Chapter 390: Soul Infusion
"Just as I thought..." Leon stared at the scene before him, knowing he hadn't guessed wrong. This place was exactly like Four Seasons Gorge, a unique area twisted by some unknown force.
However, the formation of Four Seasons Gorge was linked to a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment...
If that's the case...
Doesn't that mean there's a good chance another Primordial Deity Soul Fragment exists in this valley?
As this thought crossed his mind, Leon suddenly realized a problem. Even though he possessed a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment, he actually knew nothing about this bizarre, unfathomable existence.
Back then, beneath the ancient tree in Four Seasons Gorge, he had found a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment. But after Lord Shaun's vehement protests, he had tossed it into the demi-plane and ignored it for months. If he hadn't discovered the possibility of a second fragment today, he might have already forgotten about it...
"I wonder if it's still there..." After arranging for William Merlin and the others to rest, Leon found a quiet spot, opened the Death Tome, and recited the Plane Path activation incantation...
The scenery around him shifted abruptly, and Leon once again set foot on the land of his demi-plane.
Then, Leon's face suddenly froze in astonishment...
"What is going on?" Leon stared at everything before him, utterly dumbfounded...
Leon clearly remembered that a few months ago, when he brought the Primordial Deity Soul Fragment into the demi-plane, this place was nothing but a barren wasteland.
But now...
The entire demi-plane was now flourishing with life!
At a glance, there were lush trees, fragrant grass everywhere, a tranquil river winding through the center of the demi-plane, warm sunlight pouring down from above, the air filled with the scent of earth—an endless vitality pervaded the whole world...
Even more terrifying...
All of this had developed before earth, water, fire, and wind had stabilized, before any laws had been established.
What did that even mean...
Anyone with even a basic understanding of demi-planes knew that true life could only emerge once the laws had stabilized. In chaos, life simply couldn't be born—only when a demi-plane shifted from chaos to order could genuine life take root.
That was the truly terrifying part, because it meant the force behind all this was even greater than the laws themselves!
Just think about it...
Now, Leon was already at the rank of Archmage. In terms of actual combat power, he could rival a Title Archmage. Across all of Auckland, he was considered a formidable force. Yet even Leon hadn't touched the threshold of the laws themselves.
What are laws? Laws are the power of the world itself.
Why is the Starstone embedded in the Arcane Wheel so precious?
Because within the Starstone lies a trace of the world's power.
Yes, just a trace...
But now, Leon suddenly realized he was facing a force that might even surpass the laws themselves.
The gap was overwhelming...
Just thinking about it made Leon shudder with fear...
"Shaun, Lord Shaun..." Leon called out twice, but there was no response. Frustrated, he cursed, "Damn it, where the hell did you go?"
Leon knew almost nothing about the Primordial Deity Soul Fragment. The only reason he'd tossed it into the demi-plane in the first place was on Lord Shaun's advice.
He'd thought that in a demi-plane where earth, water, fire, and wind hadn't stabilized and the laws hadn't yet formed, no matter how strange the Primordial Deity Soul Fragment was, it couldn't cause any real trouble, right?
He never expected things to turn out like this. Sure, earth, water, fire, and wind were still unstable, and the laws hadn't formed, but this damned Primordial Deity Soul Fragment was so bizarre it defied all logic. In these conditions, it had somehow forced the world to flourish...
And yet, the one responsible for all this—Lord Shaun—was still asleep. Leon was so frustrated his head hurt...
"Damn it, why is there a Primordial Deity's aura..." Just as Leon was losing his temper, a voice sounded from the Arcane Wheel: "What did you do!?"
"Don't even ask..." Leon snapped back, clearly annoyed.
As they spoke, the Arcane Wheel inside Leon trembled. Anderson transformed into a cloud of black smoke and appeared in the demi-plane. After a moment of distortion, the smoke condensed into three eerie faces—smiling, crying, and stern—hovering in the air, radiating a strange aura.
For some reason, seeing those three faces made Leon suddenly recall the earth-shaking dragon's roar when the Arcane Wheel was completed...
"That really is a Primordial Deity's aura..." As soon as Anderson manifested, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Damn it, what is this place? Why is there a Primordial Deity's aura here? What did you do? Tell me now—this isn't a joke. Anything related to Primordial Deities is truly forbidden. If a mortal touches it, disaster is sure to follow..."
"I know, I know..." Leon stared at the vibrant world before him, feeling utterly hopeless. "All I did was toss a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment here..."
"What!" As soon as Leon said that, Anderson nearly exploded: "You—you—you... You tossed a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment... into this place?"
"Yes..."
"Good heavens..." Anderson was practically losing his mind. "Do you have any idea what a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment means?"
"I told you, I know..."
"You don't know!" Anderson's voice was frantic. "If you did, you would've never touched it!"
"So what do we do now...?"
"Leave here immediately, and never come back!"
"Uh..." Leon was stunned.
"What, you can't bear to leave?"
"No, I just forgot to mention—this is actually a demi-plane..."
...Leon’s words left Anderson speechless.
A full minute passed...
"Go ahead, explain what happened..." Anderson's voice was unusually weak.
"Here’s how it went..." Leon didn't hide anything, starting from entering Four Seasons Gorge and ending with digging up the Primordial Deity Soul Fragment beneath the ancient tree.
Anderson listened intently...
When Leon finished, Anderson still said nothing. The three faces seemed frozen in the air. After another minute, Anderson finally let out a long sigh. "So you really did find that Primordial Demon Soul Fragment in Four Seasons Gorge..."
"You know about it?" Leon was surprised. The Primordial Demon Soul Fragment was found in the same place as Vaughn's Alchemist's Lab. Anderson’s origins were so mysterious, maybe he really did know something...
"Of course I know..." Anderson's voice was filled with resignation. "Back then, Vaughn stayed in Four Seasons Gorge precisely because of that Primordial Demon Soul Fragment..."
"Huh?"
"I don't know all the details. After all, I'm just a magical artifact. All I know is that during the years Vaughn stayed in Four Seasons Gorge, he went out once a month. Every time he returned, he'd bring back traces of Primordial Deity’s aura. He once used the Crystal Balance for a truly terrifying alchemy experiment in his lab..."
"What kind of alchemy experiment?" Leon was immediately curious.
"He wanted to inject a soul into an Alchemical Golem..."
...Leon drew a sharp breath when he heard that.
Injecting a soul into an Alchemical Golem—that was pure madness!
Although, in the history of Northend World, there had been Alchemical Golems that developed sentience—like the three Sky Rank Alchemical Golems Vaughn once possessed, or some powerful beings from the Golem Plane. Most of them gained intelligence on their own.
But developing intelligence and injecting a soul are two very different things...
When an Alchemical Golem develops intelligence, it's like a magical artifact gaining a spirit—created by alchemy. But injecting a soul is something else entirely. In all of Northend's history, there's never been a single successful case. Even when magic and alchemy reached their peak, it never happened. It's simply impossible!
"Did he... did he succeed?"
"I don't know..."
"You don't know?" Leon drew another sharp breath. Yes, he'd heard Anderson clearly—he said he didn't know, not that it hadn't happened...
In other words, maybe he didn't succeed—or maybe he did...
At that time, I started to wonder: was Vaughn's repeated experimentation somehow connected to the Primordial Deity aura he brought back each time?
"You..." Leon swallowed hard. "Are you saying Vaughn wanted to... wanted to use an Alchemical Golem to resurrect a Primordial Deity?"
Saying it out loud, Leon scared even himself.
If all this was true, then Vaughn was a complete madman—no one could be more insane than him!
In Northend World, Primordial Deities were truly forbidden. Even touching anything related to them brought curses and disaster. And Vaughn actually wanted to use an Alchemical Golem to resurrect a Primordial Deity. If he succeeded, it would rewrite the entire history of Northend World...
Yet while Leon was still reeling in shock, Anderson spoke again.
"It's not just resurrection..."