Unlike the time when he used blood fusion to recover his vitality, the effects were much more harrowing this time.

White specks of light seeped out from the rat's corpses. They swirled and weaved as they converged on the corpse of the burrow rat king.

Zyrus knew what they were. They were the souls that belonged to the rats slain by him. Even Zyrus was shocked as it marked their ‘True’ death in the sanctuary.

Unlike the shapeless motes of white light, a vague figure a rat appeared on top of the burrow rat king. Not only did it have a distinct shape, it had a will of its own as well.

It consumed the souls of its kind and slowly its shape became more and more clear. Zyrus was glad about his decision of keeping the burrow rats' corpses as well.

However, his happiness was short-lived as the soul of the rat king made a snarling face at him. Zyrus realized the positives and negatives of this incident.

Since he had used the rat's corpses along with their king, its soul had become strong. Thus, he would gain a more powerful trait. On the downside, it would be difficult to deal with the empowered soul.

Unlike the other skills he had, Zyrus had no knowledge regarding the workings of the soul. Just as he was getting uneasy at the sight, a startling change took place on the corpses.

Their bodies withered at a visible rate as bright red chains popped out from their hearts. A thick chain popped out from the rat king's corpse as well.

The soul howled as all of the chains pierced various parts of its body. Even Zyrus felt a chill down his spine at this sight.

It was extremely difficult to attack someone’s soul in the first two rings. Even he, a regressor, didn’t have a single counter against soul attacks in the first two rings.

[Blood Fusion initiated]

[Target: Burrow Rat king]

Traits:

1. Earth movement

2. Concealment

Note: The blood of Sylvarix is required to start the process.

A red screen popped up in front of Zyrus as he was observing the rat king's soul. Without hesitation, he took out his bloodspine spear and cut his palm.

‘Here goes nothing,’ Zyrus clenched his teeth in anticipation and held out his hand.

Blood dripped down from his palm but instead of falling down, it was consumed by the red chains. At the same time, Zyrus felt his mana and vitality drop at a rapid pace.

Zyrus was calm despite the sudden change. His attention was completely focused on the rat king’s soul.

Struck with a sudden inspiration, he activated his Eye of Annihilation. He expected to see some traces of the rat king's source of origin, but to his disappointment, there was no such thing.

For a moment he even doubted his instincts. Just as he was getting impatient, an unexpected change took place once again.

Zyrus felt an immense suction force inside his brain. It was as if a whirlpool had formed inside his brain. The pain he felt at this moment was beyond excruciating.

Then, just like what happened to the rats, his soul was also pushed out from his body. It was at this moment that Zyrus felt his intuition was right.

He realized many things at this moment. The Eye of Annihilation had nothing to do with his physical “eyes”. He didn’t know which direction this skill would evolve in, but one thing was for certain.

The views seen by these eyes would forever change his perspective.

The separation of his soul wasn’t the first time encounter for Zyrus. What surprised him, however, were the scenes he saw with his eyes.

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Without this encounter, he wouldn't have realized the intricate workings of the sanctuary and the true function of the Eye of Annihilation.

The skill wasn't created to observe the physical reality. Its true function was to see and influence entities in the metaphysical realm.

One of which was his source of origin.

Zyrus was all too familiar with his crudely made source that contained his insights and life experience in the realm of Void.

What surprised him, however, were the tendrils of platinum energy that covered the sky and the earth. Every piece of cloud and every blade of grass was connected to these threads. His own body and the rat king's soul were no exception.

Everything he saw was bound by these hair-like threads. In his thousand years of existence, it was the first time Zyrus had seen a majestic sight like this.

He was all too familiar with these platinum threads. Despite it being his first time seeing them, he knew what they were thanks to his keen intuition.

Time seemed to stop at this moment as Zyrus was lost in his thoughts. Of course, he knew that time wasn’t stopped in reality; it was his perception that had changed.

The threads that looked as feeble as cobwebs contained the power of space and time. They were made by the laws that even he, an archmage, was unable to understand.

Even then, Zyrus knew the insights he gained in this instance were just as valuable as the blood fusion. His observation didn’t last long as he knew what he had to do before his mental energy ran out.

He didn’t waste a single ounce of his energy in thinking about anything else except for these threads.

‘Damn! I would have raised my intelligence if I knew about this,’ Zyrus cursed with regret as he felt his dwindling energy.

Without further ado, he did what he was supposed to do from the start.

He, or to be exact, his soul grabbed at the rat king’s soul. The rat king struggled in his hand, but it was futile. How could a mere rat fight against his willpower?

Its soul was sucked inside his mouth along with its very existence.

Zyrus's vision blurred as his soul merged with his body once again. The blood-red chains also disintegrated into bloody particles and seeped into his blood.

His depleted mana and vitality recovered with every passing second.

That wasn’t all.

[Blood fusion Successful!]

[You have obtained the Trait: “Earth movement”]

[You have absorbed the bloodline of the burrow rats!]

[Vitality +10, Agility +3]

Along with the string of messages, a new surge of information flooded his brain. It was a direct transfer of memories and knowledge possessed by the burrow rats.

Zyrus knew how to travel underground as if he had done it his entire life. It seemed as natural as breathing and walking.

His physique also underwent subtle changes. His scales darkened in color while his claws became thin and sharp. His tail became noticeably thinner as the scales around it became more compact and polished.

Hours went by as Zyrus slowly got used to the changes in his body. He had obtained 10 vitality and 3 agility along with the trait he wanted.

Compared to that though, Zyrus was more concerned about the use of his Eye of Annihilation. He was getting more and more confused as he learned new things about the sanctuary. Everything looked the same as it did before. But in this familiar environment, he felt like the sanctuary he knew in the past life was nothing but a mirage.

Even with his remarkable willpower, he wasn’t able to calm down his raging emotions.

“Need some help?”

“Aurora… you noticed that too, huh.” Zyrus sighed as he looked at his good old friend.

“Moron.”

“What?”

“I didn’t just notice that, I was the one who gave you the opportunity in the first place,”

“Didn’t you say that you wer- no, Nevermind, I get it. You intentionally made me break the balance, right?”

“You’re only half right,” Aurora smirked as she fluttered around Zyrus.

“I won’t ask more questions if that’s what you’re waiting for.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to hear things like ‘Now’s not the time’ or ‘I’m not able to reveal that’. I’d rather get strong first and find the answers myself,”

“Tch.. how boring. I thought you’d beg me.”

“Dream on,”

“beh-”

Zyrus chuckled as Aurora stuck out her tongue in annoyance. However, their positions were swapped in the next instance.

“Let me guess, you want to level up and get stronger in the sanctuary with your past knowledge, all the while training with your source of origin on earth. And when the time comes to confront the Eternals, you’ll show them your hidden power and crush them. Sweet revenge right?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah my foot. You think you have time for that?”

It was Zyrus’s turn to feel annoyed this time.

“1000 years are enough even if some things go wrong. I’ll definitely become strong enough in just a couple of centuries,”

“You barely have a tenth of that time,”

“…”

“Don’t give me that look. Your plans won’t work because of a very simple reason.”

“…”

“You, my dear friend, Fucked up.”

“Can I hit you?”

“No.”

“Please? You’re really annoying me right now,”

“Still no.”

“Whatever. Spill the beans,” Zyrus grumbled in frustration as he looked at Aurora’s smug face. He wouldn’t have teased her if he knew that he’d need her help this soon.

“As much as I’d love to see your face like this, we can’t afford to fool around,” Aurora spoke in a serious tone as she sat beside Zyrus.

“You went into a dungeon, right?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t need me to continue then.”

“Fuck,” Zyrus grimaced as he came up with the only logical conclusion. Just as Aurora had said, his plans were completely off the charts. Forget about getting stronger to get revenge and revealing hidden truths, his first priority from now on would be survival.

He didn’t know how or why, but the cruel reality was undeniable.

The dungeon on Earth had broken out.

And he had to face it all alone.