Soul Gold Bead

"Woohoo, what a haul!"

Inside the cave where they had stopped to rest, Fukaloss's Death Clone was counting the spoils with her head bowed. Her Water Clone floated beside Gideon, sending out a steady stream of pale-blue Divine Power to rebuild his severed half.

Although Earth Element and Water Element were incompatible, the terrifying spiritual power of a Godlevel being was enough to forcibly draw Earth Element from the thin air outside and gradually repair Gideon's battered body. But in a place like Gobada, where the elements lay dead and still, the process took far more time and effort than it would have on the Yulan Plane.

Barn stared at the black badge in Fukaloss's Death Clone's hand and asked, "Is this the identity badge of the Evil Royal City?"

"Mm." Fukaloss tossed it to him. "Everyone above the Godlevel gets one. Once you bind it with your blood, Godlevel beings from the same Royal City can sense each other's locations within a certain range, preventing accidental attacks."

As she spoke, she showed them the badge on her chest—the badge of the Ice Prison Royal City, depicting a single eye wrapped in chains. The badge of the Evil Royal City, by contrast, bore a hollow, grotesque skull howling at the sky.

Fukaloss put the badge away and clapped her hands. "Everyone pulled their weight this time. Now let's divide the spoils!"

By then, Gideon's body had been completely restored, and his thick fur had grown back to cover him. Fukaloss tossed him a khaki-yellow vest studded with bone spikes. "You were the most badly injured, and you're not good at controlling offensive Divine Artifacts. This Defensive Divine Artifact is yours."

"Thank you, miss!"

"Declan was the first to spot the enemy, and Barn kept them occupied head-on, saving your life. These two Soul Gold Beads are for the two of you, one each." Fukaloss handed out two round beads, each about the size of a fingernail and shimmering with a golden glow.

Declan looked bewildered. "Miss, what are these?"

Blair explained calmly from the side, "They're Soul Gold Beads, made by Godlevel beings who cultivate the Death Rule. They collect the souls of living creatures and refine them into beads that can nourish the soul. The total soul power contained in one is equivalent to the combined souls of ten early-stage Sanctuary Holy Magi—the exact limit an ordinary Sanctuary soul can hold."

Every living creature's soul had a limit to how much it could contain. That was true of Sanctuary beings, and Godlevel beings were no exception.

Barn took the fingernail-sized Soul Gold Bead. At the slightest touch of his fingertip, he felt the pure, immense soul power within, exactly as described in the original story.

Fukaloss reminded them, "Your souls are only at the Sanctuary level right now. If you use these directly, they'll exceed your souls' capacity and the excess will be wasted. It's best to save them for a battle, when your soul is injured and on the verge of collapse. That's when they'll work best."

Barn casually asked, "Miss, you have a Death Clone too. Can you refine Soul Gold Beads?"

"No." Fukaloss shook her head. "The Four Great Rules don't have fixed profundities, and everyone focuses on different aspects of their cultivation. You can only refine Soul Gold Beads if you comprehend a specific part of the Death Rule."

"My Death Clone only became a god recently, so I haven't touched that part of the law yet. I can't even control souls with Soul Seeds or enslave them, the techniques most commonly used by Death Rule Godlevel beings."

Barn silently put away the Soul Gold Bead, already making plans. As a Soul Mutator, his soul had far greater capacity than an ordinary Sanctuary being's. If he found the right opportunity to use it directly, he wouldn't need to worry about any excess spilling over.

Fukaloss continued handing out the spoils. "This long-handled axe-shaped Divine Artifact suits Blair best. Julia, I'll take this female undead Holy Magus to the Heavenly River Legion's garrison and sell her. All the resources we get in exchange will count as your compensation."

Declan looked at the female Holy Magus frozen into an ice statue and asked, puzzled, "Would the Heavenly River Legion take an undead Holy Magus?"

"No. They just need a 'woman.'" Fukaloss put particular emphasis on the last word.

Everyone understood at once, and the atmosphere turned a little awkward.

Julia gave Barn a teasing look. "Why not let Barn enjoy himself for a couple of days before we sell her?"

Barn frantically waved his hands. "No, no! I want to preserve my innocence!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Over the next ten years, they continued searching the wilderness northwest of the Ice Prison Royal City.

The female undead Holy Magus they had captured earlier had already been sold by Fukaloss. Apparently, she had received a Soul Gold Bead in exchange and handed it straight to Julia.

"Ten years, and we haven't even seen a trace of the enemy—" Fukaloss slumped on a boulder, her white hair hanging down. Her initial enthusiasm was long gone. "Let's search for one more year. If we still find no clues, we'll return to the Royal City. Maybe another squad already finished this mission ages ago."

Even Godlevel beings and Sanctuary beings couldn't endure this kind of tedious, fruitless search day after day.

Barn, Declan, and Gideon, however, remained remarkably calm. They had all gone hungry and endured life-or-death trials in the Gobada wilderness. To them, five years of tedium was nothing more than an ordinary stretch of quiet endurance on the path of cultivation.

But that very day, the calm was shattered.

An intensely cold, impossibly concentrated wave of dark energy erupted from beneath the earth without warning!

A long, narrow shadow split open in the void. From within it reached a hand covered in black patterns, gripping a long, eerie bone hook. With a sharpness that seemed capable of killing anything in its path, it thrust straight toward Fukaloss's back!

Clatter—!

The Divine Artifact Chain erupted in a series of crisp clinks.

At the last possible moment, Fukaloss's chain shot out like a striking serpent and locked tightly around the bone hook.

Clang—!!

The violent shock wave from the clash of Godlevel power swept in every direction. Barn, Declan, Gideon, Julia, and Blair were all struck as if by a giant hammer, sent flying as blood and energy churned within them.

Only then did they truly realize—

This was an assassination attempt, a surprise attack by a Dark Element Godlevel being!