"I sense a Celestial Grade Physique... Seraphel... is that you...?"
The voice is low and slow, echoing in the back of Abby's mind.
It feels distant, as if it is speaking into a void, unable to see or feel anything, but sensing a disturbance, so it reaches out.
The entire black skeleton is flowing with the green soul energy that Abby sends through it, and a pillar of light the width of her restoration circle erupts into the sky, parting the demonic clouds.
Maintaining the connection itself is putting an absurd amount of mental strain on the healer who, moments ago, believed this planet full of weak mortal creatures was far beneath her.
Now, she's shocked at the energy readings coming off this corpse and replies through the telepathy link back into the void that called out to her, speaking strange words.
"No... I'm not who you're waiting for. I'm a human."
She remembers looking back in the databases in the moon base, along with the briefings from Bri and Alveron. The name Seraphel came up in the tombs of their ancient writings, so the connection there is clear.
However, the mention of a Celestial Grade Physique means nothing to her. After a few seconds of no response, she pours even more of her pure soul energy into the bones, making them glow bright white and green.
With this rush of energy, another low and slow voice echoes again, this time feeling even further away."We failed... and it has been long enough for the humans to rise... but that means the Demons have not yet sealed the Upper Realm."
Abby's eyes widen even more as a wave of fatigue from expending so much energy washes through her; she accidentally exposes herself to the brutal waves of Noble Vibrations that have become even more amplified, emanating from this skeleton.
It makes her focus even more while replying back, placing a full palm on the glowing green nose of the Wyvern corpse.
It feels as though she's replying to an echo of what used to be a mind. It's listening, but there isn't a living being there. She's only restored the will and memories of what used to be.
A cold feeling creeps into her palm, even though her energy form is fully activated, making it harder and harder to continue channeling energy into these bones.
"That's right. We can still ascend to the Upper Realm. But no... the humans have not exactly risen. My strength is an exception among the masses. There are only a few that can fight off the demonic forces, like the ones that took over this world."
An echo comes back.
"You've reclaimed Kelfar? A human... Indeed, an exception you must be..."
The voice drifts further away in Abby's mind, and the cold aura creeps up her arm as the Vibrations from the bones intensify and her fatigue worsens.
The entire skeleton is glowing bright green now, as its bones are completely saturated with Abby's restoration Soul Energy.
The cold becomes so intense that it begins to streak through Abby's body. However, in turn, she starts to feel emotions and visions surfacing from the abyss in her mind, connected to this dead being.
Sorrow, hope, and hatred mix together in a blend of chaos as visions of a massive battle on this world resurface.
Abby watches thousands of Wyverns flying through the sky in a lush green world filled with lakes, mountains, and endless colorful forests.
The Wyverns are blue, red, white, and brown, all following their leaders, heading toward an ominous black tower that has appeared on their world.
Glimpses of thousands of Demons with dense yellow true cores descending onto this world flash in Abby's mind, and a war that lasts years flies by in seconds within her consciousness.
Most of the details are fuzzy and fleeting, but the fact that this is such a massive world with vast resources. The presence of far more true cores than there were when trying to take over the human world tells her that Wyverns are an extremely high-class race that even the Demons once feared and took additional precautions against.
Details of how they lost do not appear in these visuals. The last thing Abby sees is this yellow-cored Wyvern dying at the hands of three Noble Demons. However, in the process, it does take them out with it in a final, desperate move to protect a message meant for the future.
At the end of these visions, the voice echoes in her mind again, so distant it feels as though it's at the bottom of a cliff, yelling up to Abby at the top of a mountain.
"I feel your intentions are pure. You share my will to keep the Lower Races alive."
As its last words come out, the voice feels and sounds like it's being drowned out by darkness, and the cold feeling surging through Abby's body completely floods through her. The final imagery she sees is that of a smiling Wyvern, looking up at her with satisfaction and a sense of long-awaited relief. However, she can't tell if this is an illusion or reality.
It has become impossible to send any more Soul Energy into its bones, as they are completely saturated, and the Restoration Circle below it has been exhausted.
All that could come back from the dead has, and now, when she looks down at her hand on the massive skull, she shivers, feeling as though she is touching the nose of this corpse from its own perspective.
The Cold Noble Vibrations flowing through her feel as though they're becoming more intense, but at the same time, the eerie coldness fades, beginning to feel warm.
A strange pull at the back of her mind tells her she needs to see what is happening in greater detail, as her eyes right now cannot comprehend the full picture.
She borrows the Rising Emperor's All-Seeing Eye to watch the flow of her Soul Energy and divine threads with far greater detail as they cycle through the Wyvern's bones and back into her—but nothing out of the ordinary is triggered.
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Her instincts tell her she needs to dig deeper, so she switches this skill out for Inspect, and then Appraisal, yet still, nothing pops up.
It is literally a dead pile of bones, nothing else.
Her Physique vibrates, and the coldness from before is completely gone. She only feels warm now, and even the fatigue from exerting herself so much fades.
Then, she switches her borrowed skill to Divine Grade Craftsmanship, and an overwhelming amount of information about reality around her explodes into her mind.
However, there is one message in the center of it all that captivates her focus.
[Craft Soul Weapon]
[YES] [NO]
–
On the other side of the world, the two massive explosions have faded away, revealing the aftermath of battle.
Two enormous craters have been formed in the planet's crust, and at the center of each, the remains of the rulers of this world lie dead.
In one, there is a massive, red-glowing Berserker Giant with a hole blown through its entire chest. Many of its body parts are scattered around the crater.
Its remaining flesh is still stained crimson and twitching.
One of its black swords lies flat on the ground, while another is over five kilometers away in another direction, with a massive red fist still gripping its handle.
Raven floats over the remains, still in full stealth mode, not daring to activate the system yet.
Even though she's gained thousands of levels from that kill, the radiation coming off its corpse and blades makes her feel the need to double-check if it's truly dead.
Though her heart is racing with excitement.
–
Arie's kill is in a similar state.
He floats above the scattered black bones of the Lich, with another massive white arrow glowing with purple mist within his Spirit Arms, pointed down at the largest portion of bones.
This is where the Phylactery shattered, and a majority of the hot, refined essence still seeps out. A large number of the black bones that vibrate with cold Noble Vibrations are scattered about nearby, and the enormous glossy obsidian bow, over 100 meters long, rests in the center of it all.
He, too, received thousands of levels after killing this King, but as it was a Lich he killed, Arie has good reason to be cautious about it not being dead just yet...
–
As a massive green pillar of light illuminates the sky from the other side of the world, and a few minutes pass, both Arie and Raven slowly circle downward to collect their loot, confident that their opponents are actually dead.
–
Raven is the first to appear right in front of one of the fallen Berserker's blades—the one in particular that doesn't have its fist still grasping it.
A red glow still emanates off of the artifact, and from deep within it, the cold sensation of a Noble Vibration being suppressed is still there too.
The only difference is it doesn't feel like she's the target of these waves, and every second that passes allows this energy to seep back into the depths of the black weapons.
Her heart still beats wildly with excitement.
Even though these massive swords are hundreds of meters long, they must be made of an extremely powerful material.
They made her own blades shatter like glass, and her curiosity grows more and more the longer she stares.
Raven begins borrowing skills to take a closer look, too, using All-Seeing Eye, Inspect, and Appraisal from the list of skills available to her almost immediately.
A few readings come back that confirm her suspicions.
[Soul Sword Set of the Divine Berserker]
"So this is a Soul Weapon..." she murmurs to herself while looking through its attributes, then glancing over at the other sword that resonates with this one, both dimming in their coloring at the same pace.
Raven comes to the same final test as Abby, activating Craftsmanship to see what extra information she can gain, and her eyes widen from the stream of notifications that flow into her mind.
Complex dashboards and blueprints of all the ways to reverse-engineer, merge, and mutate these swords to her will flow in like knowledge she never had before.
It uses the subconscious data collected from fighting against this monster to understand the red aura and even the Noble Vibrations on a far deeper level than Raven knew she was capable of.
All of a sudden, she feels herself resonating with the two blades as well, and a list of necessary materials and actions she must take to get her desired result appears before her.
At the bottom of these detailed deconstruction and assimilation plans, a single option pops out at her.
[Craft Soul Weapon]
[YES] [NO]
–
Arie touches down in the center of the massive obsidian bow, where the largest portions of the Lich's refined Qi sit, and he wastes no time allowing it all to flow in through his palms to filter through his core.
While the essence from the strongest 1st Class Beasts felt soothing, like warm honey, this essence feels like fresh mountain spring water—filling up Arie's being faster and more effortlessly than breathing.
It feels as though all of the other essence he's ever tried to drain was polluted, and this warm power that fills his mind and body gives him such clarity and strength that it is an entirely different, incomparable level.
Even with the Noble Vibrations attempting to suppress him from every side—from the black bones and the bow artifact nearby—he's in a state of bliss that makes these cold waves feel distant.
Arie doesn't know exactly what this power is, but using terminology from the Upper Realm, he just absorbed 118,904 Low Quality Ether.
The human archer's vision becomes sharper, and all of his senses stronger. He can hear Raven's heart beating over ten thousand kilometers away.
He looks down at his bright white palms with purple mist flowing off them and takes in the moment of victory, letting out a long-awaited laugh in the silence of a massive Demonic World.
Then, he begins to investigate this bow as well.
His first instinct is to use Appraisal, but the message he receives is one he did not expect at all...
[Soul Bow of the Last Dark Elf]
"So that's what you were... Elves, huh? I've never seen one in a dungeon," he comments while shifting to Craftsmanship next.
The moment he laid eyes on this bow, he knew he wanted it. Now, as information streams into Arie's consciousness on how to make this magnificent Soul Weapon his, he takes a few steps forward and places a hand on its massive base—fifty times longer than his full body right now.
It feels icy cold to the touch, like the Demonic Dark Elf Lich is still staring at him even after its death. But the purple and white message floating in front of his eyes makes everything worth it.
[Craft Soul Weapon]
[YES] [NO]
–
Alveron watches all of these feeds live, commenting out loud to Bri, Fisher, Lydia, and Monk, who watch in the same room.
"They really did it... They killed the Kings... I must see those corpses. The data I must collect..."
While the silver suit of armor doesn't show any real emotions, it's clear that it is very motivated to obtain these two Kings' corpses. It is Alveron's world, after all. But Bri can see what the generals are doing and makes a comment before any unreasonable demands are made.
"As long as they can keep the weapons, I'm sure we can retrieve those corpses for you. The path is clear now, after all. We can finally go and check out the throne too."
She turns to the commanders to get a confirmation that they'll do so once they return to the world.
Fisher and Lydia nod with confidence, but Monk is the one that speaks.
"We can retrieve them."
Then he looks back toward one of the doors leading to the back rooms.
"—I just hope Luna wakes up soon."
Alveron senses this tension, recognizing it as a negotiation tactic humans use, and replies quickly.
"Very well, take the weapons—that is fine. I just want their corpses. I will retrieve a containment device that can hold complex substances. —And Luna should be awake in a few days. She's assimilating just fine. There aren't many Beholders left; it was quite a good risk to take."
The silver knight opens up a hatch in the floor and disappears.
At the same time, Bri gets three simultaneous messages in her inner ear—all about lists of items necessary for a craft.
Two of them are from Raven and Arie. They send complex, detailed charts from their Divine Craftsmanship dashboards.
The third, however, is not Abby.
A voice Bri hasn't heard in months rings in her ear, widening her eyes in surprise.
"I just finished up the first stage of my new training. Ava filled me in on the fact that you all had a lucky head start. Does that mean the list of items I need to finish my craft is ready early?"
She stares at one of the screens, where Abby presses [YES] to begin a craft without needing any additional resources, and it registers that this message is real.
"Yes, yes! Good to hear your voice, Jay. I have everything you asked for. It's ready to be sent to the Upper Realm."
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