"Are you alright?"
Natsu's voice made Ezreal snap his eyes open.
Happy flapped his pure white wings, flying above Natsu's head.
The cherry-haired boy, having somehow shaken off the villagers, stood before him with his arms crossed, flames quietly burning in his eyes.
He was using the flames to enhance his perception, examining Ezreal's body.
This was one of the few observational spells a Fire Mage could master.
"Much better." Ezreal pushed his goggles onto his golden hair, a familiar curve gracing his lips. "What, worried about me?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Natsu snorted, squatting beside him. "I just came to tell you that, to show their gratitude, the village chief has prepared a banquet and invited us to stay for the night."
Happy drooled, his eyes filled with longing for dinner. "Aye! They seem hard to refuse."
Ezreal nodded: "I hope the local specialties aren't too bad."
He tried to stand up, but his knees suddenly buckled.
Natsu quickly caught him, and the temperature of his touch was surprisingly cold.
"Your hand is cold like a corpse." Natsu frowned, flames swirling in his palm, warming Ezreal's icy fingers. "This doesn't look like nothing's wrong."
Ezreal was silent for a moment, then finally sighed: "I temporarily... cannot use Light Magic."
Natsu's pupils suddenly contracted.
Happy froze for a second, his wings even stopping their flapping. "...Aye?"
Although Ezreal mostly fought with Summoned Beasts, everyone within the Guild knew that besides being a Summoner, Ezreal was also a master of Light Magic.
He had studied under Makarov, the Guild Master and one of the Ten Wizard Saints, learning the famous magic of the second Guild Master, Precht.
With just his Amaterasu magic and his almost teleportation-like Transfer magic, Ezreal's strength firmly placed him among the top five in the Guild.
Losing Light Magic meant Ezreal's strength was effectively halved.
Moreover, Natsu was worried about what kind of problem could possibly force Ezreal to temporarily abandon Light Magic.
Ezreal didn't let his concerned companions overthink and proactively began to explain, "Do you remember when I asked you to help collect Orc corpses during the Newborn City incident?"
Natsu silently nodded.
Ezreal smiled, reached out, and caught Happy, who was flying in the air with a worried expression, cradling him in his arms. He continued, "I've mastered a magic called Life Alchemy, which can enhance the power of Summoned Beasts through fusion. Those corpses at the time were used as evolution materials to boost the Summoned Beasts' strength."
"Whether it was Evil Wolf or Fire Crown Treant, their strength was increased this way."
"After helping my Summoned Beasts complete their evolution multiple times, I confirmed that I had completely mastered Life Alchemy and that there were no risks."
"So, I used Life Alchemy on myself."
"My magic power isn't much, and my physical body isn't strong enough; you should know this." Ezreal finished, looking at Natsu, then, with one arm holding Happy, he freed his left hand, clenched his fist, and threw a punch forward.
The punch whistled, the punching motion almost invisible to the naked eye; Natsu only heard the sonic boom as the fist broke through the air.
Natsu looked at the air wave at the tip of the golden-haired youth's fist, his expression slightly changing. "Pure physical strength!"
Ezreal retracted his hand and continued, "I used a lot of alchemy materials: Orc corpses, the corpses of Dark Guild members I killed, and some Alien Monster corpses."
"With Life Alchemy, my physical strength and magic power are now close to that of Evil Wolf."
"But I didn't expect that, even though I saw no hidden dangers in my Summoned Beasts, when I performed Life Alchemy on myself, something went wrong."
"Alchemy is divided into three parts: magic power, life, and soul."
"The first two parts had no problems, but a large amount of soul power surged into my body, impacting my soul."
"This massive soul power even tried to assimilate my soul."
"Once assimilation is complete, a new soul will appear, and this body will have a new master."
"A new master combining the souls of hundreds of Dark Guild members, hundreds of Orcs, several Alien Monster, and my own soul."
As Ezreal recounted, Natsu's face grew increasingly grim, and Happy gasped, covering his mouth, his tiny tail starting to tremble.
The flames in Natsu's eyes grew brighter and brighter, his emotional fluctuations causing the air around his body to heat up. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "You're really crazy!"
Ezreal shrugged helplessly, "Don't get agitated. Although the situation is dangerous, I've found a safe solution."
"Light Magic inherently has a purifying effect. Currently, most of the Light Magic in my body has been poured into my soul to form a protective layer."
"At the same time, using the purifying effect, I'm slowly washing away the consciousness and memories of these foreign souls, while my original soul devours the purest soul power."
"This will take quite some time."
"Oh, right, after saving that kid Maxi, the time required might be a bit longer now."
Ezreal said with a smile, but his still pale complexion made his smile appear very weak.
"Why didn't your Summoned Beasts encounter such a situation?" Natsu asked directly.
Ezreal looked at the cherry-haired boy in surprise: "Rare, that you'd actually notice that."
He pointed to his shadow, "After the problem occurred, I immediately thought about this, and my conclusion is that it's related to my Summoners Rift."
Natsu frowned, "What do you mean?"
Ezreal continued, "My Summoned Beasts are very special; they're not like other Summoned Beasts that can be killed. The world that nurtures them is called Summoners Rift. If Evil Wolf and the others are killed, they will respawn in Summoners Rift in just a few minutes."
"After respawning, they can maintain their original consciousness, not a new one, and their souls are also their original souls."
Natsu looked down at Ezreal's shadow, then stated with certainty, "Some kind of world rule power ensures your Summoned Beasts are not affected."
"Exactly." Ezreal nodded, praising, "You've really learned a lot from the old man. I thought the same thing; it's highly probable that this is the fundamental reason."
Natsu was silent for a moment, then suddenly punched a nearby tree trunk, and flames instantly engulfed the entire tree.
"You idiot!" he roared, the flames in his eyes almost gushing out. "Why didn't you tell us about such a dangerous thing beforehand?"
"You're already so strong, why do you have to do extra things and get yourself into such a mess!"
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