Magic Shop System

Chapter 238: I am you and you are me.

Everyone had gathered in the shop as they listened to the piece of news that Slyff brought. "They are just a few hundred kilometres away from reaching Vrilas and they are moving very fast. At most five days and they would be here."

The hall was silent. No one dared to make a noise.

Kadyn stood up and eyed his companions. "Get ready." And then he went to the Meditation Hall. It was time. Time to breakthrough. He sat at the centre of the hall and said with a sigh, "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing," said the voice and then darkness flashed in front of his eyes and he appeared inside his consciousness. A gigantic lotus was floating in front of him, different colours illuminating its petals, indicating numerous elements that he possessed.

Just as he looked confusedly around, unable to understand why would he appear here, a shadow rose from the lotus. It was transparent and ethereal. Kadyn focused on its face and was stunned. It was his face. No, it was more mature than him. The dignity and majesty of a ruler could be seen in the eyes that Kadyn lacked. "Harrod?" Kadyn said.

The man smiled and said, "Yes. But as you have already guessed that I am you and you are me. We are a single entity."

Kadyn frowned and eyed Harrod. "Can you explain what’s going on?"

Harrod sighed and went on. "I knew I could not defeat Sephiran, therefore, I had only one path—to sacrifice myself, but I still failed to kill him. Left with no option, I could only seal him and his minions. However, in that process, my soul shattered into three parts. Two parts were still on the Pengolla, but one part fell into space crack that I had created without knowing with my battle with Sephiran.

Though at that time I did not care, as I thought I would die for sure. However, a miracle happened, the World Lotus, which is the spirit of Pengolla, saved my life. But I had no physical body, so I could only roam for thousands of years and study the World Lotus, trying to uncover its mysteries. And soon, I found a way to resurrect myself. And the first step was to gather my shattered soul in one body."

"Wait a minute?" Kadyn widened his eyes in shock. "Do you mean the owner of this body was my other soul and I just combined with it and he did not die?"

"Of course, he did not die," Harrod rolled his eyes. "He is you and you are him. So how could he die when you are alive?"

Damn, this is so confusing, Kadyn thought.

"So, I started to search for soul shard," Harrod continued. "And I indeed found it. Thereafter with the help of the World Lotus I placed the soul inside a woman’s womb. I did not choose the womb randomly, I found mysterious energy sealed inside the woman and her husband. That kind of power, I had never seen it before."

"I see," Kadyn nodded and asked. "Then how did you find me?"

"After placing the soul shard inside the womb, I used World Lotus to sense another shard that had fallen inside the space rift. However, for years I failed. But when I felt like I would never find it, I sensed it. I sensed you. At that time I realized why I failed to sense you, because you had already reincarnated on another planet, but when you died, you again took the shape of soul shard."

"I see," Kadyn nodded. "Then how did you summon me?"

"Well, I had to sacrifice some of World Lotus’ power, but I do not regret that," he said.

"So why did you not reincarnate yourself? Why did you find your soul shards first?" Kadyn asked, genuinely curious to hear the answer.

Harrod chuckled and said, "Well, there are two reasons—first, after resurrecting I would have lost my memories, then who would find the soul shards. Second reason—" he paused. "Without me, there would be no magic shop."

Kadyn thought briefly and then stared at Harrod. "Now what?"

"Now... it’s time to end this charade," he sucked a deep breath as if he had been released from prison and now he was free to do whatever he wanted. "Now it is time for me to rest."

"What?" Kadyn failed to understand and looked at Harrod in confusion.

"You have failed to reach Assimilation Stage, because you are missing a part of your soul. Yes, it’s me."

"Then why would—"

"—Magic Shop has to vanish?" Harrod completed the sentence. Kadyn nodded. Harrod eyed him and proceeded. "You should have already guessed that I could make Magic Shop System... it was all due to World Lotus. However, I have already absorbed the World Lotus, therefore when I merge with you, the Magic Shop would disappear as no one be there to sustain it... no, your understanding of World Lotus is too shallow, you might be able to do that in a few years but not now... but at that time I don’t think you would even need the World Lotus."

Kadyn felt as if Harrod was staring at his right hand... the World Snatcher’s claw. But then he shook his head, thinking it was just an illusion. Just when Kadyn lifted his head, he saw a rush of light dashing towards him, and before he could respond, the light vanished inside him, bringing horrible pain along with it.

Kadyn screamed and flailed in agony as his soul became complete. After an eternity, Kadyn opened his eyes, there was a sharp glint flickering in his eyes, but soon it vanished as if it was never there. He climbed on his feet and walked out of the Meditation Room.

"Brother, you are out," Elora said with a pleasant voice, standing with other members of the shop. "We were really worry about you."

Kadyn frowned and eyed them confusedly. "What happened?"

"Ah, you were meditating for two days straight that’s why—"

"I was meditating for two days?"

Elora looked at him in puzzlement and nodded. "Yes."

Kadyn sighed and then hoisted his head high and asked, "What about Blood Tribe?"