Chapter 208: Pink Flower

The towering figure snorted and closed his eyes.

’The one who killed Marzak is not ordinary... since he’s able to absorb the demonic power that I have bestowed upon him through the demonic contract.’

The towering figure’s mind surged with various thoughts while the three generals before him remained silent, patiently waiting.

"Alright, I suppose revenge would need to wait."

A pair of crimson eyes shone dimly over the mountain of gold.

***

"Hmmm, this kind of life isn’t too bad."

A youthful voice drifted through the quiet forest clearing beneath the starlit sky.

High up on a thick tree branch, a boy reclined against the sturdy trunk, his hands folded behind his head as a makeshift pillow.

The cool night air brushed against his skin, carrying with it the crisp scent of pine and damp earth.

Above him, the moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting silver patterns on his relaxed face.

The trees whispered gently with every passing breeze, their rustling leaves blending with the distant chirp of crickets and the occasional call of a nightbird.

He closed his eyes for a moment, simply listening, letting the forest’s nighttime symphony wash over him.

His blood-red eyes slowly opened, their glow softening as they gazed up at the twinkling stars scattered across the night sky.

"Come to think of it, I wonder why we shape aura and mana into stars? In fact, even demonic power and I reckon even divine power..."

Regis said his thoughts out loud.

"...kind of weird."

It had already been a few weeks since Pandora and Killian woke up.

Currently, they had just finished their training an hour ago and he decided to stay up for a little while more.

He had helped all his friends improve to the best of his abilities.

Regis helped Aurelia with dispelling her own gift, which led to her now being able to turn a small plant back to normal.

It was a great improvement from the small leaf she had originally started with.

He had also helped Pandora circulate mana throughout her body.

Now, she could use some 1-star aura arts a few times before signs of mana contamination appear on her body.

As for Killian, he did not really know how to help him.

However, it was Killian himself who came up with a training plan and approached him.

Thus, Regis helped him by absorbing the burden and damages brought by his Lightning God’s Descent.

Through this, along with Killian’s own talent, he was able to reach the Peak Stage of Two Star Realm.

Thinking about his friends made Regis smile, ’I’m glad that I’m able to help all of them...’

After thinking of a few ways he could further improve the training plans of his party members, Regis began thinking about his own path.

"So far, I have mostly been focusing on the development of my magic... So, I haven’t really focused much on my other abilities."

In the past few weeks, Regis had been mainly enriching his magic knowledge.

However, his true priority was the development of a technique that would allow him to use aether more stably.

"Back in my fight against Marzak, I just forcefully used mana threads to connect my mana and aura stars."

But it proved to be too inefficient and led to its collapse due to instability.

At this moment, Regis’s pupils constricted as he noticed the alignment of the stars above, "Isn’t that a constellation? It’s exactly like the one in the emblem of the Temple of Light..."

Since Eldrin was the one who told him about the method of ascending to godhood, he also took the chance to ask the old mage for more information regarding astronomy.

Thus, he noticed a certain pattern as he focused on a specific area in the night sky.

"Alaric had also said in the past that Lemetina is known as the Goddess of Light and Virtue, and that her constellation is where the realm she resides in was at..."

Remembering their random conversations back in Falkor Valley, Regis could not help but smile.

"Now that I think about it, the faith that I got from the commander, the old man, and my friends was in the color of white, but..."

He closed his eyes and inspected the energies circulating inside him.

Inside his heart, five energies of different colors coexisted peacefully with each other.

The red aura that was brimming with vitality.

Blue mana that seemed to embody the world itself.

Black corrupted demonic power that looked as if it wanted to swallow the other energies.

The last two were what confused Regis the most.

First was the golden strand of energy that seemed to emit holiness, and the other was a pure energy that embodied the belief of people in him.

"Hmm, the old man said that the most probable reason is because one has Lemetina’s divinity in them, while the other is just faith..."

Regis had also tried fuelling the divine power with faith, and he was able to make it grow.

"I think that in a few weeks, I’ll have enough faith energy to fuel my divine power and form my first star... but I feel like it’s not that simple..."

He remembered Eldrin advising him that it would be better if he were to consult with a priest first.

"But how would I do that without exposing my situation?"

Regis thought out loud before taking a heavy breath, "Well, we don’t really need a healer so I’ll just put it in the back of my mind for now."

That was right, he and his party did not really need to worry about injuries thanks to the soul contract and his gifts.

The only thing they could possibly need from a priest was the enhancement of divine power to better deal with demons and other similar entities.

Thus, he decided to prioritize his magic and aether first.

"I’ll also refrain from visiting the Realm of Evil for now..."

Regis muttered as he sensed his demonic power that had already reached the Middle Stage of Five Star.

After all, he did not know whether another devil would be waiting for him there.

The memory of facing a devil was still vivid in his mind, ’Although I was able to adapt to the pressure she emitted, I knew for sure that I had no chance of winning...’

His eyes then wandered the area, looking to distract himself from the not-so-good memory.

"Is that..."

At this moment, his blood-red eyes focused on a pink flower a little distance away from him.

Using his arm as support, Regis leapt down the tree and landed in front of the pink flower a few distances away.

"Hm, is this a dahlia? I’m not really sure..."

Although he had already read books about general knowledge, like the things about monsters, beasts, poisonous plants, and whatnot, he had not learned much about flowers.

Staring at the lone pink flower on the ground, Regis silently stared at it.

Its layered petals curled inward like a delicate secret, each one tinted with soft shades of pink that deepened toward the center.

The bloom seemed almost to glow under the moonlight, its surface smooth and slightly glossy, as if it had just bloomed after a gentle rain.

"Should I pick it up?"

Regis was currently in a dilemma.

On one hand, he wanted to bring it with him, and on the other, he did not want it to die.

As someone who did not have that much interest in flowers, there was only one reason as to why someone like Regis was thinking so hard whether to pluck a flower or not...

...which was none other than the familiar visage of a loved one that appeared in his mind upon setting his gaze on the beautiful pink flower before him.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how she’s doing right now..."

A smile unwittingly bloomed on Regis’s face as his blood-red eyes seemed to be captivated by the beautiful shade of pink flower that he assumed to be a dahlia.

At this moment, an idea suddenly struck his mind, "Oh! I know what to do!"

Regis knelt in front of the small flower and placed both his hands on the ground as a wave of mana penetrated the soil.

He was currently using Mana Sense to gauge how far the roots of the surrounding plants extended beneath the earth.

Then, using his hands that were coated in aura, he carefully dug around the plant with utmost caution.

Since the flower plant was not really big, it only took him over a minute.

"Alright, I’ll just need to transplant this into my inner world. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I visited Vanessa and the others."

Regis smirked as he looked at the small flower he carefully lifted with his hands.

He made sure to take along some of the soil as well to avoid damaging its roots.

Then, without further ado, he closed his eyes and entered his consciousness.

***

A pair of blood-red eyes opened on an island.

However, the sight that greeted Regis made his pupils constrict.

The children gathered around, encircling a familiar girl with black hair who lay unconscious on the ground.