Soul Essence

The blades dissipated, allowing emerald blood to slowly roll down the armor of the Knight. For the first time since seeing it, the Knight bled.

"It's a creature."

Aldric had only seen creatures bleed green. Although he had never been to a dungeon aside from the one he currently was in, he was certain the blood of normal dungeon monsters was red.

The Knight glanced down at Aldric, and the young man could almost see the creature's amusement through its helmet.

"You managed to pierce my armor. It's no surprise; you have been blessed by the Firsts after all," the Knight's voice was significantly weaker than usual.

'It's a surprise to me though. What was that attack just now?'

Al had only shown intent to attack the Knight after it had instructed him to do so. However, everything that happened after was a mystery to him. Currently, his only clue to lead on was the notification: [Soul Extinguished]. Could those orbs be the souls of the dead that lay around him?

"I need to check my sta—"

Suddenly, with a swiftness far defying human capability, Aldric had not only summoned the black star blade, but he raised it fast enough to block the swing of the knight's sword at him.

As the deafening clang of steel on steel echoed through the temple, Aldric gazed at the Knight in shock, more at the fact he had somehow reacted to and blocked its attack, rather than the fact it attacked him.

"Since you have become quite capable, it'll be a waste to not have a spar before I go."

With each word it spoke, the Knight seemed to lose the robotic edge it had. Aldric already knew it had a significant level of intelligence, but it slowly began to feel more natural, real perhaps.

"Fine," Aldric lowered his blade. "But give me a minute. There are some things I need to understand."

Aldric accepted the challenge, Maybe he did this because of the lack of hostility or blood lust from the Knight, or even just because of his burning desire to test the extent of his current ability. Either way, it wasn't just foolish arrogance.

The Knight gazed at Aldric a moment before retracting its blade and retreating back to where it stood. Although severely wounded, it still moved with a terrifying grace.

'Status'

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[ Aldric Voss ]

[ Saviour of Nothing ]

[ Retribution ]

======

Markings: [The remainder] [A false existence]

Affinity: [Death] | S.E: 0 (_)

Rank: [Warrior(3)]

Xai Energy (XE) Reserve: 80/100

Returns: (0/0)

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Stats

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| Strength: [21]

| Agility: [18]

| Durability: [12]

| Intelligence: [10]

| Memory: [0.3]

| Xai control: [10]

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'That's certainly different from last time.'

First, he noticed the return count; his prior death had been reset again. However, this time the number at the right also read zero, which, for Aldric, had a dreadful meaning—for now, any death would be his last.

Aside that, a lot had changed in Aldric, it seemed, which explains his ability to react to and block the knight's attack. Firstly, he was now a tier three warrior, which is a whole three tiers increase, explaining the significant boost in his stats.

'The highly sought-after blessings should be way more, though.'

Al grumbled internally, but he knew the main blessing was most likely the affinity he was given. He had hoped 'Unranked' meant the affinity's rank was way too high to be categorized under the normal ranks. Of course, this could simply be him deluding himself into thinking the main trial was worth the suffering.

With a hopeful exhale, Aldric pulled up details on his new affinity.

[Affinity: Death

A special connection to the inevitable.

You can see the soul essence of those who have died.

You can obtain, control, and weaponize them.]

[Soul essence:

These are hollow shells, all that is left of a soul.

They can be merged and stored for increased strength and longer use before they extinguish.

A soul essence's strength is based on the strength of the soul it is extracted from.]

'Turns out Death might not be a bad affinity after all.'

Aldric read through the screen again before shifting his gaze back to the bodies that had the orb of light floating above them, which he now understood were soul essences. Aldric stretched out his hands and concentrated; in turn, the orbs began to glide towards his open palm, and upon reaching it, they all darkened into black orbs.

'Store them, huh?'

Al began his attempt, concentrating and imagining storing the soul essence the same way he would the black star blade, and eventually, the orbs of darkness simply vanished. Then, to recall them, like he would the black star blade, he simply imagined it, and one of the soul essence came before him again.

'Control... Weaponize.'

Aldric had already weaponized one just by intending to attack the Knight while the essence was before him. It had managed to successfully pierce the armor of the dungeon lord. However, that only worked since the Knight was caught off guard. Most would likely not wait for the orb to take its time to float over to them.

"Control..." Aldric muttered a final time before looking up at the Knight, who seemed to get closer to death with each passing second.

"I'm ready," Al announced.

The Knight raised its blade in response, and in a breath, it was before Aldric, its large sword raised high. With a resounding thud, it descended upon the young man, cracks spiderwebbing across the floor as the ground neared shattering. The Knight's blade hit where Aldric stood with deadly precision—however, Al had already moved.

'Is he slower... Or have I become that much faster?'

Aldric wondered, now standing a safe distance away from the Knight, which raised its blade from the floor and turned towards him. Then, swinging wide, the Knight shot at him again.

Its sword only catching air as Aldric ducked and rolled away from where he stood.

'It's both.'

Aldric did have a significant boost in speed; he felt lighter on his feet and could react and move much faster than he normally could. However, the Knight was clearly not at peak performance. Aldric was certain he had seen it move faster prior. The Knight was far weaker than normal—perhaps those who had been attempting to clear the dungeon had done considerable damage to him.

The Knight swung again, only for his sword to be sidestepped by Aldric. Then, with a determined stride, Al lunged towards it as fast as he could. Swiftly reaching its legs, he placed his palm on the Knight's armor, and with a loud penetration, multiple dark blades impaled the dungeon lord's leg.

[Soul Extinguished]