Chapter 25: The Soul-Melding Seed

"World Tree Seed, the soul power medium for the Meditation Method?"

Lei En knows almost nothing about the Meditation Method; this is his first time hearing of a soul power medium.

Viola explained carefully: "We humans are cursed, our innate talent is insufficient, so we cannot directly obtain spiritual power—'magic'—from meditation like other races. Therefore we must rely on a medium to cultivate soul power, achieving the same effect as magic."

Lei En noted that she said "we" humans, and thought to himself that this Half-elf must have grown up in the Empire and completely regards herself as a true human.

"Do the Law Seal school and the Soul-Command school also need soul power mediums?"

"Of course they do."

Viola nodded, "The Law Seal school's soul power medium is called the 'Soul-Cracking Gem'; it is used not only for cultivating the Meditation Method but also helps wizards extract the Arcane Element from a magic soul to forge a Law Seal, so the Soul-Cracking Gem is essential for Law Seal wizards."

"Our Soul-Command school's medium is the 'Soul-Gathering Tower'; combined with the Meditation Method, it lets us ignite the fire of the soul, nurture a magic soul within the tower, and either let the magic soul possess us or summon it outward."

Lei En listened attentively; such knowledge is hard to come by outside transcendants.

According to Viola, the three major wizard schools each have their own soul power medium—the Soul-Cracking Gem, the Soul-Gathering Tower, and the World Tree Seed, commonly called the 'Soul-Melding Seed'. They are alchemical items usually crafted by wizards of each school and come preloaded with the appropriate Meditation Method.

After the Soul Transformation ceremony, once the medium is merged into the soul, one naturally masters its Meditation Method and becomes a wizard.

That is indeed convenient; no longer must one trouble oneself over the Meditation Method.

"So, Lei En, do you have any thoughts on the Soul-Melding Seed?" Viola asked again.

Lei En couldn't help glancing at her, thinking perhaps the Soul-Melding Seed is hard to let go of; she doesn't want it to sit in her hands, which is why she's so eager to recommend it?

He considered for a moment and asked, "The three wizard schools' mediums should all be available at the House of Violet, right? What are their prices?"

Tarlini, standing nearby, replied, "The Soul-Cracking Gem and the Soul-Gathering Tower are relatively common, so they are cheaper—only two hundred Gold Shields each. All the soul power mediums in our shop are handcrafted by wizards of Mid-stage rank or higher, using the finest materials; the alchemical quality is guaranteed to be top‑tier in Longshande."

"Two hundred Gold Shields..."

Lei En clicked his tongue in astonishment; a single soul power medium costing that much makes the price of becoming a wizard absurdly high!

Are wizards really that wealthy?

If he hadn't come into a windfall at the Esberg estate, he could never afford something so pricey.

Scarcity drives price, so the Soul-Melding Seed must be even costlier. Lei En, driven by curiosity, asked, "How much is the Soul-Melding Seed?"

Tarlini hesitated, seeming unsure how to answer.

Viola spoke for her: "The only Soul-Melding Seed we have in the shop is one I happened upon a few years ago; its quality is extremely high and it is very rare."

"Lei En, you should have heard of the World Tree, the sacred tree of the Wood‑elf race, and the Soul-Melding Seed is made from its seed. Each year the World Tree bears hundreds of fruits—that is, seeds—most of which are ordinary, but there is a single golden fruit called the Golden Seed."

"The Soul-Melding Seed I hold was forged from the World Tree's Golden Seed, and the alchemist who made it is no ordinary craftsman; I suspect at least a legendary combat wizard, perhaps even higher."

"I had a legendary wizard appraise it, and the Soul-Melding Seed's effect is astonishing—it can boost magic soul fusion rate by at least ten percent!"

"That much of an increase!" Lei En exclaimed.

Don't be fooled by just ten percent,

which seems low, but it's actually quite remarkable.

Each magic soul incurs some damage during fusion because of mutual conflict.

Using the strength of an intact magic soul as the standard, after fusion if less than thirty percent of soul power remains, the Elements are certainly lost, and the fusion is deemed a failure.

Retaining more than thirty percent of the magic soul's power counts as a successful fusion.

Thirty to fifty percent is a low fusion rate, which is the result for most transcendants; fifty to seventy percent is medium, already quite successful; seventy to ninety percent is high, and a transcendant may experience a high fusion once in a lifetime, enough to be delighted for years.

Retaining over ninety percent of magic soul power is an ultra‑high fusion rate, essentially winning the top prize.

A single ultra‑high fusion can pull a transcendant's strength ahead of peers by a noticeable margin!

If Viola is not lying, her Soul-Melding Seed can raise fusion by ten percent, which would be truly rare; every wizard seeking to join the combat school would scramble for it.

"What does it sell for?" Lei En asked bluntly.

"One thousand five hundred Gold Shields," Viola whispered the price.

Even though Lei En was mentally prepared, the sky‑high price still shocked him, nearly spitting out his tea; he wanted to say, "Excuse me, I must take my leave!"

What does one thousand five hundred Gold Shields even mean?

Workers at Longshande labor fourteen hours a day in factories, with no days off all month; their monthly wage is only eight hundred copper coins, not enough for even a single Gold Shield.

A typical common household, with a couple holding respectable jobs, earns about three thousand copper coins a month, enough for three Gold Shields.

Lei En's father runs a grain‑oil mill in town, virtually monopolizing the food‑processing business for the town's three thousand plus residents; its annual revenue is under fifty Gold Shields, and after deducting Lei En's academy tuition and the daily needs of a six‑person family, little remains.

And a single Soul-Melding Seed would require a worker to starve and labor for 156 years to afford.

Even Lei En's family would need thirty years to save that sum.

One thousand five hundred Gold Shields is a fortune for any ordinary person; they may never see that much money in a lifetime.

Lei En stared blankly for several seconds, then spread his hands and laughed, "Ms. Viola, do I look like someone who has one thousand five hundred Gold Shields?"

"I know you don't have that much," Viola replied dismissively. "Having none now doesn't mean you won't have it later. If you want to buy the Soul-Melding Seed, we can arrange something—perhaps a partial upfront payment, with the remainder later."

"No, I don't want it," Lei En quickly shook his head, decisively rejecting the proposal.

He understood: Viola's Soul-Melding Seed has sat in her hands for years, so when she sees someone with potential to become a wizard, she looks for every possible way to sell it.

She even goes as far as arranging down‑payments, recouping part of the cost first.

Clearly, one thousand five hundred Gold Shields isn't a small sum for Viola either; otherwise she wouldn't be so eager.

Lei En guessed he wasn't the first to learn of the Soul-Melding Seed; perhaps others were interested before, but the price scared them off.

"One thousand five hundred Gold Shields converts to fifteen hundred thousand copper coins, enough to buy a luxury villa in the Silver Star district. In my previous life I couldn't afford a house; after transmigrating to another world I still can't, let alone spend so much on a single seed."

Lack of money is one issue; the other is whether to switch to a combat wizard, which remains a question.

Honestly, Lei En does have some thoughts about the combat wizard profession.

He possesses a Soul Eye that can directly see through any creature's soul and sense the action of soul Elements; this is a huge advantage, giving him at least more confidence than others.

But he cannot be certain that combat wizards are truly that powerful; if he ever misjudges, the loss would be unrecoverable.

If he chooses the combat wizard path and first incurs a huge debt to Viola, what about his magic soul thereafter?

Having only a soul power medium is useless without also purchasing a magic soul.

Lei En has seen demon‑soul trades on Brent Street a few times; even the cheapest "Basalt Rhino" demon soul, raised in a farm to maturity, only carries a single ordinary Element "Stone Skin" for reclassifying as Iron Guard, and its price is still over twenty Gold Shields!

However, a Combat Wizard must fuse the best demon souls to realize the class advantage.

Those demon souls that contain multiple Elements—none of them isn't frighteningly expensive!

Casually they cost over a hundred Gold Shields; if the demon soul's grade is a bit higher, a price exceeding a thousand Gold Shields is simply normal.

Unless he hunts the demon souls himself, that is not a simple matter.

Lei En thought it over but made no decision: "Fine, let's perform the Soul Transformation ceremony first; Law Seal Wizards and Soul‑Guiding Wizards are both good, the medium is cheap, and the money in hand is enough to buy it."

He didn't bring up the fusion seed again; Viola couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, yet she didn't press the issue and still enthusiastically taught him some knowledge about extraordinary professions.

The goods at Luo Zilan's house were indeed comprehensive, and Viola's breadth of knowledge was vast, opening Lei En's eyes wide.

For example, Viola introduced an extremely rare extraordinary profession: Dragon Vein Sorcerer!

Sorcerers are also pure spellcasters, only slightly weaker than Wizards, but their casting method differs from Wizards.

Sorcerers' talent is not as strong as Wizards', so they must rely on more soul‑power mediums, using bloodline power to aid casting. In addition to fusing demon souls, Sorcerers must also fuse bloodlines that share the same origin as the demon soul, and then employ runes to invoke Arcane Elements to cast spells.

Therefore, the formal name of a Sorcerer is Bloodline Sorcerer, sometimes also called Rune Sorcerer.

Creatures with blood are mostly various demons, whose soul Elements are primarily elemental spells, so Bloodline Sorcerers' spells are also limited to elemental types.

Ordinary Sorcerers can master one or two elemental bloodlines; mastering three or more advances them to "Cataclysm Sorcerer", at least reaching Legendary; rumors speak of Sorcerers who have mastered four or more bloodlines, equal in rank to Holy Soul Wizards, called "Destruction Sorcerer"!

Bloodline Sorcerers also have some rare branch professions, such as Demon Sorcerer, and the Dragon Vein Sorcerer that Viola mentioned.

Dragon Vein Sorcerers specialize in fusing the blood of dragon creatures, possessing extremely strong melee and casting abilities.

In this respect, Dragon Vein Sorcerers share some similarity with Combat Wizards, only the limitations of Dragon Vein Sorcerers are even more severe than those of Combat Wizards.

No dragon creature is easy to deal with; obtaining their demon souls is extremely difficult, and once a Dragon Vein Sorcerer reaches Legendary rank, they basically have to slay a dragon each time they upgrade!

Viola, smiling brightly, told Lei En that her shop had just received a juvenile fire‑breathing dragon demon soul, complete with a bottle of its dragon blood.

Because the demand for Dragon Vein Sorcerers is low, it's now on sale at a discount: the juvenile fire‑breathing dragon demon soul plus dragon blood costs only a thousand Gold Shields total; she asked Lei En if he was interested.

Lei En dared not listen any further.

Although chatting with a great beauty was very pleasant and delightful, the price stimulus of thousands of Gold Shields made his liver ache, so he quickly got up and bid farewell to Viola:

"Excuse me, I must take my leave."