Chapter 170: Gune's Ambition

When Gune opened the transcendent door of his cultivation chamber,

he was taken aback.

There, before the transcendent door, stood the maid Wendini, waiting.

Gune had previously instructed that if he did not emerge from the chamber, he must be at a critical point in his training and was not to be disturbed.

And this time, the entire process of his soul's transformation had indeed gone undisturbed.

But Wendini waiting at the door clearly meant something had come up.

His mind quickly connected this to his soul's slumber.

Gune vaguely sensed something.

Quietly opening his source power pocket watch, Gune glanced at the date.

January 15, 9973, 9:38 AM.

"Looks like I slept for two or three days. That was a long sleep."

"You're out." When she saw the transcendent door open and Gune emerge, Wendini's face lit up with joy.

"Oh? Has something happened?"

"Nothing much, but Master Nigel has been here waiting for you these past two days... Although he didn't say anything, it seems he has something important to discuss." Wendini spoke quickly and clearly.

"Nigel waited two days. Just as I thought." Gune's eye twitched.

"It's about the materials and the refining of the Soul Rune Potion."

"I originally agreed with Nigel to get the materials and refine it the next day, but I stood him up."

"I had no choice! Who knew soul transformation would make me sleep so long?"

"Is Master Nigel still here?"

"Yes, he's waiting in the rest area."

"I'll go right away."

With that, Gune quickly walked toward the rest area.

As soon as Gune entered the hall through the stone staircase passage, he saw Master Nigel in the rest area.

At that moment, Nigel also sensed the movement and looked toward the stone staircase passage.

When he saw Gune, his eyes were deep and unreadable.

"Master Nigel... I'm sorry. Something went wrong, which caused this delay." Arriving at the rest area, Gune spoke with an apologetic expression.

"Your materials? I'll refine them right away. Rest assured, I'll finish as quickly as possible."

"Here are the materials." With that, Nigel produced a storage bracelet.

The materials within were top-secret; before having Gune sign a confidentiality agreement, they themselves had signed corresponding ones.

Thus, the storage bracelet could not be handed over by someone else—if the formula were leaked, it would be disastrous. That was why Nigel had come for the past two days.

"No rush. We've already delayed two days."

"You..." Nigel's small eyes scrutinized Gune from head to toe.

He touched his ring, and an invisible, peculiar energy barrier spread out, isolating the rest area from the outside.

"Used the potion?"

"Yes." Gune sat down and nodded, not hiding much.

Normally, when Gune's face was perfectly slimmed, it was hard for others to glean much information about him, even in his presence.

But today, Gune had just mastered his transformed elite-level soul and was still a bit unstable in containing it. It was not surprising that a strong expert like Nigel detected some soul fluctuations.

Before Nigel could ask more, Gune continued.

"Based on Dr. Henry's experimental results and my own experience, I've summarized some pros and cons of this potion's effects."

Nigel listened intently—this was the key point of using the potion.

"First, this potion cannot be consumed too frequently in a short time; it easily leads to drug resistance."

"An interval of a week, preferably ten days, is needed before drinking a second bottle."

"Depending on individual talent, the enhancement of soul transcendent traits varies, which is common in silver-armored rat experiments."

"Even with longer intervals, drug resistance still develops, but if one's talent is high enough, or if the transcendent's profession already has strong soul traits, five or six bottles can directly elevate the soul to elite rank."

"Elite level." When he heard that one could advance to elite level, Nigel finally showed a hint of emotion.

Nigel knew well the power of an elite-level soul.

In every aspect, it was far superior to an ordinary soul.

If it could be widely applied, the improvement to the Vanguard's strength would be immeasurable.

It could even greatly help many transcendent masters.

For him, even if he couldn't transform his soul to elite level, a significant enhancement would be enough to cross the threshold from peak transcendent sixth rank to transcendent master.

In other words, this Dawn of the Soul was a qualitative change for him.

"Mm." Nigel nodded slightly. "The Dawn of the Soul is indeed astonishingly powerful."

"Oh, and one more thing: when the soul advances from ordinary to elite level, it enters a state of soul sleep, which ends naturally upon completion of the transformation."

"This process lasts two to three days. It's best to prepare in advance to avoid delaying anything." Gune explained.

Nigel looked at Gune and nodded slightly. "I understand."

"Focus on refining the potion these days. The rewards will come down in a few days."

"Then I'll discuss some matters with you in detail. After all, your strength is considerable and your talent remarkable."

"There are things it's time you knew."

"Some things..." Gune pondered Nigel's words.

"Some despair-inducing dark truths?"

"Or some unspeakable, terrifying secrets?"

When Gune came to his senses,

Master Nigel had already left.

"I... haven't even asked about the demonic runes yet! He left really fast." Gune was stunned.

Fingering the transcendent storage bracelet in his hand, Gune walked toward the alchemy lab.

"Hmm! There's so much life spring water here—over 13,000 milliliters."

"That's enough for sixty or seventy bottles, maybe even seventy or eighty."

"Looks like the seniors killed quite a few blood-ear elves in the last battle, otherwise there wouldn't be this much life spring water."

"If I spend a bit more time, I should be able to finish refining by the afternoon of the day after tomorrow." Gune thought to himself.

"Too bad I can't disclose the material information yet. If I could get Leona and the others to help with preliminary processing, the refining speed would at least double."

Entering his private alchemy lab, Gune began his refining work.

While refining, he also pondered the future of the rune potion in his mind.

"So far, it seems the Dawn of the Soul can indeed elevate the soul to elite level."

"But after reaching elite level, further effective increase with this potion will be difficult."

"Unless the transcendent's soul itself is very peculiar, allowing elite+1+2+3."

"Or if the transcendent's profession has a naturally strong 'soul transcendent trait' close to elite level, it might also reach elite+1+2+3 with the Dawn of the Soul."

"It's normal that the number of elite+1+2+3 transcendents will be relatively small."

"My transcendent talent is extremely strong, and my soul has undergone minor mutation. Normal consumption should let me reach elite+1."

"Using the reincarnation function, I can easily reach +2+3."

"But to reach leader-level soul, the Dawn of the Soul probably won't suffice."

"That would require a higher-level rune potion."

Essence Life Spring Water!

Gune naturally thought of essence life spring water, a step above life spring water.

"Essence life spring water can serve as a new medium."

"And the materials won't be solved by hundred-year or two-hundred-year ones."

"They'd likely need to be at least five hundred, even seven or eight hundred years old."

"Also, I don't know when my Elf Life Tree will produce essence life spring water."

"Researching the subsequent rune potion will also be a time- and energy-consuming project."

"But once developed, mass-producing leader-level powerful souls—just thinking about it is exciting."

"After development, I can trade this powerful rune potion for plenty of good stuff. It will become one of my resource trump cards."

It was reasonable for Gune to collaborate with the Vanguard on the elite-level soul rune potion, give it to them, and receive rewards.

But the higher-level soul rune potion, Gune would research on his own.

And once successfully developed, he would keep it exclusively for himself. Gune had his own ambitions.

Researching the transcendent traits of biological materials, studying rune potions, exploring the transformation and elevation of life ranks.

To others, it might be tedious.

But Gune enjoyed this process of exploring the unknown, transcendent life forms, and the essential power of transcendent life.

Every bit of deeper understanding brought him fulfillment and satisfaction.