Divine Emperor of Death

"Excellent, Nadia. I need the carcasses of those King Beast Stage Scorched-Crystal Crimson Apes to try and see if I could refine their flesh, organs, and their everything into blood essence so that I can have the Crystallized Flame Bead absorb their blood essences to improve it."

While Nadia smiled at being praised, Sophie became shocked as she turned to look at him. When refined by her, the Crystallized Flame Bead would give her the opportunity to birth a Scorched-Crystal Crimson Ape Flame in her dantian, but if it is subjected to like what Davis said, what would happen?

Even she became entranced with his idea, but wouldn't it become more difficult to refine?

In any case, she was just going to feed the flames from the bead to Starcy, so she felt that she did not need to worry about refinement.

"Is it possible?"

Davis shook and then nodded, "I'll have to try with the carcass of a Mid-Level King Beast Stage Scorched-Crystal Crimson Ape but first, let me work on recovering my soul..."

"Ah, I didn't mean to-"

"Relax, I'm doing this for myself as well..." Davis interrupted her.

"I'm an Alchemist, but I have never refined a magical beast into blood essence before. This should be rather educative and give me some experience in this field so I will not later embarrass myself in some competition if the need arises..."

Sophie became taken aback, not expecting him to give such a reason. He left her unable to retort.

"You're unfair..." She voiced out, her voice shaking, "No one in my life had made me feel so many conflicting emotions... not even my parents or my grandparents. You make me feel like if I'm a child experiencing new things... and it's vexing yet attractive at the same time because I can't control myself from falling for you..."

"Sophie, I must thank you for being honest..." Davis laughed in satisfaction, "I am indeed attempting to make you fall in love with me until you feel that you can never be without me. We're both aware that I'm making you rather incapable of extricating yourself from me, but isn't that what you also desire?"

A smile lit up on Sophie's lips as she leaned on his back.

"Yes..."

Davis chuckled as he raised his head, "That's more than enough reason for me to make you mine in this lifetime. All that is left is to tie the knot of our red string... so..."

"Will you marry me?"

Sophie's lips trembled as she smiled widely, "Gladly..."

"Hehe..."

Davis lightly laughed. It was rather obvious but hearing it from her own mouth made him elated too. He felt that it would be the same for her when he proposed, making her immensely satisfied.

"I've already decided that it couldn't be anyone but you..." Sophie suddenly spoke among the silence, "So, I really hope that your wives would accept me..."

"Oh, they would..." Davis stood up and turned around before patting her head.

"Alright, try re-manifesting your Law Manifestation, and if it fails, get familiar with Nadia. She's a good girl too, so at least, she won't bite you, hahaha!" 

He laughed, causing Sophie to pout, "I know... She's extremely protective of you and also never failed to protect me even though I'm not anything to her. If anything, I am incredibly grateful to Nadia."

Davis smiled as he turned back, "You heard her, Nadia? Sophie apparently feels grateful to you..."

Nadia stared at Davis before her gaze fell on Sophie, "I'm obliged, Fourth Mistress..."

Sophie's heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened slightly.

Fourth Mistress? Was she already being called that? She tried to suppress it, but a smile still couldn't help but appear on her lips. Standing up, she left the bed before approaching Nadia to talk even though she felt nervous.

What was there to talk with a magical beast...? Hobbies?

Davis watched them move away from him, giving him space before he sat back on the bed, continuing to heal his soul essence.

======

Four hours passed.

Davis opened his eyes, feeling better than ever. Even the sharp bout of pain that shot through his soul periodically had disappeared. He had spent seventy-five percent of his soul force to restore ten percent of his soul essence. That seemed to be more than enough to get him back into shape. 

Of course, if he strained his soul or used more soul force, it might become difficult for him. This made it so that he could not try refining the Scorched-Crystal Crimson Ape into blood essence like he initially planned. However, he had plenty of soul essences he could refine to restore his soul force, plenty of low-level ones.

Comprehension of the heaven and earth energy wasn't the only advantage this refinement process gave him. It restored his soul force too, and he had plenty of unneeded High-Level Lord Beast Stage Soul Essences to spare.

He began the refinement in his soul sea, and if his MP meter gauge was filling up, his soul force began to be quickly replenished. A single High-Level Lord Beast Stage Soul Essence restored five percent of his soul force, and it only took him a mere minute. He kept doing the same ten more times before his soul force returned to ninety percent.

However, he could feel that his current soul force was on par with his original one, knowing that it was filled with a bit of impurity.

'Mhm... It would cause a slight decrease in my soul prowess, but I can't complain since I can get to have nearly unlimited soul force this way. Besides, the ones I refined are low-level compared to the high-level ones I always refine, so I can't really complain here...'

Davis disappeared from the wooden bed. When he reappeared, he was above the islet, taking out a cauldron.

It was a Low-Level Emperor Grade Cauldron, an asset he obtained from Grand Elder Valdrey Alstreim's wealth. It seemed to be a precious artifact, but he now had it for himself after they divided the wealth.

He admired its pattern and design for a few seconds before he called out, "Nadia!"

Nadia quickly appeared amidst the roaring ocean waves and arrived before him. She looked at the cauldron and simultaneously knew what she had to do as she waved her hand. A seventy-meter tall carcass fell on the islet, causing it to slightly tremble from the impact while dust rose before it was blown away by the sea breeze in an instant.

"Nadia, help me sever its body into sections..."

Obviously, Davis knew he was not strong enough to do it by himself unless he used the death-like energy. 

Nadia nodded her head as she complied.

Soon, the severed sections of the Mid-Level King Grade Scorched-Crystal Crimson Ape were in the Low-Level Emperor Grade Level Cauldron. That's right; the entire body was there in the cauldron because it had an inner compressing space, capable of holding about a hundred thousand cubic meters.

He commanded Nadia to sever its body into many sections to make it easier for him to refine, not because there was not enough space in the cauldron. 

All, if not, most Emperor Grade Cauldrons had an inner compressing space because of the size of magical beasts and other resources that are at Emperor Grade. It would become difficult to refine or concoct with limited space, so these features were implemented and required in almost all Emperor Grade Cauldrons.

In fact, even King Grade ones have, but not all of them as they were rare.

Davis began his refinement as he used the power of the cauldron. The cauldron had its artifact spirit, but it refused to talk to him, but it didn't deny him either. He borrowed its prowess and began to refine.

His soul force rushed into the cauldron while the flesh inside began to be refined. They turned bloody as if being crushed, smashed, and ground by a mixer, blood splashing around every corner of the cauldron.

It was a gruesome sight, but none of the blood had sprinkled out as if being held back by something.

Time passed.

An hour, two... five hours.

Davis continued to refine as the Scorched-Crystal Crimson Apes entirety became into a big blob of blood in the cauldron. Its flesh, organs, bones, crimson crystal, and even the bone marrow had been all turned into that one big blob of crimson blood. 

The crimson-crystal was also a biological-type of flesh, so it had also been refined, but along with the bone marrow, there were a few impurities that were left within the cauldron as he was unable to refine perfectly. 

Davis didn't care for that but looked at the big blob of blood floating in the cauldron. He had spent about seventy percent of his soul force for this, but there was still the final touch.

His lips moved as he reached his hands out to it, "Condense!"

Abruptly, the blob of blood began to twist and churn, with many drops being ejected out as if it was unable to endure in the condensation process. The big blob began to condense, but it didn't take long for it to be compressed into a pinky-finger sized drop of blood!

Davis narrowed his eyes as he looked at the tremendous amount of energy and vitality it held.

"If I had to guess, the blood essence has achieved a rate of eighty-seven percent of purity or so..."

He knew that he had lost much as he was unable to completely refine everything, leaving behind many impurities while also unable to condense all the collected blood. As far as he knew, anything other than the condensed blood essence had now become nothing but waste, devoid of energy, not even useful than its own manure.

Davis's soul force gently wrapped around the condensed blood essence as he brought it towards him amidst Sophie and Nadia's gaze. The blazing undulations and the sole vitality of had attracted numerous magical sea-beasts!

Nadia let out her queenly aura at that moment, and those magical sea-beasts instantly scrammed deep into the sea, choosing their lives over a feast that could potentially raise their stage or even cause a bloodline mutation if the conditions were met, but considering none of them acted strange, forgetting themselves at the sight of that crimson blood essence, it didn't seem like the case.

Davis waved his hand, and a Crystallized Flame Bead appeared on his palm. Sophie held her breath as she saw him drop the condensed blood essence on the bead. The bead became covered by the crimson blood essence before it began to radiate.

Abruptly, flames began to burn as the blood essence began to evaporate. No, it appeared to be absorbed into the bead as it continued to emit a deep crimson light!