"Oh? So you are confident, young man?" The old figure looked with interest at Lothur.
He hoped that he would be able to find someone talented as soon as possible since, if that did not happen, he would eventually have to accept any individual who came along. After all, nothing would be left to grant his last wish once he was gone.
"Hmm, what do I need to do?" Lothur got straight to the point as Elke watched the situation with curiosity in her eyes.
"First, let me test your talent for cultivation..." The semi-transparent figure took one of Lothur's hands and used his extraordinary abilities on this young man.
When alive, he was a Divine Soul Transcendent.
Precisely because this level was the end of soul development for cultivators, this man had a strong soul sense, able to even test the talent of others weaker than himself without the need for artifacts.
Since soul fragments retained the main characteristics of their creator's soul, he could naturally perform this test with Lothur at the moment.
"Uh? No soul power?" The semi-transparent being opened his eyes in surprise, finding it unexpected that Lothur had a soul as strong as a mortal's. "Curious, you don't cultivate your soul, but I sensed your techniques before you came here, but they certainly need a lot of energy to be active..."
"Oh? That's..." He looked into Lothur's eyes and said. "Body cultivation, huh? It seems that the innate ability of your Physique is giving you all this energy..."
This soul fragment could not understand what Lothur's Physique enabled this young man to do. But he realized that such a thing had quite a bit of energy, which seemed to be behind the silver-haired young man's techniques he used to fight Elise.
"That's interesting... But there seems to be something wrong with your soul." His eyes narrowed at that.
"Something wrong?" Elke asked in concern, while Lothur was shocked at the amount of information this being could see through him.
'People at the Divine Soul can do that?' He wondered as he heard the aged voice of that soul fragment.
'Hmmm, I'm not sure what the situation is, but to put it simply, it seems incomplete... He definitely won't be able to use his soul without solving this problem."
"That's too bad. Without soul cultivation, you won't be able to use energy external to your body to fight, or even become a 2-star spiritual professional."
"Lothur..." Elke worriedly looked at him.
"Don't worry, Elke. I can reach peak even using only my body." He said to her as he kissed one of his girl's cheeks.
The soul fragment looked with interest at this confident fellow and realized that his talent was not small compared to others who had passed here in the past.
"Your talent is enough for you to reach the 3rd stage, so as long as you put in the effort, it won't be impossible to reach that level within the 500-year time frame." He commented, feeling that it was better to believe in this young man than to keep waiting in this place.
"I can feel a hidden life force in your body. Did you by any chance absorb that girl's life? If so, I don't think it will be so difficult for you, even considering the problem of your soul. So, maybe you can fulfill my wish..." He finally released Lothur's hand.
"You absorbed her life? Is that how she died?" Elke looked at her man, finally remembering how Elise looked when she herself woke up from her near-death.
Elke already wanted to talk about this with Lothur, but since she had not had the opportunity, she had kept her curiosity in her heart. Yet, in this situation, she could not help but question Lothur.
"I'm not sure..." Lothur was saying when the soul fragment answered for him by touching one of her shoulders. "I can feel the same life force in you... Hmmm, I'm not sure what happened, but he seems to have stolen the life force from that girl and split it between the two of you."
"Most of it is in you, little girl..." An ugly expression appeared on the soul fragment's face after he realized that such a thing was gradually diminishing.
"What is it?" Finally, Lothur realized that something was wrong and questioned.
Elke also looked at that figure and heard some worrying news. "It is true. This life force was passed on to you and saved your life. But unlike the one in him, the one in you is only temporary, girl."
"If you don't recover your vitality quickly, you will still die!"
"What?" Lothur cried out in fear.
"Your action only gave her more time. But, unfortunately, the life force you gave her is incompatible with this young woman's body. So, this will be rejected sooner or later." He explained. "If you want to save her, you will have to make her own vitality recover."
Hearing that, Elke felt afraid again as her eyes watered. "Lothur..."
He clenched his fists and asked. "What can I save her, senior?"
"Sigh..."
"It won't be easy... In her condition, I don't know how you will do it without putting her at risk. In any case, what you need to do is to help her reach the 4th Transformation. Once she moves up, her body will undergo a spiritual cleansing and be fully recovered from what happened."
"After that, she will be physically able to absorb one of the Soul Bones that I will let you choose later. That resource will naturally help her stabilize any problems between soul and body."
Soul and body were two connected entities. Because of this, when Elke almost died, not only had her body been injured but also her soul. As such, the soul fragment suggested this method to complete her treatment.
"That..." Lothur and Elke looked at each other, both with fear in their eyes. "How long does she have?" He asked.
"Hmmm..." The old figure looked at Elke momentarily and said. "A week. At most ten days if you can use what's left of that girl's vitality inside your body, boy."
"Elke..." He looked with complicated eyes at her, worried about his girl's survival.
"Lothur, don't worry. Even if we don't make it, knowing that you loved me and still having a week with you will be enough for me..." Tears came down her eyes as she took his face with her two little hands.
"I won't allow it, Elke!" He felt his heart beat faster and made up his mind. 'Even if I have to steal other people's vitality, I will not allow you to die!'
After seeing and hearing this touching moment, the soul fragment sighed, sensing that a dark path lay ahead of the two. Either Elke would die, or Lothur would become an assassin, an enemy of the living beings of this world to keep her alive.
In either case, the future would not be promising for them.
He then said. "So, young man, now you have no choice but to accept my mission. But for that, I still want to test your strength. I want to see if your physical power can take you to the 3rd stage."
Elke looked lovingly into Lothur's eyes as this young man turned to that soul fragment.
That was not the time for him to train, but since Elke would need a Soul Bone to recover fully, he could not risk missing this opportunity.
He then asked. "Senior, I am still wounded from my previous battle. How will I train with you in this state?"
"Hmm, drink this." A red bottle flew from the clouds below them.
Then, Lothur felt it reach his right hand.
[Recovery Potion] [Rank: Silver]
[Purity: 99%] [1 unit]
[Effect: recovers damage to the different tissues of a given body.]
After drinking this potion, Lothur not only felt his body recover in a fraction of a second but also received the system's warnings of advancements in his attributes.
When he recovered from injuries, he naturally evolved. In this way, the fight against Elise had already generated results for him!
Sensing this, he clenched his fists in determination and said to Elke. "Elke, trust me. Leave all your burdens to me, and I will care for everything. You just need to worry about enjoying the journey. Can you do that?"
"Hmmm." She nodded to him before kissing his lips.
After that, Lothur unplugged the special clothing holding Elke to his body and placed her sitting on one of the clouds. "Senior, is there any danger to her? Will she be safe if I am not by her side?"
The soul fragment then said. "No, this place is momentarily connected to my soul power. So, everything here is under my control. That way, she will be fine if she stays where you left her."
"Well then, what should I do now?" Lothur approached that individual.
"Let's have a match. Use all your skills against me in a 10-minute fight. Then, if you can show me something interesting, I will believe that you can fulfill my last wish."
...