Chapter 520: A Clean Break (1/2)

Zac had tried the compound on himself as well, but the efficacy was extremely limited in his case. He didn't believe it was because of his constitution or anything like that though, but simply because he was already E-Grade Race. He would probably have to get his hands on better pearls. These longevity treasures were something he picked up on the second level of the Tower after all, so they weren't some supreme treasures.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the life-force sucked clean by the Shard was gone forever, but Zac wouldn't take that for a given until he had tried to remedy the situation with better materials. Even if that was the case it wasn't the end of the world though, as long as he reached D-Grade and restocked on a few millennia of additional lifespan.

In fact, he felt it was a possibility that his lifespan was already longer than most people as he had to evolve his Race twice. Wasn't it more than fair that he got twice as much life-force from the double upgrades?

The discussions in the room had died down as soon as Zac arrived, and he quickly realized what was going through their heads going by their expressions.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you all, but this is not another opportunity,” Zac smiled as he looked around at the hopeful faces. “We are just making sure that there are no lingering side-effects to our earlier experiment. You don’t need to do anything, just stand still while we do our thing.”

With that, Zac took out the [Lantern of Fate] and activated it, illuminating the whole inner chamber and the participants in an ethereal light. Hundreds of strands appeared in the room, with Zac singlehandedly being the source of almost half of them. The others couldn't see anything except the spooky light from the lantern, but Zac could quickly figure out what was going on as each strand emitted a unique aura.

“How is it?” Ogras asked as he walked over, and Zac sighed in response.

Most of the lines attached to the people in the room weren’t anything special, mostly leading toward various directions in port Atwood. Zac and most of the demons also had additional strands pointing toward the sky, with the demons having blood-red lines that pointed toward the same direction.

Zac and Ogras had an additional mix of different colors, no doubt representing the connections they had made in the Tower of Eternity. However, there was a group of people who had all had an ashy-grey strand that pointed toward the sky, people who really shouldn’t have any connection to anyone outside earth.

It looked like the gift of Origin Dao came with a price after all.

“What do we do now? How does that thing work?” Ogras asked from the side with a low volume. ”Should we...?”

“No,” Zac said with a shake of his head, but he still took out [Verun's Bite]. ”The lamp has a solution.”

The changed appearance of the axe drew a whistle from Ogras and appreciative looks from the demons, who could easily understand that the Spirit Tool had become even more powerful. Zac didn’t immediately swing at the ribbons though, but he rather opened a small compartment on the lamp, exposing a small reservoir of oil.

This part was just as important as the lamp itself, as just seeing the Karmic lines was just half the battle. The second part was cutting them, and a normal weapon wouldn’t be able to accomplish that. The best would be things like the dagger that the Abbot gave him back then, but it had broken apart after one usage.

However, the lamp wasn’t a top-tier treasure without reason, and it came with a solution that even he could use.

“I only have a little bit of this,” Zac said as he smeared some of the oil across the edge of his axe. “Let's hope we won't have to use this thing too much.”

He did have the second treasure of the Undead Kingdom as well, the item of erasure. However, he wanted to save that for the Dominators and their items since they should have a much stronger karmic connection to the Redeemer compared to these weak ribbons.

The students of Atwood Academy recoiled in fear as Zac suddenly appeared in front of them, but he didn't dare explain what was going on in case that would ruin their preparations. He moved as quickly as he could and swung his axe at the closest grey ribbon with such speed that the young girl in front of him couldn’t even react.

Ogras was just one step behind, though he simply moved the girl away from the others in case something would go wrong. Groans echoed across the hall as one person after another coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious until less than twenty people remained standing. Most of the students were among the unconscious, but one demon and a few of the valkyries had been affected as well, along with Sap Trang.

Zac wasn't surprised by the group of unconscious people. They were essentially the same group as those who had been accosted by those ghosts when he cracked open the funnel. He couldn't help but feel that these people were a bit pitiful, not only reading the smallest rewards from the funnel but also getting all of the drawbacks.

The rest stood rooted in place, not completely understanding what was going on. They had only seen Zac starting to swing his axe in the air like a lunatic, while one person after another collapsed onto the floor. They looked warily at Zac and Ogras, but they breathed out in relief when they saw Zac put the lamp away.

“Take them to the infirmary,” Ogras said to the demons who stood by before he walked Zac away from the others. “We should do this again at a later date to make sure it worked. Can’t be too careful that old bastard.”

“We’ll do a second scan before we enter the Mystic Realm,” Zac nodded in agreement before he properly looked up and down at the demon. “You still haven’t evolved? What’s going on?”

“It’s the netherblasted shadow-beast,” Ogras sighed after making sure no one else was within earshot. “The bastard has complicated things for me. I heard from your sister about the Mystic Realm. I really need to go into seclusion if I want a shot at evolving before then. Can you deal with the rest yourself?”

Zac thought it over, and he eventually nodded.

“I’ll head out to find the cultists next,” Zac said. “They are different from the Undead Empire though. I should be able to deal with it alone.”

“Their defenses seem a lot simpler; just kill everything in the surroundings. But be careful. Don’t forget how crazy they are. That's how I got my arm replaced by this bastard,” Ogras said as he knocked the metal cast on his arm.

“I know,” Zac sighed. “I’ll go alone. I’m not sure I’d be able to protect others from their fire if they start exploding themselves.”

“Well, your past year has led to this moment,” Ogras snorted. “Some zealot fire shouldn’t be able to take out the unkillable cockroach.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Zac snorted at the demon who melded into the shadows the next moment.

Zac left as well after having made sure that everyone was alive and stable, and headed over to Thayer Consortia to pick up some items he had ordered. While he was there he also asked Calrin to look into blocking Technocrat tech, though he didn’t hold too much of a hope of him finding anything useful.

He also asked them to start preparing for the auction. He still hadn't decided whether he should hold it before or after he dealt with the Mystic Realm, but he leaned toward the latter. No point in empowering outsiders just before the showdown that would decide Earth's future. It might come back to bite him in the ass.