NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: Truth Level Soul Fragment
Following the increasingly clear, pulsating ancient guidance deep within his soul, Lynch parted from the Knowledge Ruins and ventured deeper into the more fundamental areas of the Blood Moon Land.
The surroundings began to undergo strange transformations. The once abundant and seemingly wild Magic Vegetation gradually thinned and faded, replaced by a bizarre, highly unstable scene. Space here was akin to a shattered mirror, presenting countless fractured fissures and discontinuities.
In the vista before him, the terrain was no longer a continuous entity but was twisted, folded, and even inverted; light was arbitrarily sliced and refracted, forming patches of colorful but distorted hues; sometimes a sound reminiscent of a distant, non-existent water flow reached his ears, and at other times it was akin to the sharp noise of countless shards of glass shattering simultaneously.
This was a peculiar realm constructed from forcibly piecing together and stacking countless fragmented Space Fragments, seemingly a scar of the world, or the wreckage left behind after the collapse of Rules.
The violent spatial turbulence roamed between the fragments like invisible blades, shrieking, where ordinary creatures and even Lower Tier Wizards would likely be instantly torn to pieces or exiled into unknown void crevices.
Lynch's Triple Domain naturally circulated around him, with the power of the Space Domain gently diffusing outward. It was like the most agile fingers, parting the dangerous space folds and fissures, smoothing the overly rampant turbulence around, and paving a relatively stable path for him. He resembled a dancer on a tightrope, traversing the graveyard of this space with precision and serenity.
As he continued deeper, the soul's call almost transformed into a tangible pull. Finally, after passing through the last curtain of space shimmering like water waves, he reached the core of this fragmented region.
The scene before him made even the well-versed Lynch's heart tense with caution.
There, there were no longer fragmented Space Fragments or distorted light. All chaos, all sense of fragmentation seemed to be forcibly gathered and compressed by some stronger force, eventually forming a colossal, slowly rotating... black vortex.
It hovered silently amidst the void, so deep it seemed to swallow even sight. The vortex's edges were indistinct, ambiguously merging with the surrounding shattered space, its interior absolute darkness, where not a single ray of light could escape.
It did not emanate violent energy shocks; instead, there was a heart-murmuring silence and restraint, as if all noise, all Rules, converged to eternal nothingness before it. A vast attraction and oppressive force originating from soul origin emanated from the center of the vortex, like the breath of a slumbering giant beast, wave after wave.
As Lynch gazed at the black vortex that seemed capable of devouring everything, feeling the chilling stillness and overwhelming soul pressure emanating from it, the voice of the ancient man echoed directly in the depths of his consciousness again, like a whisper traversing countless layers of space:
"See it? These... constructing the black vortex are neither pure energy nor substance; they are the Soul Fragment remnants formed after the soul of the fallen Truth Level Wizard disintegrated. Each tiny, dark light point floating in the vortex had once been part of his vast soul."
The man's voice carried a sense of witnessing the dust of history, continuing to guide: "You don't need to confront the entire vortex, that is not within your current reach. You only need to find a way to get close, and then... absorb and merge these relatively independent Soul Fragments, one by one. Each absorption allows you to gain insights and power regarding the essence of soul, bringing tangible improvement to your Soul Law."
Upon hearing the man's words, Lynch did not immediately act out of eagerness for this "shortcut" right in front of him. His long-standing Wizard career, especially the experience accumulated on the edge of life and death, nurtured the habit of maintaining maximum vigilance when facing any unknowns.
Rashly contacting the soul remnants left behind by a Truth Level existence, even if just fragments, inevitably involved unknown risks.
He refrained from rushing into action, choosing first to stay at a relatively safe distance, cautiously extending a extremely slender strand of spiritual power resembling tentacles.
This strand of Spirit Tentacles contained his precise control over his soul, cautiously and tentatively extending towards the most outer region of the black vortex, reaching a fragment that seemed relatively stable and about the size of a palm.
When the tip of the Spirit Tentacles gently touched the slowly rotating dark fragment—
"Buzz..."
A faint resonance seemed to echo in Lynch's consciousness. Immediately, pure, ancient soul energy, though weak yet infused with indescribable "height" and "quality," transmitted back along the Spirit Tentacles.
The sensation was not a violent shock but resembled a drop of nectar condensed with countless insights, bearing a cool and profound touch. Just the initial contact made him feel as if his soul was being cleansed, inciting a yearning to merge with it.
Indeed!
The feedback from the Spirit Tentacles confirmed the man's statement. These fragments indeed contained immensely rich and high-quality soul energy, and seemingly due to their "unowned" and "broken" state, did not exhibit strong rejection but rather presented a trait that could be guided and absorbed.
Lynch slowly retracted the Spirit Tentacles, a gleam of realization and solemnity in his eyes. The path was right before him, but how to safely and effectively "digest" these Soul Fragments was the real key ahead.
Lynch doubted no more. Opportunities and risks coexist, and having confirmed the essence and absorbability of the Soul Fragments, he hesitated no longer.
He concentrated his spirit, manipulating the Spirit Tentacles, more solid and flexible than before, resembling a skilled craftsman, accurately wrapping it around a relatively calm, fist-sized Soul Fragment at the black vortex's outskirts.
The fragment under the tentacles' guidance did not violently resist, but merely trembled slightly as if disturbed from slumber, soon turning into a stream of pure black light, guided gradually, traversing the boundary of material and spirit, eventually merging into the depths of Lynch's Spiritual Sea between his brows.
At the moment the Soul Fragment contacted and merged with his soul origin—
It was as if a stone was thrown into a calm lake, ripples spread, and a vivid scene burst forth in his mind without warning:
Sunlight filtered through the crevices of a rudimentary wooden house, casting dappled light spots. A young boy, seemingly two or three years old, wearing coarse linen clothes, with bare feet, joyfully held a wicker basket almost the size of his body, stumbling to the side of a woman busy at the stove. The basket contained variously colored wild fruits and a few plump mushrooms.
"Mama, mama, look! These are the wild fruits I gathered today, I also picked lots of mushrooms!" The boy's voice was clear and full of pride, his little face lifted, bright eyes sparkling, full of anticipation for praise.
In the image, the woman with a simple face marred by the signs of labor, paused her work, turned, gently stroked the boy's sweat-dampened hair, a loving smile spreading across her face, speaking softly, "Our little Al has been so capable, such a great harvest today..."
This ordinary and warm segment, like a yellowed old photograph, brought distant traces of hearth and home, forming a strange contrast with the broken space and the grand identity of the Truth Wizard.
Simultaneously, the familiar and crisp system notification tone sounded clearly in his ears, like a precise measuring instrument:
[Soul Law Experience Points increased by 1238...]