Chapter 447 - A Hundred Perfect Platinum Sacred Marks

Unlike the previous few times he absorbed the sacred spring water, this occasion felt far too exhilarating and intensely satisfying.

In the past, whether Cassius obtained the sacred spring water by completing missions or exchanging honorary badges for hundreds of units of it, it always felt like a drop in a bucket for his powerful physique. He felt like a piece of parched land that had received only a brief drizzle, barely enough to fill the cracks in the soil.

Now, it was as if a massive flood had swept through and turned that dry desert into a lake. It was truly fulfilling. Cassius felt layers of warm, invisible liquid seeping through the resilient skin on his body. It resembled a hazy water mist passing through his muscles, nourishing his blood, and settling on the surface of his bones.

He felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring bath, with waves gently massaging him from every direction. His physique quickly entered a state of perfect clarity. The golden pond water level was starting to drop at a barely noticeable pace as Cassius’s body kept absorbing more. Additional spring water replenished it from above, causing the pond's level to drop even more slowly.

Cassius slipped into a carefree and languid state. He felt as though he were lying alone on a small, drifting boat, swaying with emerald waves toward some unknown destination. Yet at that moment, he did not let down his guard. Both the sacred spring water and Soul Power contained a trace amount of calamity. It was like an inconspicuous chronic toxin that initially caused almost no harm. Over time, however, the toxin would accumulate in his body and become an almost incurable fatal poison.

The Hellsings, who gained various powers from the Black Rain Manor, all suffered severe side effects. Hunters, as they continually fought and replenished themselves with sacred spring water, would also accumulate calamity and eventually succumb to an inevitable beast transformation.

For intelligent beings, especially humans, calamity was a poison without a cure. Fortunately, the mysterious ancient Aoyin civilization seemed to have left behind some methods to keep it in check.

The five keystone runes used calamity as their fuel. For example, Cassius's Rune of Spirit could easily absorb that unclaimed essence of calamity.

Speaking of which, Cassius sometimes wondered whether the Aoyin civilization had stood against calamity or possessed control over it. After all, since the essence of calamity powered those five keystones, both possibilities remained plausible.

Of course, these were merely fanciful speculations. Cassius was still enjoying the convenience brought by his Rune of Spirit. The essence of calamity lurking within the sacred spring water only had time to settle in his body before it was wiped out by his Rune of Spirit. The black coiled snake tattoo on his chest began to rotate slowly in silence.

Splash... splash...

Cassius glanced at the back of his hand amid the crisp sound of spring water trickling into the pond. He clearly saw thirty-three platinum sacred marks, with more pale-gold marks starting right where the platinum ones ended. The number of those golden marks had already grown to match the platinum ones. He now had sixty-six marks.

That amount should have already surpassed most Shadow Hunters. Even the Number One Shadow Hunter, Colossus Kaiser, only had seventy marks, while the Chief Mechanist possessed seventy-nine.

Those numbers represented the limit of how much they could withstand the erosion of calamity, determined by the strength of their bodies and their mental resolve. Of course, reaching the limit did not necessarily mean there was no further room for growth.

Humans had the ability to adapt; after coexisting with calamity for an extended period, their tolerance for it could rise. They might be able to increase their power just a bit beyond that limit. The added power would not be huge; perhaps three to five extra marks at most, or maybe only one or two.

Overall, once someone became a Shadow Hunter and soaked in the sacred spring water, they would, in most cases, reach the limits of their natural talent. Any further additions would merely be a drop in the bucket, offering little significant boost.

Cassius’s sixty-six marks had actually matched the previous Number Two Shadow Hunter, Louis. That number was Louis's limit, but it was not Cassius's. His body kept absorbing the sacred spring water as ravenously as it had from the beginning.

Gradually, the number of marks on the back of his hand began to rise again.

...69, 70, 71...

He easily surpassed the Number One Shadow Hunter, Kaiser.

...78, 79, 80...

Then he went beyond the Chief Mechanist as well. By then, Cassius noticed that the rate of creating marks had begun to slow down. It was not that his absorption of the sacred spring water had diminished. Rather, his body seemed to have developed something akin to a resistance. The higher the saturation of the marks, the tougher it became to reach the limit.

Thus, Cassius's earlier calculation had indeed been off. He had believed that two thousand four hundred units of sacred spring water would be enough to reach his limit, but reality proved otherwise. Nevertheless, given the current situation, it did not matter in the least. Cassius was soaking right in the source of the sacred spring water! Even if he needed far more than two thousand four hundred units, so what? A tenfold increase would only amount to about sixty liters, hardly a big deal. Besides, the actual consumption could not possibly reach ten times that.

This was the advantage of becoming a Shadow Hunter: the one chance to absorb sacred spring water recklessly until you reached your personal limit.

97, 98, 99...100!

A hundred marks lined up neatly on the back of his hand, forming what looked like a perfect square. The lower portion was platinum, while the upper part shone pale gold. At first glance, it seemed as though a sheet of gold foil had been laid over it.

Cassius estimated he had absorbed twice as much sacred spring water as he had initially predicted. In other words, aside from the original thirty-three platinum sacred marks, the remaining sixty-seven golden marks had devoured roughly four thousand eight hundred units of sacred spring water.

After doing a bit of mental math with the amount of Soul Power he had stockpiled, he felt an immediate sense of relief. It was fortunate that he had set aside a large reserve. Otherwise, if Soul Power likewise demanded greater consumption at higher saturation, he might not have had enough.

Of course, Cassius had not planned that far. He had simply undertaken missions at Black Rain Manor alongside the Ghost-Man and Iron Knight, and the rewards related to the World of Calamity had turned out to be quite generous.

He had amassed a vast amount of Soul Power without noticing. Now that the sacred spring water had reached full saturation, all that remained was to absorb the Soul Power. Cassius suddenly opened his eyes and noticed that the sky was already nearing dusk. He rose slowly to his feet, revealing the back of his right hand.

With a small mental effort, some of the sacred marks dimmed and went into hiding on its own. His gaze flickered as he concealed thirty-three platinum sacred marks. Only the sixty-seven golden marks remained glowing. He could feel the energy of the sacred spring water inside him reaching saturation. It was an endlessly abundant sensation.

He wondered if the rumours were true; if someone could obtain a hundred marks, they could generate a form of self-replenishing cycle within. Even if one spent the marks' energy in battle, there would be no need to replenish the sacred spring water, for the depleted marks would regenerate on their own. Cassius was rather curious but chose not to probe further, since the Radiant Hunter Deleshart was still there.

He took a few steps and walked out of the pond. Strangely, no water clung to his clothes, as though an invisible attraction kept the sacred spring water in the pond.

Cassius stretched his body, and crisp pops echoed from his bones. Perched on a golden rock, Deleshart opened his eyes and leapt down.

His gaze swept over the back of Cassius's hand, taking note of the sixty-seven golden marks, and he nodded quietly. "Not bad. Your current limit is already one mark higher than Louis's. If you adapt well later, you might exceed seventy marks and even surpass Kaiser."

Deleshart had a note of approval and encouragement in his voice.

Cassius gave a faint smile and glanced at Deleshart's hand. "What about you? I once heard the Chief Mechanist has seventy-nine marks."

Deleshart sighed approvingly at Cassius's direct demeanor, and revealed the back of his hand. There were seventy-seven golden marks.

"Oh? Only two fewer than the Chief Mechanist. Maybe..." Cassius's eyes flickered slightly.

Deleshart merely gave a faint smile and shook his head. "Do you really believe every rumor you hear? There are also whispers that I can already replace the Chief Mechanist, but in reality? The gap between us, heh..."

He ended with a self-deprecating laugh. Cassius’s eyes narrowed slightly, deducing from Deleshart's reaction that the rumors were likely untrue. Or perhaps they were true but the seventy-nine marks only referred to the Chief Mechanist's limit upon first becoming a Shadow Hunter. The number of marks that the chief had refined through sheer willpower afterward remained a mystery. Maybe it was one or two, maybe three to five. Heck, he might even have eighty-four in total now!

In the end, Cassius did not get an answer from Deleshart. The two of them followed their earlier path back to Florence through the pitch-black tunnel.

By then, night had already fallen. Cassius first visited the veteran hunter Herb's residence and, without much excitement, celebrated briefly with the other veteran hunters before returning to his own home.

He picked up a black box and left the Shadow Hunter headquarters under cover of the darkness. He arrived in a familiar spot in the suburbs. It was the same abandoned monastery that Cassius had last met Ghost-Man and Iron Knight.

A bright moon hung over the treetops, enveloped in swirling, hazy clouds. Faint clusters of stars glimmered in the pitch-black sky, forming vague animal shapes here and there. A young man stood silently beside a withered tree, gazing up at the Southern Dipper constellation in the sky. Cassius observed for a while, looking between the shifting shapes of the Giant Falcon constellation and the Star Python constellation.

He withdrew his gaze and focused. The monastery courtyard was filled with dead grass and scattered rubble along the stone-paved paths. The triangular windows of the building were hollow and dark, with cobwebs draped in the corners, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

A dead tree stood in one corner of the yard, accompanied by a damaged stone table and stools near its base.

Cassius sat upon one of the stools and placed a metal container that emitted faint, chilling energy on the table. It contained two thousand eight hundred units of Soul Power. He sat quietly for a moment, then slowly extended his right hand. One hundred marks surfaced on the back of his hand.

Cassius gripped the vessel firmly, lifted it toward himself, and downed its contents in one hearty gulp, as though drinking strong liquor. A chilling cold immediately seeped through him from head to toe. By the time he had consumed a good amount, he had already crushed a deep handprint into the sturdy metal container.

Only then did Cassius set it down, exhaling a breath of frigid air. He felt as though he had just swallowed liquid nitrogen, with his mouth, throat, and veins nearly frozen solid.

Before he could fully recover his senses, Cassius felt the Soul Power within him collide with the sacred spring water. As expected, the intense clash ensued, igniting a wild blend of searing heat and freezing cold. Once his blood catalyzed them, the two forces collided and fused explosively. It felt as though every blood vessel in his body wailed in agony all at once.

Splurt...

Cassius's skin ruptured all over, sending blood spraying from nearly a hundred cuts, instantly staining his clothes red. It looked terrifying at first glance, but he paid it no mind and simply burned through some life vibration energy to heal the wounds. Blood vessels burst all over his body and then reconnected in an endless cycle. His blood spurted again and again, forming a thick crust across his skin.

Cassius remained impassive, his eyes focused on the back of his right hand. Most of the golden marks were being overtaken by platinum. They went from a third, to a half, then three-quarters... Finally, until the last golden mark vanished.

The hundred marks all transformed into a hundred platinum sacred marks! It felt as though Cassius's blood had been entirely replaced with the Blood of the Living.

Suddenly, dramatic changes took place among the marks on the back of his hand. The neatly lined sacred marks began to rotate and reassemble, as though forming a brand-new pattern. At the same time, Cassius sensed the Rune of Spirit in his chest responding with a burning heat.

After a dozen seconds, the brilliant platinum glow subsided, revealing a single design. It was an equilateral triangle, with thirty-three platinum sacred marks interlinked along each side. In the center of that triangle lay another platinum mark stretching from the top vertex, perpendicular to base of the triangle.

Life Rune? Or perhaps the Rune of Life?

Of course, it was not an actual rune, yet it appeared to hold substantial power. Intrigued, Cassius stood up, intending to test the capabilities of these perfected platinum sacred marks.

He resolutely channeled them into his Southern Dipper Fist techniques.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...

His clothes burst open in dozens of places, as though they had been ripped apart by a barrage of bullets. Each hole matched the location of the two acupoints of his Southern Dipper Fist, prompting him to strip off the ruined garments.

Thirty-one acupoints of the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist emitted a crimson glow. Thirty-one acupoints of the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist glimmered with a deep purple light. The two sets began resonating, not only with each other but also directly syncing with the flicker of the Giant Falcon constellation and Star Python constellation overhead.

Cassius promptly sat cross-legged, pressed his hands together, and gazed skyward. His blue pupils reflected the brilliant blanket of stars above.

Crack, crack, crack... crack, crack, crack...

He heard the sudden sound of something breaking within his body. It was not a real physical injury, but a drastic shift in the meridians of his Southern Dipper framework.

Originally, the two Southern Dipper systems operated independently, like distinct waterways. Now, they began to compress and merge!

It was as if the blood falcon slowly lowered its sharp talons to grasp the body of the python. Meanwhile, the python wrapped itself around the falcon's wings from behind, tightening its coil.

Cassius sensed a force in that strange cycle of mutual aggression and uncanny symbiosis unlike anything he had ever known...