Tales of the Endless Empire

The outer edges of the ritual circle began to glow with radiant light. Thalion was fully focused to give it his all. Even with his preparation, it would be difficult. He wouldn't fall here. This was just one obstacle he had to overcome. Thalion channeled all his emotions into this mission, trying to be at his best. If the memory crystal was correct, he would be thrown into a new dimension brimming with spirits of power and life.

It was one of the most powerful dimensions, which was precisely why he had chosen it in the first place. The risk was immense, but it was worth it. The alternatives were even worse. He had no idea where the portal created by the madman would lead, and he needed an immense power source to pull such a powerful spirit back into his own dimension. This was, in part, what the circle had been designed for, and the magic cirle under and around him was powered by a god and probably not a weak one.

Now, all the runes glowed with insane intensity, and a portal opened before him. This was the moment he had worked for the whole year. With all his preparation done, he walked the last meters to the portal very slowly as the next decision would shape his future.

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Either he died or would become a true powerhouse. It might even allow him to achieve immortality and overcome the negative effects of his title. According to the library, such a feat was unheard of in this whole dimension. This was one such reason why he did the ritual besides the upcoming fight in the tutorial. The memory crystal showed him that after bonding with an outsider, he had millions of years to live and maybe even more with such a powerful outsider of life.

There never was a way to check how many years someone had left if one couldn't check the spark of life that empowered his soul in the first place. If this spark would run out, the only way to keep the soul from collapsing would be a lot of slaughter and leveling, special treasures, and more. There was even a way about stealing the spark of another soul, but those things were far too advanced, which is why he didn't read those books further.

The portal started glowing with more and more power, and in the middle was just a black sphere surrounded by a golden edge.

Thalion stepped through, landing in a dimension that defied all logic. There were no solid objects. Only arcs of light, either dancing with one another or flying freely through black space. Thalion observed the surreal scene, searching for his target.

The circle had transported him to a part of this dimension populated by spirits close to his own soul's strength. If something stronger came along, he would die in a heartbeat.

He needed to merge with one, but it wouldn’t be easy. These beings moved with incredible speed. Even though they weren’t feeding or absorbing mana from the environment, their agility made them difficult to track. It took him some time to find out how to move in this dimension, but the solution was blood manipulation. Nothing else worked.

He had to watch out to not absorb multiple outsiders at once and therefore couldn't dive right in the middle. If that happened, all his preparation to protect his soul and anhilate the outsiders ego would break in an instant. This was what made this so difficult, as the streaks of light were flying around in random patterns and with incredible speed. If he wanted to make contact, he had to move long before the outsider came close.

He tried to get closer to them since at the moment he was in an area where almost no outsider flew around, which was a bit weird because there was nothing in this dimension besides the blackness of space for the outsiders. He was still connected to the other dimension with a golden line made from pure energy. If he would give the command, he would get pulled back in the other dimension. When the struggle with the outsider began, it would be difficult to maneuver and find the way back through the portal.

Well, if he would be able to find one, it was hard to not lose the intense concentration he had built up. The good thing was that he still had his title, which helped him greatly to maneuver through the outsiders. He was now at a position where many of the smaller outsiders were flying around, and he tried not to get hit by one.

Thalion was unsure how much time he had before the others would pull him out since normally you should go for the first mote of light, which wasn't that difficult. He watched how many of the longer ones were at least five times as long as the short ones, which were currently moving around him.

You would think that the bigger body made it harder for them to move, but it was the exact opposite, as they were much faster than the others. He felt it as he looked at one of the bigger ones which was about to pass by under him very soon.

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Thalion dove toward one of the longer streaks of light, determined not to settle for a weaker entity. The light didn’t even attempt to dodge. It flew in a straight line and collided with him. If the soul was an overlay for the physical body, this streak of light became an overlay for his soul. Thalion wasted no time and activated the circle to pull him back into his own dimension while trying to keep the outsider spirit bound within him.

At first, he had underestimated these beings. He hadn’t thought they possessed much willpower, given their erratic movement, but he was profoundly mistaken. The outsider's relentless desire to shift and change every moment overwhelmed him, making it nearly impossible to focus.

The formation designed to neutralize this desire was already at work, tearing into the will of the outsider. It was difficult to keep it up at the same time, and he was very glad that the circle pulled him back oautomatically, as he was not really able to do anything besides fighting the desire of the outsider. It was not like the outsider had a consciousness like his and could talk but was more like a natural law that demanded change.

The pressure peaked as they approached the portal. The outsider fought desperately, going so far as to destroy parts of Thalion’s soul with its immense power. If it had the will to control its power, it would become a lot more difficult for Thalion, but for the moment he just needed to accept that parts of his soulbody got annhilated as the outsider rampaged.

As he dropped back on the ritual circle, Thalion drew on additional power as he maintained his formation, channeling the newfound energy.

Normally, this would have been the phase where he stabilized his soul using the circle’s power and the new training began. However, Thalion used the circle to eradicate the outsider’s will entirely. The outsider didn't have as much survival instinct as he would have expected and just weakened when it slowly got destroyed.

The process cost him dearly. He lost the soul shapes of both legs and one arm. But when the process was finally complete, the power source, now stripped of its own will, became fully integrated with his soul. Before the outsider had full control about his power source, now with its consciousness gone, it was all there for the taking.

Incredible energy surged through him. The damaged parts of his soul rapidly regenerated, though the spirit veins did not return, at least not those completely destroyed. Despite this, his spirit body felt denser and far more powerful than before, even without the many veins. This effect only took twenty seconds after the will of the outsider was gone.

Thalion, now nearly finished, felt an odd sense of calm once the outsider’s will was destroyed. He felt rejuvenated, as though he had just woken from a restful sleep. Strangely, his connection to his title had grown.

Did the two share a common origin, he wondered? The good thing was that his soulcore had protected Rylak's soul all the time, which is why he only got a minor souldamage that should fix itself very soon. Due to the stronger connection to his title, he felt that time was already over and he needed to go back immediately.

“Okay, this is it. Goodbye, Rylak,” Thalion said, activating the failsafe that pulled him back to his real body in the tutorial. The transition happened so quickly that he didn’t even hear Rylak’s reply, which was sad. Thalion hoped that they would meet again in the future.

<--

Princess Thalytra stared in disbelief. This madman had actually performed the ritual. It shouldn’t have been possible. He hadn’t even taken any classes on how to control a spirit properly. Yet somehow, he seemed to have succeeded.

She had watched his recording from time to time since he saw no reason to interrupt his intense training for no reason and she also had better things to do.

Her guard teleported her to the ground in front of Rylak once he appeared to have stabilized and was standing, albeit looking a little disoriented. Upon her arrival, Rylak was so startled that he fell backward.

“Oh, hello there,” Rylak said, awkwardly standing up.

Thalytra didn’t respond immediately, scrutinizing him instead. He felt weak—a lot weaker than before the ritual. His demeanor also seemed to change. What was going on here?

“What happened? You feel so weak,” Thalytra finally asked, finding her voice.

“I messed up. The spirit didn’t merge with me—it’s still in its own realm,” Rylak muttered, his response completely out of character in her opinion.

“I think it took away my ability to bloodbend. I’ll need a lot of training before I can try again,” he sighed, avoiding her gaze and staring at the ground.

“What?! How is that possible? Why did you...” she shouted, in surprise. Something like this had never happened before.

And so, her relentless questioning continued for quite some time, leaving the poor Rylak drained. Once she finally left him alone, the first thing he did was head to the kitchen. There, he ordered an entire meal of those delicious sand crabs and spent the rest of the day eating and savoring the experience.

They didn't seem it necessary to check his soul again, so he could use the masters here to get stronger and one day do the great ritual himself. It would take a lot of time though since he would have to begin from scratch.

So all in all, the situation was fine and in his control. He used the time to test the entire kitchens menu. Back in the districts, he had maybe eaten one time a weak and only if he had gotten very lucky. Now, with all the stress and hecticness gone, he felt very good.

In fact, Rylak had never felt this happy in his entire life. He had always struggled to understand where Thalion got his determination from, but now he understood. He had found his own goal. To make it possible for everyone to experience such delicious food.

Maybe he could show it to Thalion one day. Sad that the guy probably didn't hear his thanks for bringing him to this place and giving him this new life.