"Hey kid, are we… amm… reading the diary of a killer that treats humans as rats?"
"Stop looking at me like that, I won't do the same!"
Looking at Paul who was staring at me as a potential threat, my mind drifted to what I just read.
Leonard Von Saint.
In his world, they didn't know much about wills and souls just like us, but he was obsessed with knowing the truth about them.
And his morals couldn't stop that obsession.
He used humans as test subjects and breeding machines, believing that their suffering would serve a greater purpose.
The scariest thing was that… he was right.
He was truly a genius, a genius that was able to find out about the secrets of even myths like reincarnation and the wills alone.
His method was wrong, but even if I hate to admit it — his research may really help.
It may not be helpful for all, but for someone like me? It's a different story.
*BONK!*
"W-why was that?!" I shouted at master Kai while rubbing my head.
Shit, that sheath always hurts.
"Next page." He answered calmly while pointing at the Grimoire.
He looked more interested even than me about the Grimoire, but I understood why.
He had the will affinity, so this wasn't only related to my affinity, but also his.
For him, maybe it wqs an opportunity to find more about his affinity.
Opening the next page, we continued reading.
He started directly talking about all his experiments that failed, like trying to make 2 souls enter the same fetus and replacing a soul inside a living body or making someone reincarnate into a beast.
I was truly grateful that all these scary ideas failed.
After getting traumatized from some details, I finally found something interesting.
•••
════════
«Soul Threads»
I found a way to keep a soul alive without body or will.
It's by turning it into threads!
By taking small — barely visible parts of a soul's essence and making them take the form of threads slowly and carefully, I was able to make them stay endlessly.
They are completely stable, so they won't disappeare without a body.
The part of the soul that I took won't regenerate automatically because technically — it didn't disappear.
It still here.
In my hand!
Of course, it can still regenerate if I gave it a motivator or fed it soul essence, but that would be just a waste unless it's my own soul.
An interesting discovery about the soul threads is that they are just as special as the soul it is made from.
If an awakener's soul is related to ice then the thread would also relate to ice.
Unfortunately, I still need more experiments to see how to make mixed threads.
But still, they are too useful.
After a painful process of making a thread of my soul, I noticed — how I was able to feel, to know exactly where it was.
Even if I left it on the other side of Zora, I would still feel it.
Only this discovery filled my mind with multiple possibilities.
I decided to call it Soul Mark just to make it simple.
•••
«Soul Alchemy»
Who would have thought, a soul can be an ingredient in making potions!
Finally, I turned souls into liquids, leaving the spectral realm and entering the physical realm almost completely.
The first step is carefully compressing them spectrally without breaking the essence and increasing their density in the cases of weak souls.
The next step is fixing them in that state so they won't try to return to their original forms, I only have to keep them compressed for enough time until they get used to it.
The final step is using any type of spectral ice or snow to turn them completely into liquids.
How much time will it need depends completely on the soul, but I have to remember to not cool a soul for a long time if I didn't want it to lose its properties.
I knew this the hard way after losing a good flaming soul.
Finally, after storing the liquid in a stable S rank glass, I only have to make… miracles!
By using all types of combinations, I truly made miracles.
A potion that is made of dark soul and dragon blood with some plants can turn me temporarily into a half dragon with the ability to control darkness.
It doesn't only change the body, but also the soul, giving me all the instincts and attributes of a dragon.
Even if it was temporary boosts, don't the high rank potions have the ability to give permanent buffs?
If I found a way to take the power permanently, wouldn't that mean I found a way to be omnipotent?
If that's right, then I must put more effort into the soul alchemy.
Now I won't only need high ranked souls but also ingredients.
I can already see my empty wallet cursing my ancestors as if the people I killed weren't enough.
But eventually, I will see the results and say it was worthit.
•••
«Soul Forging»
What if I applied more pressure to compress a soul?
It would simply turn into solid.
Not the same semi-solid as the spectral monsters, but a real solid that can be touched with bare hands.
Just like the liquid souls, I can use the solid souls as ingredients.
By heating them a little, I can forge them directly into items or add metals and solid items to them to form special ingots.
Using the soul of an awakener with the power of telekinesis and volcanic golem heart، I made a glove that can heat using telekinesis.
Just like the soul alchemy, it also has potential, but just thinking about focusing on both of them together is giving me nightmares.
Oh my poor bank account, please do your best to endure this.
════════
"..."
I didn't expect that a monster like him could become emotional because of the money.
No matter the world, the lack of money can always make a man cry.
Shaking my head and continuing reading, I found that the next pages were only theories and experiments.
Like how theoretically، a will with memories and emotions may mistake itself as a soul.
Or the countless potions and artifacts recipes he made.
Unfortunately — I'm almost sure he is from a different world, so those recipes could only help me as a reference instead of using them directly unless I found those ingredients in this place.
Fortunately — he explained the properties of each ingredient, so I may find some alternatives if I left this place.
After reaching half the book, all the remaining pages were just empty.
*Tak*
Finally, I reached the last page and closed the book, ending the hell of reading about a mad man trying to force someone to breed with a ghost.
"Grrr, my head hurts too much. I'm not made for alchemy." Zorath groaned as he started rubbing his head.
Aurelia and Paul looked disappointed that it was done after copying all the recipes into their notes.
"What will you do to the Grimoire now?" Master Kai asked while looking at the Grimoire curiously.
"I will keep it, it may be useful someday." I answered him while moving my hand to the Grimoire.
I was ready to store it inside my ring but my hand suddenly stopped.
I tried to store it into my abyssal pocket, and surprisingly, it worked.
My eyes widened as I realized — the Grimoire was made of a soul.
It was most likely the method of soul forging but I wasn't really sure how he did it with a book.
Deciding to think about that later, I pressed on my last reward.
Instantly, a small bag with 10 soul threads appeared in front of me, each thread gleaming with a different color and had a different length and density.
"Wait, did you summon another gift?" Cecil suddenly asked while looking around himself.
Zorath also looked as confused as him.
"Yes." I answered honestly, "But they are soul threads, you can't see them."
I touched the threads and stored them one by one, but then I noticed that they didn't also see the bag.
If they saw the Grimoire, then why not the bag?
I decided to store it inside my pocket and study it later.
"I have to sleep now, wake me up before the challenge starts." I announced before summoning a sleeping bag from my rind and sleeping inside it instantly.
I had to restore all my power, because the next day — a new hell would start.