Ch 179 – Absorbing Souls

"!"

Nox Aeterna widened his eyes, right in front of him, he sees multiple bright balls of fire that burned the barren ground around it in mere moments. Surrounding him from all sides, countless undead beings stared at him with hostile eyes as they sensed the vigorous aura of life emanating from Nox Aeterna. They saw his body of flesh and blood, they sensed the aura of life rigorously exploding from his body with every movement he took.

Their soulfire eyes flickered intensely with rage, and the aura of hundreds of Z-Rank figures that erupted from nowhere alarmed Nox Aeterna. But he gritted his teeth, and his body moved swiftly like a shadow, just barely evading the balls of fire and managing to barely protect himself from facing the searing heat they gave off.

'The dream, no, the dream world of a God truly is fearsome! Just their mere law comprehension can uphold the structure of this dream and allow it to exist with such a deep foundation! Is this what it means to be reborn inside and out, to be imbued with the Law of Reality into your very being?' Nox Aeterna's eyes shone with awe.

But his thoughts were quickly interrupted when a violet beam of light pierced through his right shoulder, causing him to widen his eyes in fear and fall to the ground, just barely avoiding the multiple beams of violet light that also exploded outwards.

'Tsk, it seems like I'll have to leave much earlier than expected. But first, I should gain as much as I can!'

His eyes glowed a fearsome white light, ferocious energy filled with life coursing through his veins and surrounding both of his arms. He cried out loudly like thunder: "HEAVENLY FIST!"

Even though at the current moment, his dream world body was only at S-Rank due to his own S-Rank soul, using his immense foundation in the Law of Life and other Laws related to life, he outputted strength far above what S-Ranks are able to do and punched out to ginormous fist the size of hills in front of him.

Two white fists the size of hills crashed through countless undead, and he could feel his own comprehension of the Law of Death rapidly rising to a whole new level! Using his original body's own peak Z-Rank comprehension of the Law of Death, and the 'meaning' gained from the God the dream he was in belongs to, he could feel his own comprehension breaking through Demigod-level!

But his face turned colder after reaching Demigod-level comprehension of the Law of Death, as in the next moment, he could feel the blood rushing through his throat and out of his mouth.

He opened his eyes, and he was greeted by the transparent rainbow walls consisting of runes. His body currently floated in the middle of a translucent rainbow sphere, and his body was entirely naked at that moment. Out of nowhere, blood gushed out of his mouth, eyes, nose, and even ears.

This was the repercussion of entering the dreams of Gods. They were beings far above the likes of mortal men, their dreams hold much more effect on his soul and physical body. Just by the short amount of time he was inside the dream of the unknown God of Death, Nox Aeterna felt his immensely powerful S-Rank soul dwindle down rapidly to a measly F-Rank soul.

The Law of Death is closely related to the soul, meaning him staying there and forcefully absorbing the god's comprehension would bring more damage to his soul. Even though his own comprehension of the Law of Soul was at a level one shouldn't' scoff at, it wasn't at Demigod level yet due to the imperfect cloning process he underwent.

Isaac Deathwill, though he specialized in the Law of Death, he still comprehended many other Laws to Demigod level, including the Law of Soul. But as of now, due to him not completely regaining all of his original body's comprehension, his Law of Soul comprehension has stabilized at the peak of S-Rank.

Feeling his soul weak like a flame about to dissipate, he simply sighs and extends out his finger. Using his own immense foundation in the Law of Space, and impeccable mana control, he used a trace of mana and tore open a hole in the space in front of him. Outside his Dream Incubator—the pillar of rainbow light where Nox Aeterna's body resided—a dark tear opened up ahead as the air around it warped due to the interference in space-time.

He drove the trace of mana inside the tear in space, and out of it came weird motes of milky white light. They each exuded out strong spiritual pressure, and by their appearance, anyone who knows a thing or two about souls would know that those lumps of milky white light were soul fragments!

Not only that, but anyone with discerning eyes would know that these soul fragments came from S-Rank figures! S-Rank figures, they were beings just one step away from the peak of the mortal realm, they held strength that can topple down kingdoms and nations! They were living, breathing nukes.

And now, he held so many soul fragments of S-Rank beings that it would incur the greed of most mortal men if they were to see it. Just using one would instantly raise the strength of their soul to another level, and using all of that, one could even expect to reach S-Rank if they had good enough skill and efficiency when absorbing soul fragments.

But how?

'The stronger one gets, the bigger the gap becomes between realms. Law Comprehension on the other hand elevates one's own battle strength qualitatively as one gains a deeper understanding of the world around them, transforming their magic into something more mystical and profound. Using my immense foundation built atop multiple Z-Rank Law Comprehension and skills, I can easily exert battle strength comparable to Demigods at S-Rank! After invading the astral plane, I easily managed to slay S-Rank spiritual beings and stock them up inside my storage to rapidly heal my soul when needed! This is what my own strength brings me! The stronger I get, the faster I will grow!'

The soul fragments in front of him floated and stopped in the air right outside the pillar of rainbow runes. A small hole formed, and one lump of milky white light entered the Dream Incubator, and slowly went through the rainbow bubble where Nox Aeterna's naked child body resides.

His previously bloody body was already cleansed, and he calmly grabbed the lump of soul fragment with his child-like arm. He squinted his eyes, and the lump of soul fragment hastily transformed into pure spiritual energy which coursed through his arm, up to his chest, and into his soul.

A soothing sensation slowly overcame his burdened soul near the brink of death. The soul-wrenching cracks and fissures on his rainbow-colored soul that would have knocked an average man already to the brink of insanity slowly healed. The milky white spiritual energy was like glue. The soothing energy covered the cracks of his soul, slowly mending them back together like healing magic but for the soul.

It was a seamless process unlike what one does with normal methods like pills and such. Absorbing souls or soul fragments is one of the best ways to not just heal the soul, but nourish and strengthen it! Alas, the risk and dangers of absorbing souls or soul fragments are incomparably steep.

One wrong move and the soul would suffer enormous consequences! Not only that but having the method to even absorb souls or soul fragments is hard to get in the first place. The act of absorbing the souls of the dead is something most would consider evil and immoral. Even though most know the incomparable effectiveness of absorbing souls directly to strengthen the soul, doing it would still, in essence, permanently kill the individual as their soul is now gone from the cycle of reincarnation.

Even though not all beings enter the cycle of reincarnation, some can still transform into ghosts, wraiths, or other spiritual beings, allowing a chance for them to still remain alive after death. So the act of absorbing another being's soul is something most would not consider doing.

And even if one wanted to do it, one would need immense skill to execute the act, especially with souls. First, one would need to find a method to absorb the souls. Next, they'd have to find a soul. Then another step is to somehow allow them to smoothly absorb the soul without much struggle. If the soul struggled, then without sufficient power and foundation, one would most likely fail the process and damage their soul instead.

Once the soul is damaged, it would instead transform what was originally a method for success into a method for failure. Only the most daring individuals would dare to absorb souls directly. And for one to be sufficient enough to absorb souls with virtually zero risk, it would take an absurd amount of time of practical experience to do such a thing.

But to practice, one would need to face risks that may perhaps permanently damage their soul!

If one wants to absorb souls, one'll have to face trials and tribulations far from what a single soul would provide for them. Unless it was the soul of a Demigod, which would instead just increase the difficulty to another level, most beings would stop themselves from foolishly absorbing the souls of others.

Not only that, but even if one were to use soul fragments instead, there comes the problem of safely transforming the slain soul into soul fragments. Soul fragments, if they didn't naturally occur, are hard to produce naturally. If one were to kill a soul, it would most likely self-destruct before the killer could obtain any benefits.

And another problem is that soul fragments are hard to safely store without it dissipating into spiritual energy, which is far less effective than directly absorbing a soul fragment.

So many hardships for so little value. Such a high risk for such a relatively low-value reward.

But who was Nox Aeterna? He was the clone of the clone of Isaac Deathwill!

Isaac Deathwill, that is the name of a legend whose name rings through the annals of time in the world of Tellus! He was known as the Emperor of Death, the being who was one step away from entering the realm of Gods! His legends and tales are known throughout the land, his mere stories would be akin to fairytales! He slew dragons with a wave of his hand, he decimated kingdoms with a mere gaze, and he created a kingdom filled with the undead! In the world of Tellus, very few beings can compare to his name and prestige!

He was known as the greatest scholar, the greatest mage to ever exist in the world of Tellus! Absorbing souls would of course be a trivial task for his clone, much less the original.

And so, using his incomparably deep foundation formed from his past life and reality-bending cheat that allows him to enter the dreams of even gods, Nox Aeterna calmly waved his arms and absorb one soul fragment to another.

From a measly weak F-Rank whose soul was about to die, to it slowly rising in strength and power. With a burst of energy, his damaged F-Rank soul returned to E-Rank. Another burst, and it became D-Rank. Another one, then another, another, and another, until finally…

'S-Rank…' Nox Aeterna breathed out turbid air as he closed his eyes and inspected his soul.

Deep inside his body, he saw his rainbow-colored soul brimming with the Law of Dream due to a certain incident that allowed his soul to evolve. Now, it was far from its originally weak state and it returned back to its peak condition exuding the powerful aura of an S-Rank being.

'Souls… It seems like I'll have to risk it and enter the dream of a God of Soul to increase my own foundation of the Law of Soul to another level and accelerate my growth by another realm!'

AN: This chapter has 2038 words.

(October 17, 2022 – 327th day of writing)