation) into the next phase is the most important test in the life of any pract.i.tioner. Success factors are various: the quality and the stage of development of the unique body, the age, the phase of development, talent, and bloodline... There are thousands of aspects that can affect the success of transformation, and one of the most important factors is the quality of medicine. In rare cases, the transformation can immediately reach the 2nd stage of the next phase. With any luck, the door to the next floor of grandeur and endless opportunities in this world is wide open. In case of failure, the chances of successful transformation decline with each next attempt. The future development of the pract.i.tioner reaches a bottleneck, and no matter how hard they try, they will never rise any higher. This moment always becomes a verdict for ambitious people who are eager to take everything from life. It's especially important for highly developed pract.i.tioners when a single unsuccessful attempt to break into the next phase becomes the end of their entire development. When Kyon was researching material about Empress Lanatelle, he found out that once she tried to transform her soul into the 9th phase but failed. Of course, only few people knew about it. Another example is Flitz who tried to break into the 4th phase but failed because of his age. He didn't have another chance. Any attempt would only lead to losing several stages in development.

Everyone in this world is afraid to hit the ceiling of development, or rather create it with their own hands. Sooner or later, it happens anyway. That's why any high-quality transformation medicine is priceless including the Lightning Strike which is designed to make the transition from the 4th to the 5th phase.

Diana gave Kyon very expensive high-quality medicine. Not every high-ranking Stone can afford this precious pill. It cost Kyon only one letter! He enjoyed dealing with Juno's mother. She was a pleasant woman in all senses of the term including her good looks.

Kyon ordered the guards not to let anyone into his room. He got to the lotus position, closed his eyes and swallowed the pill. Stormy energy rushed into his keys, striving to raise his soul to a new level of existence, to transform it into the next phase. His soul experienced unbearable stress and became almost defenseless. His whole body felt tremendous tension in every cell. It hurt as if his bones were growing at great speed. His mind suffered most of all. He could feel a flock of chickadees with megaphones chirping straight in his ears.

The type of medicine determines which sounds and glitches the brain will experience. It's inevitable. Stress affects the mind and, as a rule, it falls into a meditative state (similar to a coma). Otherwise, the body won't withstand psychological tension, which will lead to collapse. However, Kyon couldn't care less. His mind remained crystal clear like a mountain lake.

During the transformation, the pract.i.tioner becomes extremely vulnerable in the spiritual and mental planes. They cannot be disturbed. Moreover, they become a defenseless target that is easy to kill and even apply a subjugating formation. Therefore, transformation requires privacy and effective protective measures.

Kyon knew that he needed to focus on his soul and help it to reach transformation. The interaction with his soul took place at the level of feelings. Successful connection depended on many factors: talent, willpower, determination, the type of his unique body, the level of his body development, including enzyme boost, and even mere luck...

At the moment, Kyon was trying to break into the second phase, that's why he had about one hundred percent chance of success. With each next phase, the transformation will be more difficult and unbearable. Moreover, it can drag on for many weeks. As for Kyon, it was going to take him a day max.

About 16 hours pa.s.sed. Kyon took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The transformation was more than successful. Moreover, he had entered the 2nd stage of the advanced phase at once! Only every ten-thousandth first phaser can boast of reaching the 2nd stage of the next phase right after the transformation. It all comes down to the talent, body development and the quality of the transformation pill...

Now his soul was able to absorb from the atmosphere the energy of the advanced phase, as well as send spiritual feeling to the brain, aka a sense of "connection." Kyon could intuitively weaken the connection with his soul, thereby reducing his development. The intensity of the soul connection determined the level of his development. Everyone in this world knew how to reduce their development, starting with the 2nd phase.

A soon as Kyon reached the 2nd stage of the next phase, his whole body underwent significant changes. He had become stronger, tougher, more stress-resistant. His elemental energy had significantly improved. It had become more powerful: the fire element was hotter, the water element was more abundant, the earth element was more stable, the pure energy was is denser...

Moreover, his Synergy soared from the advanced to the peak level of Newbie degree (1). Kyon reached the intermediate level when he connected with his soul. He was at the advanced level after he had captured Juno's soul. Finally, he was at the peak level of the first degree! He was about to get the Student's degree... He could operate a larger number of feathered spies and upgrade his vocal cords!.

But the most surprising news was mastering the superior (3) grade of the earth element. The dwarves were so kind as to gift it to Kyon at their first meeting. However, he was expecting to master it in a month or two. It all turned out far better than he antic.i.p.ated!

A lot of inexplicable things happened in this mysterious world.

Emotions have physical power. They can affect the soul, stimulate its development. Other people perceive them as a sixth sense. Emotions can even contact the essence of the world and contribute to mastering new elements (as it happened with Yegorka).

Transformation often grants an active or a pa.s.sive feature. It depends on the bloodline or talent. It can be resistance to elements or a unique technique used at an intuitive level. It also can contribute to enlightenment or mastering new grades/techniques as it was in Kyon's case.

The unique body development (in particular, increasing its rank) often rewards its owner with pa.s.sive or active boons. For example, Tsayan could create golden skin, Lee could turn into a magma golem, and Kaisen could enter the lightning mode.

Kyon was pleased. He smiled slyly, his eyes sparkled. If he tried hard, he could organize the sale of precious stones through the guild of merchants. However, he might get himself into trouble... Human greed knows no limits. Before he knew it, some concerned individuals would come for him.

His eyes flashed with a devilish twinkle. There it was, the crown of strength in his universe! Due to the advantageous structure of carbon atoms, it makes it possible to "mold" matter of any consistency with the necessary properties: flexible, ductile, solid, heat-resistant, impact-resistant...

Carbon lattice can withstand extreme pressure because of its plasticity. When placed under strain, the lattice stretches, distributing the pressure to adjacent sections. It's an impossible task to break the atomic bonds all once. It's one thing to snap a twig, and quite another to break a broom.

Plasticity makes carbon stronger than adamantium. The adamantium bead it will crumble if hit with a hammer, because its atomic lattice isn't plastic enough, unlike stone. The carbon bead will flatten and return to its former shape. At the microscopic scale, adamantium is stronger than carbon but the latter material has an overwhelming advantage in general.

An elevator to s.p.a.ce can be made using a high-quality carbon cable where adamantium totally impractical. These materials have completely different functions. Carbon is universal and ergonomic. It's used everywhere in Lovrs' world while adamantium is just another technological success, fixed in the history of science.

Kyon's joy soon subsided. Why did it take him so long to create a single pathetic bead? This process had consumed a great deal of elemental energy as well. For comparison, he could have created an adamantium rock instead.

He found the answer after endless trials and experiments. The efficiency of the earth element depends on the hardness of the material it creates. Carbon is too plastic and flexible, that's why it takes a thousand or even more times of energy to create it.

This discovery brought Kyon to a disappointing conclusion. He would have to create carbon weapon like a s.h.i.+eld or things like that in advance. It would be impossible to grow a spike in a split second like he did with adamantium. Simply put, he would have create it a few hours before the battle started.

Kyon wasn't too b.u.mmed, though. He would create a carbon sword in advance for constant use. He could always fix any scratches or damage with the help of the earth element. If his development got increased, there would b no need to re-create the sword (with each next stage the rock becomes stronger). Kyon would just have to infuse his sword with the element of earth and it would quickly strengthen up to the new level.

Kyon had long noticed that the strength of the material in this world was multiplied by the density of energy it comprised. The carbon bead created at the 2nd stage of the advanced phase would become much stronger than the bead created on the 1st stage of the first phase. He wondered how strong the carbon weapon would be when he developed, say, to the 10th phase?

Kyon imagined his ideal sword. It was long and straight with a comfortable handle that didn't slip. It had the most effective guard to protect his hand from damage. The sword must be double-edged with no frills so that he could use it with one or two hands. He would defeat anyone with this weapon by all means...

There are certain misconceptions about a two-handed sword. It's considered to be unwieldy, allowing to make only sweeps and chops, effective only at a distance. However, two-handed swords may have many advantages over one-handed weapon.

Kyon had only one concern with the center of ma.s.s. To neutralize this problem, Kyon decided to have his sword charmed for weight in the future. Without the proper weight, his attacks would leave nothing but insignificant scratches.

Kyon knew that charmers could cast only one spell for each object. For example, the sword from the Stones' heritage, the one that the d.a.m.ned thief had stolen, was charmed for strength. His sword wouldn't need it, because only a very powerful and dangerous enemy could break it. Kyon considered a charm for sharpness, but it was pointless if the impact of his attacks would be at minimum. The low ma.s.s of the sword would prevent any deadly attacks even if they were lightning fast. His sword could turn into a formidable weapon if it weighed a couple of tons. Thus, he made his decision to have his sword charmed for weight.

Kyon began to create the sword of his dreams. Bit by bit, he made a carbon stick that to grow layer by layer, forming the outline of the sword...

Eight hours flew by.

Kyon was holding a perfectly smooth black sword made of ultrstrong carbon, which structure was ideal for a bladed weapon. The both sides were sharp. The hand guard was pleasing to the eye. The handle had a perfectly rough surface. The sword didn't burn or conduct electricity! It was an amazing creation fit for the G.o.ds.

Kyon admired the weapon, experiencing the sublime. It was substantially stronger than adamantium. Yegorka had left a noticeable dent on the green sword, but he wouldn't have stood a single chance with this one.

Kyon hid the sword in the ring and decided to find another use for carbon, namely, to introduce it into his body. He had discovered two options: 1) Replace the bones. 2) Replace the skin.

Bone replacement would take more than a month and require the second degree of Synergy. Kyon couldn't implement this idea at the moment, which left him with the second option.

Kyon created a small piece of carbon skin on his palm. It had the same color, plasticity and softness as the original skin. Besides, it had a more delicate structure than the real skin. Simply put, it was a hundred percent a.n.a.log of the natural skin but a thousand times stronger, with low heat conductivity and high electrical resistance. No one who was a phase above Kyon could harm him with electricity. However, he still had to use the isolation barrier against the adversaries who were one and a half phase above him.

In his previous world, they experimented with inorganic skin and quite successfully. That is why Kyon had been toying with this extravagant idea for a long time.

Skin replacement seems like a mad idea at first glance apart from being incredibly complicated, but in fact, everything is much easier. All that Kyon had to do was to replace the layers of the epidermis and dermis with carbon skin, one after the other, consistently and with no surprises. The pores, the glands, the hair, the wrinkles, etc. would remain unchanged. However, he would have to stop some biological processes (such as new skin growth).

Kyon sent his brand new weapon to the family charmer to cast a weight spell. Then he lay on the bed and closed his eyes. Skin replacement was going to take two to three days. It was time to increase the quality of his strength, namely the protection.