The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 928: Where To Put Power?

The solution to Karlʼs issues came in the form of one tarnished Golden Dragon Scale. Not the image of it in his mental space, but the actual treasure that Hawk had looted.

Karl took it out and held it in his hand as he meditated, then watched as the depleted scale began to rapidly absorb both soul energy and life force at a rate that dwarfed anything Karl could manage.

The way that it managed it was simple, the same way that Karl had been attempting to integrate the energy with himself. But the rate was so far beyond what he could manage that it was almost embarrassing.

However, Karl didnʼt just give all the stored energy to the scale, which was rapidly regaining its lustre. He still wanted as much as he could absorb for himself, as the combination of soul and life energy caused his own power level to skyrocket.

If he had a few months to simply sit and work on it, Karl was certain that he could force himself to the Totem Rank just with what he already had.

The qualifier was mostly that the weapons were both oversaturated and leaking power, and he needed to get them below that point so that they could continue to function properly during the next battle and not cause another overload situation.

The Haint Claw had begun to change, Karl noticed. Like Overlord Leafa, it was developing a personality of its own. Karl could sense the smug superiority radiating from it when he complained to himself about how long it would take him to adapt to all the excess power that the Haint Claw had stored.

If it was as efficient at transferring the energy to him as it was at taking it in, they wouldnʼt be in this situation.

But then, if it could reinforce his soul at such an insane rate, he would probably stop being human entirely. The stored soul energy was stripped of most of the aspects of the creature that it came from, but not all of it. There was always a bit of lingering influence left over, the innate aspects that couldnʼt be removed without destroying the innate stability of the soul.

In contrast, the life essence from the Blade of Champions was a simple and direct upgrade. More powerful vitality was more powerful vitality. As he absorbed it, his body became increasingly more durable.

Only, with the change in his constitution, he no longer progressed steadily toward the next rank, but he became more and more monstrous with every bit of stolen vitality.

The Orc he took the blade from would be proud.

With little choice, Karl focused on the energy from the Blade of Champions, attempting to deplete at least one of the weapons before the next battle. The stream of Soul Energy from the Haint Claw didnʼt change much whether he focused on it or not, so he simply let it passively filter while he infused his body with the powerful life force of the defeated Bomgon army.

The life force of a Totem Ranked undead was absolutely immense, and the weapons had shamelessly taken the majority of the leaked life energy of the Overlords who had been killed in battle as well.

The entire time that Karl was being overloaded with power? They were stocking up.

After an unknown amount of time, Karl felt a new presence entering the Tiny World. Priestess Delilah had come to visit, but she had brought a stranger into the space with her.

Karl opened his eyes to see who was so important that the Totem Ranked Dragon would bring them here. Even bringing strangers to the fort was unusual, but Karl was fairly certain he had been clear that the Tiny World was not a public space.

Beside the red dragon was an older man with white Dragon Church robes on, and golden light shining from his eyes.

”High Priest, I wasnʼt expecting visitors. Forgive my appearance.” Karl greeted them.

The old man nodded silently, and continued to stare at Karl for a few seconds before speaking.

”I can see what the War Avatar meant, whatever change you underwent is a most curious one. You are progressing toward Totem Ranked, but not at the same rate that youʼre progressing towards something else.

I wonder if that constitution skill can still be called Epic Grade? It feels like it should be stronger than that, or perhaps because your baseline was something inhuman the multiplicative effect is stronger?

Ah, forgive me, I have forgotten the basics. I am Joel, Avatar of the White Dragon.”

Karl nodded his greeting and continued the process of transforming the energy in the blade into power for his body.

”Do you have a particular goal with this process?” The aging white dragon asked.

”Are you familiar with the Dungeon Bosses? How theyʼre far superior to a regular creature at their Rank? That is what Iʼm hoping to accomplish with my own body. I already have damage reduction and healing abilities that put me on par with nearly any living species. So, if I can increase my health by enough...”

Karl trailed off, and the white dragon hummed curiously.

”It should be possible. When dragons are chosen as Avatars of their Gods, they also increase in durability by a significant amount, signifying the favour of their patron. The precedent is solid, and I would be curious to see what it would take to even damage someone with the skills that you are reported to have after you reach Totem Rank.”

Karl smiled. ”Surely, you didnʼt come all this way just to see how my recovery was going? I donʼt recall sensing you on the battlefield.”

The dragon sighed. ”I could only wish that it was so simple. No, the church is more concerned about your relationship with Supreme Lady Matilda. We can sense her power on you, and one of your companions.

The Chaos Dragon is a casual menace to society, and we had to be certain that she hadnʼt done something that was going to create issues on another island.

Again.”

That made Karl chuckle. ”So, you were concerned that my advancement might be a practical joke that she was playing on the world?”

Karl briefly thought that, in a way, it might be. But one that she allowed to play out, not one that she started.

Priestess Delilah smirked and winked at Karl. ”It might not be bad for you if she did. I recall once when I was a child, she cast a curse called [Alternation] on a hatchling that caused them to cycle between their current state, and their state on their final birthday at random.

You never knew whether it was a toddlerʼs tantrum, or if you would get a Mythic Rank Green Dragon throwing a fit. The cursed one matured remarkably quickly, with the memories of being an adult, but removing the curse took nearly ten years.”

That spell had possibilities. The chance that you would just burst with power and rise half a dozen Ranks at once whenever you were frustrated or facing a challenge? It might not be reliable, but when it worked, it would really work.

”I can see why you would be concerned about that. After all, I have already seen myself as an Immortal.” Karl agreed.