บท 588: Breaking the Soul Limit
"This is the oath stone, linked directly to the Cosmos," said the Ancient One. "You only need to hold it and make the oath."
Edward held the stone and looked at it. "The Universe Will? No, it is an entity that represents the cosmos. So, Eternity is the one binding the contract."
"You seem to know a lot."
"I'm curious, and I've lived a long life—well, compared to humans," Edward explained casually. After knowing how this thing worked, he had no issue swearing. Once he finished, a chain came out of the stone and entered his head.
Edward swiftly checked, and as expected, the chain appeared around his Soul Flame, meaning it was truly the most binding contract form.
"What now?" asked Edward as he returned the stone.
"You will study under Wong, and once you've shown your talent, you can learn everything from me."
Edward frowned, "Give me access to all your books, and I can master everything in less than two weeks."
"I have no doubt about that," said the Ancient One. "However, you must participate in this performance."
"You want me to build prestige amongst the other Sorcerers?"
"Although I have the right to directly elect my successors, it would be easier if they could see how capable you were and accept my decision."
"What about Kaecilius?" asked Edward.
"What about him?"
"How do you want me to deal with him?"
"Do as you please. Since I've chosen you as my successor, I won't intervene."
"The Time Stone?" continued Edward.
"In six months, you should have everybody accept your status as the next Sorcerer Supreme. Afterward, I will hand it to you."
"Hmmm," muttered Edward. "The situation is better than I anticipated."
"What did you expect?"
"Despite the oath, I expect more distrust and political struggle," replied Edward honestly.
"When you get your hands on the stone and see the future I saw, you'll understand why I give you free reign."
"Now, I want to know what you saw," said Edward, who immediately cast a spell to see the future.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Why?"
"You should not be messing with any time magic not affiliated with the Time Stone before the year 2008," said the Ancient One.
'2008? That's when Iron Man started,' thought Edward. "Is it because of the TVA? I thought they had already opened the multiverse since no one came to prune me."
Edward knew about the TVA and ensured his landing would be after the event of Loki 1 when the TVA underwent a shuffling, opening the Multiverse. Otherwise, his presence would have opened another timeline, and these people would have come to prune him to ensure the sanctity of the sacred timeline.
"Yes and no," explained the Ancient One. "2008 is a cutting point for the world; it's when everything goes into motion, and the Earth enters a new era. Your time magic might disrupt this event, leading to many problems."
"Was that one of the timelines you saw?"
"Yes," nodded the Ancient One.
"Very well." Edward controlled his curiosity. He had a month's break before starting his Sorcerer duty and training. "By the way, do you know the coordinates of the planet Vormir?" He tried divination to no success, so this planet was either naturally protected because of the stone or his divination skill was not up to par to find the coordinates.
"You want the Soul Stone?"
"Yes."
"Sorry, but I don't," said the Ancient One.
"Alright. I'll figure it out," replied Edward before leaving. He could have teleported to another timeline and taken it from Thanos' dead hands, but he figured it might be a better idea to use the one in his universe.
Edward's next destination was to find Gamora and get the location from her mind. She was not protected, so it was easy to find her location while on a mission for Thanos on a planet called Grir. Watching her assassinate a man, he took the information from her mind before silently disappearing.
He opened a portal to the planet Knowhere, full of outlaws and criminals. He needed to find a cruel man full of sins who also cared deeply about someone, either their wife or daughter. That person also needed to be terrible and full of sins.
It took a moment, but he found who he was searching for — a pair of criminal lovers called Lom and Vie; they are one of the biggest child traffickers on the side of this galaxy, and although they've committed many atrocities, they are also famous for their endearing live, willing to do anything for each other.
Edward gave Lom a prophesied dream that he was destined to rule the universe as he was willing to sacrifice everything after reaching a place called Vormir. After this hypnosis, Lom woke up the next day and looked at his wife with complicated emotions. Then, on the same day, he hopped on his ship with her, heading directly to Vormir.
By the time they reached their destination, the drug he placed on her beverage had functioned, and she passed out. Lom carried her onto the planet, and after the Guardian (Red Face) explained the situation, he kissed her one last time on her forehead before throwing her down the cliff.
He did hold the stone in his hand, feeling the power coursing through his veins. With tears in his eyes, Lom walked inside his ship, preparing for his glorious future. However, his body immediately disintegrated. If not for Edward's power, how could he hold an infinite gem with such a weak and mortal body?
As Edward held the stone, powerful energy rushed into his body. He controlled it to enter his Soul Dimension, heading directly to Morgana. He watched as her pale body rapidly recovered until it returned to normal.
'That's enough for now,' he thought; she should be back to wake up in a few months and return to normal. He teleported to a deserted planet, where he immediately began to lay enchantments. For the next week, the planet was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of magic circles with the Soul Stone at the center.
'Let's begin,' thought Edward as he activated the enchantments. A powerful soul energy rushed into his Soul Dimension, and he immediately started the process of fusing his soul into the Soul Flame. With the method he received from his Nasuverse counterpart, the process was fast and had no issue.
Edward's soul released a blinding light, and afterward, he saw two small flames in his soul's eyes.
"It looked like an undead," commented Edward before shaking his head. The appearance did not matter; this experience's true value was breaking his soul's limit. Edward now felt it was a simple matter to reach higher tiers.
'The next step.' The next step was to temper his body, and the soul stone was also the core of this process. He converted the soul energy released by the stone into life energy that tempered his body. In the meantime, he observed the new soul flame that grew on the fourth layer of his dimension while gathering data and experimenting.
Edward knew this method was universal but still needed to test it out. So, while training his body and waiting for his second soul flame to appear, he conducted experiments on this method of breaking the soul limit.
'It is universal, and Soul Energy is not required but can help accelerate the speed of the process while also making it safer,' concluded Edward. The process was not 100% as his experiments revealed that the Soul Flame could, in fact, destroy the soul despite its inherited connection, or they might reject the fusion.
'Now, let's test the Soul Divinity and reach Tier 10 in one fell swoop,' thought Edward before proceeding with the next part of his work.
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