All the water in the river was becoming unusually dense and compressed until it turned into a single drop. Without a moment of hesitation, the drop entered Daniel's forehead.
He was shocked—how had that massive volume of water turned into a single tear? But before he could even think about it, a glowing blue screen appeared before his eyes.
[An external entity has entered your soul.]
[Your soul is absorbing the external entity.]
[Absorption rate: 15%]
[Absorption rate: 42%]
[Absorption rate: 77%]
...
[Absorption rate: 99%]
[Ding... Your soul has successfully absorbed the external entity.]
[Name: Tear of the Mother of Dragons]
[Rank: ???]
[Description: ???]
Daniel took a quick glance at it, and suddenly, he felt like his soul was burning. His eyes and all his veins started turning red.
Even the color of his skin began to redden. It felt like his eyeballs could pop out of their sockets any moment.
Deep within his soul, a purple flame was consuming him completely. The pain was more terrifying than anything Daniel had ever experienced.
It was like thousands of needles being shoved into your eyes while you're grilled on a barbecue and your body is sliced apart with a knife.
It was clear that his pain receptors were operating at maximum capacity, sending unbearable pain signals to his brain. The pain was so intense that his brain couldn't handle it and began to deteriorate.
His heartbeat gradually slowed down and dropped below average. His vision became blurry.
Meanwhile, his soul was completely burned and destroyed, leaving only a single purple flame. Slowly, the flame began to spread and formed a new soul.
Before Daniel could even realize it, the pain started to fade—bit by bit—until it completely disappeared.
[Ding... Congratulations to the player for acquiring the Undying Soul of Dragon.]
[Name: Undying Soul of Dragon]
[Rank: SSS]
[Completion rate: 5%]
[Description: The undying soul of a dragon! Your soul can become eternal like that of an ancient dragon. At the current level, it reduces all spiritual damage by 20%. Any spiritual attack below rank A will have no effect on the player.]
[Ding... You have unlocked the Structure section in your profile panel.]
[Ding... You have acquired the Dragon Mark.]
[Description: Your relationship with dragons has improved by 150%. Their first impression of you will be positive.]
"...."
"This?" Daniel stared at the floating blue screen in front of him, eyes wide.
The Undying Soul of Dragon? He never expected to obtain something so divine. Didn't this mean that once he fully completes its percentage, his soul would become immortal and eternal?
Just two days ago, when he encountered Azarath, he had faced death for the first time since his awakening. Physical death couldn't kill him anymore—but spiritual death could.
Thankfully, this undying soul would help him deal with that too. Though until its completion reaches 100%, spiritual attacks ranked A or higher could still definitely kill him.
Not to mention—it was SSS rank. Other than his class and the Transcendent Scripture, this was the third SSS-ranked thing he had ever seen.
Then he looked at the Dragon Mark. That mark would definitely help in the future when he visits the dragons' domain.
Especially since it would allow him to form friendly relations with dragons. After all, being on good terms with the most powerful race across both worlds… wasn't a bad thing, right?
Daniel slowly stood up. The river had been completely dried up.
"Eh? Guess I owe them a service now…" He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had heard about how important this river was to the empire—and now he had completely drained it.
All he could do was hope the empire wouldn't issue an execution order on him. Otherwise, he'd never be able to step foot in the Celestial Domain again.
He walked over to Atlas and Eltha, who were still in shock from everything that had just happened.
"What was that just now?" Atlas asked.
"I don't know either. It just… got absorbed into me, I guess?" Daniel scratched his head a little.
Atlas and Eltha exchanged glances, then looked back at Daniel. It was clear the kid didn't want to talk about it—and they couldn't exactly force him.
Besides, there was a more pressing issue right now.
"You completely dried up the river. The Duke and the royal family won't be happy about this," Eltha sighed.
This place was extremely important to the empire—and now it was just… gone.
Daniel didn't say anything, because they were right. What could he even do? Even if he wanted to run, escaping with two Grand Mages around was basically impossible.
"You'd better get out of the empire as soon as possible. We'll give you three hours to leave. After that, we'll report everything," Atlas said suddenly, causing Daniel to look at him in shock.
"Really?"
Eltha didn't say anything but kept staring at Atlas with deep eyes. She could tell he probably didn't want someone with that much potential to get ruined—or become their enemy.
Besides, building good karma with a limitless genius wasn't a bad idea.
"He's right. You've got three hours to leave the empire."
"Thank you both! I'll definitely make it up to you someday," Daniel said and bowed in front of them.
Atlas waved his hand, and a portal opened before them.
"This will take you to the outer gate of the Mage Tower. Hurry up." Of course, the real reason he was helping Daniel escape was different.
The Duke had been looking for a way to distract the royal family's attention—and wasn't this the perfect excuse? As long as the emperor focused on the River of Dragon's Tear, the Duke could proceed with his plans to seize the throne.
"Thanks again!" Daniel repeated his gratitude, then stepped into the portal.
Even after he left, Ana and Jin still hadn't recovered from the shock.
What kind of monster was that? Ana didn't even dare think about Daniel in her mind anymore
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A/N: this arc is coming to end hopefully