Soul Flame [I]

Edward focused on the knowledge of the Fourth Layer of the Soul Dimension. He took a moment to process the information before closing his eyes and accessing his Soul Dimension.

Without pause, he reached the Third Layer, the place with the most defensive measure, guarding his knowledge and memories. Edward's defense in his third layer can be described as overkill.

There are numerous Space Legions composed of thousands of battleships. Each battleship contained legions of golems. And this is just the first protective measure.

If a person managed to bypass these measures, they would encounter an enormous labyrinth enchanted with magical traps and dangerous soul creatures.

The third protective measure is the Corridor of Truths; it's a long corridor where he asks intruders countless difficult questions and must answer before proceeding. If a person wants to get his memory, they must slowly pass this corridor.

If they want to access his memory and soul forcefully, the corridor will also turn into a death trap that blocks invaders.

The fourth protective measure is a towering gate that blocks everything in its path. The gate is very resistant to soul energy, and Edward created it to make invaders of his mind waste soul strength and weaken them.

The fifth measure is a library containing many of Edward's memories and knowledge. However, the majority are false or incomplete. If a person reaches this stage, they must see through this level before going to the next step.

The sixth measure is an encrypted computer. If an invader wishes to bypass this level, they must have the password to this computer. However, the password is an algorithm that only Edward knows.

The password changes every 30 seconds, and he must use the algorithm to deduce the password.

Finally, if a person wishes to truly access his memory and knowledge, they must hack this computer. However, Morgana controls this computer, so they must fight against her computing power to succeed.

And even if a person could succeed, Morgana has plenty of time to erase and move all knowledge on the computer to her server, leaving nothing to the invader.

As such, although it's not impossible to get information from Edward's soul, it's a pretty daunting task.

He used countless resources and crafted plenty of unique Soul Treasures to protect his Soul Dimension.

As the owner of this space, Edward appeared in the last room with the computer. He looked around before muttering:

"It's been a while since I added more security measures. With new knowledge on the Fourth Layer, I can add a few more."

He waved his hand, and the computer room turned into an immense library. Edward looked at the physical manifestation of his knowledge and smiled. This room was his greatest and most precious treasure.

The knowledge in this place could create a brilliant Arcane Civilization and train a Legendary Arcanist.

Edward took a moment to admire his library like a dragon sleeping on its treasure horde.

After nodding in satisfaction, he continued on his purpose for coming here. He cast a spell, and a ladder appeared out of nowhere. Without hesitation, he climbed on it, leading to a vast empty white space.

"In my past life, I once read that human beings are all Gods, and the mind/soul is the key to developing that Godhood. After seeing this space, I understood that saying was correct."

All creatures with a soul have a Soul Dimension. And in that dimension, they have absolute power–like a God. The Soul Dimension is vast, full of unknown and mystery. Even with his current strength and knowledge, he feels he has only uncovered a fraction of its mystery.

After lamenting the wonder of life, Edward continued his spell. The ladder under his feet followed a special summon and headed in a specific direction. In the process, Edward saw endless white space.

The voyage felt like eons had passed. And in some ways, it had. The secrets of the fourth layer were hidden very deep and required special means and a long time to discover. Locally, time is different in this space, and he does not technically age.

Soon, Edward reached his destination and saw what he was after–a purple flame with a tinge of silver in the middle. The flame was the size of a basketball and floated about 30 cm above the white ground.

"Is this the Soul Flame? The true essence of the soul" muttered Edward. He looked at this small flame in fascination, thinking about the information his future self had gathered.

The most important was the Soul Flame was the leading cause for the Soul Limit of the Empire's citizens. According to the information in the crystal, the weakest Soul Flame is white. However, only clones and ordinary animals will have this color.

Ordinary people or muggles have green Soul Flame, ranging from light green to deep green. Finally, after acquiring magical powers, or any other systems, the Soul Flame will turn Blue.

The blue flame will also range from light blue to deep blue. And Deep Blue Soul Flame is enough for someone to reach Tier 7. Then, they will reach the Soul Limit.

According to the research, Future Edward theorized that even the most talented individual would only have Deep Blue Soul Flame–except creatures like the High Elves and Dragons.

The minimum level of these creatures' Soul Flame is Purple, and the highest level is Golden.

Future Edward did some experiments and discovered Divine Energy and World Source could turn a Deep Blue Soul Flame into purple, allowing Arcanists to reach Tier 8. However, if they want to truly break the limit of the soul and reach Tier 9, the soul has to reach light Golden.

Deep Golden Soul Flame is currently the highest level known, and essentially to reach Tier 10–and maybe Tier 11.

"Divine Energy comes from the Gods, and World Source involves planes and other universes. The Empire needs a less complicated way to achieve Purple and Golden Soul Flame."

Edward would need to kill more Gods to acquire Divine Energy. Or he has to use his project of cultivating False Gods to acquire more Divine Energy.

Meanwhile, World Source would require him to invade other planes back home or take them from other Universes like Naruto. None of these methods are applicable to a large population.

So, if he wants higher Tiers to be more common, he needs a better method of increasing the level of the Soul Flame.

'Unfortunately, it's not something future me can study in a short time period,' thought Edward before shaking his head. He then focused on the other things he learned about the Soul Flame.

After a person's soul is destroyed, their Soul Flame remains intact for a period of time based on their Tier. For a Tier 8 like himself, his Soul Flame will continue burning for at least 7 days after his death.

And based on Future Edward's research, a person can be revived through their Soul Flame.

The Soul Flame contained information about the soul. By gathering this information and feeding it enough energy, a new and intact soul can be reborn or recreated.

Simultaneously, the soul is also linked to the Soul Flame. In one of the experiments, Future Edward removed a subject's soul and placed it in another body.

The new body–which was an empty shell–slowly developed a Soul Dimension, followed by a new Soul Flame identical to the previous body. Furthermore, the old body's Soul Flame disappeared after the new one appeared.

"The Empire has taken another step to conquer death," muttered Edward. Previously, the Empire would have soldiers save a piece of their souls to revive them. However, some people could not be saved because of Guzznad's Death Authority.

There was no reasonable explanation for this phenomenon. However, Edward now understood this was the result of the Soul Flame being affected. With the current technology, this issue will be solved–or, at the very least, the death rate will drastically decrease.