Chapter 38 – Proposal

Kieran felt a strange sensation. The more he conversed with Runihoril, the more a familiar feeling emanated from him, as if his silhouette or the aura he gave off reminded him of something he had forgotten.

"What kind of proposal?"

"You see. I've been locked in this palace for so long that I stopped counting after a million years had passed. I created this palace in order to train the younger generation. Other than formations created for the purpose of training them, there is nothing else here. My soul has been wandering for so long that I had to erase some of my memories to maintain it in a barely stable state.

Apart from reviewing the techniques that I keep in my memories to find each fault and improve them again and again. I had nothing else to do during all these years than wait for this dimension to collapse. Which shouldn't be long since a group of Iron rank cultivators with some Bronze rank were able to easily enter and activate the formations, emptying the few remaining crystal essence in this dimension."

Runihoril's eyes suddenly shone with a golden glow.

"I want to see the outside world again, even if it's in a limited way.

There are two things I'd like you to do for me if it's okay with you. One of them is to bring my body back among my kind, and the second is to allow me to bind my soul to yours so that I can follow you outside this dimension.

Of course, I will not remain linked for eternity with you, I will join my race and die on my home planet when the time comes.

In exchange, I will teach you an art I created for the double-bladed sword and a cultivation technique that will allow you to absorb the crystal essence at a faster rate as well as cleanse your crystal essence and your crystal trees from all its impurities."

Kieran was surprised by Runihoril's proposal, but several questions filled his mind.

Seeing that he remained silent, Runihoril spoke again.

"If you have any questions about my proposal, don't hesitate to ask them."

"I don't know if I could one day go to the elf's kingdom, and if one day it becomes possible, it will only be in the distant future."

"I don't mind, as long as you keep your word, even if it takes you a thousand years, I don't care."

"You said you plan to bind your soul to mine. How do you plan to do that? Will it impact me?" Kieran asked after remaining silent for a few seconds.

"The spiritual world inside your body is a world connected to your soul. If you allow me to access it, I could make my soul reside there and thus be connected to your soul, stopping the decay of my soul and its disappearance. I may even recover slowly. While its effect on you will be none, the only thing that will change is that you will be the only person who can hear and see me everywhere you go. Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, you mentioned impurities. What are they?"

"You don't know what impurities are? How can your race not know that?"

'Is this race so weak? I remember that the Bronze ranks who accompanied him took a long time to finish the trial which was reserved for the Iron rank elf but are they all as weak, or is it just that group?' thought Runihoril, frowning.

"I don't have much cultivation knowledge, and I don't belong to a prestigious family. I don't know whether my race knows the impurities you are talking about or not," Kieran replied quickly, seeing the expression on the old elf's face.

"Does your race have transcendents?"

"Yes."

"Then your race knows what impurities are. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to reach the realm of the transcendents.

From what I can sense from your body, you must have been using crystal cores to cultivate until now. Crystal cores allow you to cultivate faster, but they have many more impurities than if you absorb the crystal essence from the atmosphere. These impurities contaminate your crystal essence and your crystal trees. The crystal essence becomes less fluid inside your body, less powerful, and unstable, thus making its control more complicated for you."

"So I should stop using crystal cores?"

"Yes."

Kieran was silent for a moment.

"Will the technique you want to teach me allow me to cultivate as fast as when I use crystal cores?"

"No, but it will allow you to have a better foundation. Although it cannot allow you to cultivate as quickly as absorbing the crystal essence from crystal cores, simply cleaning your body of impurities makes it better for your future. Especially since this is not the only advantage of this technique.

The technique will greatly improve your body as well as your crystal essence, but if you absorb crystal cores all your efforts will be applied to removing the impurities inside them, which will take you longer than just cultivating with the atmosphere's crystal essence. The purer the environment you cultivate in and filled with crystal essence, the faster your cultivation speed will increase. It's not impossible for you to grow faster than with crystal cores, but the cost for doing so will be much higher than simply tearing the crystal core from the body of a crystal beast.

Ultimately choosing to use this technique will be your choice, but if you ever want to reach the realm of the transcendent, you will have to go through the stage of removing impurities. The earlier you start, the better it will be for your future."

"I understand."

"So, do you agree with my proposal?"

Kieran was a little hesitant. He had heard stories about abilities allowing control of a person via his soul. If Runihoril harboured bad intentions toward him, once their soul was linked, he could perhaps take control of his body or damage his soul.

But the more he looked at Runihoril, the more the familiar feeling he felt grew in him.

'Accepting this proposal could completely change my life and this familiar feeling I get from him... I can't explain it, but I feel like I can trust him.'

A determined look crossed Kieran's eyes.

"I accept."

Runihoril walked slowly in his direction until he was standing in front of him.

"You will feel a slight pain, don't try to resist. Otherwise, the pain will get stronger."

"All right."

Runihoril looked him in the eyes for a moment.

'I don't know if he realizes he's giving me direct access to his soul. Is this youngster naive or brave?'

Runihoril's body glowed before melting inside Kieran's body.

He suddenly felt pain coming from his spiritual world. He closed his eyes, focusing his consciousness on his spiritual world.

Two crystal trees appeared in his vision, with beneath each of them a dark blue lake forming from its crystal essence.

In front of the two trees, he saw Runihoril watching them. Sensing Kieran's presence, he turned back to him.

"Your spiritual world is vast. No wonder coming from a double awakened. Although I knew you had a double awakening, but for you to have two trees with transforming abilities, it's really rare."

"Aren't there many elves with transformation abilities?"

"Most of the awakening among the elves have elemental type abilities, it's an extremely rare case for an elf to awaken a crystal tree with a transformation type ability. I don't know if that has changed since I left, but my race has always attached great importance to the purity of our bodies, which incidentally brought me several problems at that time. When I was still alive, the elves who possessed crystal trees of transformation type were despised, rejected by others, and even banished from our kingdom. They were called impure, disgraceful, or even abomination to authorize their body to transform into another race. This is partly why I am surprised to see two of them in the same person. It's the first time for me."

"Crystal trees with a transformation-type ability are common among humans. I didn't know that elves would treat those with transformation type crystal trees that way."

Runihoril sighed, "Unfortunately, it's one of the bad sides of my race. It is understandable that you are unaware, having never encountered an elf. You are still young, with ample time to explore the vastness of the universe and acquaint yourself with its diverse inhabitants. Various races possess distinct cultures, and some may have dark sides."

"I would like to meet other races in the future. There are only humans in my city. I have to travel to my planet's capital or another planet to see one."

"You will have many occasions, don't worry about it. Now that my soul is no longer bound to this place, there are approximately eight days left before this dimension collapses on its own. Let's leave your spiritual world, I will take you to a crystal essence gathering formation that will help you cultivate and cleanse all your crystal essence. I'll teach you the art of the double-bladed sword later after this dimension collapses."

Kieran nodded before he left his spiritual world. As he disappeared, Runihoril took one last look around.

"His spiritual world is really strange, I have the feeling that something is hidden inside, but I can't determine what. This youngster really is interesting for someone of my rank not to feel what is hidden inside the spiritual world of an Iron rank."

A smile appeared on Runihoril's face as his figure disappeared from Kieran's spiritual world.