After a few more hours spent relaxing in the garden, we returned to Chloe's room. I wanted to try releasing those trapped souls from their torment and see if I could extract any crucial information about the culprits from them. Seated in a lotus position on Chloe's bed, I observed the soul stone. It pulsed with a mysterious blue light, and when I focused intensely, I could see numerous glowing spheres of light shuttling frantically inside it.
"Be careful. Matters concerning the soul are always complex and dangerous," Chloe warned, her crimson eyes filled with quiet concern.
I nodded and told her not to worry; after all, it couldn't bring me any permanent harm.
Gathering my Willpower, I seeped my consciousness directly inside. Instantly, I was greeted by a tempest of noise—mostly fragmented sentences, agonized screams, and other bizarre sounds. I quickly erected a mental shield using my Will to keep the cacophony from driving me insane.
Floating before me were countless glowing orbs, their numbers reaching into the tens of thousands. I felt a cold wave of horror wash over me as I realized the implications of such a staggering scale. This systematic 'harvesting' of souls was clearly not a recent endeavor; it had to be a grand conspiracy set in motion long ago, operating covertly over a long period precisely to avoid triggering widespread panic or notice.
Every single one of those souls radiated an overwhelming sense of despair and unspeakable anguish. After all, some of them had likely been sealed within that stone for who knows how long. Pondering how to free them, I formulated a plan and extended delicate threads of my Will to touch the orbs.
Instantly, a massive flood of raw information and raw, unfiltered emotions surged directly into my mind. A pain so profound it felt as though it originated from the core of my very being echoed through me. I tried to sever the connection, but it was completely useless. More and more orbs reached out to me, compounding the agony. It felt as though I were carrying an impossible weight, as if a rogue planet were crashing down directly upon me. They had been bearing an unbearable burden for ages, and my arrival offered an outlet they desperately craved. I held on for as long as humanly—or rather, immortally—possible, the sheer pain slowly driving me toward the brink of madness, right up until the moment everything went black.
When I finally regained consciousness, I was still lying flat on Chloe's bed, my hand firmly clutching the soul stone. Chloe's face hovered right into my view, her features etched with a worried frown that instantly melted into relief when she saw my eyes flicker open.
"I told you to be careful messing with souls."
"I know, sorry. I was a bit rash," I said contritely, rubbing my temples. "How much time has passed since I passed out?"
"Three hours. And you didn't just pass out—you died," she answered, her voice flinching slightly.
Noticing her distressed expression, I sighed softly, sat up, and pulled her toward me, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist. She went completely still for a moment.
"You shouldn't worry that much. Remember our first meeting, and the reason you chose me to be your fake boyfriend in the first place? I literally cannot die, so stop making that face."
"I know, but I can't help it. Even when I know you'll come back, it's still so daunting," she whispered, finally relaxing into my embrace.
"You're going to try again, aren't you?" she asked quietly after she had calmed down.
"Yeah. Last time, I simply wasn't prepared for the sheer volume of anger, despair, and agony. Plus, I already feel much stronger."
It was true; my fifth death had clearly triggered another massive upgrade. I summoned my status mentally:
STATUS
Name: Samsara Yu
Age: 17 years old
Race: ???
Special ability: Willpower
Unique ability: Death with benefits
Who would have thought that my Willpower would experience such a massive breakthrough! I knew I became stronger, but I didn't realize the extent of it—it's a truly momentous improvement. I really need to take the time to experiment with my unique ability, as the exact circumstances of my deaths heavily factor into how powerful I become afterward.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, your aura feels significantly more powerful. It's easily stronger than a two-thousand-year-old vampire," she realized aloud, looking a bit shocked.
Even though she was already aware I grew stronger after every death, she hadn't found it overly abnormal, assuming it might be an innate trait of an unknown race. Furthermore, Chloe was an absolute anomaly in her own right—at just seven years old, she had already outmatched an 800-year-old vampire. But now, she truly grasped just how broken my ability was. In the span of a single three-hour window, I had jumped from contending with a few-hundred-year-old vampire to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an elder of the vampire community.
"Actually, could you explain to me how vampires judge power among yourselves?" I asked curiously, eager to contextualize my new standing.
"Sure. It's like this: Turned vampires are generally weaker than Born vampires, who in turn are weaker than True Bloods. Beyond lineage, age is the most prevalent indicator of power. Below a hundred years, we are called infant vampires; from 100 to 1,000 years, blood children; 1,000 to 2,000 years, vampire lords; and beyond 2,000, elders. Naturally, the older a vampire is, the more powerful they become. For a normal turned vampire's blood purity to naturally evolve into a True Blood, a few thousand years are usually required. But those indicators were always loose guidelines at best during the Legendary era, as a normal vampire could stumble upon a miraculous encounter or consume the blood of a powerful beast to skyrocket in power instantly. It's rare nowadays, though."
"I see. So it's not entirely fixed; other variables exist."
"Exactly. But you can rely on those brackets most of the time to accurately gauge the power levels of vampires—and Lycans, too, since their hierarchy functions similarly."
"Anyway, I'm going to try again."
"All right, just be more careful," she said, visibly reassured now that she knew I possessed the strength to handle it.
"Yeah, I will," I answered with a serious nod.
I took a deep, centering breath and plunged my consciousness back into the soul stone. This time, the familiar scene of swirling orbs and dreary atmosphere didn't overwhelm me. My Willpower had expanded to a degree where I could actively filter through the static and search for specific data without being crushed by the residual hatred and agony.
Using my Will like a net cast into a river, I fished through the mental noise until a series of vivid images suddenly flashed through my mind. It was a preserved memory.
< I was trapped in a dark, cave-like chamber with heavy iron chains locking my ankles to the stone floor. I was wearing tattered rags, having been abducted from my village the very previous night by men clad in black robes adorned with green snake motifs. I had always been a turbulent, adventurous child; my mother strictly warned me never to sneak out into the forest after dark, but I desperately wanted to gaze at the stars from a secret clearing I'd discovered a few days prior. It turned out to be a fatal mistake. I realized something was deeply wrong when all ambient wildlife noise suddenly died out—the forest grew unnaturally, menacingly quiet. I heard the rustling of brush, and then a man stepped out from the absolute darkness. I couldn't make out his features, but he possessed the most terrifying pair of red eyes. They completely lacked the warmth and emotion of a normal human. I tried to bolt, but I hadn't taken two steps before he materialized right in front of me as if he were a ghost. Before I could even trigger my transformation into my wolf form, a glowing palm filled my entire vision, and I lost consciousness....>
This... this is the memory of an ancient soul—a young Lycan who couldn't have been more than a teenager when he was taken.
< It had been an indeterminate amount of time since I was thrown into that dark cell, and my captors hadn't visited me once. I was beginning to panic when I finally heard the heavy creaking of a door. Two men entered, slapped a blindfold over my eyes, and led me away. I felt the crisp night wind brush my face and caught the sharp scent of pine as we emerged from the subterranean cave network. They forced me to my knees before ripping the blindfold off. I was outside, exactly as I suspected. Numerous black-robed figures stood vigil in a wide circle around an ancient, crumbling stone temple, the dense darkness illuminated only by a few sputtering torches. Everyone stood in eerie, absolute silence, as though waiting for a higher command. Soon, heavy footsteps echoed from deep within the interior of the temple. A man stepped out wearing ceremonial garb vastly different from the rest—a pristine white robe emblazoned with the striking motif of a giant green serpent. The emerald pattern rippled dynamically across his fabric as if it were a living creature. The surrounding cultists immediately dropped to one knee and chanted in unison: "We pay our utmost respect to the Primus!!" As this man glanced down at me, I felt instantly reduced to an insignificant bug beneath his boot. I instinctively knew he was unfathomably powerful. He simply uttered two cold words: "Carry on." Another man stepped forward carrying a bizarre crystal sphere the size of a human head, bowed deeply to the 'Primus,' and pressed his palm directly onto my forehead....>
At least now I have a face or a title for the head of these enemies, and a distinct symbol for their faction. Maybe Chloe is familiar with an underground organization that uses a giant green serpent as their insignia.