The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1176: Successful Treatments

No one could stay calm after seeing their own soul core in such a state.

After all, while such soul damage wasn’t significant, it still made their soul core flawed and incomplete; it wasn’t whole.

In such a state, their limitless longevity becomes limited, and time begins to tick.

With each passing moment, their ultimate death inched closer.

To the Divine Beings of Chaos, who naturally took for granted the gift of everlasting life, the concept of death by exhausted lifespan was foreign and new to them. Its impact was fresh, raw, and intense, making it even more horrifying than any other form of death.

When Empyrean Oceanheart saw Vaan’s expression, her curiosity piqued, knowing the disciples she brought had all been infected with corruption. As such, she didn’t wait for his diagnosis.

She immediately cast her own sensory spells to inspect the soul cores of the infected disciples.

Naturally, she had seen the state of a Corrupted One’s soul before.

However, she had never seen the soul core of a Corrupted One in the early stages, before they became a mindless, rabid beast without an ounce of intelligence and rationality, attacking friend and foe alike.

’So it’s like that,’ Empyrean Oceanheart understood after a quick glance.

The state of corruption remained the same, only differing in the scale of its spread. The disciples were still themselves because the majority of their soul cores remained whole and weren’t eaten away by the corruption.

However, it was only a matter of time before the corruption reached this stage if it was left untreated.

Meanwhile, the infected disciples were startled by Empyrean Oceanheart’s inspection.

Unlike Vaan’s invasive yet undetectable observation, Empyrean Oceanheart’s observation was overbearing and easily detected.

The infected disciples could feel her passing through their bodies, searching every nook and cranny, leaving no stone unturned, and uncovering all their secrets. Such actions were undoubtedly rude and taboo unless expressly permitted.

However, the infected disciples didn’t have the courage to complain.

At the same time, they started to realize something was wrong. They weren’t selected for some special opportunity. Instead, it felt more like they were being treated as criminals awaiting trial or patients being diagnosed.

Evidently, Empyrean Oceanheart and Lord Vaan noticed something wrong with them that they themselves don’t even know.

"Empyrean Oceanheart... Is there something wrong with us?" a disciple carefully inquired.

"See for yourself. These are the state of your soul cores."

With a soft sigh, Empyrean Oceanheart used a visualization spell to reveal the state of each disciple’s corrupted soul core.

When the infected disciples saw images of their soul cores, their shock was not particularly strong. Instead, they expressed a stronger doubt. They could check the state of their own soul cores, and it didn’t look anything like what they’d been shown. ᚱÅＮ𝘰BĘṧ

Evidently, there was a contradiction in the information they knew.

However, Empyrean Oceanheart had no reason to deceive them. Thus, they were confused by the situation.

"This... Is there some mistake?" a disciple asked hesitantly with doubt, not daring to outright call Empyrean Oceanheart a liar.

"There’s no mistake. You have all been infected by the corruption, causing your soul cores to become flawed and damaged under its transformative influence," Empyrean Oceanheart coolly stated.

"You might be confused because the soul corruption affects your thoughts, senses, and memories. You might think about one thing and say another. The same applies to your senses."

"If I have to venture a guess, the current state of the soul core you see is actually an old memory and not the true current state of your soul core."

"This... no, it can’t be possible! How can this happen to me?"

Panic quickly broke out among the infected disciples, who believed Empyrean Oceanheart’s words were likely true.

Although they didn’t know a lot about the corruption and the Corrupted Ones, they weren’t completely ignorant. They have heard a few things about them.

As such, they knew that catching the corruption was equivalent to a death sentence.

The infected disciples fell into despair; their dreams of ascending to the heavens were thoroughly crushed by reality, plunging their hearts into the abyss of hell.

It was such a cruel turn of events.

"Is it possible to save them, Sir Vaan?" Empyrean Oceanheart casually turned to Vaan for answers, holding neither hope nor expectations.

It would be great if he could save the infected disciples.

But if he couldn’t, she wouldn’t be disappointed either, since it wouldn’t change the overall situation even if he could. As such, whether he could or couldn’t, she would understand.

"It’s possible." Vaan nodded.

Although he gave a short reply, it filled everyone with infinite hope, pulling the infected disciples out of the hell holes of despair and returning them to the light of the living.

"Lord Vaan, please save us!"

The infected disciples desperately pleaded, crowding around him with pitiful looks, unconcerned with their images.

Still, Vaan didn’t want to get their hopes up too high.

"I only said it was possible, not that it is a guarantee. Whether I succeed or not, the risk of failure still exists, and should I fail, you will undoubtedly die. Are you sure you still want me to try?"

"Yes!"

Vaan did not expect such a decisive answer.

Even after Vaan laid out the terms, the infected disciples remained firm in their decisions without the slightest hesitation. If they die, they die, and that would be the end of it.

It was better than being constantly tormented by the idea that they were inching close to death.

In this regard, humans appeared to have a much higher tolerance.

Nevertheless, since the infected disciples have accepted the risks, Vaan let go of his reservations and worked on the treatment.

Although he was new to it, he knew what he had to do.

He had to purge the corruption and reconstruct the soul. Such steps required the power of thought and consumed an unknown amount of soul power. He couldn’t give a clear estimate until he collected some information.

Surprisingly, the procedure with his first patient went smoothly.

Purging the patient’s soul corruption with the power of thought was simple, but preventing the collapse of the soul core simultaneously was more demanding.

Still, Vaan managed it without a problem.

Because he was essential slicing off a piece of the patient’s soul, the person experienced unprecedented levels of pain and torment, prompting them to thrash about violently in response.

However, Empyrean Oceanheart was around to help him restrain the patient’s movements.

Afterward, Vaan found a way to put them in a state of death-like sleep, numbing their soul-inducing pain, which couldn’t be suppressed by any common anesthesia.

Finally, the soul reconstruction came afterward.

Surprisingly, it was the easily step.

At the same time, Vaan gained much from this experience, learning a great deal about the soul and its inner workings. Such valuable knowledge would help him nurture new talent.

Although the patient’s reconstructed soul core was ultimately imperfect, it was still complete, nonetheless.

Besides a loss of comprehension and memories, the patient faced no other disadvantages and was corruption-free. Moreover, their loss of comprehension and memories could be recovered with some specialized therapy.

Thus, the overall procedure could be considered a huge success.

After Vaan repeated this process another two times, his soul power was reduced to half. As such, he didn’t intend to continue with any more treatments until he recovered some soul power.

Although this would mean the remaining infected disciples would have to wait, they were still excited, nonetheless.

After all, with three consecutive successes, the treatment process was practically risk-free. It didn’t matter if they had to wait another day or several more days. As long as they were fully treated, that would be the biggest blessing.

Everyone understood that Soul Masters often needed rest to replenish their soul power.

Thus, Vaan’s request didn’t take anyone by surprise.

On the contrary, his status was elevated after this ordeal. Even Empyrean Oceanheart’s high opinion of him was raised further.

Although Vaan couldn’t change the overall situation, he could already treat Corrupted Ones with ease. Given sufficient soul power, he would be able to cure everyone infected with the corruption.

As long as he didn’t experience a premature death, he was bound to achieve unprecedented greatness.

Empyrean Oceanheart had never seen such a peerless genius.

She began to believe that Vaan could set an unprecedented record by cultivating six paths to True Divinity and beyond. She no longer believed that his path would end at the divine rank.

In fact, she couldn’t see the end of his path, and that made her extremely curious.

"Sir Vaan, would you mind if I calculate your fate and fortune with divination?" Empyrean Oceanheart suddenly asked, piquing Vaan’s interest.

"Divination?" he blinked with surprise.

Given the level of destiny he possessed, Vaan wondered whether his fate and fortune could even be divined without repercussion, even if it was performed by an Empyrean God.

Moreover, there was a degree of risk in exposing his secrets.

This reminded Vaan that he couldn’t rely on his overwhelming destiny to obscure heaven’s secrets. He required additional methods and heavenly tools to protect his secrets from others’ divinations.