Cleo, seeing that they had left quickly, brings Aranold into their hideout. His friend is shocked by this, and he cannot help but ask in alarm.
"Why are we going back?!"
Cleo takes out the machine that he had acquired from Lilith; he quickly explains.
"This object can conjure yin stones; they might be inferior to natural ones, but at least with such an item, the two of us can gain a stable amount of yin stones without worrying about how to ask for another yin attribute item from Lady Lilith."
Seeing how grave his expression is, Aranold feels a pang of guilt in his heart. He knows that his friend has suffered some sort of injustice from Lilith; he clenches his fist tightly and swears that he will definitely pay back the gratitude that he owes to him.
"Throw me!" Aranold, without hesitation, pushes him up with all of his strength. Cleo quickly grabs the short rope that is hidden in one of the crevices. He starts climbing and arrives at the hole.
He takes out the machine and hides it deep in the hole. According to the system, it is lacking in energy and was not actually broken. It seems that after being brought out of the Realm of the Thousand Worlds, it had suffered some sort of cosmic virus.
The system is able to solve this problem with ease as it is one of its primary functions. Now that they are in a place filled with dense yin energy, the machine can start absorbing it and transforming it into a purified form.
"Hmm, this might attract some unwanted creatures." Seeing that the hole is too big and striking, he decides to hide it. He starts punching the walls, but it is actually much harder than he expected.
His eye starts twitching after suffering from the pain; he sighs and feels that he had to somehow secure the location.
[Put the wolf to guard the crevice; the system suggests that the host fuse the fish and wolf in order to create a much more powerful pet.]
"What!? I can do that!? Why did you not tell me this before!?" He is shocked from hearing that, and he cannot help but start breathing rapidly. If he can truly combine his pets, he might be able to create more powerful pets even without the Gemstone of Life.
[This ability does not come without any cost; the Gemstone of Life is one of the system's greatest achievements; it can fuse, mutate, and evolve life forms.] The system does not have all the information regarding the ability of the Gemstone of Life as the creators had died before testing its full capacity.
"Even if that is the case, why did you not inform me about this earlier?" He can just ask for others to trade the so-called useless soul pets with money.
[After surviving the black hole, the system has to use its full power to revive the host; most of its memories and data were erased or sealed due to the amount of energy it requires to contain them.]
"So you just collected the data? Have you started recovering with the increase in my strength?" he asks.
[Affirmative, but the real reason for the data recovery is the system's absorption of the cosmic energy from the device; without it, the host might not have obtained the information regarding the fusion.]
'Cosmic energy! ' He finally found an energy that can help the system recover; unfortunately, this type of energy is extremely volatile and he is incapable of obtaining it. They got lucky because they had obtained the device from Lilith.
[The fusion will definitely harm the host; there is a sixty-five percent chance that the process will lead to the host's death; it is advised not to take it.]
"If that is the case, then why did you suggest that I should fuse Alpha Shadow Wolf and Hungry Koi Fish?" He asks with a confused expression.
[The system still has a small amount of cosmic energy that has not been absorbed yet; it can use this to safely fuse two soul blessings, but this will not take away the great pain that comes with the fusion.]
"Why does this process cause pain?" He is confused; the subjects are his pets; why is he the one feeling the pain from the fusion?
[The system uses the Gemstone of Life for the fusion, but it needs a special place to activate the process; firstly, the two soul blessings need to be in the same category; secondly, the soul blessings are stably hooked in the host's soul slot.]
"So my soul is used to carry out the process, I understand." He nods his head. He might not truly understand the entire process, but at least he has a general gist of what is going to happen.
"Wait, I need to let Aranold climb up; if this process is extremely dangerous, I might become vulnerable during the fusion." Grabbing the rope inside the hole, he throws them out.
Feeling the tug, he knows his friend has realised his intention. After a while, Aranold finally arrives at the hole.
He quickly informs him about his plan, and after hearing it, his friend actually dissuades him, but he is adamant on going through.
Since he cannot change his mind, Aranold can only agree. Fortunately, Diamond has brought a lot of food with her; she had returned to the cafeteria after expecting that Pure and Cleo would take some time in their trade with Lilith.
"Wait! Before you start your crazy experiment, I need to bring the food here!" Without waiting for him to respond, his friend jumps out of the hole.
Knowing that his friend is suffering from the drain from his bloodline, he is actually worried that the fusion might take a considerable amount of time to be completed.
After Aranold brings all the food into the hole, Cleo immediately tells the system to start; unfortunately, even after he prepared himself for the upcoming pain, the degree of it still shocked him.
"Ahh!" he screams in agony. He starts withering in pain as he feels his soul being ripped apart; the sensation is unbearable.