NOVEL WEB Chapter 1008: Shadow Rebirth
As Vale thought that it was the end of his extractions, he realized that it was only delayed, and there was actually more.
[ Extraction Successful. Divinity +40, Immortal Essence +1,000 ]
[ Extraction Successful. Divinity +30, Complete Divine Shield Spell Model ]
[ Extraction Successful. Divinity +25, Evolved Spell Light +1 ]
The body was now starting to crumble…
At this time, Vale placed both palms over the heart and skull simultaneously as he continued with the extraction.
[ Extraction Successful. Incomplete Shadow Rebirth Spell Model ]
[ Extraction Successful. Complete Celestial Shadow Physique ]
Vale's eyes lit up after seeing this.
This… rebirth Spell Model was quite unexpected. He had never heard anything related to such a Spell.
'Still… It's incomplete. Maybe this is a technique this Immortal was attempting before his death?
A way to resurrect a soul… Vale froze at the thought.
It was quite amazing that this was actually a Spell and not some sort of Ritual instead.
He couldn't help but what the others would do if this became public.
Anyway, it was Incomplete, so it shouldn't be that crazy… However, Shane did not doubt that its value was still something many people wouldn't be able to imagine.
Then, he soon realized that the next thing he extracted wasn't a spell.
'Wait… Physique?!' Vale was shocked as he noticed…
But at this time, the corpse beneath him began to disintegrate.
Its legacy had been passed on.
Vale closed his eyes as changes in his body started happening… The Celestial Shadow Physique seemed to be integrating into his body!
It was an incredible sensation.
Divinity then started pulsing around him as the things he extracted were slowly filling his body.
Dust swept silently across the chamber…
Soon, everything calmed down…
"Two corpses. Six complete Spell Models. Memory fragments… Soul Techniques… and tons of Divinity Points…" Vale smiled as he started to fully absorb the Memories from the fragments this time.
***
As Vale finally allowed the last wave of memory fragments to flow into his consciousness, his body stilled.
Soon, his soul was already drifting, drawn inward into the Immortal's memories…
'Let's see what you have here…'
Just like that, Vale witnessed the path of the Immortal who left behind the incomplete Shadow Rebirth.
At first, there was only darkness… and then:
A name.
Caleb Virellen.
That was the man's name.
A boy born in the outer reaches of Arcane Practitioner, far beyond the fertile Human Kingdoms. His family was part of a forgotten lineage—minor nobles who lived quietly in the shadow of a larger Immortal clan.
They possessed a weak bloodline affinity for darkness, not strong enough to qualify for clan training, yet not common enough to be overlooked by fate.
Caleb was… a middle child…
He was bound to be left behind as he wouldn't have anything to inherit. He could only work harder.
He spent his youth watching his siblings struggle for approval. Watching his mother die of a cursed illness when no one came to help. Watching his father fall into ruin and debt after trying to save her.
And when his house fell, no great clan lifted a hand to assist them.
That day, Caleb swore that he would never be forgotten.
Years passed. He wandered from one master to another, learning scraps of soul arts, cursecraft, shadow manipulation, and eventually forbidden divinity control.
'What a talented guy…' Vale was impressed as he realized that the physique of the Immortal was indeed incredible.
Caleb's ascension to Half-Immortal happened in the depths of a dungeon, where he fused three Corrupted Spell Models into a single Spell Model using nothing but instinct and pain.
There was no guidance from anyone…
He only used his own talent to accomplish it…
Still, he survived.
He became known as Caleb the Silent Flame. A wandering practitioner who never revealed his true rank. Many thought he was just another rogue Arcanist with a cursed body.
They never knew he had already reached Lesser Immortality.
Then, something changed.
In one of the fragmentary memories, Vale found himself walking through an immense city…
This was the Nocturn Spire, a hidden city of Shadow Immortals that no Human Kingdom had ever mapped.
'Nocturn Spire, huh…' Vale mused.
Here, Caleb joined a collective known as the Luminis Hold, a group that studied the preservation of souls and remnants of consciousness across death.
'Ahh…' Vale knew about the Luminis Hold since they're base was supposedly this Hymn City.
However, it seemed that they had deeper secrets.
Their belief was strange.
They did not seek to conquer death… but to give it a bridge. They simply wanted to understand it. To find harmony between the end and a possible return.
'I guess this is how he got the Incomplete Shadow Rebirth…' Vale guessed.
Indeed, as he continued to browse through the memories, he confirmed that it was where he learned the initial framework of the Shadow Rebirth Spell.
It was an insane idea at the time—resurrecting a soul not through ritual or pact, but by forcefully tethering it back into a body through shadow-bound pathways.
A second life. A rebirth from death through the darkness itself.
This is not Necromancy or Puppetry but Rebirth!
True rebirth with memories intact!
Still, Caleb's obsession grew when he fell in love with a woman named Saan, a Spirit Arts practitioner…
She had always believed Caleb would one day change the world.
They were never officially married, but they built a home together in the territory owned by the Luminis Hold.
Unfortunately, she died during his own advancement to become an Earth Immortal.
"What a tragedy..." Vale couldn't help but feel pity after learning what happened.
She died not because of a mistake. But because she offered herself—her soul and divinity—as a sacrifice to stabilize his body and shield him from a Realm Cataclysm during his breakthrough.
He begged her not to.
But she only smiled and said...
"If you're going to conquer death, then… find me there."
Caleb's breakthrough was a success, but unfortunately, it destroyed him inside.