Chapter 182: Chapter 178: Immortality
[Trait: Transcendence has evolved to Soul Transcendence.]
[Trait: Revolutionary has been unlocked.]
[Trait: Immortal has been unlocked.]
Plenty of notifications flashed before Blaze’s eyes, but he couldn’t see any of them. He was truly dead in all senses of the word. He couldn’t control his body, nor could anyone other than Anur see him.
What is this place?
That was his first thought as he saw his body in the third person. He looked peaceful, lying his head on Anur’s lap while she stared at the other him.
What happened to me? How can I view my body like... this?
The place around him was still the same, but how he viewed it had changed dramatically. There were no colors, no shadows, nothing. Just plain line art covering everything he could see.
He didn’t have any recollection of what had happened. One moment he was following Anur’s instructions to absorb souls, then his vision faded to black, and when he came to, he was outside his body.
"How do you feel?" Anur asked, this time looking straight at him.
You can see me?
"The glasses," she replied. "Although your soul form looks a bit strange."
...strange?
Blaze looked down and saw his translucent body. It wasn’t like the soul he had absorbed moments ago. While it was spherical and dense, he had retained his humanoid shape, albeit there were no features.
His face was plain white, and his body leaner than it had ever been. Much to his surprise, he was also floating in the air and could even phase through things!
"You must love your body a bit too much," Anur chuckled, waving him back. "Come on, I think it’s enough for a trial, right?"
How do I get back?
"The same way you got out. Jump inside."
Blaze did so and, once again, everything went black. A few moments later, he opened his eyes and saw Anur’s bright face staring at him.
"Good morning."
Blaze didn’t reply, just got off her lap, clutching his head.
"...it feels like I was dropped from the exosphere," he said. "This headache is killing me."
"It’s because you performed an unnatural maneuver," Anur explained, taking off her spectacles. "Souls cannot return to their original bodies. As for why it happens, no one knows. You can think of it as an expired lease agreement. Once it expires, you cannot return to your old home."
She continued, "You, however, are already an anomaly, someone who shouldn’t exist. Thanks to your new traits, re-entering your body is possible, albeit there can be some side effects."
"Like the headache. Got it."
Blaze should have been pissed at her for performing an experiment on him, knowing he might not return to his body, but he wasn’t. He understood science requires sacrifices, though he usually didn’t want to be on that side of things.
Other than that, he was too occupied by the strange voices in his head. It was like a choir group was yelling and crying out of sync.
It must be another side effect... these souls aren’t as dead as I thought they’d be.
Back in his soul form, there were no noises. Most likely because a zombie, a creature from the mortal realm, shouldn’t be able to absorb souls.
Anur had already explained to him that only a soul can absorb a soul. Yet, his strange skills enabled him to do it.
Unfortunately, bending the laws of nature had repercussions, and the constant voices were the price to pay for his unnatural immortality.
"Ugh... stop already!"
Blaze fell to his knees as the voices got louder. They were screaming, wanting to be let out of captivity from the mortal realm.
The next moment, Anur yanked him by the hair and shoved a pill in his mouth, forcing him to swallow. Blaze coughed, heaving like he was alive and wanted to puke, but nothing came out of his mouth.
It wasn’t a surprise since he was a zombie, and they only puke out acid, nothing else.
A moment later, those voices dimmed down. They weren’t gone, but it wasn’t unbearable like before. Clutching his chest, Blaze got up, wondering what it was all about.
"Mind segregation pills," Anur said, handing him a bottle. "Usually it’s used to treat what you humans call schizophrenia."
"Schizophrenia? I wasn’t hallucinating—"
"The pills segregate and numb unnecessarily active parts of your mind. I assumed it would work to silence the voices for now. In time, your body should adapt to the rapid changes."
"And if it doesn’t?"
"Then I’ll get more pills for you."
"...Immortality comes at a price, heh?" Blaze sighed, pocketing the pills.
"Everything comes at a price," Anur said, fiddling with her locket. "Some we don’t think twice about, and others we are forced to regret for the rest of our lives."
Blaze nodded but didn’t say a word. He knew something must have happened to Anur for her to turn against the Collective.
Yes, he didn’t believe for a second that she was doing it merely for the greater good. The Collective must have betrayed or hurt her for her to seek revenge.
While Anur was lost in her thoughts, Blaze decided to learn more about his new traits.
—x—
Trait: Immortality
Type: Passive
Grade: Unique (cannot be recreated or stolen from the user. As long as the user exists, only they can have this skill.)
Description:
You’re immortal. That’s about it.
Effects:
>> Unkillable: The user cannot die under any circumstances. As long as the soul remains intact, the host’s body will absorb nearby atoms, molecules, corpses, anything available to regenerate even from nothing on the user’s wish.
>> Pure Energy: Complete soul erasure is rendered impossible. Much like energy, it can only be molded, trapped, and transferred, but not destroyed.
—x—
Blaze didn’t even react to the trait. He merely stared at the description for a long time, as if wondering when someone would say it was a prank.
He closed the screen, pinched himself, and, naturally, didn’t feel pain. Thinking it was a dream, he checked again, only to see the same screen again.
"This can’t be real..."
As good as the trait was, it still had a believable weakness. The Collective couldn’t kill him, but they could imprison him for all eternity. However, that weakness was eliminated by the other trait he gained.
—x—
Trait: Revolutionary
Type: Passive
Grade: Divine
Description:
When facing evil, even the universe tilts its scales in favor of the underdog. This trait is a manifestation of that ancient belief.
Effects:
>> Invisible: The user cannot be located, tracked, or marked by anyone they deem as enemies. Any attempt made to do otherwise will prove unfruitful, often forcing the marked enemies onto false trails.
>> Untouchable: There’s a 20% chance that an attack from a marked enemy will fail to connect or hurt the user.
>> Absolute Freedom: The user cannot be trapped, enslaved, or mentally controlled by someone deemed an enemy.
—x—
"Anur... something is off with these traits I’ve just gained..."
Blaze.exe has stopped working.
If he had been a program, that would’ve been the error Anur would see hovering over his head. He wasn’t a mere immortal, but a literal god now.
A literal... GOD.
No one could kill him. No one could trap him.
Forget the collective. Even a grade-7 civilization couldn’t harm a single hair on his head.
Anur checked his stats and smiled. However, it wasn’t pleasant or kind like before; it was a hungry smile. One that Blaze was well aware of, as he had smiled like that often.
Instead of saying anything, she instantly hugged Blaze. Tears flowed down her cheeks as he stood there, wondering why she got so emotional.
I guess I don’t need to consume her anymore, or consume anything for that matter.
From the moment Blaze was turned into a zombie, he had one goal in mind. To become unstoppable, something even the higher civilizations feared.
Now, he had achieved that goal... yet he didn’t seem fulfilled.
He got what he wanted, but not how he wanted it.
Ever since learning about the existence of the higher civilizations, he had wanted to explore more such species. He wanted to experiment with them on his way to immortality.
The vision he had was to consume entire planets, then use their technology to infect another planet and another. But now, the fun of it had been stolen from him.
Fighting without the risk of losing life would be tiring, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun.
"Wait," Blaze suddenly pushed Anur away. "It says I can regenerate through anything and anywhere. Does that mean... I can turn human again?"
"Why would you even want to do that?"
"I’m not saying I’ll do that. I’m just curious if it would work like that."
Anur shook her head. It was a trait she hadn’t seen before, so it was difficult to know its limits. After all, how could one learn about immortality without dying first?
"So... kill me," Blaze said, spreading his arms wide open.