Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 21B3 - Transcendent Soul

The Echo didn’t return for a while. However, he could feel everything the Sacred Beast did, no matter how far it flew. The connection to the Echo remained firm, and he could have ordered it to return with a simple command. But David didn’t feel like doing so. He left Electra be, giving it some time to enjoy freedom and to do whatever it wanted to.

He could probably figure out what Electra was doing, yet he couldn’t be bothered and returned to replenish his used-up energies. He activated [Aether Breath] and retrieved one of the last preserved corpses from his spatial storage to drain its remaining lifeforce. It was not enough to fill his drained storages, the Core, and his Source, but it was a good start.

He produced more Blood and did not hesitate to provide the Sacred Beast Core as well. The remnants of the Beast Will left in the Core tried investing more into the Class Skill, but the Rune was blocked, preventing further modification. While that was a little unsatisfactory, it was probably for the best, as the Sacred Beast would have invested every bit of Blood entering the Core into [Bloodlife Echo]. That would have transformed the Core into a problem rather than a problem-solver.

Redoubling his efforts to replenish his energies, David stopped minding whatever Electra was doing until he sensed it nearby. Something landed beside him with a loud crash, attracting his attention. He opened his eyes and glimpsed the lifeless body of a bull the size of a minivan. Fresh blood was still dripping from a deep gash in its neck.

Electra didn’t wait and turned around to leave from where it came. It was fast and hadn’t used much of the Blood used to create the Echo, but that didn’t mean anything. David caught a glimpse of an abundance of Aether circulating through the winged serpent’s body, hinting at excellent usage of the [Aether Breath] Spark. Electra was clearly more experienced at using Sparks than the weaker Echoes had been. While that should have been obvious, David was pleasantly surprised.

It would be best if Electra could provide the energy needed to fight, heal, and support on its own, he muttered inwardly, grimacing at the thought of supplying the Echo with a fortune of Blood droplets if the Sacred Beast were to fail. Fortunately, it did not look like Electra would need any more Blood anytime soon—except to grow stronger. But that should only be possible once [Bloodlife Echo] ranked up.

David let his thoughts roam a bit, thinking of ways to use Electra in combat. It didn’t take long before he resumed work. With the bull drained of lingering lifeforce, he filled the Blood Storages in no time. Next were Serpent Fang and the Scalemore, which could both hold more Blood than a few days ago. Even though they were soulbound objects of the Gold Rank, the amount of energy they could store was clearly restricted to his Primary Class’ Rank.

Time passed in a hurry, and it did not take long before dozens of corpses, all minivan-sized bulls, littered the ground around him. As Electra dropped the last corpse, a ripple of gratitude reached his heart. But it was the Sacred Beast’s emotion rather than his own.

Albeit surprising to receive Electra’s gratitude, David didn’t stop filling both Sacred Beast Core and Source with Blood. And he did not stop until he noticed a wave of enlightenment spread through him. David barely caught a whisper of it and closed his eyes to see the Spark of [Healing Link] grow dimmer. The enlightenment spread through him, offering ideas and suggestions to modify and improve the Spark. But… that didn’t make any sense.

Why did the Spark ignite a wave of enlightenment? I didn’t used [Healing Link] in a while.

David turned to the Echo and caught the culprit, using the Sparks connected to [Bloodlife Echo] as if they were its own, to restore the wastelands.

Electra can accumulate experience for the Sparks as well? That’s handy, he thought, though he was more interested in the Sacred Beast’s actions. It clearly knew what David needed and did exactly that to… help him. The creature he killed months ago was not helping him. That was already odd enough to put him on edge, but even more confusing was that he had never ordered Electra to do anything.

It provided the corpses without an order and began to restore the wastelands of its own accord as well…

But as confusing as the situation was, David couldn’t sense any ill intentions. It might be scheming, trying to befriend him to backstab him later, but could it really do something to him? It was unlikely. He’d subdued the Sacred Beast once, claiming its Core as his own, and was in full control of [Bloodlife Echo]. A simple order would be more than enough to force Electra out of the serpentine Echo.

Electra probably knows that. It knows there is nothing it can do against me and decided to help me instead, in exchange for freedom.

Freedom was expensive — something the Sacred Beast had never known. Or so David guessed from the turmoil of emotions he received from their connection. Regardless, Electra’s actions were helpful and would accelerate his growth a little.

With that in mind, David invested his remaining Attribute Points to push both himself and the Echo to new heights.

[Six Attribute Points have been used to enhance the User’s Soul.]

Middle(+)(Apex) → Transcendent (0.2%)

His Soul ignited. It erupted and caught fire, incinerating him within seconds. At least, that was how David felt once his Soul reached the Transcendent threshold. His Source screamed and seemed to burn alongside the rest of his Soul as it expanded.

A scream escaped his lips as his vision blurred into a hazy mess. David didn’t even try to dig his feet deep into the ground to stay rooted. He caved in and let his body collapse to the ground as the Blood within the Source rippled and erupted. The Blood droplets flung erratically through his Source, their energy dispersing slowly as it seeped into the Source.

He didn’t think twice and pulled all Blood from the Blood Storages and the vast majority of the energy within the Sacred Beast Core to flood the Source. He drowned the Source in a mass of Blood, pained groans escaping his lips as the soul-burning sensation intensified.

David didn’t know how long he had been on the ground. However, dawn of the following day had long since passed, and several masses of preserved lifeforce clusters: corpses coated in Blood: had been prepared for him.

He pushed himself upward, a strange mix of strength and weakness sweeping through him. One moment he felt almighty, and in the next, the strength of his body threatened to fade into oblivion.

“Fuck this shit.” David shuddered as he got up to his feet. He released tendrils of Blood into the surroundings and linked them to the preserved bodies, draining the lifeforce clusters at once. The lifeforce helped improve his condition, but so did the ambient Aether surging into his Energy Pathways, providing all ingredients to create Blood.

He focused on the Blood production, hoping to feel better once his Source was replenished. But he halted in his tracks when he noticed an ethereal, crimson hue engulfing the Source. It absorbed natural Aether and lifeforce in great quantities, purified and compressed both energies, and created Blood of the highest quality he had the privilege of wielding. Not even Blood created with Origin Essence was comparable.

The droplets are much smaller but contained a lot more Aether and lifeforce than before. Likely more than three times the Aether, and at least twice the lifeforce. David calculated, his eyes narrowing to tiny slits at the realization.

He had known reaching Transcendent was going to be a big deal, thanks to Zachariah, but never would he have imagined the difference to be this drastic.

I barely pushed Soul to Transcendent, yet everything feels different. How much is going to change once Body and Mind catch up to the Soul stat? And how much is the Soul going to change the Blood droplets once I invest more Attribute Points into it?

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He shuddered at the thought of pushing the Soul stat to the Peak of Transcendent. Then again, reaching the peak would take time, as the progression bar demanded increasingly more Attribute Points to advance. Zachariah may not have explained anything in detail, but the Regressor had explained enough to make his own conclusion; at some point, several Attribute Points would be needed to increase Transcendent’s progression bar by 0.1 percent.

But that was not an issue for now. Since he had barely advanced his Soul to Transcendent, it ought to progress normally.

Whatever. I need more Aether to fill my storages, he thought, sighing deeply, knowing he would have to spend hours filling the Source, Blood Storages, and both the Sacred Beast Core and bonded items.

Yet, as annoying as it was to refill his energy storages after he’d done it not too long ago, David was excited to figure out how much more efficient and deadly his abilities were when used with pure Blood.

A hiss rang out from above, and he looked up to find the Mythical Serpent descending from the sky, carrying several corpses in netting made of Blood.

“And I need to fix you up.”

That didn’t mean the Echo was damaged—just that it was missing no more than two dozen Blood droplets. The way David intended to fix the Echo was to replace the old Blood droplets with the pure Blood he could produce now. While that would take a while, he was certain it was worth the effort. Electra was already powerful, and it would only be even more effective once it had pure Blood at its disposal.

***

David spent most of the day replenishing Blood and experimenting with it. Testing the limits of his Transcendent Soul and pure Blood was crucial for future battles. However, he had been struggling a little bit with the Blood Storages. Although not broken or damaged, they couldn’t hoard more Blood even though the droplets of pure Blood were much smaller than his Blood had been. It was hardly a problem, yet David would have loved to store more Blood in his storages.

Dusk was already approaching when his senses perked up. He turned around, half-expecting monsters to charge at him, and was surprised to see Zachariah and Maja emerge from a portal.

Maja offered him a bright smile and waved in his direction but slowed down as her eyes drifted to the death and chaos surrounding him.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t have the time to clean up yet,” David said lightheartedly, glancing at Zachariah, who pointedly ignored the monster carcasses.

The Regressor stared at the wastelands—or what was left of them—his eyes widening slightly. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and he turned to look at David.

“How did you do that?”

David scrunched his brows. “Didn’t you ask me to restore the wastelands?”

“I did... but I thought you would give up. Or that you would be bored to death once you realized how slow and tedious restoring the wastelands is,” Zachariah muttered. “I certainly did not expect you to restore the wastelands in such a short time.”

“I stimulated nature and managed to remove the disturbances in the lifeless soil. Restoring anything below the surface will be difficult, though. For me, at least.” David shrugged calmly, his eyes flicking to the sky when he felt the Echo returning to him.

Electra burst through the sky and descended to the ground with grace and tremendous speed. Zachariah spun around, body tense and sword unsheathed. David reacted instinctively and cast [Bloodbound Bastion] around Zachariah’s sword arm, restraining the Regressor’s movements temporarily.

“Don’t jump the gun and calm down a little, Zachariah.”

“You want me to calm down?!” Zachariah snapped back, his sword arm bulging. A silver aura poured out of his arm and pressed hard against the crimson barriers and shields. They threatened to break but prevailed for a moment. “Do you even know what that is? That thing contains a—”

David stopped Zachariah as faint cracks formed in the first crimson barrier. “It contains a Sacred Beast’s Will.”

The Regressor slowed for a moment, his eyes pulling away from the Echo as it landed near David, dropping off small monster carcasses.

“It contains the remnants of the Mythical Electra. Well, the majority of what is left of its Will, if you want me to be entirely honest with you,” David explained.

“What did you do?” Zachariah hissed.

“I guess we decided to help each other.”

What else was there to say? David was not entirely sure what he had done or why he had accepted the Mythical Electra’s plea in the first place. However, he was certain he would need Electra if he ever wanted Deryadus’ Arm to fuse a Maelstrom.

It was impossible to tell what would happen once the Ancient Relic devoured the Maelstrom; however, it was fair to assume that he would have to fight the trace of the Void’s Will contained within the Maelstrom. The fight would, in all likelihood, be similar to his encounter with the Sacred Beast’s Will after Deryadus’ Arm consumed it. Acquiring an ally in the battle of wits against the Void would most definitely increase his chances at success—especially if his ally was a Sacred Beast whose power he could increase, as long as it fought alongside him against their enemies.

Zachariah stared at him incredulously. He didn’t need to say anything — his opinion of David’s act was clear. Not that David cared.

“That is… whatever. Do what you want. It’s not like you’ll listen to me either way.” The Regressor shook his head, disappointment flickering in his eyes.

“It helped restore the wastelands and went hunting for me,” David said, eyes drifting to Maja, who stared blankly at the Echo.

Electra met Maja’s eyes and hissed at her, releasing its beastly pressure for a moment.

“Get your act together,” David snarled, and the Echo stopped instantaneously. It turned around, hissed at him, and propelled forward, smashing beak-first into Deryadus’ Arm.

He expected to be pushed back by the impact, but didn’t even feel the Echo as it disappeared from sight. It was still there — David could clearly feel it — yet the Echo was nowhere to be seen.

“Your arm.” Maja pointed at the Ancient Relic. David’s eyes moved to the black arm and caught the last crimson sparks as they seeped into him, completing a blood-colored tattoo. The tattoo was highly detailed, depicting a massive, feathered serpent coiled around his arm.

There was a trace of familiarity to the tattoo, yet it didn’t look like the serpentine Echo. It was more like a mixture between the Echo and the Mythical Electra.

Is that how you want to look, or is that what you’ll look like once we can infuse more Blood into [Bloodlife Echo]? David wondered for a moment, trying to figure out how large and powerful Electra would be once his newest Class Skill reached Advanced or higher.

Zachariah said something, but David wasn’t listening. He focused on the tattoo and tried to access the pure Blood used in the creation of the Echo. It wasn’t easy to access — a natural resistance kept him from tearing the Echo apart unless he terminated the Skill — but it was possible, granting him access to 250 droplets of pure Blood in times of need.

Electra’s discontent reached him as he thought about tearing the Echo apart. It didn’t want to lose its body anytime soon.

I’ll take the Blood if I have to. Tearing your body apart to survive is only logical. In the first place, my survival is a necessity for you to prevail. You know that, right? David reasoned with the Sacred Beast.

It wasn’t like the Sacred Beast was permanently bound to the Echo either way. He could tear the Echo apart and create a new one for Electra to use — as long as he was alive, that is.

Even though the Sacred Beast wasn’t satisfied, the displeasure faded. That would have to do.

“What is the issue?” David asked Zachariah, earning him a scornful look.

“You weren’t listening?”

“I had to clarify something. A minor discussion with the Mythical Electra,” David waved dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. What brings you here?”

The Regressor rolled his eyes but breathed out heavily instead of cursing him aloud.

“Like I just mentioned, we have a problem,” Zachariah said, the frustration in his eyes replaced with seriousness. “My network discovered several Saplings and a few Fragments. More of Them have been sighted than in the last few weeks combined. Worse still, the Saplings are said to be stronger than normal. Their Barriers are harder to penetrate.”

With that said, the Regressor stepped forward.

“I can probably deal with them alone, but that would kill me. My death is certain if you don’t help me.”

“Help, or heal?” David raised an eyebrow as Zachariah’s expression darkened.

“Both, preferably.”

A familiar feeling bloomed in his chest as his heart pounded fiercely against his rib cage, and the corner of his lips pulled upward.

“In that case, I’m in!”

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