Drai took out a spell vessel and slid it across the table too.

“This is ‘Soul Rend’. An offensive spell for the soul. It's quite good. I need you to use this.”

Understanding what Drai was asking for, Soren smiled and bit his thumb. And squeezed a drop of blood on the spell vessel. Isaac already confirmed its authenticity, so he didn’t hesitate. The familiar scene occurred once more. The spell vessel turned into blood-mist and submerged into his ‘Stygian Grimoire’.

“Spell Learned: Soul Rend [4/4]. Mana cost – Negligible.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Soul Rend – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Vessel Assimilated. Innate Spell Learned: Soul Rend – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Evolution Possible”

Isaac, start the evolution process. Increase its power and control….

“Understood, master.”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Soul Rend]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[.…]

[....]

[Spell Evolution Complete: Spell Strengthened]

“Soul Rend: Upon successful casting, the spell will create invisible blades based on the caster’s soul strength and directly attack the target’s soul. Can pass through obstacles. The strength of the spell depends on the caster’s ‘Spirit’ stat while its range depends on the caster’s proficiency level. Mana Cost – Low.”

……

“So, what’ll be the payment for my help?” Soren asked after he analyzed the spell.

“Information. About anything you want. If I can’t provide it, I’ll pay with other items. Spell vessels, rare ingredients, cultivation techniques, skill books, enhancement artifacts. You name it, I’ll give,” Drai said.

The problem with that girl’s soul seemed to have pestered him for a long time. If the situation continued like this for him, he would end up losing his identity. He was probably aware of it.

After hearing Drai’s offer, Soren fell into deep thought for a while. Spells; skills; ingredients, artifacts. Though they enticed him, he wanted information about a certain topic even more.

From what the ‘Will’ inside that vestige told Soren, Drai might’ve also suffered from the same kind of vitality damage as him. But even if this wasn’t true and that ‘Will’ lied to him about it, it didn’t matter. Because he’d already concluded that even if Drai didn’t suffer from the same thing, he at least had in-depth knowledge about this.

About his conclusion, Soren was basing it on the two possibilities that could be the reason for that ‘Will’s’ actions that day. He used these to confirm his speculation:

One was that this ‘Will’’ had deviated from its initial setup and had done what it wasn’t meant to. Giving out all that information to Soren. But even if this scenario was true, the information it could give out couldn’t have changed by much. The reason for this was that no matter how much that ‘Will’ could have deviated and ‘evolved’, it was impossible for it to create false information on its own. It could not have enough intelligence and sentience to do that. If anything, it could have at most changed some small details. The core part of the information would remain the same.

The other possibility was that the ‘Will’ had never deviated in the first place and was doing what it was born for. This meant that Drai had planned his ‘Will’ to be like that and had left all the information and the emotions when creating it. Based on this possibility, the reason why that ‘Will’ helped Soren and gave him all the information about his vitality damage could be to inform Uri about this through him. After all, it was possible that during the process of body possession, she would search Soren’s soul. And given that this issue with Soren’s body could be a big problem for her, Drai, or Drai’s ‘Will’, had to inform her of this.

But regardless of which scenario was true, it only proved that the information that Soren had received from that ‘Will’ was authentic. And that Drai indeed had information about this topic.

“I want information. About ‘Vitality’ damage and how to heal it.” He thought it through and made his choice.

A shocked expression appeared on both Drai and Seth. They did not seem to have expected this. But they recovered soon.

“Okay, let’s sign the contract first,” Drai said.

……

The terms in the contract were simple: Soren had to help Drai in dealing with that girl’s soul. And in return, Drai would provide him with all the information he had on the topic that Soren asked about. Other than this, the contract also had a clause about intentional harm. They couldn’t hurt each other. Until the contract ended.

Soren held the brown parchment and read each line. Many times. Word by word. He also had Isaac scan it. Again, many times.

He got the green light. There were no traps. He nicked his right index finger with his dagger. And signed his name on it. In ‘Enfari’ language.

He turned the contract around and pushed it back to Drai. A faint sigh escaped him as he did so. He could have asked about the way back home. Even if it was impossible right now, he could’ve gotten more details. Details he couldn’t find anywhere else. Details from someone who was once a Rank 3 Initiator. But alas, life played a cruel joke on him. His damage worsened. With breaking the Blood Contract back in Eastwood. To suffering from that shockwave. It worsened. And kept worsening by the day. The rate slow but Isaac could detect it now. And it made him realize the cold hard truth—he wouldn’t live long enough to go back. Even if he knew the way.

His body was breaking down. From inside. It was crumbling apart. Day by day. It showed nothing outside. Yet, he felt it every now and then. It regressed.

Isaac calculated the rate once. The result was a few decades. He only had that much to live. If he didn’t fix it soon. He planned to find a solution in the rewards list. But he met Drai now. He had to take this chance. For his life and future depended on it.

“Let me start by telling you what kind of damage this is,” Drai said. After he too signed his name on the Blood Contract. It burnt and scattered into ashes.

“Simple words, this is a damage that affects the core of your body. If you think of your body as a building, then this damage means that the foundation of that building is breaking down from inside.”

He sipped his ale. “Although you could live with it if you have high enough vitality stat, it will always be a ticking bomb inside your body. Waiting to explode. Of course, this is based on the premise that you won’t suffer any kind of major damage your whole life. Once you do though, it will become like a crack in the metal. The more you’ll get hurt after that, the more it will spread. Eventually, your body will completely break down.”

Soren listened with concentration. Not minding Drai’s use of the word ‘you’. At this point, he didn’t care if they found out about his damage. Once he resolved to ask Drai, he was ready for this.

“As for how someone gets this damage, it can be due to many things. A severe injury that wasn’t healed properly on time. The rejection phenomena occurring during the body possession process. Someone or something leeching off your life force. Some kind of curse spell. Any of this could become the reason for this damage. For me, it was the curse spell. Heh….someone….used a curse on me while I was breaking to Rank 3. That was my most vulnerable moment. And they used it well. Haha.”

Drai fell silent for a while after saying that. His eyes closed and his head tilted down. There was an air of despair around him. He had his own story. As did others.

He opened his eyes and continued again. “About how to heal such damage, there are only two methods. One is to use a high-ranking healing pill or potion. The only problem with this is that to heal such damage, you’ll need a pill or a potion of at least Rank 5. And with our cultivation level, getting such a thing is simply impossible. Not happening. The other method to heal this damage is the one that I used. Change your body. Although you might be reluctant to do so right now, you’ll soon understand that this is the only way for you to survive. Believe me, I’ve been there.”

As Drai said, Soren was reluctant to change his body. To abandon his body. He had many reasons for this. From not willing to give up his body to the fact that his family wouldn’t recognize him if he did so. He was also concerned about the aptitude of the new body. Though he was not the type to become arrogant and show off his talent, it was true that he took pride in his Mana aptitude. Of course, if the circumstances were different, this factor wouldn’t have been so important for him. This was because while he took pride in his aptitude, it was not everything to him. For him, even if he had bad talent, he could still crawl his way up. He had the determination for that.

Albeit, it would take much longer that way. And that was what concerned him. If he took too long to increase his cultivation level again, he wouldn’t be able to get back home on time. His family would not be alive.

Status: Healthy

Rank 1: Layer 1 [CP - 0%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 7.94

Agility: 9.71 (+1.90)

Vitality: 17.73

Intelligence: 21.26 (+7.20)

Spirit: 20.29 (+8.45)

Resistance: 9.11 (+2.35)

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 3/10

Innate Spells: 19

Innate Skills/Bloodline Talents: 7

Water Bubbles [7/7] – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Snow Blades [5/5] – Level 9/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Chakra [6/6] – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Create Undead: Low Tier Ⅱ – Level 7/15. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 1]

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Dark Raven – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Barrage – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dead Rising – Level 7/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Acid Needles – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Shadow Prison – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Frost Domain – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Elemental Sense – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dark Gravity – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Withering Wood – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Soul Rend – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Spikes – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Soul Search – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 1]

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Ice Wall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Waterball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Rainfall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Spark – Level 10/10. Mana cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Fireball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Space Snatcher – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 0]

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Mana Manipulation – Level 7/15

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Potioneering [Rank 1] – Level 1/15.

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Powered Vision – Level --/--

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Vornea: Basic Form – Level --/--

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Devour: First Evolution – Level --/--

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Second Intelligence – Level --/--

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Shadow Steps – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Equipment: Common Clothes; Magic Staff – Moonshard; Spirit-Pendant; Snake-Earring; Spirit-Ring; Resistance-Ring; Caster’s Bracelet; Agility-Boots; Dagger; Mana Touch – Gloves; White Ring [War Accessory] – 509.

Storage Pearl: Common Clothes; Hunter I.D; Mask; Egg – Crystal Albarose; Various Ingredients; Automatons x3; Beast Cores[Rank 0] x184; Beast Cores[Rank 1] x114; Rank 1 Potion Recipe – [Sun’s Afterglow, Soul Recovery]; Empty Memory Spheres; Books and Compendiums; Rank 0 Common Potions[Middle-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[High-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[Top-Grade] x0; Rank 1 Potion – Soul Recovery[Lowest-Grade] x2; Blood Essence – x3 Vials [Rank 1: Layer 1], x1 Vial [Rank 1: Layer 2], x1 Vial [Rank 0: Layer 9].

Mana Crystals: 2513 [Middle-Grade]; 223 [Low-Grade]; Myriad Items—Card [Value-500]; Six Mana Cards.