Terrifying Soul Catcher

Quinn had been quite perplexed with what to do in the few days that he had in his own hands for the time being, before finally leaving for the Vampire Planet. He was originally just going to talk to the people close to him and bid them farewell for a long while, but that still left him with a lot of time left for himself. Plus, it was not like he knew a lot of people. He could trust Sen and Luna with what he was going to do, and they might even tag along, but it just made things harder for Quinn; he would not be able to move around as freely and he would have to go through the trouble of protecting them too.

Aaron could fend for himself on the Vampire Planet as he was a Werewolf: innately strong and had an S-rank ability too. Additionally, he was born on the said planet as well, so he had to be knowledgeable about it, which would come in handy for Quinn, who was going head first into a completely uncharted and unknown territory with little to no knowledge of it. Having Aaron around with him would prove to be most benificial.

There was only one other thing that he could possibly do back on Earth, without leaving for another planet, and that was getting his Dungeon Crawller license and just maybe, raid a few high ranking Dungeons on his own. The rights of the Dungeon that was purchased lay with the owner after all, and they were free to do with it as they pleased. But, what good was raiding a few A or B rank Dungeons just to get some Magic Crystals, Stones and other materials; just to get some good bucks? Sure, of course, everyone needs money, but right now, that was not Quinn's main area of focus. If not for the restrictions, Quinn would have just jumped straight into an S-rank or higher Dungeon right after getting his license.

Apart from all the above, he needed to prepare for the journey to Nyxterra, in a whole new realm. He needed tactics and needed to blend into the Vampires and the supposed Humans that live there too. He also needed a brief overview of how the habitants of said planet do things from Aaron—hopefully. He thought his equipment quite sufficient, but still wanted more weapons. Fighting beasts and monsters as such, was just getting boring for him, so he needed another way to enjoy fighting: using a wide array of all existing weapons and mastering them even further with the help of his new Skill that he purchased from the Shop: [All-Weapons' Mastery]. The price of it hiked for some reason from the last time he saw it, but it did not matter.

The equipment that the humans made, back on Earth, were just not ideal for Quinn. Save for a select few, they not unique and strong enough for him. Meanwhile, the weapons and armour in the Shop, were not man-made, so they were already just bettter; not to mention, they all had unique effects, depending on the rank. Other than the Shop items, Quinn respected Andre's capabilities for forging and wanted to make himself some armour and weapons via granting him some unique and rare materials that were hundreds of times better than the ones that were rarely used, even by the Dwarves.

In fact, he already had a few of them in his possession due to the Weekly Quest rewards, provided that he explores and clears a high ranking Dungeon generated by the Shadow Heart—or not. Speaking of unique materials, Quinn found more and more of the Celestial Essences in the few Weekly Quest Dungeons that he had completed, due to the Sub-Quest options of more requirements inside of the Dungeon itself, other than just clearing it. In fact, he had more than enough the complete the Ex-Quest that he was given, but was quite afraid to do so; there was no time limit on the Quest, so he thought that it was alright to hold onto the Celestial Essences that he had.

As of now, Quinn had a total of 21 Celestial Essences. These things were supposedly a source of a baffling amount of energy, so he wanted Andre to have a few too. Maybe, when he had a spaceship of his own, he would use these, but that was just a dream he had when he was a child. Either way, Quinn had no idea if it could be used to make or enhance weapons, but since Andre could transfer energy from a source to a piece of equipment, he was sure in could work.

Although he was incredibly strong, Quinn felt like he did not have enough trump cards that he could use to turn a terrible situation around if one were to appear. He highly doubted it, but you can never predict what can happen to you on a foreign and unknown land; not unless you are a God of Foresight. Thus, he also wanted to use the Celestial Essences to create something incredibly powerful.

Additionally, he wondered about the weaknesses of the Vampires and Humans that lived on the mysterious planet, Nyxterra. He already knew of the most basic ones: perhaps Sunlight and crosses, but the latter seemed farfetched and just a mere myth for the sake of upholding the holiness of the religion. According to the information he had gotten from Sen, it seemed like the planet was not even subjected to harsh sunlight or that of anywhere near Earth's star, so that rules out the former possiblity too. So, he was left with a big question mark; surely, Aaron knew something about this as well.

As Andre was also a former Ring Bearer, Quinn wished to ask him of a dozen of things, and request him to forge some new items for him. He never expected to find him here on Earth, and on his military academy base too; even more so: him having made a vessel of sorts to trap and store the Soul of living beings. He had no use for the weaker Soul Cores, so it was worth an experiment.

———

[Soul Catcher]

Item Rank: ???

Type: Sealing Object

-The First Object of the Kind-

Crafted in the meagre human forges, by the Dwarven Lord known as Andre Arlo, the Soul Catcher stands as a testament to the unparalleled craftsmanship and mystical prowess of the same. This arcane artefact, forged from the rarest metals of the mortals found deep within the cores of planets, is imbued with powerful runes.

At the core of the near-divine artefact, lies the mystical essence of the Netherstone and the Tear of a Dying Star—an exceedingly rare, almost impossible to acquire material.

Since this is the first time any mortal or even a demi-god has been able to use the Soul in such a manner and furthermore, create a prision to capture it, the artefact Soul Catcher has the potential to be deemed a Divine Artefact. 

-Effects:

Soul Extraction: Speak the incantation inscribed in ancient runes on the Soul Catcher's surface to draw in an incredibly weary and weakened Soul from the body in a similar condition; or it can also store a Soul from a Soul Core. When activated, the Soul is sucked into the Netherstone for further use. Capacity: 1 Soul(s).

[Once a Soul is captured, it is securely contained within the gemstone, unable to escape or influence the outside world, but it may escape to other realms and dimensions. However, when it returns to the User's realm/dimension, it shall remain trapped as long as the User wills it.]

-Skills:

Soul Infusion: Abosrb the essence of the Soul more efficiently and gain increased Physical, Magical or Spiritual prowess, and granting a boost in HP, Mana and Energy. Additionally, the powers of Energy of the User will be enhanced.

Energy Burst: Obliterate the Soul to perform a concentrated blast, using all of its energy.

———

The so-called Soul Catcher was a mesmerising object to behold. It took the form of an ornate, obsidian-black sphere, about the size of a human heart—or fist. It was encrusted with intricate gold filigree. Tiny, seemingly delicate, but nearly indestructable chains to humans, converged at the top to form a handle-like structure adorned with a large blood-red gemstone—the Netherstone. The Netherstone pulsated faintly, signalling the presence of life—or something darker—within.

It was beautiful, but ominous at the same time. It was an incredible artefact that had a wide range of abilities, but it was very terrifying what it could do. Something like this should not fall in the hands of any of the species; be it humans on the Earth, the Elves, or the Vampires and the Humans that live in harmony with them.

An item of this calibre, would far satisfy Quinn's thirst for an object of more power—if he could get his hands on it.