Chapter 256: Death

After their sparring session, Angus and the others continue their talk about many things. Apparently, Soul Power is a mysterious power that every living being has. According to Millie, the soul power is almost the same as mana. It also resides in the surrounding area.

However, only special people with proper training like Millie can sense them and use them. It is similar to the people with space affinity talent. 

Unlike mana, soul power is more powerful when inside a living being than from the surrounding. The stronger the being, the more powerful its soul power. 

But, not everyone could utilize this power, even the owner, as the more potent the soul, the harder it is to be controlled.

From Millie's explanation, she is still a beginner in terms of using soul power. Currently, she could only utilize soul power in the surroundings with the help of mana. She is still far from controlling the deceased soul or even a living being one.

Hearing this, Angus begins to understand how dreadful this kind of power is. Just at the beginner state, she could even bind high-grade combatants.

'As expected, it is truly the most bizarre and mysterious power in the world.' thought both Angus and Gilford, who heard Millie's short explanation.

Soon, time passed by, and the sun went down. Millie and Mia decide to stay at the same inn with Angus and others. Late in the evening, when everyone is having their dinner, uncle Jade finally returns from his training after one whole month.

Currently, Jade managed to get basic control over his power to a certain degree. He still needs to train more if he wants to be better. But, it is already sufficient for him not to cause harm to others accidentally for the time being.

After introducing Jade to Millie and Mia, they begin to talk over dinner about various things. During their talk, Angus decided to ask Millie more about soul power. He feels his system is correlated with the soul power since it uses soul points.

"Millie, did you think I also have talent in using Soul Power?" asked Angus.

"I am not sure. Only a master knows more about this matter. He said you need to have a pure soul or stronger power to use your soul power forcefully. He also talked about many other criteria." said Millie.

"I see. Then, could you help check my soul? I am curious about my own soul." asked Angus.

"If it only checks, I can do it. Usually, everyone's soul is not different from others unless you reach a certain threshold in power. Even Mia, who just devours Blue Phoenix's soul, only has an above-average soul than others. So, don't expect too much." said Millie.

As Millie grabs Angus's wrist, everyone begins to pay attention to them. They are also interested in these soul things. Just as Millie closes her eyes and tries to sense Angus's soul, Angus feels a certain probe coming from Millie and decides not to resist it.

After a while, Millie could feel the surroundings become completely silent and heard a drop of water. Surprised by this situation, she immediately opened her eyes and found her surroundings turning into a deep red endless sea of blood.

In front of her, there is a mountain of corpses from monsters, beasts, to people. On the top of these corpses, there is a person similar to Angus sitting on it. Millie could feel all this corpse is made of soul power. Suddenly, the person on the top of the corpse opened his eyes.

As soon as Millie looks at the eyes, she feels like staring into a bottomless abyss with countless negative emotions. A moment later, she is back to the real world, drenched in sweat.

"Haa.. Haa.." as Millie gets a ragged breath with a pale face while looking at Angus.

"Millie, What's wrong? Are you alright?" asked Angus as he noticed Millie changed.

Hearing this, Millie couldn't help but look at Angus's eyes and remember the scene she had experienced before. This makes Millie subconsciously fearful towards Angus.

"Eckk.. No, I.. I mean, yes. I am fine. Don't worry about it." replied Millie as she tried to distance herself from Angus.

"Hmm… Then, what do you think is my soul?" asked Angus confusedly at Millie's reaction.

"Ahh.. About that, I think I am too tired after our spar. I think I will excuse myself first." said Millie as she tried to get away from Angus.

Angus couldn't help but look at Millie confusedly. Although Angus is sure that Millie already probed him, he doesn't overthink it. He feels Millie must have seen something horrible inside of him or his soul as she looks afraid towards him.

He just hopes Millie will stay like before. Deep down, Angus knows that he is far from a good person, and he feels that his soul must be very evil or something dreadful. 

But, according to Millie, there is no such a thing as a good or bad soul, only a strong or weak soul.

Because of this, he decides to let Millie probe his soul. Otherwise, he will never let her see it as he is afraid she will see something horrible. However, it seems she really saw something awful from Angus's soul.

'Haa.. I hope she will recover soon.' thought Angus inwardly.

Entering her room in a hurry, Millie immediately slumps on the ground and starts to cry subconsciously. Her entire body is trembling in fear and getting a panic attack. The more she tried to calm herself, the more she remembered the scene she had seen before.

After a while, she managed to calm herself down and remember her teacher's words, " In front of death, everyone's the same." 

"Be it weak or strong, good or bad. All of them are nothing in front of death. As someone who uses the power of the soul, you will always close with death." said the Soul Keeper.

"Death.." muttered Millie as she took out a big black book she received from her master.

The Black Book contains knowledge about the soul and how to utilize them. Just as she opened the book and started searching for something, her room door opened.

"Millie, Why are you on the floor? Are you alright? Huh.. You are crying?" asked Mia, who had just entered the room.

"Ehh.. T-This.. is just sweat. I am fine." as she tried to calm down Mia.

After dozens of minutes of trying to appease the over-worried Mia about her condition, Millie decides to rest for tonight and look at Angus's situation later. Although she is still unsure, she knows that she saw death when she looked at Angus's eyes before.

Death is a mysterious concept and bizarre thing like soul. Most people think the soul is a dreadful thing, but the truth is that death is something everyone fears. Fear of death is an instinct that everyone has a living being.

Unless they are in a particular situation where they are not dead and living, all living beings will subconsciously fear death as it is the counterpart of their nature. 

Therefore, Millie subconsciously felt fear towards Angus as she saw death in Angus. She also noticed this immediately as soul and death are closely related to each other.

A few days passed by since Millie checked Angus's soul. After the incident, Millie subconsciously distanced herself from Angus despite knowing that she shouldn't have done it. 

However, no matter what, she still couldn't shrug off the sensation she felt when she probed Angus's soul. After a few days of research and reading her master's book, she finds some clues about Angus's soul.

According to the book, there is a particular case where a person's soul reeks in blood and death. This could only happen to people who have massacred millions of living beings using their hands.

Furthermore, because they are close to death, there is a chance they could absorb part of their victim's soul. There is even a myth about a god or ancient king governing death because they kill uncountable living beings and absorb their souls.

However, this is only a myth since it is almost impossible for this to happen unless that person kills a living being every single moment and absorbs some part of its soul.

Because of this information, Millie knows that Angus also massacred or killed many people in the past. This makes Millie fear more towards Angus. But, she also knows Angus is not an evil person that will commit mass murder for no reason.

Remembering all of these, Millie couldn't help but glance at Angus, walking beside Jayna like a harmless person. Feeling the stare, Angus looked back at Millie, which startled her, and immediately turned her gaze in the other direction.

Currently, Angus and the others are invited by old man Draught to his house. The old man Draught wants to check Jade's sentient weapon. After hearing about Millie being a disciple of Soul Keeper, old man Draught told Jade to invite everyone.

Arriving at the old man's small desolate mountain, which is split into two, "Err.. Are you sure that the greatest crafter is living in this place? This place looks like some kind of desolate battlefield." asked Mia.