Teacher by day, Farmer by passion

Ace blinked as the next system message appeared.

[Hint: The lifeless troops before you are excellent raw materials.]

He paused. Then, a slow smirk curled on his lips.

"Well," he muttered, flexing his fingers, "that's certainly one way to recycle trash."

Reaching into his system storage, he half-expected resistance, but to his surprise, the Thief's Cauldron appeared without issue.

Ace let out a dry chuckle. "Well, that's one thing going right."

Exhaustion weighed on him, his body screaming in protest, but he shoved it aside. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand, slow but steady.

"Xie Ninger," he called, voice rough. "Heat this up for me."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're seriously trying alchemy right now?"

Ace wiped the blood from his mouth, smirking. "Trust me. I've got a plan."

Xie Ninger hesitated but complied, igniting the flames beneath the cauldron.

As the cauldron roared to life, Ace's fingers moved swiftly, inscribing layer upon layer of formations into the air.

The moment the first array took shape, a lifeless soldier, one that had just sunk its teeth into the Spirit Sovereign Ancient Wolf was yanked from the battlefield, its body thrashing in resistance.

Yet, the formation held firm, dragging it toward the cauldron.

Ace's smirk deepened. "Now this… this is a blessing."

He closed his eyes, concentrating as the formation pulsed.

One by one, more lifeless soldiers were pulled in. First a handful, then dozens, then hundreds.

Some tried to resist. Others self-destructed, explosions rattling the battlefield—but it didn't matter.

Even their remnants were absorbed, sucked into the swirling crimson vortex within the cauldron.

The pressure on the Spirit Sovereign Ancient Wolf began to ease.

All across the battlefield, lifeless troops were wrenched from the fight, dragged into the cauldron despite their silent screams.

Argh! Grugh! Their voices were garbled, fragmented—half-formed echoes of what they once were. But one by one, they all fit inside.

Ace barely had time to dwell on the impossible capacity of the cauldron. His mind stretched out, his will encompassing the entire horde within.

With a deep breath, he marked them with his blood.

This was Spirit Troop Refinement, an ancient alchemical art that bound the lingering souls of the dead into a single force.

It was no mere animation spell or necromancy, it was pure enslavement, an absolute claim over the essence of the fallen.

A technique he had inherited instantly after consuming the soul of the alchemy genius girl.

[Yes, there is 'spirit' in front of its name]

Ace mused, laughing inside his head.

With this… he could command an army.

Then, suddenly—

A figure emerged from within Ace himself.

"Yuu greets Master," the divine hoe's voice echoed in Ace's mind.

Before he could react, Yuu plunged into the cauldron, sinking into the blood.

"The sacrifices are in place," Yuu said with a smirk, her voice ringing in Ace's mind.

Inside the cauldron, the space seemed endless, vast enough that Ace's consciousness couldn't even grasp it all.

Yuu, in her divine hoe form, swung once more, striking one of the marked corpses.

The soldier immediately lost interest in its surroundings, drawn in by the hoe's insatiable pull.

The cauldron's interior pulsed like a living heart, its crimson depths roiling as the lifeless soldiers were devoured.

Each strike of Yuu's sent shockwaves through the space, the absorbed blood twisting into spectral tendrils before vanishing.

Ace felt a surge of confusion. No, not my army. What are you doing? he complained, panic rising.

Yuu absorbed the soldier effortlessly, her movements slow and deliberate.

Ace exhaled sharply, forcing himself to focus. Enough of this.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second before making his decision. Instead of resisting, he redirected the flow, guiding the blood straight into the hoe.

If I fill it first, maybe I can salvage this.

His vision blurred. His limbs trembled. The more he poured in, the paler he became.

Just as he reached the brink, his absolute limit—

Yuu stopped accepting the blood.

* * *

Shan Yifeng and Xie Ninger stood frozen, shivers crawling down their spines at the unnatural sight before them.

They swallowed hard, forcing themselves to take in the eerily serene scene.

"Sister Xie… what just happened?" Shan Yifeng asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I… I don't know," Xie Ninger muttered.

Their eyes remained locked on Ace, who sat with his eyes closed, still deep in refinement.

"So… we just ignore it?" Shan Yifeng ventured.

"Um… yes," Xie Ninger said, nodding quickly. "Let's focus on breaking the formation instead."

Shan Yifeng refocused on the formation while the Spirit Sovereign Ancient Wolf licked its wounds.

Then, an eerie, bone-chilling cry echoed from the far end.

Xie Ninger's breath hitched—her chest tightening as if an invisible force had crushed the air from her lungs.

Beside her, Shan Yifeng struggled to breathe, his pulse hammering in his ears.

The wolf let out a deep, guttural snarl, its fur bristling in the direction of the sound—then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished.

A dreadful silence followed before they turned to Ace at the same time and what they saw made their stomachs drop.

Blood seeped from his eyes, his nose, his ears.. every orifice.

Inside his consciousness, Ace was gripped by horror.

The sudden surge of ominous energy had already worsened his failing condition.

Do I abandon the refinement? Do I gamble?

A moment of silence—then a bitter laugh echoed in his mind.

Gamble? With my life? Not a chance.

Without hesitation, he initiated the disintegration. One by one, the lifeless troops inside the cauldron crumbled away.

Their essence converged, merging seamlessly—into Yuu.

The process unfolded with eerie precision, smooth and unstoppable.

Ace finally opened his eyes, disregarding the pain gnawing at his body.

"I have no idea what I just did… but I think I did good," he said with a weak laugh.

Shan Yifeng averted his gaze, doing his best to ignore the sight, he couldn't bear to watch any longer.

Just then, the sky cracked with thunder, splitting the heavens apart.

Ace let out a breathless chuckle. "Oh my… look who decided to pay a visit."

But his voice was distant, barely his own.

His limbs trembled. His vision darkened at the edges. The weight of the world pressed down.

Ah.

And then—everything tilted sideways, with that, he collapsed.

The last thing he heard was Yuu stepping out of the cauldron, her voice ringing in his fading consciousness.

"Shall I take the tribulation in your stead, Master?"