Christopher entered the Butterbash Inn feeling sore and exhausted. Multiple hours of harsh training and a long walk through the city had depleted his energy. He was still planning to use his time fruitfully though.

Only Menos and the twins were currently still at the Inn. Tinos and Tamas had gone into Lumen to sell the jewelry, weapons, and armor. It was easy to discern that the teenager had wanted to go as well. He recounted the events of his training to Menos, who was hanging to his every word.

Now that he was back, he offered to watch the twins in his stead. Menos hesitated for a while, not sure whether he should delegate the task given by his grandfather. Christopher managed to convince him quite easily though, assuring him that he would make sure that the children would not get into any trouble. The desire to watch his grandfather and sister bargain with other merchants won out in the end, which left Christopher to watch the children.

Now that he had his first real break from all the craziness of the last few days, he wanted to do some reading. Tamas had mentioned that there might be some instructional manuals on Soul Force at the Inn.

A pretty young woman with rosy cheeks was currently at the reception. The young woman smiled at him. She gently brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Good afternoon, I heard that you have some books on the topic of Soul Force that I might be able to borrow?” he asked the receptionist.

“Certainly, the Inn has two books on the subject.” She leaned towards him, a charming smile on her face. “It is not that often that somebody requests one of those books, I have both of them here. You are certainly free to take what you please.”

“That’s great, thank you, I would like to borrow a book for beginners.”

The young woman looked at him somewhat displeased for some reason. “Right, let me see,” She rummaged through a hidden cabinet. “I think this one would be best.” She handed him an impressive leather tome. “Now can I help you with anything else?” She asked it with another bright smile, her voice cutely lilting at the end of the sentence.

“No that is all, thank you for lending me the book.” Christopher had to admit that the customer service was excellent at this place.

He quickly made his way back to the Twins, not wanting to lose sight of them for too long. He seated himself at a small wooden table, in close view to where the Twins were playing. He could not wait to start reading, this was a book that taught real magic after all, what could be more exciting? The events of the day had also made him realize how little he understood about this topic.

The Twins seemed to be doing pretty well all things considered. They were now playing some seemingly made-up game with a lot of jumping. He tried to discern the rules for a while, but Nara, the girl, kept changing them midway, therefore winning every time. Her twin brother seemed none the wiser.

Honestly, he was glad that they were able to play at all, that hollow look from the last few days had already mostly gone, luckily these children were pretty resilient. While he was watching the Twins, he spent the next few hours devouring the Soul Force manual.

The book started with some religious scripture. It was a book commissioned by the Adenium Church after all. Apparently, the people here worshiped the Goddess Avalla. They believed that any creature with Soul Force burning within their body was a creation of the Goddess Avalla. Any being without that Soul Force was considered a creature of the Blight.

According to the book, Adenium, the founding figure of the Church, was apparently a prophet that had brought the words from the Goddess to the populace. He had preached a holy mission of defeating the creatures of the Blight at all cost. He was the creator of the five commandments of the Adenium religion.

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Christopher of course had his own information from before he entered this Kingdom of Venaria. The explanation from the automated response system had at least some similarity to the religious scripture in this book. And who knew, maybe this Goddess Avalla was actually the administrator of this world. Christopher made sure to read it all, it could only help him to integrate into this world faster.

But most interesting was the explanation of the magic. Most of the book was dedicated to the core principles of Soul Force. Or at least their theories on the subject. A lot of it was just guesswork, but Christopher still received plenty of insight. Their interpretation had a lot to do with the elements.

The book also listed the materials that were the easiest and most difficult to imbue with Soul Force. Interestingly, materials that had the least association with life could be affected most easily. The book theorized that it had some relation to a clash of inherent energies. That was why wood was incredibly inefficient, and why metal was at the top. Still, thinking back to the farmers it was clearly still possible.

Another magical law was that the larger the object to imbue, the more Soul Force would be required. He thought of the wood mill and the large hinged blade. It was no surprise that it needed such a large supply of Soul Force.

The book had very little information on how to use Soul Force during a fight. There was a passage warning about the dangers of such techniques, and to only attempt it under the supervision of a trained Priest. He could somewhat understand their caution in teaching such techniques.

There were several steps to using Soul Force techniques. A person had to start with forcibly swelling the Soul Force within their body, which was what Christopher had already discovered on his own when using [Dagger’s Flow].

The next step was to focus on the element associated with the desired technique. For example, the process of creating soul heat was associated with the element of fire. For soul heat, the book recommended imagining the bright red glow of a smithy’s tools, while simultaneously willing their Soul Force to the desired item or material.

It required a certain focus and mindset that could only be perfected with practice. The efficiency with which a person’s Soul Force was transferred into the desired effect, depended on the person’s Soul Force reserve, their proficiency, the chosen mental image, and their concentration and will.

And this was all still just speculation after many years of experimentation. The effects that could be produced by users were numerous with surprising new ones being discovered constantly. It was not uncommon that talented individuals managed to produce their own unique effects. People trying to replicate the unique mix of mental image, will, proficiency, and Soul Force would then fail to strike the right balance necessary.

As an example, the Manual contained a story that spoke of a female hero called Vesuva who lived hundreds of years ago. This famous figure had developed the ability to send out arcs of lighting from her sword. She had used this ability to lead her army to victory, supposedly killing hundreds of creatures of the Blight.

Many in the years since had tried to replicate this lightning effect, but almost none had succeeded. Only a few had achieved a similar, but much weaker effect. These geniuses that had developed especially powerful abilities became religious figures and were revered within the Church.

Of course, Christopher could not resist immediately trying to apply some of his newfound knowledge. He would try experimenting with one of the most basic ones. He had an object running on soul heat in his room. It was the Soul Kettle.

He managed to quickly snatch the kettle from his room, before making his way back to the twins. He deeply concentrated and did his best to follow the steps from the manual. He managed to successfully swell his Soul Force, concentrated on the bright red glow of a smithy’s tools, and then directed his swelled Soul Force in the small metal strip on the kettle.

The results brought mixed emotions. The result was very unimpressive. He had probably followed the steps correctly since his soul force did indeed leave his body and enter the small metal strip. The metal strip however was barely warm to the touch, and the heat had dissipated within just seconds. Most of his Soul Force was now expended as well.

He did not let it get him down though. He had for the first time used Soul Force outside of his skill [Dagger’s Flow], he had been worried that he would not even be able to do it. It was only his first try and he should not expect to get amazing results that easily. These results also now allowed him to constantly train his soul force attribute, even outside of a fight.

After reading for another hour, he got a sudden bout of inspiration. In his experiment earlier he had imagined the bright red glow of a smithy’s metal tools. But he had additional knowledge of the phenomenon of heat from Earth. Heat was nothing else but atoms rapidly vibrating. What would happen if he used that as a mental basis? He felt he was on to something here. He could not wait to find out!