Angel was taken aback: "95%? Has it regressed?"
As he was thinking this, Frode’s state of decay continued to regress, 94%, 93%, 92%... and quickly fell back to around 90%.
Then, it paused at this point for about ten minutes and continued to fall.
This time the descent was rapid, 90%, 80%, 70%... like a vertical drop, reaching the bottom before Angel could react.
When the numeric values in the digitized view reached 0%, all signs of decay on Frode’s body disappeared, returning him to a normal soul state.
Seeing this scene, Angel was basically assured: it was stable now.
Once the decay vanished, there were essentially no more difficulties. All that was left was a gradual process, slowly metabolizing the death energy within until the first soul trick could be piled up.
A day later, the death energy in Frode’s body was almost consumed, but he still hadn’t awakened.
"Even after all the death energy is consumed, he still hasn’t managed to cultivate the soul trick?" Angel was a bit surprised. Normally, learning the first soul trick would only consume about 70 to 80% of the death energy.
But thinking back, it seemed reasonable. After all, Frode’s first soul trick was attained from Lady Cilla, and it’s normal for this kind of special soul trick to consume more death energy.
"I remember Nis told me before that in such situations, Frode couldn’t handle it on his own and that a protector was needed... The first step should be to remove the spiritual power field." Angel muttered to himself while waving his hand to retract the spiritual power field around Frode.
"The second step is to allow Frode to absorb external death energy to support the internal consumption, otherwise Frode will begin to deplete his soul force, ultimately draining himself dry."
With the spiritual power field withdrawn, the surging death energy immediately enveloped Frode.
However, now that Frode’s soul body was flawless, the death energy just floated around him without being absorbed.
"The third step, help Frode open his soul."
Angel took a step forward, appearing beside Frode, and gently traced his finger on Frode’s brow. A wound leading directly to the core of the soul body appeared on his forehead, becoming an entrance for the surrounding death energy to enter Frode’s body. A large amount of death energy began to be absorbed by Frode.
Once Angel confirmed the death energy was entering Frode’s body and that Frode’s stalled cultivation resumed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
This soul opening seemed simple and rough, but it actually tested the trust between the soul opener and the protector. If either side hesitated, the final result was bound to fail.
Fortunately, the trust between him and Frode was complete; it wouldn’t work with anyone else.
After Frode restarted his practice, half a day passed before he finally stopped absorbing external death energy. This indicated that the death energy for cultivating the soul trick was sufficient.
Angel re-established the spiritual power field to prevent excessive death energy from causing any accidents.
After completing all of this, Angel could finally consider his duty as protector accomplished. The rest was up to Frode to awaken.
Two hours later, as dawn broke on a new day, Frode’s tightly closed eyes slowly opened.
In that instant, Angel seemed to see two green flames flickering in his eyes. But soon, Frode retracted his strange expression and returned to calmness.
Now, Frode looked no different from three days ago; his soul hadn’t fundamentally changed.
However, the death energy that previously lingered around Frode had completely disappeared.
Along with it, his previously gloomy and silent demeanor turned sunny again – though it was strange to describe an undead with "sunny," that’s how Angel felt.
Moreover, without the shackle of death energy, the upper limit of Frode’s soul body core would also be expanded. This meant Frode’s bottleneck was broken, and he would not encounter obstacles in continuing his practice for a while.
After confirming Frode was alright, Angel was most curious about what soul trick Frode inherited from Lady Cilla?
Angel speculated that it was most likely Soul Blind. Before, Lady Cilla used Soul Blind at Star Lake Castle against little Sam.
However, even if it was Soul Blind, it should have some differences from the ordinary Soul Blind.
As for what the differences would be, Angel temporarily did not know. Because before, Lady Cilla never utilized the special aspects of Soul Blind while toying with little Sam.
This question would have to wait for Frode to explain himself.
Half an hour later, after Frode fully healed the wound on his brow caused by Angel, he walked up to Angel and respectfully bowed, "Thank you, master, for your protection."
Angel nonchalantly waved his hand, then eagerly voiced his curiosity, "What soul trick did you acquire this time?"
"Soul Blind."
The answer was unsurprising. Angel was more concerned with how this Soul Blind differed from the usual one.
Frode was about to explain when Angel interrupted, "No need to explain yet; just use it on me once, so I can feel it myself."
Frode nodded and activated the small trick hidden within his soul core.
In Angel’s perception, strange soul ripples appeared around Frode. When the barely noticeable ripples passed through Angel, he sensed a slight disturbance in the surrounding space.
Angel glanced around. He was still on the altar, next to Frode, and everything seemed unchanged.
Thinking for a moment, Angel started to walk down the altar’s steps. But as he began to descend, he noticed the steps continuously extending... meaning that, under current conditions, he would never reach the bottom.
Since a luminary spell shined overhead, allowing Angel to clearly see the changes, if in pure darkness, it would obscure the victim’s senses, leading them to get hopelessly lost.
This was Soul Blind.
In Jon’s words, it was like the "wall of ghosts."
As an illusionist wizard, Angel could almost immediately perceive the nature of Soul Blind and could easily dispel it.
However, Angel didn’t dispel it, continuing to feel Soul Blind, as he hadn’t yet noticed any unique aspects of it.
But even upon careful observation, Angel still found nothing special.
At this moment, Frode’s voice sounded from behind, "Master, feel free to continue descending the steps."
Angel understood this as a hint from Frode.