Soul Mutation

Barn had no way to verify his own conjectures, nor did he possess any means to borrow the power of that gray mist. He could only let it drift gently around his soul like a wisp of silk—neither sticking nor clinging, yet impossible to shake off.

But at this moment, another matter weighed on his heart, urgently awaiting confirmation.

"It is time to try." Barn whispered to himself, raising his hand to produce a staff inlaid with crystals—the essential medium for casting the Fate Law.

Humans cannot perceive the aura of fate, let alone contain it within their bodies. Therefore, before stepping into the realm of a Saint Magus, mages have no choice but to rely on fate-attribute artifacts to cast those mysterious and unpredictable fate spells, in addition to meditating day after day to temper their spiritual power.

Yet Barn, having already advanced to a Saint Magus, was now capable of controlling that strange and unruly power of fate for a short time.

He harbored a question he had pondered for a long time: his soul, which had transmigrated here, had fused perfectly with the soul of the original Barn. Did this count as...

Pale golden power of fate flowed slowly along the pathways of his spiritual power, finally gathering in the palm of his left hand. Simultaneously, clear water-attribute magic was drawn to his right hand, the two forces distinct and separate. The moment he pressed his palms together, the two forces intertwined without the slightest resistance, quietly merging into one—

Soul mutation!

The power slowly dissipated, and Barn lowered his hands, falling into deep thought.

During a soul mutation, one only needs to possess the affinity for the seven elements to participate directly in the mutation; however, the four great law talents require personal insight to be triggered.

Although he possessed some talent for the Destruction Rule, he had yet to cross the threshold; his White Tiger bloodline had not yet been baptized at the ancestral hall, and his wind-attribute affinity remained dormant. Thus, he was currently experiencing a soul mutation between the fate and water attributes.

"A dual-attribute soul mutation—while the talent isn't heaven-defying, it is comparable to an ordinary divine beast, and the potential is even greater. If I can go to the Four Divine Beasts Clan in the future to complete the ancestral baptism and obtain the White Tiger divine ability, my aptitude will reach the level just below that of a super divine beast!" Barn could not hide his satisfaction, having gained a clear understanding of his own talent.

But a new problem followed: how could he truly unleash the power of this dual-attribute soul mutation?

"My rapid breakthrough to Saint Magus must have been due to the soul amplification brought about by the soul mutation. The stronger the soul power, the faster one comprehends the laws; this is my current advantage." Barn mused to himself, his brows furrowing slightly. "But the crux is that the power of fate cannot be directly incorporated into the body, nor can it be refined into battle qi. Consequently, the core reliance of a soul mutation at the Saint level—fused battle qi—becomes a pipe dream."

Containing battle qi and fusing battle qi are two entirely different things.

Before reaching the Saint level, warriors usually specialize in only one attribute of battle qi, storing it within their dantian. After stepping into the Saint level, their meridians become tough enough to carry more battle qi. If they can comprehend the laws of other attributes at this stage, they can improve their breathing techniques to store battle qi of different attributes separately in their meridians and dantian, aligning with the laws they have comprehended.

Even mages with multiple elemental affinities will prioritize deepening one attribute, only supplementing the magic of another attribute after advancing to the Saint level to suit their own talents.

For Saint-level powerhouses with nearly infinite lifespans, this is the most common path of cultivation.

However, those with a dual-attribute soul mutation can break these shackles, storing two types of battle qi in their dantian simultaneously. The power of the fused battle qi is ten times stronger than that of a single attribute!

Yet, Barn could not achieve this at all—there was no such thing as fate-attribute battle qi in the world.

He was still practicing the Tiger Pattern Secret Canon, which was a wind-attribute battle qi technique. Even if he spent time improving the technique to refine a bit of water-attribute battle qi, the improvement to his overall strength would be extremely limited.

"To utilize this mutation talent, I must either bring both laws to the level of godhood and fight with fused divine power, or attempt cross-law fusion. But in a dangerous place like Gobada, wasting energy on law fusion with such a low success rate is simply not worth the loss."

Barn's gaze was steady as he swept his eyes over the spear-shaped soul phantom in his sea of spiritual power. "The Fate Rule is too profound and unpredictable. Fortunately, the original work had many descriptions of the mysteries of the water element—I will first reach the entry level in the water mysteries, then plan for the future."

On the other side, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon Declan was devouring his meal, biting off half a thigh in one gulp and swallowing it. His rough dragon tongue licked the remaining meat scraps and blood from the corners of his mouth repeatedly, refusing to waste even a crumb—in the Gobada Abyss, food was always the most precious resource.

"That guy Barn really doesn't know how to be frugal!" He growled vaguely, full of complaints. "He finally saved up some food, and now he's wasting it blindly, actually going off to study some water-attribute magic!"

Barn's soul breakthrough earlier could not be hidden from Declan, his contract partner.

As for the sudden appearance of water-attribute affinity, Barn had brushed it off with the excuse that "the soul was severely damaged, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, stimulating and strengthening a previously weak and imperceptible water-attribute affinity."

Declan was not the type to split hairs. Whether human or magical beast, everyone had some minor affinities that remained hidden due to being too thin. As for why it suddenly grew stronger after a brush with death, he couldn't figure out the reason, but he didn't dwell on it.

Unable to figure it out, he simply cast it to the back of his mind. Declan's only thought now was to survive in this perilous Gobada. Barn advancing to a Saint Magus was, after all, a good thing for him—even if the guy had indeed wasted a lot of food lately.

"That Ice Snow Lion, if Barn eats sparingly, it would be enough to last him six years. At the rate he's consuming food, I reckon in another half a year, he'll have to rely on gnawing human flesh with me to get by." He glanced at the remaining carcass in his hand, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times. In the end, he suppressed the urge to swallow it and raised his hand to store the meat into the space pendant at his waist. Stability in Gobada was never the norm; he had to reserve enough food.

Just as Declan had expected, five years after hunting that Ice Snow Lion, Barn walked slowly toward him, carrying a long spear that shimmered with a biting, cold light.