For Damien time itself had been torture. Adding the monotonous studying behind it just made it that much worse. After a year of nothing but studying every day with Tepmin and practical use at night with Tessa he was sick of anything regarding learning. He persevered knowing that in a few years he would be able to use his own body rather than his soul body to move around.
Yeah, it was nice having a soul body at night but he wanted to walk around for real, use a practice weapon for real. Studying just seriously sucked. It was strange regardless of the fact he was using his mind at all times when he was sleeping and doing things with Tessa it worked as if he was dreaming. It would give him rest despite the fact that he was technically awake. It allowed him to learn twice as fast as he would normally, which was ridiculous considering the speed he was able to learn just by observing the world during his waking hours.
Despite his natural reluctance for his 24/7 study sessions he still had a favorite subject which happened to be a tie between combat and practical use of ones soul. This entailed soul essence, soul power,soul pockets, soul locks, soul blessings, soul integration (for him its soul slotting), soul tiers, soul reading, and soul aura.
Soul essence -the amount of essence in your soul before you can no longer use your soul blessings
Soul power - the amount of strength you can pack behind your soul blessings
Soul essence and soul power work in tandem with each other and can be used as if it were a muscle, breaking down and becoming stronger the more you used them.
Soul pockets- soul pockets are the amount of spaces on can integrate new souls into. Most humans are born with one to three with the number sometimes doubling or more at puberty. There a select few special cases born with an absurd amount of pockets. Still even though one might be born with many pockets and gain more at puberty, arrogance can get you killed. There have been many a case of a single to triple integrater killing one with six to eight.
Soul Locks- these are doors in your soul that you have to unlock by facing a trial of the soul. The amount of doors in your soul you unlock will amplify your base soul essence and soul power. Behind each door will hold a soul blessing. Most people are born with a set amount of soul locks based on the strength of ones soul. The average being five to seven soul locks. They can't see a path to the next soul lock until the previous one has been unlocked.
Soul Blessings- soul blessings are the abilities whether it be passive or active that are unlocked by completing a soul lock trial. In most cases the more soul you have integrated into your soul the more options of soul blessings you have at your hands.
Soul Integration - this is the act of integrating another soul into your own, because of the nature of integration this is a permanent implant into your own soul. Most people coul only integrate up to three souls otherwise the strain could cause their soul to fracture. This only ended in two outcomes death or becoming a vegetable allowing someone else to poach every soul you possess including your own. At this point they could choose to integrate or sell.
Soul Slotting - A curious soul ability allowing one to slot a soul into the original. Thereby bypassing the need to have a stronger soul than one newly received. Not only can one slot stronger souls they can deslot and replace as well as siphon the power and essence inside slotted souls. At this point the power and essence can be stored to use at a later time or use it at the moment of siphoning. If the siphon is held for longer than a month the base soul essence and soul power is strengthened by the siphoned soul.
Soul Tiers - with soul tiers you always want to start with the soul you are born with. You want to make sure you tier your soul up by unlocking your first soul lock to receive your first soul blessing. The more doors unlocked the higher your soul tier. With each new soul you integrate will give you stacked tiers if you unlock soul locks for the integrated souls.
Soul reading - The ability to read another's aura, this will tell you what tier their main soul is at and how many souls they have integrated. Knowing their main soul will usually tell you their tier and highest tier stack. Most people cannot integrate a new soul with a higher tier than their own or they'll experience a soul fracture.
Soul aura - the aura of the soul is the power emanating of your souls strength overall everything related to the soul factors into your soul aura. There are ways to hide your souls aura however it takes intense training to reel it in and hide it from others. The stronger you are the more training it requires. It's best if you learn how to do it as second nature. This way when you experience a strengthening of your soul it takes but a moment to adjust to the strength of your soul. Those who start late at hiding their aura have a harder time getting the hang of it.