"…"
Epsila was silent for a while. Due to her pill body, it was unknown what she was thinking, and neither did Davis use his Heart Intent as he wanted to hear it from her own words.
If Epsila refused, then he could only continue his plans with the Soulforge Elevation Resonance Pill, allowing it to experience heavenly tribulation and burst forth with a consciousness that was full of intellect. However, why would he do that when he already had Epsila?
That's why he wanted her to agree. He liked to leave behind no one if possible.
But in the end, it was Epsila who was going to stake her life, and he didn't know if this would be a success or failure.
All he could depend on was verifying pre-existing theories and adding on his speculation based on his own experience. That's how new discoveries were made and inventors were born. That's how progress was made to the billions of years of history in alchemy and forging.
Regardless, he waited for her answer.
Only after a few seconds, after an entire minute, did Epsila's voice resound.
"I… I don't like being useless. No one needs me anymore… so if I can become useful again, I am willing…"
Her tone was full of longing before solemn, "Master, please don't abandon me. I will follow you for an eternity…"
"…"
Davis's lips slightly parted as he turned speechless. Even without using Heart Intent, he could feel her heartfelt emotions. He had essentially created this pill, allowed her consciousness to know more about the world, and delegated some tasks to improve the Soul Forging Cultivation of every one of people, including the Reaper Soul Legion.
But the truth was that he stopped paying much attention to her as he didn't think she would care if she had him or not as long as she was alive, as a spirit was bound to crave freedom. He had already confirmed this with Eldia in how she relished her freedom in the depths of her heart. In fact, he had even been thinking about releasing Epsila from her duties and allowing her to roam the world, but if she went out at her current prowess, which is not even at the Immortal Stage, he knew she would only be consumed within a few days.
Therefore, he just left her like that, and she, without having anything to do, returned to Tina, who had been looking after her all this time.
Feeling emotional, Davis reached out his hand and held Epsila's pill body as she hovered above his palms.
"From now on, you will grow along with me."
"Yes, master~"
He spoke in a firm voice, causing Epsila to also jump on his palms as she rather seemed excited. Her actions made Davis smile with contentment before he turned to look at Tina and Dalila.
"You two are the ones who made the Soulforge Elevation Resonance Pill, and that most likely means you will be facing the heavenly tribulation in Epsila's stead. You two should shield her while allowing her to bathe in tribulation lightning with all you have since she requires to solidify her spirit in her new body. I will only intrude if you are unable to defend her."
"We'll try our best."
Tina wryly smiled while Dalila shrugged, "The heavenly tribulation is secondary. First, we must ensure we can successfully transplant Epsila's consciousness into the Soulforge Elevation Resonance Pill."
Davis smirked in response, "If we can't achieve this miracle, we're bound to fail in the realm concoction anyway."
"Indeed," Dalila agreed, "The difficulty of the realm concoction is more ridiculous than trying to transplant a pill spirit's consciousness, although I would argue both hadn't been achieved as far as we know."
"Well," Tina tapped her chin, "Placing the realm concoction aside, transplanting a pill spirit's consciousness might be a secret technique of some faction, perhaps even the Astral Pill Upper Realm."
"That could be true. If they dare to try this, then they should've already reached this bottleneck once and surpassed it."
Dalila agreed.
Looking at the two of them exchange a lot of information and speculation, Davis was pleased and even smug. His two alchemy experts allowed him to be free of burden when it came to increasing the cultivation of others. However, he knew not to be complacent as he knew he must at least improve his knowledge of alchemy and forging materials, or otherwise, he would not be able to help them in their paths or help himself.
'When can I create avatars? Sigh…'
He inwardly sighed, wanting to do something about this Everlasting Samsara Tribunal Soul Physique of his, but he had no idea even to this day.
Nevertheless, there were many things to do, causing him to be swift.
"Alright, prepare for a soul transplant. Epsila, I'm counting on you to be fully vulnerable to me. Otherwise, this will end in failure."
Davis's voice was solemn as he warned Epsila, causing her to voice out.
"Uh… will it hurt?"
"Extremely."
Davis didn't hesitate to answer. He wasn't even going to swallow her but melt her. A pill was made to be digested so there wouldn't be any pain but a loss of spirit, which would numb her senses. But when melting her, he imagined that it would be no different than killing her.
"I'll show master that I can endure it!"
"Good!"
Davis enclosed his palms on her pill body as though sealing her fate.
"…!"
Epsila shuddered as she sensed that she was covered in darkness. She heard a muffled sound that her master was beginning the ritual, causing her to turn stiff at the center of his palms. Suddenly, she felt a strange aura imposing on her, which then caused her core to shudder as a strong force began to pull on her very existence.
*Screech!!!~~~*
At the same time, intense pain filled her soul as she screamed out.
She didn't know what was happening but felt her being ripped from the inside out.
"…"
Tina and Dalila's expressions shook. They were horrified by Epsila's voice, which sounded like a death scream.
Despite the heartbreaking cry of pain, they saw Davis remain calm and steady as he kept his palms enclosed and his eyes shut, his focus completely placed on removing Epsila's spirit from her pill body.
Indeed, Davis was using the technique Ellia used on an armament spirit back in the Grand Beginnings Continent. However, it wasn't the same technique as it was personally modified by him to suit all kinds of spirits, for that matter. It was unique to him, something that could only be done with his soul physique due to its reincarnation attribute.
He used the reverse force of its mysteriousness to push death energy to extinguish Epsila's pill body and life energy to extricate her soul from her body.
He was using life energy to protect her from the harmful effects of the death energy, essentially forming a yin-yang-like wheel that formed a balance, allowing the body to disappear while the spirit remained.
Myria had only used life energy to save an artifact spirit, but he was removing Epsila from her own body, which was healthy. The two were not the same process and held countless intricacies within, but with his experience in reviving souls, he was half sure that this method could be valid.
He didn't know if Epsila would survive or not but did his best, pouring more reincarnation energy inside the life-death wheel, disallowing her to die.
The next second, he moved his palms apart, revealing the iridescent black-white sphere that held a cerulean wisp inside, revealing Epsila's spirit to Tina and Dalila.
Their gazes shook as they saw her, but then, the Soulforge Elevation Resonance Pill resting in the jade container suddenly shot into the iridescent black-white sphere, causing the cerulean wisp to flicker as it began fusing with the pill.
Davis's focus became even more solemn, knowing this was the moment of truth, wondering whether the pill itself would reject her or not, but based on the resources used to make this pill, even Dalila and Tina didn't say anything, so he remained optimistic, waiting for Epsila to finally fuse with her new body.
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