Three months ago, I headed straight from Hangzhou to my girls to calm them and give them gifts. After buying the missing souls for a full set, I presented them to Jiao Jiao as a gift, boosting her Wind Element by another step.
For TuTu, I picked a talent for enhancing Light Element defense. Didn't take long to find it—the guy who had it was studying right in Mingzhu. And no worry about exposure; this talent could pass as a side effect from an absorbed Seed. Went over well as a gift and fit her future fighting style. Two birds with one stone.
After meeting me, the girls grabbed Ling Ling again and left to do missions, while I went to Gu Daiyu to deliver the promised Totem Serpent poison samples, and I also brought its shed skin from molting. I remembered it had good poison element resistance. Could make great protective gear for experiments with highly toxic substances.
That's how I spent the next two months, alternating constant experiments with my teacher, cultivation, training with Luo Mian, periodic loot collection in other worlds, and even workouts with Master Mo Shu. Had to give the old man our improved technique version with Luo Mian. He was very grateful, managing to break through to Mid Warlord body strength level thanks to it.
Meaning, with his combat skills, he'd turn a Silver Sky Sovereign into mush without batting an eye. Without using magic! And he's only at Semi-Sealing level. Man, I'm leaning more toward giving him a Land Fruit in the future. If he's still alive by the end of our research with Gu Daiyu, maybe we can even rejuvenate him, but that's far-off future stuff.
Two months later, during another meetup with my girls in Mingzhu when they came home to rest from missions, I saw her—Ding Yumian! The world's most talented Spirit Element mage, possessor of the Magical Calamity talent in that element, and most importantly—an ideal research subject!
Studying this girl's development from start to finish could reveal a way to break through the tenth spiritual boundary! A full one! Not granted by some artifact, but fully your own—something no mage in the world has achieved! Well, maybe except Athena, but I'm not sure about her. Won't claim for sure.
Worst case, just take her talent and break through the tenth spiritual boundary with it. And with her Magical Calamity talent, on the tenth, I might not stop there. Anyway, no intention of letting her slip away, so I called my girls to postpone our date a bit and started tailing her.
During the surveillance, I realized and remembered she wasn't enjoying university at all. No, it was like a prison to her, and at any moment, Holy City people could come for her, like they did for Zhang Kong's girl, and seal her away in some forgotten place. No one befriended her, and teachers were wary, knowing her history and the recent real example of what likely awaited her.
In canon, it got to her being forced to suicide so her out-of-control talent, making everyone feel her emotions, could beat a sea monster army attacking the city. During suicide, she'd feel a deadly emotion cocktail, forcing nearby monsters to do the same. And not enough—they turned her into sea undead after death. Tough fate for the girl.
I could fix it, prevent the tragedy, make her happy. Simple solution—take her talent, the root of her problems. But consequences... Losing a normal talent? They might shrug. But stealing a Magical Calamity talent? Serious business. Highest levels would take interest.
Then it hit me! I'd finally made a big breakthrough in soul transfers between worlds. Turned out way simpler than I thought. My old approach—surgically extracting star energy—was overkill.
The solution, like all genius ones, was simple. Though depending on perspective, since it relies on fusion magic, humanity's greatest invention that led to its genocide. Not trivial.
I used Summoning Gate as base, fused it with my time and space laws, added Spirit Element to the mix. Admit, controlling four elements' fusion was unfamiliar, but I adapted quick. Maybe the control improvement talent helped.
Result: Instead of just shifting myself between worlds, I open gates between them to pass through myself or lead someone. But original Summoning Gate limits remain. Energy runs out, creature or item returns to origin world. Can't lead anyone stronger than you in summoning element.
So, taking someone from another world for a stroll? Only peak High Tier max. High Tier mage? Can't handle. Shame, Gu Daiyu would be great mission backup. She's the epitome of "talented in everything." And someone to offload work on wouldn't hurt. Not fate yet. But future...
Using this, I could kidnap Ding Yumian to another world. Human disappearance causes way less issues than talent theft. Funny. One snag: How to keep Ding Yumian there? As my world native, she'd pop out like a champagne cork when spell energy fades.
Answer was in my own experience. Fusing with local Mu Bai's soul made me "native," letting me stay forever. So, what if I fuse her with an otherworldly soul fragment? Should change her "registration." Naturally, didn't test on her first—did experiments.
Took a week to learn fusing a weak Servant's tiny soul piece with a mage's soul for world "registration" change. Only second spiritual boundary mages and up survived. Weaker souls shattered from intrusion. But Ding Yumian? Her soul integrity is fine.
After ten successful repeats for safety, I acted. Ambushed her in the toilet, knocked her out, opened gate to another world, kidnapped her there, then boldly invaded her most intimate place, leaving a piece that changed her life forever...
Man, sounds suggestive. Actually, after registration change, I took her talent and gave it to a monkey woman already hosting Gu Daiyu's Magical Calamity talent. Now the world's most talented monkey, clearly. And dumped explaining and caring for the girl on Gu Daiyu. Too lazy to handle it myself.
Now, free of her burdensome talent, in an environment where no one eyes her warily, Ding Yumian can enjoy life and develop safely without sealing risk. In future, when she hits Sealing level, I'll return her talent. She'll control it then for sure.
That's how Gu Daiyu learned I'm a parallel world mage. No regrets—now I can talk freely on any topic. She shamelessly asks for rare research poison stuff, knowing it's easy for me. She was more reserved before. Great for her research progress.