One could only have one Soul Brethren in their life. This was the standard the universe had accepted. But the King of Titans had broken that belief by creating a new type of Soul Brethren Contract. One that was unique when compared to others.
It allowed one to have multiple brethren but at a cost. One person would act as a power source for the others in the contract. Others benefited from the hub in almost every way.
The hub could supply energy, attributes, bloodlines, memories, physical traits, talent, lifespan and more.
While the person acted as a hub got no benefit except being able to use elemental attributes and bloodline traits belonging to the others in a limited capacity. But the hub also could do things others could not.
The hub could summon the others to his position no matter the distance, so long as the hub had enough energy. The hub could also control who received what benefits among the recipients.
As the hub, Will would become the spiritual centre that others could access. Within that centre, Will could do many things in terms of communication. Will's soul could essentially become like a network that hosted the others. And a network had many useful traits, something people on modern-day Earth were very familiar with.
But there was a large demerit. As the source, Will's cultivation was stunted. He would have to fuel not only his growth in terms of levels but the others as well. He could only level up to the minimum level his brethren had reached. In other words, the maximum level he could reach was that of the lowest-level person in the group.
If Will reached his energy cap, the excess would always go to the others. All Will could do was choose who to give it to.
"Alright, I accept."
...
Hercules had bargained with many a character, but he had never been at such a disadvantage in negotiations. Odin had made things very difficult for Hercules because he had something the latter desired greatly.
Every leader needed powerful Vassals, and Narcissus was someone firmly rooted in Hercules' camp. He was narcissistic but always kept his word. His loyalty to Hercules was not in question. But he was wasting his talents.
Now that Hercules had found a savant of The Realms of Perspective and Intent on the verge of evolution, he could not help but want to take the opportunity to raise Narcissus' talent in the field. Not only that, but he would receive a portion of a deity slayer's life essence processed by the All-Father himself. No one on Olympus could refine energy with the same skill as Odin. There was simply that much of a disparity in their knowledge of magic.
The Olympians focused more on technology and civilization. The Norse on the other hand were interested in such matters and were small in numbers, but their mystic and martial capabilities were a notch higher. Odin, Thor, Freya and Loki alone were enough to match the 12 Gods of Olympus. This was a fact that had been proven many times.
Loki's evolution in the Realms of Perspective had made things even worse for the Olympians. Now Hercules had found a way to help even the playing field. But this all hinged on a critical point.
"Odin, will the boy survive long enough to be useful to my brother? Your Norse methods are a bit... harsh."
Wodin laughed at Hercules' worry and said, "Worry not son of Zeus. The kid will survive. Modus is mad, not stupid. The kid has a decent chance. The next match is the best litmus test. Besides, he has me on his side. Loki and Thor became what they are thanks to my tutelage, along with my wife's guidance of course. I can do the same for the boy."
Hercules exchanged glances with his brother and sighed in relief, but he could not help but wonder, was the boy really going to survive this ordeal?
...
" Now remember young man, once this begins there is no going back. No deity or immortal can reverse this process. We can do the contracts later. For now, you first have to survive what you want me to do."
Will was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of Odin, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen.
"You have Radiant Energy, which means your body already possesses an incredible amount of Life force from your Water Gate.
Now I am going to tap into and produce a pill from your life essence. One similar to the one you took earlier in. I will engrave this pill and the remaining two with a modified Flowing Tide Restriction, one that Will boost the effects of each pill and make them more compatible with your body.
Keep in mind, once I absorb your life essence there is no going back. By doing this, you are essentially reducing the number of years you have in exchange for increasing the quality of your body. The other pills will also transform your mind and soul respectively.
This tripartite evolution will strengthen all three vessels and harmonise them. The boost of my engravement will improve the harmony between your vessels but it will also remove excess. Which is not a pleasant experience."
Will frowned and took a deep breath, calming himself. He nodded in response to Odin's question. The Norse deity smiled and reached out.
He placed a hand on Will's forehead, causing a large circular matrix to form under the latter.
The matrix was filled with Norse runes and designs of creatures even Adelda couldn't identify despite her reservoir of knowledge as a Literati.
Blue strands of life essence floated out of Will's boat one by one, gathering directly above his body.
"As I said Earlier, the Flowing Tide Restriction has 3 phases.
Until the Restriction is completely removed, Dual Mind Propagation will be sealed. The restriction will only come off once you have passed the last stage. The first stage was forcefully balancing your vessels. The second stage was going to be compressing your energy and purifying it, solidifying your foundation. The third stage was about breaking through limits and could have started only when you had opened your 8th door. The Restriction's main clause for release was the completion of Unbound Vector.
Now I'm modifying it. The second stage is still the same, but there is a slight change for the third."
A blue pill manifested from the lights coming out of Will's battered and bruised body. Will grimaced in pain but kept his mouth shut because he didn't want to disturb the All Father's explanation.
"Now, for the third stage to unlock and for you to regain Dual Mind Propagation among other things, you have to not only execute Unbound Vector perfectly, but you also have to activate Martial Harmony and Mystic Harmony at the same time