A New Way To Use Soul

Since I wasn't injured, when I focused the soul inside my body all it did was flow through every corner of my body before starting to release outside of me like some sort of aura. I could faintly feel it around me like some sort of blanket. I felt a bit stronger when it was around me. But doing this burned through my soul at an impressive rate.

If I filled up my core to its entirety and then did this I would probably only last for a second. And that is being optimistic. I was practically just emptying out my entire soul into the air when I did this. I would have to figure out a way to compress the soul around me and trap it so it wouldn't be such a waste.

Looking at the nail next to me I reached over and grabbed it. I had to test if I could flow my soul through it. And sure enough, the aura enveloping my body spread to cover the nail too. Looking at the nail covered in a white aura I couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are the odds I am actually in a cultivation world? First the core and now I have a sword aura. Or should it be called nail aura? Nail intent?"

The aura covering the nail actually seemed to make it sharper. I could faintly see an edge on the dull sword.

"But just a single second of having a sharp nail will leave me completely empty. It isn't a good trade." I said in slight disappointment.

"There really ought to be a better way to use soul…" I said as I deactivated the aura.

The fact that I could use soul to cover my body proved that I was able to manifest it outside of my body. So maybe that meant I could use it as a weapon. Or should I just focus on continuing to train the aura?

I was worried that the springs would run out of soul if I kept on wasting it. So I didn't want to carelessly throw away the chance I had been given. I mean, who knows when or if I will ever find another spring like this.

Closing my eyes and meditating for a moment I came up with an idea.

When I cover myself in soul I am just releasing it all around me am I not? So maybe I can recycle it back into the water.

Taking in a deep breath I submerged myself fully inside the water before opening my eyes. The water was clear enough that I could still see.

'Yeah, this should do.' I thought before trying to create the aura around me once again.

'If I am going to use this thing I have to find a way to either contain the soul around my body, a way to activate it in specific areas only not to lose all of it so quickly, or a way to activate it for only a split of a second.

I closed my eyes underwater to focus on the feeling of soul covering my body. I had to memorize this feeling if I ever hoped to be able to replicate it in specific areas only. And so I focused as hard as I could until I ran out of breath and had to leave the water.

— — —

*Splash*

I was taking in deep breaths of air as I exited the hot springs.

This was both exhausting and slightly painful.

I had a headache and some strange aches all across my body.

"I think I overdid it." I said while laying on the ground full of discomfort.

Around the first hour, I had started to feel this strange ache in my body, but I had dismissed it hoping to continue learning to manipulate soul. But this feeling only grew as I spent more and more time on the springs constantly activating and deactivating my soul aura. And after two straight hours of being in the springs, I finally had to get out due to the pain.

I tried to focus the soul around my body to heal it, but that only brought a burning sensation onto my body.

Crawling over to the bench I climbed on it before sitting down.

"I guess that is as far as I can train my soul for now…"

The reason I had pushed myself so far to the point I was in pain was because I had entered a bit of a trance. I felt like I was so close to understanding what I was looking for that I had to continue. I had the feeling that I would lose all of my progress if I stopped halfway. Or at the very least, I would make it harder on myself if I stopped.

There was no way for me to know if that feeling was true or not, but so far my instincts had been pretty spot on. Just by following them, I had been able to escape the place I woke up in and find a weird pin that fused to my cloak. And well, by following them I was led to the temple of the black egg where I met Quirrel.

Closing my eyes to focus on my core I saw a worrisome sight. There were small cracks around it. And I had a feeling I didn't want to find out what would happen if it broke.

I was exhausted, and I wanted to simply fall asleep on the bench I was sitting on, but I knew I couldn't do so as I was.

I struggled to stand up from the bench, and I walked over to my armor and put it back on.

I wasn't sure how safe this spring was, and I didn't want to fall asleep where I could be easily spotted and attacked. So I wanted to at the very least find a hiding spot inside the cave.

And after searching around the small cave I found a rock I could move and sleep behind. After entering the small space I moved the rock back in front of me and closed my eyes before promptly falling asleep.

— — —

Opening my eyes, the first thing I did was look at my core. And thankfully the cracks that had been present before appeared to be better. The cracks looked as if they had been filled using a strange black gooey substance.

In fact, while before my core felt as if it was resting on an empty white void it now felt as if it was resting inside a pitch-black lake. Focusing on it I felt as if the lake was made out of the same strange black and shadowy goo that had sealed the cracks in my core.

I honestly did not know if this was a normal thing or even a good thing, but the pain I was feeling yesterday from my core had completely vanished. And if anything it felt as if my core was more solid than before.

After exiting my hiding spot I took a moment to stretch.

And the next thing I did was focus on my hand. I felt soul rush to it before it began to glow with a dim white light. But unlike before, where the soul was leaving my body as if I was powering up in dragon ball z, the aura was sticking closely to my hand and only releasing a slight amount onto the air.

Focusing on my core I saw the amount of soul in it slowly beginning to lower. And After seeing that I couldn't help but let out a loud laugh.

"It worked!"

The amount of soul I could hold wasn't enough to use it for a long period of time. But I could use this skill to get myself out of bad situations.

I was honestly a bit tempted to get back on the springs to continue training using my soul but I had a feeling that would only end badly.

I probably had to give my soul core some rest before doing another training session like that.

Taking another look at the map I began to make my way toward the strange helmet symbol.

"Let's get me some new armor. This thing I am wearing hardly does any protection…. I wonder if the blacksmith Elderbug told me about also works on armors…"