NOVPUBIn this vast sea of consciousness, which seemed as endless as the universe itself, time appeared to lose all meaning.
The enormous, pitch-black, strange giant lay in the sea of consciousness, undergoing some sort of mysterious transformation.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the colossal giant finally opened its eyes.
Sterl gazed around with a somewhat dazed expression. Everything his eyes landed on turned into a flood of information, rushing into his mind.
"Am I... still in the sea of consciousness?"
He quickly regained his focus. Instead of being shocked by the vastness of the sea of consciousness, his attention shifted to himself, or more specifically... to his soul body!
"What in the world happened to my soul body?"
Sterl frowned, somewhat speechless as he looked at his current form.
His soul body appeared to be a massive star, standing upright in the sea of consciousness, clearly becoming the core of the entire sea of consciousness.
Furthermore, his entire body was pitch black, covered in dense black scales. On his head, a pair of horns, reminiscent of a divine dragon's, extended backward, resembling a natural crown.
His soul body didn't have complete facial features. Instead, there was a massive, hideous mouth that gaped open greedily, giving off a sense of being a demon devouring the world.
Especially the scales on his body—each scale seemed to imprison a distorted, struggling face. Upon closer inspection, these faces were those of the souls he had previously devoured!
Countless souls had been consumed and fused, and vast amounts of resentment poured out from the devoured souls. However, these resentments didn't affect him in the slightest. Instead, they made him appear even more terrifying!
"I am the World Overlord, the Nightmare Overlord. My soul body may not be divine or heroic, but it shouldn't look like this!"
Sterl shook his head helplessly.
In truth, he didn't have any major demands about his appearance—he only cared about strength.
Moreover, it didn't seem like this was the first time he had seen his soul body.
Memories began to flash through his mind, and Sterl was horrified to realize that, when he first obtained the Fire of Ten Thousand Souls and began devouring souls, his soul body gradually took shape.
Especially after obtaining the Soul Devourer Sphere, when he first used it to absorb vast amounts of pure soul energy, his soul body manifested once more, although it was still quite blurry at the time.
And now, this could be considered the first time he was truly seeing his soul body from this perspective, formally examining himself.
"My soul body turning into this form must be related to the Soul Devourer Sphere," Sterl muttered, looking at the distorted, struggling faces trapped within the scales covering his body. He sighed helplessly, even spotting the face of the Silver Moon Wolf God on one of the scales.
Yes, it was indeed the very first high-tier divine authority that Sterl had fought and killed in the Orichalcum Kingdom.
Although his appearance was somewhat bizarre, he could clearly feel his own strength, as if he possessed endless soul power!
Shifting his attention away from his appearance, Sterl looked around, somewhat confused.
"I've been using the soul energy in the Soul Devourer Sphere to raise my soul level. Based on the time, the enhancement should be complete by now," he murmured, feeling quite puzzled about his current state.
After all, the path he had taken had already become distorted, and while it was not completely unrelated to the System of the [Transcendence] world, the connection was minimal.
Especially when it came to the soul System and ultimate passive System, they had all been developed through cheat manipulation.
This led to a problem: these new systems had been unknowingly elevated to a high level. While this made him powerful, at this stage, there was no point of reference or complete legacy. Everything relied on his own exploration.
However, the first life forms and strong beings also had no so-called Systems or legacies. The only thing they had was the instinct from their bodies and souls. 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Every being instinctively strives to grow stronger, evolve, reach higher levels, and adapt to more varied environments.
This was not just true for living beings; the world itself followed the same rule.
Those Systems were simply the knowledge accumulated by powerful beings as they strengthened through their instincts.
The pursuit of greater strength is the nature of living beings, so as long as one strives to sense their own instincts, they can gradually feel the direction to move forward.
Compared to ordinary beings, Sterl possessed the evolution ability of a cheat. As long as there was even a slight possibility in a direction, he could use the cheat to continuously evolve and strengthen, until reaching its limit!
Thinking about this, Sterl took a deep breath, allowing his awareness to immerse itself as he focused on sensing that faint stirring born from the instincts of his soul body.
In this space, there was no sense of time or space. This sea of consciousness was merely an extension of himself, a place to house his soul body.
As his perception deepened, Sterl's instincts began to stir with a peculiar sensation.
That feeling was...
"Cramped? I feel... cramped."
Faintly, it felt as though the entire sea of consciousness was squeezing him. This pressure was not one of exclusion but rather an unbearable weight.
It was as though he had been shoved into a spherical container filled with liquid, or like an elephant placed in a meadow the size of a bedroom.
"This is my soul body's instinctive need, or perhaps a pursuit. Could it be that my sea of consciousness can't even bear my soul body?"
Sterl couldn't help but feel puzzled. By all logic, both the sea of consciousness and the soul body were integral parts of himself.
From another perspective, the sea of consciousness could even be considered the birthplace of the soul body. As soul energy was absorbed and the soul was enhanced, the sea of consciousness expanded in sync. So why was he now experiencing this sensation?
"Could it be that the next step is to break through my own sea of consciousness and take the soul body into another realm?"
He continued to speculate, though he had some doubts about this conclusion. At this point, however, he had no clear direction and could only rely on himself.
"Well then, I'll give it a try. Even if I fail, I shouldn't lose anything."
Sterl deeply sensed his soul body, finding no trace of danger from his instincts. With that, he relaxed.
"So... how do I transcend?"
Looking at the vast sea of consciousness, Sterl controlled his soul body and slowly stood up.
Instantly, the entire sea of consciousness began to ripple uncontrollably, as though a massive continent made of deep blue water was forming.
Yes, deep blue was the primary color of his sea of consciousness, and above it, the sky shimmered with a faint purple glow.
He lifted his head, and if he were to consider his sea of consciousness as a world, the best way to break free from that world would be to fly up into the sky.
This was not just a guess, but a trace of instinct coming from his soul body.
"Then, let's begin."
With a thought, an endless flow of Soul's Power surged from the scales on his body.
These Soul's Powers, mingled with the final resentments of countless souls, transformed into a unique and powerful force that belonged only to Sterl.
With this power lifting him, his massive soul body, which resembled a star, slowly began to lift off from the surface of the sea of consciousness and soared toward the hazy purple sky.
Ten meters... One hundred meters... One thousand meters...
His soul body moved slowly, and a thousand meters was barely enough for it to detach slightly from the surface of the sea of consciousness.
As more and more soul energy poured out, the speed of his soul body began to rapidly increase.
Soon, the sea of consciousness beneath him started to shrink in his view, and the hazy purple mist above was slowly being drawn in.
His speed continued to accelerate, as though endlessly increasing, and soon, Sterl began to feel a sense of losing control.
Looking down, the once boundless sea of consciousness had now shrunk into a small orb, no larger than the size of a palm, while the hazy purple sky was now within arm's reach.
At this point, the instinct driven by his soul body grew even more intense, and an invisible voice began to echo in the depths of his heart.
"Pass through! Pass through! Break through this sky, break through this barrier! Pass through!!"
The voice grew more frantic, beginning to influence his judgment and emotions!
"Stop!"
Sterl growled, and the face with the gaping, blood-red mouth twisted into a terrifying grimace.
Instantly, all the voices vanished, and everything around him fell into a profound silence. There was no sound. The primal instinct from the depths of his soul body was forcibly suppressed.
Looking up at the purple Heavenly Curtain, now so close he could almost touch it, he activated his soul talent and forcefully triggered the Dimension Perception of the Star-Bone Sacred Body.
Under the deep probing of Dimension Perception, Sterl confirmed that there was no hidden risk, so he slowed his speed and moved closer to the sky.
Bang!
Suddenly, his outstretched hand, which was reaching toward the sky, was struck.
Fortunately, he had suppressed his instincts earlier and reduced his speed. Otherwise, had he collided at the previous speed, there was no telling what kind of damage might have occurred.
"What is this?"
Sterl wondered, tapping his hand against the top of his head.
He saw that the once ethereal purple Heavenly Curtain now had an additional transparent barrier, isolating him from the outside world.
His eyes widened as he tried to see what lay beyond the barrier.
Though the barrier had no color to obstruct his view, he saw nothing at all.
"It seems... this is the bottleneck I'm facing?"
Sterl thought to himself, quietly pondering.
