Raging flames burned on and on.
Screams and cries of anguish filled the air, punctuated by the pirates' roars and wild laughter.
Barbarian corpses lay strewn across the ground, the blood they shed forming small rivulets.
After
Ougede had taken most of the able-bodied men with him, leaving behind only the elderly, women, and children. In truth, the resistance they could muster before these savage pirates was utterly futile.
"But... there seems to be a little secret hidden in this barbarian tribe!"
Leylin stroked his chin, a darkly alluring smile playing across his face, and made his way to the heart of the settlement.
This was the tribe's sacred site, yet no known deity was enshrined here. A massive altar had been carved from solid obsidian, adorned with enormous beast-hide banners and eerie blood-red symbols.
Before the altar, a handful of barbarians — clearly decrepit beyond measure — were making their last stand.
"Outsiders! Stay back!"
Several barbarians, their bodies as withered as dried reeds, shouted out. Beside them trailed the last handful of barbarian youths, clutching whatever spears and weapons they could find, trembling as they pointed them at Leylin and his invaders, their eyes wide with terror.
"Barbarian priests? Bloodline bearers?"
Leylin regarded those barbarians who looked as though they might drop dead at any moment, sensing the bloodline power within them, and gave a slight nod.
"Scram!"
Arcane force erupted violently, coalescing into a terrifying elemental giant hand that tore the remaining bloodline bearers who still resisted into shreds.
This display of overwhelming power left the last few barbarians completely stupefied.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several arcane fireballs shot forth, incinerating the remaining barbarians to ash.
Leylin stepped over their remains without the slightest obstacle and ascended the altar.
"Spirits? Ethereal bodies? They simply have no consciousness..." Leylin ran his hands over the rough carvings and gently closed his eyes.
"So these barbarians actually want to condense divinity through their tribe?"
With his vast experience, Leylin immediately saw through the barbarians' plan.
Power of faith — the power of the transcendent — born from ages upon ages of worship and sacrifice. A few strands of very primitive power had already gathered here.
The intense faith concentrated throughout the altar, combined with the souls of fallen powerhouses across generations, had merged together to form a solid foundation.
Given a little more time, it was entirely possible that a sliver of divinity could be condensed.
Many ancient tribal deities had started out in exactly this way.
And once divinity was obtained, if there happened to be a barbarian powerhouse nearing the Legendary realm, they could use that sliver of divinity to step directly into the [Legendary] domain.
They could even, at the moment of ascension, ignite the divine fire through their union with faith — becoming a demigod!
Because he himself harbored similar ambitions of apotheosis, Leylin understood their thinking perfectly.
"As for the candidate chosen for apotheosis, that would be Ograd, wouldn't it? Quite the grand scheme... No small ambition..."
Leylin stroked his chin. The world had never lacked for clever people. Since the
"The racial god of the barbarians, is it? Given the current power level of the Outer Seas, once a demigod emerges, it's entirely possible they would unify everything at once. And establish a paradise for the barbarians..."
A sharp glint flashed in Leylin's eyes. "Quite the ambitious plan! Too bad you've run into me!"
Leylin had long since claimed the Outer Seas of Danbres as his own territory. Since the barbarians had designs of their own, he would have to ensure they despaired completely.
"Vast power of faith, soul essence, and it seems the protection of barbarian hero spirits as well!"
Leylin regarded the obsidian carvings on the ground and the runic inscriptions on animal hides, his expression calm. "It appears that every fallen barbarian ultimately returns to this place..."
This was the hope of an entire race! In the
The hope, the passion, and the sacrifice of a race — all of it was worthy of song and legend.
Leylin closed his eyes. The air around him seemed to fill with the presence of countless barbarian hero spirits, and a torrent of powerful hostility crashed down upon him. "Get out! GET OUT!!!"
This was no illusion. It was the collective rejection of an entire altar's power directed against him.
"Tsk tsk… The resistance of a whole race, every soul united as one. Fanned by the blood sacrifice beforehand — just how powerful could it be?" A feverish glint burned in Leylin's eyes.
"This power! I truly want to crush it! To shatter an entire race's upward ascension. To plunge you into absolute despair!!!"
A dark and fathomless force surged forth from Leylin's pupils in an instant.
"Devour!!!"
Following Leylin's will, the altar groaned under an unbearable burden. The earth began to tremble as though struck by an earthquake, splitting open several pitch-black fissures.
Scorching! Maddening! And brimming with the energy of souls, it erupted from the altar like a tidal wave.
"Mmm…" Leylin's expression turned hideously savage in a single heartbeat, countless emotions flickering through his eyes.
The wailing spirits' roar and counterattack were utterly frenzied, carrying within them the last dying struggles of the barbarian hero spirits.
A pity — for Leylin, who had extensive experience dealing with spiritual entities, these were still minor inconveniences.
"Hsss…"
The illusory form of a Targaryen Wyvern materialized directly from Leylin's mind and, in one gulp, devoured the multitude of spirits and wills.
The hero spirits' resistance, set against Leylin's soul origin, was as feeble as that of ants.
Numerous spirits and wills shattered, and a vast outpouring of crude spiritual power surged forth, carrying with it violent emotions and countless memory fragments.
"Spirits are a minor matter. The real issue lies in the countless fanatical emotions tangled within that spiritual power…"
Leylin sighed.
The basic threshold for absorbing divinity was the Legendary realm — this was not without reason.
At minimum, any powerhouse below the Legendary tier would struggle to endure even the initial wave of this soul-shattering onslaught.
"God… I pray you protect the barbarian race!" "Make the barbarians the strongest race!" "Please watch over the barbarians' survival…" "I want to eat meat, eat meat every single day…"
A torrent of chaotic thoughts flooded Leylin's mind, enough to drive any sane person to madness.
Even a Legendary powerhouse, if they recklessly absorbed such chaotic soul energy, would very likely become a lunatic with a split personality.
However, Leylin at least had the Chip, which had long given him experience in such matters. Moreover, his own soul origin was that of a half-seventh-tier being, so he managed to hold on.
"Hsss..."
"I am the Serpent of the Endless Worlds! Lord of Devouring All Things!" The phantom of the Tagarian Winged Serpent materialized within Leylin's pupils, and a faint devouring force coalesced into a vortex that swallowed all of the chaotic soul essence in one gulp.
Subsequently, the converted power surged continuously into Leylin's Sea of Consciousness.
The Chip's alert chimed at this moment: [Ding! Host has ingested a large amount of energy, identified as soul origin essence! Absorbed!]
Massive streams of frigid energy seemed to converge entirely within Leylin's mind, causing his Spiritual Power to operate at an astonishing speed.
[Ding! Host has absorbed soul energy! Spiritual Power +1!]
The barbarian tribe's accumulation over countless ages had all been claimed by Leylin, ultimately granting him one additional point of Spiritual Power.
"I feel like my Spiritual Power has increased by nearly a third. After reaching the fifteenth level, every single point increase in attributes represents a terrifying leap!"
Leylin gazed at his own hands, murmuring.
And the Chip's notifications continued without pause: [Ding! Host's Spiritual Power has broken through! Advancing to Sixteenth-tier Arcane Master!]
At this moment, his base stats were refreshed once more: [Leylin Farlan | Age: 22 | Race: Human | Sixteenth-tier Arcane Master | Strength: 13 | Agility: 11 | Constitution: 12 | Spirit: 16 | Arcane Energy: 160 | Condition: Healthy | Talents: Tough, Erudite, Beginner Perfect Body | Specialties: Arcane Energy Sense, Arcane Amplification] [Magic Web Analysis Progress: Zero-level Magic Web 100%! First-level Magic Web 100%! Second-level Magic Web 100%! Third-level Magic Web 100%! Fourth-level Magic Web 100%! Fifth-level Magic Web 67.35%! Sixth-level Magic Web 41.91%! Seventh-level Magic Web 22.33%!]
[Spell Slots: Seventh-level (2), Sixth-level (5), Fifth-level (7), Fourth-level (???), Third-level (???), Second-level (???), First-level (???), Zero-level (???)]
The advancement of an Arcane Master required not only growth in Spiritual Power and soul strength but also an understanding and sensitivity toward arcane energy.
However, given Leylin's own attainments in the occult arts, his understanding in this regard had long surpassed that of many Legendary Arcane Masters, so there was absolutely no bottleneck whatsoever.
As long as there was a breakthrough in Spiritual Power, it would drive the advancement of his Arcane Master rank.
"The barbarian tribe here hasn't even condensed Divinity yet—it was just a portion of soul power mixed with faith, and that alone was enough for me to advance a tier? Perhaps, I could specifically seek out more of this kind of thing in the future…"
The power of faith, in Leylin's view, was the power of emotions, and also the power of the soul.
Since his advancement had no bottleneck and only required vast amounts of energy, combined with his Devouring ability, he could advance rapidly as long as the conditions were met.
And in the outer seas, or even across the continent, wherever there was barbarian worship, there was a high likelihood of this kind of spirit-like power being generated.
For Leylin, this was also a shortcut to advancement.
Of course, if a shrine had truly condensed Divinity, Leylin would actually not dare to devour it rashly.
Otherwise, once his own nature was altered, it would be no laughing matter.
For instance, being made the guardian god of barbarians would be worse than death.