Chapter 180 - The Return

[Astral Sovereign Soul Halo]

[Grade: Transcendent

Rank: Unparalleled

Type: Supreme Soul Augmentation Manifestation

Origin: Progenitor Body

Description: A mysterious halo that manifests behind host’s head when activated, formed from the profound power of the Astral Sovereign Body.

The Astral Sovereign Soul Halo possesses the ability to absorb the souls of defeated enemies and gradually tame them under host’s control.

The souls within the Halo cannot directly manifest as soldiers or launch attacks. Instead, they are continuously refined into pure Soul Energy, which becomes nourishment for the Halo itself.

As the number and quality of the absorbed souls increase, the Halo grows stronger, allowing it to provide increasingly powerful enhancements to Host.]

’So... it’s like a buff...’

[Beyond its ordinary manifestation, the Halo possesses a second form known as the Astral Wings.

When host releases more of the Halo’s power, its intricate rings separate and unfold, transforming into a magnificent pair of enormous, multilayered wings.

Their structure resembles countless elongated, blade-like feathers, forged from radiant silver and black astral material, with brilliant blue Origin Essence flowing through their edges and crystalline patterns.

The wings can also help attack enemies.

The wings are powered by mana and starlight.

In this form, the Halo’s accumulated power flows throughout the wings, greatly enhancing its support effects while granting host extraordinary aerial mobility, acceleration, and control over his movements.

The wings are not an independent weapon or a separate treasure.

They are the fully released manifestation of the Astral Sovereign Soul Halo, and their strength grows alongside the Halo itself.]

As the Halo grew stronger, so did the Astral Sovereign Wings, becoming larger, more refined.

Seeing all of this, Cale smiled with satisfaction.

At least all of this wasn’t a waste, where he was putting his life on the line for nothing.

But now he had two lives! If even his main body dies, his consciousness will shift to the Astral Sovereign body, giving him a second chance at life.

This was the sole reason he insisted on doing this technique, instead of making that body an avatar body which dies with the host.

And because he learnt the technique, if ever one of his bodies does perish, he can still create it again as long as one of the two bodies exist!

A Transcendent grade artifact that would grow alongside him. An endless source of power as long as he kept defeating enemies. It was everything he could have asked for.

He quickly shifted his consciousness back to his main body.

’Heh... I’m still more used to this one anyway.’

The Astral Sovereign body retreated into his shadow, its presence vanishing completely, leaving no trace of its existence.

Another new technique had appeared as well:

[Paragon’s Five Finger Sword:

Annihilating Finger Sword

Supreme Finger Sword

Heavenly Finger Sword]

Supreme tier techniques that would take time to master, but they were his now... the soul bodies would learn them in the meantime.

A few hours passed as Cale rested, recovering from the ordeal.

Sesrir woke up, groaning as consciousness returned to him.

"You damned bastard!" he shouted as his eyes snapped open.

"Aren’t I?" Cale grinned.

"Cale, are you an idiot! Risking your life for something like this?! We could have taken it later on—"

Cale grinned more, lying on the ground with his hands behind his head.

"Oh yeah? When, decades later? Because that’s when the next time this inheritance is actually going to open. But I don’t have time."

Sesrir frowned, his expression troubled.

"What’s so important that you’ll be busy for decades? You idiot, risking your life like that. You’re fighting the heavenly will as if you’ve become a Boundless Stage cultivator! Only when one becomes Boundless can they use nature essence and not worry about its depletion too much."

Cale patted his shoulder with a smile.

"Old man, that’s exactly what I am right now... at the Apex Stage at that."

Sesir narrowed his eyes, staring at Cale intently. Then he just sighed, accepting the truth.

"So... are you going to your own home?"

Cale nodded.

"Maybe... well, I’m meeting someone, so it can be called my home too."

"So where are you actually from?"

"The Desolate Continent..."

Sesrir’s eyes widened.

"N-no way... right?" He looked at Cale, and seeing that he wasn’t lying, he let out a wry laugh. "I see... that place sure is full of mysteries..."

Both Cale and Sesrir placed their hands on the teleportation formation, preparing to leave the inheritance.

"Oh right... here," Cale threw a bag containing hundreds of pills.

"What’s this?"

"Did you forget? Those flesh refining pills?"

Sesrir thought for a moment, then nodded after realizing.

"But when did you... make them?"

"I have eight extra laborers at work, so don’t think too much."

Saying that, a white mist covered his body, and his form began to vanish from the cave.

Before he completely disappeared, he called out one final time:

"Don’t worry about those other dumbasses who followed us. If I leave, and you leave right away, this place will close down entirely and kill them off. Since the inheritance has been taken away."

"Oh... phew, I was about to think of countermeasures for them..."

Sighing with relief, Sesrir prepared his own departure.

***

The outside world was actually in turmoil — though only Cale knew how the next three decades would be changing the entirity of this planet itself.

Each and every race other than humans preferred to live in tribes, maintaining their own isolated cultures and power structures.

Many races like elves, vampires, and dryads used methods like cultivation and mana manipulation, advancing through these twin paths of power.

But others like dwarfs didn’t cultivate, and hence they had been extinct from this world a thousand years ago.

Even Emma getting the blood of an elf was actually a diluted one, which only increased mana by a small margin. Thanks to the system, Cale had actually obtained a real elf’s blood from it; containing the full potential of the Primordial Elven bloodline.