Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

Group four proceed their march the following morning. Before Sumire entered the second carriage with Kenji, she briefed everyone that she wouldn't be making an appearance until the last part of the first stage as she entered a critical stage of her cultivation. She would stay in the carriage protected against investigative methods. 

Some Violet Sword Blaze members, namely Shirogane and a few others, were furious that Kenji held the privilege to stay by their captain. They were thinking of the line of her captain being forced or coerced forcefully since he could single handedly defeat both teams and get away with it.

Sumire’s future absence made the over-reliant Shirogane become more emotional than ever. Fortunately, Sumire explained patiently to them that she really is in a critical juncture of breakthrough and from henceforth, Kenji’s words are hers. 

After that little conflict, Kenji became the unrefuted leader of group four.

…

 

A few kilometers away, Sumire was panting heavily. “Damn it!” she gasped hard, “Physical labor is too damn annoying.” She took a five-minute break before continuing her jog. 

“According to the map, it should be around…. Here.” After hours of running and jogging, she found the cave she was looking for. 

With sparse trees and hilly regions, the path towards Thunderpeak mountain from Elestra city is filled with beast lairs or minor races tribes. Of course, the hunter association would dispatch manpower if some truly dangerous ones emerged, but the closer it is to the city, the beasts are typically weaker due to the constant culling. 

For beasts and minor races, the area near human settlements are too dangerous for them to stay and settle. Most lived underground or inhabited caves during the day, only coming out during the night to hunt. 

These weak beasts or minor race tribes couldn’t be exterminated completely since they profligate as fast if not faster than the speed of which humans cull them. Because of this, younger, less experienced cultivators were usually incentivized to train themselves by reducing their numbers. It was profitable for juniors to temper themselves and allow the more experienced seniors to focus on protecting more dangerous locations.

Of course, if truly dangerous ones appeared, the hunter association usually took swift action by dispatching hunters as soon as possible. This world is not peaceful, after all. Over 50% of the world’s area was controlled by beasts, but thanks to the dawn of the first generation hero and their successor a few thousands of years ago, intelligent races were able to wrestle fertile areas from beasts.

That’s why Sumire’s solo adventure plan was feasible. Despite being dangerous for mortals to roam the land outside of the protected boundaries, it wasn’t too much of a bother for elite hunters of her caliber. 

The cave was large enough to allow four human walking casually side by side, there were also traces of various footprints coming and from the cave’s mouth. After double confirming the location on her map, she approached the entrance.

“The darkness of the cave is not a problem, but the narrow space and corridors give ample chances for the beasts inside to make ambushes. Since I have a spectral soul, it’s no longer a problem.” From her shadow, a translucent lump of darkness separates itself from her. She sent the one and only spectral soul she refined to scout ahead.

Spectral souls are incorporeal soul-type necro-path or soul-path lifeforms depending on one’s perspective. It’s literally a soul without physical form, you can brand them whatever you’d like but it is what it is. Spectral souls could, to a limited degree, pass through physical matter because of their nature. Through the soul link as its master, Sumire could receive the information it gathered, allowing her to scout ahead without worry since the spectral soul is semi-translucent. 

Without a detection method that specifically targets incorporeal lifeforms, no one could find where it lurks. Spectral souls are not the best scouts, but it’ll do for now.

“The first hundred meters are clear. Just as I thought, it’s like a different ecosystem there...:” she marveled at the information her minion gathered. While she recalled the spectral soul, she entered the cave after activating an investigative method that allowed her to see under the darkness.

The cave was long and filled with forked paths. There are some that ended into dead ends while some turned into shortcuts. Threading the path that her spectral soul scouted, she progressed without a hitch.

Her spectral soul suddenly notified her regarding an approaching group of minor races. She tried to hide while blending her figure with the darkness. If Sumire didn’t prepare for this, she would’ve been found. Fortunately, she had prepared a dark-path method to hide. 

Achieving stealth, the group of dozens of goblins passed through her hiding spot, never noticing a human had entered the cave.

“Phew, good thing I’ve prepared a [Shade Outline] spell. For two hours starting from now, I’ll be under heavy stealth as long as I am in the dark.”

Dark-path specialized in concealment, even a weak concealment method of dark-path is stronger than most other paths’. Furthermore, the lack of light amplified the effect, allowing her to achieve better results from the same method.  

As she moved from corridor to corridor, she arrived at a wide underground area. The rocky ground is littered with dark-path vegetation like gloom grass, fading petrified trees, light poison mushrooms, grim fluorescent mushrooms and many others. It was a new ecosystem different from the one aboveground. Various small insects also roam the area, making the underground area lively. 

“This is just a small dark-path resource point unclaimed by any powers. Dark-path lifeforms freely live in this area, allowing a diverse ecosystem on the surface world. Although there are no exceedingly rare treasures in this underground area, there is always a chance for hunters to find something interesting when one is lucky.”

Her goal in this underground area is finding a dark-path beast to enslave. Ideally, it would be Lightkiller bugs’ queen larvae but that’s just wishful thinking since Lightkiller bugs are truly dangerous and are usually hunted to extinction the moment they are found.

Her spectral soul might bypass most investigative methods from her peers, but rank 1 or even rank 2 cultivators would definitely find something wrong with it. To help conceal it, she wanted to use a dark-path beast as a cover, as well as truly finding a type of beast that she can always rely on. 

All this while, she was always using her foe’s number against themselves. 

It wasn’t a wrong method, but it limits her ability to engage in battle. For example, what if she has to fight against human hunters or other races with high wisdom? Enslaving a human is extremely difficult and puts a heavy burden on her soul. Furthermore, with her method, it couldn’t be done in a short time. Because of this, whenever she fought against humans, her role would be the strategist and backline support, disrupting her enemy’s thought and emotion through the use of telepathic-will.

True enslavement-path experts possessed a beast group under their command, allowing them to showcase their specialty to the fullest. 

“Lord Mage Mitsubachi has the Wasp Legion that were made out of Worker Bee, Honey Bee, Wasp Soldier, Giant Lanian Wasp, Groundwatch Wasp, Wasp Infiltrator, Bloodmana Wasp, Wasp Massqueen, and many others that was never shown to the public. 

Worker Bees covers the aspect of logistics, Honey Bee specialized for production of healing crystal honey, Wasp Soldier is the main offensive army of the Wasp Legion, Giant Lanian Wasp excels in defensive siege, Wasp Infiltrators are the invisible wasps I’ve detected earlier, Bloodmana Wasp is the anti-mage specialist whereas Wasp Massqueen are the lifeline of the Wasp Legion. Each possessed their role and function.

By having these units under his command, Lord Mage Mitsubachi has become a true enslavement-path cultivator, a strategic weapon whose mere existence becomes a deterrent against hostile forces. This is what I should aim for.”

Of course, she had her own reservation regarding reaching his level. To maintain the Wasp Legion within an acceptable number and quality, his resource expenditure is extremely high. Rearing beast consumes resources, without the support as the official Senior Professor of Hartina Southeast Hunter Academy as well as the oficial General of Elestra city’s military, maintaining the Wasp Legion is merely a pipe dream.

“Lord Mage Mitsubachi is in possession of a secret plane where he kept all the core wasp beasts. Without a specialized environment for the Wasp’s Nest, it would be impossible to rear the Wasp Legion…”

An extraplanar plane owned personally by one person, also known as a Secret Plane. Not only does it allow absolute secrecy, it’s also a place where one could safely store or generate wealth. She lusted for one because it allows her to immerse herself in heretical research. Furthermore, if she possessed a secret plane with the laws compatible with her cultivation, it could produce resources that she needed to fuel the never-ending pursuit of progress.

Secret planes are something that every magic caster desires. Unfortunately, only after reaching a certain level in cultivation does one have the ability to claim one. 

Sumire buried the distracting thought deep within her mind as she started to scout the underground area with her spectral soul while she hid her body behind a fading petrified tree.

The vastness of the underground area allows the pest-like minor race, goblins, to proliferate rapidly. Having multiple tribes, they were spread around almost everywhere. Sometimes being hunted while sometimes hunting other beasts, Sumire admitted that these goblins are tenacious as a race.  

“Of all the dark-path beast groups that exist in this underground area, the most dangerous ones are serpents, followed by bats, dogs, and then the various insect beast groups.”

Looking at the numbers only, the insect beast groups won significantly compared to others due to their nature whereas the serpent beasts possessed the highest combat power individually. In the eyes of an enslavement-path master however, mere numbers or individual beast combat ability are not the only thing that is important.

The resource expenditure to rear those beasts must be all accounted for, especially since Sumire is not supported by any large power like the Hunter Association or Hartina Kingdom’s military. Specific beasts have specific diets, if she possessed a strong beast but their food is something that couldn’t be easily found in the locale she’s in, then she has to commission special requests which require her to expend more resources.

That’s why she lusted for Lightkiller bugs. Their diet consists of meat or biological matter in general but they can also survive by consuming photons. Without meat, they could not breed effectively but through a process far more efficient than photosynthesis, they can maintain their number constant. It’s extremely easy to breed and maintain Lightkiller bugs to the point of cheating.

While she spent her time pondering these matters, there was a battle occurring near her proximity. Two goblin tribes were having a dispute, each possessing around one hundred members. After what seemed like a verbal disagreement, the two tribes started gnawing at each other.

“Greenskins… they are actually a good option.” she muttered silently.

In her perspective, the greenskins could be a viable enslavement-path battle resource, but to construct a proper greenskin army requires a tremendous amount of effort. The goblins are the lowest of the greenskins caste, they could barely fulfil the aspect of logistics. For the main combatant, she has to find and rear hobgoblins or even orcs, but greenskins are not beasts, they are minor races, their wisdom and personality will affect the burden of the soul when enslaving them.

Command-path are far more superior in this aspect. 

“Tsk. Be it greenskins or beast groups, all of these are fundamentally inferior to the necro-path army I inherited from Death Command True Inheritance, the Blightspawn, but their nature won’t allow me to formally establish and refine a proper blightspawn army!”

As she laments her situation, the battle between the two goblin tribes reaches its climax. Both sides slaughtered more than half of their numbers, letting the pained tribe chieftains to duel for control of the survivors. 

Secretly, Sumire claims the dead souls from the battle as she activates one method after another. Most were put inside a soul gem, while the rest were prepared for her spectral soul to cultivate.

“If there’s no distraction, the left side should emerge victorious… wait! Something is here.” she stopped snatching souls while erasing her presence further. 

An intense aura of mid-stage rank 0 beast suddenly appeared, stopping the duel between the two chieftains. The beast that emerges was a 50-meter long large serpent with two small horns protruding from its head, it has dark sclera while its glowing amber eyes emit strange light.

“Giant Kararan Serpent!” Sumire gasped in shock. “These goblin tribes are done for.”

The serpent is yet to mature; it was merely an adolescent if compared to a human. However, it has a special ability that makes it one of the strongest beasts in the dark underground area.

“Gaze of petrification! Without a purification method, these goblins will follow the lead of these petrified trees, becoming its food.”

Just as she was thinking about it, the amber light on the serpent’s eyes shone, saturating an area like a flashlight. Any goblin showered with this strange light has their skin slowly petrified into grey stone-like minerals. The pain and despair in their eyes were real, no goblin wanted to die and become food to this large beast. Unfortunately, they were tired and wounded after fighting against themselves, they could not put up much of a fight.

“It’s the end for them. Even for me, defeating it in a short period of time will be difficult, unless I mobilize my spectral soul. Should I?” she pondered.

Her goal was to hunt a beast, but a Giant Kararan Serpent is not enough to fight for her level. Even if she had multiple of them, these serpents are not too useful against other cultivators since the existence of divine caster (priest/clerics) counters its gaze of petrification. The only reason why these goblin tribes are helpless against it was because of the lack of shamans that could use purification and healing methods.

Without any suspense, the greenskin forces were obliterated. Perhaps they stood a chance if they worked together, but after the consecutive strategic failure, they were unable to fight effectively. The greenskins are either petrified, crushed, or eaten directly by the Giant Kararan Serpent. 

“It’s too bad that the goblins couldn’t distract the snake until my hypnotic method took place.” she sighed silently. She was reluctant to use her spectral soul to possess it because it was her trump card. She moved slowly from the battlefield, staying clear of any dangerous beasts. 

She saw various similar scenes where a weak beast or goblins were devoured by other stronger beasts. Unfortunately, none of the beasts that fought were to her liking. Information regarding what lived in this underground area changed after a while, there was no perfectly accurate data because dark-path beasts are usually carnivorous and excel at hiding and concealing themselves.

While sweeping the underground, she found out that this dark-path resource point lacks any rank 1 existence. This was intended as any dark-path rank 1 beast is far more dangerous than others of the same rank and they would be dispatched by the association to reduce the danger in the area. Since that was the case, she could use more time to study the environment and comprehend the dark-path ecosystem.

As time passes by, her interest is roused by a group of insect beasts that wages war against its neighbor. 

“It’s a group of crimson eyed spiders having a turf war with an albino giant moth?” She examined the battle closely.

The crimson eyed spiders were 1.5-meter tall, 4-meter long spiders with 10 legs and 19 fly-like crimson compound eyes on its head segment. They could spray poisonous webs that paralyze the fools that touched it. Furthermore, crimson eyed spiders are never alone, it’s young will always follow the mother until they mature to spread somewhere else. Its greatest forte was using the dynamic acuity in close combat granted by its 19 eyes. 

As for their opponent… It looks like a pure white silk moth. Its fur-covered body is slightly over 100-centimeter-long not including its white antennae. The moth’s wingspan could reach two meters; it’s wings were decorated with black lines and dark purple hue. The moth’s four wings spread black dust with every flap that somehow pushes back the spiders' unrelenting assault.

Although the moth looks fluffy and cute, Sumire did not appreciate its aesthetic. There are beasts that evolve to pursue biological beauty so they could lure their prey more efficiently, it isn’t wise to judge from appearance alone.

The spiders sprayed their paralyzing webs in order to capture the moth, but the white moth’s black dusts turned into a smaller, black version of itself that disrupted the web’s trajectory. Then, the small black moths weave its own version of a web that tries to envelop the crimson eyed spiders.   

“White moth with black dust that turns into a smaller version of itself…” She tried to analyze the creature, but there wasn’t any dark-path creature that had a white body in the area. At least, not in the shape of a moth.

As she watches the dozens of palm-sized black moths produced from its parent were devoured by the spiders, they turned back into black dust covered in black light. The white moths continuously produce smaller versions of itself, but it’s black dust reserve seems to dwindle with every iteration. The crimson eyed spiders held superior numerical advantage against a single lone moth.

After maximizing her computational power to analyze the white moth, Sumire finally understood. “Ah, I get it. The moth is an Illusory Darksilk Moth. I’ve never seen an albino one before, turns out it was a mutant variant! I need to capture and experiments on it.”

A normal illusory darksilk moth has a black body covered by black fur and its wings are covered with white lines and dark purple spots. This particular one is a mutant with its white and black color scheme being reversed. Illusory darksilk moths often capture their prey with their fine but extremely durable silk. The black dust is their primary method of luring; they are a type of telepathic-emotion called telepathic illusory ecstasy emotion.

Although it is a dark-path beast, it’s wisdom-path abilities left its victim in a state of delusions, ecstasy, or other mental disturbances. Therefore, the name ‘illusory’.

“This is it!” Sumire was delighted. A normal one was very beneficial for her, needless to say a mutant one that could have advanced wisdom-path abilities. The mutated illusory darksilk moth is a beast fit for her needs!

By using the black dust, the moth produced an illusion-like clone entities that could interfere with physical matter. There were only a few select wisdom-path methods that could do the same and those are often related to the usage of telepathic martial will. The mutant’s ability to do so without telepathic martial will indicates a new wisdom-path method that Sumire is unaware of.

At least to her knowledge.

The crimson eyed spiders were spreading its webs all over the moth’s body, but the small black moths kept using their body to block it, not allowing the web to trap the white moth’s body completely. Paralytic gas evaporated from the web and saturated the area, but the white moth’s insect physiology rendered the poison of this concentration almost useless.

“By the looks of it, this tug of war will end with the spider’s having moth as dinner but I won’t allow this useful beast to be eaten. The illusory darksilk moth is a dark-path beast that excels in support and defense. It wrapped its own body under a layer of fine silk that has a strong defense not only to physical and magical attack but also wisdom-path methods.” her eyes glinted in purple light as she used a supplementary wisdom-path method to accelerate thinking speed.

Her enslavement-path method relies on telepathic enslavement-will, it is ineffective to those with defenses against wisdom-path methods, “But it’s useless in front of me!” she mobilized the one and only spectral soul in her possession.  The spectral soul passed through the ground unhindered, not allowing the beasts to detect any irregularities. From afar, Sumire supported the spectral soul by using various enslavement-path methods that disrupted the crimson eyed spiders. 

The spider that sprayed paralyzing webs toward the moth started acting strange, they suddenly stabbed or used their web to attack other spiders. These beasts do not have the wisdom of man; they were unable to realize they are currently under attack. 

As more spiders became affected, the webs were tangled amongst other spiders when the moth flapped its wing frantically. With Sumire’s support, the situation is getting better. 

When the white moth spreads large amounts of black dust that formed into an unprecedented number of black moths, it destroys the blockade of webs made by the spiders. The white moth could not be contained by the paralytic web; it was about to break free completely. 

“No! Spectral soul, go! Rank 0 necro-path magic spell, [Spectral Soul Possession]!”

With the activation of the spell, the spectral soul that latched on the moth’s soul began the process of possession. Feeling the cold sensation of its soul being wrapped under the control of someone else, the moth’s retaliation became more desperate. The sense of danger coming from this new threat is overwhelming its rationality.

“Damn it, it’s attracting others. Spectral soul, hurry!” she whispered to the spectral soul, begging it to act faster.

Unfortunately, the spectral soul was also helpless in this aspect. Unless there were multiple spectral souls supporting the soul possession or the current spectral soul having significantly stronger soul strength than the moth, it won’t be easy to pacify and dominate the beast’s soul in a short time. It was especially so because the moth has strong wisdom-path natural abilities.

As the trashing got more intense, a large goblin tribe approached the battlefield. Seeing the dying spider army and a mutant moth desperately fighting for its life (in their eyes), the goblin tribe members lusted over their flesh. Despite being intellectually challenged, greenskins could evolve into hobgoblins as long as the biological energy within their body is sufficient to support evolution.

And this dying army of spiders with the addition of a strong moth mutant is a god-sent opportunity for the goblin chieftain to evolve. 

“These annoying flies… rank 0 necro-path magic spell, [Raise Skeletal Slave]!” she made a move directly, not risking the beast she claimed to be killed by goblins.

Ten undead horrors made out of spider corpses manifested, the humanoid skeletal beings are more hideous than when they were made from goblin corpses. Magic caster’s spiritual force and mana are the primer, the materials used are catalysts. Under different catalysts or spell resources, the same spell could produce different results as long as it’s activation sequences are adjusted properly.

The skeletal slaves are made out of spider bone, carapace, and other spider corpse matter that made it so hideous that it inspires terror towards the goblin. 

However, this goblin tribe with hundreds of members has two shamans, they are capable of using supportive methods to inspire courage while sending their kin to death. The ten skeletal slaves are stronger than each individual goblin, but the danger evaluation of goblins and other greenskins are elevated sharply when there are two or more types in the same field. A hundred goblins with one shaman are enough to overwhelm ten skeletal slaves in a battle but this time, nevertheless two!

“Greenskin racial trait… is really annoying!” She manipulates the skeletal slave to the best of her ability using her full computational power while hiding behind a rock. 

The special thing about greenskin shamans is that, whenever they use a method, the more greenskins exist on the field, the more effective it becomes.

A strength-amplification buff used on a ten goblin army won’t raise their strength too much, but when the same are casted on a hundred goblin army, the effects are more than twice. The mana expenditure is very costly, that’s very true and goblin shamans are not talented in magic spells so theoretically, they can only use their method once or twice. 

But a special type of energy called [Greenskin energy] can be used in exchange for mana. This greenskin energy is in essence, the life-force of the greenskin races. As more gathered in a single area, the greenskin shamans can tap this potential energy for their methods. It could be considered as shamanic spell or even divine spell, but the true nature of their methods weren’t properly well known by common mages due to the protection of the Greenskin gods.

Therefore, the words ‘numbers are everything’ applied to the greenskins quite perfectly. This is why when a tribe of greenskin accumulates to a certain point, they become a target to be culled regularly.

“Spectral soul, why are you taking so long. Quick, take possession of it already. We can’t stay here for long!” she scolded the spectral soul, but it merely growled in a low voice as it tried to express it was trying its best. 

The skeletal slaves are being obliterated one by one because she was forced to defend the illusory darksilk moth, but Sumire raised more with the corpses of goblins. After several rounds of manufacturing undead, Sumire’s spell resources become thin.

“Spectral soul!” she yelled in desperation. 

Due to putting her maximum effort in protecting the mutated illusory darksilk moth, her spiritual force and mana have reached a dangerous level. Without a spectral soul that acts like an extension of herself, she won’t be able to enslave the moth.  

At this moment, the moth stopped thrashing about. It flew away towards Sumire to stand on her shoulder. With an activation of a delayed dark-path spell, the moth immediately achieves stealth.

Sumire released a sigh. “My dearest spectral soul, if not for you being a part of me, I would’ve punished you.” she gave a wry smile, “It’s a bother to call you spectral soul all the time. Let me give you a name. What about...  Aya.”

The white moth flapped its four wings happily, expressing delight. Under stealth, the two traversed the area unhindered.