With Fenrig safe and sound and most of his immediate problems handled, Sorin found a cultivation room to seclude himself with and balance his internal energies.

Sorins’ body might be strong, but the ocean of Death mana raging inside him was eroding his vitality to the point that it was affecting his lifespan. Meanwhile, Death-aligned corruption had begun a hostile takeover and was rapidly depleting all other forms of corruption.

Fortunately, neither energy was able to gain the upper hand, giving Sorin enough time to think of a plan. His own energies were obviously insufficient for the task at hand, but he still had external means at his disposal, namely, Achlys’s tears and the Divine Bone Rot he’d obtained from Asclepius.

Sorin didn’t typically use these two poisons as they required large amounts of divinity to recharge. They were great in a pinch, however, which was exactly what this was.

The ever-hungry Divine Bone Rot hummed with excitement as it entered Sorin’s body and feasted on the glut of unsupported death mana. This wouldn’t be possible for most poisons, but as a divine poison attuned to death, it was especially well-suited to the task at hand.

The divine Bone Rot stored in Sorin’s body multiplied by a factor of ten in only a few minutes. With the rampant death mana taken care of, Sorin was free to focus on the more insidious threat: corruption.

My corruption balance is a mess, thought Sorin as he analyzed the situation. Violence, Madness, Hatred, and Jealousy are largely depleted. Strife is actively pouring out of Azrakul’s prison. Meanwhile, Hope is taking advantage of the desperate situation and using it as fuel to grow.

Sorin’s eyes narrowed as he used Hand of the Twisted Physician to forcefully control, these energies. Hope wanted to take advantage of the situation? Fine, he’d throw it to the wolves. He tossed the white corruption at the glob of death-aligned corruption and refused to pull it back until Hope was back down to reasonable levels.

Next, he turned to Strife. It’s time that you pull your weight too. If you want to claim this body, you’ll first need to fight off a competitor. The thread of Strife in Sorin’s body was aggrieved at the situation but understood what needed to be done. It threw itself at Death multiple times until its potency reached a tenuous balance with the other five forms of corruption.

Strife still leaked out form the prison, but due to the extenuating circumstances, they directly threw themselves at Death to maintain the status quo.

Finally reassured that Azrakul couldn’t immediately take over his body, Sorin launched a simultaneous assault using a combination of his corruption and divinity. At the same time, he mobilized his enhanced Divine Bone Rot and Achlys’s tears to make up for his lacking potency.

The collision instantly destroyed half of the isolating formations in his recovery chamber. Death filled the air as the most overbearing form of corruption asserted its dominance.

“You are rootless,” said Sorin, bracing himself for a second impact. His hair turned white as a large chunk of his lifespan was annihilated. “Every collision depletes you.” The second clash caused Sorin’s flesh to rot. His fingers turned black, and his divine blood began clumping together.

“Give in. Join the whole.” The third clash caused Sorin’s bones to crack and completely depleted the Tears of Achlys and the Divine Bone Rot.

Once these two pillars of support were gone, Sorin’s poisons fell under assault. They too had a limited lifespan. Little by little, Sorin’s 600-poison began to actively degrade.

Your turn, Azrakul, thought Sorin as he watched his sanctification drop. I know what you want. You won’t be satisfied until all forms of corruption have been collected and harmonized inside my body.

Azrakul seemed to hesitate between the two choices of possession and perfection, but in the end, it was as Sorin predicted. The last of Azrakul’s hesitation fell away; Sorin’s corruption and divinity aligned against Death and confined it to a small region.

With Death restrained, Sorin’s body was finally able to heal. It took several hours to do so, and it soon became clear that healing more than 90 percent of his injuries was impossible.

This was because the final ten percent was required as a cage. Only Life could be used to suppress Death.

Crisis passed, Sorin began incorporating poisons into Red-Eyed Devourer. I’ve gained another interloper with Death, but as with Strife, I can still incorporate it into my poisons.

Already, Ophiuchan Simulation had devised plans to incorporate Death into necrotoxins. Supporting his hundred-poison necrotoxin would be beyond easy, but Sorin hesitated to make that jump.

Maybe it’s best if I simultaneously support blood and death? Otherwise, the balance between these forces will be upset.

Once the process was underway, Sorin exited his cultivation chamber to meet with Fenrig.

“You do not look so good, Sorin Abberjay Kepler,” said the Barbarian. “You remind me of the old men who’d rather walk off into the wilderness to avoid leaching off the benevolence of the Clan.”

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of bite left in me,” said Sorin. He shook his head. “I never expected we’d be reunited like this. Encountering you in the Undercity Auction took me completely by surprise.”

The barbarian’s jaw clenched. “I am sure you had a good reason to visit such an unsavory establishment.”

“Oh yes,” said Sorin. “I bid on pretty much all the slave lots.”

Fenrig’s expression darkened. “If you’re expecting me to sympathize with your clan’s insatiable appetite for human life, you’re mistaken. I won’t rest until all these slavers are dead. Once they’re taken care of, it will be the turn of those who would treat people like cattle.”

Sorin looked the barbarian up and down. “They took your axe. Do you really think you can best me without a weapon?”

“I may not be a match, but I still have my honor,” answered Fenrig.

Sorin chortled. “Well, there’s no need for any of that. Let me show you something interesting.” Tens of thousands of threads jumped out of his hands to form an intricate web covering Olympia. The new Olympia. Even though the eight segments of Olympia had only recently joined, there were many existing connections between segments.

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“The reason I bid on the slave lots,” Sorin continued, “was to build this map of the Golden Circle’s activities. With each karmic connection to either a victim or a perpetrator, I was able to grow this network. And to be honest, my efforts were insufficient until you came along. Due to our strong connection, I was able to significantly expand this map and pinpoint the Headquarters of the Golden Circle.”

He pressed a finger down on the map. “It’s right here. The perpetrators are none other than the Phoenix Clan, here in Olympia”

This name caused even the stoic Fenrig to pale. “Their fate is tightly bound to the Riss Clan, is it not? Given the chaos on the outside, I can’t imagine the resistance we would face if we corrupted them.

Sorin’s eyes flashed. “You seem to misunderstand something, Fenrig. I don’t plan on confronting them—I plan on annihilating them. If I manage to extract the information I’m looking for, so be it. If not… well, we both know a talented ritualist that could rip the information out of their souls.”

Fenrig shivered. “You’ve changed, Sorin. And not completely in a good way. While I appreciate your willingness to do what must be done, we must be clear on the virtue of our individual actions.”

Sorin shrugged. “I don’t plan on changing my individual approach, Fenrig. Will you stop me?”

Fenrig shook his head. “No. In truth, the reason I came to Olympia in the first place was to investigate the many disappearances relating to my clan members. Some… leads had hinted that the Kepler Clan was involved. It was convenient to accompany you and evaluate your character.”

Sorin blinked. “Fenrig, you know you’re a terrible spy, right?”

Fenrig laughed. “So I am told. But what choice to I have, Sorin? We are a strong people despite our lack of recognized bloodline and inheritance, but this made many people jealousy. Our most powerful combatants were routinely captured, making it impossible for our barbarian clans to develop enough power to resist.

“To stop these atrocities… I am willing to pay any price. My own life is a cheap thing in comparison.”

Sorin nodded. “Then we’re in agreement. Since that’s settled, let me look at your condition. There are some things that even the Kepler Clan’s finest might miss.”

Performing a detailed examination of the man was a simple thing using his expanded spiritual senses. Sorin quickly identified dozens of tracking constructs and dismantled them. He also discovered a few injuries and toxins that had accumulated in Fenrig’s body during their failed ‘domestication’ process.

Finally, all that remained was examining Fenrig’s impressive foundation. He clearly has a bloodline, but it’s not like the ones I’ve interacted with in the past. It’s imposing. It grants abnormal strength and tenacity. Aside from that, there’s no downsides. The chains binding him are not greater than those binding humanity’s average talents.

“I recently developed a procedure for awakening latent talent,” said Sorin as he traced the runes on Fenrig’s bones and observed the complex structure in his muscles. “If you’re interested, I can greatly increase your strength in the short term.”

For a moment, Fenrig was silent. “Very well, Sorin. Even if the poison takes away all but a few years of my life, I am willing.”

Sorin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. That Fenrig thought his solution involved excavating his life force and potential with poisons was understandable, but a little funny given Sorin’s accomplishments.,

Still, he saw no need to clarify. He reached into the man’s meridians, found the blocked gate, and pushed. Golden light erupted in Fenrig’s body as his blood thickened by another stage. His energy stores deepened, and his foundation became incomparably stable.

He then did the same for the man’s bones. By chipping away the silver, white bones were eventually revealed. These bones glowed gold as invisible restrictions were lifted, improving Fenrig’s strength by a factor of two.

“What—what sorcery is this,” muttered Fenrig. “This isn’t excavating potential—this is a retroactive breakthrough! This is impossible!”

“It was impossible. No longer,” answered Sorin. “This is the potential that should have originally been yours.”

There was a fire in Fenrig’s eyes. “Very good. With this much power, I have confidence in breaking down their front door at the very least.”

“Let’s plan it out a little later,” said Sorin. “For now, I need to prepare for the Viper Pit. They’ll eat me alive if I’m not sufficiently strong.”

Sorin returned to the cultivation chamber and began incorporating additional poisons into his body.

He started with the poisons Mordecai had generated and worked his way through the individual poisonous ingredients so graciously donated by altruistic members of the Kepler Clan. Yes, I should remember the names of those holdouts. Olympia has no need of those conniving snakes.

Armed with Death and a host of new poisons, Sorin rapidly increased the number of poisons that could be incorporated into a stable structure. Unlike the first three hundred-poisons, which were needed to create the initial three-dimensional structure, the remaining two hundred-poisons were not needed to grow Red-Eyed Devourer.

In fact, this might be the better approach, thought Sorin as he enhanced the poison to the 650-poison-level. My sanctification is limited by the Gate of Life, but no such limit exists with respect to my base poisons. By delaying my breakthrough, I’ll vastly improve my chances at eventually breaking through the Gate of Life.

Thanks to the huge influx of new materials to work with, it was a simple matter to generate the equivalent of an 800-poison. Red-Eyed Devourer gained aspects of hemotoxins and necrotoxins, but only in subtle and insidious ways.

Once 7,999 poisons were incorporated, Sorin once again hit a block. I can’t proceed past this point without powerful poisons to serve as anchors. This is my limit until I can properly counter Death.

He had a few options on dealing with Death. The ultimate path he chose would depend on Olympia’s needs and how stubborn those in power decided to be.

Sorin exited the cultivation chamber shortly before the 48-hour deadline to find Chief Elder Adrian and Chief Elder Marik waiting for him.

“Sorin!” exclaimed Chief Elder Marik. “Adrian told us all that you had a small brush with Death, but your condition makes it clear that he was underplaying the matter.”

Sorin chuckled as he flared his aura. Even this was enough to push the two chief elders back. “You don’t need to worry. I can handle myself against anyone the Kepler Clan. Even the Clan Leader and the clan protecting treasure.

Chief Elder Marik cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, it’s not just the Kepler Clan you need to worry about. There has been… consolidations on many levels since you entered seclusion.”

Sorin raised an eyebrow. “It’s been two days.”

“The power vacuum has led to some shifts in the political landscape,” answered Chief Elder Marik. “When the Pollen Clan tried to assert its dominance over us, we broke away from the alliance and accepted the Hargrave Clan, the Shelling Clan, and the Kor Clan as allies.”

This did not surprised Sorin in the slightest. “That explains the powerful threads of Karma. I take it their Grand Elders will be participating in the Viper Pit this time around?”

“Indeed,” said Chief Elder Adrian. “And unfortunately for our Grand Elder, Grand Elder Hargrave is the closest thing he has to an actual ally. The others are dead set on obtaining additional Death tinctures and will be applying pressure to try increasing production or at least secure a larger potion of the limited doses for themselves. I take it you haven’t had a chance to analyze the tincture?

“I haven’t,” Sorin admitted. “I was more preoccupied with increasing my personal power.”

Chief Elder Marik nodded sagely. “A wise choice. You might not be able to rival a true demigod, but if you can tie one down, that’ll be more than enough.”

Sorin was confident in being able do much more than that, but he kept that fact to himself. “When will the pit be opening?”

“The squabbling is already underway,” answered Chief Elder Adrian. “We’ve just been waiting for an opportune moment to make a good entrance. Ah, I think I hear them clamoring about Death Tincture allotment. Will you all be needing my assistance, or would you rather make your separate entrances?”

“I’ll just cut my way into the room,” said Chief Elder Marik. “Same as always.” He looked to Sorin in askance.

“I’ll just melt a hole through the Viper Pit’s protective shielding and sneak my way in,” said Sorin with a shrug. “No need to make a fuss.”

Chief Elder Adrian raised an eyebrow. “I trust you are aware that you’ll need to melt through the fortifications of five demigods?”

Sorin smiled. “A fact that few people will be aware of, since those demigods won’t dare to admit it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few messages to send before joining you. Try not to upset anyone too badly before I get there.”