Rex’s eyes flared open, and he drew a ragged, shuddering breath—the kind one takes after drowning and breaking the water’s surface. For a fleeting moment, his vision swam as though the world itself had not yet settled into place.
Where am I…?
He questioned inside, seeing the world around him being veiled by darkness.
It took a second for him to realize what had happened.
Right, I should be in the Spirit Realm now but what is this? It’s different than the one Devo showed me.
Having his soul transferred into a new body scrambled his mind too, it was as if there was a fog inside of his head that was clouding his judgment and thought processes. As he waited for recovery, his ears picked up distant, ethereal growls.
One that definitely didn’t belong to anything Rex had ever known.
<Notice: the user has entered the Spirit Realm>
<Notice: the user has entered the Black Rift—the Voidal Monsters’ lair>
<Completing the transference process…><Initiating spirit conversion based on the fixed setting…>
<Pending…>
Despite the notifications that appeared in front of him, Rex ignored them as they made him dizzier.
Slowly, his gaze drifted downward, drawn by a strange intuition.
His hands trembled slightly as he inspected his body, expecting something alien or malformed.
But he found no obvious differences—no missing pieces of himself.
Just as the System explained, this body is an exact replica. However, now I’m not a Human but a spirit.
The Soul and Spirit Conversion ritual made a spirit vessel inside the Spirit Realm where the soul could reside safely without being noticed by the world’s energy of this realm, it was similar to the method the spirits used in the Mortal Realm where they bound themselves to an Awakened to not be noticed as well as reside there as long as they wanted.
Unlike the latter though, this spirit vessel will not last forever.
However, it was plenty of time to cover the full 40 days Rex was planning to stay in this realm.
Forty days in this world before Nivellen dies, that’s plenty of time that is as long as I’ve no remorse.
As seconds turned to minutes and his body adapted to the surroundings and the pressure from the Spirit Realm, he noticed something was different about him, something beneath the surface. Rex closed his eyes and focused, and the sensation hit him like a tidal wave.
His energy senses, honed and sharp in his original body, were now magnified to an astonishing degree.
Rex could feel the faintest currents of energy weaving through the air, tracing unseen paths all around him. It felt like sensing other elemental mana in the air without having an affinity relating to it, he could really sense every single kind of energy in this place. ṛаΝȪ₿ĚŞ
Not much variety as it was dominated by one but it was a clear spike to his energy sense.
It must be the side effect of becoming a spirit.
Swoosh…
A single gust of wind brushed his skin, and his entire form shivered as if struck by an electric charge.
Every particle of this realm thrummed with life and power, and it was as if his body had become an instrument, perfectly tuned to resonate with its song. Rex exhaled slowly, overwhelmed but intrigued, the sharp clarity of his senses hinting at both opportunity—and danger.
At that exact moment, a surge of spirit energy swelled inside of him.
<Spirit Conversion: 100%!>
<Please choose the location to brand the user’s Soul Artifacts mark>
Soul Artifact—it’s the same as a Spirit Core for the Awakened—the source of power for Spirits. Since I’ll have more than one Soul Artifact, three to be exact—as all of my King Marks are transferred here, can you merge all of them into one mark?
<Yes! Please specify the location for the user’s combined Soul Artifact mark>
Put it on my back.
<Affirmative>
<Harbinger of the Nightfall Spiritual Veins, assimilated!>
As soon as Rex said that, the foundation that he purchased from the System was assimilated into him.
In the Mortal Realm for Humans, the affinity and also the elemental mutation dictates the talent of the Awakened and how far they could climb in the path of power while in the Spirit Realm, Spiritual Veins was the key factor in a spirit potential.
Like an affinity that could be divided into grades, Spirit Veins also has its own grades.
Starting from low-capacity, medium-capacity, and high-capacity.
High-capacity is the category that was given to Spiritual Veins above a certain threshold and because of that, spirits with high-capacity Spiritual Veins might differ drastically in terms of talent. One might be way superior to the other.
Not to mention, two misfits completely differ from the regular categories.
Corrupted or imbalanced Spiritual Veins.
Unlike those in the Mortal Realm who could fight and obtain resources to grow stronger, spirits are completely different. Spirits grew stronger through time-based cultivation, they inherently grow their power with time by absorbing the spirit energy around them.
And the speed of the absorption depended only on their spiritual veins.
Due to the lack of gold, Rex couldn’t purchase the high-capacity Spiritual Veins.
It costs 10 million gold which he almost has.
Rex was forced to settle on Imbalanced Spiritual Veins, which cost him 8 million gold.
An Imbalanced Spiritual Veins is considered to be a double-edged sword—an Imbalanced Spiritual Veins is basically a high-capacity Spiritual Veins—but has holes. One with this kind of Spiritual Veins are able to absorb the energy from other spirits or anything containing spirit energy.
Despite its great use, it has one major flaw.
Having holes across the veins allowed a spirit to absorb spirit energy to grow stronger.
Effectively bypassing the time-based cultivation.
But because of the holes, the gathered spirit energy would also leak over time.
Even though the leak rate was a bit slower than the absorption rate, it’s still a big disadvantage.
Other than causing pain, the stronger the spirit becomes—the faster the leak becomes.
Meaning—if the spirit with imbalanced Spiritual Veins reached a certain realm by killing others then they couldn’t stop or else they would lose their power, dropping in realms. But this was not that much of a problem for Rex.
He’s not staying here long.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to reach the very apex here—he was only going to reach a high enough realm that the Spirit Emperor would listen to him and not kill him instantly. And for that reason, possessing imbalanced Spiritual Veins became more alluring.
It could potentially offer him a faster growth rate compared to normal high-capacity Spiritual Veins.
Thus, he opted to go through with this.
Even if he was struggling to keep his realm, he still had his Werewolf side.
Based on the System, his powers wouldn’t be eligible to be used in the Spirit Realm—and needed to be crossed over, this definitely includes his Werewolf skills such as the Brutal Impulse, and his Awakened power such as his elements.
However, transforming into his Werewolf form was available without needing to be crossed over.
Just from that alone, Rex could assume that his innate powers are excluded.
And that mean his devouring ability was also accessible to him.
Since he’s the Royal Black Prince, he absorbed two times more energy from those he devoured, that’s clarified by the System when he asked about Kyran’s devouring ability. Rex found that really good for this moment in the Spirit Realm.
For those reasons, he decided to purchase the imbalanced Spiritual Veins.
A light exhale escaped Rex’s mouth as a cool, soothing sensation rippled through his body.
It was as though a river of icy energy had been unleashed within him.
His veins pulsed with a newfound rhythm, vibrant and alive, radiating power that felt foreign, something he never felt in his original body. Rex glanced down at his arms, curiously observing as his veins turned obsidian black—the change started from the center and spread to his limbs.
Despite the grotesque sight, there was no pain—only liberation.
Soon, the energy within him flowed like a tidal wave and gathered at his back.
A tingling heat rose there, growing steadily into a powerful force.
Rex’s muscles tensed as a mark began to take shape on his back, the mark of his Soul Artifacts.
First, a black three grew, its roots entwined along his spine and its branches stretching across his broad upper back. Uniquely, this tree was wrought entirely from black chains, the intricate details glinting as if boasting its power.
<Masked of the Banished Eclipse, assimilated!>
Once the tree formed, a radiant yellow-golden ring formed over the tree.
It exudes a formidable and permanence aura into his flesh.
<Aegis of Moon Sentinel, assimilated!>
Lastly, the final touch came in a flash of violet crimson—two blood claw marks raked across his upper back in an X-shape, starting from upper left and right back—searing the image into his skin like a fiery brand—that last one hurts, forcing a groan out of his lips.
<Red Dawn of Kaiser, assimilated!>
Once the combined mark pulsed, Rex exhaled sharply.
He could feel the overwhelming resonance of his Soul Artifacts, a symbol of him being a spirit.
Just as he grew accustomed to the existence of Spiritual Veins inside of him and also the Soul Artifacts, his eyes widened slightly and he snapped his head to the side, "Linthia..." He murmured, forgetting that unlike him, Linthia has no empowerment.
Since her soul was perfect and clean, all of her powers would be converted.
But her Spiritual Veins are unpredictable and she also might experience shock from the crossing.
Unlike what Rex expected, Linthia was kneeling on the side—panting heavily but seemed to be fine.
She’s fine. Most of her pain was endured by me so this shouldn’t surprise me.
Approaching her while trying to accustom himself to his new body, Rex cupped her face and checked her condition. He turned her face left and right and even circled around her to see if she had some flaws but it didn’t seem to be the case.
Like him, she crossed over to her new body perfectly.
"How are you feeling?" Rex asked, staring into her eyes intently.
Linthia forced out a weak smile, reaching for Rex’s hand, "I’ll be better, Your Majesty. Thank you"
Despite the chaos, she knew that Rex saved her.
Rex didn’t put that in mind as he already had the desire to help her, seeing that her willpower might be the strongest out of the captains. She has her flaws—but with her mental awakening, she might now fit to be a captain and also the future general of the Clarentium Empire.
Helping her cross was nothing but a goodwill gesture.
"I apologize for disturbing your moments," A voice echoed from the side. "but can you help me?!"
Upon hearing this, Rex and Linthia turned to the side and saw Amanir.
Using his flabby ears that he once mentioned to be his Soul Artifact, Amanir created a bubble around them that suppressed their surging spirit energy. His face was pale as the growls—and screeches in the distance were approaching their direction fast.
"Stand up, we’re going to fight our way," Rex instructed as he stood up.
Hearing this, Linthia nodded and stood up—facing the darkness beyond.
"We’ll fight our way to the nearest Vein of Life," Rex continued before his hand glowed, summoning two black robes. One he wore while the other he handed over to Linthia, "Cover yourself with this and stay between me and Amanir"
Linthia accepted the robe and looked down, finding that she was completely naked.
It was the same with Rex but he was already wearing the black robe now.
Covering herself, she went closer to Rex and gazed ahead, "What are we dealing with, exactly?"
"Voidal Monsters," Rex answered, his eyes narrowed—a flash of blue light swept the distance ahead as the System scanned the incoming Voidal Monsters. As opposed to finding one or two, hundreds of stat windows appeared. "They are the nemesis of spirits and unfortunately, we’re within their territory…"
Roar!!
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