Chapter 194: Finally
Priam reached out and pulled the Corrupted Heart toward himself.
Resting motionless inside the hidden chamber, the sphere wasn’t emitting any energy at all. He was able to store it inside his spatial ring without the slightest sign of resistance.
The very moment the object left its place, the ground beneath him trembled slightly. Priam watched as a single black rune carved into the stone crumbled into gray dust.
"So this piece of crap was what had been infecting the entire planet..." Priam swallowed hard. "This so-called Soul Corruption is way too subtle... and way too terrifying..."
Without wasting time on speculation, he turned around and shot out of the cave.
His destination was the desert.
...
Just under two days later, Priam had returned to the barren region.
It was where everything had begun, and it almost seemed poetic that the greatest treasure and the greatest threat on that planet were the perfect combination to solve the problem.
Priam crossed the territory at full speed, not caring in the slightest about the local Corrupted Beasts.
*ROAAAAAR!*
Naturally, his presence drew attention, and deafening roars echoed across the dunes.
However, Priam’s current speed was bordering on the absurd.
The combination of the unknown Magic Art and his daily life-or-death running sessions had turned him into an almost invisible streak of wind.
The Corrupted Beasts didn’t even have time to understand what had just crossed their territory.
As he approached the black crater where the oasis had once been, he activated Divine Concealment and slowed down, stepping lightly across the melted rock until he reached the edge of the lava pool.
He took the Corrupted Heart out of his ring.
The sphere floated above his hands, reflecting the glow of the molten lava.
"I really hope this works... or I’ll spend the rest of my life crying in despair."
Priam hesitated for half a second.
Taking a deep breath, he let go of the object.
The sphere fell in slow motion, plunging straight into the lava.
The very millisecond the Corrupted Heart touched the lava...
*CRACK!*
Every cell in Priam’s body and soul screamed in absolute terror. His survival instinct didn’t just raise an alarm—it set off every siren in his entire being at once.
"RUN, DAMMIT!"
Priam didn’t even look back. He unleashed one hundred percent of his power, converting all of his Aether into the wind element and launching himself away like an out-of-control missile.
In just a few seconds, the world behind him simply lost all color.
Every sound in the surroundings was erased.
A wave of absolute silence swallowed reality, followed by a blinding, purifying white light.
Priam didn’t hear an explosion. He only felt a wall of divine, cosmic heat slam into his back.
There was no sky, no ground, no air—only a white, scorching void.
His vision went black.
...
Priam’s eyes flew open as he gasped violently for air.
The first thing he saw was the night sky, scattered with silent stars.
He tried to move...
A wave of unbearable agony swept through his nervous system.
His body felt like it had gone through a meat grinder. Burns, shattered bones, torn flesh. He was in such a miserable state that the fact he was still breathing was nothing short of a biological miracle.
Without wasting time crying over the pain, Priam forced nature energy to circulate through his body, patching up his damaged tissues in emergency mode.
After several minutes of pure torture, he finally managed to sit up and look around.
"Holy shit..."
The desert had simply disappeared.
In every direction, as far as the eye could see, there were no dunes, rocks, or sand. The ground had literally been vaporized and vitrified, turning into a flat, endless plain of scorched black glass.
Absolute devastation.
[Special Mission Successfully Completed!]
[Reward: +10,000 GP]
Priam blinked, staring at the green window while still trying to process the apocalyptic scene before him.
But before he could celebrate, another floating window appeared right below it.
[Karmic Title Acquired: The Mage Blessed with Plot Armor]
[Bonus Reward: +5,000 GP]
Priam clenched his jaw as he read the description of that ridiculous title.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and started complaining to himself in the middle of nowhere.
"What kind of slander is this?! I worked my ass off! I investigated everything, planned it out, built the strategy step by step, and risked my life the whole way! I was almost murdered, and I got burned alive twice! This isn’t ’Plot Armor’—it’s pure sweat, blood, and superior intellect!"
He paused, snorted in frustration, then added,
"And another thing! I have the Transcendental Wheel of Destiny! If my luck is ridiculously broken, then that’s literally one of my attributes! Luck is a skill too, got it?!"
The System didn’t respond, obviously.
Priam had no idea whether the System actually had a consciousness and was simply messing with him now.
After letting out a sigh, he looked across the dark wasteland surrounding him, reflecting on everything that had happened.
The purification caused by the reaction between the Sacred Flame of Nature and the Corrupted Heart was the elemental equivalent of a thermonuclear warhead.
It had swallowed the entire desert.
Priam had only survived because, by using wind magic to flee with the air in that very first millisecond, the initial shockwave had blasted him beyond the zone of total annihilation before the extreme heat wave could vaporize him.
He had been launched so fast that he had "escaped" the deadly part of the explosion by a fraction of a second.
Priam rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Okay... maybe my luck is a little overpowered. So what? Who cares? What matters is that I won!"
The Corrupted Beasts that lived near the desert ran as far away as they possibly could.
The "desert" was now the safest place in the world.
Priam let out a snort, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and hurried across the vitrified ground.
Since he had burned through every last drop of Aether while regenerating, his legs would have to do all the work now.
In just a few minutes...
"!"
A vibrant, mesmerizing red light appeared on the horizon, standing out like a beacon in the darkness of the night.
Priam picked up the pace.
When he got closer, he came to an abrupt stop, completely stunned.
Floating just a few centimeters above the blackened ground was a scarlet sphere of light over two meters in diameter. Waves of energy slowly leaked out of it in every direction.
"S-Soul... Soul Power?!"
Priam stammered, unable to believe what his senses were telling him.
At that moment, every piece of the puzzle fell into place.
Soul Corruption.
That was literally corrupted energy, nourished with pure Soul Power. That nourishment was probably what elevated its power to such an extreme level.
When the Sacred Flame of Nature purified the Corruption, all that remained was the original fuel: a colossal, untouched amount of Soul Power.
The Sacred Flame of Nature had burned itself out in the process, but the reward it left behind was worthy of the gods.
And Priam had the exclusive right to claim every last drop of that spoils.
*THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!*
Suddenly, an intense, rhythmic vibration echoed inside Priam’s chest.
It wasn’t his own heartbeat.
A wave of shock and joy ran down his spine as he felt the presence inside his spiritual space awaken.
His partner was waking up!
Sensing the desperate hunger of the tiny lifeform within him, Priam didn’t waste a single second.
[Master Spiritual Energy?] [Yes / No]
Priam stretched out both hands.
The enormous red sphere trembled.
Then the energy twisted and began flowing directly into Priam’s body, streaming like a river of light into his spiritual space.
When Priam had first found her inside the egg, she had been nourished at a snail’s pace by the inscription, using the Soul Power gathered from the sacrifices of the people of the Ylisse Clan.
That inscription had only been at the Mortal Plane level and was full of limitations, which was why it would’ve taken at least fifty years to fully hatch her.
The inscription was necessary because, without a powerful Mage controlling that energy, it would’ve scattered before it could be absorbed.
But under Priam’s control, the energy was safely poured into the small space where she rested.
"Hey... easy there, little one," Priam murmured softly. "There’s no need to rush. It’s all yours."
The tiny presence, which had been devouring the energy like a starving beast fresh out of hibernation, seemed to hear his voice. The absorption instantly slowed down, becoming steady and calm.
Priam nodded.
The little one had a gentle nature and was incredibly obedient. Probably because she trusted him and knew him, at least a little.
Even though she had been asleep the entire time, he knew she hadn’t been completely unconscious. She had felt every danger, every battle, and every moment he had gone through.
When the last drop of Soul Power had been transferred into his spiritual space, Priam took a deep breath and moved to a sheltered place to rest.
***
The following days on the exile planet passed quietly.
Using the map and the Pillars’ teleportation network, Priam traveled through the Treasure Regions, collecting everything rare and valuable that remained. It wasn’t just herbs, after all.
He had gathered the herbs first because they were the most important. Now he went after everything else: ores, crystals, and so on.
On top of that, he used his last nine poisoned arrows to hunt Corrupted Beasts and test his new ability. He managed to kill five of them.
The result was insane: by absorbing and converting the small amount of pure Corruption from their cores, the System generated an enormous amount of Aether.
Thanks to that feast, Priam reached the Fourth Level.
Unfortunately, he ran out of poisoned arrows and couldn’t find another venomous Beast on the same level as the first one. His luck wasn’t *that* good.
The second month of exile came to an end in the blink of an eye.
At dawn that day, Priam stopped on top of a frozen hill after collecting one last piece of ice ore.
Suddenly, he froze.
An indescribable feeling of warmth and fulfillment washed over him.
His eyes shining, he raised his right hand.
*Fwoosh...*
A soft, comforting green light emerged from his skin.
Floating just a few centimeters above his palm appeared a tiny green spiritual flame, about the size of a plum. It looked like a small, delicate spark of life, giving off warm and comforting pulses.
Priam gazed at the tiny little creature, and a deep, protective feeling blossomed in his chest.
"You’re finally complete..." he murmured softly.
The little green flame quivered gently.
She had no physical body, no face, and no voice. She was like a newborn baby who didn’t know how to do anything yet.
But the bond between them was profound. Through the contract, he could perfectly understand what she was feeling and trying to tell him. The same was true in reverse.
The tiny flame tilted in the air and gently brushed against Priam’s fingers, conveying waves of pure affection, childlike curiosity, and absolute trust.
Priam smiled, feeling his heart melt. He could understand every emotion she was trying to express.
"To be honest, I don’t know much about spiritual races," Priam said, bringing his face closer to the little flame.
"But don’t worry. The sect should have records about your kind. I’ll take care of you, teach you everything I know, and make sure you never lack anything in this world. No one’s ever going to lay a finger on you."
The green flame shone even brighter, dancing around his wrist while conveying a feeling that resembled a soft giggle.
Priam gently closed his hand, allowing her to return to the warmth of his spiritual space.
He stood up in the snow and looked toward the Inscription Pillar with a sharp gleam in his eyes.
"It’s time to go back..."