After killing all of the groundbears, Merlin dismissed all of the spirits and decided to venture further into the cave for fun since he had nothing better to do. He entered through one of the cavities in the cave and walked for a few hours until he found a tunnel that could fit ten people.
He used his soul essence detection and found out that at the end of this tunnel, there was a high concentration of soul essence. This piqued his curiosity quite a bit and decided to go in the tunnel. As he walked further and further, the concentration of soul essence grew thicker and denser.
He stopped for a moment and decided to absorb some of the soul essence into his soul core. The energy entered through his soul circuits and got into his soul core. He remembered to use the conversion to turn some of the soul essence into positive soul essence.
When the soul essence entered his soul core, he decided to refine it by circulating in his body.
The first cycle.
The soul essence became slightly denser and Suguru noticed this change but he wasn't satisfied just yet. He knew he could do more.
The tenth cycle
His soul essence became thicker and denser with each cycle but he wasn't done yet.
The one-hundredth cycle
His body started to heat up and black sticky substance came out of his pores. His soul essence had become denser and thicker just the way he wanted. He directed the soul essence to his soul core and used it to strengthen soul circuits and enlarge his soul core. This process took him thirty minutes to finish.
His red soul circuit had turned from red to light-blue. Soul circuits have different colors and each determines how far you can go on the soul path. The soul path refers to the path walked by Soul fighter. These colors are red, yellow, green, blue, orange, white and black. Red being the weakest whilst black is the strongest.
Merlin's soul circuits were red similar to Keith's soul circuits. Their destiny was basically etched in stone when they had red soul circuits. Soul fighters with red soul circuits can only break into the second rank. The reason is because the system uses the soul circuits to absorb that soul crystal used to level up. The weaker the soul circuits the less soul crystal they absorb. After reaching the peak of the second rank, the system won't be able to absorb soul crystals from the soul circuits.
The reason soul circuits absorb can soul crystals is because soul crystals are basically soul essence but its only use is to increase a soul fighter's strength.
But Merlin in his past life had created a technique that increases the power of soul circuits by strengthening them using dense soul essence. "I might be able to turn them in black soul circuits when I get to that area," he said as he removed using the goo of his body using soul essence.
He walked further with determination etched on his face. He wanted to grow stronger like any other soul fighter or spirit combatant and the other reason was he didn't want to be want to be weaker than Keith and his spirit wraiths.
If his spirit wraiths were stronger than him there will be harder to control and why he wanted to be stronger than Keith was because Keith is his rival. Their rivalry was one started when they fought each other for the first time and it ended in a draw since someone disturbed their clash.
After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached the location. The area occupied a space of some square meters and the center was a lake that glowed a faint blue light and blue crystal hanging from the ceilings of the cave.
Merlin was mesmerized, he had found cave with essence stones and the water in the lake is liquified soul essence. Essence stones are like soul crystal but unlike soul crystals there are used to increase a person's soul essence and they can absorb natural soul essence from the air and purify it.
Soul essence has three forms, the most common one is its gaseous state. There was its liquid state and its solid state was in the form of essence stones.
"No wonder the soul essence here is dense," he said step in and looked around. he jumped using all of his strength in his leg and grabbed a few essence stones from the ceiling and put them in his shadow so he can use them once he gets back into the real world.
"Now time to put this cave to use," he said grinning from ear to ear. He dove into the lake and swam deeper until he reached the lake bed. he sat into a lotus position and absorbed the soul essence in the water.
He could feel the soul essence coursing through his very being. He used the soul essence to strengthen his soul circuits and to make his soul core larger. He also decided to make some slight modifications to his soul circuit.
The modifications were that his soul circuits would absorb soul essence even when he is not cultivating. The other modification was for the soul circuits to perform conversion technic on their own without him doing it himself since the process was so tiring to him.
He also put a command that when his soul core that when it full, half of the soul essence would be used to strengthen his soul circuits and his body.
He swam back to the surface and as he got to the surface was met by a giant spider. The spider loomed over Merlin, its giant body a mass of writhing flesh. Eight thick hairy legs supported its form and its eyes glinted like cold black jewels. Its body was a brown and grey color that blended perfectly in the shadows. Its presence filled the air with an aura of unholy terror and desolation.
Merlin just stared at the spider with a blank expression on his face. "I hate being a Celestial," he muttered under his breath as he dodged a venom from the spider using Shadow step.