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Eyes of the Soul has successfully ascended to Soul’s Decree!
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Soul’s Decree (Lv.21): A skill worthy of the jealousy of even the strongest beings. Through the windows of the soul, the user will experience an attunement to his body and mind that is said to be even out of reach for Spiritual Creatures.
With this Demi-God Skill, nothing can stop you from learning even the hardest of techniques in a few hours or minutes. Even instantly sometimes. You can also never be taken by surprise or ambushed as your soul will never fail to notice it and warn you of the danger.
Furthermore, this skill grants you two abilities known as Astral Projection and Vow of Accord.
Secondary Effect: Permanent 200% increase to senses.
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Once again, Rakna felt his senses expanding but nothing too bad. Cumulatively, the multiplicator applied to his stat had gone from 4.5 to 5 with this. Additionally, he could feel without a doubt that the quantity of soul power circulating through both his soul organ and circuits had increased.
“Good to see I didn’t have to use this,” he sighed as he dismissed the Heart Cards revolving around him. After that, he promptly used Appraisal on both of the abilities granted by the skill.
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Astral Projection
The art of separating the soul from the body. By shedding yourself of your physical vessel, you can navigate the world as a spiritual entity.
In that form, you are not bound by gravity or solid objects. You cannot be harmed through physical attacks and similarly cannot inflict them as well. You can switch from a visible to an invisible state at will and while severely weakened due to the imbalance of internal forces, magic will still be accessible to you.
Possession is also not beyond the realm of possibility but many risks are involved.
Note: The better your control, the farther you can distance yourself from your body. Keep in mind that the latter will also be vulnerable when performing the projection.
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Vow of Accord
This is a contract between souls. Upon activation, two parties vow to each other and form a contract of life or death. If the vow is broken, the offender will lose their life.
Note: This ability can be forcefully implanted in one’s soul if the user’s soul power is strong enough to dwarf the target’s own.
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“Very useful. Both of them,” Rakna immediately commented. Vow of Accord could be used on many occasions if he took into consideration that he would most likely encounter more and more people in the future, both nefarious and sound. It would be a good thing to have the ability to make them unable to betray him or simply to gain their trust.
As for Astral Projection, the scouting possibilities were endless. However, he would need to see first how far he could get away from his physical body.
“Let’s see…” He closed his eyes and pictured his soul power condensing into a concrete shape and exiting his body. Normally, this should have been an incredibly hard process. Any soul practitioner would tell you that successfully astralizing your soul was a road of self-discovery and endless training.
However, in Rakna’s case, someone who now possessed an innate Demi-God skill that boosted all of his learning experiences to obscene extents, logic didn’t apply.
In a burst of power, he was ejected out of his body. For him, it felt like falling backward along with his seat. Then, the next thing he knew, he was looking at the ceiling, his body lying horizontally… with no contact with the floor.
He was immobile for a good minute before he tentatively tried to move his body. But the small movement turned into an uncontrollable drive that made him fly into a wall.
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Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Warning! You cannot phase through Filter Dimensions with a Spiritual Body.
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Rakna groaned, but his voice was distorted as if he was trying to speak underwater. He pushed himself away from the wall where a thin protective barrier stopped him from actually phasing through it like he should have been able to and gradually managed to right himself up.
He looked at himself and didn’t find anything different except the fact that he didn’t seem to be able to put his feet on the ground. He then raised his head to looked at Pronos and Tyran, who was now back to a small size.
The two creatures were frozen in shock, staring at him. It appeared like the two of them had been in a sort of scuffle for a chicken leg when he was ejected from his body.
He tried to speak up but it came out undecipherable. He shrugged and focused on how to control his current body instead. Also, if his two pets could see him, it meant he was in a visible state and he would have to figure out how to become invisible.
Meanwhile, Tyran was the first to recover from the sight and he looked to his right from the corner of his eyes where Pronos was holding a chicken with his tail. In one swift moment, he opened his mouth and gobbled it up.
Pronos instantly turned his head and blinked at his tail. Tyran grinned at him and the two engaged into another brawl for another piece of chicken.
‘So? Do you feel any different, Higure?’ Rakna asked as he spun whilst floating. He had a blank face all the while but he had to admit it was quite a fun experience.
“{Different as in being able to manifest outside?}”
‘Yes.’
“{Well, once again, just like when you carved your magic circuits, I feel a bit stronger. But I have no idea if it’s doable yet. Perhaps you could try to project me outside like you’re doing right now? I’ll try to help you along.}”
‘All right. Give me a minute,’ he responded and stopped the gradual disappearance of his arm. He had easily grasped how to turn invisible while Higure was talking. After a few more tries, he went back to his unconscious body, which thankfully hadn’t fallen over from the couch, and merged with it without trouble.
He gasped and opened his eyes, feeling slightly alienated by the change. He flexed his limbs and coated his body in soul power. His circuits flared for the split of a second as he tried to access the connection that he had with Higure and then attempted to tug on it.
Briefly, he saw a fuzzy shadow in the form of a lion appear next to him before vanishing as fast as it had come. He grunted at the small exertion of soul power and Higure spoke up.
“{Hmm… it worked for a very short moment. Perhaps your soul isn’t potent enough yet. It truly felt as if I needed just a tad bit more to be projected.}”
“In that case,” Rakna uttered as he opened his status again. “We already know what to do. I’m already quite deep into soul techniques so I don’t mind using this,” he added and allocated the last skill point he possessed.
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Soul Core has successfully ascended to Primal Soul Core!
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Primal Soul Core (Lv. 11): One who is a step into the spiritual world. By getting closer to your soul, you have developed a spiritual organ. Whenever you perform an action of any sort, skills included, your Core will guide your very soul to support you.
With this Ascended Skill, it is possible for the user to reach the innermost layers of their soul to tap into the power of their nature and summon a physical manifestation and representation of their personified essence; Kzanaria.
A Kzanaria is a specter of will that mirrors its creators. One who yearns to protect will awaken a Kzanaria with the ability to do so. One who yearns to heal will awaken such specter as well. One who yearns to kill will summon a Kzanaria with terrific lethal aptitude. They are all unique and can manifest in many different ways.
Additional Effects:
+100% Senses.
-30% Mana and Stamina Consumption.
+5 MP every time a foe is injured through physical means. Inflicts spiritual damage.
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You have gotten closer to unlocking your Soul Marble!
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Rakna breathed in calmly as his soul organ pumped faster. He regulated his breath and controlled the flow of soul power that had suddenly become frenzied by the abrupt deviations the ascension of his skill had caused.
He exhaled one last time and addressed the lioness, “And now?”
“{Without a doubt,}” Higure answered surprisingly fast. “{The flow of the river down here is faster than before and I feel as if I could just jump and pop out into the real world.}”
Rakna snorted and repeated the same thing as earlier. “Well, why don’t you try?” He uttered and coalesced his soul power into one spot. This time, he clearly felt Higure’s intent assisting him with the procedure.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a black lion jumped out of his body and landed on the floor with a roar that sounded as distorted as Rakna during his soul projection.
“{It worked!}” Higure’s excited voice rang inside his head and he saw the lioness jump giddily from one side of the room to the other, once again catching Pronos and Tyran off guard as they pushed each other’s faces for the last portion of chicken.
“Glad to see you like it,” Rakna commented, silently noting that he sensed a connection with her projected form. It indeed belonged to her but at the same time, she was still made of his soul power and he could probably command it to return inside his body whenever he wanted.
“{How could I not like it?}” She retorted as she landed in front of him in all her splendor. “{You have no idea how elated I am to be able to come out. Though…}” She trailed and reached for the table nearby with her paw, only for it to go through it.
“{I’m just a projection. With a bit of luck, I might be able to cast some magic but it will likely be fueled by your mana and I’m not sure if I can use the affinities I had when I was alive. There are high chances that the only magics I will have access to are the ones you wield. Making this not very useful overall.}”
“Then what do you think could be done for you to have a physical influence?”
“{Hm… I’m not sure. Phantoms aside, spiritual beings have no way of interacting with the physical plane. However, perhaps a vessel would allow me to mimic such an aspect.}”
“A vessel, huh? So, a body? What about yours? The one in my storage.”
Higure shook her head. “{That wouldn’t work. Well, while it would be possible for me to possess it, once again, I’m not a Phantom. Evelyn was able to possess corpses because she could use her corporeal soul to compensate for their lack of bodily functions. Some other spiritual beings can use Death Energy to do it, which I don’t have.}”
“{Regardless, we simple ghosts require a body that is not dead. If I tried to enter my old body right now, I wouldn’t be able to move much less fight with it. Especially since you had to eat my heart. If you were to use Raise Undead on my body, which I assume is your aim if you kept it, that would change things but you don’t have nearly enough mana to do it for now.}”
Rakna sighed. “So, you would need a living being… rather impractical.”
“{Well… it might not necessarily be the case,}” she said with a thoughtful tone. “{Essentially, what I need is a ‘body’ that can ‘move’. Something that is ‘not dead’. But at the same time, it doesn’t have to be something ‘alive’.}”
Rakna raised an eyebrow. “So to speak?”
“{Something like a magic puppet,}” she replied. “{Something that is tailored to be controlled with only mana or soul power. Golems, for example, might do the trick.}”
“Golems, huh? Where would I find something like tha-!” He cut himself off as an idea came to his mind. He conjured a sphere of cold energy and Higure tilted her head in confusion. “I might have the perfect solution…”