The Artifact Spirit didn't answer Jacob's inquiry as if rendered completely speechless. After all, what Jacob did would probably only be possible for high-class Soulmancers.
Jacob took the Artifact Spirit's silence as a positive reaction, and without hesitation, he moved towards the next step, combining the souls according to the formula.
This step required control over soul sense and mastery over runic language, and one had to be a Fable Legendary Rune Artificer.
Jacob enveloped the ten purified souls with his soul sense, and according to the stele, he tried to use the soul sense to conjure unique runes called the Soul Runes using his pure soul force through the soul sense.
It was a strange way of creating runes, which Jacob hadn't thought about yet, and Soulmancers seemed to have a special way of using runes. They were like a new class of Rune Artificers, but instead of magic materials and magic power, they used pure soul sense to conjure unique runes.
Jacob's mastery over runes was evident, especially when he had Myriad Galaxy King's entire legacy, and the Soulless Ghost King was also a Rune Crafter. Still, he never revealed this fact to anyone.
At this point, Jacob was a King Rune Artificer Alchemist. Although he had no experience creating runes with soul sense, with the help of his Eyes of Judge and the profound information on the stele, he was confident he could succeed.
As Jacob manipulated his soul sense according to the stele, ethereal soul runes began to surface over the ten purified souls like spider webs. Then Jacob arranged them in a decagon (ten-pointer star) array, and the next moment, something magical happened.
The soul runes on the souls shimmered, and the moment they were arranged in sequence, ethereal white threads started shooting in the center, connecting all ten souls at a single point.
Jacob was immersed in the changes happening to the souls and the central points where all the soul threads were connected.
'The energies in the souls are gathering in the center point; it's as if they are mere fuel being used to ignite something…and this something should be…'
Jacob's eyes flickered as he saw the soul runes changing the souls into a peculiar energy. The array of souls was gathering this energy into the center instead of letting it waste.
The decagon was like a runic circle while the souls were its energy cores, yet at the same time, this array was also working as a cauldron.
At this moment, the central focal point of the souls suddenly ignited into ethereal white flames. The flame was only a centimeter in size, but the moment it appeared, the soul in the decagon array started to release more energy toward the flame, making it grow while the souls decreased in size.
'Class-1 Soulless Flame!' Jacob's eyes flickered profoundly as he witnessed the process of Soulless Flame condensing without missing anything.
'Now, I understand why the soul needed to be completely purified…these soul runes are made of pure soul force, and if there is even the slightest impurity, they would be destroyed, thus ruining the entire array.
'Furthermore, the Soulless Flame needed a certain amount of spiritual soul power; if there were even a little missing, the result would be the same. As for adding more souls to cover for the missing energy, it would distort the array.
'As for the souls purified my Spectral Despair, they seemed to have more than sufficient energy to supply for the Soulless Flame, which further decreased the chances of failure…'
As the Soulless Flame continued to burn bright and grow larger, Jacob instantly started the final step in the process when all the souls were completely exhausted. He creates more soul runes to solidify the class-1 soulless flame, which was the heart of this formula, and without it, the Soulless Flame would burst apart the moment the array was exhausted.
As those soul runes entered the Soulless Flame, the tongue of flame stopped flickering and burned without any sign of vanishing above Jacob's palm. This was strange yet magical as Jacob could feel and see the hidden power within this 1-foot tongue of flame.
'It contains energy almost equal to a hydrogen bomb, yet it's completely contained without any sign of instability, and the terrifying part is this energy is harmful to souls…if even a Class-1 Soulless Flame contains such energy, what about Class-2 or the most powerful one Class-12 Soulless Flames? What if I can turn it into special bullets…'
Jacob's inner gunsmith instantly wakes up as he looks at the tongue of Soulless Flame on his palm. Even Soulmancers might've never thought about using priceless Soulless Flames as mere bullets.
At this moment, Jacob suddenly snapped out of his stupor when he sensed a terrifying pressure locked on him, and the next moment, the Soulless Flame in his hand was gone. His eyes flickered with chilly killing intent as he didn't need to guess who was behind it.
"Unbelievable…you've created a 1-foot tongue of Class-1 Soulless Flame. Only a Class-4 Soulmancer can achieve this feat with a Class-1 Soulless Flame. If I hadn't personally witnessed it and knew better, I would've considered you a veteran Class-4 Soulmancer." The Artifact Spirit was void of its previous mischievousness.
"Still, I won't change the fact that you completed this trial on your first try if I ignored that strange ability that you used by consuming the tainted souls. You should be a one-of-a-kind Soulmancer Talent, and I admit, I've underestimated you.
"Now, I have high hopes for you, and you might be able to achieve what the Soulless Ghost Ancestor couldn't. Let's move to the next trial…" The Artifact Spirit didn't waste any time nor give Jacob any chance to speak up.
'So, it didn't suspect anything and still consider me a ghost?' Jacob quickly calmed down, and the next moment, he felt the platform under his feet release soul fluctuations, and the runes on it lit up.
The next moment, Jacob felt a peculiar change on the stele, and when he looked over it, it appeared the same, but the words on it were completely different. Furthermore, at this moment, the Class-1 Soulless Flame that Jacob had just made reappeared in front of him.
The Artifact Spirit's voice rang again, "Your last trial will be the second and third section of the Soulmancer Codex's first chapter. All you need to do is to create the Class-1 Divine Soulless Codex!"