The sound of splashing water and the warm steam filling the bathroom were unable to drive away the shock still hanging in the air.
During that shared bathing moment, Allen, Alrain, Ordion, Alvein, Kylen, and also Davin who had been eavesdropping from behind the wall of the next bathroom all this time, never expected that Arvin could awaken someone's hidden power in such an extreme way, yet proven to be very easy and effective.
In the corner of the room, Allen poured water over his body, but his gaze was empty and his mind drifted far away.
Seeing the magical black smoke that had previously enveloped Dylan's body, a feeling of inferiority slowly crept up and gripped his heart. Allen was the first spouse, the person who had been by Arvin's side the longest, but up to this second he still could not feel the awakening of his own hidden power.
When can I awaken my power like Dylan? thought Allen, biting his lower lip feeling slightly disappointed in himself. I am his first spouse, but instead I feel left behind by Dylan who isn't even officially married to him yet.
On the other side of the bathroom, Kylen also felt the exact same psychological burden as Allen. The bluish-white-haired youth wiped his wet face, staring at his reflection in the puddle of water.
He was very aware of his position and desperately wanted his hidden power to awaken soon so that later he would not bring shame to the name of the descendant of the strongest noble family, who was highly respected and revered by all kingdoms on the continent, when he officially married Arvin later.
Can I also awaken my hidden power in the near future? thought Kylen full of worry, feeling left far behind the seventh spouse. Even though I am Arvin's sixth spouse, Dylan was the one who succeeded in awakening his power first. I truly feel inferior if I keep standing beside Arvin with my current power.
Even though they didn't say a single word, Arvin was very sensitive. He realized that Allen and Kylen were feeling inferior just by looking at their gloomy expressions and their gestures which suddenly became quieter.
But, he just smiled faintly, feeling amused seeing the behavior of the two youths while continuing to soap his own body casually. He knew, the time of their awakening would arrive at the right moment.
Behind his calmness, Arvin was actually thinking about something else. While rinsing his body, he suddenly remembered an ancient tone with a dark leather cover sealed with a thick chain, which he had recently found in the academy's underground secret room.
I am very curious about the contents of the book I just got from the library's underground! his eyes radiated a great interest. After taking a bath, I will try to read it.
....
When night finally arrived and the atmosphere inside the shelter house had become quiet, Arvin sneaked out. He walked alone heading to an empty area beside the house.
Arvin placed both his palms on the ground.
By using a combination of earth, ice, and alchemy magic, the ground in front of him rose and formed a very sturdy small hut, which he deliberately made as a special place to read without any disturbance.
After entering and sitting cross-legged on the hut's flat floor, Arvin snapped his fingers. A light magic orb was created, floating in the air and providing a soft yet bright illumination to every corner of the room.
Arvin took out the mysterious chain-sealed book from his storage dimension space. But when his fingers tried to pull the chain, the chain did not budge in the slightest. Arvin immediately realized that he did not understand how to open the chain seal, because the object was locked with a high-tier sealing magic from the ancient era whose pattern he did not recognize.
"It seems I have to try checking all the other books I have found on that shelf first to look for clues."
He once again took out one by one the ancient books he had collected from the underground room from his storage dimension space and placed them in front of him.
Without wasting time, he immediately started reading those books very seriously.
Page after page he turned. With Arvin Vedegra's cheat ability, he processed all the information written there at an unreasonable speed.
And all those books truly made him very interested as well as amazed. He found a detailed explanation about high-tier fire magic, an absolute regeneration magic exactly like the one used by Ordion, which made the youth unable to die even if his head was decapitated on the battlefield.
What was even more surprising, the note mentioned that similar crazy regeneration magic could also be applied to other elements, except for ice element and transparent element users.
This is truly crazy! thought Arvin, his eyes widening in disbelief upon reading the magic formula that defied the laws of nature. No wonder these books were deliberately hidden and buried deep in the ground! If the existence of these books became known to the public, there would definitely be a large-scale war involving all kingdoms just to fight over and control one of the books.
Time continued to pass unnoticeably and Arvin kept reading without stopping. All the magic theories, ancient history, and incantations written in all the books he had read, were recorded very clearly and permanently in his brain's memory.
However, when his hand reached and started reading the last book from the pile, Arvin widened his eyes.
A few paragraphs written in dull red ink in the book had completely captured his attention. His heart beat slightly faster. He felt that the answer he had been looking for all this time had finally been found on this page.
The handwriting in the book looked rushed, as if written by someone who was haunted by extraordinary fear.
"The book had to be sealed permanently because it is very dangerous. Because the book contains a forbidden magic which is none other than the 'Soul Seal Book'!"
Arvin was very surprised to find out about the true identity of the chain-sealed magic book earlier just by reading its first paragraph. He gulped and resumed his reading.
"That magic is a magic that binds someone's soul to another person's soul. The bound soul will absolutely follow the lifespan of the binder. If the binder dies, then the bound one will also die instantly. However, as long as the binder is still alive, if the bound one is killed, then he will keep resurrecting endlessly."
"A person whose soul has been bound indeed appears to live and breathe, but essentially that person is no longer a complete human being, but only a physical body that possesses characteristics like the soul itself."
"The process is very horrifying. When the two people bind the soul seal contract with each other, the person who will be bound will die, then automatically be resurrected by the magic. The person whose soul has been bound will not age, cannot get sick, and what is even more surprising, he truly cannot die by any weapon or magic!"
"He is as if a Morpher who only submits to his master's commands, even though he can still think, speak, and behave normally like a human being."
"We also concluded that the body of the bound person is nothing more than just a shell or an empty physical body, which is functioned only to place a soul."
Arvin's eyes moved quickly reading the dark history written in the next paragraph.
"We finally decided to seal the book after there was a greedy king who used this magic to bind all his people. And the soul of the king himself madly he bound to the soul of a Morpher, a magic entity that indeed cannot die."
"However, there was an unnamed hero who found out about that fact. He hunted the Morpher which had become the main medium to bind the king's soul, then successfully killed it. He did that because there were so many citizens who were actually already very fed up and tormented living in immortality."
"And the tragedy that occurred after the Morpher's death was truly horrifying. The King, the King's family, and all the citizens of his kingdom also died simultaneously at the exact same second. In just one night, the kingdom filled with millions of immortal humans collapsed into a dead city filled with corpses."
"That's why we finally decided to seal the cursed book with a holy chain and hide it from the world so that the tragedy would not happen again."
At the very bottom of the page, there was a small note written in bolder black ink.
"But, if you indeed insist on binding someone's soul and want to open the sealed book, the method is very simple: just use very dense dark magic to destroy its chain seal. But remember, you have to bear all the risks yourself! And through this writing, I have given you a very clear warning!"