Fire Mage

Chapter 420: Essence Points

Shaking his head, Charles shifted his attention towards the soul barrier and soon fell into deep thoughts. If Daniel had been alive, he wouldn't have used this complicated way to open this soul barrier. With a drop of his blood and his soul imprint, he would've entered and exited the Ancestral Hall whenever he wanted.

Although a complex formation appeared in the golden key to monitor his age, it wasn't a big deal for Charles.

'Unfortunately, Daniel is no more. If I want to enter the Ancestral Hall, I need to break these essence points one by one and replace them with my rebirth fire essence to maintain the soul barrier. One single mistake, then the whole Ancestral Hall will destroy from inside.' A grim look appeared on his face.

It wasn't an impossible job for him to replace all those essence points. But what he feared most was an outside disturbance. Once he starts breaking the essence points, the whole Ancestral Hall would reveal its presence to the outside world.. He was damn sure that all the Crystal Knights would sense the appearance of dense elements in this house.

'I already gained full control over Bishop Blake and his lackeys. But my main worry is the foreign knights and those few outsiders.' Charles noticed that some thugs were coming from the outside and causing unrest during the past few days. Although they weren't strong knights, they caused some trouble for the local people. He even saw them hitting on widows and young girls.

'Are they belong to some bandit gang?' He raised his eyebrows in suspicion. Although the Light Knights and the Foreign Knights maintained law and order and prohibited others from causing chaos in this town, Charles knew that both groups weren't trustworthy.

'Once I start breaking the nature essence points, the soul barrier will weaken and reveal its presence to the outside world. Everyone will perceive the elemental fluctuations and interfere. Hmm, I need more than a minute to replace those essence points with my rebirth flame and recreate another soul barrier. During that time, I'll be in a vulnerable state. Although those foreign Knights showed submission and swore their allegiance to me, they are waiting for the right time.' He frowned.

But there was something else bothering him too much.

For the past few weeks, he constantly used his [Foresight] skill and peeked into the future for anomalies.

'What I found is nothing but some hazy dark futures. But, I feel someone else is monitoring my future. The culprit might be that Victor guy.' Even though he wasn't strong enough to peek into the exact future, his understanding of the future time wasn't any less than that of any Legend-Rank Mage. So, it wasn't a difficult thing for Charles to perceive such an anomaly.

'Should I create another Star Constellation Book?' He thought to himself.

If he had that book now, he could've easily found the current location of this mysterious stalker.

Charles even fooled the Divine and the World's Will using the Star Constellation Book and beat them in their own game. Although he barely survived that scheme, he still managed to restore his soul and body.

No, he gained many things and even achieved the soul mutation process in return.

Unfortunately, recreating that Extraordinary Artifact wasn't an easy matter.

And, he doesn't want to waste too much time in this random plane.

'But I will not hesitate to create it if I face another anomaly. Although returning to Edhen World is important, it's not important as my life. With my current experience, it won't take much less than a year to create another Star Constellation Book.' He muttered inwardly.

'For now, I should worry about how to deal with the foreign knights.'

While thinking, he turned his gaze towards Irzoch and paused.

He knew that she wasn't strong enough to face all of them and furrowed his brows.

'It seems I've no choice but to send them away.' He muttered inwardly and then asked.

"Can you change yourself into Daniel, Irzoch?"

Upon hearing words, she got startled a little and then shook her head.

"To change my appearance, I need to eat a piece of Daniel's flesh and drink his blood, My Lord. I know you are only using some magic spell to look like him. So, it's impossible."

"Cannibalism?" Charles raised his eyebrows in surprise.

In the meantime, Irzoch went silent for a moment and nodded.

"It may look like cannibalism for others. But I don't consider it like that, My Lord. In truth, I already abandoned my humanity and became a Demon Sorcerer. My race is not a Human, but a Skinwalker. Most importantly, I don't like to eat human flesh or drink human blood like those vampires. I merely consume them to activate my bloodline spell."

"It doesn't matter anyway." Charles waved his hand and then added.

"Go and bring a cup to extract my blood."

Although Irzoch was stunned by his words, she didn't say anything and obeyed. She hurriedly went upstairs and soon returned with a clay cub.

In the meantime, Charles unsheathed his sword, made a deep cut on his arm area, and ripped a piece of his flesh.

If this was a few years ago, he might've gritted his teeth by now in pain.

But after his soul shattered, Charles experienced the most painful moments and became resistant to the pain.

Once he ripped the flesh, he turned his gaze towards Irzoch and waited.

In the meantime, she held the clay cup with both hands and gathered the blood drops.

A few seconds later, she retracted the clay cup, took the flesh from Charles's hand, and then spoke in a hurry.

"This is more than enough, My Lord. Please heal your hand now."

Meanwhile, Charles nodded his head, conjured a ball of greenish-blue flame, and placed it on his arm. A second later, his wound started to heal at an unimaginable speed.

Once Charles healed his hand, he turned his gaze towards Irzoch and said with a nod.

"Go on."

At first, Irzoch showed a hesitant look on her face. Then, she nodded her head, opened her mouth wide, and tossed the flesh into her mouth. Then, she closed her eyes and started munching it with great difficulty. After a few munches, she swallowed the flesh and drank the blood.

Meanwhile, her body skin turned black and started to shed before revealing completely new skin. She appeared shorter than before, and her whole body turned slimmer.

In just a few seconds, Irzoch turned into an appearance of Daniel!

On the other hand, Charles watched her transformation patiently and then asked.

"Is there any outsider problem in this territory? I noticed that some thugs are coming to the town during the past few days."

"You don't have to worry about them, My Lord. They belong to the Helv Mercenary Gang, and their headquarters is located right next to our territory. They would come here to try their luck hitting our woman, but they wouldn't dare to cause any trouble inside. Usually, some single women and widows would accept their invitation and even have sex with them for gold coins. It's quite common in every town." Irzoch responded calmly.

'Oh? A mercenary gang, huh.' Charles nodded his head and spoke.

"Good. Go and summon all the knights to gather at the town's entrance. I want you to go and meet that mercenary gang leader. As for why you are visiting him suddenly? Tell him that you want his help to maintain law and order of this town. Also, tell him that you want to borrow his elite mercenaries as your bodyguards. As for the rate, decide it on your own."

"Alliance?" Irzoch blinked her eyes in surprise and soon nodded her head.

After that, she bowed her head, turned around, and walked out of the basement.

In the meantime, Charles sat on the flattened floor, monitored the whole town through the wisdom power, and waited for the next few hours.

As he saw them moving away from the town, he stood up from the ground, released hundreds of invisible strings, and simultaneously destroyed the nature essence points!