[0:01]
[0:00]
As soon as it was over, he felt a rush of energy through his Soul, helping him recover. The power flooded throughout his body, rapidly repairing the previous damage to his Soul.
Stable again, he looked at himself internally, finding himself the same as before, apart from a slight color deepening and a blue speck in the center of his body. He didn't grow bigger, but it seemed like his Soul grew a bit thicker than before. if before he was completely transparent, with this change, he became more translucent.
"Urgh… I never want to experience that ever again. Is that how Soul Eater's supposed to work?" He mumbled as he took some time to recover.
He took at the blue screen once again.
[ERROR* Enemy defeated is considered inactive]
[Rewards for fallen enemies scaled accordingly]
[Rewards (Surpasser IV) Removed]
[Rewards (Surpasser V) Removed]
[Rewards (Surpasser VI) Removed]
[Rewards (Surpasser VII) Removed]
[Rewards (Surpasser VIII) Removed]
[Stat gain from Soul Eater heavily Reduced]
[Limit break Conditions for Soul stat Heavily Increased due to inactive Enemy]
[Due to User in a Soul form, Experience penalty applied]
[Due to Enemy inactivity, experience granted from Kill is negated]
"I think it's safe to assume no, it's not," he replied to himself, mirth deep in his voice.
Lucian felt a rush of energy flow through him when Soul Eater ended. He didn't feel as powerful as the Soul he absorbed, but he felt much stronger than he was before. His Soul remained its previous color, if not a bit deeper. However, the most significant change was the tiny blue dot in his Soul's center. Due to the change, he suddenly gained a slight shift in his aura, becoming more peaceful.
Moving back to the system, he took a look for any changes.
[Congratulations! You have been granted 5 Titles!]
[Surpasser I, II, III, The First Cain, Reaper's Bane I]
He smirked slightly at the progress and immediately went to his character sheet.
Basic Stats
Strength - [0]
Constitution - [0][0.05]
Endurance - [0]
Perception - [0]
Agility - [0][0.05]
Dexterity - [0]
Willpower- [0][0.06]
Intelligence - [0][0.06]
Soul - [0.1][0.16]
Titles
First Citizen - First person in World [Unidentified] to become a citizen of the multiverse
All stats 5%
Statistical Pioneer - First person in World [Unidentified] to gain a secondary Stat. Additional 10% to all Secondary stats. 10% of all Secondary Stat go towards Original Primary Stats.
Soulful Pioneer- First Person in World [Unidentified] to gain the Soul stat. Additional 15% to Soul Stat. 15% of Soul stat towards Willpower and Intelligence. 0.05 to Soul stat
Undertaker- You are the First Human to Travel to the Underworld. Grants Soul Secondary Stat. Grants Soul Eater (Ability). Usable only in the Underworld.
The First Cain- First Human from [Unidentified] to kill a monster. Additional +10% to all Stats
Surpasser I - Kill an enemy 1 level above you. Additional +5% to all stats
Surpasser II - Kill an Enemy 5 levels above you. Additional +5% to all Stats
Surpasser III - Kill an Enemy 10 levels above you. Additional +5% to all Stats
Reaper's bane I - Live to see another day after a near-death experience. Increase Health and Stamina multiplier by 1.
The first thing that popped out to Lucian was that his stat doubled! Along with it also came even more titles than he had before! He was easily twice as strong as he was previously.
He also got another weird title that increased health and stamina, which would only be useful when he had actual health or stamina.
"From the looks of things, the stat increases seem like the byproduct of my soul becoming stronger," he said. While his Soul evolved, the excess energy seemed to increase his stats, which resulted in the increase in his stats.
He hypothesized that killing such an enemy would have netted him a lot more stats in the living world.
"I almost died... just for this much increase in strength. Is this how Soul Eater works?"
Unfortunately, Soul eater didn't have a description attached to it, so he couldn't really get an answer to his question. The previous error messages also seemed like he didn't fully gain the rewards he should've had from the absorption. He did feel quite frustrated in this position since his plan seemed to be filled with all kinds of mishaps, making it even harder to accomplish his goals than he thought.
"At this point, what are any of my goals? How would I be able to return to Earth?" he thought subconsciously.
He couldn't help but think that just waiting in line like everyone else would get him reincarnated. Maybe by that time, Earth would be included in the multiverse, and he could start all over. He didn't have to struggle like he was now.
However, if he lost an opportunity like this, he didn't know how easy or hard it would be to regain all he had so far.
He was already desensitized to death from the life he lived when he was in the living world. In just a day that he's been here, he's already accomplished so much that would positively impact his life in the multiverse. The titles he gained were probably very scarce, considering the number of bonuses it gave, and it seemed like there was even more to gain!
If he genuinely wanted to thrive in the multiverse, starting here, surrounded by millions or even billions of souls that could strengthen him, was honestly the best call in his head. He would gain the strength he needed to fight to escape, and he would be more than ready to kill Elijah.
He disliked the feeling of near-death when he was using soul eater, but Lucian knew it was far better than the feeling of having nothing when he needed everything. That, he knew from experience.
"I cannot give up on Anna. Even if I have to face death repeatedly, I will avenge her no matter what lengths I have to go."
And so, with that thought in mind, he began to think of solutions to the soul eater problem.
First, after thinking about it, he did go after a soul that was significantly bigger and stronger than he was. That would make sense why it was so hard to absorb that soul energy. It was the same with everything. 'Too much of a good thing would always turn out bad.'.
To test this, Lucian found a significantly smaller soul to experiment on.
[Soul Eater has been activated. Process projected to the completed in 4:37]
He waited as the timer went down. However, he realized that compared to the first time, he felt absolutely nothing from absorbing the more minor Soul. As the process went through, another peculiarity he noticed was the color change his Soul was going through with each absorption. He believed that the change had to do with the attributes the Soul gravitated to; however, he couldn't place the attribute change he was going through.
After absorbing the second Soul, he noticed his Soul was pretty much the same size. The only change was the slight change in color and the new brown color in the center of his Soul. The same color of the Soul he absorbed. Now, his center has both a blue and brown tint to it.
"It seems like I adopt the attributes of the souls I absorb," he mused. "Does that affect my compatibility with that element or attribute? Also, what are these attributes in the first place?"
"Right now, I can't test that yet, but ill take note of that in the future."
Grabbing the closest Soul to him, he began absorbing it once again. Another great boon he found out about was the stronger his Soul became, the easier and faster it absorbed newer souls.
With his new familiarity with the ability, he went on an absorbing spree going after the souls around him to gain strength.
Twelve days passed like this, and slowly but surely, his Soul's color changed. It grew light yellow with even more colors than before in the center of it. It looked quite mesmerizing.
However, Lucian was slightly concerned about those colors since even the other souls didn't have nearly as many colors in a single sitting as he did. The most he had seen so far was two!
However, he couldn't concern himself with that at the moment since this was the inevitable byproduct of using Soul Eater.
'I've grown smaller,' he observed. Based on his observation, he saw that most bigger souls are higher leveled than other smaller souls. So he wasn't getting stronger based on the levels since he currently couldn't level up, but the quality of his Soul had increased significantly.
His sense of the surrounding had grown significantly. If before he could roughly sense a 30-meter radius around himself, he now felt that double. Also, considering how much harder it was to increase his sense range as he grew stronger, he knew that this was more than a two times increase in strength!
Honestly, he couldn't wait to see what he could do once he finally reincarnated into the surface world.
Finding only weaker souls around himself, he flew forward, moving up the line.
'I wonder where my limits lie,' he thought, a genuine smile donning his face for the first time in a very long time.
Back on Earth, he never really felt like he belonged. There was no excitement. Minor improvements and enhancements were available to him since he discovered the Soul, but he always wanted more. He didn't just want to waste his life away, rich in a giant tower wasting his life away. He wanted exploration, growth, and competition! He wanted to reach the apex of the universe. Why? Because that was the only thing worth doing to him! How long would he have to excavate his path to supremacy back on Earth? And even if he did, would that truly be the peak?
He stopped walking and turned toward a giant black bubble. It was much larger than any other Soul he had encountered so far. If Lucian were currently the size of an average person, this Soul would be the size of a coach bus.
"I never considered myself a genius. I've merely set myself towards a goal many cannot conceive. To reach a world where men could wield the power of gods. That calls to me, and I would do what it takes to reach it." he said to himself as he stared at the blob of energy, determination in his eyes.
"And you will be the first stepping stone towards my path!" As he grabbed the black Soul much larger than himself, defiance reflected in his actions
He activated Soul Eater.
