Death and New Life

There is essentially only one way for Chronus to obtain a soul at this point, which is harvesting that of one of his group members. Trying to find other intelligent life in the Distorted Void is both dangerous and impractical.

Now, the only question was who the sacrifice would be and how to best obtain the soul without arousing suspicion from the others. Chronus silently went through all the members in his head. The first to be eliminated was Alice, followed by Edward. These two were quite valuable compared to the rest.

Chronus had been especially impressed by Alice. From his observation, she had displayed a keen analytical ability and was smoothly adapting to life in the new world. If she manages to survive long enough, she could well be a successful tower master.

Maybe it was hubris, but Chronus didn't believe any of the people in the group had the ability to threaten or surpass him. Since that was the case, the stronger they were, the more they would be able help him if he needed it.

Edward played his role, running around and trying to organize everyone. Chronus was very pleased with not having to deal with those tedious tasks. If he was on his own, it would have taken much longer to complete certain tasks, for example exploration missions or rushing back and forth to collect resources from different locations.

The next two to be eliminated were Kenan and Griffin. They provided short term power to the group. Kenan had survival skills and was quite athletic. While those traits would soon be rendered useless, for now while they were not much different from ordinary humans, their effects were satisfactory.

There was not much to say about Griffin. He possessed a tower with auxiliary abilities. Having him around would add an additional layer of safety for the entire group.

With the four of Alice, Edward, Kenan, and Griffin eliminated, one of the remaining three would have to be marked for death. For Chronus, this was an annoying decision to make. None of the three had any characteristics that made them more valuable than the others. Their personalities all made them unsuited for succeeding in this world

Leopold was already a tower master, but that did not necessarily make him more useful. It would take him a while to recover from his injuries, and the other two could also construct a tower if they wished to do so.

After deliberating, Chronus decided for Charlene to be the object of sacrifice. Since there was no real difference in choosing any of the three, he just chose the one with the least sense of existence. Unbeknownst to Leopold and Emily, they had just narrowly escaped death.

There was still the problem of how to harvest Charlene's soul without arousing suspicion. Chronus' lack of strength meant that the soul could not be captured remotely. He had to be there in person when she died. Regarding this problem, Chronus already had a solution.

His next actions planned out, Chronus left the turtle's grave and rejoined the others. The team that went to the depths of the magic crystal vein had to act more conservatively due to the three missing members, but despite that, they had managed to make a bumper harvest. One of the large lizards had been hunted and hauled back to be barbecued.

While the lizard was being carved up and prepared, the group spent the time sharing out and discussing the events of the day.

"I found the material I'll use for my tower!" boasted Kenan, "It'll be far superior from all of yours!"

"Oh, really? What is it?" asked Leopold, who was sitting at the campfire together with them now that he was able to slowly move around.

"It's this!" Kenan pulled out a large chunk of metal. "This metal has knight and metal magic. Unlike all of your towers, these are the powers of a real man!"

Leopold oohed and ahhed, admiring Kenan's heroic look. He then formed a proud expression. "However strong your metal knight is, I'm still the protagonist. Just you wait and see."

The group continued their banter and enjoyed their food, releasing the tension built up after a day of hard and stressful work. Chronus was also asked what he had done, to which he described smoothly reaching the middle area of the forest and trying to dig up the magewood tree.

"I'll go again tomorrow. My tower core will be completed the next time you see me," he said with a smile, which was responded to with congratulations.

"Ugh, I'm not feeling too well," said Charlene, putting down her food and placing her hand on her forehead.

"Do you want to treat you?" asked Griffin, concern visible on his face.

"That would be great."

Griffin placed his hands over her body and urged his ability. Charlene's sickly complexion improved slightly.

"I'll go back and rest now," she said, trudging over to the wooden shelter and lying down inside. The rest of the group continued their boisterous conversation around the fire until the sky turned dark. They crammed themselves into their shelter and, except for the assigned watch, promptly fell asleep.

The next morning, the group woke up and readied themselves for another day. While some foraged fruits and nuts were being passed around, they noticed that Charlene hadn't gotten up yet.

"Should I go wake her up?" asked Leopold.

Griffin thought about it for a while, then shook his head. "There's no need. She's probably tired, just let her rest."

After everything was put in order, the group split up into the same teams as the previous day. Chronus returned to the dark forest and the group of five left once again for the mine.

At the site of the polluted magewood tree, Chronus opened his clenched fist and revealed a dense cloud of mist. The ethereal wisps of blue swirled around, escaping the confines of his hand and expanding into the vague image of a woman. The hazy figure seemed to be afraid of him, drifting around in all directions but unable to escape a certain boundary.

"Calm down, you'll enjoy what happens next," said Chronus with a smile. Perceiving his evil intentions, the spirit did exactly the opposite, but to no avail.

Chronus took out a container made from a hollowed piece of wood. Inside was a liquid concoction he had refined the previous day. Straightening his body and standing in front of the soul, he hovered his hand over its head and slowly tilted the wooden cylinder.

A large drop of purple liquid formed at the mouth of the container, then dislodged itself and fell onto the female spirit. There was a sizzling sound as the liquid began to permeate and erode the soul. The cloudy face of the spirit wildly contorted in pain, distorting and spasming as it tried to escape the unimaginable torture it was receiving.

Chronus looked on at the writhing soul apathetically as his mouth began to form unintelligible syllables that seemed to hold a strange power. On hearing the chanting, the spirit's contortions intensified. Drop after drop of liquid was poured onto it, magnifying the pain it felt.

When he spoke the last word, the spirit no longer resembled Charlene. From the previous cloudy blue figure, its image was now a repulsive hag with gnarled claws. When it moved, it dissipated into a black smog then reformed. Its eyes were bright red and bloodshot, containing endless hatred and malice for the world.

Ignoring the newly created resentful spirit, Chronus walked over to the magewood tree puppet. A spirit binding array was painted below the alchemy control circle using his blood. After finishing it, he returned to the spirit and grabbed the figure by the neck while it struggled vainly.

"I give you new life!" laughed Chronus as the resentful spirit was thrown onto the tree. The spirit dissociated itself into a cloud and was sucked into the tree like a vacuum cleaner.

The spirit binding array shone with a crimson light as the face of the spirit surfaced in the middle of it. After bobbing in and out of the tree a few times, the second part of the formation was activated. The resentful spirit was forced back under, and the color of the main control circle of the tree puppet started to darken.

Its job done, the array drawn in blood faded and turned inert. The resentful spirit detected it had been transferred into a new house. It discovered that its perception had changed to an unfamiliar form, then found that it had a physical body to move.

Its resentment resurging, the spirit struck out at Chronus with all its strength. Before the root could move, it felt heavy shackles placed on it and could no longer budge.

Chronus grinned at the tree, "While it was brief, I hope you enjoyed your new life. Be honored to be the foundation of my rise."

The metal box he had lugged all the way to the Distorted Void was opened, and the sad, drooping plant from Earth was taken out. His embryonic tower core was activated, and the entire witchcraft magewood tree, along with the resentful spirit possessing it and the Earth plant he threw into the vortex, was consumed, not a speck of them remaining.