Chapter 207: Evolution of Soul Beast [1]

Sierra was still standing. Just barely.

For a moment Alden couldn’t put together what he was seeing.

Then his eyes went wide.

"...Sierra?"

Her body swayed.

She looked down at him and her lips trembled. A faint smile moved across her face despite everything.

Alden stared. "Why...?"

His voice had almost nothing in it.

"Why would you do that, Sierra?"

She tried to answer.

Her knees gave out.

He caught her before she hit the ground, ignoring everything his leg was doing in protest, and lowered her against him as she collapsed into his arms.

"Sierra!"

Both hands were shaking as he tried to support her. Blood was on his fingers almost immediately. He looked at the rods in her body. At the one near her heart. At her face.

"Why would you do something like this? What were you thinking?!"

Her breathing was shallow. Her eyes opened and found his face.

"Ah..." The voice was barely there.

A weak smile.

"Did you just... worry about me?"

Alden went completely still.

Sierra’s smile widened by a fraction. "I’m glad..." Her eyes were getting heavier. "...that you called me by my name... And I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to y—"

Her eyes closed.

Her body went still in his arms.

The weight of her changed. Everything in her that had still been holding on let go at once.

"Sierra?"

He stared at her face.

"Sierra?"

Nothing.

His fingers tightened on her shoulders slowly.

"Sierra!"

The monsters were still roaring somewhere. Soldiers were still screaming. The horse’s hooves were still pounding the earth nearby. All of it was real and happening and none of it was reaching him.

He could only see her.

Seris arrived and skidded to a stop beside them. Her scythe returned to her hand. Her eyes fell on Sierra and she couldn’t say anything for a moment.

She hadn’t expected this. Of everyone who could have moved in that moment she hadn’t expected someone like Sierra to be the one who did.

She knelt beside them.

"Alden..."

He didn’t look at her. His eyes were still on Sierra’s face.

"Can we still save her?"

Seris’s expression fell apart slightly. She looked at the wounds, at the rod in the chest. The blood loss already severe. Sierra wasn’t moving at all.

"...I don’t think so. The wound is too close to her heart."

Alden’s hands went still.

Silence sat between them over all the noise of the battlefield.

Alden looked at Sierra for several seconds without speaking.

Then he exhaled slowly.

"...I see."

His voice was hollow.

He gently adjusted her in his arms without disturbing the rods. Careful and deliberate about it.

"Take her somewhere safe."

Seris looked at him.

"Alden..."

"She’s the Headmaster’s granddaughter." He swallowed. "We need to return her to him."

He carefully lowered Sierra to the ground. His injured leg screamed when he shifted his weight but he moved through it and gripped a piece of nearby rubble and forced himself to stand. His body shook. He nearly went sideways.

Seris reached out and steadied him.

"Don’t you think you should heal your leg first?"

"No." He found his balance. "I’m fine."

He wasn’t fine. The leg was badly damaged and his chest still ached from Nivara’s strike earlier and his Soul Beasts were scattered across the field from the serpent’s attack. His body had spent more than it could afford in the last hour.

He turned and looked at the three monsters anyway.

Luna and Nicholas were still fighting the turtle in the distance. The sound of it filled the air constantly. Adrian and Theodore were somewhere across the field. Roselle and Cecilia were still moving wounded soldiers away from the worst of it.

The serpent was barely scratched. The horse was already pulling back to prepare another volley. The turtle kept moving and moving and moving.

Even with four Soul Beasts and everything he had he hadn’t managed to do anything meaningful.

His jaw tightened.

’What do I do against monsters like these?’

He’d expected a hard fight. Not this. Not standing here having thrown his best attack at something and watching it shake it off.

’Think. There has to be something.’

His mind moved through his system. Soul Extraction. Soul Library. Soul Forge.

He stopped.

’...Wait.’

Soul Evolution.

He’d used Soul Evolution once before to forge the Living Gazer. Weapon creation. That was all he had thought about it as.

But the system had listed two options when he first accessed it.

Forge a weapon.

Or evolve a Soul Beast.

He had never tried the second one.

’Soul Rendering.’

╔══════════════════╗

? SOUL RENDERING ? [ 50%]

╚══════════════════╝

? Soul Extraction

? Soul Library

? Soul Forge

? Soul Evolution

??? — [Locked] [Yet to be unlocked]

??? — [Locked] [Yet to be unlocked]

??? — [Locked] [Yet to be unlocked]

??? — [Locked] [Yet to be unlocked]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He focused on the fourth option. ’Open.’

╔════════════════╗

? SOUL EVOLUTION ?

╚════════════════╝

〔 EVOLUTION PATH AVAILABLE〕

? Evolve a Soul Beast

OR

? Forge a Weapon

Required Materials: [Soul] + [Concept]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He selected the first option.

╔════════════════╗

? SOUL EVOLUTION ?

╚════════════════╝

〔 Evolve a Soul Beast 〕

Select multiple beasts to begin evolution.

WARNING: PERMANENT EVOLUTION

Once a Soul Beast is used for evolution, it can never return to its original form. It will be permanently forged, and the process cannot be reversed.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(End of Chapter)

[Stats reminder for readers]

╔═════════════════╗

? STATUS ?

╚═════════════════╝

Name: Alden

Class: Undefined

Skill: Soul Rendering

Skill Rank: SSS+

Level: 57

EXP: 158,930 / 170,000

Power Combat: 594

Rank: B+

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╔═════════════════╗

? SOUL LIBRARY ?

╚═════════════════╝

〔 BEAST: WOLF 〕

Soul Fragments: 50

Blueprint Progress: 100%

All Concepts Unlocked: ?

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: GIANT SPIDER 〕

Soul Fragments: 35

Blueprint Progress: 100%

All Concepts Unlocked: ?

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: OWL 〕

Soul Fragments: 100

Blueprint Progress: 100%

All Concepts Unlocked: ?

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: FIREFLY 〕

Soul Fragments: 73

Blueprint Progress: 100%

All Concepts Unlocked: ?

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: POLAR BEAR 〕

Soul Fragments: 39

Blueprint Progress: 100%

All Concepts Unlocked: ?

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: DRAGON 〕

Soul Fragments: 23

Blueprint Progress: 88%

Concepts Unlocked: 5

──────────────────

〔 BEAST: THUNDER APE 〕

Soul Fragments: 49

Blueprint Progress: 96%

Concepts Unlocked: 4

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

╔═════════════════╗

? SOUL BEASTS ?

╚═════════════════╝

〔 BEAST IDENTIFICATION 〕

Name: Pyrion

Rank: B

──────────────────

〔 BEAST IDENTIFICATION 〕

Name: Glacius

Rank: A

──────────────────

〔 BEAST IDENTIFICATION 〕

Name: Flamestone

Rank: A

──────────────────

〔 BEAST IDENTIFICATION 〕

Name: Golden Dragon (Self-Assumed)

Species: Dragon

Rank: S

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