32 Soul

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—-Points Obtained —-

Points: 18,282

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—-Reward Obtained—-

Minute Soul Enrichment

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Micheal felt a slight wave of dizziness wash over him as the glow of Advanced Tier Sword Energy vanished from his blade.

He ignored this feeling entirely, however, as he looked at the notifications, and the cracked Nest Core, in delight.

"Hahaha! Crane, we did it!" He cheered out loud, blinking several times to steady himself. He was ecstatic.

"Awesome!" Sophia rushed into the room, cautiously looking at the crater in the floor, where jagged metal shards and cracked wood could be seen. The air had fallen still after the Nest Core cracked, apparently losing its ability to function.

"Is it… down for good?" She continued, still eyeing it.

Micheal glanced over at it and then shrugged,

"I got a Points notification when it cracked, so it seems like it. It shouldn't be able to cause you any harm." As he spoke, he turned his focus back to the two notifications that had appeared.

'18,000 Points in one go? Nice.' He grinned beneath his mask cheerfully. That was almost 2 Golden Morenkais, all for just a temporary Nest Core! He wondered how much the Permanent Nest Cores would give, or even the special Monster Class Nest Core, a special Permanent Nest Core that operated in the center of the Main Cluster, in the depths of The Towers.

'Permanent Nest Cores are different from these temporary ones, though. They should be far more durable and tougher to break. I could only barely crack this one…' He thought, glancing aside at the cracked Core. Sophia was walking towards it, her curiosity winning over her caution.

As that thought went through him, he moved his attention over to the 'Reward Obtained' section. It was an alert he'd seen rarely on later Layers, but never here on the First.

'Minute Soul Enrichment?' He stared at the alert.

'What on Earth is that?' He tapped on the alert, his eyes full of curiosity.

Instantly, the moment he did that, a voice echoed in his mind, overwhelming his senses. He stood frozen for a brief second, in shock, as a presence filled his head, overcoming any defenses he might've had.

'Congratulations, you have stepped beyond the limits of the First Layer for humanity. You are the third person to achieve this. Move forward bravely, Human, and survive the Seven Layers!'

'What?! Who was that voice?!' His mind filled with shock and confusion as he heard an unknown voice speak in his head.

The voice seemed to waver between being masculine and feminine, making it impossible for Micheal to place it as either. At one point it sounded as if it was quite distant, while at another it sounded as if it was right behind him. For some words it was a wizened elder, while for others it was a young girl.

He pushed aside the oddness as he went over what the voice said, processing it all in an instant.

'I've gone 'beyond the limits' of the First Layer?' His eyes narrowed as he considered this, assuming it had something to do with the 'Minute Soul Enrichment' that had appeared as a reward.

What concerned him most, however, was the line after that.

'I'm the third person to achieve this? Other people broke a Nest Core before me?' He had never heard of anyone breaking any Nest Cores at all. He hadn't been one of the top experts of humanity in the future, but he had become quite decently powerful, among the top 50,000. Well, among the top 50,000 that had managed to live till the end, anyway.

There was much he hadn't been privy to, and it seemed apparent that the two that figured out that it was possible to break a Nest Core didn't share this information with others.

Micheal's attack combined the incredible sharpness of his Ashari Blade, the godly cutting power of Advanced Tier Sword Energy, and with the colossal force of his Bulldozer Impact Release blow.

It would not be wrong to say this single attack far outstripped almost every single other possible attack on the First Layer, in terms of overwhelming attack power. The raw power combined with the devastating sharpness was a combo that would be impossibly difficult for anyone else to pull off on the First.

Of course, attack power wasn't everything. No matter how powerful this attack was, against an opponent like Xavier, his almighty blow would simply result in a minor loss of energy for Xavier as he reformed his Water Elemental Body. Further, he could only store around 3 impacts with his Impact Release Ability ahead of time, and only create one a day at most with his Life Orbs.

Still… the number of people that could rival him in damage output, for those three attacks, was astronomically tiny. There might not even be anyone in the Cluster at all that was his equal in that regard, not when he combined all of his Abilities like that.

'Who else has broken through the limits? What does that mean? Why didn't they tell anyone about this, not even till the end?' He was thrown into a quandary as he considered this all.

'And… who is the speaker? Is that the being that brought humanity into this sick game?' He was left with more questions than answers after the strange voice disappeared.

He sighed briefly before turning his attention back to the data that had appeared when he tapped on the 'Minute Soul Enrichment' notification.

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—-Minute Soul Enrichment—-

Minute Soul Enrichment is a process in which a being's Soul is enhanced on a fundamental level, imbued with energy to become qualitatively stronger. A sufficiently powerful Soul can step beyond the limits of their body, or beyond the limits of reality itself.

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As he read this description, a few pieces of innate knowledge appeared in Micheal's mind. Information that must've been sent to him by the Shop or through this alert, as a result of him reading this definition.

Minute Soul Enrichment enhanced his soul the same way he had enhanced his Physique with Dragon Building Liquid.

'No, I should consider it my Soul, as a proper, distinct and tangible thing. Not the general idea of a soul I used to think existed, similar to a body part.' His entire understanding of his Soul had just changed.

Originally, he was under the conception that the Soul of a being was immutable, another part of his existence like a hand or a foot. The Soul stat represented your soul growing in strength, but it was still just another part of you.

However, with what he learned now, from the innate knowledge flooding into him… The Soul of a being was a distinct, tangible thing that could, in fact, be changed on fundamental levels.

This was something he'd been unaware of, even in his first life. Knowledge about that had never been known to the public, not even to the general warriors like him among the top, the surviving 50,000.

He was aware of certain Abilities that changed aspects of one's Soul, or allowed one to use their Soul for a variety of purposes. But he'd never heard of a way to change the quality of one's Soul.

It seemed like a simple concept, but it was one that shocked him to his core. It was like learning about how gravity worked or various other laws that governed existence. It wouldn't change him, not directly, but it opened his eyes to something he'd never actually fully acknowledged or understood.

'And not only does it enhance my Soul on a fundamental level… that enhancement allows me to step beyond the limits of this Layer!' He repeated the information, his eyes widening as he realized what that meant.

This boost… would allow him to step beyond the 100,000 Points Wall of the First Layer!

He would be able to obtain more expensive Abilities, Abilities that could only be purchased on the Second Layer, or by an Irregular before arriving on the First!

And this Ability stacked with each Layer! That meant that he would also be able to exceed the Points Wall of the Second Layer, and the Third, and all of them!

'But how much… how much can I exceed the Points Wall by?' Without testing it, he couldn't quite tell. He felt like it wouldn't be too large a number, likely only a percentage point increase, maybe 5,000 or 8,000 more Points above 100,000…

But even that was an incredible improvement that set him apart from the rest of humanity, giving him a huge edge. Even more so if he could constantly stack the reward, boosting that number more and more…

The thought alone was incredibly exciting.

'Status!'

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— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 52,881

Race: Human

Physique: 1 Star

Soul Quality: 1 Star

Age: 18

- Stats -

Strength - 51

Endurance - 37

Recovery - 35

Soul - 13 -> 20

Abilities - (4/7)

Life Orb Master

Ki Cultivator (Mortal Tier - Late)

Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

Impact Release

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'I have a '1 Star' Soul now. It uses the same metric to measure as Physiques, huh? I'm back over 50,000 Points too, not bad. If I can keep increasing my Points Wall, there are a huge amount of things I'll need Points to buy, much sooner than anticipated…' He saw the new stat and Points increase, nodding his head slightly.

'My Soul stat has jumped to 20! That's an increase of around 50%!' He grinned fiercely, unable to help himself.

'I can feel a slight increase to my perception of time.' He nodded. If he had to guess, he probably viewed the world around him at a rate 5% faster than regular humans, the biggest gain from his higher Soul stat. While it wasn't a huge advantage, in life or death battles between experts, even a 1% edge could prove fatal sometimes.

He also felt that his Bulldozer Impact was no longer the strongest impact he could hold, though for now, he had no way of testing what the strongest impact he could release was. His Life Orb Master Ability felt stronger, though it didn't feel like he'd gained another Life Orb. He intrinsically sensed that he'd need a Soul stat of around 30 or more to reach that. The speed at which he moved the Orbs had definitely gone up.

None of his Abilities relied too much on his Soul stat to be functional, so there wasn't too much of an apparent change, but Micheal was fine with that.

Micheal also felt that the burden on his Soul when it came to using Advanced Tier Sword energy had lessened notably. It was still too much for him to handle without thought, but it was now something he should be able to use in battle without requiring his full and complete, concentrated attention.

"Woah. So this is a Nest Core?" He blinked, his focus drawn back to the present as he heard Sophia speak.

She was currently bending down, picking up the cracked Nest Core from the ground. The orb had a number of large cracks in it and was badly damaged. Despite that, it still bled white light from the cracks, though it no longer appeared to be active.

"Yeah. It looks like the damage it accumul-" Micheal cut himself off, jerking his head around to look towards the entrance.

Faintly, he could hear footsteps echoing, coming from elsewhere in the ship, as well as shouts and yells. He frowned slightly.

"Well, I'll tell you more about it later, when we have more time. Can you store it in your Spatial Ring?" He nodded at her.

Sophia held onto it and tapped on a ring on her finger.

WHOOSH

The cracked orb vanished into her ring.

"Alright, let's get out of here before we draw too much attention. Random Morenkai will show up here in droves from the nearby levels, not to mention curious Coalition members." He waved at her to follow him as he began to ditch the scene of the battle, jogging off.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

They successfully managed to make it to the surface without encountering any members from the Coalition. While there was a chance members of the Coalition found the scene of the battle, it wouldn't really matter either way.

In no time at all, the group was ready to move out again.

After the battle with the Abnormals from the Nest Core, they didn't encounter anything else of note that day. They made fast speed as they travelled from ship to ship, crossing the Great Bridge with alacrity.

Soon, night came and they settled down to sleep.

Micheal took the time to explain to Sophia a bit more about Nests, explaining how they worked as Morenkai spawners, and were useful to help farm Morenkai for Points in a controlled environment, as well as the benefits he gained from breaking the Nest Core.

Time began to pass by in a flurry after that.

The journey along the Great Bridge transformed into one that was fairly uneventful until the end. They travelled for several days without encountering anything too significant. They found a few more, but much smaller, groups of Abnormals and twice a Pack of 20-30 Morenkai, something each team was well equipped to handle.

The days blended together, mostly relaxing travel across thousands of unique and varying ships, a unique sight that never seemed to grow dull on the eyes.

The only other event of note happened before they reached the Main Cluster, in the early morning of their very last day of travel.

In the morning, the teams ahead signaled back to the main party that they had encountered something unique, but not dangerous. Micheal, along with the rest of the Coalition, quickly crossed the distance to the vanguard, alert and curious.

When they arrived, they found the vanguard, consisting of the Saru Group once more, but this time partnered with the Iron Knights Alliance, standing on the open deck of a large, long-haul ship. Captain Simon had fully recovered and was leading the team.

And, right now, he was interrogating a black haired woman wearing a slim blue dress. A woman that wasn't part of the Stardust Coalition at all, looking rather nervous as she talked in an animated fashion, her pretty face twisting with fear.

A woman who, according to her, was being chased after by a band of villainous murderers.

'Huh.' Micheal's only thought as he heard all of this was one of mild expectation and curiosity.

For, in the distance, he could make out a band of figures rushing towards them. A team of ten men, all wearing quite visible sets of white leather armor, with the insignia of a wing painted on.

Members of one of the elite forces of the Main Cluster. A force that Micheal just so happened to be impersonating a member of.

The Angels Arcadia.