Apparently, the black flame was not harmful to Jason´s soul world core, rather than that it seemed that the black flame could purify his soul energy further, while the soul energy that was the closest to the black flame looked more vibrant and shined brighter compared to the rest.

Thus, Jason tried to use his connection with the black flame to order it below the soul world core and after a few motivating words, the flame slowly floated below the soul world core, purifying everything in a close range.

Jason nodded in satisfaction and decided to leave the soul world after checking how much soul energy he had accumulated and how far Artemis' evolution was.

It seemed like Artemis would evolve at the end of the week which was fine as his soul energy had surprisingly reached 15 units.

But what Jason also noticed was that the black flame used up 0.01 units of his soul energy which was more than a little bit suspicious.

'Was it considered as his soulbond or what the hell is this black flame?'

Leaving the soul world, Jason decided to test something out, because he noticed something particular inside the soul world

Circulating his mana while looking at it with his mana eyes, his doubts were proven correct.

`My mana transmuted and there is a slight touch of a black flame affinity within.` 

Thinking about this his expression brightened up 

`Have I also gained an affinity through this black flame?`Jason questioned and felt the connection through the black flame, he released some of his mana leading it to his hand, while activating the connection between the flame and him.

A tiny black flame appeared in Jason´s head and he jumped up with a bright face.

Due to the loss of concentration, the black flame immediately extinguished but that was not important right now.

He gained his first affinity and it was the tiny black flame that made everything possible!

`Hahahaha not only have I gained a fortune by gathering the herbs, but also another amazing soulbond with an affinity` Jason thought proudly before he remembered that his 3rd soulbond also needed soul energy and a frown appeared in his mind.

`I can't even provide enough soul energy for my two former soulbonds, how should I provide enough for the tiny flame?... Will it devour me, if I can´t provide enough energy?` He thought, causing the frown in his face to deepen even more.

Dalia and Shane were sitting outside the room on the couch when they heard Jason waking up, causing Dalia to jump up.

But before she could do anything, Shane held her back, calmly stating

"Give him some time to adjust to everything."

"Ahh.. yeah.." Dalia replied a little bit dejected. She wanted to look how Jason was feeling but Shane´s words also made sense.

After a baptism one had to overcome the trauma about being burned alive before one was able to adjust to the increased strength and cleansed body.

Both of them wouldn´t expect Jason to disregard the trauma about being burned inside-out, without the slightest hesitation.

Meanwhile, Jason finished expecting his body and it was only now that a disgusting smell pierced into his nostrils, causing him to retch.

His clothes were reeking disgustingly and the room he was inside was also smelling like someone stored garbage inside it for years.

Changing his clothes alone would be useless and he searched for the bathroom, which he fortunately found after opening the second door.

Taking of his clothes, Jason´s eyes widened.

`Whoaa!` he thought looking at his chiseled abs in admiration.

Never had he seen such abs and Jason decided to look into the mirror for the first time in the last few weeks.

A tall black-haired youth with golden eyes could be seen.

While his sites were still relatively short cut, his golden eyes were also the only indicator telling him, that he could see himself inside the mirror.

A young man with a chiseled face and perfect proportions could be seen inside the mirror, causing Jason to question himself.

`Is that really me?` Furthermore, Jason noticed that he grew a few centimeters.

He was now over 1.7m tall and muscles covered his whole body, without obstructing his flexibility while he couldn´t see a tiny bit of baby fat in his face anymore.

Nobody would believe him that he was only 14 years old and he himself would rather say he was 16 years old if not older.

His fair skin underlined a feeble appearance with his beautiful facial features, while his distinct muscles told a different story.

Wearing oversized clothes, Jason would look rather feeble but now, he didn´t doubt that he could be a model which caused his confidence to heighten to an extreme.

Stepping inside the shower he turned on the water and only 30 minutes alter he left the shower with a fragrant smell.

His innate smell was much better compared to before as all kinds of impurities were cleansed from his body.

Outside the room, Dalia and Shane looked perplexed at each other when they heard the water turning on.

`Hasn´t he only awoken like 20 minutes ago?` They asked themself confused and Dalia was even more shocked because the trauma she received from forming a soulbond with her Origin Flame was still apparent in her mind.

It took her a few days to overcome the fear of burning alive and even longer before she allowed anything touching here in fear that it would hurt her, but Jason was showering like nothing happened after waking up for 20 minutes?

When Jason finished showering, he changed into a new set of clothes and left the still reeking room in order to enter a comfy small living room with all kinds of old but mysterious-looking furniture around.

He immediately spotted Shane and a woman next to him, who he suspected to be Shane´s wife and greeted them politely.

"Are you fine Jason?" Shane asked and looked doubtfully at Jason. He knew about his experience with the devilish valkyrie-shield fruit but he was still astonished to see that Jason seemed fine, after receiving a similar experience.

"Yes, thank you for your concern, Shane!" `Shane?` Dalia looked at his man, with a gleam in her eyes and a small smile appeared.

Shane avoided his wife´s gaze and before he could say anything Dalia introduced herself

"Hello Jason, My name is Dalia Blair and Shane is my husband. Just call me Dalia if you want." 

His prediction was correct and he smiled before he introduced himself politely 

"Hello Dalia, my name is Jason Stella. It´s an honor to meet you" 

"Ahh you don't have to be so polite, Shane likes you, just be comfortable with us" Dalia said trying to avoid talking politely.

She didn't like talking politely because it reminded her of humanities´ social hierarchy, even thought it was courtesy.

But Jason was rather astonished `Shane likes me? Why?` 

Averting his gaze to Shane, he didn´t seem to avoid him.

"What my wife said is true, I like you but there are multiple reasons for that….

I know it´s already late and you haven´t been at home at the Fler´s for quite some time but I hope you have some time to talk with us. The Fler´s were worried about you but I called Little Till to tell them that you have important matters to attend, right now and everything should work out.

You are probably curious about the black flame you formed a soulbond with and what happened in the last 30+ hours, right? Furthermore I want to talk to you about an important subject. But before I´ll start a speech about things that don´t even interest you, ask every question you want. We will answer everything as detailed as possible" 

Shane said while smiling gently and Jason wondered how a single person could have so many personalities.. In Jason´s opinion Shane was rather cruel to strangers, while he looked lovingly at his wife and he was even kind to him, which also strange.

Furthermore Shane seemed greedy, which seemed excessive yet not… it was weird.

Jason had too many questions in his mind and he wasn´t sure which one to pick so he just followed his gut feeling and began with his questions.

"There is too much I want to know and I would like to listen to your story, but right now, its more important for me to know, what you want from me? I doubt you wanted to play samaritan or nice grandpa from nextdoor when you appeared inside the Sanctuary.

Bringing me to see the whole Goblin beast tide was probably also because of that and giving me inconspicuous benefits by taking me with you to the Goblin basement, was probably also intentionally.

From your eyes, I can tell that the incident with the Black flame was not planned. I don´t know if you regret it but you didn´t seem to have a prior look within the large goblin basement, if there was anything really important.

Otherwise you would have picked it up before I could, right?"

Jason finished his short speech and Dalia looked at Jason with a bright smile when she averted her gaze to Shane.

Seeing Shane, she began to chuckle lightly, which caused the awkward situation to loosen up slightly.

Shane didn´t expect Jason to discover so much 

"You got me, Brat.. I'll explain everything….where should I start.."