Practice

Looking at her apprentice, who was sitting on a chair in front of her, the Witch of Death couldn't help but slightly smile.

"Oh, so you want me to teach you about the soul?" asked Selena as she looked at Beatrice, having a slight smile on her face.

"Yes," said Beatrice causing Selena to nod before getting up from her desk.

"Very well then, follow me," said Selena as she walked out of the room.

As she followed her teacher, Beatrice couldn't help but become somewhat nervous for some reason.

Time passed as Beatrice slowly but surely walked behind Selena, and under Beatrice's horrified gaze, the two arrived in an area Beatrice had no idea existed.

The two of them had not walked through any locked doors, nor through any places that were particularly hidden but for some reason, Beatrice had been completely unable to discover it.

Even now, after having walked through the corridors, Beatrice's memory still failed her for some reason, as by the time she had realized it, Beatrice had managed to forget the way she took to get here.

Although Beatrice was lost in her thoughts, her body continued to follow her teacher, as the latter suddenly arrived at a metal door, placing her hand on it.

A few moments after Selena placed her hand on it, the door opened, allowing both her and Beatrice to walk in.

A rather chilling scene greeted Beatrice when she walked into the room.

Staring at the family of four, which was completely oblivious to the entry of the two mages, Beatrice couldn't help but feel a chill crawl up her spine.

A father, a mother, a son and a daughter, a peacefull family were eating together at the moment, after staring at them for a few moments, Beatrice was clearly able to see souls of them family, each of them being full of vitality.

But for some reason, as she stared at the family, Beatrice slightly flinched.

"My dear disciple, so, what do you think, are these people alive?" asked Selena as she stopped looking at the family and turned back towards her daughter.

After a few moments of hesitation, Beatrice opened her mouth, speaking her opinion.

"Dead."

"Yes, that's true, in my opinion, this family is dead," said Selena, causing the scene in front of the two to suddenly freeze.

"Even though this family still has their souls, in they are utterly dead in my opinion, as the true them have died long ago," said Selena as she snapped her fingers, causing the family to disappear.

Hearing this, Beatrice couldn't help but think about her servants, falling into thought, causing Selena to shake her head.

"Trying to compare the humans that you have controlled with what happened to this family is truly pointless, the comparison doesn't even make any sense, after all, those humans were clearly still alive when you were controlling them, don't try to make such a stupid comparison," said Selena, causing Beatrice to break out of her trance.

"Unlike them, this family was fully dead, gone from existence after their very souls had been wiped clean," said Selena, causing Beatrice to shiver.

Seeing this, Selena let out a chuckle.

"Sadly though, this spell which I created has no use, as living servants are much more valuable than dead ones," said Selena, causing Beatrice to nod.

"That's true," mumbled Beatrice as she suddenly felt her body moving.

In a mere instant, before Beatrice could react in the slightest, she found herself in another location, surrounded by bright lights, causing her to slightly close her eyes.

"So you can already sense souls, that's good," mumbled Selena as she snapped her fingers, causing Beatrice to suddenly reappear inside another room, standing in front of a small child.

"Unlike bodies, and other things in the material world, which have a fixed size and shape, souls do not have a set shape, changing in the vision of the viewer from many factors, so many, that even trying to mention all of them would be a waste of time, now let's see how skilled you are, I want you to control the soul of the being in front of you," said Selena, causing Beatrice to slightly frown, but even so, Beatrice tried to work with her teacher's request.

After staring at the small child in front of her, the latter's soul was suddenly revealed to Beatrice, causing her to suddenly discover why she couldn't see it at first glance, unlike the souls of the family.

Staring at the small flower, which looked as though it could be swept up by the wind at any moment, Beatrice shook her head, feeling a slight amount of pity for the child.

Even so, Beatrice still continued on with her teacher's request, not hesitating in the slightest.

It was as if a large hand had suddenly touched the fragile flower, trying to lower its huge body to smell it.

No matter how much the giant tried to restrain itself, as soon as it exerted even a tiny bit of force on the flower, the latter was suddenly ripped out of the ground, causing its tiny bit of life force to be snuffed out.

"Quite a pity," mumbled Beatrice as she opened her eyes, staring at the child, which had now fallen over to the ground, any and all life remaining in its body having been destroyed.

Staring at the scene in front of her, Selena slightly smirked, snapping her fingers.

"Go on, don't worry, these souls have been purposefully weakened by me, leaving only a trace, with your large amount of spiritual you should be able to control them if you have enough precision," said Selena.

"Only after we can manage to increase your control of souls can I teach you some more in-depth things," said Selena as she began watching Beatrice snuff life after life out.

Right now, unlike the First Time she had learned the Dark Manipulation Spell, Beatrice could be much more wasteful with her test subjects.

Sadly though, even with all of these advantages, Selena ended the first day of training after Beatrice killed 23 of her slaves and failed to successfully control even one of them, deciding that this was enough for today.