"Mireth?" Vincent spoke her name as he woke up from the dream.
She hastily took his hand and exclaimed with a somewhat frightened voice, "My love, what happened? Why were you unconscious?!"
When Mireth woke up, it was already almost sunset. Seeing no Vincent around at this hour, she decided to go search for him only to be terrified when she saw him being carried to her home by the High Elder.
Her joyous mood had completely vanished.
Looking at her obsessive eyes filled with concern, Vincent was lost for words.
'Do not forget to whom you belong.'
Vincent once again reminded himself to which woman he gave his heart.
"Don't worry, everything is fine. It was just a little accident, nothing serious," Vincent wanted to stand up from the bed, but Mireth stopped him and even pushed him back to the bed.
"You're not going anywhere until you are fully healed," She was very persistent.
Vincent looked at her towering figure above himself.
He can tell from the look in her eyes that she will not back down.
Taking a deep breath, he surrendered.
Though his time was ticking, taking a few hours of a good rest will not be superfluous.
"Fine, I'll follow your advice."
Hearing his reply, Mireth brightly smiled and suddenly lowered her face to take his lips.
Her hand slid under his shirt. He can feel how her smooth hand slowly roamed across his chest.
Vincent's body shook and he hastily thought about Alisia.
Though he has good control of his emotions, if Mireth's advances continue, he might be forced to Inflict an illusion on her once again.
With a sloppy sound, her lips separated from his.
She interlocked her fingers with his.
"My love, please leave everything else to me and just rest," she said with a smile.
Vincent took a good look at her gorgeous face before a wave of mental weakness slowly covered his mind.
Mireth stared intensely at how her love was slowly falling asleep.
"Sleep well~ I will be beside you."
…
Inside the dream world, Vincent wasn't with Alisia nor was he witnessing his past.
Though what he was seeing was simple information rather than a pleasant dream.
He clearly understood the weight of it.
Because of Vincent's powerful soul, he can stay conscious within his dreams, but he was unable to control them. At least for now.
After he analysed the part of this information, he understood that it is what that female High Elf implanted into him.
A Spiritual Ascension path that every elf practices.
Vincent was glad as he delved deeper into it only to be stunned.
Beside the Spiritual Ascension path, he found additional information.
Vincent was barely able to believe his own eyes.
This was a life experience of someone who practiced this path straight to 5th Stage.
'High Elf…'
This was a nearly priceless gift that can allow him to avoid most mistakes straight till 4th Stage. And even slightly increased chances to reach 5th Stage.
There were even some insights towards the 6th Stage.
With this, Vincent became much more confident in his plan.
A truly unexpected gift.
In his mind, he started to analyse the first stage and compare it with human paths.
Just analysing everything will take a lot of time. Not just hours, but probably days.
And after everything will be ready, he'll start to merge each known path's concepts into one with his broken essence seed as the core.
This particular part will take not just days, but months as he will have to constantly use all his soul force on calculations of different variables to reduce the chances of failure.
Time was ticking.
…
Time moved on as days and nights replaced each other.
In a place faraway from hidden elvish territory, in the darkness of the abandoned mine, calmly sat a female figure.
Her long hair was messy as if this girl stopped caring about her looks.
But there was something strange about this scene.
The darkness looked much denser near the girl while scattered in the distance.
Soon, this darkness covered her entire body, like a cocoon.
This bizarre scene lasted several minutes and the dark cocoon suddenly sank into her body.
Her body trembled and she gradually opened her eyes.
They were completely black, but only for a moment before turning normal.
Taking a deep breath, the girl assessed her condition.
'Finally. Now I'm one step closer to you, Vincent.'
It was Alisia.
All this time after Vincent left her, she was constantly training without wasting any minute.
After a month of such vigorous training, she finally reached the 2nd stage.
Standing up, she looked around.
The once dark mine, now became much clearer.
Alisia sadly exhaled, 'This mine can no longer support my cultivation.'
Alisia can feel that the darkness essence in this place has become very thin. She can't use it anymore for her training.
'I need a new one.'
She recalled several other abandoned mines that Vincent mentioned that she can use.
The closest one was where Vincent's father disappeared.
…
Within a small unknown city far away, a middle-aged woman was desperately running away from something or someone.
But she knew she couldn't run away forever.
…
Meanwhile, the North Star City had experienced a big change.
The Trade Guild that was conducting slave trades, had suddenly lost its Guild Master.
He was mercilessly killed in front of the two clans.
…
Time didn't stand still.
Several months went by.
Birds were chirping, small animals were going about their business, untreatened.
As the calm mid-day breeze waved to tall trees, a small bird suddenly landed at the shoulder of the young man with long dark messy hair that was sitting at one of its big branches, unmoving.
The bird curiously looked at him.
Abruptly, the man took a deep and slow breath which scared the bird and it flew away.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the waving leaves.
'I knew it would be hard, but this…'
For a month, Vincent had already begun to analyse how to merge all paths known to him into one that suited his broken seed.
But the more he delved into this, the more he felt that his plan was…
impossible.