Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1661 - 1660 - Finding a Home

Lind took some time to recover but he had thankfully done much to alleviate the patients' pain and suffering. His guide also examined him with his permission to confirm no trace of that foolish bastard remained!

Honestly, who would be so obsessed with conspiracies that they would hide their own self in such a complicated fashion?!

He highly suspected the man had let himself fade not out of a lack of will to live but to allay the 'Organization' he believed was running the entire cosmos!

Once they both confirmed he was clean, he devoted all his energies to recovery. Near possession was not unfamiliar to him, sadly, but compared to the last time, he felt he had been in much more danger.

The Immortal Artificer had tried to take him over all the way back in the World Realm but that had been a mere soul.

A Divine Realm was a world unto themselves. Lind would have been consumed in the process and not even allowed to be reborn.

Not entirely like the Fiends but very close. Rather than be a boon to cultivation, Lind would have simply been the foundation they took over.

Now, however, he had much more of the truth behind the virus. It was still a whimsical experiment but its purpose had been part of a larger plan to create a living spy network that could spread in an organization and report back once the host had died.

It was not a bad idea but unfortunately, it had backfired spectacularly. The nature of the virus had not been changed, only strengthened!

Further, unlike all but plants, it faced no tribulations save time. Time was still its enemy as it could die and no longer progress but the damned fool had tested it and found out the longevity of the host transferred to the virus!

In a very real sense. He had made a biological version of the Fiends and it was clear that the way those vile bastards worked had sparked the idea.

Instead of latching on to cells to propagate, it consumed the vitality and Qi directly! That created a cycle to make a stronger version without him even trying and the thrice damned fool kept intentionally infecting beings until he got it to the Divine Realm itself!

At no point did he attempt to curb its natural tendencies, only adding to its capabilities as he could. Now, the virus was an existence unto itself simply following its core intent.

To spread and multiply.

Yet, there was one change at the Immortal and Divine Realm research attempted that the fool considered a failure but Lind did not.

The original intent to make it a kind of spying medium had failed but it had added intelligence after a fashion.

A virus, generally speaking, propagates without regard to the host condition until death. As an Immortal or Divine Realm existence, however, that need had not changed but its actions had.

Before, it consumed normally but the Immortal version stopped when the host's life was threatened. It recognized external issues from its needs! Still, it drained the hosts vitality so they did die.

The Divine Realm version avoided that issue! His patients were suffering because of the conflict between themselves and the virus but the virus was not actively looking to break the balance!

It was happy to keep replicating enough to endure while the host continued to live!

"It has learned." Lind spoke aloud but no one knew what he was talking about. He simply pondered best how to resolve the current issue. The virus was a cultivator in the sense it had become a Divine Realm but the method was purely due to the previous hosts until it got to the current point.

It did not understand really that there might be other alternatives but Lind also did not want an out of control virus consuming the Divine Lands to simply follow its instinct!

He considered what he could do and then an idea came to him. His hands moved as Mystery energy flowed through him. Space was being distorted but the vitality inside was off the charts.

It did help the patients but Lind was not worried about them.

His emerald eyes glowed as the weaving and intent merged to create a special and totally separate space.

He then turned to the many patients but their race no longer mattered to the resolution.

[Come.] He used his Authority and felt a considerable drain on his own vitality. Yet, it worked. The virus that had resisted all attempts to purge it flowed like a storm out of each patient.

The tiny organism flew into the tear and he made sure all of them left their hosts before he looked into the newly born realm.

[There are other ways to live. Grow and join us truly one day.] It was not Authority but a firm wish he sent before sealing the space off forever. A globe of light flew off and then left the room entirely.

The entire room was pindrop silent as even his guide had no idea what had just happened.

Lind felt exhausted but he also confirmed something.

He could create a special realm directly but also, if it was simple enough, he could plant a seed that could grow into a mortal realm!

A True Lord Divine Realm was terrifying!

He had simply given the virus what it wanted far more of than it could ever find in a host and it happily complied.

He turned to the void guide and saw her looking at him with a mixture of awe and frustration.

He smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.

"It was either that or a slow war of attrition." It was true. He had come up with 2 solutions. One was a long drawn out war within the patients as he would wage against another sect or kingdom to claim territory or bait the virus out of the body of its own volition.

He had laced several traps in the realm to force the virus to change how it propagated so that in the future, if it gained true sentience, it would not be a new enemy.

He would not simply exile it and hope everything would work out. He would either elevate it or it would reach a dead end and simply live out its lifespan as a race.

He would not murder something that was forced to be something it was not intended to be.

"You–you–you–how did you do that as an Apprentice Tier?!" His guide's pale face became even more pale and her dark azure hair stood out starkly but he just shrugged.

"It was not like it was a complex realm. I simply made a home that would fulfill its desires and hopefully teach it to awaken. As you said, I am only an Apprentice Tier and it will likely fail." Lind was not full of himself.

Making a true seed for a new realm was beyond him but virus level organisms were well within his reach. It was essentially primordial soup with some massive vital energy to entice the virus into it.

Now that their bodies were clear, the patients recovered swiftly under his care.

He had done it!

Lind felt all the tension fall from his shoulders and waited to see what was next as the patients were led away to somewhere the others had gone. His guide was the only person left.

She was inputting something into her artifact before she finally put it away in some storage treasure.

"You have surprised me but Younger Lord is not known for choosing simple disciples. You have more than passed the trial." Lind smiled before he felt something shift around him. The hall vanished and a massive room lined in shelves replaced it.

{Choose 3 rewards.}

The floating words were clear but he was confused. He had hoped for a critique of his skills to let him know what he could improve but he quickly dismissed it as he glanced around and realized what he was surrounded by.

Journeyman Tier materials and artifacts!

He was stunned before a smile stretched across his face! He absolutely needed these!

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Younger Twin and Older Twin sat in a room in shock. They had expected ingenuity but what Lind Frey had done shattered all previous attempts of any Inheritance taker!

His learning speed had always been a little insane but the current incarnation left everyone not just in the dust, they would never even perceive they were in 2nd place!

"How–how did he do that?" Older Twin was floored by the last step of the previous trial. The patients were real but the solutions Lind used would be applied to far more in waiting!

The virus had stymied them for so long and his solution was elegant enough that they caught his newly created realm and opened it for the entirety of those suffering.

It worked every time!

Finally, all the viral patients were cured but none of his previous versions had even gotten to the trial let alone shown such unique methods.

"He has broken all norms and the chains that restrain everyone else. He is the first true Divine realm in several epochs. I think we have become too used to–" Younger Twin was looking proud but both brothers frowned as they felt something from the outside world.

The grim visage of both mirrored the other.

"Bastards have killed so many and now the Fiends have come. They are trying to manipulate time to trap him here." Only a few decades had passed in the outer world but now they felt something trying to impose a reverse time flow to make a day in the Ruined Islands equate to thousands of years in the outer world.

The Fiends had come too quickly to not be a coincidence. The Western Lament was not easily traversed.

Rather than attack the growing number of humans, the Fiends aided them.

"We will need to speed up the Inheritance. I will deal with them if they succeed." The chaotic nature of the Ruined Islands defied any form of control but the Twins' Inheritance was an exception.

It was possible the Fiends might succeed if they knew how to use that exception to their advantage.

Younger Twin became serious and waved his hand. It was time to push Lind Frey to the limit before he could return to the outer world!