Zachary blinked and he could see again. He had returned to the realm of the living. The light around him was gradually dissipating and what used to be a warm cave was getting colder with each breath. He looked down and realized that the eight-sided crystal in his hand had crumbled to dust and sand. He wasn’t able to catch even a single grain.

Summon the eternal.

He understood what it meant. The crystal had taught him. It was a method to reach a rank no other soul had ever reached in the history of the world. Novice, adept, expert, master, noble, royal, and saint; humankind knew of seven ranks of the soul. It was the same for wild Ensouled as their limit was also the saint rank.

However, that was only seven ranks. It didn’t make sense when the number eight was so important to natural laws. Each individual had eight paths within their soul. There were eight distinct elemental attributes to Eternum. There were also eight days in a week and eight months in a year.

Now he knew. Eternal, that was the final rank, the eighth rank of the soul.

He remembered Katherine’s offer. If he joined the Ice Saint Beast Cult, he would be able to discover the truth of the word eternal. Was this what she had meant? Did the Ice Saint also know the secret to the eternal rank? It was possible!

If one saint knew about it, what about others, the Eight Saints of the New World? And if so many existences knew about it, what about humans? Have humans also started to investigate the secrets to eternity?

Zachary clenched his fist. He suddenly felt that he wasn’t too far from the truth, that he touched upon the greatest secret in the entire world.

As for the battle for eternity, he wasn’t sure. The soul message contained in the crystal didn’t elaborate. The cycle of destruction, he didn’t know either. It all sounded very ominous. Was it a reference to a historical event or was it a prophecy of the future?

More importantly, he was still too weak and too insignificant. Even if the heavens were to fall down, it wouldn’t be up to him to shoulder the burdens of the world. It would be up to the human saint rank summoners. If they couldn’t do it, it wouldn’t be up to him to worry about it.

Right now, his matter wasn’t anything regarding the eternal rank but the second half of the soul message. It was the Bomon Empire's final legacy, perhaps the last of the entire Bomoi Civilization. It was a whole new method of summoning he had never heard of before. It did not use cards or orbs. It wasn't soul summoning or pet summoning.

It was eternal summoning or summon the eternal in their language. It was somewhat similar to soul summoning except that it was permanent or eternal. Two souls connected; letting their life, death, and fate intertwine. The bond could never be broken. If one soul died, it would mean the end for the other.

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Zachary looked down at the turtle beside him. It was staring back at him, an excited and expectant expression on its face. He couldn’t help but frown as he was hit with a great sense of uncertainty. Considering the established paradigm for human summoners, the consequence that came with this summoning method was a huge headache.

Summons were meant to fight on behalf of their summoners. They bore the brunt of battle and sacrificed themselves for their masters. They were the soldiers while the summoner was the general in command.

Casualty rates were high but humans could always replace the losses; catch new Ensouled and train them to fight. If the summoner died along with their summon, it would remove the primary advantage humans had over other Ensouled. Even in friendly duels, it was always possible for a summon to suffer debilitating injuries. A summoner might keep that beast around for sentimental reasons but only in a card or orb.

Ignoring death for a moment, if his eternal summon was wounded so badly that it couldn’t be healed. It would mean that one of his soul paths would be crippled forever. He was already experiencing the torture of his crippled sky path. He didn’t want to go through that again with a second soul path.

Another matter to consider was an Ensouled’s talent and growth rate. It measured how strong an Ensouled could become and how quickly. Like ranks, there were seven grades known to the Old World.

The first was ordinary grade, Ensouled that would most likely remain at novice rank the rest of their lives. Any breakthrough to the adept rank would depend on luck, a lot of hard work, or both. Uncommon grade Ensouled could easily reach the adept rank with little effort but the expert rank would be a challenge. Rare grade Ensouled could reach the expert rank and special grade Ensouled could reach the master rank. For higher ranks; there were the fabled, legendary, and mythical grades.

Beginner summoners started with lower grade Ensouled. Once they grew stronger, they would get higher grade Ensouled so that they could improve further. This was the way for normal human summoners. Even soul summons could be changed out if the benefit was greater than the temporary penalty.

With an eternal summon, he would never be able to get rid of it. They were stuck together, for better or for worse. Like the legacy stated, their fates were connected.

So, were there any advantages to an eternal summon? He wasn’t sure and the soul message wasn’t clear. It only said that eternal summoning would unlock the potential of both souls to the limit and that this was a potential way to reach eternity.

“Wander,” Zachary said cautiously, “Do you really want to be my eternal summon?”

“Wan! Wan!”

The turtle bumped its head into the side of his good leg. It barked a few more times and waddled around his legs over and over as a show of affection, wagging its short tail vigorously. He couldn’t help but smile. It truly was more like a dog than a turtle. He always wanted a dog but his parents insisted on cats.

“What am I supposed to do with you… Are you a rare grade Ensouled? Or a special grade? What do I do…”

This decision would affect him for an eternity. He couldn’t make up his mind. So many thoughts raced through his mind; about Yaoyao, Minah, his parents, and even Katherine, Jean-Pierre, and Aaron. There were so many regrets, so much pain. There was also a desire for revenge, a desire to fight back against the world and prove everyone wrong.