Author's Note: Okay, here's the last chapter of the week then :)
***
Pain.
Pain and agony were all that Julius knew for the next few hours. Turns out that the more one consumed the elixir, the less effective it would be. So he would need to drink more of it to get a fraction of the results. This was especially true when it came to improving one's soul. After all, it was primarily a soul-healing treasure according to Thorik and not originally meant for what they were doing.
The only silver lining was that his Blanket of Gluttonous Renewal increased the elixir’s effects decently well. Since the Draught of the Golden Soulspring was so powerful, his blanket didn’t have as much of an impact as it had on other things, like a standard mana potion.
Still, every bit helped, and it meant he didn't have to suffer as much. That and the blanket made the ale taste even better than it normally did. Julius would have been quite sloshed if he hadn't been using his healing skill to cleanse his body of the alcohol. It was very strong stuff.
It was important to note that Thorik was green with envy as he stared at the blanket. Julius suspected the only reason the dwarf hadn’t beaten up Julius and taken the blanket himself was that he knew it was soul-bound. Though he suspected Thorik was trying to find a way to do so regardless.
That being said, Thorik’s plan was working. His soul was progressing at a scary rate. One he didn’t think possible outside special rift rewards or gaining a powerful skill. That being said, it wasn’t without its drawbacks.
Obviously, the pain and suffering were the most apparent. But the stress on his soul wasn’t something to be ignored either. While his healing skill helped deal with this particular issue, it wasn’t absolute.
He lost count of how many times he drank out of the mug, but after what seemed like an eternity, he finally felt his soul boil over the edge. It had been on the precipice for a while, but only now did it finally go all the way.
He gasped and did his best to restrain his soul. It was flailing around recklessly and took every ounce of his willpower to keep it under control. But even with that, he felt his soul crackle and shake from the weight being pressed onto it. He let out a silent scream and felt his willpower tremble with each passing second.
Surprisingly, he felt Thorik lend a hand for the first time. It wasn't much, but any additional support was appreciated at this time.
Then, after several long minutes, he finally managed to gain some control over it. And the moment he did that, he got a notification.
Notice: Soul threshold has been met.
Soul Evolution commencing…
Unlike the rampaging swells of soul energy he’d been going through, he felt everything go silent. It was as if the world had disappeared, and the only things left were him and his soul space.
He gazed into the darkness of his soul and at the glittering orbs dancing in the abyss as euphoria flowed through every inch of it. It was incomparable to the other soul evolutions he experienced before.
Whereas the first and second soul evolutions he’d undergone had been full of power and strength. This one seemed to focus on opening up his soul to the greater world. Everything seemed to expand and get brighter.
The dark void of his soul started to shift. Bright sparkles appeared all around him, and he saw iridescent waves of power flowing through the void like little ripples in a pond. With his soul opening up, so did his mind and senses.
Everything started to flood into his soul. It was so much that he was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and sensations. [Calm Before Ruin] was helping him organize all of this information, but even with the legendary skill’s aid, it was a challenging task.
He didn’t even understand ninety-nine percent of what he sensed. He simply stored it and internalized before it could overwhelm his puny human mind. The last thing he needed was for his brain to melt into a puddle.
He didn’t know how long it took, but eventually the process started to ease up and slow down. He took a slow, deep breath as he acclimated to the changes.
When he opened his eyes, it was like the world had undergone a transformation of its own. He knew that his senses had expanded and opened up, but he saw things he had never seen before. He saw small threads floating throughout the air. Streaks of multicolored winds were dancing all around him.
Even the mana was different. It was brighter and more vibrant. He could almost feel the individual textures of each particle of mana. It was an overwhelming and profusely addictive experience.
He laid on the ground, took everything in, and finally looked at his notifications.
Congratulations, Third Soul Evolution Complete.
You are qualified to select from the following rewards…
Free Upgrade of Any Epic Skills to Legendary
Enlightenment Potion (Pinnacle Grade)
One Additional Skill Slot
Skill Combination Crystal (Pinnacle Grade)
Concept Evolution Token (Pinnacle Grade)
Unique Soul Bound Item
Soul Stabilization Token (Pinnacle Grade)
Notice: You have five minutes to decide on your reward. If no reward is selected after time has elapsed, one will be randomly decided for you.
He saw many of the usual options or slight variations of them. He already knew one thing he was choosing for certain, though.
You have selected the Additional Skill Slot as your reward. Are you sure you want to choose this option?
Congratulations. You have been rewarded with an Additional Skill Slot.
Current Skill Slots: 13 -> 14
There was no better reward for building his foundation and strength than an additional skill slot. They were special things that he’d only gotten through soul evolutions, or from very special conditions. Conditions like that weird pit he’d been forced down, but he suspected that he’d gotten that extra skill slot more as an apology from the Words of the World than anything else.
He now had two extra spaces for skills. This gave him much more freedom to play around with skills, but it didn’t account for his plans to combine several of them. Which also led him to stare at that particular reward with an interested gaze.
Just like before, it would seem that he could still choose a reward. He smiled widely. Soul evolutions were really the best. They always gave out the best things. His favorite little lunch box had come from his last one, too.
Now that he’d selected his skill slot, he gave a little more attention to the other options.
He immediately removed the epic skill upgrade option from the list of possible selections. It was the same as last time. But knowing what he now knew about legendary skills, he wondered what would have happened if he had chosen that reward. He was only a Tier 3 during that time, so he suspected it would have been even more dangerous.
Would choosing such a reward have crippled him or the skill? There had to be at least a few people who went down this path. How did they fare?
The Enlightenment Potion was a little more tantalizing. But even more so because it was labeled a pinnacle-grade treasure. He knew just how strong it must be to be considered a pinnacle grade treasure. After all, he’d gotten his ruinous aura from a pinnacle-grade token.
However, it was the last four that truly had his attention.
The Skill Combination Crystal would be perfect for him. He wanted to try to combine several of his skills. This reward would help him do it, but since it was also a pinnacle grade treasure, it would certainly help him achieve something beyond anything he’d be able to do on his own.
The Concept Evolution Token was also just as tempting. A more powerful concept was always useful. He believed that his Concept of Force was in particular need of an upgrade. It was decently strong, at least compared to other people’s concepts. But he felt like it didn’t fit his needs as well as it could have.
It was another pinnacle grade treasure, too. He’d never been offered so many pinnacle-grade treasures before, and he wondered if this was because this was his third soul evolution or if it was something else.
The Unique Soul Bound Item was another appealing choice. Every soul-bound item he’d gotten was useful and sometimes outright overpowered. But he also felt like he had plenty of soul-bound items at this point. He had the Fledgling Phoenix Lunchbox, his Ruinous Crown, the blanket, and the Lightweave Necklace he got from Reinera’s uncle.
He would have liked a weapon, but so far, he hadn’t been able to get one, and the description said it would be an item. Not that it couldn’t be a weapon, but it would certainly be a gamble. One he didn’t think he was willing to take, not when it was possible to get something similar later down the road.
Then there was the Soul Stabilization Token. Not only was it a pinnacle grade treasure. But something in his gut told him that it would be very useful for his unique situation. His soul has always been a bit weird and not of the norm. The recent things he’d been doing with it certainly didn’t help him either.
What kind of Tier 4 had already undergone their third soul evolution? He had no idea what the repercussions would be, nor what side effects he might experience. If it did exactly what it was meant to do, it might be perfect for him. There was also another reason why he was deliberating choosing it, but that was more him being paranoid than anything else.
In the end, he chose something that would also help justify the reason why he’d agreed to go along with this in the first place.
You have selected the Skill Combination Crystal (Pinnacle Grade) as your reward. Are you sure you want to choose this option?
Congratulations. You have acquired a Skill Combination Crystal (Pinnacle Grade).
Julius cradled the crystal in his hand. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like anything. No mana or weird energy fluctuations were radiating from it. Rather, it was lying there completely inert. Shrugging, he placed it in his dimensional space for safekeeping. He had a plan to use it later, when his soul settled down.
He got up and stretched his limbs when he saw the notification still displayed. Apparently, he still had one more thing he could select from the rewards. It sort of made sense. The first soul evolution allowed him to select one reward. The second evolution let him select two. And now the third one would apparently let him select three whole rewards. Did this mean he would be able to select a fourth during his next soul evolution?
That is, if there was even a fourth soul evolution to be had. He didn’t know what was beyond Tier 6. Freya and Cain hadn’t told him of the details, nor did they think it prudent to share them even if they wanted to.
But since he was able to choose another reward. That meant his choice came down to two options. The Enlightenment Potion and Concept Evolution Token were both tempting. But out of the two, he was more interested in the Concept Evolution Token. He didn’t feel the need for enlightenment at this time. Maybe if he were about to advance to Tier 5, but he was far away from that. He still needed to work on his Seed of Authority before he thought about Tier 5.
Then the Soul Stabilization Token was something he was fascinated with. Especially with how unstable his soul was. In fact, it seemed unstable all the time.
Therefore, his decision was between the two tokens. He thought about it for some time. It wasn’t until he got the one-minute warning that he finally made his choice.
You have selected the Soul Stabilization Token (Pinnacle Grade) as your reward. Are you sure you want to choose this option?
Congratulations. You have acquired a Soul Stabilization Token (Pinnacle Grade).
His gut told him that this thing was going to be quite useful.