He didn't fully understand the name, but it sounded beautiful. And terrifying.

That was only a glimpse of its power.

The Venomquill Porcupine wasn't weak among thousand-year soul beasts, yet before Alfred, it was nothing more than prey.

Alfred spoke again, listing calmly, "First soul skill, Frost Scar. Second soul skill, Frost Mist. Third soul skill, Skyfrost Slash. Fourth soul skill, Frost Song."

Then he turned to Ray. "Remember this. A soul skill does not have only one form. There are countless ways to use it. What matters is how you control it."

As he spoke, Alfred raised the Skyfrost Sword and activated Frost Scar. A thin sword wave shot out, slicing cleanly through a leaf more than ten meters away—yet the leaf itself remained intact.

"This is Frost Scar."

He stepped forward. With a slight tremor of his wrist, sword waves surged outward, interweaving into the familiar azure cocoon before unraveling into a storm of blades.

"This," Alfred said coldly, "is also Frost Scar."

Ray trembled.

The same soul skill.

Different control.

Entirely different results.

In Alfred's hands, the Skyfrost Sword was no longer just a weapon—it was a brush, painting destruction with absolute precision.

"Do you understand?" Alfred asked.

"I think… a little," Ray said earnestly. "Even a weak soul skill can become powerful if used correctly. There are no fixed limits—what matters is how I use it."

Alfred nodded. "Good. Let's go."

Only through real combat could such lessons truly take root.

As they moved on, Ray's heart pounded with realization.

He finally understood his mistake.

When he had received Bind as his first soul skill, he had nearly fallen into despair, believing it to be trash, just like his martial soul.

But now he knew.

There were no trash soul skills.

Only trash users.

In Alfred's hands, even the simplest skill could bloom into something terrifyingly beautiful.

Ray's thoughts snapped into perfect clarity.

When Teacher had fought the Soul Emperor Eren, he hadn't used a single soul skill. Not one. Yet Eren had been utterly crushed. The gap hadn't been soul power at all.

It had been insight.

A door seemed to unlock deep within Ray's heart.

Soul Masters were categorized into Assault, Control, Agility, Defense, and the like, but those labels were never walls. They were threads in the same tapestry. What truly decided strength was not the category, but how one understood and wielded their martial soul.

Lily was powerful not merely because she possessed six elements, but because she controlled them with frightening precision.

"Teacher," Ray suddenly asked, "spiritual power isn't just something that holds spirit souls, right?"

Alfred glanced back at him, approval flickering in his eyes. "If you can ask that question, it means you've already felt the answer yourself."

Ray nodded eagerly, his chest burning. There was so much more he needed to improve than soul power alone.

They continued deeper into the forest. Perhaps because soul beasts were sparse, the intermediate spirit ascension platform felt strangely untouched. Towering trees blocked out the sky, plunging the forest into an eternal green gloom.

A short skirmish with several soul beasts followed. One was a thousand-year beast, the rest merely a hundred-year. Alfred efficiently dispatched them, funneling the spirit energy to Ray.

As they advanced, Alfred's voice grew colder. "Stay close. We've entered the middle region. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts may appear at any time. At that level, their intelligence undergoes a qualitative change. Some are as clever as humans."

Ray's heart tightened.

Intelligence was what made soul beasts truly terrifying. A clever beast could plan, deceive, and exploit weaknesses.

If the Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear they had encountered before had been smarter, Raziel Phoenix would have died the instant he attempted his ambush.

A ten-thousand-year Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear could raze a town on its own.

Ray silently spread strands of Silverfalls Vine around himself. He knew his place here. Against such monsters, he was fragile. His duty wasn't to fight, but to survive.

I still have a long way to go…

"Stop." Alfred halted abruptly.

Ray nearly collided with his back.

"Something's wrong," Alfred said gravely.

"What is it, Teacher?"

"It's too quiet," Alfred replied. "Even here, there should be insects. Listen. It's getting darker, and not because of the trees. This isn't natural."

His grip tightened around the Skyfrost Sword. "We've likely wandered into the territory of a powerful soul beast."

Ray's pulse quickened. He hated this helpless feeling, this absolute reliance on another's strength.

Alfred stood still, frost radiating from his blade. His eyes scanned the forest, calm yet razor-sharp, occasionally flashing with faint purple light.

Ray felt it now, too. No wind. No sound. An unnatural silence pressed down on them.

Shadows began to stir among the trees.

"What are those…?"

The last traces of light vanished, plunging the forest into total darkness.

Then, without warning, a black figure shot forward.

Ray activated the Purple Demon Eyes instinctively.

His breath caught.

That shadow was him.

An exact copy of Ray, shrouded in darkness, radiating bloodlust and icy malice.

Alfred slashed.

Frost Scar tore through the shadow, yet it passed through unharmed and lunged straight at Ray.

"Hmph."

Alfred snorted coldly. Purple light flared in his eyes.

The shadow screamed and dissolved into smoke.

Another figure rushed Alfred, a mirror image of himself.

Alfred merely looked at it.

The shadow shrieked and dispersed.

Ray stared in awe.

So this is the true power of the Purple Demon Eyes…

Alfred's expression remained grim. "A soul beast with both darkness and spiritual attributes. And a powerful one."

The remaining shadows dared not approach. Instead, black fog rolled in, thick and oppressive.

The moment Ray saw it, fear clawed at his chest.

Alfred's second soul ring lit up. Frost Mist surged outward, colliding violently with the black fog.

Where they met, the fog condensed into droplets of black liquid that reeked of decay.

A domain?

Ray's heart sank.

Within a domain, the user held an absolute advantage. Even if exaggerated in legend, the power boost was undeniable.

But the true danger wasn't resisting the domain.

It was finding the enemy.

If they couldn't locate the soul beast, they couldn't defeat it.

Ray's eyes sharpened.

He crouched down and placed his hand against the Silverfalls Vine, closing his eyes.

As his understanding of his martial soul deepened, his connection to plant life had grown stronger. Through the vast network of grass beneath the forest, he extended his perception outward.

He focused, following faint ripples of fear and agitation flowing through the grass.

There!

A smile tugged at Ray's lips.

Its attempt to spread fear had betrayed it.

"Teacher," Ray said softly, opening his eyes. "I know where it is."

Fear had a source.

Ray focused, trying to follow it back to its origin.

Where are you afraid of?

What is making you afraid?

He had never attempted anything like this before. Communicating with plants through spiritual intent was not something recorded in any manual he had read. But instinct told him it was possible.

He let his consciousness sink deeper.

The moment his spiritual power truly merged with the invisible network of plant life, his perception expanded. The forest no longer felt silent. It trembled.

Fear surged.

It came in waves.

And then, suddenly, it converged.

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