The Astral soul system

Chapter 253: Overkill

[Obtained soul: Ancient forest serpent]

"Oh my goodness it worked!"

Theia exclaimed excitedly as the image of a snake slowly formed in the castle.

Zen tilted his head and put away the star. He’d consumed hundreds if not thousands of cores at this point. He supposed it had to happen at some point, even with his mutation.

Near zero apparently still wasn’t zero

Opening the seldom used souls tab, he noticed the name of the ancient forest serpent had joined the previous two. Compared to getting Lilith and Freya,it was quite anticlimactic

He tapped it to check what it was about

[Ancient forest serpent (unnamed)]

[Home: Brutal Bog]

[Earth attribute affinity: mid third rank]

[Forest attribute affinity: mid third rank]

[Skill: earth cloak]

A single skill?

Was it because it was so much weaker than Freya and Lilith?

Sensing his thoughts, Theia replied

"Yes and no. Skills in general aren’t very important when it comes to souls, their affinities and homes are more important, but since they are formed of the collective knowledge of the soul while it was alive,then it has a chance to be imprinted on their essence"

"So Freya and Lilith have more because they spent time developing them while the beast just stayed in the dungeon"

Theia made a pair of glasses on her face just to push them up

"Yes, but also..."

[Bond LV 0]

[Exp 0/100]

He remembered seeing something like this once with Freya. Did this mean he had to give it exp as well?

"Yes but it will also naturally go up the more you use it and the more integrated you both become"

"Both?"

Theia nodded

"Just cuz it isn’t sapient doesn’t mean it’s not alive. It’s in there, though it hasn’t made any noise yet. I suggest you be nice"

Right. There was no reason it should be any less alive than Lilith and Freya, though it not speaking might not be a horrible thing.

He’d have time to get acquainted later. Now he had to get out of here .

"Freya,can you see the big guy in there?"

"Nope , nothing so far"

"Keep looking. It shouldn’t be hard to miss... unless it shrank or is hiding"

He checked the description of earth cloak and it was exactly what it sounded like. It was a camouflage skill that masked him when in direct contact with earth.

He would have felt disappointment if he was capable of it. He already had Zephyr’s shadows which could hide him,plus his own personal aura was masked thanks to his training and upbringing. Adding a third element of camouflage seemed unnecessary.

At this point he might just turn invisible

It was overkill, definitely... but no one could deny that overkill worked.

He equipped the soul of the serpent and the shadow of a snake appeared at his feet. He felt a strange metamorphosis within his body as the change happened.

He let out a breath and looked at the swamp he was standing in.

Slowly he lowered his hand into it and a sight similar to what had happened when he first came in repeated itself.

As he clenched his fist and pulled his energy, the swampy mix of water and earth came together and solidified under his influence, resembling rock. It was only around his hand instead of the entire room and it was just the surface but it worked.

This is what Theia meant when she said affinity was more important than skills. His energy which was usually null and void had acclimated itself to the earth element. So as his energy moved it lightly influenced anything that fell under the classification of "earth"

Apparently it would also make earth attribute gear stronger in his hands.

He looked at the green and brown taint in his usually black energy and mused

"Interesting"

He never got to simply observe like this with Lilith and Freya since they were actively killing him whenever he used them. This actually felt... nice.

He looked at the rate he was losing energy.

One every minute

Already better than anything he had with the other two.

He opened his palm in a random direction and fired a soul gun

He watched as it formed and was immediately different from anything else he’d made. It was mostly green with an earthly brown glow emanating from it.

It seemed to carry more weight than his usual attacks as it flew, striking the wall of the room.

He looked at the impact on the wall right next to one he’d fired during the fight.

The difference was almost imperceptible but he noticed there were a few slight differences.

"Interesting."

He quickly looked away. No he couldn’t stay here to study it. Maybe another time.

One more thing before he left.

[Earth cloak]

[-10 Astra/1 sec]

...

...

...

Well he didn’t know what he was expecting. It was a stealth skill and there was no one here but him to test it so...

He could note that there was a thin layer of energy coating his body and concentrated on his feet but he had no idea what it was doing.

Just to test and see, he activated shadow step which also minimized his presence.

Slowly he took a step and tilted his head when he saw the ground beneath his feet follow his movements.

"Right,both skills take from the same source,so it affects it"

He found it interesting that instead of making the skill impossible, using an elemental soul seemed to influence the way it worked

"Interesting. "

He took another step, sliding easily across the ground. It reminded him of how the snake had swam and slid over the swampy surface like it was nothing.

"It’s similar to skill synthesis...in a way perhaps I’ve found a new use for it"

He’d have to experiment on this further.

Souls were an essential part of his being as an Astral and to the system as well. It was literally in the name, but he didn’t realize his growth had been this stunted by his mutation and overlevelled souls.

Just a few seconds of feeling this had opened up so many new possibilities.

Possibilities he could explore later.

Usually at this point in the dungeon, people would look around for valuable treasures.

He didn’t even consider it for a very important reason.

A few minutes ago he’d sensed something. His shadow mark on Jade was active again.

And she was close enough for him to reach.

He wondered if Zaria had something to do with that but could only find out one way.

He opened the skill tab and activated shadow tracer.

Slowly sinking into the artificial shadow, he felt the world begin to shift as he was pulled away.

**********

A distance in the opposite direction

Rushing away at the speed of a hurricane

A green blip flashed across the sky, followed by flash of light that hastily vanished,as if it didn’t want to be seen.

Syl looked behind her and realized her tail was gone.

Before she could celebrate she sensed something in front of her and stopped.

The funnel of wind around her disappearing.

"You’re not from this world?"

Celia said it like it was a question even though it wasn’t

"What’s it to you?

Syl asked, not looking at all disappointed at being caught. She even sat down in the air somehow resting her face on her fist and crossing her legs

"Last I checked humans couldn’t fly,so I’m guessing you’re not a native either "

Celia clicked her tongue

"I always hated sprites,tiny bodies and tiny brains. Though I suppose you’re cute"

Syl raised a brow but still didn’t look concerned.

"What are you?"

"How about a trade. You tell me how you got here? And I’ll tell you what I am, and maybe I can even make you my pet after instead of killing you"

The wind spirit rolled her eyes, unamused. She considered calling out Moirai to skewer this imp with a hundred soul blades at once but she couldn’t reveal anything that could lead back to the three

"I guess I’ll have to deal with you myself. I haven’t had a chance to really test this body yet. Lucky you"

Celia snarled and suddenly teleported right in front of her, grabbing Syl’s face

"Fine then, I’ll just peel the skin from you and see if that loosens your tongue"

Syl’s lips curved into a smile on her soft green face which she didn’t try to pull away

"Bad move"

She said as a burst of wind suddenly appeared from under them and before either could react a tornado had formed, violent and forceful, knocking Celia away and getting her caught in the whirlwind

Dancing elegantly in the breeze,Syl escaped effortlessly and wad joined by the floating orb Moirai

"Haha! That was amazing"

She giggled as they flew away as fast as they could

The twister should keep her turned around for a few more minutes but they’d both depleted all their energy to form it.

Thinking back, Syl remembered it was the first skill Zen had used with the ring she was trapped in .

She turned into a stream of light, hiding inside Moirai as it flew away on the currents of the wind, their presence disappearing completely.

***********

As he came out of a shadow, Zen looked back at the trip, noting it had been much more bumpy than usual. Perhaps a consequence of the soul being active.

He looked at where he’d showed up and noticed Zaria and Sable looking down at the pond so he looked in too, seeing Jade.

’What? I was in here before and she wasn’t...’

He immediately paused that thought as he remembered what happened the first time he fell inside the water as well.

He wasn’t worried she’d drown

The "Water" was just energy that had been concentrated and purified until it took this form. The only risk was that she’d get overwhelmed by it like he was.

She seemed... fine though.

Seeing that he decided to look around and was surprised at what he saw.

’was this place always this big?’

"I don’t think that’s the main concern"

Theia said, looking at the battlefield.

Noticing the cave had been closed up,he suspected that was part of why it was so bumpy.

By the time he turned around, Sable and Zaria were arguing for some reason.

They were so preoccupied by it they just acted like he wasn’t there and completely ignored him

After a while he heard his name and tried speaking up but was almost immediately shut down again.

Curious he suddenly opened the system screen and noticed that earth cloak was still active

It seemed he was right. Overkill definitely works

His energy was almost depleted so he quickly deactivated it before noticing Jade stirring

"Looks like all your arguing woke her"

The two finally stopped and stared at him before looking at Jade

"It was that easy?"

"How long have your been here?"

He shook his head

"Not important"

Reaching into the water, he gently shook Jade.

"Huh?"

Her eyes finally opened

Sable and Zaria let out sighs of relief as Zen pulled her out. She was still in the hospital gown but she looked better.

"Z?"

He nodded, carrying her in his arms

"I had the weirdest dream"

She muttered, still half asleep.

"There was a tunnel, and a tornado"

Sable nodded

"Uh-huh"

Jade continued her half asleep rant

"It was made of rainbows, and portals"

"Of course it was,honey"

Zen ignored their patronizing tone. He knew what she was talking about, he’d seen it himself.

Though what he hadn’t expected was what she said next

"The world is ending... They need my help. Everything is... going to burn. It’s all over"

She mumbled as her eyes closed again.

The remaining three of them exchanged glances at the ominous warning, but before they could say anything, she opened her eyes again, looking at them carefully

"What happened to you guys? You look like someone dropped you in a blender "