caerulex

Chapter 344. As Talented as We Hope

“If it’s a matter of the soul, even a necromancer wouldn’t notice anything amiss,” Maria continued. “Necromancers can’t see embodied souls. There would be no traces, so long as Ian can keep existing End oaths intact.”

Euryphel arched an eyebrow at Ian. “Can you do that?”

Ian shrugged. “I’ve never done it before.”

Maria reached under the table and squeezed his leg, giving him a knowing look. “That doesn’t mean much, coming from you.”

“I�...

Chapter 343. Playing the Player

Ian rubbed his eyes. Achemiss was impersonating him? “Excuse me?”

Maria barked a laugh at Euryphel’s supposition. “That’s one possibility I didn’t foresee.”

Ian gave her a look. “That’s an understatement. I thought we might try impersonating Achemiss to frame him for doing bad stuff and weaken his bond with Sere, but it seems like he’s already a step ahead.”

“I bet he’s going to take perverse pleasure in ruining your image,” Maria said, h...

Chapter 342. Unexpected Impersonator

Cayeun Suncloud’s priceless transmission artifact felt cool in Euryphel’s hands. It felt almost surreal to hold.

Before meeting Ian, he might have been intimidated holding something like this, might have felt unworthy of his mortal hands cradling the work of a lauded ascendant. But despite his mortality, Euryphel had essentially been to Eternity using the very artifact in his hands. He’d walked alongside some of the most powerful people to exist.

It shouldn’t have...

Chapter 341. Finding Achemiss

Before meeting Euryphel’s allies in the lower level of Ichormai, Ian, Maria, and Eury conducted an extremely important experiment within one of Euryphel’s scenarios.

Ian used the transmission artifact on Achemiss.

After the experiment, Ian clumsily read Euryphel’s surface thoughts to regain his lost memory of the experience. Maria then received them through the lich bond.

In those memories, Ian saw himself appearing in a completely dark location. There was no source of...

Chapter 340. Introducing the Enemy

​​Zilverna woke up knowing he’d see his mother by the end of the day. It was Euryphel’s payment for Zilverna’s help handling bad press in Selejo. The public really had castigated the Crowned Executor for putting Cunabulus into lockdown. Zilverna vaguely knew the real reason, of course–it had been a precaution in case the Skai’aren and his mom appeared in Cunabulus and had a showdown with some enemy ascendant.

Anyway, he’d done his best to smooth things over and Euryphel ...

Chapter 339. Achemiss’s Intentions

After the interrogation, Ian, Maria, and Euryphel convened in a separate chamber secured by layers of arrays. They had to decide a path forward based on what they had learned–and what they suspected.

“Our first goal is still to find Achemiss,” Ian said, expression contemplative, his eyes dark pools limned by iridescence. “A task we’re no closer to accomplishing days after his descent.”

Both Euryphel and Maria were peak End practitioners, but only Maria knew what Achemi...

Chapter 338. The Spy

Ian waited impatiently in an empty office room. They’d sequestered him there when they took away Maria. While no one treated him poorly, he hadn’t planned a several hour stop-over at a small border fort.

He wished his Remorse affinity was higher. If he was a peak Remorse practitioner, he could have altered the perception of the Life practitioner that had singled Maria out for her odd vital signature. Currently, while he could read the unprotected surface thoughts of regular military...

Chapter 337. Complications

Euryphel’s head jerked as he caught himself nodding off. He had been attending to something important… probably. Documents, signatures, something like that. He could barely keep his eyes open–he hadn’t slept well. Everything that got to his desk was important but not all of it was urgent. These days, however, most things were urgent, forcing him to pull unreasonable hours. There just wasn’t enough that he could delegate–there were so many things that needed to be done now...

Chapter 336. An Unplanned Stop

Morinapol’s array station was likely the largest in Gnoste, but that wasn’t saying much. Of the station’s seven available destinations, most were in the east: only two lead westwards to Shattradan and Sere. From there, travelers would take connections to other cities.

Ian’s margarita ball cap shaded his face, while a short beard sharpened his jaw. He wore a plain gray sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. Holding his arm was an alluring woman in a sun hat, silk shirt, and tan pants, h...

Chapter 335. Cobalt Crystals

Ian had no idea why there would be weird, dark blue crystals in the veins that anchored his soul to his body. He couldn’t feel the soul like he could the physical world–it was a different sense limited to the realm of the ethereal. Even though the ember crown made the cobalt crystals visually distinct, they didn’t feel particularly distinct from the soul anchors.

“Soolemar, what do the crystals feel like to you?”

Soolemar considered the question for sev...

Chapter 334. Sharing Soul Sight

Ian tugged off his shirt, revealing the hard lines of his transformed torso. His skin was rugged, almost molded like a statue.

Soolemar stood close to him and spooled a tendril of ethereal energy from his soul. It snaked its way over to Ian’s chest, then pressed into his clavicle, pushing its way into his body.

“It’s hard to go past your skin,” Soolemar noted. “The transformation brought on by your artifact is fascinating. When we have more time, I’d like to study it.�...

Chapter 333. Teacher and Student

An hour passed. Ian took the time to relax. The journey to Soolemar’s lair had been long, and Ian hadn’t dared sleep. He could sustain himself using his practice–had sustained himself for weeks at a time while pursuing greater power. But he couldn’t eliminate the exhaustion in his bones, one exacerbated by Zhuram’s extensive reconstruction of his body.

When he realized that he was nodding off, Ian pulled out the Blade of Revelation and stared at his reflection. Then, ...

Chapter 332. Crossing the Continent

Ian’s eyelids fluttered open.

“Well?” Zhuram asked. Euryphel stood off to the side, his posture stiff with concern.

“I can see,” he said, staring at the Life practitioner. “Thank you. I owe you a favor.”

“As I said earlier, it was aid freely given in defense of the common good.” Lindabet Zhuram looked like she wanted to say something else but held her tongue. After spending the past few hours in her presence, Ian could practically taste the indecision and c...

Chapter 331. Explanation

After returning to his own body in the palace of Ichormai, Euryphel had a thousand and one things to worry about. While dealing with Achemiss and the Infinity Loop were the most important, another issue demanded his focus. He needed to handle the fallout of forcing Selejo’s capital, Cunabulus, into a locked down state.

There was a cold irony that his political standing would be much stronger had Ian and Achemiss appeared in Cunabulus rather than Chemissa. If the defenses of the city h...

Chapter 330. For the Common Good

Ian’s thoughts were in turmoil.

Datcha was a powerhouse, the state consistently placing in the top three at the Fassari Summit, and Lindabet Zhuram was arguably the most powerful practitioner within its borders. Ian reckoned she was powerful enough to kill him in his weakened state, especially if he invited her vital energy to heal his body.

“You really trust her not to kill me?” Ian asked.

Euryphel couldn’t respond out loud, but he gave Ian a small nod.

Chapter 329. Safe House

[ hey folks, tweaked the previous chapter to make it more obvious how badly ian was injured. instead of a normal swimsuit he's wearing the wetsuit he wore in the jermal trench when swimming to the rift; it covers his body and face. ]

Ian padded across the beach to the closest restroom. He gingerly peeled off the skintight wetsuit. Maria’s cloak passed for a towel, but didn’t wick moisture well, so Ian’s bare head and feet were still clammy.

With no one looking in the small s...

Chapter 328. Last Words

Ian’s ethereal energy tendrils now spread like terrible fault lines throughout Achemiss’s soul. Achemiss would die if he couldn’t hold his soul together and keep it from collapsing, but how could he hold it together with Ian’s ethereal body renting it apart?

Achemiss’s ethereal body roiled and crashed into the soul like a wave, compressing it and crushing Ian’s intrusive energy so that it oozed out the sides, forcefully ejected. Suddenly, Achemiss’s soul-protecting artifac...

[ Book 7 ] Chapter 327. To the Death

Maria watched silently as Ian played the role of Ancient Black, enticing Achemiss into revealing his true body with the promise of knowledge.

The arrogant Achemiss that stood before Ian was completely different from the obsequious man she’d observed over the past two days. His gaze was sharp, and he let his expressions show plainly on his face–a personal choice. This Achemiss seemed straightforward, but Maria wondered if perhaps even this was just a ruse. If Achemiss could play the ...

Chapter 326. Return Beacon

Fifty Hours Later

“This,” Achemiss says with a huff, “won’t work.” Frustration practically rolls off him.

Having Achemiss to consult with has drastically accelerated my progress towards addressing my weakness borne from awakening a third affinity.

In two days, I’ve found a solution. It requires messing with my soul, which can only be done indirectly in Eternity. Fixing it here would take more time than I can afford. But back home, where my soul is unprot...

Chapter 325. Blighted Fate

“You’ve shown me no less than six galleries, but I have yet to see where the magic happens. Where is your necromancy workshop?” I ask, nibbling at my mostly empty plate. After entering into a mentor-protégé relationship, Achemiss insisted on giving me a full tour of his house–at least the parts of it above ground. Our tour concluded with a dinner provided by a collection of culinary puppets.

To Achemiss’s credit, the puppets make really good food.

“You should have al...

Chapter 324. The Proposition

[ slightly short chap but the previous ones have been longish. enjoy. i have two more days after today to finish book 6. let's goooo~ ]

After conversing idly for a few minutes, our teacups are empty. Half the time was filled with a description of the tea’s exotic origin. It’s a good thing that my persona, Mr. Black, is supposed to be inscrutable and aloof, rather than excitable and friendly. Simply nodding and humming along to Achemiss’s explanation while sipping the beverage is e...

Chapter 323. A Warm Welcome

Ian groaned and rubbed his eyes. Maria. Tell me that wasn’t a train wreck.

Maria had been relatively quiet during Ian’s conversation with Euryphel. That had been intentional. She found their conversations perplexing and preferred to let them proceed without her commentary.

It wasn’t great, Maria responded. Why did you bring up him ascending, anyway?

I just… I was thinking through the ramifications of me losing and that was one of the bi...