Alius felt the dense weight of the mana he had used to extract the Soul Power. It was far heavier than any regular mana, and he quickly realized he had reached a limit. Each bit of Soul Power he absorbed freed an equal amount of that energy, but trying to hold more seed impossible—its potency was simply too great, its weight too much for him to carry.
"This probably isn’t how Soul Power is ant to be handled," Alius mused to himself, "but it’s the only thod I have right now."
As he moved the condensed mana, now infused with Soul Power, he sensed the proportions: around 99% mana and just 1% Soul Power. Yet, even that tiny fraction of Soul Power made the entire mass feel twice as heavy.
’This is extraordinary. Being able to use such energy to fuel skills would be incredible,’ he thought with a glint of excitent, though he knew that it was just wishful thinking. He could only manage it by diluting it within the mana.
Carefully, he directed the mana thread laced with Soul Power out of his heart and toward the [Frost Fairy], who, in a mont of panic, had tried to escape. Unfortunately for her, the [Celestial Tiger] had quickly brought her back, gently swatting her into place.
As the energy moved closer to her, the Frost Fairy trembled. Her shimring wings fluttered in a frantic rhythm, and an unmistakable look of terror overtook her face. She could sense sothing primal in the Soul Power that left her paralyzed.
Alius paused for a mont, noticing the intensity of her reaction. He had wanted to test this thod, but seeing the overwhelming fear in her eyes almost made him reconsider.
’I’m sorry little Fairy, I have to test this.’ He had killed countless beasts before, and now wasn’t the ti to start feigning concern. He had a goal to achieve, and testing Soul Power was part of it.
As the energy entered the Fairy’s body, her trembling grew more violent. Her delicate wings fluttered wildly, and her eyes, wide with pain. Alius watched, his own curiosity blending with an unsettling sense of unease as the creature convulsed under the influence of the potent Soul Power.
And then, in a mont, the trembling stopped.
The [Frost Fairy] collapsed, her body eerily still. Alius crouched down, examining her. No outward signs of harm. No visible injuries. But she lay motionless, her life seemingly extinguished.
His eyes narrowed in thought. ’I underestimated this power.’ Soul Power wasn’t sothing to be toyed with lightly, and he realized that now—too late for the Frost Fairy.
For a mont, he felt the weight of his actions. Then, pushing it aside, he sat down, knowing there was no turning back now.
At that thought, Alius paused. ’Kara can bring the dead back to life with her Supre Skill, so there must be a way to do sothing about the fairy, right?’
Determined to fix his mistake, he tried various thods to revive the [Frost Fairy]. He infused her body with Soul Power-laced mana, attempting to restart her heart or activate her brain by mimicking blood flow, but nothing worked. No pulse, no signs of life. Everything he tried failed.
Frustration gnawed at him, but then a thought struck him. ’I wanted to subdue beasts with Soul Power instead of contracts, but maybe I was thinking too far ahead. Maybe the contract is the key to a solution mixing both options...’
He stood up again, this ti creating a new contract. Instead of using regular mana, he began replacing it with his Soul Power-enhanced mana. The contract shimred, trembling with the intensity of the energy inside it, as if it were being overloaded. Cracks ford along its edges, but then stabilized, barely holding together.
Pointing the contract toward the fairy’s still body, he focused. Then, to his surprise, a system notification appeared:
[Would you like to sign a soul contract with [Frost Fairy Corpse]?]
[Yes] [No]
Alius hesitated for a mont before pressing "Yes." Terms began appearing, seemingly dictated by the system itself:
[The contract being damaged, the duration will be set to 60 days.]
[The other party having no soul remaining, the Soul Power you provided will be used as a replacent to control the corpse.]
[You will provide experience or Soul Power to ensure the other party’s growth.]
[The other party can only be hard permanently through Soul Damage.]
[Your Soul Palace will be used to allow the other party’s [Soul Fragnt] as a resting place after temporary death.]
Alius stared at the notifications, wide-eyed. ’What the hell... Did I just create an undead?’
[You have a new class suggestion: Deathweaver (Mythic)]
--------------------------
While Alius was discovering a new path for growth, Sora and Kara exited the [Ti Space] after a single day had passed in the outside world.
"I can’t stand the boredom after a little more than three years in there. Honestly, I’m impressed you spent twenty years on your own... You’re amazing, Kara," Sora admitted with a smile. "But we can’t spend our whole lives holed up in there like hermits, training."
Kara smiled bitterly. "I hated it, but I needed such ti to grow. Let’s get out there and do sothing else." She changed topics, not willing to rember such days. After a pause, she continued, "I visited a few cities whenever I left the [Ti Space] to gather information or sell items. I t a few high-level players, and it seems like most people above level 80 are saying the sa thing: Europe is just a lower-level region. We don’t have enough opportunities or resources. The highest-level zone here barely reaches level 120, and without enough players, we can’t even activate double-experience zones regularly, as that requires killing a certain amount of monsters in the region regularly. So, the competitive players feel stuck here, and have all left. But what Hannah didn’t tell us was that Europe actually has tens of thousands of high level players all over the world."
Sora frowned. "But if we have that many high level players, why don’t they co back for wars?"
Kara said. "They don’t see the war with Dark Elves as the highest priority, so losing a few tier 4 territories to them isn’t a big deal to them. They think they can just earn them back later and co back during the bigger fights for places like France, England, or Germany. They don’t focus on this region, and I think it may be because the higher ups treat this like a ga."
"So, it’s alright if civilians have to be moved constantly during every war?" Sora asked.
Kara explained that top players did not mind losing half of Europe as long as they could claim better territories elsewhere and kept on going. After all, staying four weeks in a low level region would be detrintal to most high level players’ growth.
During each three-day truce after defeat, the Innocent civilians would be escorted out of the territory, and the Adventurer’s Guild played a key role, creating high-reward quests to minimize casualties in these evacuations. The higher-level players would step in with reinforcents if needed for major cities like Paris, London, or Istanbul, but beyond that, they were focused on chasing bigger opportunities in other regions.
Sora’s brow furrowed. "So, the top players don’t treat the massive migrations of their family as a big problem. With our levels, if we want to see real action, we’ll need to move to higher-level zones. This makes want to see how other countries are handling things. Want to visit one or two places before the event in Japan?"
Kara thought for a mont before replying, "That sounds like a great idea. I’m curious about how other countries adapted after the Update. I’ve heard amazing things about Lagos and Abidjan, in Nigeria and Ivory Coast... but, honestly, I’ve always dread of visiting Korea. My mom used to show their dramas and movies all the ti. And their music—I love it! I can’t help but want to see Seoul."
Sora facepald. "Seriously? K-dramas and K-pop? That trend died out like twenty years ago! You’re so old-fashioned, Kara... Fine, fine. West Africa will have to wait. We’re heading East." Keeping his tongue in check, he thought, ’Well, technically, you’re old now...’
Kara blushed at his teasing, but her excitent couldn’t be contained. The thought of visiting Seoul filled her with joy.
"Do you want to rush there or stop along the way?" Sora asked, though he already expected her answer.
"Let’s rush there!" Kara said, her eyes sparkling with anticipation before asking "What about Alius? You’re leaving him here?"
"I added him as a friend... And before you ask, yes, I can add him. As long as he’s not in a different realm or currently under level 10 after resetting, then I can contact him using the friend ssage feature; and if I wanted to, I could find him through the Locate Your Friend feature. So let’s not worry about him."
"Should be good," Kara replied with a nod.
Suddenly, Sora paused mid-step, a thought flashing through his mind. "Wait, Kara, you see ’Ralph Eden’ on your friends list and not my original na, right?"
"Oh, you’re talking about before you changed identity?" she asked. "Like I’ve said before, I see ’Ralph Eden’ on there."
"Why did I never think of this ? This... this is perfect," Sora whispered, excitent sparking in his eyes.
Without hesitating, he opened his friend request system and entered a na he hadn’t typed in a long ti: "Rachel Claude."
His heart pounded as he sent the request. If she accepted... he’d finally have a way to track her down. His hand trembled as he waited, unsure what would happen next.
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