Choice

Rayne's heart pounded. Only after he was a hundred meters away from the shop did his hanging heart finally settle.

Then, a wave of wild joy surged through him.

He looked down at the two glass jars in his hands. The two black Gold-Eating Ants inside looked nothing special, but one of them actually contained three Soul Elements!

"Haha, I'm rich now!"

Rayne was beside himself with delight. He had only happened upon the Magic Soul Market, yet he had made such a huge haul. Even if he didn't use this Gold-Eating Ant's Demon Soul himself, he could sell it for more than ten thousand Gold Shields.

Ten thousand Gold Shields converted into Copper Yuan would be ten million. That would be enough to cover the lifetime expenses of a commoner family of ten!

Compared to that, the dozen or so Gold Shields he had just spent to deceive the shopkeeper were nothing but a drop in the bucket.

Rayne really wanted to know what expression the other party would wear if he learned the Gold-Eating Ant's true value.

Would he be so angry that he vomited blood on the spot?

"Too bad I won't get to see it."

It was best not to reveal one's wealth. Even though no one could see the Gold-Eating Ant's true value, Rayne still bought a cloth bag from a roadside stall and put it inside to avoid attracting attention. He also spent one Gold Shield on two Soul Stones, intending to kill the Gold-Eating Ant as soon as he returned.

His stomach had begun to growl, but Rayne had no time to eat. He only wanted to get home.

He quickened his pace and left. When he passed near the entrance to the Magic Soul Market, he discovered that the Winged Serpent was gone.

I wonder which person with such good taste—or simply such good luck—bought the Winged Serpent. Rayne shook his head in disappointment. If he had bought it, he could have made around a thousand Gold Shields by reselling it. Missing out on such a huge bargain was truly unfortunate.

He left the market without incident, hailed a carriage, and ordered the coachman to return to Los District.

The carriage started moving and sped along the streets.

Inside the carriage, Rayne couldn't resist admiring the Gold-Eating Ant. He repeatedly sensed the three Elements in its soul and let out a satisfied sigh.

How could such a weak Demon Soul have given birth to three powerful Elements? He truly had no idea how this Gold-Eating Ant's soul had formed.

Generally speaking, powerful Elements could only be born within powerful souls, but that wasn't absolute.

The Book of Thousand Souls had said that the souls of all things in the world were mysterious and unfathomable. Some miracles would always occur.

Many wondrous Elements weren't limited to powerful souls. Any soul could give birth to all kinds of Elements, from the weakest to the strongest—even Legendary Elements. It was simply that the probability was incredibly low, making them difficult for people to encounter.

This Gold-Eating Ant was one of those exceedingly rare miracles, and he had happened to encounter it.

"This is like winning the grand prize in the lottery—and winning it three times in a row!"

Rayne thought about it happily.

Then he began considering how to use this Gold-Eating Ant's Demon Soul.

His first thought was to sell it for money, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

Selling something this valuable wouldn't be easy. It was as dangerous as a child carrying gold through a busy market. Anyone who could afford to pay more than ten thousand Gold Shields either possessed great personal strength or had a powerful organization backing them. If they wanted to target an ordinary person like him, it would be far too easy.

Among the people he knew, the only ones who could afford it were Viola of Violet House and Kainegi of the Mechanics Guild. But he didn't understand either of them. Selling it to either one would be unsafe.

If he didn't sell it, then he could only use it himself.

"But how am I supposed to use it?"

Rayne furrowed his brows, finding the matter difficult.

His original plan had been to become a wizard and choose between the Seal School and the Soul Control School.

If he chose the Seal School, this wouldn't be suitable. That school required dismantling a Demon Soul, extracting its Arcane Element, and turning it into a Seal to merge into one's soul. Only Arcane Elements could be made into Seals. During the processing of a Demon Soul, all other types of Elements would dissipate and be wasted.

None of the Gold-Eating Ant's three Elements were Arcane Elements. After being processed by a Seal Wizard, nothing would remain.

The Soul Control School, however, could preserve the Demon Soul intact. It could be used as a Primary Soul for possession or transformed into a summoned soul guard.

Among the three specializations, the Thousand Spells Wizard, who focused on spellcasting, was ruled out—unless he only wanted to use Body of Steel to increase his defenses, but that would be a waste. The Myriad Spirits Wizard, who relied on overwhelming opponents with numbers of soul guards, wasn't suitable either. Only the Shapeshifting Wizard, who focused on transformation, could make good use of this Gold-Eating Ant.

A Shapeshifting Wizard would need to invest a great deal of Soul Power to nurture it, yet couldn't use it as a Primary Soul.

That was because the core Primary Soul of a Shapeshifting Wizard was the Shapeshifting Demon. This could not be changed, or transformation would become impossible.

Moreover, the Gold-Eating Ant's Demon Soul itself was rather weak. Its Elements were extremely rare, but its actual combat power wasn't strong. If a Shapeshifting Wizard transformed into a Gold-Eating Ant, its defensive power would be strong enough, but its attack power would become even weaker—and it would be ugly to boot.

An image formed in Rayne's mind: himself transformed into a giant ant, fighting people. His entire body shuddered.

"No. I can't turn into an ant."

He shook his head repeatedly and abandoned the idea.

Actually, the best way to use it was to merge the Gold-Eating Ant's Demon Soul into his own soul intact. That way, he could overcome the problem of its weak soul while perfectly utilizing all three Elements!

He had only just become a Transcendent, so merging with a slightly weaker Demon Soul wouldn't matter. He only needed its Elements, and it would be safer as well.

But Rayne didn't want to give up on becoming a wizard.

In that case, the Combat School seemed to be the best choice!

By using the World Tree Meditation Method to merge with the Gold-Eating Ant, he could absorb its three Elements and drastically increase his own strength while remaining a wizard. Later, as long as he merged with other Demon Souls containing Arcane Elements, he would gain the ability to cast spells.

The only drawback was that before merging with another Demon Soul, he wouldn't look like a wizard. He would instead resemble an Iron Guard—an exceptionally powerful one.

But compared to the potential he would gain, this wasn't a drawback at all. It was an advantage.

A wizard with immense strength, a body impervious to blades and spears, and close-combat abilities even more outstanding than his spellcasting—just imagining it felt strange, and somehow made him look forward to it.

Besides that, the Gold-Eating Ant also possessed Metal Touch. Could he use this Element to become half a Mechanic as well?

When he had refused Kainegi earlier, he had thought there was no way to have the best of both worlds. He hadn't expected an opportunity to appear so soon.

"Am I really going to become a Combat Wizard?"

Rayne was somewhat hesitant. The uncertainty surrounding Combat Wizards was too great. Even with the help of the Soul Eye, he wasn't very confident.

But there seemed to be no better option, unless he abandoned this Gold-Eating Ant.

Yet giving it up would be foolish.

How many Transcendents could possess three Elements at Rank One, with one of them even being a Superb Element?

Such a high starting point meant infinite possibilities!

Combat Wizards already had an incredibly high ceiling. If he could seize every opportunity to advance and merge with the most suitable Demon Souls, what level of strength would he eventually reach?

Just thinking of the possibilities made Rayne's blood surge with excitement.

Even taking a step back, even if he occasionally made a mistake once or twice, his strength would still crush that of other Transcendents!

"High risk comes with high returns."

"If I don't try, how will I know whether it'll work?"

"Since I've come to this world, I might as well play for something big. I'm all in!"

Rayne's gaze gradually hardened. He stopped looking ahead and behind, having already made his choice. He had decided to become a Combat Wizard.

The carriage gradually left Silver Star District. After crossing the bridge, it entered Los District.

Rayne watched the street scenery outside the carriage window, and his mood slowly settled. He relaxed, closed his eyes, and habitually activated the Voice of All Things. A great number of sound waves entered his ears, constructing a world made of sound inside his mind.

He had never forgotten to practice this ability. He distinguished every sound he heard and tracked its source.

"Hm?"

Rayne suddenly opened his eyes, his expression filled with uncertainty.

He heard a burst of hurried footsteps. They were moving very quickly, as if someone were sprinting. After locking onto the source, he found that the person was more than a hundred meters behind him, sometimes speeding up and sometimes slowing down. The person occasionally changed direction, entering side streets and alleys, but would reappear again before long.

I'm being followed!

Rayne listened for another half-minute and became certain that someone was following the carriage, maintaining a constant distance behind it.

Who is this person? When did they start following me? What do they want?

Several questions surfaced in Rayne's mind. At the same time, he cursed himself inwardly. He had become too carried away after obtaining the Gold-Eating Ant and had been far too careless.

He drew a deep breath and calmed himself.

He glanced at the Gold-Eating Ant in his hand. He could be certain that the other party wasn't after it, because aside from him, no one could know its true value.

Then there was only one answer. This person was a follower of the evil god Loxi, and had sensed the Strife Mark on him.

The thought gave Rayne a splitting headache.

It was only his first time going out, yet he had already encountered a follower of an evil god. Was he simply too unlucky? Or were there truly so many evil-god followers in Longsand City that one could run into them anywhere on the street?

Rayne didn't know how large the range of the Strife Mark was or from how far away an evil-god follower could sense it. It couldn't really be that someone would notice it simply by passing nearby in a carriage, could it?

It was highly likely that this person had encountered him in the Magic Soul Market and followed the carriage all the way here.

Rayne turned around inside the carriage, but couldn't see the other party. Nor could he stick his head out the window to observe, as that would expose him.

But shaking off the follower wouldn't be difficult.

Rayne spoke a few words in a low voice to the coachman through the front window. The coachman was initially surprised, but seeing the banknotes Rayne handed him, he still nodded in agreement.

At the next intersection, the carriage changed its route and no longer headed back to the apartment.

Rayne locked onto the follower's footsteps. When the other party turned into an alley to take a shortcut, he called out softly. The coachman, who had been prepared, slowed the carriage slightly. Rayne immediately jumped down and slipped into a grocery store by the roadside.

The entire process took only a few seconds. It happened outside the follower's field of vision, so he saw nothing. Meanwhile, the carriage returned to its original speed and continued forward.

Inside the grocery store, Rayne heard the follower's footsteps receding into the distance along with the carriage. Only then did he slowly come out and stand on a flight of steps. He activated the Soul Eye, saw the follower from afar, and pierced directly into the depths of his soul.

"A Rank Two Fighter. Is he an evil-god follower or a Shadow Blade assassin?"