Instantly, he felt the cool tingling sensation from the back of his head as an invisible and mysterious force seemed to be opening a way for him within his mind.
He felt a needle-like pricking pain at the back of his head, but the discomfort was nothing compared to the exhilarating sensation of his spiritual strength increasing. His senses sharpened significantly, and it felt as though he could see in all directions—like having a 360-degree field of vision.
Ash even felt some sort of improvement in his vision, but he couldn't tell the exact subtle difference.
His spirit continued to increase, and the pain with a cooling sensation remained for ten minutes before the greatest change took place.
Crack! Crack!...
Like some glass wall, he seemed to shatter some barrier or a certain threshold and immediately felt liberated. All the discomfort disappeared, and only a sense of coolness with power remained.
He wanted to feel all this clearly, but his eyes, which didn't show any sign of change, seemed to become agitated.
His eyes for a second, became pitch black, which if anyone saw this, they would be terrified. The moment his eyes became black, a mysterious aura appeared around him, which seemed to carry eerie power.
But it lasted for only a fraction of a second before the aura around him vanished, and his eyes returned to normal. It was as though the strange phenomenon had never happened—but Ash was certain it was real. A major change had just occurred in his eyes.
Eager to confirm it, he quickly activated his ability to inspect himself, hoping it would reveal the transformation.
[Ash/Asterion - Level 02(1/20)]
[Evolver Level - Middle Stage Awakened ]
[Martial Arts Level - Third Rate ]
[Strength- 1.5 ]
[Speed- 1.4 ]
[Physique- 1.4 ]
[Spirit- 2.4 (+0.6)↑ ]
[Talent- Eye of Myriad Manifestation (Level- 01)]
[ Spiritual Ability- Mark of Lost Soul ]
He quickly noticed the changes; first, his Spirit increased greatly, which, just like he expected, improved his evolver strength. He reached the middle stage of the Awakener realm.
But this wasn't the most surprising part—he had somewhat expected the changes in his strength. What truly shocked him was that his talent, 'Eye of Myriad Manifestation,' seemed to have given birth to a new ability with his breakthrough in the Evolver realm.
"Mark of Lost Soul," looking at the name, he murmured, feeling confused as he tried to carefully feel the mysterious power slowly released by his eyes. He instinctively knew how to activate it, but he didn't know what would happen after that.
The only thing he knew was that the ability seemed to be related to the dead and souls.
He immediately wanted to try it out, but he needed a dead body. Thankfully, it wasn't that difficult. Soldiers and hunters hunt regularly; he can find the body of a dead animal just by asking, so he immediately went outside to find his experimental body.
Ash quickly came to the small market behind the village, where hunters and a few farmers sold their goods.
He didn't fully understand what kind of effects his new ability would have or what type of corpse and its condition would be most advantageous for it. To test it properly, he decided to find the best animal corpse he could—one in the best condition, with most of its parts and organs intact.
With that in mind, he started to stroll around the market. There were quite a lot of people, but mostly, they were weak farmers, miners, or other small workers who were buying and selling things.
The number of hunters wasn't large, as usually, soldiers clear the forest and mountains nearby, but still, there were a few of them who were either trading or selling their loot.
Ash carefully looked at these hunter vendors who were selling different animals they hunted. There were rabbits, boars, and many other kinds of wild animals.
But most of them were ordinary and weak animals; since he was going to try, he wanted to find a strong corpse. As he felt his luck wasn't good, he saw a group of hunters coming together with a body.
"Hmm, looks like Old Hunter Jim and their group hunted something extraordinary."
"Yeah, just look at the size; they are going to earn big."
The people within the market started to mutter as they saw the group coming with their prey.
Three men struggled with difficulty, barely managing to carry the gigantic wolf corpse between them. The wolf was massive—nearly the size of a tiger—and even in death, its body radiated a ferocious aura.
In fact, the aura felt eerily similar to that of the demon bear Ash had encountered. From what he had read, demonic beasts were ordinary animals that, after prolonged exposure to evil aura, transformed into bloodthirsty monsters. Even a docile deer could become ferocious under the influence of enough evil aura.
As for what evil aura is and from where it comes, he didn't know anything at all. Its origin is full of mysteries; he didn't find in the books he read.
His eyes glowed as he looked at the corpse of the wolf; it was perfect for his experiment. Without waiting a moment, he came to the old hunter Jim, who had just put down the wolf's corpse with his two other friends.
The crowd had already gathered around the wolf's corpse as they were looking at the gigantic body with awe and curiosity.
"Old Jim, how the hell did the three of you manage to hunt down this monstrosity with your strength?" Someone from the crowd blurted out. Judging by the wolf's massive size, they all knew it couldn't have been easy to kill.
"You young brat, what do you mean by calling me weak?" Old Jim retorted, glaring at the man. "You don't know anything! My family has been hunting in these dangerous forests for generations."
"Through countless trials and errors, my ancestors created a perfected anaesthetic drug that can even put a strong demon to sleep. It took us three days of planning and hard work to finally capture this beast!" He added proudly, looking around at the crowd.