Chapter 169: Reviving The Spiritual Realm Core, Taking Control Of It!

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"Master Riven, please, this is important. The Spirit is being formed!" Hinata said urgently. "Could you touch the bead and imbue it with your own Spirit Energy and Mana?"

"Sure," Riven nodded without hesitation. He gently touched the glowing bead and immediately felt its immense power flowing against his fingertips.

FLAAASH!

For a moment the world around him came to a complete stop. He found himself standing face to face with a gigantic white fox that stared at him in perfect silence.

"You’re...! Are you the soul of the creature we slew?" he asked softly.

"..." The fox could not speak, yet it looked into his eyes with a deep and meaningful light.

Riven sighed. He had always loved animals, and he deeply regretted what he had been forced to do. "I’m sorry about what happened. You were an innocent pup, a child that hadn’t even been born yet. You didn’t deserve the fate you suffered."

He gently caressed the large fox’s soft snout. The fox’s golden eyes blinked cutely, and then its fluffy tail began to wag. As those same golden eyes continued staring at Riven, the spirit suddenly licked his face with surprising affection and placed its large paws around his shoulders in a careful embrace.

The fox, nearly three times his size, seemed content with him. It had clearly noticed that he possessed a pure heart despite everything he had done — someone who had apologized for his actions with genuine regret.

"Do you trust me? Thank you," Riven said quietly. "I promise I won’t disappoint you."

As he spoke those words, the fox slowly began to glow with bright white light. It turned into pure radiance and fused into his body, creating a beautiful white tattoo on his right hand that resembled a small three-tailed fox.

When Riven opened his eyes again, he saw the bead generating a new ethereal body. It quickly materialized into the exact same fox he had just spoken with in that spiritual space.

"Woah, it’s huge!" Goki exclaimed in awe.

"It’s a child? A newborn? This massive already?" Ren asked in disbelief.

"Indeed..." Kagehisa said with a thoughtful nod. "Its physical body is gone, so it’s no longer a Divine Spirit Beast... However, Hinata has managed to save the soul that remained within the shattered core and allowed it to be reborn as a pure Spirit instead."

The major key difference between Spirits and Spirit Beasts was the complete absence of a physical body. Spirit Beasts possessed physical forms and were therefore usually much stronger, capable of immense physical feats. Spirits, although still powerful in their own right, were sometimes bound to certain spaces or could not materialize for extended periods of time.

As Riven forged the permanent pact with the White Fox, the entire Spiritual Realm stopped trembling. The skies returned to their calm blue color, the ground became covered in soft green grass once more, and the cracked mountains along with the rivers of lava slowly regenerated to their former beautiful state. It was nothing short of magical.

And then...

Ding!

[Congratulations, Ascendant. As the one who carries the {Sovereign Codex}, you have successfully tamed the Core of the Spiritual Realm and forged a Bond with it.]

[Using your Authority of Pride as a Lord, you have taken over the Tier 2 Spiritual Realm "Spring Paradise".]

[You have become the First Human to obtain complete control over a Spiritual Realm, as the Core has completely given up on its own authority instead of simply obeying you as a tamed beast.]

[You have inherited the Spring Paradise Spiritual Realm from the Lineage of the White Fox Spirits.]

[You have received the Title: [Lord of the Spirit Paradise]: As long as you’re within the Spiritual Realms you own, All Stats double and Spiritual Energy and Mana recovers thrice as fast. You can summon spirits believers, control the spiritual realm, and manifest new treasures for its constant growth.]

[Inside a Spiritual Realm, you will gain a constant surplus of Spiritual Energy, and it is possible to form a Spiritual Core.]

[You can also harvest and farm all kinds of Spiritual Treasures, Materials, Herbs, and Mine Spiritual Ores within the available Mountains. Spiritual Beasts and Spirit Monsters will naturally appear in the Spiritual Realm, which you can hunt for materials and food.]

"Amazing..." Riven muttered under his breath, feeling himself deeply connected to the Spiritual Realm on a fundamental level.

Every single inch of it — from the clear skies, to the five towering mountains it possessed, to the several lush forests, the clear rivers and sparkling lakes — now belonged completely to him. He could see every corner of this Spiritual Realm whenever he wished.

This incredible, almost god-like sense of awareness was completely different from the limited surveillance Ryujin had possessed. That man held no such natural power and had been forced to rely on external relics just to spy on those who entered his Spiritual Realm.

"Looks like it worked," Kagehisa said with a satisfied smile. "Well done, Hinata!"

"I’m glad I was able to help," Hinata nodded modestly. "I owe you a lot, Master Riven. It is thanks to you that I’ve managed to recover my family’s relic, the Blood Moon Lantern."

"Ah, it’s nothing," Riven replied with a calm smile. "Now that we’re done here..."

Ding!

Suddenly a new set of messages appeared before his eyes.

[Spiritual Realm and Dungeon Gate compatible.]

[Under the authority of the Lord, it is possible to combine both Dimensions into a much larger, higher leveled one.]

[This has never been done before and it is highly experimental, but it could create an incredible result.]

[Do you wish to combine the Available Spiritual Realm into your Dungeon Gate?]

[Yes] [No]

"?!"

Riven was taken aback as he carefully read the unexpected messages. His eyes widened for a moment as he considered what this opportunity could truly mean... His Dungeon was already massive, spanning three full floors, yet he could somehow combine them?

No... more importantly, wasn’t he eventually planning to open the gates to ordinary people? Should he really risk fusing the two dimensions together?

Or... maybe combining them did not necessarily mean the Spiritual Realm would become unavailable to others?

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