Soul of Negary

Volume 7 Chapter 2: Changes

Caw caw caw caw!

A large number of crows flew across the sky, then one of them descended and landed on Negary’s outstretched finger.

The sharp claws gently wrapped around Negary’s finger. This member of the terrifying species called the Death Crows was now intimately rubbing its head against Negary’s hand.

「 Yayu[1] welcomes Master’s return! 」the Crow spoke.

Negary had now become a Pathway Entity, so even while he didn’t purposely make his Pathway radiate its information, these crows had already begun to change, since they carry a mutated form of the original germs that Negary brought into this world.

To be exact, ever since Negary set foot onto this world once again, the germs inside their bodies had already begun to change.

The crow that proclaimed itself to be Yayu who was perched on Negary’s hand had even achieved sublimation, this was because its [Origin] belonged to the Manipulation domain, a part of which was now under Negary’s management.

That was why Negary was its master, even if only in name, and why it had benefited the most from Negary’s return.

The release of its bloodline had allowed the crow to obtain wisdom and knowledge that surpassed normal people. It was currently the leader of a flock of Death Crows with over 10,000 members, so as soon as its bloodline mutation ended, it brought its flock to welcome Negary.

“So many of them, then there’s no need for this parasol anymore, although the smell can use some improvement”

Lan Shan commented as she looked up to the jet-black sky. These crows did not benefit nearly as much as Yayu, even their wisdom hadn’t been fully unlocked, but the pressure from their bloodline was more than enough to stop them from being noisy. Of course, with them being a large flock of birds, the smell wasn’t going to be pleasant.

Back in Reystromia, the crows were very self-aware and made sure to clean themselves, but these crows had been left alone in the wild for over a thousand years already.

「 As miss Lan Shan wishes, Yayu will make sure to pay attention to this 」

The knowledge from its bloodline allowed Yayu to recognize Lan Shan and the other aspects of Negary, as well as a limited level of understanding regarding Negary’s forces, so it ordered the flock of crows to fly a bit higher as it heard Lan Shan’s words.

During his research of the [Origins], Negary had profoundly understood the importance of vision. In the beginning, his practically insane method of advancement was also due to his limited vision; and that immortal who obtained Negary’s power couldn’t even take the first step after 1000 years was also limited by his own vision, clinging onto the arrogance of an immortal and refusing to improve.

For that reason, to ensure that his subordinates wouldn’t be crippled garbage, the information he initially teaches only includes knowledge regarding vision.

〖 What considerable changes! 〗

As the crows flew into the distance, Negary brought Lan Shan and Yayu with him towards his destination. Observing this changed world, even he couldn’t help but lament. Additionally, through the comparison of the past and present, he was also further tempering his will, as this was the meaning of emotion’s existence.

This thousand-year change all began from the moment that Nala rekindled the First Flame.

The approach of the Black Abyss brought numerous monsters with it, although most of them had already been eliminated by the White Light’s approach after Nala rekindled the First Flame, some still remained.

Afterwards, a huge plague occurred within the Interkam Kingdom, followed by the loss of the Church of Divine Grace’s ability to grant their Graces. These two disasters caused the Interkam Kingdom to become greatly weakened once again.

On the other hand, the Great King Eldridge of the Royas Kingdom manifests as a spirit, so without hesitation, the Royas Kingdom ripped their previous peace treaty up and proceeded to invade Interkam.

Royas still ended up an Empire, and the radiance of the Great King Eldridge illuminated the land, but this radiance only lasted for 300 years.

Eventually, even the rekindled First Flame ended up being snuffed out, and not even Eldridge managed to save the world this time around. The First Flame had gone out too quickly, so there wasn’t even ash left to burn, fortunately, the Black Abyss did not descend this time ago, as if both the White Light and the Black Abyss had thoroughly given up on this world.

However, the symptoms of the First Flame being snuffed out still manifested themselves. Large-scale diseases began to plague the world, killing a large number of people every day. The Royas Empire ended up collapsing under these circumstances, as even Eldridge seemed to have lost his powers.

The upheaval of the era persisted for 300 years, greatly decreasing the world’s population. The Age of Metal slowly came into existence, the advent of which was the gradual ineffectiveness of the Age of Flames’ [Respiratory Art]. As this system of power spread out during the Age of Turbulent, it slowly turned into [Bone Forge Art]

Everyone began to dig for humanity’s own latent powers, improving their constitution through physical training, fighting off the disease, as well as the portion of Black Abyss monsters, Dragonborn Demons, and Crow Demons.

While Negary had brought the majority of his troops with him to the final battle, some Crowmen and Dragonmen still remained in this world. Unlike the Ghostmen whose powers didn’t correlate to their bloodline, these people could still pass on their powers through their bloodline, and once the First Flame died out, they also underwent mutation.

According to what Negary could sense, there were still descendants of Crowmen and Dragonmen in this world, but unlike the Death Crows, these humans had their own sense of self and were affected to a much lesser degree. Additionally, they seemed to also resist their bloodline, leading to them receiving very little information.

〖 Who would have thought there would be a day when my experiments were said to be a cursed bloodline? 』Negary was observing history, seemingly watching something highly interesting.

Where he was observing, there was a story about the love and tragedy of a Dragonmen’s descendant - a Dragonborn. In the end, he was forced to use his cursed bloodline to turn into a dragonoid monster, saving his village while leaving another mark of the Dragonborn’s tragic history.

Even Ghostmen still exist in this world. Negary had left a total of 6 Ceremonial Blades in this world, so through trial and error, some people eventually managed to figure out how to create Ghostmen, although there were still differences compared to the originals.

〖 So Reya had been destroyed as well 〗

Negary was currently standing inside a certain city. The area that Negary originally constructed had already been destroyed shortly after Negary left, the ruins of which this new city was built upon.

The Cauchy people never managed to complete their dream of a unified nation. During the Age of Turbulent, this race of people started to exist only in name, as they were assimilated by the bigger tribes, at this point, very few people still remember themselves as being Cauchy.

“Remember, the bone is the origin of your blood. [Bone Forge Art] will modify your bones to manifest a tough characteristic, allowing your blood to eventually flow throughout your entire body and provide strength. And only those with a strong body would be able to become a Pugilist”

On an empty plot of land outside the city, a middle-aged man was explaining to a group of 10-odd years old children.

If Killer J or Yun Rong was here, they’d definitely say something about how this was the typical beginning of a fantasy novel. A brat with firm eyes would definitely be among these children, who would be the eventual main character.

During this era, [Bone Forge Art] wasn’t particularly rare, as everyone knew about the foundational basics. What wasn’t public knowledge were the various schools of technique that were developed with [Bone Forge Art] as the basis.

“Where should we go next? Milord?” Lan Shan asked him from the side.

Unlike Noah and Killer J who were born here, this was her first time in the Flame world, so she was extremely interested in everything here.

[1] The name literally means Crow feather

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