Several minutes passed by with silence, allowing Aiden to rest up and regain some of his used-up energies. He sat in his meditative pose, allowing the energy to freely course in his body, refreshing and reinvigorating his soul as well as his body.

By the end of the short but meaningful session, the familiar sound of the bell-like sound informed him about the bountiful results.

[Through the completed session the following benefits have been accumulated.]

[Resource: Soul Power (Level 2 - Progress: 99.99%) : 970 SP / 1250 SP

Note: Cogitation required! Please visit Haven's Holy Site. Usage of Host's Divinity is required for completion of the process.]

[Your understanding of the Primordial Laws is increasing…]

[The Divinity: Basic (Level 1) Progress: 21.15%…]

Though both of the gains held their own surprises, Aiden wasn't too bothered by the prompt he received with his Soul Power cultivation. After all, this very same message had appeared when after years of effort he finally completed his Rune Magic analysis. Though he ultimately failed to gain the skill as he was still missing the needed 'Magic Proficiency', Aiden knew that it was just a matter of time before he finally gets it.

What surprised him was the update related to his divinity! From what he knew, he would need to be closer to his seat of power, to Haven for the progress to increase. Yet, here in this barren dread lands, somehow he gained the same -albeit much smaller- benefits than in his own world!

This was an unexpected surprise and raised several new questions inside Aiden's mind. What is this place exactly? Does it have any connection with the system or Haven? Who actually governs this place? Who is its master, its 'god'?

There were many new questions, and Aiden could only hope that through his journey in this plane, he would find the answers he was now seeking.

—-

Aiden realized that he spent too long amidst this world's humans, and slowly started to get accustomed to them. One of the reasons he was looking forward to this adventure was that he would finally gain the chance to regain what he had lost and return to his roots once more.

Unfortunately, even before his arrival, he was already thrown into the midst of danger. Luckily, he didn't only manage to come out on top in the end, he also gained a hopefully incredible treasure!

He flipped his hand over, watching as the slowly waning, the strange grotesque heart appeared in his palm. Attached to it a strange-looking blood-red mineral ore, vaguely resembling a crystal could be seen. Though shaped differently, Aiden recognized it to be a sort of replacement of what should be the Power Core of the creatures dotting the landscape all over Eora.

The organ that still held some tiny residue of the lingering vitality of its previous owner was monstrous, to say the least. Ignoring the fact that it sported at least twice the size of what should be normal for a human of that size, it had various protrusions, bundles of meat, a muscle that formed smaller blister-looking mounds all over the surface. Adding to that the strange mineral that seemed to be fused together with the backside and still retained a faint hollow dark glow, Aiden couldn't help but frown with a rising disgust as he slowly raised his palm closer to his face.

Even its stench was putrid, causing Aiden's initial rising interest to rapidly decline with each passing second as he gazed at the hulking abomination's most important organ.

Still, he was determined. He needed some answers, he knew nothing about his sudden assailants, nor about that mysterious masked master of theirs.

Why did they target him? Did they have any connection? Aiden did not recognize the masked master. Even his guess that he was most likely a male, somewhat over his forties, and that he held some amount of understanding and achievement in ritualistic magic to be able to alter and corrupt it so proficiently without being seen.

Who could he be? Also, what were these strange creatures? How did they transform at all?

Aiden's frown deepened into a scowl as he raised the organ closer and gave a decisive whiff over it. The horrid, putrid, rotting smell was uncanny, not resembling a recently deceased stench at all. Though he wasn't an expert, Aiden was fairly certain that unless the corpse was dead for at least for several weeks, he should have met with something much calmer…

His stomach was protesting, sending stimuli to his brain to puke and not let Aiden to consume something so foul. Still, knowing this was his only way towards getting his answers, Aiden steeled his resolve.

'I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.' He repeated his mental mantra, giving himself the confidence boost he needed.

'[You can… do it? I gotta say Aiden… That is just horrible…]' Enya's queasy voice resounded in his mind, not helping his situation at all.

'Be silent, wisp! Master is trying his best!' Ryg's childish tone resounded inside him next, standing at his side rather than on Enya's. She then turned her attention towards the concentrating boy, giving him a few words of appraise of her own.

'You can do it, Master! I believe in you! Even if that thing looks like that it was fished out from a long reanimated corpse and that it probably has the vilest smell that one can imagine, I am sure you can swallow it!'

She giggled, muttering a few extra words mostly to herself.

'Thank the High Heavens that I have no sense of smell or taste as a spirit!'

Unfortunately for her, Aiden and Enya caught it as well. They could only look at her with a cold, ticked-off expression.

—

Heaving a heavy sigh, Aiden took a few extra moments to calm himself, and push his emotions and dismay down. Yes, the organ was beyond horrible, more than disgusting. Yet, it potentially held the answers he was looking for. Through the memories of that horrid-looking monster, he could hopefully gain some answers to the predicament he has fallen into.

Also, the energy boost these organs usually gave, could prove to be vital… There was no other way but forward…

No matter how hard it was…

'I can do it…' He repeated his mantra one last time. Then, as if not giving himself any time to protest, he hurriedly pushed the organ and with it, the artificial crystal into his mouth.

Quickly, as he felt another wave of protest forming inside his belly, he chew it into smaller chunks and gobbled them down.

As the vile organ was broken into its foundation of essences, it merged together with his body even before reaching its destination.

Instantly, a sharp penetrating pain overwhelmed Aiden, causing him to fall down on his back and twitch on the ground.

His expression revealed a look of terror, his golden eyes turned black, as a dark mist clouded it…

In the next moment, he felt as if his consciousness was ripped away and was tossed into a bottomless chasm.

---

AN: Hey there Readers!

Just a friendly reminder, that from wherever you are reading (although I wholeheartedly thank you if you are reading and enjoying the story through Webnovel), you can reach out to me using any of the below methods!

For you, sailors of the seventh sea (non-WN readers), be a bro/gal and throw me a cup of joe, show your appreciation!

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