1222 Risk and reward

Liam contemplated for a while but then he stopped. There was only one sure way of finding out what was happening and how things worked. He also needed a lot of answers regarding other things that expired back in the tutorial world, starting with Mia and Derek.

If there was one person who could answer everything, it was Crawford and he finally had the guy's complete soul in his possession.

However, Liam did not immediately take out his soul and try to question him. This was because the old man possessed some expertise in soul manipulation. 

This was evident from the manner he had torn his soul into two and sent a part to take part in the PVP tower fight, back in the tutorial. 

The chances of the old man potentially harming him were slim but there was always a possibility that he could self-destruct and Liam could lose the only way of finding out what could have happened to two people whom he was indebted to.

Liam did not want to open up this can of worms when his soul was still injured. On the other hand, processing and going through the memories of some of these stronger souls could hold the answer for his broken soul.

While he did not want to lose them, he might be losing a valuable source of information just because he did not use it soon enough. 

Perhaps he needed to attempt to forge one of the two elven ancestors? This should give him more idea about the Spire of Ascension and the many paths that lay ahead of him.

While Liam was thinking about this, all of a sudden he felt a tug in his mind and soul. 

Liam's eyes widened for a moment before they turned completely pitch-black. The next second dense swirls of nether started seeping into him at an unprecedented rate as if he had become a black hole.

At the same time, his mind was flooded with various images and impressions.

Liam winced as the sudden surge of events overwhelmed him without any warning. In his mind, all sorts of images flashed.

One second he was seated in a meditative pose on the ground. The next second he was standing atop a roiling sea in the middle of a huge storm.

The storm was so fierce that the sky and the ocean seemed to merge into a singular maelstrom of chaos. Lightning forked across the darkened sky, illuminating the turbulent waters below.

Liam could feel the violent brash nature of the storm, feeling every lash the turbulent waters gave him. 

With his enhanced physique handling this much shouldn't be a problem for him but for some reason, it was very difficult for him to hold on. 

He was getting lost in the turbid waters, not getting a foothold to stabilize himself. The salty waters were testing his limits without holding back.

It was as if he was a mere sailor on the sea. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The scene then changed abruptly. He was once again standing or rather floating on a sea but this time it was a sea of corpses. The smell of the rotting flesh was overpowering, and the sight was ghastly. 

Bodies, as far as the eye could see, floated in a macabre dance on the dark, still waters. The sky above was a dull grey, adding to the sense of despair and hopelessness that pervaded the atmosphere.

Liam felt a pang of sorrow and revulsion, but there was also a strange sense of familiarity as if he had witnessed this scene before. 

The corpses seemed to whisper to him, their voices a cacophony of pain, regret, and unfulfilled desires. Each body had its own story, its connection to the nether that now enveloped Liam.

Liam could unexpectedly feel a resonance with each one of the corpses. Black tendrils arose from the corpses and connected to him.

All of a sudden he had a shovel in his hand. The next instant he unexpectedly found himself digging the ground with the shovel.

Liam did not intend to do this but he somehow found himself doing this. His body moved on its own as he first finished digging the hole in the ground and then started pulling one of the endless corpses into this grave.

He then started covering up the corpse once again, essentially burying the body.

And he did not stop there. After burying the first body, he then started digging a hole again for the next corpse.

Liam knew that this task was a hopeless one as the number of corpses was simply endless. However, he continued with the task anyway.

One after the other he buried the bodies that floated in front of him. With each one he buried, he felt the connection between himself and the corpse grow stronger.

He continued doing this for god knows how long. He had lost the sense of time somewhere along the line. Finally, after what felt like a dull, boring eternity, the scenery shifted again.

Liam found himself in a vast, barren landscape, under a starless sky. The ground was cracked and devoid of life, a desolate expanse stretching into infinity. Here, the nether's presence was oppressive, weighing heavily on Liam's soul.

But as he looked closer, he noticed something remarkable. Within the cracks of the barren ground, tiny sprouts of life were emerging, defiant in their existence against the backdrop of desolation.

How could it be so easy to survive? Death's oppressive pressure weighed down on the small sprouts. The small sprouts disintegrated and combusted as soon as they appeared on the surface. Death overpowered them.

However, death couldn't stop them from coming back again and again. No matter how strong the oppression of nether was, the sprouts were relentless.

Liam stood there, watching the sprouts in a transfixed manner. It only lasted for a couple of moments before he too became a sprout and started experiencing the same cycle of life and death again and again.

His heart shook as this was an experience he had already felt once before, permanently leaving a mark on his heart.

***

Mass Release Chapter 2~

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