Chapter 128: The Soul-Refining Array 1

“First, you have to agree to help with my plan to resurrect the angel.”

Seeing how excited Kent was, Niuniu immediately seized the opportunity to name her conditions.

“I’ll also need a large quantity of magic cores, the Life Stones from this altar, and some Soul Crystals to set up a Soul-Refining Array.”

Kent hesitated for only a moment before gritting his teeth and agreeing.

“Fine. You can use whatever magic cores are inside the spatial ring. But the angel resurrection will still have to wait until we return to the surface.”

Then another question occurred to him.

“And what exactly are Soul Crystals?”

“No problem. They look like this.”

Several transparent crystals appeared in Niuniu’s hand.

They were tiny, almost like grains of fine sand.

Kent stared at them for a moment.

He quickly realized that they looked exactly like the sand-like particles that had fallen from the soul of the creature now sealed inside his staff when part of its spirit had disintegrated.

Clearly, these things were not ordinary.

“What are Soul Crystals used for?” Kent asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing particularly special.”

Niuniu answered casually.

“They’re just a type of magical material. They’re required for the Level Eight Light spell, Resurrection. They’re also one of the main ingredients used in magical potions for removing curses.”

Kent’s mouth fell open.

“You call that ‘nothing particularly special’?”

Resurrection alone was absurdly powerful.

Kent had always assumed that resurrection magic could simply be cast like any ordinary spell. Only now did he realize that it required special casting materials as well.

And since Resurrection was a Level Eight spell, there was no chance those materials were cheap or easy to obtain.

Otherwise, the Church of Light would already have become practically invincible.

As for magical potions capable of removing curses, this was the first time Kent had ever heard of such a thing.

Until now, he had only known that the Church of Light possessed a spell called Purification, which could be cast by high-ranking priests to gradually remove curses.

Curses were among the most terrifying forms of magic precisely because they often struck silently and without warning.

By the time one actually realized a curse had activated, it was often already too late.

“They’re only intermediate-grade magical materials,” Niuniu replied dismissively. “They’re just rather rare.”

Kent frowned.

“You know an awful lot about this stuff.”

Then another thought occurred to him.

“Does adamantine count as an intermediate-grade magical material?”

Niuniu looked at him as though he were an idiot.

“Let me explain something to you. Ninety-nine percent of the magical materials that can be found in this world are low-grade materials.”

“They’re the most basic materials used in alchemy.”

“Only a very small number of materials originated from higher realms and somehow made their way down here.”

“For example, Magic Silver. That qualifies as an intermediate-grade magical material.”

“As for how I know all this…”

Niuniu gave Kent an incredulous look.

“Have you seriously never heard of racial inheritance?”

Kent completely ignored her contempt.

Instead, his eyes immediately lit up.

“Then do you know the formula for those curse-removing potions?”

“Stop asking so many questions.”

Niuniu waved him off impatiently.

“Once you absorb the memories of the soul trapped inside your staff, you’ll naturally learn far more than I could explain to you.”

Kent immediately turned his gaze toward the imprisoned soul inside the staff.

His eyes practically began shining with golden light.

Without another word, he thrust the staff into Niuniu’s hands.

“Don’t hold back on my account.”

He pointed eagerly at the trapped soul.

“Get him.”

“Come on—get him! Hurry up!”

It turned out that Niuniu intended to use the Soul-Refining Array to separate the soul trapped inside Kent’s staff into several distinct parts—its memories, its spiritual substance, and its purified magical power.

The old creature’s soul had already reached a nearly tangible state.

A soul at that level of condensation was composed of several different elements.

The first was memory.

The second was magical energy so pure and concentrated that it had almost become semi-material. This kind of magical power could be absorbed completely, without wasting even the slightest trace.

Then there was the actual substance that formed the soul itself.

That substance was known as Soul Crystal.

And because the old creature had once been a Saint-level existence, its soul contained something even more valuable—a faint comprehension of the laws of heaven and earth.

If a soul ever became completely materialized, that would mean its owner had fully ascended to godhood.

At that point, both the Soul Crystals and the cultivator’s comprehension of the laws of heaven and earth would gradually transform into a divine core—a Godhead.

Niuniu needed a large quantity of Soul Crystals for her plan to resurrect an angel.

Naturally, that made the old monster sealed inside Kent’s staff an irresistible target.

As for the memories and purified magical power, Niuniu was willing to let Kent absorb them for free.

The purified soul substance, however, would belong to her. She intended to save it for the future resurrection of the angel.

There was, of course, one condition.

Kent had to help Niuniu carry out her glorious, magnificent, and extremely ambitious plan to resurrect an angel.

He also had to provide the magical materials required to construct the Soul-Refining Array.

As for that faint comprehension of the laws of heaven and earth, Kent had no need for it.

The ultimate purpose of comprehending those laws was to cultivate the power of the Origin.

And Kent already possessed it.

“Give me the ring.”

Niuniu stretched out one tiny hand as though the spatial ring belonged to her in the first place.

This time, Kent handed it over without hesitation.

Compared with mere possessions, he valued the old monster’s memories far more.

Kent had long been trying to figure out how to reproduce the firearms and modern weapons of Earth in this world.

At first, he had considered using magic crystals.

Unfortunately, when powders made from two different kinds of magic crystal were mixed together, the result was far too unstable.

Even now, he had still failed to find anything that could properly replace gunpowder or explosives.

What Kent truly looked forward to was creating modern weapons of his own.

The land mine had been his very first successful product.

Kent collectively referred to these sinister creations as energy weapons.

If he could absorb the memories of someone who had been, at the very least, a high-level alchemist, then his own skill in alchemy would undoubtedly improve at an astonishing rate.

Even so…

Every single time Niuniu took something out of the spatial ring, Kent felt a painful twitch in his heart.

The more he watched, the more astonished he became.

Niuniu did not merely take out large quantities of magic cores and magic crystals.

She also produced rare magical metals—mithril, adamantine, Magic Silver, and several others Kent could barely identify.

Then came Light-element magic cores.

Blood taken from Light-element magical beasts.

And still more materials whose origins Kent could not determine.

When Niuniu had first mentioned the Soul-Refining Array, Kent had wondered what magical element the formation belonged to.

Now, at last, he understood.

It was a Light-element magic array.

And that made perfect sense.

Only Light magic possessed enough natural restraint over Necromancy to break down and purify a soul of the undead element.

Then Niuniu began taking out large quantities of Holy Water.

Holy Water was one of the most widely distributed products of the Church of Light.

It was commonly used to treat wounds and illness, and the Church often distributed it freely to its followers.

In the Alliance Empire, many commoners regarded Holy Water as a life-saving medicine.

Even so, receiving a single treatment usually cost one silver coin.

For an ordinary family of three, that was enough money to buy nearly half a month’s food.

Kent had once seen some Holy Water owned by his former steward.

But the magical glow around that water had been so faint that it was barely visible.

The Holy Water Niuniu produced now was entirely different.

A brilliant white magical radiance surrounded it, so dense that it actually formed a luminous barrier.

Clearly, the two were not even remotely of the same grade.

“Niuniu…”

Kent finally could not hold back any longer.

“Where did you get all this stuff?”

He stared at the endless stream of magic cores, crystals, metals, blood, and other rare materials appearing from Niuniu’s hands.

“Did you stumble across some kind of treasure hoard?”

Kent clicked his tongue in amazement as Niuniu continued arranging the materials into the enormous magic array.

He had been trying to keep quiet.

But in the end, his curiosity got the better of him.

“Heh. It wasn’t a treasure hoard.”

Niuniu did not even turn around as she answered, clearly far more focused on arranging the magic array than on Kent.

“It was a treasury.”

“A treasury?”

Kent blinked.

“What treasury could you possibly get into?”

Niuniu glanced over the formation she had nearly finished constructing and replied irritably,

“The treasury of the Mage Guild Headquarters, of course.”

Kent stared at her.

Niuniu continued as though she were discussing something perfectly ordinary.

“The place was heavily guarded, and several Level Nine mages were stationed there day and night.”

“But none of them ever imagined that Big Nose could chew straight through a half-meter-thick wall of refined iron.”

“So once we got inside, we could pretty much take whatever we wanted.”

She shrugged.

“Besides, none of those things belonged to those guards personally anyway.”

Kent slowly turned his head toward Big Nose.

“Don’t tell me… Big Nose really is a Gold-Devouring Rat?”

Only then did he notice that most of the magic array originally engraved into the altar had already disappeared.

That was no small matter.

Once a magic array had been fully formed, its magical metals and various alchemical materials fused together into a composite substance of extraordinary hardness.

It was said to be even tougher than adamantine.

And yet, in the short amount of time they had been talking, Big Nose had already gnawed away more than half of it.

Kent immediately reached down and lifted the plump little creature into the air.

He examined Big Nose from every angle.

Aside from being considerably fatter than before, the creature did not look particularly impressive.

Niuniu rolled her eyes.

“Big Nose is already a Level Four magical beast, and he’s close to reaching Level Five.”

“You have to understand something about Gold-Devouring Rats. As long as they have enough rare and valuable metals to eat, advancing in rank is extremely easy for them.”

She pointed toward Big Nose’s round body.

“Don’t be fooled by how fat he looks. His defenses are incredibly strong.”

“His fur is harder than refined iron, and his teeth can even bite through adamantine.”

Kent’s eyes widened.

“Good grief. This little thing is that powerful?”

As he spoke, he reached up and began tormenting Big Nose’s tiny ears again.

Big Nose immediately gave both Kent and Niuniu a resentful look.

He was thoroughly miserable.

For some reason, both of them seemed to have developed a particular fondness for abusing his already tiny ears.

Kent examined him for a little while longer before finally setting him back down.

Big Nose wasted no time returning to his unfinished business and resumed gnawing away at the remaining magic array engraved into the altar.

Kent, meanwhile, turned his attention toward the newly constructed Soul-Refining Array and began studying it carefully.