Chương 116: Chapter 114: Gift of Love

It took them days to find something useful. Most of the texts they discovered were about soul cultivation, which was much harder here than it had been back in the tutorial. Back then, he had basically purchased a manual that implanted all the knowledge and some of the skills directly into his mind. One other thing he realized was that his soul body was not composed of ordinary mana. He had always assumed otherwise, since that was how he had constructed the soul body.

The process was similar to his body-tempering techniques, where he infused darkness into his skin and waited for it to fuse and harmonize. Thalion had done the same with his mana and soul, but that process transformed the mana into a different type of energy, which the book referred to as soul energy. He had suspected for some time that it was different but had never been certain until now.

One fortunate discovery was a book containing runes that could trap a soul or even capture one when it was unbound from a body. Thalion learned the eight runes required to craft a soulcatcher and hoped to find a smithy he could use. Otherwise, he would have to place Rylak in a bed or a chair. Since there was still plenty of time, he decided to continue reading and training. At the moment, he was completely engrossed in a book about watersnakes.

Tides of Serpentia: The Evolutionary Rise of Watersnakes This book chronicles the deep and winding history of watersnakes, from their humble beginnings in murky riverbeds to their evolution into powerful apex predators of the ocean depths. Exploring adaptations like camouflage, venom potency, and intelligence, Tides of Serpentia unveils how these serpents conquered diverse aquatic realms.

Special attention is given to their elemental affinity with water currents, allowing rare species to achieve extraordinary speeds. The book reaffirmed to Thalion that he was on the right path with the tidecaller snake. Its ultimate evolution was a creature called Thalassaryn, the Tide Sovereign. A being potentially stronger than true dragons or primordial elementals, judging by its rarity. According to the book, Thalassaryn had only been documented twice in history.

Thalion also learned that he should have swallowed the pearl Eddie found. The tidecaller serpent's body was highly adept at absorbing and integrating natural treasures, enhancing its power. The book mentioned that at the celestial level, which Thalion estimated to be equivalent to C-grade. These serpents could contain entire oceans within their bodies. This ability allowed them to travel immense distances, even through space, using the water as a jetstream.

While the idea sounded strange, Thalion decided to trust the process and assumed it would make more sense when the time was right. The first month passed without much of note beyond Thalion attending smithing classes. The smiths here were on an entirely different level, teaching him new techniques to refine materials and enhance items. These lessons sparked an idea. He owned the Amulet of the Soulwarden, a powerful item capable of capturing his soul if his body was destroyed. But what if he modified it?

Instead of capturing his own soul, he envisioned feeding the amulet with the souls of his fallen enemies. These captured souls could act as batteries, empowering both the amulet and himself. Currently, souls lingered only briefly before dispersing after death. Why let such a resource go to waste? Determined to test his idea, Thalion began working on amulets, incorporating the new feature with the smiths' guidance. At the same time, he prepared an amulet for Rylak's soul to be used before their union test.

Thalion learned more from the smiths than from his sword training. Their expertise inspired numerous ideas for improving his sword, armor, and even the crown he had taken from the madman. He decided to fuse the crown with his mask, creating a single, powerful artifact. Additionally, he learned how to inscribe runes on his robe and mask for greater effect. With better runes now at his disposal, he envisioned significant upgrades to his equipment.

Lucan, the master smith, was going to love all the work Thalion had planned for him, once Thalion dealt with the intruders currently making their way into his tower. Three months passed, and while Thalion made significant progress, he began to doubt whether taking so much time to train was the right decision. Everything was ready for the ritual, but what if the crystal's memories were wrong? What if he didn't have over a year, as he had thought?

The doubts gnawed at him, but for now, he resolved to trust in his preparations and continue moving forward. Thalion asked the kind man who was teleporting him whether it had ever happened that someone sacrificed themselves to enhance the soul of a loved one. He hoped to gather information about the Guardian's Remnant title—perhaps he could even train it. There was one thing he wondered about. What were titles in this plane of existence?

Stats like stamina, health, and strength were pretty clear, but how did concepts like fate or titles fit in? The Guardian's Remnant title was so rare that there were only two books about it—both diaries, written by the two surviving individuals who had been granted the skill. The first was a woman, and the second, a young boy. To Thalion's dismay, both had died relatively soon after receiving the title. Neither had been able to progress much.

The woman was killed, while the boy died of old age, about a hundred years after gaining the skill. Both had experienced an initial boost and developed some ability to interpret the feelings associated with the title, but it wasn't enough to overcome the negative side effects. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. This was bad news for Thalion. The boy, however, had managed to truly grasp the title, establishing a deep connection with it.

In the book, the title wasn't referred to as a "title" but as the Gift of Love. Thalion found it strange, recalling the deep emotional connection he had felt with the ant queens. The boy had achieved a stronger connection with the universe through deep meditation, described as "becoming one with everything." This vastly increased the abilities granted by the Gift of Love, which was exactly what Thalion needed.

Unfortunately, the book didn't provide much detail about the meditation or how the boy had deepened his connection. Thalion knew it was time for experiments. He could already feel more attuned to the world. The flow of mana and life, as well as a foreboding sense of impending doom when something bad was about to happen. He decided to start with that feeling. Sitting on the ground, Thalion meditated while one of the smiths threw stones at the back of his head.

His goal was to sense the danger and dodge at the last moment. The first two stones he dodged successfully, but the third one knocked him out cold. Not the best start to his training session. <-- Princess Thalytra watched in disbelief as her teacher picked up Thalion and threw him into the circle. Her mother had played a cruel trick on Rylak, leaving him on titan's mountain with a broken body. Now the teacher was clearly humiliating him in front of the class.

Her eyes widened as she noticed all three of Rylak's pearls lighting up. The last one wasn't shining fully, but it was incredibly strong—stronger even than her own soul at the moment. She continued watching footage of Rylak. After repairing his body, he had trained non-stop. He didn't even sleep, choosing instead to meditate, likely working on something within his body, perhaps even his soul.

She had heard that improving one's soul to a certain degree could eliminate the need for sleep, but it shouldn't have been possible so early. His obsession with growing stronger was evident, and his progress with the sword was impressive. This was why she found it so strange when he spent hours reading about beasts like dragons and elementals. These recordings of his activities over the last few months left her unsure what to think.

Switching to the live stream, she saw a bulky old smith hurling a stone the size of a small chair at the back of Rylak's head. The stone knocked him out instantly. Thalytra was completely puzzled about what to believe. <-- Thalion woke up with everything spinning around him. It didn't take long for him to recover fully by sacrificing a small amount of his empowered blood, and the stone-throwing resumed. He managed to dodge more than eight projectiles before a helmet knocked him out again.

The smiths were clearly enjoying themselves, but they were fair enough not to throw anything too hard, ensuring he didn't suffer serious injuries. Over the next few days, Thalion cut back on his reading sessions in the library, dedicating more time to having the smiths throw objects at him. He wasn't entirely sure, but he felt like he was making progress. As time passed, he noticed something unusual. The range of his title seemed to expand. He began to partially understand the skill.

What he meant by "understand" was that the danger sense granted by the title had grown significantly more detailed. One day, he felt a strange premonition just as one of the smiths prepared to throw a metal block at him. It was like being struck by lightning as he suddenly saw everything. How multiple threats connected to one another and how a river of life and power flowed through it all like an intricate net. Thalion easily dodged the metal block, which crashed into the wall in front of him. He had done it.

It worked. Thalion looked down at his hands, the feeling slowly dissipating. Yet the title was now more present than ever. He could no longer see the things behind him, but he could feel them—their presence, the danger they posed. There was too much information for him to track all at once, but one thing was certain. If anyone harbored malicious intent toward him, he would sense it. He observed as one of the smiths threw a metal glove at him. Thalion noticed the process of intent transferring to the glove.

After it left the smith's hand, the glove radiated danger, while everything else around him faded from his awareness. Thalion dodged the glove with ease and signaled for the smiths to stop. It had taken two months, but it worked. He was now confident he would sense unease if the time to leave his body drew near. This might have been one of the most important power-ups he had gained so far. Not that he had the smiths throw stuff at him for two months straight, but every time he entered their smithy for a few hours.

However, Thalion had one burning question. Would the title alert him to danger if the attacker meant no harm? There were still many things to uncover, but that would come later. For now, it was time to conduct the final test and prepare for the grand ritual. The ritual required a god's power, and luckily, one was always on standby. The only reason for delay would be if all three ritual circles in the palace were occupied, though each ritual only took about an hour.

Thalion planned for five more months of rigorous training before returning to his body. His progress with the sword had been exceptional, and he had also begun taking classes with both a blood mage and a traditional mage. These lessons focused on mastering long-range combat. He also sought knowledge about plants similar to the sanguine thorn. Thalion was confident he understood what the vampire god had done to create such an obedient plant.

The god likely stripped down the plant's essence, leaving only the desires to consume and assist its host. The blood mage first taught him how to speed up his movements by manipulating the blood in his veins. It took him an entire month to master this technique. Next, the blood mage introduced theoretical lessons on how to further empower one's blood and grant it special properties. While Thalion was already familiar with some aspects, the idea of giving blood specific affinities was new.

Some blood mages poisoned their blood, while others imbued it with unique affinities. It seemed almost anything was possible with blood magic. Thalion wanted to learn more about the techniques used by legendary blood cultivators. If his progress continued like this he would be unstoppable for the near future. Probably until someone reached E grade. After a large meal of insect legs, Thalion returned to the library, browsing books about vampires.

Most of the material was dull or irrelevant to humans, but one name caught his attention: Malakar the Crimson Reaper. As he read, his eyes widened. Malakar had been a necromancer and blood mage, combining the two arts to terrifying effect. He turned the souls of his enemies into cursed spirits and fused them with his blood. This was beyond anything Thalion had seen before. Thalion considered incorporating this idea into his own skillset.

Perhaps he could evolve the sanguine thorn into a plant capable of harvesting souls and transforming them into curses. He also speculated that the improved amulet might assist in this task. But for now, it was time to test his abilities and prepare for the ritual.