Chapter 47: Three Fragmented Souls

Anderson ended up surviving after all.

He could be considered fortunate.

Among the three native fragmented souls preserved by this Druid tribe, one happened to have the ability to reset a target's physical state back to one day prior.

Although Ron had originally developed this ability to sustain continuous combat for multiple days, it still proved useful in the end.

Unfortunately, it only worked on the living.

Those fallen clansmen truly could not be brought back from the dead.

[Vivian attended the funeral.]

[Watching the grieving family members of the deceased, Vivian inevitably felt a sense of empathy.]

["That Sella is an absolute bastard!" Vivian said through gritted teeth.]

[You silently watched Sella in her safehouse, continuously mixing detoxifying potions in an attempt to dispel her affection for Vivian.]

[She tried over and over again, yet failed repeatedly, and her longing for Vivian only grew stronger instead.]

[Poor Miss Sella, this romance of yours is bound to be a tragic and agonizing one.]

[You silently felt a pang of pity for Sella in your heart.]

["And the Magic Association," you spoke up.]

This was not Ron trying to whitewash Sella.

Just based on the red glow emanating from Sella, Ron would never let Sella actually develop any further relationship with Vivian.

It was simply that Sella was still far too distant for the current Vivian.

He needed to give Vivian a clear goal to kick off the next stage of the plot.

Besides, he was not lying either.

The mages brought by Sella were all subordinates of Trevor.

[Vivian felt that what you said made a lot of sense.]

[“But how am I supposed to go make trouble for them?” Vivian wanted to take revenge for Hettie's tribe.]

[“Aren't you preparing for the grading examination?” You began offering advice to Vivian.]

[A look of realization instantly lit up in Vivian's eyes.]

[After you laid your cards on the table, Vivian reached an agreement with you.]

[She would help you scour the surroundings for scattered Demon King fragmented souls, and you would become her magic mentor.]

[Vivian was actually well aware that this was akin to bargaining with a tiger.]

[Yet her intuition told her that you were not a bad person.]

[Even though you might be a bit of a pervert.]

That last sentence was completely unnecessary to add.

Ron muttered internally.

Right at that moment, a sudden sensation welled up in his heart.

Could it be...

He summoned his Demon King Cat.

Then he saw a Grimoire floating beside the Demon King Cat.

*Index of Forbidden Books: Gospel of Suffering*.

It seemed that as the number of readers increased, the Demon King Cat's new ability had also been unlocked.

Filled with a trace of curiosity, Ron had the Demon King Cat open the *Gospel of Suffering*.

While it was true that the *Gospel of Suffering* could record skills that influenced both him and Vivian, could the skills recorded in two separate copies of the *Gospel of Suffering* be interchangeable?

The chapters Ron had updated so far had not yet reached the part where Vivian fought Edward, but the magic related to it on this Grimoire had already vanished, replaced by some newly recorded spells.

For instance, Sella's charm and brainwashing, as well as Viegrafat's teleportation.

In other words, at least the contents of the *Gospel of Suffering* in the spirit realm were being updated in real-time to this Grimoire.

He just wondered if using the magic on it when he was inside the spirit realm dungeon later would also cause the Grimoire in the spirit realm to lose those particular skills.

If that was the case, he would need to think a little more carefully when using skills inside the dungeon.

Of course, if that truly was how it worked, it wasn't entirely a bad thing either.

The skills he recorded within the spirit realm dungeon could then be utilized by his own avatar inside the spirit realm.

After studying the new ability, Ron opened the chat application and sent over the newly finished character art.

If the experiences from ten years ago had granted Ron any real-world ability, this multi-tasking capability was probably one of them.

While reading the resonance text to converse with Vivian, Ron's hand never stopped drawing for even a second.

This was a piece of character art worth one hundred thousand per image, damn it!

Having experienced the exhilaration of paving the way forward with money inside the spirit realm dungeons, Ron valued this job all the more.

Based on this alone, Boss Pei's kindness could never be fully repaid!

Ron poured thirteen tenths of his energy into every single piece of character art.

After sending out the art files, the other party did not reply for a long time.

This briefly led Ron to believe his draft was about to be rejected and sent back for revisions.

Just as he was about to inquire, a reply finally came through.

[Wei Shaojie: Big Boss, you're a god! How on earth do you manage to draw characters so intensely alluring without revealing anything at all?!]

[Ron: Experience, I suppose.]

As long as your practical experience is abundant enough, you can reach my level too.

Ron said silently in his heart, then noticed that the author group chat was already showing 99+.

Although opening this group chat always showed 99+, this time it had been less than ten minutes since Ron last checked the records.

Had something major happened?

Ron clicked into the chat group and discovered everyone was discussing the book currently sitting at the top of the new book rankings.

[Keyboard Milk: I can't take it anymore, this book is simply too abstract.]

[Charcoal-Grilled Octopus: Truly abstract indeed.]

Abstract? The new book rankings?

Filled with curiosity, Ron opened the novel application and found that the number one spot on the new book rankings belonged to a book about an abstract system.

When he saw the protagonist slaughtering cockroaches in a room and having the system judge it as annihilating a swarm of demons, Ron truly could not keep a straight face.

The crucial part was that the protagonist himself was quite an abstract character.

It was no wonder the author had climbed to the top of the new book rankings with a word count far lower than his own.

This newcomer was a genuine monster.

Thinking to himself, Ron scrolled further down the new book rankings and suddenly discovered that he had made it onto the list as well.

Although he was ranked 97th, sitting very far down, it at least counted as making the list.

However, Ron was not in a rush to use up the dungeon month-pass he currently held.

If he used the dungeon month-pass right now, he could undoubtedly climb to the top of the new book rankings, but firstly, compared to that abstract system book, his novel was not yet exceptionally outstanding, and secondly, he had not yet updated up to the plot involving the Druid tribe.

He planned to wait until the right moment to push for the rankings, and then leverage the hype of the new book rankings to extract all his newly acquired abilities in one go.

Hettie's tribe had a total of three fragmented souls in their collection.

One was [Resurgence], which could reset physical conditions back to the previous day—Ron had used it to save Anderson.

The other two skills were [Camouflage] and [Forced Stun].

Actually, all three of these skills belonged to the most unremarkable category within Ron's skill set, let alone being far inferior to [The Sinful Penalty of Mighty Authority] and [Index of Forbidden Books: Gospel of Suffering], even his older brother outshined them.

Yet when applied to the current Vivian, these all counted as quite decent abilities.

The skill [Camouflage] was something Ron had developed for the purpose of sneaking around behind people's backs; it could perfectly transform oneself into someone else's spouse while conveniently masking one's own aura.

Used on Vivian, it could mask the auras of both the Demon King Cat and Vivian, achieving a true sense of perfect infiltration when necessary—the kind that didn't require slaughtering everyone in sight.

As for [Forced Stun], it was a compulsory control effect. When the user dealt physical damage to an enemy, it would plunge the opponent into a brief stun state, making it exceptionally fitting for Vivian.