After a 5-hour journey, they finally came across a wild soul beast in the woods. The parrot, named Jade by its host, had scouted it.
It was just a Ravager.
This close to Cidros, it was to be expected. No matter how thorough the cleanup was, soul beasts always somehow survived to take their rightful place in the woods. There were theories about normal animals turning into soul beasts somehow, but no one had pursued such research other than the tower.
Faust, Hartwin, Lady Birhi, and Sir Orin quietly made their way towards the beast. The rest were taking a break. Three powerful Ravagers’ emanations to hunt just one soul beast was overkill. But they were just there to help him kill it, not do the actual hunting themselves.
Faust stopped sixty-something meters from his target and signaled the others to stay back. Hartwin and Birhi nodded; Sir Orin was reluctant to let him go alone. Faust exhaled and let the guy follow him.
The creature before him was deer-like, but its pelt was dark green, its eyes burning cinders. The large, misshapen antlers glowed bright orange.
Soul beasts, just like humans, had largely attributes of Infusers or Channelers. Spirit-possessed creatures existed as well, but they were extremely rare to come across.
Infuser-types relied more on brute strength and bursts of raw essence. Generally much more powerful than they appeared. Channeler-types, on the other hand, were a pain in the butt. They had random spells and abilities that rarely made sense.
Fun fact. Most popular spells in the world used by channelers were copied or inspired by some great channeler-type souls’ beasts.
Faust watched his steps and moved slowly with sword in hand. Approaching the beast from downwind without making any noise. Hartwin was a great hunter. He had taught Faust many things that knights couldn’t.
Sir Orin’s footsteps were louder than his.
The knight had to stop when the beast stretched its neck while chewing on leaves, alerted by the faint sound. Faust continued on his own. Once the beast was in his attack range, he unleashed the field of absence in full force.
The orange glow of the antlers suddenly disappeared; the burning eyes reverted to normal deer eyes as well. The sudden change was so confusing for the beast that it barely registered the sharp blade coming its way.
Once the clean thrust to the heart was made, the beast staggered back. It tried desperately to move but fell down instead after a couple of steps.
Faust used a normal steel sword for this. Even a fledgling soul beast could kill him easily. Just a little carelessness, and the cost was his life. This was not a game.
Even a channeler-type Raveger soul beast could pack enough physical power without any enhancement to break trees.
’I’m lucky the hide was not too tough.’
He could make them powerless, but Faust himself did not pack enough power to face the weakest of beasts. This deer-beast was probably heavily reliant on magical means to protect itself and fight. For a 12-year-old without his ability, facing such a creature was suicide.
His companions reached him. The deer stopped moving. But when it did, something strange happened.
A large swarm of bright blue and white particles left the beast’s body and were pulled straight towards him, disappearing within his skin. When it ended, a small palm-sized dark flame rose out of the beast’s fallen body.
Faust just stared at the flame intently.
It... wanted to go back into the beast’s body. But when he commanded it to come near, it obeyed instantly.
Faust tried to join the small flame with the big one he had. It wouldn’t combine. They were two unique things. Hartwin, Jade, and Birhi were talking about the strange particles around him, but Faust was lost in his own thoughts.
What happened? What were these flames? Would he get one from every creature he killed?
’But I didn’t kill the Overlord. Just my presence then?’
His ability. The field of absence was active in both situations. This tiny flame could barely be shaped into anything solid. A ring was the largest metallic structure it could form.
There was literally no difference in the two flames other than their sizes.
’No fuck all that. Why did I just get a sense that the flame was... alive?’
Was this really just a weird part of his ability or something more sinister? He did not just capture some creature’s soul, did he?
"Faust, are you alright? Did it hurt you?" Lady Birhi held his shoulders.
He touched her hands and looked up at her. "I’m fine. Just surprised."
"It did not look like an attack. With your ability, it shouldn’t be possible anyway." Hartwin said from the side.
"It happened after the creature was dead. As if..."
Sir Orin spoke, but then noticed everyone looking at him and decided not to finish that thought aloud.
"No, it’s more like pulling all the essence out of the beast’s body." Lady Birhi added.
Faust pulled his sword out of the beast’s flesh and looked down at it for the last time before turning back. Sir Orin lifted the deer, and they all walked back to the group. As the soldiers worked the deer, Faust chose a good rock to sit on. He had no idea how to feel about the new facets of his abilities.
Koren cleaned his sword for him. When she handed it back to him, he looked up at her blank face,
"You are a fledgling Channeler, right?"
She nodded, "Perfected core."
"Needs saturation?"
Koren looked away, her gaze distant. "No."
Faust tilted his head in confusion. "If you have a fully saturated core, why aren’t you a ravager yet?"
She looked at him, as if calculating whether to reply or not. "Unattainable Trial."
Ah, that made sense. Once an emanation had fully saturated the core, they ranked up from fledgling to ravager, then tyrant, and so on. But every rank-up comes with a unique trial. Only if they succeed at what is asked of them can they rank up and get a higher-rank latent core. Otherwise, they are stuck forever.