"Should I really turn my energy into threads and then release it to rip the soul out of those monsters from a distance?" he asked.

"Almost like that. Mix your energy with a little bit of soul energy, and then it doesn't matter in what form you transform it. Grab their soul and forcefully pull it out of their body. Start with the weak ones. I'll leave you," the woman replied, and her voice faded away.

"Let's see," he said, sitting down on the floor in front of the door, praying in his heart that the monsters wouldn't be released. After a few minutes of calm, his soul settled down, and he began to manipulate his energy, taking the missing energy from the book.

Taking a little bit of his soul energy, he began to weave it into threads and directed his hand towards the door. Watching all the monsters, he chose a small monkey with three legs on the right side and two on the left. Instead of a tail, it had only one long feather, like a peacock. It was very weak, making it perfect for a start.

Something like a tentacle came out of his directed hand, heading towards the creature. Halfway there, the energy thread shifted to another beast.

"Damn, it was going so well at the beginning," losing control over the thread, he entered another monster, and a strong pressure overwhelmed him. The monster's soul fought back and even tried to rip his soul out, which scared him a lot, and he broke the threads.

The pressure disappeared, phew. This incident didn't demoralize him, but even motivated him. He can take over others' souls without even touching them. But what a high price to pay! He spent approximately 23 units of energy on these threads, which few can endure. But these 23 units of energy disappeared in seconds, as if by magic.

But I have a battery that can still charge. At the same time, the book felt a chill running through its pages? How is that possible? An incomprehensible feeling seized it.

He created threads again, this time slowly moving towards his target. Like a snake approaching its prey, the threads moved towards the small animal. When the threads reached the animal, they were ready to touch it. But the little creature began to slowly move away from them, as if sensing danger. Like a snake, the threads entered it. Inside the animal, the threads began to tie up the weak soul that was fighting with all its might.

Joy appeared on the face of the black and gray man. He rejoiced that he was able to do this. But he quickly calmed down. This was not the end!

The smile on his face froze. A strong wave of pain engulfed him again. But instead of giving up everything and fighting the pain, he clenched his teeth and forcibly pulled the soul out of the target. The body fell to the ground.

The new corpse began to emit neurotic energy, and the soul flew to the entrance, where the man filled with pain was waiting.

The growing pain began to gradually subside. At the same time, the soul that was wrapped in threads felt its enemy becoming weaker and began to fight more fiercely.

After striking the ground several times, he inserted the threads into the soul like a needle and, like a pump, began to suck out all of its spiritual energy. With each passing second, the soul grew weaker until it finally stopped.

Then he began to compress the threads that wrapped around the shell, and then enveloped it with his own soul, turning it into a material that could restore his own soul.

While it was in his soul, this compressed piece of shell lost all connections and data about its past and began to develop kinship with his soul. This was necessary so that the soul would not reject it as something foreign.

In the end, he was only able to partially restore his soul, even less than he had done with the spider's soul. But that wasn't a problem, as there were still many creatures in the room.

***

In complete darkness, the icy eye watched every movement of the strange man. His progress in magic and soul greatly surprised her. He was able to do almost instantly what others took several days to accomplish. She felt that he could do it.

***

While the owner was busy with his magical tricks, Anino spun around a few times, trying to bite his own tail. But after a few minutes, he lost interest and approached the owner.

The owner sat on the floor in a lotus position, his left hand resting on a book and his right hand rising and falling. Each time the owner lowered his hand, one of the monsters fell to the floor and did not get up again. Other beasts rushed at him, but quickly stopped. Perhaps they wanted to get the items the owner took from the monster?

At the same time, the drawn circle was attracting energy, but before it gathered in the center, it headed towards the owner. Each time a large amount of energy entered him, the book lying on the floor began to move weakly, as if struggling, but the hand held it firmly.

Opening his mouth, Anino stuck out his tongue. He wanted to lick the owner and then play. But seeing that the owner sometimes suffered and was now very serious, he was a little scared. But he was still the beloved owner. What to do?

"Oh, I'll catch more enemies, and then the owner will be very pleased," Anino thought, turning his back to the owner. He disappeared into the shadows, going on a hunt.

***

For a long time, there was complete darkness. Eyes resembling snakes watched the black man who had recently become acquainted with it. Her eyes were yellow, and in the center was a black line like a mirror that showed the seated man.

Blinking, the scene changed, and she saw not his physical shell, but his soul. Small, weak, but pure from impurities. Right now, it was wounded and slowly leaking impurities into it.

Watching as he caught the soul and then sucked all the energy out of it, she saw how the process should have triggered the soul's fall. But his soul had already been processed before that happened.

The energy he sucked filled his soul only a little. But most of the energy flowed through the wound. The soul energy that was supposed to disappear was collected in a book. He could have known about it, but it didn't matter.

This person was very strange. How could his soul hold so little mana? This meant that he had not had contact with magic before. But the fact that what she had to say was not so difficult, so quick, was strange. One of the reasons could be that he had summoned the Duke before. Or maybe he was involved in death? She felt his mark. She had to ask his name... What was it?

"I'll leave these thoughts for later. For now, let's take a look at the new guest of this lost forest," the image changed and showed a large humanoid beast. He was dressed in a very expensive military uniform.

"What is he looking for here? Could it be..." she trailed off. He turned to her, his face half-human and half-lion, smiling before everything plunged into darkness. He had blocked the ability to observe him.

Pondering the reason, she began to watch the man again. But she quickly closed her eyes as a moan of pain enveloped everything around her, and she fell asleep.

***

"I'll leave these thoughts for later. For now, let's take a look at the new guest of this lost forest," the image changed and showed a large humanoid beast. He was dressed in a very expensive military uniform.

"What is he looking for here? Could it be..." she trailed off. He turned to her, his face half-human and half-lion, smiling before everything plunged into darkness. He had blocked the ability to observe him.

Pondering the reason, she began to watch the man again. But she quickly closed her eyes as a moan of pain enveloped everything around her, and she fell asleep.

***

Slowly walking on the black sand, the strange creature looked at the forest carved out of stone. Its hairy hand was huge and strong, like a lion's. And his face, combining the features of a human and a lion, looked into the darkness inside the forest.

He was a beastman, his lineage descended from proud and powerful lions. He was dressed in a military uniform that revealed his high status.

Feeling someone watching him, he turned to the source and saw that the observer was not an enemy. Smiling, he cast a spell. He didn't like being watched.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a music box. Opening it, a faint melody began to caress his ears. Holding the box in one hand, he entered the forest. After more than 10 minutes of walking, a loud roar enveloped the forest, and several vultures waiting for prey flew away.

Hearing the roar, he smiled and said, "Found it!" before heading towards the source of the roar.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

***

"Hmm," I thought, looking at the book that occasionally trembled as if it was nauseous.

After processing more than ten souls, I realized that when I was processing a vessel, I needed to wait. But it became tedious over time when I started to notice how necro-energy came out of the bodies of the fallen. Then I had an idea: why not collect this energy while I wait?

At first, I failed multiple times and even lost the vessel a few times, as well as experiencing unexpected bouts of pain. But fortunately, they became weaker over time.

As time went on, it became easier for me to collect energy while I waited for processing. I even dared to collect energy when trying to take a soul and suck energy from it. Of course, it was difficult at first, and I even lost a few souls. Those damn vultures tore them to pieces, and they just keep multiplying more and more.

I looked at Happy Annie, who had brought in another catch and tossed it into the cage, where it struggled to get out for a few minutes. After realizing it was useless, it started attacking the others. Some of them tried to escape, while others attacked their own kind. And the rest just sat quietly and waited.

Annie brought in more monsters than I could process, so the amount of catch was restored to previous levels. And now there were even more. And I couldn't understand where Annie got them from, and so quickly.

Seeing that Annie had left, he started working more diligently.

Since then, he has been able to easily collect and process soul energy and necroenergy that comes out of bodies. At first, he only collected necroenergy, but over time it became so easy for him that he started collecting energy from other sources as well. This process also slightly increased his reservoir, allowing him to store more energy within himself. But there is also a downside: an increase in the reservoir where soul energy is stored means that the soul becomes larger, and the wound on it also increases.

The soul has basic energy - soul energy, which must sustain it. When the soul is depleted, the person will die. They will become fallen, and their personality will be lost, meaning they will be dead. Soul energy can only be restored in a few ways, and I only know of two. The first is through natural death, where the physical body dies and the soul is purified and filled with energy for reincarnation.

The second method is simple but cruel. You must take the soul energy from others. The soul can contain both soul energy and mana, or part of it, but they have different principles, like density. They are like water and oil, which never mix. Soul energy is at the bottom, as the foundation, nourishing the soul and helping it not lose its sanity and personality, while mana is at the top, entering and leaving.

Where do I get so much knowledge? Part of it is from books, part is from my observations, and the third part is from nowhere. And here lies the dilemma: my knowledge makes me stronger, but it slows down the progress in healing my soul. Although it is pleasing that the process of increasing my knowledge reservoir is slowing down - that's very good. But that's good for now, and in the future, it will be harder for me to increase it. I'll leave that for later, and for now, the most important thing is to keep learning.

Recently, I noticed that the book started behaving strangely. I have a suspicion that I'm right. Perhaps all types of energies have mixed up in it, and now it feels very bad, like an alcoholic who has drunk all types of drinks. I decided to stop giving it all types of energies and only gave it necro-energy. This showed an improvement in its condition. Now it is easier for it to fight.

At the same time, Aninno dragged in Scorpio with a detached tail. Instead of paws, he had reptile paws, and instead of claws - claws resembling a praying mantis.

Having thrown another victim into the prison, the wolf had been sitting in front of the owner's door for more than ten days. But why couldn't he just easily throw his prey into the room?

Sitting for a few minutes, he realized that the owner was still motionless. Although he used to raise and lower his hand... He started to raise and lower it again, and each time someone in the room fell. Nothing new.

Leaving the house, Aninno began to look for a new prey and soon found it. After a few minutes, he walked over 13 km and stopped near the rabbit.

***

The rabbit was several times larger than ordinary rabbits and filled with muscles. Instead of ordinary fur, it had fur like a hedgehog, but more dangerous. When the rabbit wanted to attack, it turned off this ability to be able to move quickly.

And when it needed to defend itself from an enemy, it turned on this ability and became like a spiky cactus. But this greatly slowed down its movements. This ability complicates hunting for the rabbit, but makes it more interesting.

*** A little early.

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Start Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqR_fz9N0xo

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"Where were you hiding?" Took the musical box in his hands, which slowly played a melody. He looked at the black panther, which glared at him with anger.

"I lost too much time looking for you. And finally, I found you," he said sadly. His eyes were full of regret as he looked at the panther. But his face remained unchanged, only more determined, when he saw her.

The panther pounced on him, but he did not lose his composure and, dodging a few centimeters, struck the panther. She flew straight into a rocky tree, and this blow made the panther cough up blood.

Shaking his head and breathing heavily, he said, "I couldn't protect you and already lost you. But I can't destroy you and leave you alone. I'll take you back, even if you resist."

Disappearing, he appeared in front of the panther and struck her a few times, then flew back into the tree, covered in scratches, from which some black blood slowly dripped - a residue of blood and suffering.

Disappearing again, he reappeared next to her. The musical box still didn't stop, and the melody continued to play. Before he could strike, he stopped for a fraction of a second. He saw his daughter's face and her wet face from tears.

The panther took advantage of the moment and ran away like a shadow. Seeing her running away, he pointed his finger at her, and beams of light struck her. But this blow didn't stop her, and she managed to run away and hide.

Looking at the music box, he filled with bitterness and, from pain, said, "She inherited her mother's traits."

After that, he slowly headed to where the black panther had recently fled, with the musical box that had stopped singing.

***

Proudly holding a rabbit in his teeth, Anniño turned to return to his owner. On the way back, he sensed danger and stopped to hide with his prey. After a few minutes, a dark silhouette appeared, moving very quickly.

After the silhouette had passed, Annino didn't immediately leave his hiding place but waited a few more minutes. Once he was sure that no one was around, he emerged from hiding and quickly headed towards his owner.

But Annino didn't know that a wounded girl with black hair had been following him, watching him with malice.

After Annino entered inside, he tossed the prey into a corner where the rabbit, freed, began attacking the others. The owner, as usual, raised and lowered his hand, and the book finally calmed down, settling onto the dirty floor. Angin began to observe the owner and his movements. He didn't understand much except how to hunt, but the more he watched the owner and his hand movements, the more it fascinated him. He even thought about magic and realized that if he became stronger, he could be even more useful. But how? Looking at the book, Annino realized that only it could help him understand the secrets of the art. Despite the pain it would cause, the owner was useless in this regard. He had to learn on his own.

As Annino was contemplating, the door opened and he heard faint footsteps. Rising, he looked towards the exit and saw a wounded naked girl with black hair sitting by the door. Her small eyes were filled with anger as she looked at the man and the wolf before her.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Annino stopped and turned around. He saw a girl who had pounced on a wolf, considering it more dangerous than the naked man in the tattered cloak.

Annino sensed the girl's bloodlust towards him and quickly slipped into the shadows, appearing next to his owner with a spear in his hand, with a red thread tied to it.

The girl, who had jumped to where Annino was, turned towards him and snarled like a beast, attempting to attack. Her nails had lengthened, resembling the claws of an animal. They were very dangerous.

As he watched the girl and Annino, his mind was full of questions. Where was she from? Who was she? Why was she naked? Was she a pervert? Or maybe she wanted me?... My thoughts went in the wrong direction.

The girl quickly attacked him, but her attack was halted by the spear. She jumped and pounced on Annino, directing her claws towards him.

His hands holding the spear shook from the force of her strike, but he instinctively attacked the girl. He wasn't going to just give up, even if he was weak. The spear aimed directly at the girl missed her. She contorted herself at the last moment, causing the spear to miss.

"Damn, with her curves, I'll definitely become a pedophile. Good thing I'm not getting up."

The girl, turning angrily towards him, seemed to have been bitten in the leg. Annie began viciously attacking the enemy's leg, causing her to raise her leg and throw him against the wall with force.

With her injured leg, she could no longer move as quickly, but she didn't know why and, attempting to attack the brazen man, fell.

Taking advantage of the moment, he lifted his spear to pierce or at least wound this deviant, but he didn't want to go down that path. The red thread that was tied to the spear began to glow weakly in red.

The girl, seeing the threads, went mad and, like a crazed beast, caught the spear and jumped. Pulling with all her strength, she managed to take the spear from the man in the cloak's hand.

Upon landing, she gently touched the threads. The threads, like snakes, untied themselves and began to crawl over her until she entered their lower hole. The girl didn't resist and only waited for this.

Meanwhile, Annie, who was limping, and her owner were stunned by the scene. "The threads, like snakes, entered her cave. And she sits and waits, not even resisting. Does she like it? Surely she's a deviant," they thought.

As soon as the threads disappeared completely, she began to tremble violently. A few seconds of shaking, and she fell to the ground and blacked out. Seeing how she fell, they didn't even know what to do next. Should they kill her? Or tie her up until she regains consciousness? And then what? Try to make contact? They weren't sure, she had shown that she considers them enemies, and maybe she has a low IQ. It's possible, but maybe she thought it was useless to talk and began to act.

And then, what to do if she's stupid and can't understand anything? Kill her? Make her a sex slave?..."Ugh, get out of here, that's a dark path. And who am I fooling, I'm in a different world with different rules... No, no, no, don't think about such things. She's even stronger than me, and I want to turn her into a plaything for my pleasure. Nonsense, and my little buddy here seems to be retired," thought the owner.

"First, we need to tie her up. Annino, please bring some thread or anything that can help tie her," said the owner.

Annino, understanding that he needed ropes or something similar, disappeared into the shadows. At the same time, the owner took his worn-out cloaks and began sawing them into not-so-thick threads.

"Once I made this cloak from a flying creature with the thought that I could use it in battle. I also hoped to use it as a storage bag for things. But with Annino's arrival, the latter became irrelevant, and I don't have much experience using the cloak in battle," explained the owner.

After finishing cutting the cloaks, he began weaving them into threads. Meanwhile, Annino appeared with hair and a few items that could be used for tying.

The owner tied the victim's hands and feet with a rope made from the cloak, and used the hair brought by Annino to tie her neck. It turned out that the hair rope was very strong and could even cut flesh, which was tested on an uncovered part of the victim's body. Then the owner tied the threads in such a way that if the victim tried to attack him, her head would fall off.

"Now I need to decide what to do next with her. Maybe kill her and turn her into undead," pondered the owner.