Inside the torn down mausoleum.
Sitting down in a meditative position, Lucas opened his eyes as he felt his body be reborn through the power of aura. His wounds from the battle earlier were gone.
Aura was not just used for fighting. It is the energy of the body, it can also be used in healing.
In front of him, a demonic-like feline with a sharp, timid face stood from a distance, as though afraid of getting close to him.
Lucas didn't mind. After the Corrupted Leopard surrendered, he used another aura technique he knew that can bind another being's heart and crush it as long as he wishes.
While it sounded magical, it really wasn't. He just inserted aura within the Corrupted Leopard's body, wrapped its core with aura and made a connection from its body and his.
After recovering from his injuries, Lucas relaxed a little and picked up the unidentifiable mineral he found stored within the mausoleum.
"How strange… very strange.."
Holding the shining, colorless fragmented stone, Lucas stared at it with a curious expression.
Behind him, the Corrupted Leopard obediently sat down like a housecat and watched him timidly.
"I feel a very familiar energy within this stone. This should be your nesting place, correct?"
Lucas thought for a moment before asking.
The Corrupted Leopard purred and nodded hurriedly.
"How curious. Whatever this thing is… were you trying to lure your prey with this?"
Lucas commented, feeling the rough texture of the shining stone. The energy within it felt similar to his own soulforce.
Thinking of something, he gestured his hand towards the Corrupted Leopard.
"Come here,"
The Corrupted Leopard hesitantly walked beside him.
"You want this right? Is this important to you?"
Lucas asked as he handed the fragmented stone to the Corrupted Leopard.
"Show me what do you use this for."
The Corrupted Leopard stared at him strangely for a moment before complying. It raised its paw, landing it on the surface of the stone.
Faintly, Lucas could see the energy within the fragmented stone be drained… or be absorbed by the Corrupted Leopard.
Thinking of something, Lucas abruptly pulled the fragmented stone away before staring at it with undisguised interest.
"So that's the reason…"
If the energy within this fragmented stone was the same as his soulforce energy, then a small piece of the puzzling mystery of the place unveiled itself.
"If I'm right, then you don't want to eat my flesh and meat?"
Lucas narrowed his eyes, pointing at his own flesh.
The Corrupted Leopard purred and hesitantly shook its head.
"Rather, you want something deeper inside my body. A nutrient to corrupted beings like you,"
Lucas pressed his finger on his chest while staring at the ceiling.
"My soulforce energy, huh?"
The Corrupted Leopard purred in agreement, albeit hesitantly.
"... Hm, this does imply a lot of things…"
Playing with the unidentifiable mineral, Lucas stared at the ceiling blankly, deep in thought with himself.
'Things are more getting troublesome than I expected it to be… if my soulforce is a nutrient to beings similar to these Corrupted beasts then my chances of encountering a non-hostile race decreased significantly.'
'I originally assumed they were merely hungry demonic beasts chasing after my flesh… like normal beasts… but if it's soulforce, then inherently, my soulforce holds some value. Should I start to assume every being I see as an enemy?'
'That's too irrational. I'll try to find more samples first before deciding my next course of action… I have a bad feeling about this place and it's continuing to grow larger…'
He usually had good intuition towards these sorts of things. The scent of death just followed him for so long that his mind was familiar with it.
He had a feeling that if he were to make a mistake of some kind down the line it would be his death.
Lucas hummed. Nevermind that, worrying about the future is pointless, the present should come first.
'I'll look at the Oversoul System…'
Thinking of that, he uttered out quietly:
"Oversoul System."
In front of Lucas, a familiar blue-screen manifested.
===
Oversoul System:
Name: Lucas Aillard
Age: 18 (25)
Soul Path: Path of the Darkvoid
Soul Rank: Rank E- (5%)
Soul Purity: A++
Soul Sockets: N/A
Body Refining Manual: Starry Body Art
Body Refining Rank: Rank E (90%)
Oaths: N/A
Soulcraft: Darkness
Soul technique: [Void Circulation Mantra] • [Voidshadow Iris] • [Void Extremity Senses (Passive)]
Soul Arts: [Void Plunge] • [Void Orb] • [Void Steps]
Soul Structure: [Demon Soul]
===
"As I thought, soul arts are artificial or external techniques using soulforce…"
Lucas observed, snapping his fingers.
When he opened the Oversoul System earlier and saw [Void Orb] as a Soul Art, he hypothesized that soul arts are actually external or artificially made techniques.
The insertion of [Void Steps] under the Soul Arts category reinforced that hypothesis.
However, if that was the case then where did [Void Plunge] come from?
He didn't made that soul art, that was for sure.
Lucas thought for a moment before shaking his head. Even if he tries his hardest to think about it, only vague ideas and guess theories will come up.
'All will be revealed in due time…'
Lucas hummed, smiling softly. It would be nice to meet the perpetrator behind all of this.
Moving on from that, other than the two new additions of soul arts in the Oversoul System there really weren't any other changes worth noting.
Well, perhaps it was worth a mention that the percentage beside the Soul Rank increased a little.
But for that much of an increase, it was hardly worth mentioning. He didn't even know if it would even finish with its snail paced progress.
But nevermind that, he opened the Oversoul System to check one feature in particular not to check his Soul Rank.
"Oversoul System, give me the description of Void Orb."
Lucas commanded softly.
And almost-instantaneously, a description of Void Orb replaced the status interference.
[Void Orb (Intermediate Soulcraft)
Type: Attack-based Soul Art
Aspects: Void, Darkness, Wind…
Description: A standard, soul art with basic capabilities. Originally from an innate ability of a Corrupted Rhino, later copied by Lucas Aillard. Through replacing the aspect of energy used in the Corrupted Rhino's Orbital attack, the self-created soul art, Void Orb was created.
To activate Void Orb, the instructions are as follows; manipulate the soulforce to gather wind from the surroundings…]
Lucas read through the information with delight.
"Fascinating. So that's how the Void Orb manages to gather pressure as an attack."
When the Oversoul System gave him information about the Corrupted Rhino, it gave him an idea to check the description of his Soul Arts and Soul Techniques.
Although he already knew how to use them, it was different from knowing the process in itself.
Using it instinctively and understanding the theoretical process behind it were two different things entirely.
It was like knowing how to light fire and understanding how fire is actually generated.
The theoretical process provides an elaborate explanation that would significantly help with his research comprehension of soulforce, by proxy, help him tredge through its limitless possibilities.
As Lucas read through the description, he realized that some of what was analyzed by the Oversoul System was in line with his conjectures on how Void Orb worked.
Of course, only some. Not all. A lot of his conjectures were still wrong.
But that was sufficient, in fact that was more than enough. It would be too boring and stale if he were able to guess most of it correctly.
Where would the fun of acquiring knowledge go if he already knew about it? The excitement will disappear, that's for sure.
Even though a lot of his conjectures were wrong, guessing a few was a feat itself—considering he was just introduced to the concept of soulforce just earlier.
And if he were to say so himself, most of his inaccurate mistakes were due to his flawed thought process. He was making most of his conjectures about soulforce based on his understanding of Aura.
Obviously although the two energies had some similarities, they were still fundamentally different in the end.
Using the logic of Aura in Soulforce seemed idiotic in hindsight.
However, that didn't mean that kind of logic was totally stupid. Without his extensive understanding of Aura, most likely he would probably not even begin to understand the process behind soulforce.
In a sense, his understanding and experience with Aura provided a foundation for him to understand the very basics of soulforce.
However it stands to reason that what he was doing right now is not an ordinary feat that could be replicated by anyone with understanding of Aura.
It was just not because of his understanding of Aura he was able to understand Soulforce, but also because of his otherworldly mind.
'Still, it's been a while since I actually made a mistake about something… delightful.'
While Lucas would never deny he's a genius, he wouldn't call himself perfect in any way. In truth, he hated it when he was called perfect.
To him, perfection was merely a fancier word of stagnation.
Lucas would never settle for mere perfection. To go beyond it was his goal.
Although a lot of his guesses were wrong, now that he had confirmation of the validity of some of his conjectures, starting from now, he'll try to be less cautious of his methods.
He continued to read until all of the information had been retained in his mind. Afterwards, he asked for the information to [Void Steps]...