Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 51, Metamorphosis – Breaking Through the Cocoon, Becoming a Butterfly!
At this moment, Linley’s original body and his three divine clones all regained their consciousness. Linley’s first thought was: “What happened? I’m not dead?” He had no awareness of what had happened in the past thirty four long years. Actually, to Linley’s original body and three divine clones, it was as though just a second or two passed.”
But in the next instant, when Linley communicated with his divine fire clone, he understood that he had already been in a coma for thirty four years.
“Where am I?” Linley looked at his surroundings, then sat up.
When he sat up, Linley sensed that he had changed.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Linley could clearly sense the spatial ripples around him, and he could clearly visualize Bluefire, Reihom, Reisgem, and Bebe, who were seated in the nearby room. This was a sort of feeling of control, a feeling that made Linley feel as though he had control over his own destiny.
He felt like an emperor. It was a feeling of absolute control.
“Linley!”
“Boss!”
A series of overjoyed cries rang out. The movement Linley made when he sat up caused the four people outside to notice him as well. These four simultaneously entered the stone room. Linley looked at the four in front of him. Reisgem, Reihom, and Bluefire were all overjoyed, while Bebe was so excited that tears were gathering in his eyes.
“Boss.” Bebe threw himself right into Linley’s arms.
“Haha, Bebe, stop crying. You are like a kid.” Linley rose to his feet, leaving the stone bed and standing up. He chuckled.
Bebe laughed through his tears, then wiped his nose and snorted. “Boss, it’s all your fault. You’ve been in a coma for thirty four years. You tell me, isn’t that terrifying?”
“How did I end up in a coma for thirty four years?” Linley didn’t understand.
The nearby Bluefire laughed, “Linley, thirty four years ago, you were struck by a full force attack from Magnus, but luckily, the Soulstone helped you stay alive. But who would have imagined that during the coma period, your soul began to mutate. The energy of the Soulstone was quickly used up. We were all worried that you wouldn’t be able to hold on, but you managed to survive.”
“A Soul Mutate?!” Linley was badly startled. “Me?!”
“Right. You. Why don’t you give it a test and see what you can find?” Bluefire laughed while urging him. “Some changes can’t be seen from the surface. Only you yourself can sense them.”
“Right, Boss. Give it a try. Let’s see how your soul has become.” Bebe said, excited. “You are the very first person with four divine clones who underwent a soul mutation.”
“What is it like, for someone with four divine clones to become a Soul Mutate?” Reisgem’s eyes were burning with curiosity as he looked at Linley.
“I have four divine clones, but was able to undergo a soul mutation?”
Linley himself could barely believe it, but he still shut his eyes, beginning a careful investigation of his current soul!
Within his sea of consciousness.
Above the enormous sea of consciousness floated an illusory, rainbow-like light. His spiritual energy was like an ocean of water, with waves of it rolling about. This spiritual energy seemed translucent and dreamlike, almost like glass. The most unique thing was that sword-shaped soul!
The sword-shaped soul hovered above the sea of consciousness.
But the current sword-shaped soul had become translucent. Only, a layer of gray energy covered that sword-shaped soul. It looked rather ordinary, and not as eye-catching as the original, rainbow-colored sword-shaped soul.
“What a powerful, unique sensation.” Linley murmured silently to himself.
Others, even Bluefire, who ventured into Linley’s soul, wouldn’t discover anything unique about Linley’s current soul. Only Linley himself could sense it.
“The feeling of control. It is quite unique.” Linley said to himself.
And then, Linley stopped thinking about it as he began to inspect other things carefully.
“Ah, my soul-protecting Sovereign artifact!” Linley found, to his astonishment, that the hole in the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact was currently being repaired at an astonishing speed, thousands of times faster than in the past when he first became a Highgod. And this repairing process was a true ‘repair’ of the Sovereign artifact!
In the past, what he was doing was essentially putting a bandage over it, not truly reparing it.
But now, the hole of the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact was slowly shrinking.
When the day came for the hole to vanish, the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact would be completely restored.
“How...how can this be?” Linley didn’t dare believe it.
The speed at which a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact could be repaired was correlated to the strength of one’s soul and one’s spiritual energy. Linley could sense how powerful his soul had become, but for it to be able to repair the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact at such an astonishing rate? He still felt this was inconceivable. “Given this speed, most likely in just a few years, it will be completely repaired.”
Linliey discovered that the other souls of his other three clones had also transformed.
“Unfortunately, my divine fire clone wasn’t here to transform as well. Still, the results will be the same; in the future, when the divine fire clone merges with my main body and joins with the other four souls, they will exchange energy with each other and it will slowly transform as well.” Linley understood that it was like his original body’s soul; actually, his original body’s soul was just the soul of a Saint.
But it was with together his other souls. His main soul and the souls of the other divine clones were a part of a whole, and over a long period of time, the various souls replenished each other, causing his original body’s soul to naturally grow powerful as well. After all, they were all one to begin with.
“A Soul Mutate? Doesn’t that mean that I can fuse four types of divine power?” Linley couldn’t help but begin to test it. He first used three types of Highgod power; earth, wind, and water.
Within Linley’s body, three surges of divine power began to swirl around like watery dragons. Once they touched each other, it was as though they were one family; there wasn’t a hint of repulsion at all. The three surges of Highgod power, under Linley’s control, merged into a fused whole, and then as they did, the color changed as well.
Formerly, they were earthen yellow, light green, and azure-green; now fused together, they were an inky jade color, so dark as to be nearly black.
This inky jade divine power roiled about within Linley’s body.
“So powerful.” Linley grew excited.
At the same time, Linley also used a hint of God-level fire-type divine power to fuse with it. Once the fire divine power touched that powerful surge of inky jade divine power, it too fused with it!
“Eh? The power actually grew weaker?” Linley could sense that after the inky jade divine power fused with the divine fire power, it seemed to have become internally impacted, with the power weakening slightly. “Can it be because I have yet to reach the Highgod level in fire?” This was Linley’s guess.
It wasn’t just random, as though fusing more would be better.
It was like an army; if an elite corps had some weaker soldiers added to it, it would actually lower their combat effectiveness.
“Right. When Olivier reached the God level, he said that when both of his divine clones reached the God level, only then did his power increase greatly.” Linley now completely understood.
In fusion, a balance was necessary.
Earth, wind, water; these three sources of divine power were at the Highgod level. As for fire, it was only at the God level, rather weak.
“Linley, Linley!” Reisgem’s voice rang out, interrupting Linley’s line of thought.
Within the stone room, the other four were staring at Linley. Reisgem urged, “Hey, Linley, what’s going on? Stop just standing there like a fool; tell us what happened.”
“Let’s talk in the main hall.” Linley laughed as he spoke.
Linley’s group of five entered the main hall, surrounding the long table and sitting down.
“Linley, you successfully mutated your soul?” Bluefire said with a calm laugh.
“Right.” Linley nodded.
Bluefire’s eyes lit up, and he sighed in praise. “According to legend, if two types of divine power fuse, the power would increase tenfold. If three types fuse, the power will increase a hundredfold! If four types of divine power fuse...no one knows for sure, but it probably will strengthen a thousandfold. Even using Sovereign’s Might only allows a person to be a few hundred times stronger than when using Highgod power.”
“Linley how about you? You fused four types of divine power. How is your strength? Is it even stronger than when you use Sovereign power?” Reisgem asked expectantly.
Sovereign power was strong, but there was a limit to it. It made someone a few hundred times stronger than when they used Highgod power.
“I feel...” Linley said with a laugh. “That after fusing three types of divine power, my strength is indeed a hundred times greater. I sense...that it is comparable to when I use Destruction-type Sovereign’s Might!” Linley was skilled in the Laws of the Earth, and so when he used Destruction-type Sovereign’s Might, it naturally wasn’t completely effective, only increasing his power a hundred-fold or so. It was comparable to a triple fusion of divine power.
Bluefire nodded slightly. It was all as Bluefire had expected.
“Then four kinds?” Reisgem said hurriedly.
“I’m not sure either.” Linley laughed.
“How can you not be sure?” Reisgem stared, and the nearby Bebe began to laugh. “Reisgem, my Boss’ divine fire clone is only at the God level. If God-level divine power fuses with Highgod divine power, I imagine the strength wouldn’t increase that much.”
Reisgem was startled, then gave a few embarrassed chuckles. “I forgot. Linley, you’ve only been training for two thousand years.”
It was true. For someone who had been training for just two thousand years to possess three divine clones was already very terrifying. But of course, the Infernal Realm had many geniuses, some of whom trained even faster than Linley, but...one thing was for certain. There was definitely not a single person in the universe who was able to undergo a soul mutation successfully with four divine clones.
At least for now, Linley was absolutely one of a kind.
“Formidable, formidable.” Bluefire sighed in praise. “Soul Mutates are indeed terrifying. Once your divine fire clone reaches the Highgod level as well, and you fuse four types of divine power, your strength will far surpass that of someone using Sovereign’s Might! But the rewards you reaped were commensurate to the danger you faced; this time, you just barely survived.”
“It really was a close call.” Bebe nodded as well.
“Mr. Leylin.” Linley suddenly frowned.
“What is it?” Bluefire asked, puzzled.
Linley shook his head. “I have a feeling right now. A unique feeling! A feeling of control! A feeling of control of material things, and even of the surrounding space.” As Linley spoke, he lifted his fist. “I have a strange sense, as though I could punch a hole in space with a full-strength blow.” As Linley spoke, he smashed out with a full-strength punch.
Linley wasn’t in Dragonform, nor did he use Sovereign’s Might. As far as Laws went, he was far weaker than Paragons.
“RIIIP!”
As his punch smashed outwards, space seemed to explode forth like a massive explosion on the surface of a lake, and a meter-long, giant spatial rift appeared.
“This...”
Bebe was stupefied, and Reisgem and Reihom were speechless as well. Bluefire’s eyes lit up.
Prior to this, Linley had to be in Dragonform, use Sovereign’s Might, and use his godspark weapon to tear open a spatial rift. But by comparison...the power wasn’t as great as this fist.
“Boss, you, your fist...it’s almost on par with the palm blows of that Highgod Paragon, Bayer.”
Bayer had used a simple palm chop to tear a giant spatial rift open.
“I...I’m not sure.” Linley was rather stupefied. “I just have this feeling of control, as though I can easily split space apart. But I didn’t expect I could actually do it.”
“Linley!” A voice rang out.
Linley turned to look. The speaker was Bluefire. Currently, Bluefire’s face was covered in laughter. “Haha...Linley, that’s your Will, infused with the natural Laws! Since your Will encompasses the natural Laws, naturally you are able to control the world. This is a special power you now possess! The power that only Paragons and Sovereigns possess! Any attack, once infused with your will, will rise to a ludicrous level.”
“Will...power?” Linley was stunned.
“The power which only Paragons and Sovereigns possess?” Bebe and Reisgem were stunned as well.
Linley tested out this feeling of control and indeed, he felt as though he had power over the surrounding spatial ripples and movements.
This was something he never had before!
In the Planar Battlefield, Linley had previously only sensed danger. But now, he had the feeling that he was in control of his own destiny. The feeling of standing above all other lifeforms and looking down upon them!”
“I didn’t expect this. I truly didn’t expect this.” Bluefire could hardly believe it. “The previous Soul Mutates had more powerful souls, but even those extremely rare triple-power Soul Mutates who are scattered throughout the universe did not develop this power! Who would have imagined...that a Soul Mutate with four divine clones would actually gain this sort of power!”
“It makes sense. A Soul Mutate with four divine clones has a soul which is far more powerful than a Soul Mutate with three divine clones! For a person’s soul to reach such a height in power...it only makes sense for the natural world to bestow this power upon that person.” Bluefire was very excited.
And then, he turned his scorching hot gaze towards Linley. “Linley, come, come, attack me, try and attack me. Let me have a test and see how great your power is! Let’s see if you, a till now ‘impossible’ four-way Soul Mutate, is more powerful, or if a Paragon is more powerful!”