Chapter 595: 73. Cidi
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
Fisher stretched out his hand and gently placed it on the large tree beneath Barbatos’ residence. As a strange energy was transmitted through, the entire tree before him became unstable under his powerful influence.
At the same time, the magical circuits throughout his body illuminated brightly, reflecting the distortion hidden beneath Fisher’s human appearance, resembling a giant bloodied mouth, ready to devour the souls of everyone around him.
What he was using was the chaotic power from the Soul Supplement Handbook.
Among the few present, he was the only one who had reached the Mythical Rank. Through reading the Soul Supplement Handbook, he had also grasped the power from it that reached Mythical levels, as he was close to reading it to the end, with only a few minor contents left and gaining more thoughts and memories of the Soul Supplement Handbook’s owner, Jahl Uzz.
According to Emhart, the convenient and useful Demon Portal actually originated from one of the seventy-two Demon Gods named Baqin, who possessed extraordinary spatial abilities, capable of rivaling those of the Elf Race.
As a result, all existing portals contained roughly the power of his Sixteenth Rank. Even if Fisher were to destroy one here, it would take him some time. This was likely also the reason why Eil could move back and forth between her Competitive Gate castle and Baemon Palace within the Demon Dynasty so quickly.
The others were resting not far away, waiting for Fisher to destroy it.
A longer wait wasn’t entirely a bad thing; at least it gave Fisher time to ponder some questions regarding the Soul Supplement Handbook.
When reading the Soul Supplement Handbook in the Dragon Court, Jahl Uzz once wrote some intriguing words in an area that could only be read at the Mythical Rank. He wrote, “The Dragon God discovered my plot and attempted to erase me, forcing me to temporarily leave this continent, waiting for the next suitable opportunity.”
The key point of this passage was that the Dragon God was a genuine demigod, and the most powerful demigod besides Xu. He had once tried to kill Jahl Uzz but was evaded by him.
Fisher began to doubt; it seemed that the chaotic Mythical Rank was somewhat different from the order of this world’s Mythical Rank.
He already knew from earlier that the existence of the Mythical Rank was all about the unity of body and soul, using them as a whole to forge and exercise in order to elevate one’s rank. However, the chaotic Mythical Rank showed a clear distinction; at this stage, their bodies and souls could be viewed as independent entities with significantly different strengths.
This characteristic could be seen in Fisher himself and Eil—demons were also constructed from chaotic power as Mythical Beings.
Fisher himself was close to finishing reading the Soul Supplement Handbook, while the Life Completion Manual could not be entered into at the Mythical Rank due to the lack of “treasures.” Thus, his current situation was that his body was at the Fourteenth Rank, while his soul was at the Mythical Rank.
In other words, the soul within Jahl Uzz at that time might have also possessed the strength of the Mythical Rank; perhaps the body wasn’t as formidable, yet he could still rely on his soul to escape from the Dragon God?
But if that was the case, if Jahl Uzz could resist the Dragon God solely through the strength of his soul, could Fisher stubbornly rely on enhancing his soul’s strength to confront Ag and the others?
Moreover, he still had magic.
He also needed to deconstruct the ring heads hidden behind the authority that corresponded to each other.
However, at the very moment Fisher had this thought, the large tree before him appeared to decay under his soul’s power, and at that instant, it seemed as if he felt the soul power in his hand take on substance, like a festering boil that burrowed into the interior of the portal formed by the tree.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that the area where his hand touched the tree suddenly became viscous, and an extremely damp and cold sensation sharpened through his arm directly into his brain, causing him to tremble.
Looking around, he noticed that a layer of faint black substance resembling black mud had formed on his palm. This black mud seemed to come from nowhere, like the embodiment of his soul’s thirst, singing as it penetrated into the tree, transforming into the ring head he was currently imagining in his mind, as if it were an incarnation of his soul and consciousness.
Fisher swallowed, gazing at the manifestation of this pure chaotic power that did not belong to this world. He quickly glanced back at his companions behind him, only to find that Jasmine and Emhart had not noticed what was happening over there.
Jahl Uzz mentioned in the supplement handbook that this “black mud” material was the embodiment of the “Soul Authority,” which meant that the chaotic concentration within him had reached a sufficient level to enter the final stage, thus allowing the use of this purest soul power.
Jahl Uzz referred to this thing as the “Abyss of Consciousness,” capable of absorbing the soul power of others and shattering many existing rules and creations.
Moreover, watching it adhere to the tree to form the ring head, Fisher also realized that this thing, because it was inherently a soul, was also the essence of magical power, enabling it to be directly engraved with magic from thin air.
“No.”
Just as he scrutinized the black mud on his hand, he suddenly felt the black mud clinging to his hand start to twist, along with the skin on his body. Then, it seemed to hear a weak echo from within the black mud, as if he was conversing with himself.
It said,
“Don’t be angry. Please.”
“!”
Fisher was startled and quickly tried to retract his hand. However, even after pulling away from the tree, the viscous black mud remained connected to him, causing Fisher to remember that this black mud originated from his own soul.
He began to realize that the one conversing with him seemed to be that very black mud in his hand, which appeared to be a nascent, immature consciousness growing within him.
But once Fisher realized this, he became calm instead.
Jahl Uzz wrote about the properties of this thing in the supplement handbook; when the “Abyss of Consciousness” emerged, it might transform into a brand-new consciousness, which in essence was you, but in reality, couldn’t be considered entirely you.
This specialization of consciousness actually stemmed from the soul powers you had devoured, such as the part of Erwind’s soul Fisher had consumed, a small portion of the soul powers from the recent group of succubi, and the powers he had gained when recalling his past life.
According to Jahl Uzz’s experience, when a soul consumes the powers of other souls, this external soul power will still be mixed with attributes that do not belong to your own soul, which can cause your soul’s subconscious to perceive them as foreign, leading to their alienation.
When the soul power is weak and sluggish, this sense of “not belonging” might not be noticeable, but when a force like the Abyss of Consciousness emerges, it will simultaneously exacerbate the alienation as your soul power strengthens, thus creating differing degrees of consciousness based on the souls you have absorbed.
Jahl Uzz’s own Abyss of Consciousness was very intelligent, akin to his second personality; this was due to him having devoured many other souls, making the alienation more severe, while Fisher had hardly consumed any souls.
No, if counted, Erwind was one of them, and her shadow had appeared when reading the Life Completion Manual earlier, which should suffice as evidence of her significant presence.
Fisher pondered for a moment, then pressed his hand back onto the tree, continuing to destroy the portal while attempting to converse with this seemingly very immature consciousness inside him.
“Angry? I’m not angry.”
“You are.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because you feel someone is deceiving you.”
“Can you read my memories?”
“I can sense that you’re angry, and I can feel why you’re angry.”
Fisher paused for a moment before saying,
“Shouldn’t you be angry if someone is being deceived?”
“You should, but being angry makes me uncomfortable too.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know; I can just feel it.”
What a miraculous black mud; it was just like a child.
Jahl Uzz suggested not to pay attention to the consciousness arising from the Abyss of Consciousness; it wouldn’t affect you unless you were completely lost and gone insane. Because essentially, although this thing was created from the alienation of your own consciousness due to the soul absorbing foreign powers, it was still you.
As your own soul became accustomed to the absorbed powers, the pseudo-consciousness within the Abyss would gradually fade.
He prepared to follow Jahl Uzz’s advice and ignore this consciousness in the black mud, yet he felt a twinge of pity due to the hint of sadness in its words. Thus, he casually replied,
“Okay, I’m not angry anymore.”
“Great, I love you the most!”
“.”
Was he truly such a terrible person that even the black mud generated from his own body displayed a hint of a childish demeanor?
Or perhaps it was because Erwind’s soul power was within him that this black mud’s thoughts leaned more towards femininity?
At the same time, the black mud in his hand delved even deeper into the giant tree, the ring head on the surface of the tree twisted slowly, following under Fisher’s thoughts.
This tree contained the power of the elves, and from the “Fate Blessing” granted by the World Tree, Fisher suddenly thought that the power of fate was made up of time and space. Coincidentally, these two ring heads were both expressed in magic, so using these two ring heads should form the corresponding Mythical Rank magic.
The black mud shaped itself into “Time” and “Space,” quickly generating a marvelous resonance, seamlessly merging together.
“Fisher! Fisher!”
The black mud was still calling for him, and originally, Fisher had no intention of acknowledging it, but then he heard it say,
“Ring head of dreams and souls.”
Fisher raised an eyebrow; the former was something he saw for the first time on the necklace left to him by Valentina’s mother, while the latter was constructed on the ship when he returned from the Southern Continent to Nali. Both should represent the authority of Dalasgon.
And if there were a master of the Sea of Souls in the Spirit Realm, then the ‘Soul’ ring head he thought of actually referred not to the soul itself, but to the power that operated the soul within the crevice, as the current soul cycle process required the crevice to operate.
The black mud on the tree slightly changed, morphing into two ring heads, which, just like before, merged together without obstruction.
“Clever,” Fisher praised the black mud, then murmured to himself, “Which soul did you come from that I extracted? Could it really be Erwind? She’s a scholar but shouldn’t be versed in magic.”
“Should I call myself Erwind? Is that the name you gave me?”
“No, no, it’s not. I’m not talking to you.”
“Oh.”
The immature voice of the black mud seemed a bit disappointed, but it quickly perked up and said to Fisher,
“I don’t like that name either; I want to be called Raphael.”
“No.”
“I feel you really like that name. How about Hela, Elizabeth, Jasmine, Valentina, Alagina, Eil?”
Is it just calling out names?
Fisher felt somewhat exasperated. Seeing that this black mud could indeed sense the emotions within his body, he firmly said,
“None of those names work; those are all someone else’s names.”
The tone of the black mud grew increasingly low, seemingly disappointed because it couldn’t find a name it liked.
Thinking it was finally quiet, Fisher believed he had received a considerable gain from obtaining two Mythical Rank ring heads; this massive tree, as Barbatos’ portal, was also becoming increasingly fragile until the runes above completely lost their luster, and the area he touched was fully severed, causing it to emit a loud noise.
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
The entire tree suddenly trembled and then, along with Barbatos’ residence above, started to tilt in another direction.
The Demon Portal of Barbatos had been destroyed.
It was at this moment that the black mud, which had been thinking for a long time, said again,
“Can I be called Cupid?”
“. No.”
“Is that also someone else’s name?”
Fisher opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.
Is Cupid really that guy’s name?
Probably just a name she casually mentioned while teasing herself.
Seemingly out of spite, perhaps also as a cost for being deceived by that idiot Hela, Fisher suddenly addressed the pseudo-consciousness that didn’t even count as existing in his mind,
“Well, you can be called Cupid.”
“Great! I love you the most!”
The black mud chirped again, sounding both immature and joyful, for some reason.
Fisher couldn’t help but ask,
“Why do you love me?”
“Why wouldn’t I love you?”
“.”
Fisher decided to ignore Cupid, while Jasmine and Emhart, who were waiting for him to finish, heard the massive cracking sound of the tree and simultaneously turned their heads to look over, walking toward him.
“Teacher Fisher, are you done?”
“Yeah, let’s head out to the Gateway of Knowledge and meet up with Eil. I’m not sure if she has finished, as she’s only at the Fourteenth Rank right now.”
The giant tree leaned further, causing even the corpses of dead birds perched on its branches to take flight, awakening Holland, who was lying on the sandy ground and sleepily gazing over.
“Thud!”
But at that moment, the process of the massive tree’s collapse suddenly halted, pausing awkwardly in mid-air, accompanied by a loud bang from behind.
Fisher paused slightly and turned to look, quickly noticing that there seemed to be a shadow behind the tree.
“Who?”
He spoke coldly, and the previously retracted black mud began to flow down from his fingertips. Jasmine took a battle-ready stance behind him, while Emhart hid behind Jasmine.
Upon hearing Fisher’s voice, a strikingly beautiful male figure with long red hair suddenly emerged from behind the tree.
He tilted his head with a smile, winking with his left eye, while the other eye, still open, sparkled with resplendent pink starlight.
On his forehead, two medium-sized, goat-like black horns protruded, highlighting his demonic characteristics.
His skin was almost completely exposed; however, since most of his body was hidden behind the tree, only his delicate collarbone showed.
He cutely stuck his tongue out at Fisher, unleashing a sweet smile capable of tempting most of the world’s inhabitants, and with a somewhat effeminate voice, he pleaded with Fisher,
“Sorry, since you’ve all destroyed the portal, could you please spare my home and my husband’s home?”
“You—”
Fisher’s earlobes turned red uncontrollably, as if the mere existence of this demon could stir his most primal and instinctual desires, not to mention his far beyond ordinary carnal appetites.
This desire wasn’t directed at a specific object, but rather, it felt like this presence ignited the desire itself, longing to engage in transgressive acts.
Even Jasmine behind him blushed, casting a watery glance at Fisher in front of her, tugging at his clothing and whispering,
“Teacher Fisher, this demon seems off.”
And as if that was insufficient, Jasmine further touched his muscles, almost a silent plea to express her discontent at this moment.
Emhart, hiding behind Jasmine, dared not look at what was happening ahead, but after hearing the word “husband” in that voice, a guess involuntarily exploded in his heart.
Could it be…
But before he could speak, the charming red-haired demon, hiding behind the tree, smiled and introduced himself,
“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself.
“Hello, I am the Demon God Cidi, partner of Barbatos.”
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