Ace dipped himself to the water and as soon as he closed his eyes, he felt that he was already dragged away from the place. It's a little painful, like a sting on his insides. But surprisingly, he can somehow endure it.
Slowly he felt warm around him and a little flash of light met his closed eyes which confuse the lad. He opened his eyes and saw a different view from when he came to the cave. The place he is in right now is lighter.
He stood up from the water and looked everywhere. He couldn't see anyone, not even Icarus. He continued to wander the place. He realize that the water was never ending. He knew it was a vast place.
Right before him, a rather peculiar formation of the water met his eyes. He grew curious and went closer. He found a person but it wasn't a human. More like person shaped by the water. Gradually he notice the image change into someone who he actually recognized. He saw himself, standing right there, facing him.
"Finally, you are able to see Me." it spoke.
"I have waited for you a long time. I am your soul, Ace of the Unknown."
Ace do not know what to say. He was speechless because he hadn't had that experience. But he knew why he was there in the first place.
"I am here to purify my soul..." he started.
"But do I looked malicious to you?" it answered back.
Ace knew that he wasn't. Being born in Februa means purity is the very priority.
"I wanted to get stronger, that's why I am here. I wanted to go to an adventure outside the wall, but I had to get stronger before I could go out. You are my soul, I'm asking you to help me get stronger." ace continued.
"I'm already pure, what does it do to me if I'll go to an adventure that you wanted. What good will it give to me?" it asked.
"We might find a clue of who we are. Frankly speaking, I am not sure of what my origin is. But I feel like if I'll go to Gaius Juin, I might find something... And I wanted to see the sun." Ace answered.
Ace's soul smiled. He knew that his body was innocently telling the truth. And they both knew that the simplicity of their wish means a lot to them.
Ace's soul agreed to take the training with his mortal body.
With the extraction of the soul, Ace was weak physically. But his soul sure is energetic, it was his world after all.
The rule of the purification of the soul is simple. Ace's soul must learn to create objects without the use of his mortal body. Soul Shaping is hard because it forces the soul to create materialized elements especially if a soul have no idea what his weapon best suits his body. That is why it takes more than 3 months for the soul to take to create even the slightest Soul Shape.
Within 3 months, Ace's mortal body will be a shell of his own. It will be hard to sustain living without the soul and the training he needs to do is to survive without a soul for the next 3 months. If he can't, other soul will overtake Ace's body.
After 3 months of soul shaping and control, ace's soul created a rather peculiar soul shape.
An Orb.
But the fact that he was able to create an orb, results to more question to Ace's identity.
3 months, to Ace's mortal body feels like a year. His body was exhausted, he can feel so tired just by surviving every hour. He has to sustain whatever fighting spirit he has to avoid other spirits from taking over.
Time to time, he grew weaker. But the River of Flowing Souls has no place for a weak person. His soul is getting stronger and if the mortal body won't sustain the new power, he will crack, like a shell, being forced to sustain the size and power of his soul. He must get stronger, to sustain whatever his soul has created.
Soon after the 3 months, his soul has finally made a weapon. The Orb of Blue Fire. He was able to get back to his body, but it was a slow process. His mortal body have to get used to the pain. A week of suffering from tearing apart from within his body kept Ace awake the whole 7 days. Until, he finally got tired and fainted, he fell down to the Flowing Souls, slowly dipping his own body.