No. No fucking way.

I’m looking at the same thing you are. I don’t think we’re wrong this time.

The last few tests had been grueling as Caeden and the researcher ground through all the data they’d collected. When Caeden had left the soul plane last time, most of his memories of his work with the researcher had disappeared, leaving vague echoes. After a while, those memories had come back to him. That, along with the additional data the researcher had gathered in the intervening time‒a truly absurd amount of information‒had led to them making massive headway in the beginning.

That had stalled out recently. Their understanding of Caeden’s soul was nearly perfect at this point, but all their attempts to establish what was holding back his complete integration had hit a wall. The researcher had a method of producing a model of Caeden’s soul and allowing them to run through the steps of whatever procedure they’d managed to piece together.

Every single model had failed. Over and over, Caeden watched the process either fail to start or complete with catastrophic consequences. He’d found himself immensely grateful that he didn’t have to figure this out on his own because three of every four models violently destroyed themselves when activated.

So, after watching a scale model of his soul explode several hundred times, Caeden had become‒understandably‒frustrated. And more than a little nauseous. He had just watched the equivalent of his own violent, soul-rending death over and over again.

What’s so hard about this? He’d yelled. Unshrouded gods, it’s literally easier to fucking evolve shrouds than doing this crap!

…Wait. Waitwaitwait. Caeden watched as the researcher began furiously pulling up dozens of previous models, flipping between them at a rapid pace. Oh, that makes so much sense.

What? What did you find?

Part of the problem we’ve been running into is that your shroud is lacking some of the raw power it normally would.

Right. They’d figured that out a long time ago. It was one of the reasons Caeden’s manifestations were so flimsy compared to others.

This whole time, we’ve been trying to work around that fact because there’s no real good solution for mitigating the power difference. I mean, the whole weakness is symptomatic of your soul’s infantile form. You would have naturally overcome the lack of power once the integration was complete.

Where are you going with this?

I just reviewed our closest models, and over half failed because they lacked the raw power to finalize the transition.

Yes, I remember. The whole ‘chicken and the egg’ thing you were talking about. We need to finish the integration to get more power, but we need more power to finish the integration. I thought we abandoned that approach for that exact reason. It’s a non-starter.

It was a non-starter, but I just realized. What about Physical Enhancement? It’s already capable of providing power to other shrouds through the Throne. Enough to push those shrouds through evolution. We might be able to construct a methodology that could pull enough power from it to make up the difference.

I don’t know…Messing with Physical Enhancement as it is feels like a perfect one-way ticket to destroying the Starry Sea. What’s the likelihood that it just causes a rupture?

What followed was a series of tests that included Caeden’s second shroud, shades of gold and purple mixing with the red of Sharp as they tried to pull just enough power to jump-start the final integration. It…didn’t go well. The process lacked stability and was prone to collapsing partway through the energy transfer. More than once, the models showed the process creating a backlash when it failed, rupturing Physical Enhancement and ending the Starry Sea as the Ki enhanced itself, consuming all Ki it encountered and transforming the entire universe into an endless wave of raw power.

It just lacks the inherent stability of the evolution process. We’re forcing both shrouds to undergo a process they aren’t naturally capable of, and the conflict is causing constant knock-on effects that cascade into a critical failure. Caeden stared at the most recent model in frustration. This one had also ended in an unstoppable wave of destruction.

Hey, now, no need to be so pessimistic. We’re actually getting somewhere with this. We just need to refine the process, remove all the rough edges. At least the principles we’re working with here are sound. Unlike the previous models, the fundamentals of this path work out. Our theory is correct; we’re just running into problems on the practical side.

…True. Caeden admitted. I just feel like we’re beating our heads against the wall until it breaks.

Sometimes that’s what’s required. Not everything has an easy, straightforward path to the end. It’s not like we could just evolve Sharp and call it a day. The researcher laughed. It would be nice if things always worked out that easily, but they rarely do.

Caeden felt like someone had just dropped the Hearthhome on his head.

Why can’t we?

Why can’t we what?

Why can’t we just evolve Sharp? Caeden felt his mind racing a million miles a minute. Did we ever even model that? Why wouldn’t it work?

Of course, that wouldn’t work. The researcher scoffed. Obviously, we checked that; you just forgot. It’s not like I overlooked such a simple answer. Here let me pull it up.

…

…

Well?

Hold on a minute!

…We didn’t even check, did we?

…

It would solve the instability issue. In fact, it would probably automatically complete the integration if our previous models are any indication. The process of integration and evolution are fundamentally similar.

I can’t believe it. We never even tried. Hold on, let me run a model.

And that led up to this moment, where Caeden and the researcher were both staring at a working model of Caeden’s integrated, evolved shroud.

No. No fucking way.

I’m looking at the same thing you are. I don’t think we’re wrong this time.

I’m so pissed right now. Ugh, the answer is so obvious now that I think about it. You were absolutely right; the integration and evolution processes are very similar. Suspiciously similar. I never ran a side-by-side comparison before, so the comparison never occurred to me.

Now I’m wondering whether or not evolution might be considered something of a second integration, the shroud moving even closer in line with the soul it’s attached to. That might explain several things I’ve noticed previously…

Hey, focus on the current problem. Caeden caught the researcher drifting toward another topic. For an ancient extradimensional entity, he could be surprisingly scatterbrained and easily distracted. Perhaps that was the way he’d reacted to his immortality. He simply didn’t care what occupied his time since he had so much of it. Either way, Caeden wasn’t immortal, even if time didn’t really pass the same way here on the soul plane. He didn’t want to stay here forever.

Right, sorry.

So, what are we going to do? It worked, but we don’t exactly have any guarantees. This seems risky. Caeden stared at the model. Unlike previous iterations, it was vague and hazy, with portions of it completely missing. The system the researcher was using indicated it had succeeded, but it couldn’t extrapolate the results of Sharp’s evolution because the researcher didn’t have a complete understanding of how shroud evolutions actually worked.

Oh, no need to worry about that. I haven’t been able to make a model yet that can predict the domain outcome of a shroud evolution, so the missing portions of the model are that. The structural and integration-related portions are modeled correctly, and that’s what we’re actually worried about. You’ll get a new domain, but you’ll just have to find out what that is along the way like everyone else.

Yeah, I figured that part out. While it would be nice to know what I’ll get ahead of time, my concern is that the domain might interfere with the integration process.

Hmm, let me run a few models with various domains in place of the result section. I don’t think we’ll have any problems since the integration should finish before the evolution resolves, but it doesn’t hurt to check.

They watched as model after model resolved without issue. It seemed that the researcher was right. Caeden’s soul integrated with his shroud before it finished evolving, so the portion they were concerned about was already stable by the time a new domain could affect anything.

So, I guess I should get started.

Yes. I’ll kick you out of the soul plane in a moment. Don’t do the evolution in the CMS room; it could interfere with the process. Just head over next door.

Are you sure we shouldn’t do it here?

Caeden, you can’t control your body or shroud while you’re here. At least, not the physical aspect of your shroud, which you need to manifest to evolve. You literally can’t do it here.

I was just hoping to have you on hand in case anything went wrong.

Trust me; I get it. If I could, I would. But you’re just going to have to do this on your own. After you’re done, come back, and we’ll do a review. I’m going to have to make some adjustments to Forged Infinity depending on what domain you end up with, so at least that’s going to have to change. And your soul is going to need some work after you do another evolution.

Right. See you in a minute, I guess. Caeden was glad they’d assessed the soul damage before he had to go through with this. Funnily enough, since he’d be integrating one of his shrouds and subsequently vastly strengthening his soul, the amount of damage to Physical Enhancement would be way less than when he evolved Erik’s shroud.

A moment later, Caeden was back in his body. Taking a deep breath and shaking himself out, he once again noted his memories of the soul plane rapidly fading and losing detail. He still remembered the major parts that were firmly fixed in his mind, like what he had to do and how they’d reached that conclusion. But the tens of thousands of failed tests and all the knowledge and insight he’d gained along with them disappeared like fog on a sunny day.

Taking a moment to center himself and adjust to being back in his body, Caeden nodded at the CMS before stepping out of the room into the adjacent storage chamber. Going to the Hearthhome wasn’t happening until he’d finished, as the ‘portal shock,’ as the researcher called it, could cause some minor soul damage from using it in rapid succession. After all, on the material plane, Caeden had only been at the CMS station for roughly ten minutes.

Looking at all the stacked crates, Caeden sat down with his legs crossed, assuming his standard meditation position. Shroud flowed down both his arms, red for his left and purple and gold for his right. It traced over his skin on the left side, hovering just above his flesh, while along the right, it sunk in, becoming a part of his body.

Moments later, his sigils manifested. A knife constantly dripping blood formed over his left hand, while a golden throne with plush purple cushions appeared on the back of his right. Caeden sighed. If he could have avoided it, he probably wouldn’t have evolved Sharp. He was extremely proficient with it, and learning a new domain was not at the top of his list of things to do in the middle of a tournament where many eyes were on him.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice unless he was willing to put everything he knew and loved at risk. So, he would follow through. He was hoping to have an opportunity like Cat’s and keep Sharp around as a splinter of his new shroud. He’d built it up, lived with it for his whole life. It would be a shame to lose it now.

Taking another deep, calming breath followed by a slow and steady exhale, Caeden centered himself. Following the actions he’d taken a total of three times now, the knife and throne drifted toward each other. The throne peeled off his skin, beginning to float in the air. Finally, the two met right in front of him.

Previously, Caeden had felt an overwhelming power surge through Physical Enhancement, flooding the other shroud as it shifted and changed. But he had only ever felt that one side of things. Never had he experienced receiving that energy. Let alone the outburst and onrush at the same time.

Immense bands of purple and gold flowed out of him, only to return as chaotic strands of surging red. The power mounted and mounted, subsuming his mind in the flow. Caeden could barely think through the intense sensation of so much raw energy simultaneously entering and leaving him.

He might have been concerned, considering just how intense it all was. But the researcher had already informed him of this, and he’d seen it in the models. This part of the process was natural for a Throne and evolving shroud, and he had no input on what happened. He was just along for the ride.

The two sigils in front of him began to glow in their respective colors, the brightness mounting ever higher until Caeden was forced to close his eyes. He could feel his retinas burning as obscene amounts of light pierced through the inadequate layer of skin.

Ever more power rushed through him, and Caeden finally felt his moment come. On a soul-deep level, he felt Sharp begin to shift, becoming something else. And in that moment, he felt exactly what Cat had described. As his old domain began to dissolve, he felt it reach out, and Caeden reached along with it, pulling Sharp through the storm and tying it to what his shroud was becoming.

Internally sighing with relief as his biggest worry was handled, Caeden simply let the rest of the process wash over him, not really caring what domain came out of it. He still had Sharp, and that was all that mattered to him.

Along with the evolution, Caeden could feel the fundamental shift he was undergoing. It was a comfortable, warm sensation, like a long hug with a loved one or the feeling he got after finishing a long forging project. Fulfillment and contentment, and completion all in one. His soul was finally becoming what it was always supposed to be, rather than the equivalent of an embryo.

With that sensation was an upwell of strength. Unlike the massive forces pouring through him, this source felt far more personal. Caeden could perceive his soul becoming more robust, overflowing with vitality. At the same time, he could feel the damage from the evolution process ripping into him in this brief moment where he could perceive his soul in detail with the CMS’s assistance. It was painful but not nearly as bad as Caeden might have feared.

Finally, all the forces acting on him faded away, and Caeden felt a strong wave of lethargy. This, too, was expected. Cycling that much power was bound to come with a cost and Caeden was exhausted. His perception of his soul faded, and the sense of strength went with it.

Slowly, Caeden forced his eyes open despite his urge to just lay back on the metal floor and take a nap. He wasn’t nearly as curious about his new domain as he probably should be, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care that much. Learning a whole new domain felt like more of a hassle than it was worth right now, one of the main reasons Caeden hadn’t pursued getting a splinter.

Looking, Caeden couldn’t help but laugh, every ounce of tiredness echoing in the sound. “You’ve got to be shitting me. No way.”

His own thoughts were proven true. He should have been more curious.

Before him floated the gold and purple throne of Physical Enhancement. Right next to it was another one. A steely throne with cushions patterned in blues and reds and oranges with hints of green like all the colors of a forge fire. The arms and back of the throne were modeled after swords, axes, spears, knives, and every other cutting implement known to man. The whole thing came together in the image of a sinuous dragon flowing up from the tail at the base of the throne to its horns and fangs resting atop the throne’s back.

“Another throne. Seriously.” Caeden could only shake his head in astonishment. He had imagined a few results, but never this.

“What are you?” he stared at the shroud sigil, waiting only a moment before the answer blared into his mind.

Blade Forge.