...

24 hours later...

Izroth spent his time pouring his Essence into the Forever Drinking Leech and Arisia Crystal. Once his Essence reached 0, he would use his Source Chant to begin the regeneration process. Izroth had already completed this action several times and achieved some progress.

As for the Soul Weakness, Izroth was not concerned since he was within the safe confines of the Mystical Realm Palace. Otherwise, how would he be willing to cut his power by 75%?

If it were just against other players, then even if he could not kill them, he was still confident in his ability to escape. However, he was currently marked for death by the Netherworld and a Great Duke of the Pzenium kingdom. Therefore, he could not afford to wander around openly in a weakened state.

'I have come this far, but the end is still nowhere in sight. Can it be that my Source stage is too low for a Soul Avatar to form with two high-quality items? Should I have stuck to my initial plan, after all?'

[Total Essence Contributed: 19,047/???]

Originally, Izroth planned to only use the Forever Drinking Leech to form the Soul Avatar. As for the mythical-ranked Arisia Crystal, he wanted to take advantage of its incredible properties to improve his Apparel of Insatiable Transcendence.

Unfortunately, just as Izroth speculated, his Apparel of Insatiable Transcendence was incapable of directly consuming raw materials. Since it was like that, he believed that it would be better to have Gu Chao create a piece of epic equipment and then absorb it that way. However, Gu Chao advised him against using this method.

According to Gu Chao, mythical ranked materials were the core ingredient when it came to crafting unique-quality equipment. But, with the current resources available to players and the level of profession holders, it would be impossible to craft a unique-quality equipment piece.

While an epic-quality piece was possible, Gu Chao believed that it would be a waste. In his words, it was like "placing a glass cup into a river". No matter how much water was in the river itself, the amount that the glass could contain would remain unchanged.

Izroth was somewhat surprised at how Gu Chao's personality seemed to change whenever it came to things related to crafting. However, this was not a bad thing.

In the end, Izroth agreed with Gu Chao and decided to save the Arisia Crystal. While he could obtain more in the Great Sea Palace raid, it would never achieve a mythical rank without an Ameliorate Stone. Not to mention, even Gu Chao himself stated that there was no guarantee that he could refine an ancient ranked material next time. In the end, it also depended on his luck.

'It is not looking too promising, but I still have some time left. I should make the most of it.'

Although 24 hours passed in-game, due to the 1:3 real-world to in-game time ratio, in actuality, only 8 hours had gone by since Izroth first began to work on his Soul Avatar. This meant that he had approximately 40 hours in-game before he had to gather for the official start of the event. Of course, he made sure to leave enough time to recover from his Soul Weakness.

'Let's continue.'

From that point on, Izroth continued without a moment's rest.

12 hours...

24 hours...

Another 24 hours passed by quickly as the total Essence contributed increased from 19,047 to 30,071—that was 30 times more than his maximum Essence!

'My armor, this true world item—it seems unquenchable items find me more often than not these days. If not for the improvement of my Source and Source Chant, I'm afraid it would have taken me weeks or even months to reach a similar point. Though I can only hope that this true world item does not live up to its name. Otherwise, who knows how long I will have to provide it with Essence?'

34 hours...

Time swiftly ticked away as Izroth inwardly furrowed his brows as he focused on regaining his lost Essence.

[Total Essence Contributed: 34,664/???]

'Is there something I overlooked?'

Izroth felt as though he was a living battery. If it were anyone else, they would have already cut their losses and walked away. However, Izroth was determined to see things through until the final moment.

Izroth opened his interface as he instantly navigated to the area that contained his traits and skills. While he possessed a perfect memory, it was best to revisit the original source at times like this.

Trait Name: Spirit Source

Source Stage: 1

Essence: 0.13

Essence Regeneration: +100 per hour

...

Soul Avatar: The user can embed a part of their soul and infuse their Essence into suitable item(s). If more than one item is used, the items must be compatible to successfully fuse, or they will be rejected. The selected item(s) will take on a humanoid form and gain the permanent traits «Melded Sentience», «Independent Soul Link», «Independent Mind Link».

Current Max Avatars: 0/1

The following applies to new Soul Avatars:

-Treated as a half-player by the system.

-Level is set to 1.

-Starting stats and growth rate are determined by the power of the item(s) of its creation and the amount of Essence infused into it by the user. The better the item(s) and quantity of Essence provided, the more powerful the Soul Avatar and its potential growth. The maximum Essence varies depending on the item(s) used to create the Soul Avatar. (Min-Max: 200-??? Essence)

-Class will be automatically granted upon successful creation.

-Default skills will be determined based on the item(s) it forms from, and the amount of Essence poured into it.

Special Note: The soul has no limits!

'Since I have no previous reference, there is no way of telling if investing this much Essence is truly worth it. However, the system has never been selfish when it comes to rewarding one's efforts.'

Ideally, Izroth wanted to complete the Soul Avatar before the start of the event. After all, there was no clearly defined time as to when the event would be over. One week, one month, one year—it could be anything! Not even the beta testers had participated in such a large scale world event; therefore, the information surrounding it was practically nonexistent.

There was also the fact that having one extra trump card at his disposal would be beneficial.

'I will attempt exhausting my Essence two more times. If it still does not form, then I have no choice but to revisit the issue once the event has concluded.'

...

Around two hours later, with the help of his Source Chant and natural Essence regeneration, Izroth's Essence made a full recovery. The moment his Essence had fully recuperated, Izroth started to expend his Essence once again without hesitation.

All of a sudden, when almost 50% of his Essence was drained, the stream of aura that linked him to the Forever Drinking Leech and Arisia Crystal was abruptly severed. Simultaneously, the Arisia Crystal had merged entirely with the Forever Drinking Leech, and the two items became one item.

'It stopped?'

Izroth observed the newly-formed item and waited for a few seconds; however, nothing happened.

Name: ???(Soulbound)

Rank: ???(Unbreakable)

Usage: ???

Special Note: A Soul Avatar Embryo.

There was no real information present about the item except in the special note section.

'If it is in an embryo state, does that mean it requires more Essence to develop?'

Izroth attempted to channel his Essence into the new item that appeared before him, but there was no response. There was also no word from the system itself as to what had transpired. This caused Izroth to inwardly frown as he hit an unexpected roadblock. He shook his head as he released a small sigh. It appeared that this time, he could only suffer a temporary loss.

'It seems my actions were too hasty, given my lack of information. In that case, I should-'

As Izroth was in the middle of contemplating his next course of action, his trail of thought was interrupted by the sound of system alerts.

〈System Alert: Item generation complete! An unregistered item has been detected by the system!〉

〈System Alert: The item «Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech» has been successfully registered by the system!〉

〈System Alert: All requirements have been met. Would you like to complete the creation of your «Soul Avatar» using the «Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech»? [Total Essence Contributed: 35,000] (Warning: Once the creation process commences, it cannot be canceled.)〉

As Izroth read over the system alerts, he was surprised to discover that this type of "generation" process not only existed for skills but for items as well.

'This is the first time I have heard of an item being unregistered by the system. Is this a hidden feature? Regardless, an accomplishment this big—the system should have given out a special reward. Does that mean this is not the first time an unregistered item has been created?'

Izroth was interested in unregistered items and the possible methods of how to produce them. However, he chose to set this aside for now as a more pressing matter was at hand.

'Still, to think it took 35,000 Essence. That's 35 times my maximum output. I just hope the payout was worth the investment.'

Izroth examined the Soul Avatar Embryo, but the only difference this time was its new name—Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech. After making sure that nothing had been overlooked, Izroth confirmed the system alert's request to complete his Soul Avatar. Immediately after doing so, the Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech began to levitate in mid-air as a dense dark blue aura encompassed it.

〈System Alert: Soul Avatar creation in progress. [0.17%] [Estimated Time Until Completion: 9 Minutes 59 Seconds]〉

'The skill stated that it would take on a humanoid form. Does this mean it will resemble a human? There are still too many unanswered questions. Regardless, it is in the hands of the system now.'

...

As the seconds dwindled away, everything remained peaceful and unchanging inside of the Mystical Realm Palace. However, what Izroth was not aware of was that a great storm was brewing above the capital city of Amaharpe. This great storm covered the whole capital city. If one studied it closely, they would notice that its center located high in the sky was directly above the Mystical Realm Palace!

"This kind of weather exists in this world, too, hm? Is it going to rain?" A random player walking along the streets of Amaharpe said as they stared up into the sky. However, they noticed something strange that caused them to rub their eyes in disbelief. Since their class was a ranger-type, their vision was better than the average player's. But, were they really seeing things, right?

"Those are... Chains?" The player muttered to themselves. Though when they blinked and looked again, the chains were nowhere to be found.

The player sighed as they rubbed the back of their head and grumbled, "Have I been logged in too long? I'm starting to imagine things."

...

Meanwhile, inside of the Mystical Realm Palace...