Testing The Soul Affinity

"...."

Looking at the powerless wolf struggling under Long Wei's leg, I felt some sympathy towards it.

It was trying to move Long Wei with the manipulating veins, but he ignored them completely as if they were some toys.

For a moment, I felt like we were bullying a kid.

Shaking my head, I started with enhancing my body and clothes.

Instantly, ethereal dark silver aura moved through my body and covered it perfectly.

My mind became sharper. My willpower became stronger. The mental draining was barely visible.

My gaze shifted to the struggling wolf in the ground. 

I stood close to its front right leg, raised my own leg, then crushed the wolf's leg!

"ROAAAR!"

The wolf roared in pain. Its broken leg was shaking aggressively. But I ignored it and focused on its green soul.

My eyes narrowed slightly when I noticed the wide cracks on the place I hit earlier.

"Hey! Tell us what happened. I'm already excited!" Long Wei hurried me. His leg pressing more on the wolf from excitement.

"My kick affected both the body and soul, but I don't know what the soul damage does." I answered him instantly, stopping him from crushing the wolf. "Wait, I will try something."

I kicked the same part again and again until it finally got completely broken.

Now, the soul part in the leg was separated from the whole soul.

I focused on it and noticed that it was leaking like gas from the wolf's leg.

I also noticed that the more gas it leaked the less its leg trembled.

Eventually, its leg became… soulless?

"Its leg stopped completely!" Drax suddenly shouted, his face turning pale from shock.

Long Wei gave him a sharp look that made him flinch slightly and shut his mouth.

"Braham, Heal it." Master Kai ordered. Immediately, Braham healed its broken leg — but the wolf still couldn't move it.

Actually, it stared at its leg with more confusion than us.

Master Kai suddenly unsheathed Yamato and cut its paw with his flames.

"Grrr?"

"...."

The wolf didn't scream. Didn't roar. Didn't growl loudly.

It just stared at its severed bleeding paw, confused by the lack of feeling.

"Oh! The body's part isn't dead, but the feeling itself is what died without the soul! All the time our souls were responsible for our control over our own bodies!" Drax raised his head and smiled proudly, as if he just discovered the secret of existence.

"Drax." Long Wei called, his voice cold as ice.

"Y-yes captain?"

Long Wei stared directly at him and hissed: "Do you really think we're too stupid to figure this out on our own?"

"I WON'T DARE, CAPTAIN LONG!"

"Then never speak again!"

I ignored their strange argument and observed the wolf's leg silently.

The next moment, something took my attention.

The wolf's soul was… spreading? Moving?

No—The density and the position of the soul were the same, that only left one possibility in my mind.

"Regenerating." I murmured, taking all their attention. "The soul is regenerating! It's slow but still visible!"

We fixed our eyes on the wolf's leg, and as expected, it started moving its leg part by part.

Eventually, its feeling reached its severed paw.

"ROAAR!"

The wolf suddenly started shaking and screaming in pain, clearly regaining the feeling of it.

"Cough, I started feeling like a monster." Braham said, his eyes looking at the wolf with pity.

"Okay. I will try one last thing before killing it." I closed my eyes and started recalling the information I got from the potion.

What made the soul affinity more special was that it didn't only enhance my body and what I touched, but also could enhance my soul itself!

Master Kai had something similar. He could enhance his own will with his will affinity to strengthen his other types of aura.

I started enhancing my soul with my aura slowly and carefully. Eventually, it was covered perfectly.

'Now let's try to move it.'

Slowly, I started moving a part of my soul out of my body.

A pitch black arm with sharp claws started coming out of my shoulder, reaching to the wolf's head

"Holy shit!"

"GRRRR!"

Drax and the wolf started screaming together, meanwhile the others looked at me with wide eyes.

I looked at them with confusion and asked: "Can you see it?"

"Yes."

"Clearly."

"Why does it have claws?"

"THE FUCK IS THAT!"

"Tsk." I clicked my tongue, disappointed from seeing my dream about making invisible attacks vanishing in front of me.

I shook my head and focused on my new hand.

From the information in my head, I should be able to give it 2 types of enhancement.

I tried the first one and moved the hand closer to the wolf's head.

"Grrr, GRRRR!"

Ignoring the wolf's growling, I clenched its head with my claws.

I claws didn't touch its body — but its soul directly!

I started pulling the soul towards me. There was too much resistance, as if I was trying to pull someone hugging a pole, but eventually — I took it out of its body.

[You got x1 steel throwing dagger]

...

The wolf's body stopped moving completely, meanwhile the soul in my hand was looking at me with wide eyes.

"Did… did you just kill it without hurting the body?!" Long Wei asked, his lips curling into a wide grin.

"I… think?" I hesitated slightly while answering him.

I wasn't really sure of what I did. If I knew I wouldn't be doing all those testsa after all.

I looked at the wolf's soul and noticed that it was starting to vanish like the leg that left its body earlier.

But instead of seeing terror or wrath on it, it instead looked… calm. Too calm as if it accepted its fate. I also noticed some relief on it.

I tried to put it back inside the body, but it only phased through it.

"I guess that's the end. Sorry for torturing you." I said to the wolf before finally leaving it to rest in peace.

I kept staring at it as it vanished slowly.

The next moment, I gave my soul the second type of enhancement.

I moved my claws again but this time to the wolf's heart.

But this time it didn't phase through it, instead, it pierced the wolf's skin and flesh reaching the core in its heart and pulling it out of it.

"Oh! You have both spectral and physical properties!" Drax opened his mouth again.

"...."

But this time, he even annoyed me personally.

A golden hammer materialized in Long Wei's hand. Golden flames started covering it. He gripped it tightly and gave Drax a dangerous look.

"Maybe this time you will learn." He hissed, moving his hand backward.

"Wait! I didn't mea—!"

Before he could complete his sentence, Long Wei threw the hammer directly towards his throat.

But Drax turned into a cloud of ash, making the hammer pass through him and reach to Master Kai.

Master Kai just dodged the hammer easily and looked directly at Drax

"You dare?!"

I ignored their small fight and focused on the core in my hand.

I turned my soul hand into a spectral hand and pulled the soul inside it out of the core.

*Crack!*

But the moment it left the core, the core cracked into many parts as if the soul was what held it together.

"Interesting, though it's a waste." I muttered, trying to understand the mechanism behind how the cores work.

"Hey little Yami." Long Wei suddenly called me, raising Drax in the air from his collar. "It was interesting and all, but it's already the night."

"Oh…" 

I sighed in disappointment and followed him to the camp.

There were many things I wanted to test but ending the first challenge was our priority now.

Heading towards the camp, I decided to do my last test for now.

I pulled the mantis' aura core from my spatial ring and absorbed it instantly like always.

But this time, I knew what happened to all the souls after absorbing the cores.

My soul literally devoured the mantis.

That moment I wondered, if I was always devouring their souls, then what were the benefits of doing that?

And… What if I devoured a humanoid soul or a full soul instead of the small one inside the core? What is the difference between all those types of souls?

I had many questions, but I would take my time in answering them.