My breathing remained uneven long after the vision had ended.
The All-Knowing Eyes had closed, yet the terrifying emptiness left behind inside my Soul Sea refused to disappear. Never before had I consumed so much Soul Force in such a short amount of time.
It almost felt as though someone had scooped out an entire ocean and left behind only a shallow puddle at the bottom. Even sitting upright demanded effort, while a dull throbbing pain continued pulsing behind my eyes with every heartbeat.
"So this is what happens when you get greedy," I muttered to myself before letting out a helpless chuckle.
The answer had certainly been worth it.
Almost.
Had the Eyes consumed even a little more Soul Force, I would have died right here inside my own room without ever getting the chance to use the information they had revealed. That realization alone made me decide something immediately.
Never ask a broad question again.
The wording had to become more precise from now on. Every unnecessary word carried a price, and I had just paid enough Soul Force to understand how expensive vague curiosity could become.
Closing my eyes once more, I began circulating Soul Force throughout my body. The generator core immediately came alive, pulling energy from every direction with frightening efficiency. My Generator Talent quietly converted the incoming energy into Essence before refining it further into Soul Force, gradually replenishing the nearly empty ocean within me.
Recovery was slow. Painfully slow. For the first time in years, I could actually feel what it meant to be exhausted.
Normally, my Soul Sea always felt endless. No matter how many battles I fought or abilities I activated, there was always another reserve waiting beneath the surface. Today, however, I finally discovered where that limit existed.
Apparently...
It was much lower than the All-Knowing Eyes cared about. As my Soul Force slowly recovered, my thoughts naturally returned to the vision.
The Twelfth Soul Current. The Forgotten River Between Worlds.
Even now, the name echoed repeatedly inside my head. A current capable of crossing realities.
A river that existed somewhere beyond ordinary understanding.
And somehow...The safest path toward defeating Verilux began there. I leaned back against the wall and began organizing every possibility I could think of.
The first option was the simplest.
Ignore the Twelfth Current entirely.
Gather every Saint I could find, summon every creature under my command, and personally hold Verilux in place while everyone else deployed the Slayer Rods.
The idea survived all of three seconds before I rejected it.
Verilux wasn’t simply another Saint.
He was a seven-headed hydra that had survived countless wars across thousands of years. Even Gerald, after centuries of preparation, never once suggested trying to restrain him directly. If someone with Gerald’s experience believed it impossible, then overconfidence on my part would only get people killed.
I wasn’t interested in proving I could fight Verilux. I was interested in winning.
The second option seemed more appealing.
I could use Echo Reversion.
In theory, I could carry each Slayer Rod directly to its destination before instantly returning for the next one. Given the speed of the technique, the entire deployment should have taken only moments.
Unfortunately...
That plan collapsed almost as quickly as the previous one. The more I thought about it, the clearer the flaw became.
Echo Reversion relied on Soul Resonance.
Verilux was permanently connected to the Soul Sea itself. If anyone possessed the ability to interfere with the resonance of souls traveling through the Soul Sea...
It would be him.
In fact, the moment he sensed someone repeatedly appearing around his territory through Soul Resonance, he would almost certainly begin disrupting the surrounding currents. Once that happened, Echo Reversion could easily fail in the middle of its activation.
That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
Being thrown out of the technique halfway through a jump was dangerous enough. Being thrown out directly beside Verilux sounded considerably worse.
The third possibility involved my summons. Perhaps I could send all of them to hold Verilux back while I focused entirely on placing the rods.
I considered the idea for a while before shaking my head.
No.
That wouldn’t work either.
Every summon I possessed was powerful in its own right, but none of them were Gerald. None of them could occupy Verilux long enough against an opponent who drew endless strength from the Soul Sea. They might buy me a few seconds... perhaps even a minute if everything went perfectly.
Five minutes?
Not a chance. One by one, every plan I came up with eventually reached the same conclusion.
Failure.
Which only made the answer given by the All-Knowing Eyes even more intriguing. If every obvious path ended in disaster...
Then perhaps the Twelfth Soul Current wasn’t merely another option.
Perhaps...It was the only option.
Several hours passed before my Soul Sea finally returned to its usual state.
The terrifying emptiness left behind by the All-Knowing Eyes had completely disappeared, replaced once again by the familiar ocean of Soul Force that continuously circulated throughout my body. My Generator Talent quietly continued converting the surrounding energies into Essence before refining them further into Soul Force.
Only after confirming that every last corner of my Soul Sea had been replenished did I slowly rise to my feet.
There was still one piece missing. The All-Knowing Eyes had shown me a destination.
They had shown me a sealed gate. They had shown me a name. But they hadn’t answered the most important question.
What exactly was the Twelfth Soul Current?
The Eyes could have answered that as well, but after nearly killing myself with a single question, I had no intention of wasting Soul Force on information someone else might already possess.
Fortunately...
I happened to know someone who had spent years collecting knowledge.
A smile slowly appeared on my face.
"Let’s see why they call you Gerald the Wise."
The familiar three runes appeared before me. They slowly revolved around one another before merging into a single formation. A countless number of crimson echoes immediately appeared within my consciousness, scattered throughout reality like stars across an endless night sky.
Finding Gerald’s pocket realm this time required almost no effort. The echo still burned brightly from my previous visit.
The moment my will touched it, Echo Reversion activated.
Reality unraveled.
For the briefest instant, my body dissolved into pure Soul Force before racing across the invisible path connecting me to the chosen echo. The reconstruction happened almost immediately afterward, and the familiar white clouds stretched endlessly beneath my feet once again.