Chapter 479: Max-Level Soul

The situation truly seemed extremely bad, the Soul Soldier’s Essence threatening to tear Leon’s soul apart from the inside.

While this happened though, he felt something else awaken inside of him.

It wasn’t a powerful power or a boost in attributes, but more like, just a new ability.

Leon focused his will on that new ability, and after a few seconds, his very soul manisted before him like some hologram.

It appeared as a red heart in color with silver sparks around it, and indeed, there were cracks all over it, resembling the one of the Soul Soldier.

The sight was terrifying, his very essence laid bare before him, fractured and fragile.

Every time a crack appeared or deepened, Leon’s pain increased, it truly felt like he was about to die.

The essence was too strong, forcing his soul to shatter by itself, but right as it was about to fully kill him, Leon watching with a cold gaze as his soul continued to break... something happened.

On the verge of fully shattering, a faint light enveloped his soul, and most of the cracks began to heal by themselves, the fissures slowly sealing shut.

’Soul Protection is finally kicking in, huh,’ Leon thought with a heavy gaze, ’Damn it.’

Even the act of healing the soul actually hurt as hell, Leon truly didn’t expect that.

The Soul Soldier had made it look effortless, but the reality was far more painful than he could have imagined.

But Leon knew he’d get used to it, or perhaps find a pain tolerance passive or sub-talent, so either way... he endured for now, gritting his teeth and bearing the agony.

And after a few minutes of pain, every crack on his soul disappeared, and it began to glow as it absorbed the power of the essence, the light growing brighter with each passing second.

Ding!

[+25,000 to all stats.]

’Kinda low compared to the Void King Essence, huh,’ Leon thought, slightly disappointed.

But right afterward, the real reward appeared, the notification he had been waiting for.

Ding!

[The power of your soul has grown tremendously, allowing you to resist more attacks aimed at it.]

[Your "Soul Protection" sub-talent has evolved from S-Level to S+-Level.]

[You can now project your soul directly in front of you to check the state it is in.]

[Your soul cannot become stronger right now as it has advanced to the max potential level in the Higher Domains.]

[Proceed to the Eternal Battlefield to allow it to grow.]

"Wow," Leon breathed, his eyes widening.

The reward wasn’t the stats, but the fact that his soul got stronger, akin this time to not just use one Soul Shard, but three at once, the power far surpassing what he had expected.

Though the fact his soul had grown to the max level for the higher domains was interesting, a limit he hadn’t anticipated.

It meant he didn’t need the essence anymore, the item now useless to him, if any of the girls tried to use it, he feared they would die.

This left the choice of Celestial Hand between the sub-talent and another Soul Shard.

Between the two, Leon decided to use Celestial Hand on the Soul Shard, his mind already made up.

Getting another [Soul Protection (S-Level)] might work out for one of the girls, but this sub-talent actually had a major flaw that made it less appealing.

And it was directly stated in the description: "this regeneration is not infinite and cannot save you if the damage is too severe."

For a normal player, it is safe to assume that their souls start at "level" 1, meaning any kind of attack will kill them instantly, their souls unable to withstand even the slightest damage.¹

The Soul Soldier’s soul was not only boosted in terms of power, but it also had [Soul Protection] to aid it, the combination making it nearly unkillable.

Without the fact its soul was powered up, Cavin’s initial attack would have shattered it instantly, making [Soul Protection] useless in that scenario.

Basically, for this sub-talent to work, Leon needed the girls’ souls to be at least already somewhat strong, yet all of them were still at base power, vulnerable to any soul-based attack.

That is why he chose the Soul Shard: to make sure their souls get stronger, giving them a foundation to build upon.

Fwoosh!

The transparent hand with the space-like texture shot out from Leon’s staff and clawed at the Soul Soldier’s corpse, its fingers reaching into the remains.

Thankfully a few bits of its body still remained, because if it had completely disappeared, Celestial Hand wouldn’t have worked.

After a few seconds, it pulled out from the chunk of the body and brought back the [Soul Shard (Divine)] toward Leon before disappearing, the hand fading into nothing.

"Here," Leon said, handing the shard over.

Leon handed one [Soul Shard] to Emilia and the other one to Violet, their eyes widening as they held the glowing shards.

At that moment too, Leon checked another panel that had been near him, a notification he had been waiting for.

Ding!

[Your "Blood Heart" has recharged.]

"Oh!" Leon’s eyes widened with excitement.

That made sense, especially after killing so many monsters, especially the Void King and Soul Soldier, the powerful foes providing ample energy to recharge the artifact.

But that meant he needed to use it on one of his items though, which made him wonder which one would benefit the most.

Leon’s sword, staff and armor already were boosted, but now that he had acquired this new [Soul Armor] which was much better than his current one, perhaps he could use it on it.

"Here," he said, handing over his old armor.

Leon unequipped his current [Divine Armor +2 (Ascendant)] and gave it to Violet, who accepted it with a grateful nod.

He hesitated for a split second from using the Blood Heart on this armor or waiting until he acquired his next.

But remembering what would come next, AKA fighting with the requiem guild, as well as the hunter’s quest, he knew that the blood heart would likely recharge at least one more time before the Eternal Battlefield.

’This is the ninth recharge, meaning that the next one will be the tenth, also meaning that the Blood Heart might potentially evolve again...!’ Leon thought, his heart racing at the possibility.

After thinking about it, Leon made his choice, and he closed his eyes, focusing on the Blood Heart, aligning his heartbeat with the item’s and transferring that power to the Soul Armor.

The armor went through a transformation, its silver form letting crimson streaks appear all over it, the silver shards surrounding it merging with red ones to create something entirely new.

And once it was done...

Ding!

[You have used the "Blood Heart" on the "Soul Armor (Divine)"]

[You have blessed "Soul Armor"]

Leon immediately equipped the new armor, feeling its power course through him, and checked the description, his eyes scanning the words.

[Soul Armor (Divine): +300,000 Constitution, -40,000 Agility. A heavy armor that makes most attacks extremely hard to penetrate it, it will regenerate overtime even if damaged.]

[Blood Heart Blessing: Constitution bonus of the armor multiplied by 5, and the regeneration of the armor is much stronger.]

"Nice!" Leon nodded, extremely satisfied.