Zayn chose to store the Spirit Souls in the Empty Spirit Cards one after another to ensure that their Soul Power would be full at all times. Their Soul Power was drained at all times, but the consumption increased when they sustained injuries. Therefore, Zayn figured it would be best to charge their Soul Power as much as possible.
The Hellhound’s Soul Power was the most important. Thus, it was stored the longest in the Spirit Card, ensuring it could spit more Soul Flames if necessary.
He inspected the information displayed on the Spirit Cards and noticed something interesting when he replaced the Goblin Spirits after a few minutes.
Magma Goblin – Foundation Orbit – 315/483 (Expand)
Magma Goblin – Foundation Orbit – 275/497 (Expand)
Magma Goblin – Foundation Orbit – 299/524 (Expand)
…
“Their Foundation’s limit is different,” He mused, smiling lightly. Since he’d seen the Hellhound’s Foundation limit, Zayn had been curious about this, but seeing his theory proven correct was interesting. Even the Spirits of the same kind had different limits. The range was fairly large as well. After all, the Magma Goblins capable of crossing a Foundation of 500 units could reach the standards of a Tier-1 Monster.
Their prowess would be several times higher than the Tier-0 Magma Goblins upon crossing the threshold of a Tierless creature.
‘That’s quite handy. I can make use of that.’
His brain rattled wildly, the cogs in his mind rotating as fast as possible. He stored the strongest Magma Goblins in the two Spirit Cards while keeping the Hellhound in the third Spirit Card. The remaining five Goblin Spirits walked ahead, wielding the weapons they’d left behind upon dying.
Zayn stored the remaining weapons and the Magma Goblins’ ears in his storage ring before proceeding to move forward.
He had 9 Soul Essences to invest in and considered increasing the Hellhound Spirit’s Foundation, but he didn’t immediately integrate the Soul Essences. Zayn could have increased his Foundation rather than investing them into the Spirit Souls as well.
‘What would be the better choice? Neither I nor the Hellhound have difficulties slaying the Magma Goblins, so I might as well collect more Soul Essence before investing them, but would that be the most efficient choice? What happens if I integrate more Soul Essences into the Hellhound. Will the drop rate of Soul Essences and Card Shards decrease? It should decrease, but what if… What if I increase my Foundation and my Spirit Souls do all the damage, killing the Magma Goblins? Will my Foundation influence the drop rate even if I don’t touch the Magma Goblins?
More Magma Goblins wielding a wide variety of weapons emerged from the cavern tunnel as they traveled deeper inside. There were more than a dozen, and there were more behind them. That was perfect.
Zany commanded the five Goblin Spirit to charge ahead while he kicked the ground to shot forward. He leaped past the Goblin Spirits, grasping the Verdant Saber tightly. It took only a moment to cross half the distance to the Magma Goblins. They’d noticed him as well and charged him. Simultaneously, a bunch of Archers slowed down, retrieved arrows from their quivers to nock them on the bowstring of their shortbow, and pulled back.
However, as they pulled the bowstring back, the Magma Goblin Archers noticed that Zayn was no more. Only the Goblin Spirits charged them. They grunted and changed their targets to the Goblin Spirits. But before they could release their arrows, one of them groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Zayn was behind them. He’d used Blink twice before releasing the Hellhound and the two Goblin Spirits stored within the Spirit Cards. The Shanyt Axe and a spear appeared next to the Goblin Spirits. They picked them up smoothly and grasped their weapons tightly. In a matter of seconds, the Magma Goblin Archers were either ripped into shreds by the Hellhound, pierced by a razor-sharp spear blade, or their skulls crushed by the Shanyt Axe.
Zayn was about to jump into action to join the massacre, but he slowed down when the Hellhound charged ahead, releasing a flood of soul flames across half of the battlefield. The five Goblin Spirits had yet to reach the Magma Goblins, but they charged forward fearlessly. In the meantime, the other Magma Goblins were cooked alive by the soul flames.
The soul flames dispersed after a few seconds. It was almost perfectly timed with the arrival of the Goblin Spirits. They emerged before the pained Magma Goblins and started executing them individually. The Hellhound and the two remaining Goblin Spirits joined the fray, attacking the Magma Goblins in a pincer attack.
Zayn decided not to join the battle at this point. The experiment wouldn’t work as well as intended if he’d contributed much to the fight. Thus, he focused on Soul Sense and Soul Link to grasp the Soul Wisps and to link them to his Soul. Soul Link succeeded, and the deceased archers came back to life as Spirit Souls.
Zayn willed them to pick up their bows and quivers and join the battle, though that was hardly necessary.
The Goblin Spirits dominated their living counterpart. They didn’t feel any pain and could heal from most wounds by using their Soul Power. Of course, their Soul Power wasn’t infinite, and they couldn’t recover from getting crushed entirely, but they were far more resilient than the Magma Goblins – though it felt like their Foundation was more than 10% lower than the Magma Goblins.
Spirit Soul has slain 7 Magma Goblins. +4 Soul Essences, +2 Common Card Shards.
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Spirit Soul has slain 3 Magma Goblins. +3 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 3 Magma Goblins. +3 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 2 Magma Goblins. +1 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 1 Magma Goblin. +2 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 1 Magma Goblin. +1 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 2 Magma Goblins. +3 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 2 Magma Goblins. +3 Soul Essences, +1 Common Card Shard.
Spirit Soul has slain 1 Magma Goblin. +1 Soul Essences +1 Uncommon Card Shard.
The first notification contained the kill count of the Hellhound, whereas the other notifications belonged to the Goblin Spirits. He couldn’t tell which notification belonged to which Spirit Soul other than the Hellhound, but that was also only because he saw the Hellhound Spirit killing most Magma Goblins.
Nonetheless, Zayn could tell there was a gap in the loot procured by the Hellhound and the Goblin Spirits. The Hellhound’s drop rate was lower. However, the gap was a lot lower than expected. He’d expected that the Hellhound would obtain much less than the Goblin Spirits. After all, it had a much higher Foundation than them.
‘Even though the gap is small, there is a gap in their drop-rate. But it’s too small to say that the Foundation difference is the only factor determining the drop rate. Does that mean my Foundation is also part of the equation?’
That would make sense. The Spirit Souls were part of him.
However, a theory wasn’t enough for him. Zayn wanted to know the truth.
He increased his Foundation using the Soul Essence he’d accumulated in the last few fights.
Integrate 15 Soul Essences into the Star of Vitality.
55/100 → 70/100
Integrate 15 Soul Essences into the Star of Strength.
55/100 → 70/100
Zayn didn’t have to upgrade the Stars of Vitality and Strength, but he was too excited to conquer the entire Goblin Lair in one day to let stamina slow him. That’s why he increased his Vitality Foundation. The Star of Strength was something he didn’t need as much as his Vitality, but since he didn’t use his Cards much to deal with the Magma Goblins, Zayn wanted to waste even less stamina to slay them.
He would last much longer if he required only a fraction of his power to kill the Magma Goblins. Last, Zayn knew that the Magma Goblins weren’t the only monsters in the Goblin Lair. There were tougher monsters as well. Zayn required more strength to get through their defenses.
A surge of strength passed through his body. He felt more invigorated, and his muscles bulged as well. A faint smile crossed his lips as he moved onward, not without forgetting to transform all Magma Goblins into Goblin Spirits. He managed to get hold of the Soul Wisps of all 22 Magma Goblns and spammed Soul Link, connecting all Soul Wisps to his Soul.
His Soul felt a massive weight crash upon it, but it was interesting. Zayn’s Soul had still not reached its limit yet!
‘I can control even more Spirit Souls! Well, Goblin Spirits, to be precise.’
Tierless creatures didn’t seem to put too much pressure on his Soul, but that was something Zayn could have expected as a Tier-1 Soul Lord. He was a whole Tier above them, and his Spirit Foundation was also far from weak.
Zayn continued the hunt. He stored the two strongest Goblin Spirits and the Hellhound back into the Spirit Cards while commanding the remaining 27 Goblin Spirits to charge through the cavern tunnel.
The next few fights were very interesting. Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, yet more than 50 Magma Goblins fell victim to him.
More than 10 Goblin Spirits were ripped into shreds in the battles, but Zayn didn’t pay too much attention to the casualties. He was more interested in discovering how many Spirit Souls he could house and how much space each Spirit Soul required. Last but not least, Zayn learned that he – and the Spirit Souls – procured fewer Spirit Souls as Zayn’s foundation increased.
He obtained 29 Soul Essences from 50 Magma Goblins, which was somewhat expected since Zayn integrated the Soul Essences into his Foundation whenever he harvested some. But it was worth it. His Foundation Orbit changed quite a bit.
[Foundation Orbit]
[Star of Vitality – Novice 70/100] [+10%]
[Star of Strength– Novice 70/100] [+10%]
[Star of Agility – Basic 170/1000] [+10%]
[Star of Dexterity – Novice 70/100] [+10%]
[Star of Spirit– Novice 310/1000] [+10%]
Zayn was busy transforming the last Soul Wisps into Spirit Souls when the change he’d been waiting for arrived.
[Soul Link failed. Soul Wisp escaped your grasp.]
[Soul Link failed. Soul Wisp escaped your grasp.]
[Soul Link failed. Soul Wisp escaped your grasp.]
[Soul Link failed. Soul Wisp escaped your grasp.]
[Soul Link failed. Soul Wisp escaped your grasp.]
At last, Soul Link failed Zayn. His Soul was on the verge of reaching its limit. There was still a speck space that remained unoccupied, but Zayn could tell that it was too small to fit another Goblin Spirit. That’s why Soul Link failed.
He nodded slowly, the corner curling upward. He’d expected the last Soul Link to fail to conjure the Spirit Souls of the last five Soul Wisps.
“64 Tierless Magma Goblins and one Tier-1 Hellhound. My Spirit Foundation is at 310 Units, and the Lord Rune augments my Foundations by 10%. That means my Spirit Foundation is actually at 341 Units. If the Spirit Foundation determines how many Spirit Souls my Soul can house, each Magma Goblin should require…five Spirit units whereas the Hellhound occupies 20 Units.”
If every Tierless creature were to occupy 5 Spirit Units, and all Tier-1 creatures occupy 20, Zayn should be able to control 17 Tier-1 creatures at this point.
But Zayn didn’t think it was that simple. The formula was probably a lot more complicated.
Fortunately, he had enough time – and enemies – to find out more.
He was excited. His power was skyrocketing, and he had 65 disposable subjects by his side.
How could he not be excited about the future. It was exhilarating!