Percy was more confused than ever.
His initial understanding of Gallimus was that their Greens had to complete some task to be given their titan’s Decree. That would grant them a domain – or a weaker version of one – ahead of time. It wouldn’t necessarily be very useful before their advancement, but it would turn them into stronger Blues down the line.
According to Duwa, this wasn’t quite right, however.
Not only were their Greens somehow capable of awakening their domain without the Decree, this was exactly the requirement for obtaining Obatala’s Approval. Leaving aside the difficulty of the trial, that only begged another question – what did the Decree actually do?
Noticing his inner turmoil, the boy sighed.
‘I don’t understand this stuff that much better than you, so I’ll just repeat my father’s explanation. Long story short, domains are highly personal. Gods and titans might be able to give us things like blessings or bloodlines, but nobody can grant us a domain. That’s something we have to produce by ourselves.’
‘So, is this not exclusive to Gallimus? Are you saying that every Green in the universe can awaken their domain with enough effort?’
Duwa nodded.
‘Yes, but it wouldn’t be very useful for most of them. That’s where Obatala’s Approval comes into play. It can’t give you a domain, but it can lock your domain in its strongest state. That’s typically the only way for a Green to retain and enhance it during their advancement.’
‘I’m not sure I’m following…’ Percy replied, scratching his head.
He wasn’t a complete stranger to domains. One of his other clones had already manifested one in Elaine’s body, so Percy had had a chance to play with it extensively. He didn’t have the corresponding memories, since his cousin’s clone had yet to return by the time this one had left for Gallimus.
Still, the two sides had communicated a lot over the last couple of months, so Percy understood the elusive ability much better than he had in the past. Nothing he had experienced would suggest that a domain’s strength fluctuated and had to be “locked in its strongest state”.
His host scanned their surroundings, his gaze eventually settling on a rocky protrusion in the distance. Slowly making his way toward it, Duwa remained silent for a few minutes, seemingly gathering his thoughts. Only when he took a seat on the boulder did the child resume his explanation.
‘You can think of a domain as a large, metallic gate that wants to remain shut. In this analogy, a Blue would be like a burly adult. They are more than strong enough to open the gate with ease, and to keep it open for as long as they want, without worrying that it’ll slam in their face.’
‘What about a Green then?’ Percy asked.
Duwa shrugged.
‘They’re like a toddler. The gate wasn’t built for them in the first place, so it would be exceedingly difficult for them to pry it open for even a moment. But not impossible. What if the toddler keeps ramming into the gate over and over again, using every muscle in their body? Perhaps, they’ll get lucky after ten attempts. Or a hundred. Or a thousand. With enough patience and persistence, the gate will budge.’
Percy nodded, picturing the example vividly.
‘Is there a point to doing that though?’
‘Normally, no,’ Duwa conceded. ‘First of all, it’s highly unreliable. Nobody in their right mind would try to use this in a fight. Your opponent won’t let you try your moves a thousand times on them. Even if it was more consistent than that, a Green’s domain is laughably weak. Going back to the analogy, the opening wouldn’t be wide enough to even let the toddler through. They’re better off relying on their mana instead...’
‘But that’s not the point. You just want the gate to be open at the moment of your promotion,’ Percy realized.
‘Exactly. Ultimately, you can think of Obatala’s Approval as a wedge. The effort to open the gate for the first time has to come from the toddler. But once they get there, the titan’s magic keeps the gate from closing. It still won’t make the opening any wider, but it guarantees the toddler will… have to put less effort when they grow up? Allowing them to… open a bigger gate? Okay, I guess that’s where the analogy falls apart. But you get what I mean.’
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‘Yeah…’ Percy muttered.
Tearing a small branch off the nearest bush, he played with it in his hand, snapping its thorns one by one with his thumb as his mind raced with ideas. The boy didn’t disturb him either.
‘Domains are powerful, but they’re also so much more than just weapons for Blues and Violets to wield…’
According to Nephthys and Zoris, domains were one of the cornerstones of a deity’s internal world – along with their cores. Percy could hardly imagine what an empowered domain might mean for his eventual ascension to godhood. Of course, he had yet to even earn the Decree, and he was over a century away from Green – let alone Blue or divinity. Still, daydreaming never hurt anyone, and foundations had to be laid early…
His host’s explanation had raised even more questions, however. If a Green could tap into their domain a full grade ahead of time, how would other things like second cores or boosting arts enter into the equation? Would they make it easier to unlock the ability?
Elaine’s domain had clearly been affected by both Circulation and her second Green core. Even though she hadn’t tried to awaken it before Blue, she had still been powerful enough to hold four Blues back not long after her promotion.
What about Nesha or Micky who had not only a Green core like Duwa, but also a Yellow core in their abdomen, and multiple instances of Circulation? They should be even closer to their domain than Percy’s current host, shouldn’t they? The only reason they hadn’t tapped into it was because they hadn’t even known it was possible. What if their second cores reached Green too? What if they upgraded their boosting arts into the Dance?
Percy was probably farther behind than his companions. Even though he was arguably stronger than either of them, he had surpassed them with skill and the sheer quantity of his mana, not its quality. His actual grade was twice removed from Blues, so he was willing to bet that he wouldn’t even qualify as a toddler in Duwa’s analogy.
But what if he did?
Could he enhance his domain twice more? First at Green, and then at Blue again? Or maybe four times in total – with each of his core’s individual advancements? And would he be able to help his companions grow stronger too, through his clones?
It probably wouldn’t be that good. Even if he could cheat like this, he was bound to run into diminishing returns fairly quickly. But even a single boost had made a noticeable difference to the Gallimians’ souls – enough for Percy to tell from afar.
Regardless, all of this would need to be thoroughly tested.
‘Well, let’s get the Decree first, before worrying about any of that. I’ll have a lifetime to explore its effects, assuming I can bring it back to Remior…’
Percy shifted his attention back to the boy, who had courteously waited for him to finish thinking about the subject.
‘So how are you meant to do this?’
‘It’s ultimately just a question of effort and consistency, but my people have discovered a few tricks that help.’
‘Such as?’
‘Enduring hardship – in all its forms – is the fastest way to hone our wills. Ironically, it’s the one thing that we have in spades thanks to our planet’s harsh climate. The gravity… the heat… the hunger… the weather… every little bit brings us a step closer to awakening our domains. The impact they have is minimal, but we only need a momentary spike in our willpower to earn the Approval. Perhaps, it isn’t an accident that Obatala chose this method to bolster our strength.’
Percy frowned, thinking of something else.
‘Is that why you don’t carry any supplies or spatial devices with you? To make things even harder?’
‘Partly. But there’s another reason. We don’t use magic, because we need to suppress our instinct to rely on our mana. How can we expect to draw our latent domain out if our first reaction is to hurl fireballs at our problems? At the same time, we’ve learned that the easiest way for a Green to manifest their willpower is to peel it off their mana.’
‘I’m guessing that’s what you were trying to do against the centipedes?’ Percy asked, getting a nod back.
It wasn’t very surprising. Blues didn’t need to go through so many hoops, as they had a lot more control over their willpower – they could just manifest it directly. Greens, on the other hand, couldn’t even perceive it easily. The simplest way for them to access it, was to extract it from their mana. After all, their cores passively attached their willpower to the substance as they converted the ambient mana to their own.
‘To sum this up, your job is to go around fighting Yellow beasts with your bare hands, enduring countless hardships while trying to separate your willpower from your mana? Until you get lucky enough to manifest a short-lived domain?’
‘Pretty much.’
Percy nodded. Should Duwa succeed, there was a chance he would also receive the Decree, but he didn’t want to leave that up to chance. Or at least, he would rather raise his odds as much as possible. Thanks to his time with his cousin, he knew that two people inhabiting the same body could manifest separate domains. This definitely applied to Blues, but he saw no reason why it wouldn’t apply to Greens too.
‘Starting today, I’ll be working on the challenge alongside you. I’ll try not to interfere with your control over your body, but I’ll be going through the same hardships as you, and working to draw some of my own willpower out of your mana. If we time this correctly, we might be more likely to get two copies of the Approval.’