This morning, he woke up feeling utterly exhausted. Something had been knocking on his head repeatedly.

  Waking up in frustration, the first sound that reached his ears wasn’t that of a human but a crow’s caw: "Kar Kar."

  “Huh?” Noctis stared in confusion at the crow perched on the window next to his bed. But soon, he noticed something abnormal about it—this crow had dozens of eyes. The sight startled him so much that he instinctively backed away, tumbling onto the floor.

  The crow looked at him as if saying, "You idiot." Scratching his head in disbelief, Noctis slowly opened his eyes again to see if he was hallucinating.

  To his dismay, the crow remained the same, gazing at him with a mocking expression. Annoyed but also intrigued, he cautiously crawled toward the window to get a closer look.

  Upon further observation, the crow wasn’t much different from an ordinary one—except for its many eyes. Digging through the memories and knowledge of the old Noctis, he finally reached a few conclusions.

  First, this crow was definitely not a Corrupt Entity. If it were, he would have been dead by now.

  Second, this multi-eyed crow might be a Sealed Artifact. According to his inherited knowledge, Sealed Artifacts were items tainted by the Void’s corruption. Such corruption was often found in the remains of those who died with grievances in the Abyss or in the aftermath of Void-related disasters.

  It was highly likely that this Sealed Artifact had not lost much of its humanity and had managed to escape the Church’s containment. But the biggest question remained—why did this crow come to him? And why hadn’t it harmed him?

  Sealed Artifacts were classified into five levels, with Level 5 being the weakest and Level 0 being the strongest. Regardless of their level, all Sealed Artifacts could harm humans due to their inherent corruption, the Void’s influence, and their insatiable desire for destruction and conquest.

  Yet, this multi-eyed crow seemed oddly docile—if not outright foolish and harmless.

  They stared at each other for a while before Noctis finally made the first move. He reached out his hand toward the crow.

  Surprisingly, the crow showed no fear or hostility. Instead, it seemed to acknowledge his gesture, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

  The moment Noctis’ hand touched the crow’s head, its entire body emitted a terrifying black-red light, filled with bloodlust.

  Startled, Noctis tried to withdraw his hand, but it was too late. An invisible force pulled him in, leaving him with no chance to resist.

  The ominous light burrowed into his palm, and a sudden gust of wind swept through the room—even though all the windows were tightly shut.

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  The light and wind lasted only a few seconds before dissipating. Still shaken by the bizarre event, Noctis anxiously looked around the room for the crow. But it was as if the creature had never existed.

  Looking down at his palm, he almost fell backward in shock.

  A large eye had formed in the center of his palm—its sclera blood-red, its pupil pitch-black. More disturbingly, the eye moved on its own, glancing around as if observing the world.

  Fearing the worst, Noctis desperately searched his inherited memories for answers. But to his dismay, there was no mention of a Sealed Artifact merging with its wielder.

  However, one pressing concern overshadowed all else—how would this affect his Blessing Seed?

  Without hesitation, he entered a meditative state. Within seconds, his consciousness delved deep into his soul.

  Everything remained unchanged—a space shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by faint white light interwoven with drifting black mist.

  Gazing at his Blessing Seed, Noctis sighed in relief upon seeing that it appeared unharmed.

  As he examined it more closely, a sudden eye appeared before him.

  This didn’t surprise him. He had already suspected that the crow would attempt to startle him again.

  Irritated, Noctis prepared to grab the eye—but before he could, it shot toward the Blessing Seed.

  Caught off guard, Noctis failed to react in time. The eye began merging with the seed.

  By the time he regained his composure, it was already too late.

  Panic surged through him as he rushed toward the seed, desperate to extract the damned eye—but no solution came to mind.

  All he could do now was wait for the worst to happen.

  "Show me the outcome."

  As if responding to his unease, the eye answered him.

  Suddenly, his Soul Sea trembled violently. He hadn’t even known that his Soul Sea could shake.

  Before he could process his stray thoughts, his entire soul realm quaked.

  He turned toward the Blessing Seed in alarm—and something was happening to it.

  Dark-red eyes began appearing on its surface, flickering in and out of existence.

  The scene was so bizarre that Noctis almost laughed.

  The eyes continued their strange movements for a few moments before vanishing completely.

  But in their place, the Blessing Seed underwent a profound transformation.

  No longer closed, it began to bloom—like a lotus flower slowly unfurling its petals.

  And the moment the seed cracked open—a violent eruption occurred.

  Hundreds of thousands of eyes shot into the dark sky of his Soul Sea.

  "They aren't falling back down… No, it's more like the sky itself is absorbing them."

  Noctis voiced his realization in a breathless whisper, overwhelmed by the sight of the eruption.

  After about ten seconds, the eruption ceased.

  Something new had taken form.

  Countless dark-red eyes now adorned the sky of his Soul Sea.

  They emitted a faint crimson glow, turning the once-dark space into a blood-red void.

  And all of those eyes were staring in one direction—the newly bloomed Blessing Seed.

  It had fully blossomed into a lotus large enough to fit an adult.

  At its center, however, lay something even more extraordinary.

  A second seed.

  This one was the size of a three-year-old child.

  Jet-black, shaped like a rose—but with a bulging, swollen stem far larger than a normal flower.

  A fiery-red aura radiated from it, filling Noctis with an unsettling sense of mental chaos.

  He felt as if he could pass out at any moment.

  Forcing himself to focus, Noctis examined the new seed closely.

  "It feels like it's draining life from the lotus-blossomed Blessing Seed."

  His suspicion was confirmed as he observed the lotus—it was visibly losing vitality with each passing second.

  A wave of unease washed over him, but instead of panicking, Noctis sat down and entered meditation oncemore.

  He chose to ignore the eerie changes in his soul realm and instead ventured deeper—seeking out his status panel.