The lady twitched her lips a bit unsatisfactorily mumbling, "Not even bothering to ask my name, why should I tell you what you want." Ren twitched his lips, this lady didn't even ask his name either. Yet, he could only succumb, "By the way, my name is Ren." he spoke in a manner of afterthought, mostly to please the lady so she would spit out the things he wants to know.
The lady then smiled happily, then proceeded to introduce herself, "I do have the information you seek, as I have a hobby of collecting books. Also, My name is Prultucneamen Nesrinn Amris Belcoria Fankukmaan Thershann. You may call me Prul for short." Ren was struck dizzy by the long tongue twisting name.
He vaguely recalled something in the dragon inheritance about him being given a name himself, yet he did not care as Prul started to take out books one by one. He was extremely excited when he noticed they were all in the common language
Books called 'On The Nature of Souls', 'Merging Souls Basics', 'Meditation Ideas: The Foundation', 'The Nature of Abilities' and lastly 'The interaction of the physical and metaphysical'. Prul spoke, "Humans have an exceedingly soul high aptitude. They may not be born with the strongest souls, but they have the highest potential and adaptability."
She continued, "With a little bit of training and an aid, humans can easily sense the soul." She pushed forward the book 'Meditation Ideas: The Foundation', "The aid is called a meditation idea, there are a myriad of different types of meditation ideas, as they form the foundation of the soul, merging their formless and weak souls into a cohesive form. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages."
Then she handed over the two books, 'On The Nature of Souls' and 'Merging Souls Basics', "Human souls, and dragons who choose humans as their alternate form," she shot a pitiful glance at Ren, "are extremely adaptable, able to merge any foreign soul to themselves, increasing their soul strength, as well as gaining the abilities of said soul."
Finally, she showed the last two books, 'The Nature of Abilities' and 'The interaction of the physical and metaphysical'. She said, "All abilities a creature has, that is not purely biological in nature, will be reflected either fully or partially in the soul. For the most case, it is not an issue, as the partial abilities either fail to work, or require different mediums."
She then seemed to think of something and cringed a bit, "Yet, researched, and actual reality has shown that the soul can affect the body, and vice versa." shaking her head of bad thoughts, she made her ending statement, "There was once a legendary archer who hunted down a beast named 'Heaven Orb Weaver' a massive spider beast, for a particular ability called 'Weaving Heaven and Earth' as it would prevent all from directly attacking him."
She shivered as she spoke, "As time went on, people originally assumed it was a purely magical ability, but he grew a lump on his back, it was hard to notice at first, but as he used the ability more and more, the spinneret gland, grew bigger and bigger on his back. Eventually turning him into a hunchbacked monster." Her words seemed to contain a first hand sadness of a lost friend.
"So be extremely careful about what souls you merge." she shook her head, then pointed at the first book, 'Meditation Ideas: The Foundation', "It is best to choose a meditation idea, as it will accompany you your entire life, and you cannot change unless you wish to severely damage your soul and lose all your power."
Ren nodded, taking the books in preparation to read them.
~~~~~~~~~~
Meditation ideas were created thousands of years ago by the early humans. There were two initial ideas, the Totem Warrior, and the Shaman. Each of them is the purest representation of physical power versus magical power. At this time, meditation ideas were external items connected to oneself through the soul.
The totem warrior would find a tree with soul properties, and refine a totem pole with their blood, before hunting an animal and absorbing their soul with it, they would create a new level to their totem pole every breakthrough. Ranging from one level pole, to a thirty levels pole. While the totem pole was excellent at using physical abilities to enhance the body, it was poor at conducting mystical energies.
On the other end of the spectrum were Shamans. Their meditation ideas were spellbooks. On each page, they could seal a soul, able to use its powers. Each page represented a higher level of strength, from level one to level 30. Yet, while being an extremely good conductor of mystical energy, it was lacking when it came to physical abilities.
All meditation ideas were formed from the foundation of these two professions, and as such followed their leveling. From level 1 to 10, every three levels a transformation of the soul occurred, and on the tenth level, an evolution occurred in the soul. The first evolution at level 10 is considered the transition from mortal to transcendent.
Similar things happen at level 20, from transcendent to epic, then at level 30 epic to legendary, and the highest recorded is from level 40 changing to mythical. Compared to the initial limit of level 30. Thousands of years of refinement pushed it to level 50.
There were also other professions, like the beastmaster. It was something that was developed after hundreds of years of research. Their meditation idea is a tower. Each level of the tower represents a new beast. Another special thing about this profession is that each transformation allows them to place an extra beast on each transformed level.
Though there are restrictions, Each level can only hold similar beasts, and new levels have to wait for transformations. So only the lowest of levels have multiples of beasts, and higher levels have few. Among the other professions, it is more of a matter of specialization, or trying to merge both ends of the spectrum, each has its own benefits and costs.
Ren had a real hard time picking any of the available ones. Some had real power in the beginning, but were weak later, others were just the opposite. He decided to ask Prul for more information.