Fire Mage (Web Novel)

Chapter 252: Reid's Research

Fire Elemental Plane,

Charles appeared in the familiar underground cave and scanned the surroundings.

After confirming that no creatures were nearby, he breathed out a sigh of relief and sat on a stone slab.

"Tell me how to create this soul barrier, Mr. Runeth." He asked.

Meanwhile, the Holem's Crown let out a dim red light and started to explain.

"It's pretty simple. All you have to do is create a magic array circle on a blank scroll, inscribe the soul barrier spell model in the form of runic words, and activate the spell. Once you activate this spell, it will cover the surrounding areas for more than 10 days. No soul attacks or consciousnesses would be able to enter this barrier. Humph, even we couldn't go out of this soul barrier spell for the next ten days. Okay, let's start now."

As the Holem's Crown started to send the information about this spell model, Charles also took out a blank scroll, ink bottle, and quill from his space ring and began to inscribe.

During the next few days, they didn't waste a single second and entirely focused their attention on creating this spell scroll.

By the end of the eighth day, Charles finally created this unique Rank-4 spell scroll and placed it on his hand.

"Go on." The Holem's Crown spoke calmly.

On the other hand, Charles took a deep breath and nodded his head before opening it.

Then, he used his wisdom power and activated it by tearing it a little.

An invisible ripple came out from the scroll a moment later and soon enveloped his surroundings like a force field.

Although it appeared invisible, Charles felt a vague barrier-like power emerged around him.

He tried to use his wisdom power to probe the surroundings, but even his wisdom power couldn't pass through the Soul Barrier spell!

"This barrier is not a normal mage like you could break, lad. Even if the opponent's consciousness is a Rank-5, he would take a day or two to break this spell. Unfortunate for the skeleton, we are in the Fire Elemental Plane and he could only weep in anger and hate now." The Holem's Crown said in a pleased tone.

On the other hand, Charles shook his head, took out the black-colored bracelet from his pocket, and cast the Rank-4 [Flame Consciousness] spell.

A moment later, a purple fire appeared in Reid's Inner World and formed into the appearance of purple skin Charles.

At that moment, Reid's second consciousness appeared few meters away from him, held two scythes in his bony hand, and stared at him coldly.

"You are making a terrible mistake, mortal." A sinister aura came out from the skeleton as it opened the mandible and spoke in a cold tone.

Meanwhile, Charles let out a chuckle, raised both of his hands, and spread out.

The next second, countless purple fire seeds, tens of purple lightning-like fire arcs flew in every direction!

Upon seeing his bold action, the skeleton moved its two scythes and started slashing in his direction at a fast speed.

But just as the skeleton took few steps forward, two [Knowledge Absorber] purple fire arcs made a U-turn, moved towards those two scythes, and enveloped them in purple flames!

"Oh? Those scythes are your important memories?" A surprise flashed on purple Charles's face.

Meanwhile, the skeleton was shocked by the purple flame and backed away in a hurry.

Unfortunately, more and more purple flames came out from Charles's hands and flew in every direction.

An invasion of the Inner World began!

…

Black Tower.

In the underground Throne Hall.

A broken skeleton sat on the bone throne and seemed to be in deep thoughts.

Suddenly, Reid sensed that the connection with his soul was shattered by some invisible power and stood up in shock.

"What the hell is he planning? Did he seal my Phylactery?" He couldn't help but shout in a raging voice.

Even though he was more than 1,000 years old, he still couldn't control his anger.

But he could do nothing but wait for his disciples to find that damned Charles!

…

Meanwhile, Charles sat on the stone slab, closed his eyes, entered his Inner World, and soon appeared in front of a reddish lava pool.

He then focused his gaze on the new information and started to skim through it.

At first, he only saw Reid's everyday life moments.

But Charles soon realized that these were precious information for Reid.

'It seems it will take some time.'

He didn't stop anywhere and continued to glance at the newly transmitted information.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds…

On the 24th second, Charles started to receive information about Reid's research on souls.

Like a broken dam, information about souls started to appear one by one.

'Necromancer class and skill information… I don't need them for now… Hmm? Research papers? He isolated his research memories and placed them in order? Wow, he really is a helpful guy.' A smirk appeared on Charles's face.

Then, he obtained the information about those research papers and started to read.

'Soul research paper no.1… What is a soul? Why is it so hard to control one's soul? Can we able to seal it? Yes, we, necromancers, can seal it using soul bind skills. But can we able to control it?…

'Research paper no.2: I made a breakthrough in controlling one's soul. To control one's soul, we must kill them. Otherwise, it will be challenging…'

'Research paper no.3: No, I'm missing some critical information. Why can't I control the dead one's soul? What is this invisible power that is obstructing me from capturing the dead body's soul?…'

…

'Research paper no. 10: Another failure. Although I failed to identify the mysterious obstructing power, I can vaguely tell that this is the Will of this world! Finding this information is a huge leap in my research…'

…

'Research paper no. 68: A failure. It seems older people's souls are very hard to control. I need to look for the younger one's soul. Thankfully, I got some enlightenment when creating the spell model and gained a unique skill: Soul Eye. I hope it will help me broaden my research on souls…'

…

'Research paper no. 99: Success! I managed to evade the World Will's perception and enslaved a young girl's soul! No, it should be called her main consciousness. Hoho, she also displayed an ability to accelerate the Time! Because of her, I lost more than 20 years. In a blink, I just skipped 20 years. What a terrifying ability. Could it be other souls also have some similar skills? Hmm, I will call this soul using her original name… Chloe, is it? Unfortunately, I don't have enough test subjects. Tsk, I already got a warning from my teacher. He said that he would revoke my identity as a Destiny Conquerors member if I continue to go after young children…'

…

'Research paper no. 135: I ran away from the organization and started researching on my own. Although I bribed the storm Church members, things won't go smoothly from now on.'

…

'Research paper no. 256: Today, I encountered a strange woman. She claimed herself as Destined One and intimidated me with future prediction abilities. She gave me an offer, though. It was an offer to further improve my research in a faraway kingdom called the Iron Kingdom. She said that there are no churches there to stop me from researching children's souls. But I know there is no free lunch in this world. She surely wants something from me…'

…

'Research paper no. 305: After a long time, the Destined One showed herself and ordered me to research the ancient spirits. This lady also gave me some clues, such as the ancient spirits are controlled souls, have some connection with Destiny Tower, etc. She said that the first king used some forbidden techniques to control the four souls and made four elemental spirits! Then, she also invited me to become an outer member of a mysterious organization called Edhen's Children…'

…

'Research paper no. 389: I got a massive breakthrough in controlling one's soul. To control one's soul, you need to enter their Inner World and find their soul core. But before that, you need to erase their main consciousness; otherwise, you will face total retaliation. Then, there is another big question. What's the point of controlling an empty soul with no consciousness? What if the other party has no second consciousness? Even if they have a second consciousness, it will not be a perfect one. No, it also won't have any control over Inner World. In a sense, this soul will turn into a crippled one with no one to control. I need more information about soul…'

…

'Research paper no. 456: A new member appeared. She is a mysterious 4year old child with dream abilities. She voluntarily joined my small organization and even swore to protect me. But I have a vague feeling that she is up to something…'

…

'Research paper no. 524: Many things are happening. I got two more disciples, and I also created a Black Tower in a strange valley. Moreover, we are planning to assassinate the Iron Kingdom's ruler under the Destined One's order, and I'm also starting to work with an Amber Church Archbishop. Damn, this mysterious lady is not simple…'

…

'Research paper no. 599: Things are going smoothly. I'm getting too many research materials now and even made multiple breakthroughs in the last two years. Haha, this kingdom is heaven for a broken necromancer like me. Hmm, it's been two years since the mysterious lady appeared in front of me. What is she up to now? That Amber Church Archbishop is also starting to boss around. But why did he want to use my lackeys to kidnap some kids from a border town?…'

…

'Research paper no. 678: It's been 560 years since I started researching souls, but I'm still not able to completely control a soul. A few days ago, I suddenly received another 'order' from the 'Destined One.' She told me to place a mysterious curse on a newly appeared Ancient Mage. Yeah, I do hear some things about this mage. Who is he? Why is she wants to place a curse on him? From my understanding, I can vaguely tell that this curse could affect one's soul deeply. Even a Demi-God level existence could find it hard to remove this one if I'm not wrong. When did he offend this terrifying woman? It's a pity that I'm not powerful enough to enslave an ancient mage.'

…

'Research paper no. 711: Those morons failed to place the curse… Louise's disciple almost got killed by the ancient mage. But who would have expected that ancient mage to be powerful enough to toy around 3 Rank-4 Mystics? No, I should have expected such an outcome. Tsk, that mysterious lady will get angry…'

…

As Charles read the last few memories, his expression froze.

'Curse… I'm 90% sure that this 'Destined One' or the 'Divine' placed a terrifying curse on my soul.'