Chapter 847 Absorbing Soul Flames
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"No, you have to share, Erika."
I stopped her as I took control over the enormous Soul Flame. Soul Flames were different than a soul itself, they were an expression of the Soul's strength.
By absorbing them, it is possible to gain some bonus stats, and strengthen our own soul, elemental power, and restore both Mana, Ki, and Spiritual Energy.
Because I am not as merciless as I might seem, I usually don't devour the soul of literally everything I defeat, even the souls of demons are usually spared, unless I need to strengthen my soul.
I am quite merciful in that regard, only usually taking half of my victims' souls, while letting the rest go... I could be even more merciless and eat them all.
However, as someone that has died and know what reincarnation is, I dislike negating this privilege to other souls, because I wouldn't had liked if the same happened to me.
So usually, even if I devour a soul, it is only half of it.
"Eeeh? B-But I was about to get even stronger!"
Erika protested while pouting adorably. I had to resist her this time. She was getting too spoiled and, because there were three other friends that shared this power, it was better to share.
"Don't be greedy, you've eaten a lot of Soul Flames already, your stats have grown almost twice as much... Now, let's divide it equally."
I manipulated the Soul Flame, which was now an even safer method to extract the power of a soul while leaving the soul intact and divided it into five pieces.
I shared the five pieces equally to all of us, Chris, Alberta, Erdrich, and Erika. And of course, me. I took the large piece, which was already immense from an A- Rank Mutated Red Dragon and swallowed it.
It tasted rather sweet, but also smoky. It was much tastier than eating souls directly, especially because it didn't include all the annoying memories you had to digest and destroy.
If it were the soul of a bastard, I wouldn't hesitate to destroy it, but when it comes to innocent beings such as monsters, which are no different than animals, it didn't feel right to me.
Taking their lives to grow stronger was enough, but negating them the chance of rebirth?
...
[You and your party have slain hundreds of Dragon-type Monsters and the Dungeon Boss, the [Golden Flames Dragon (A- Rank)] x1!]
[You earned 875.000.000 EXP!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Level has increased from Level 99 to Level 100/100!]
[All your Stats have increased. You Earned Bonus Stat Points and Skill Points.]
[Some of your Skills have Leveled Up.]
[You have reached Max Level; it is now possible to Rank Up.]
[To Rank Up, you must first choose which Talents you want to combine.]
[Once you Rank Up, your Level Cap will increase, and your Spirit Orb will breakthrough into the next stage.]
Looks like I can combine two Talents again, every time I Rank Up, actually!
Isn't that an amazing thing? Though, it might take me a little while to think over it completely.
I won't Rank Up right away, I'll enjoy the last day in the dungeon with my friends.
[The [Holy Spirits] are excited that you've reached the Max Level once more.]
[They praise your hard work this entire year, you've grown strong at an incredibly fast pace.]
[The [Equivalent Exchange] Grimoire Ability cooldown has ended some time ago; they recommend you use some rare materials as sacrifice to gain Bonus Stat Points and Skill Points and be able to learn all the Skill Tree Skills before you Rank Up.]
Oh right, [Equivalent Exchange], I had forgotten about that function, but now that they reminded me, it is really quite useful...
It was a way for them to give me the ability to unlock all Skills even when the Skill Points I gained per Level weren't enough.
Hm, I wonder what materials should I sacrifice?
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