Chapter 441: Metamorphosis
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Anfey slowly walked into the forest. Every step he took was slow and took a lot of energy, but he kept his body straight, without hunching. His lips were pressed tightly together and he looked like he was trying to stop moaning. Will power was like a dam to a river. Once there was a crack, the dam would be destroyed. If Anfey made any moves to vent his pain, he would be crushed by the pain.
After deciding which tree he would go to, Anfey pulled his sword out to cut away two bushes as he was grinded his teeth. He slowly crawled into the hole of the tree. He blocked the entrance with bushes and then took a seat with his legs crossed. He organized his Dimensional ring. He was no longer concerned only about himself. If he were in any danger, Suzanna, Christian and others still would need continue their lives. If he could not show up after the battle, Suzanna probably would come here to look for him. She would be able to find his stuff.
Anfey did not care about the magic books and gold coins, since the tree hole was too small to hold too many things. He did not care about his Fire series magic crystals too much either. If he left the magic crystals in the tree hole, the magic surges from them would attract people passing by. He needed to pick something that would be helpful for Suzanna and others but hard for others to discover.
Anfey laid a bow, a magic sword and other items in the tree hole. He held a bottle of Sacred Spirit potion. Anfey had wanted to give it to the little unicorn, but Saul suggested that he hold on to it until the little unicorn reached adulthood. At that moment, the potion seemed to be the only thing that could keep him alive.
Anfey held out his other hand, testing to see if he could gather water elements on his palm. He quickly found water elements did not help relieve his pain at all. Besides the burning pain, he could feel nothing else. However, Anfey still could keep absolutely cool. He had known the water element would not help. If Forbidden Spells were so easy to be removed, archmages would not be so powerful. He thought it was worth giving it a try.
Anfey slowly closed his eyes. He activated the internal force in his body as he released his telepathy. Anfey thought he had to understand where the injury was if he wanted to remove the effects of the Forbidden Spells. He knew he did not have much time left. The burning pain got more intense. Countless minor cracks appeared on his skin. Anfey believed these cracks would get bigger and bigger. Nothing would help him if the cracks got deep into his muscle.
After a while, Anfey helplessly opened his eyes. He wasted so much time trying to figure out where the injury was, but got nothing. The only thing he found was he felt better when he performed maximum telepathy. Releasing his telepathy to the max would help with pain but could not remove the Forbidden Spells, and it would consume his telepathy.
Anfey slowly picked up the Shattered Will of God of War. After hesitating for a while, Anfey finally started the Anti-magic Terra. The Shattered Will of God of War could only start Anti-magic Terra three times a year. At that moment, Anfey could care less. A barely visible light screen spread out, covering Anfey and the bottom of the tree hole. The light looked weak but seemed to be able to penetrate anything. It could pass through trunks and pour the light out of the tree hole onto the ground. Anfey had not made a sound. He suffered pain that most people could not bear, but now he could not help moaning a bit. The burning pain was gone. The burning pain really disappeared. Instead, he felt heavenly joy and relaxation.
In this corner, where no one could see him, Anfey did not have to hide anything. He looked anxious, quietly waiting for something. He was like a criminal waiting for his sentence by the judge.
After a while, the light screen was gone. Anfey’s face immediately twisted in pain. The Shattered Will of God of War fell out of his hand. Nothing could compare. The honey would taste heavenly sweet after having one bite of berberine. However, the berberine would become too bitter to bear after having a bite of honey. Anfey once again felt the burning pain, which seemed more intense than before.
Michael’s judgement was right. Anfey had neither combat power nor strong magic power. The effect of the burning magic could reach to its maximum. If it were Suzanna, she would only have cracks on her skin when she exhausted her combat power. Anfey felt he could not take this burning pain anymore.
If it were someone else other than Anfey, that person would have lost his mind with this unbearable and intense pain. Anfey gasped. He could barely keep from screaming. He closed his eyes and forced himself into Samadhi stage. Anfey adjusted his breathing as he crazily released his telepathy. He tried to buy himself some time as he tried to lash the mind crystal inside his body. Anfey did not know if he would be able to take the power released by mind crystal once it exploded, but right now he had no other options but to take the risk and try it.
The moon and stars disappeared from the sky. The sun rose. Time passed by. There were many visible cracks on Anfey’s skin. Different sized blood beads hung on Anfey’s forehead and face like gems. His gown had blood spots too. Anfey could clearly feel the mind crystal getting brighter and brighter.
It was not an illusion. Although the sun was bright, sunlight could not get into the tree hole, since the entrance was blocked by the brushes. It was supposed to be dark in the tree hole, but it looked brighter in the tree hole than outside. The light was from Anfey.
Unfortunately, Anfey did not seem to have enough time. More blood came out from the cracks and ran down his skull, forehead and face, slowly dying his gown red. Because of the way he sat, his knees and bottom had already turned completely red.
Some top powers who got hit by burning magic could have countered the damage caused by burning magic, but they could not bear the pain for a long period of time. They lost their minds and killed themselves in the end. Anfey had been bearing the pain that was the maximum effect of the burning magic with his iron will. He was still conscious, but his body seemed to be crushed. It was pathetic to think that he still had consciousness but body was about to die.
Anfey noticed the bleeding increase. Anfey had to put all his eggs in one basket now. He stopped doing everything except releasing the mind crystal with all the energy he had. He stopped trying to control his internal force, paying no attention to the wounds on his body.
Suddenly, a cloud of milky white light exploded in his head. The Light Seed which had been subconsciously suppressed by Anfey suddenly took advantage of the timing now that Anfey wanted to give up everything, and took root in him.
Light elements represented glory, purification, healing and warding off evil. Many people hated the church people who always thought they were better than others and claimed they were all nice and valued justice over everything. However, it was undeniable that the properties of light elements could help regular priests earn respect from others. To be more specific, people hated the priests who expressed strong political and religious views.
To dive deeper, the properties of the light elements also made what the church had done seem unbearable. People could see clearly what was written on a piece of white paper if something was drawn on it. But what would happen if it was drawn on black paper? The idea could be applied to the church as well. There were too many bad guys among the royalty. Many kings were too cruel and wasted too much time womanizing. People would not be surprised at whatever they did. People in the church could not be like them, because the church represented the light. Church people had to behave themselves. In fact, there was little difference between church people and royals. Both groups were bad, and both groups were good. Unfortunately, in real life, except for the areas with a high density of church followers, the church had been blamed for misdeeds more than the royalty.
Anfey seemed to sense danger coming. The milky white light cloud started to spread and wrap around Anfey.
The Light Seed was one type of baptism that any priest could release. However, what Slanbrea planted in Anfey was not a regular Light Seed. It was a blessed Light Seed, which could only be released by an archpriest. The archpriest needed to prey for months before he could release a blessed Light Seed. Slanbrea had been busy since he became an archpriest. He only released a blessed Light Seed three times. Anfey got the last blessed Light Seed from Slanbrea. Back then Slanbrea had not thought of anything else. The drama they had at the end was because Anfey had made such great progress.
With the nurturing of light elements, Anfey could see his wounds healing, but the power of burning magic did not disappear. The wounds broke and healed, broke and healed, broke and healed repeatedly.
This hellish experience would be unforgettable for anyone because it was so painful. Without incredible willpower, Anfey would have screamed.
After a while, the milky white light cloud started to dim. Anfey had never practiced any Light series magic because his own magic power was pretty weak. Without the power of the blessed Light Seed, he would not be able to hold out very long.
Anfey suddenly opened his eyes. He poured the Sacred Spirit potion into his mouth without giving it a second thought. He sensed that the Light Seed that he had been rejecting had become the key to his survival.
The Sacred Spirit potion functioned as the most effective and strongest aphrodisiac. After a very short period of time, the milky white light cloud suddenly expanded and radiated crystal-like bright light. The light cloud wrapped around Anfey again. The Heart of Nature which had bonded with Anfey started to pump with force and absorbed the pain with super fast speed. The slight coolness relieved some of his pain. After being attacked by the burning magic, this was the first time Anfey had felt a bit of relief.
As time went by, sun had done its job for the day and set. Suddenly there was a loud explosion. The explosion did not have shape, waves or sound, but it affected the area with a radius of dozens of miles. All the people, birds and animals did not know what had happened, but all felt their minds crash.
Maybe the Sacred Spirit potion was the key, or maybe non-stop trying over the past dozen hours had worked. The mind crystal inside Anfey’s body finally disappeared. The wounds on Anfey continued the cycle of breaking and healing, but he looked relaxed because he had a total new feeling. In other words, he gained new knowledge.
Anfey clearly saw every piece of broken crystal melting and sensed the strong telepathy embedded in them. No matter how many pieces of broken crystal were there, he seemed to be able to break himself into many selves to track every piece of broken crystal. He did not miss a single one. When each piece of broken crystal melted, Anfey thought he had absorbed as much as mind power as he could, but his body seemed to be a black hole that could absorb as long as the crystals kept melting.
The explosion had happened in the blink of an eye, but it seemed to be thousands of years long for Anfey.
He could see the huge change in his sensing ability inside and outside his body. It was not about how much clearer or more detailed he could sense. No matter where he focused his telepathy, that area became the center of the world. If he wanted to focus on two places, then there would be two centers for the world. If he wanted to see a thousand places, there would be a thousand of centers in the world. Millions of pictures flashed in Anfey’s head at the same time, but they seemed to be all in order.
His body seemed to become so big that he could absorb everything, but seemed to be as small as a cell at the same time.
He had not been able to do anything with burning Forbidden Spells before, but now it was no secret to Anfey. Countless fire elements appeared rapidly, burned, and disappeared quickly. Because of the fast speed of the fire elements, he had not figured out how he was hurt.
The pumping of the Heart of Nature started to slow down, but every beat was strong. The natural air for dozens of miles rushed in waves and nurtured Anfey’s dry body. The healing effects of Heart of Nature overcome the damage of the fire elements. The wounds on Anfey started to heal.
Anfey used to have all kinds of forces in his body, but today he finally entered the stage of Inner Alchemy, which only existed in legend as “traveler”. With the influence of the environment, all the forces completely belonged to Anfey now. He did not have to suppress any of them. If he wanted to use any force, he could let that force grow. If he did not want any force, he could let that force completely disappear.
Without knowing how much time had passed, in White Mountain City about 40 miles away, along the city wall, Christian waved his arms while Suzanna swung her sword. Anfey seemed to be able to sense all of these. He suddenly opened his eyes and moved his body. Dark red blood scabs in different sizes started to fall off like rain drops. Seeing these laid in front of him, Anfey smiled.
