Chapter 3923: Countdown (Part 2) ’I don’t need your thanks, child.’ She replied with a smile. ’I need your help. Now get back to work.’ The group of Healers consolidated five more gray stars during the third session of the procedure and ten more during the fourth. The connection between the fragments and the main life force, coupled with its constant evolution, allowed the next fragments to transform into more gray stars faster and faster until taking a break was no longer an option. Baba Yaga had to consume her breathing technique to replenish the strength of the other Healers, often giving more Spirit Magic to Lith than to the newborn gray star. Once the emerald tanks in the Elemental Storage ran out, she gifted him her own life force through careful, slow infusions via his Abomination touch. The vitality she lost in the process would have reduced many Divine Beasts to empty husks, but she could afford it. ’I’d say our work is almost finished.’ The Red Mother said after they cut another unstable fragment and the healthy life force pulled itself together, assimilating what was left of the damaged areas. ’The problem is the almost. We are not done yet.’ Zoreth’s life force now looked like a massive gray star containing a gemstone almost as big that was wrapped in a thick bundle of threads. Smaller gray stars formed a circle around the main life force and were connected to it through the threads of the human aspects. ’The countdown has increased by a few days, but it’s still ticking.’ Tista pondered. ’What are we missing?’ ’A lot of things.’ Faluel said. ’This is nothing like any Divine Beast life force I’ve ever seen. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. We don’t have to complete the Master’s work, only ensure that Xenagrosh can have a normal life. ’She’s supposed to be part Dragon, so what do you say if we rearrange the gray stars to form a constellation similar to Lith’s?’ ’Good idea, but it won’t work.’ Tista said. ’My Divine Beast side is a Bloodwind Phoenix and looks nothing like Lith’s Voidfeather Dragon. It’s likely that Zoreth’s Dragon form will be just as different.’ ’Maybe, but if you have a better solution, I’m open to suggestions.’ Faluel replied. ’You are both right, but also wrong.’ Baba Yaga said. ’There is no right answer, so we won’t look for one. We’ll let Zoreth find her own answer. Watch and learn.’ She focused the energy accumulated inside the Hands of Menadion into small forceps that she used to move the small gray stars around one at a time until the perfect ring surrounding the massive star had turned into a jumbled mess. ’Why did you do that?’ Solus looked at the plummeting countdown in worry. ’You should have moved the second star once the first had found its position. You made everything worse.’ ’That’s the whole point, Solus.’ Baba Yaga shook her head. ’The previous arrangement was perfect to our eyes, but not good for Zoreth. We positioned the gray stars where we wanted, not where they needed to be. ’If I did as you suggest, the repulsion between the stars would have kept them from finding their rightful place. The stars can find their right position exactly because I did such a terrible job. You should trust me and your mother’s work more.’ ’What do you- Damn, Malyshka, you are right.’ Solus slapped her own forehead. ’I forgot about the Ears and the Skull.’ The mana flows of the now drifting stars were chaotic, but Baba Yaga could read them all with the Skull and identify the paths leading to the least repulsion between neighboring stars. Yet the Red Mother was wise and expert enough not to trust something so simple. She nudged the various stars along what she assumed was the right trajectory, but didn’t force them on it. She let the gray stars free to roam at a safe distance from the massive star and find the position that suited them the most. As the gray stars shifted around, the countdown regained the lost time, even stopping its advance for a few seconds at a time. The process took much longer than the rest of the procedure, but there was little the Healers could do. The constant vigilance consumed much of their focus and little of their strength, giving their bodies time to recover. After a few hours, the gray stars had rearranged themselves in a constellation depicting a rearing dragon with unfurled wings. In that form, not only did the Chaos and Decay in each star reach perfect balance, but the energy flowing from and into the massive star became seamless. The pushing and pulling between the troll and Eldritch life forces was over. The new configuration kept them in a steady position with no strain on the human aspect. The threads connecting the massive star with the auxiliary ones held the constellation together and allowed the different parts to move in unison. The human aspect had become compatible with the troll side and prevented the Eldritch side from rejecting it. The threads also redistributed the energy among the stars when necessary, constantly feeding Chaos to the Decay and vice versa. ’This is not the end of Zoreth’s evolutionary branch, but it’s the end of our work.’ Baba Yaga pointed at the countdown increasing of days, weeks, months, and then centuries until it disappeared. ’We didn’t give her a perfect life force, we just made her a better hybrid.’ ’Seems good to me.’ Lith pondered. ’Look better, child.’ She replied. ’In your life force, the threads of your human aspect connect the auxiliary stars between them, not just with the main one. This way, the entire structure rests on one element of the life force. ’If something happens to the massive gray star in Zoreth’s current life force, the rest will fall apart and she’ll die. In your case, instead, the auxiliary stars protect each other and the massive star. ’If something happens to any part of your life force, even the massive star, as long as the rest is intact, the galaxy can recover. It’s a big difference.’ ’Indeed.’ Lith nodded. ’Thank you for your teachings, Yaga. We-’ The changes in Zoreth’s life force became more stable and significant the longer she rested, and the Infirmary provided her with the ideal conditions for her recovery. It was the reason her mana cores reacted and adapted to her new life force so soon and cut Lith short. The Infirmary displayed the black and troll cores moving toward each other, attempting to merge into one. The Master’s experiments had brought the two cores close, but until that moment, Zoreth needed effort to harmonize their mana flows and make them overlap. The phenomenon granted her great strength, but lasted a handful of seconds and took such a great toll on her body that she had to rest for hours to recover. Now, instead, the mana flows of the two fallen cores synchronized with no effort on her side. The readings of the Infirmary spiked, showing a constant increase in Zoreth’s aura as the phenomenon progressed. A flash of golden, black, green, and white light erupted from the Shadow Dragon’s floating form and filled the crystal tank, nearly overloading the pieces of the Menadion Set.