Chapter 24: Jie Luo’s Soul Fragment
Transcendent magic, the strongest power human mages of the Heavenly Continent can wield.
Mages have many shortcomings, such as incredibly weak physical constitutions – running just a few steps leaves them gasping for air. Incanting high-level spells also takes too long, etc…
But despite these many flaws, everyone acknowledges that among all combat professions, mages possess the greatest destructive power.
Especially for high-level mages, a single spell can instantly obliterate a vast area.
Transcendent magic can directly destroy an entire small town – absolutely a force of mass destruction.
However, learning transcendent magic is extremely difficult.
Each transcendent spell formula has been passed down over generations, the mages’ most precious treasure and national secret-level asset.
No matter how immense your talent, without an exceptionally formidable mentor and background, obtaining transcendent spell formulas is nearly impossible.
On the entire Heavenly Continent, the number of known transcendent spells can be counted on one hand.
The royal family possesses three, the Holy See and Church of the Earth Mother hold five, the Thirteen Sages have two, and Anastasia – already a Great Archmage and member of the Hero Squad – inherited one from her master…
Laid out like this, the sheer preciousness of transcendent magic is clear.
These formulas are generally never spread externally. Normally, Candice would have no chance to obtain them. Her only way to master transcendent magic would be self-creation.
And the difficulty of self-creating them…
Never could Candice have imagined that Lord Horus would directly gift her a transcendent spell formula. Not just the formula, but even detailed cultivation methods and precautions.
After all, the power of transcendent magic is far too immense. The slightest misstep in cultivation could lead to irreversible catastrophe.
Candice gasped heavily, feeling as if she was suffocating, her vision even blurring.
“This…is for me?” Candice’s voice trembled.
“Of course. Though it was due to your mistake.” Qin Chu nodded, shamelessly pinning his failure to control the Devourer on her, since Candice had admitted it was her fault. “However, I did drain your power, that’s a fact…”
“So naturally, I should provide some compensation.”
“Moreover, I, Lord Horus, am never stingy toward those who serve me. Consider this a reward for your service.”
“Remember, with your current strength, attempting to unleash Meteor Swarm would be suicidal.” Qin Chu solemnly warned. “But studying it in advance will aid your magic cultivation.”
Candice firmly engraved every word, every syllable Qin Chu said into her heart. This was precious advice from a senior expert!
Truly befitting the great Lord Horus to open with a transcendent spell.
Compared to the value of this transcendent magic, the trifling magic power she lost was negligible. If possible, Candice would gladly let Lord Horus drain even more.
Where Candice originally felt fear, curiosity towards Lord Horus, it had now transformed into reverence.
In all her years serving demon beasts, she never received any rewards, only insults and rebukes. But facing Lord Horus, despite the dread, she felt respected.
Excitement welling up, Candice knelt on one knee, lowering her raised head.
“Thank you for your gift, Lord Horus. Candice vows to follow you unto death, eternally loyal.”
Yet this vow of loyalty clearly did not move Qin Chu, whose eyes narrowed slightly. After the previous loop, he no longer believed in any “eternal loyalty” vows.
How many had he saved in this world? Those were life debts.
How many had tearfully expressed gratitude, swearing to forever remember his kindness?
But in the end, what happened? Betrayal!
He did not need Candice’s loyalty. All he needed was a useful tool.
“Prepare a compilation of all low and mid-tier spells you know for me.”
Low and mid-tier spell formulas? What did Lord Horus need those for?
After all, Lord Horus could so casually produce transcendent spell formulas – would he really care about such low-level stuff?
Surely Lord Horus wasn’t the one planning to learn them?
Impossible, Lord Horus definitely knew these basic spells already. They must serve some other purpose.
“And also, a list!”
…
After obtaining what he asked for, Qin Chu’s figure vanished from the bar. Glancing at the remains on the floor, Candice slightly shook her head. She knew that from today onwards, she had completely severed ties with the demon beasts.
If this incident was exposed, she would face bloody retaliation from them.
Her future days would likely be difficult.
But Candice did not regret her choice.
Though she did not know if Lord Horus would truly protect her, or simply use her as a pure tool to be discarded like her mother did, she felt no regrets. This path was her own decision.
…
Qin Chu’s figure landed on a streetlamp.
The mark left by the Phantom Demon on his hand had already been removed.
With a modest foundation of internal magic power, and a witch sitting on his shoulder, removing the Phantom Demon’s mark was not overly difficult.
Shub-Niggurath quite liked perching on Qin Chu’s shoulder.
A pair of slender white legs swayed, silver tresses fluttering in the night breeze, as her crimson eyes joined Qin Chu in gazing towards the palace.
“You really are quite generous, directly handing over a transcendent spell to that girl,” Shub-Niggurath giggled. “Don’t tell me you’ve taken a fancy to her?”
“That girl is quite decent, but still falls a bit short compared to this lady.”
Qin Chu grinned wryly. “I don’t believe in so-called loyalty or feelings. Compared to those, an exchange of interests reassures me more. To have someone work for you, you have to provide them benefits, right?”
“Moreover, Meteor Swarm is merely the weakest transcendent spell I know. Giving it to her is no issue.”
Qin Chu was extremely talented. In the previous loop, he barely touched low-tier magic, directly starting with high-level spells his magic power could support.
The number of transcendent spells he grasped even exceeded the total recorded on the Heavenly Continent, most of them his own creations. In battles, he basically opened with transcendents.
Ironically, because he never came into contact with them before, he currently couldn’t recall any low-tier spell formulas. And self-creating spells required immense magic power as a foundation, which he could not yet do.
After devouring Matrasa, Qin Chu’s spiritual force, strength, stamina, agility and more all saw sizable increases. His level also rose slightly.
Hence why Qin Chu asked Candice to transcribe the low and mid-tier spell formulas she knew for him. After all, he still needed some combat skills – forces his upcoming “mentors” from the Hero Squad were unaware of.
“I know lots of low and mid-tier spells, I can just teach you oh. No need to ask that girl,” Shub-Niggurath seemed a bit peeved Qin Chu did not solicit her instead of Candice.
“Somehow I doubt the Dark Witch’s spells are the kind I can freely employ.”
“Though I’m prepared to do some unsavory things, I’d rather not add ‘hero tainted by dark powers’ to the list of hats I’m wearing.”
Shub-Niggurath puffed her cheeks out, seemingly sulking.
A stretch of silence fell around them.
Nearly a hundred streetlamps ringed the palace vicinity, bright as daylight – any approaching lifeform impossible to miss.
Every ten meters, a fully armed soldier stood guard.
Qin Chu committed all their positions to memory.
In the distance, the luxurious carriages of several nobles could be seen waiting before the palace gates. He knew they were awaiting the awakened hero’s first chance to deliver their invitations.
To these nobles, the hero’s ability to battle demon beasts was just a bonus. What interested them most were the benefits the hero could bring. If they could get in the hero’s good graces, the advantages would be innumerable – none wished to lose out to others.
An agile figure approached the palace – Angelica.
Her emerald tresses flowed behind, her face clearly filled with hopeful radiance.
She had safely departed from the Holy See, carrying few personal belongings.
Just as Qin Chu had judged, no matter how much Loseweisse loathed and wanted to kill Angelica, even if she had truly prepared to take action, Augustus would absolutely never allow it.
Among his numerous foes, Augustus could be considered the most unique. His interactions with Qin Chu outnumbered even Saint Monique and Wadsworth combined. Qin Chu sensed Augustus seemingly wanted to obtain something from him, but did not know what exactly.
Upon reaching the palace gates, Angelica was immediately surrounded by a crowd.
Everyone knew she had become the hero’s personal maid, practically his spokeswoman.
Countless invitations were stuffed into Angelica’s hands.
Seeing Angelica’s flustered state, Qin Chu couldn’t help but smile wryly. This was for the best – letting Angelica deal with these nobles would save him considerable trouble.
“Speaking of which, this ploy of using demon beasts as disposable blades to eliminate Hero Squad members…it’s quite underhanded and shameless.”
“Truly devious enough, I’m increasingly feeling you have the makings of a proper demon beast.”
“But is Shield Guardian Benson truly your only target?” Shub-Niggurath’s expression suddenly turned serious.
During Qin Chu’s earlier exchange with Candice, Shub-Niggurath had not spoken up. But this did not mean she failed to discern Qin Chu’s true aims.
“Of course not just him. Though Benson deserves death, the Authority he possesses is quite the decent prize.”
“False Absolute Defense!”
“If I get the chance, I want to devour that Authority.”
“Just that?” But Shub-Niggurath did not let Qin Chu off so easily. “If I recall correctly, Shield Guardian Benson’s route seems to conveniently pass through a certain location…”
“The Storm Witch’s domain, where…”
“…a fragment of Jie Luo’s soul resides!”
