Chapter 237: Soul Essences

As Archbishop Royce heard Ashley's words, his body went stiff.

'Taking care of Sun God? And, the mysterious Day and Night Goddess? I'm not even worthy of facing a Rank-5 Mystic.' He couldn't help but feel how puny he was.

Meanwhile, Ashley stood up from her throne and added.

"I will be going back to her Inner World, alter some of Ashley's memories, and remain hidden till the coronation ceremony. Otherwise, Rodia or some other Gods might find out some traces of mine. Be careful of Charles, though. He is an unpredictable irregular, after all."

Saying so, she waved her hand, erased the throne from existence, and closed her eyes.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Royce stood up from the kneeling position and breathed out a sigh of relief.

The next second, the real Ashley opened her eyes, woke up from the unconscious state, and soon stared at the Archbishop.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered that the auction manager fell unconscious all of a sudden and hurriedly turned around.

Then, she squatted down and checked her pulses.

"She must have overworked." Archbishop started walking towards Bella and spoke in a casual tone.

Unknowingly, Ashley also believed that was possible, took out a leather water pouch, and splashed it on her face.

A groan leaked out of Bella's mouth as she opened her eyes and soon felt dizzy.

At that moment, she vaguely remembered that she invited this black-haired lady to the underground basement for some odd reasons and felt confused.

"This is what happens when you skip your breakfast. You are not in your home, Bella. You should take care of your health." Archbishop spoke in a scolding tone, which made Bella feel ashamed all of a sudden.

At that moment, she tried to recall her memories about why she skipped her breakfast but only saw vague images.

'Hmm… I think I came here in a hurry and actually forgot to eat… My earlier half-dizzy state must be due to that.' She hurriedly stood up and responded politely.

"I will not skip my breakfast, Your Eminence."

"Good. Haa, I actually came here to give you some task." He deliberated for a moment before shaking his head and added.

"I will come back tomorrow and talk about it in detail."

Saying so, he gave a light pat on Bella's shoulder and started moving upstairs.

Meanwhile, Ashley helped Bella, took out some fruits from her space ring, and gave them to her.

After that, she gave Jessie's space ring to Bella and asked about the following auction schedule.

After staying in the underground hall for a while, she bade farewell to the auction manager and moved upstairs.

Then, she walked out of the manager's office, entered the reception hall, and soon exited the auction house.

Following that, she moved towards the four-wheeled carriage and entered inside.

She then sat comfortably on the leather seat and spoke to the coachman.

"Go to the Life Church."

At that moment, a 'random' thought appeared in her head.

'Ruler's Ring… Should I tell Her Highness about that ring's use? Will she hate me for hiding it from her?' She felt conflicted inside.

After thinking for a moment, she shook her head and chose to wait for the good opportunity.

…

Meanwhile, Charles sat in the gloomy underground basement and continued to read Vivian's memories.

Hours went by as he started reading her memories one by one, and soon it was already noon.

Louise contacted him more than three times during the past few hours, but Charles didn't pick up the call.

'I will tell her that I fell unconscious due to the severe blood loss.' He nodded inwardly and then turned his gaze towards the notification bar.

…

[+2 Wisdom Obtained!]

…

This notification appeared when he absorbed her most precious memory of Vivian.

It was actually a memory of her lifelong research about souls.

'Is that what it's called soul essence?' He furrowed his brows in suspicion.

'In the information, it is stated that every living creature would release soul essences from time to time. Whenever someone feels emotionally happy, their soul would release a small amount of pure essence into the atmosphere. Two types of soul essences appear all over the plane….'

'One is positive soul essence while the other one is negative soul essence… Whenever someone gets uncontrollable joy, gratitude, peacefulness, interest, hope, pride, inspiration, love, awe, and other positive emotions, they would release a speck of positive soul essence.'

'The same goes for negative soul essences. But they would release negative soul essences only when they get affected by intense negative emotions like fear, anger, disgust, sadness, rage, loneliness, hate, and so on….'

'There is also a connection with the Divines. For example, Gods' desire to gather mortal souls is mainly to mass-produce these soul essences in the name of faith and protection. They stimulate the believers' inner emotions, brainwash them, and make them enter into a state of uncontrollable happiness….'

As he glanced at the new information, he was indeed surprised a little.

'Emotions, huh. As I thought, this whole universe seems to have some connection with one's inner emotions.' He pondered for a moment and soon decided to continue his work.

By the time he completely erased her memories, it was already 2.P.M.

At that moment, Charles noticed that Vivian's soul had wholly turned into a brand new one!

'If not for the spell models reside in her Inner World, she would be considered as a newborn-'

Charles's current black eyes widened as he recalled something.

'When a person's soul enters the Eternal River of Life, his soul will undergo a cleansing process. All of his memories would be wiped out, leaving nothing behind… The soul will turn into a newborn… Then, there is this purple flame… No, it should be called Mind Fire. Red Prince is also well proficient in controlling this mind fire… He is someone who tricked the Eternal River of Life and reincarnated here in this world….'

'Could it be? Is there some link between these two? What if the thing that is erasing these souls' memories is this Mind Fire? Now that I think about it, why does this Eternal River of Life erasing one's memories before sending the souls to the Cycle of Reincarnation? What is the purpose of doing this?'

'No… Something is not right. When I cast this 'Mind Fire', it erases one's memory and sends them to my inner world in the form of information. T-This. What if there is some powerful existence using this 'Eternal River of Life' to erase souls' memories and gathering information and studying everything like an experiment?'

As he thought of such a possibility, a chill went down to his spine!

'Are we nurtured as some kinds of livestock?' He couldn't help but show a nervous look on his face.

'I can't rule out this possibility.' He took a deep breath to calm down his heart and soon took out the soul orb from his space ring.