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The news of House of Light's Demon Soul Purification Altar being able to now produce an Essence Soul that can be used as an alternative for Demon Lord Souls surprised everyone.
The announcement was made a week after Cedric's first meeting with Charles Makarov.
The House of Light posted a full disclosure of how Greater Essence Souls worked in their public online account for everyone to read. It even included their partnership with the Lifestyle Guild to make this all possible.
Of course, the very first people to be notified about this were the soldiers. On the very same day that Cedric made the update, Gabriel already received a prioritized demand from the army for the new installment for the altar.
Since then, the soldiers that reached the Planar Traveler Realm have been clamoring to get their hands on Greater Essence Souls. It has been proven and tested to be effective.
Soldiers who had been stuck or deliberately postponed their progress to prepare for their next breakthrough were the first ones to try it out, and to their overwhelming surprise, despite the guarantee, it truly worked—wondrously at that.
None of them had to be on guard with the induced psychosis brought on by consuming Demon Lord Souls. They didn't have to divide their attention into equal parts anymore; one part focused on the procedure of the breakthrough while the other fended for the psychosis.
They could wholeheartedly and single-mindedly focus and enjoy the experience of becoming stronger—something that they never thought possible before, yet here they were.
One has to know that the stronger the Demon Lord Soul is, the more danger it poses. Demon Lord Souls are divided into Early, Middle, and Late Stages in terms of strength, which also corresponds to the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Rank Demon Lord Souls, respectively.
Additionally, the higher one's attainments in their strength—in other words, the stronger they are—the more risks they have to consider before making their breakthrough.
Breaking through the 7th Change Planar Traveler Realm was far more dangerous than attempting the 1st Change. It's just the way it is.
However, with the existence of Greater Demon Souls, which many thought wouldn't appear in a few years at the very least, the risks had almost entirely disappeared. Most had been taken care of for them. The only risk that remains is the loss of focus and concentration from the practitioner, leading to the failure of breakthrough, and this can't be blamed on the altar anymore.
The same could be said for the rest.
Be it a soldier or an unaffiliated person, so long as they have the need for Greater Essence Souls, they are undoubtedly indebted to Cedric, because without him, none of this would've been possible.
That said, most people don't know just how much of a contribution he made. The big shots are deliberately preventing his participation from being noticed after all. It was one of Cedric's requests, and who were they to deny him that, especially when this was to ensure his safety?
The moment his mental probing touched the Lord's soul, however, a surprising development occurred. The Demon Lord Soul turned into a streak of light and shot to his glabella.
Truthfully, Cedric could've done something to prevent that; he could've even evaded it, yet he didn't. He allowed the Lord's soul to appear within his consciousness.
When this happened, the Demon Lord Soul found itself appearing in a seemingly boundless space. There's a clear ocean beneath and cloudy skies above.
The very first thing it did was corrupt everything on sight. It doesn't matter whether this place was truly endless or not; its job was to spread corruption, and that's exactly what it was trying to do.
But before it could even release a stream—even a thread of corruption—it found itself frozen in place. Try as it might, it couldn't do anything. It's as if an invisible shackle was placed on itself, preventing it from doing anything.
This was when a sigil suddenly showed itself. It released a deep violet brilliance that seemingly stretched everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
This was the 『Aspect of Space』 given to Cedric by Acala.
The moment this sigil appeared, others followed suit as well. The once-clear skies turned into an endless blanket of violet and purple, dotted with sparkling silver. This change was brought about by the 『Aspect of the Stars』.
And on a distant horizon, a half-golden crescent peeked out. Even from this distance, the Demon Lord Soul is extremely terrified of that thing. Its fear was rooted in the very depths of its existence. With whatever's left of its sentience, it knew that the moment that thing rose would be the same moment true death would come for it.
"You demons are really unruly."
A deep and archaic voice echoed everywhere. Then, from out of nowhere, Cedric appeared, but he looked way different from his outside appearance.
Here, his eyes were extremely prominent, seemingly containing multiple swirling cosmos and the very void itself. He didn't seem human either; he's like the personification of a true celestial, the absolute god of trillions of lives. It's like even the most minute movement he makes causes the death and birth of galaxies.
"I wanted to take it slow, but you went ahead and threw yourself in here." Cedric released a helpless sigh.
"This might've been harmful to others, but sadly, you picked the wrong person to mess with." He clicked his tongue as heaven and earth changes transpired around him.
This was Cedric's consciousness, and here, he was a true god, much like the previous owner of his eyes.
"You did this to yourself, so don't blame me. Now..." Cedric then raised a finger and said, "Reveal all of your secrets to me."