The Hundred Refining Threads Soul technique transformed the soul into a hundred fine, thin threads. A thread, however basic it could be, was a solid form, and to perfectly master this technique, one would need to refine their soul into a hundred such threads.
The technique also explained why the shape of a thread, rather than anything else, was chosen. Since it was already difficult for humans to control their souls, attempting to refine their soul into any complex solid forms like swords would make the process nearly impossible for humans to accomplish.
Thus, the method of first refining the soul into small and simple shapes came into existence.
’Moreover, in Apprentice Rank, one could only have limited control over the soul,’ Max thought. The higher a person’s rank, the more control they would have over their soul, but that didn’t mean someone in Seeker Rank would be able to refine their soul into a sword shape on their first try.
Everyone had to start from the very beginning.
Max’s starting point was a thread, while for others, it could be something else.
’A thread…’ Max thought, calming himself completely and entering a meditative state.
Unlike what he had previously done, where he would let the power of the soul flow outside of his body, he now needed to enter the world of the soul, as the technique instructed.
He needed to enter the place where the soul resided within his body—the Soul Palace.
It was a difficult process, but humans had managed to do it nonetheless and had even created hundreds of techniques based on souls.
"All the soul power in my body is locked inside the Soul Palace, but by tapping into the soul power within it, I can manage to leak some out. However, to refine the soul, I must enter the Soul Palace," Max muttered, his brows furrowed in contemplation.
But something felt wrong.
He realized that the technique given to him by his sister was very unique.
According to what he had learned after spending about three months in the Phoenix Order guild, to upgrade from Apprentice Rank to Adept Rank, one had to reach level 10 of Apprentice Rank and open the Soul Palace.
Only after opening the Soul Palace could one enter Adept Rank, and that was only possible after reaching level 10 of Apprentice Rank.
He hadn’t heard of anyone opening their Soul Palace before reaching level 10 of Apprentice Rank. Most, if not all, opened it to upgrade their rank to Adept Rank.
’Am I doing it wrong?’ Max wondered, doubting whether the technique given by his sister was wrong, as it mentioned one could open the Soul Lock before reaching level 10 of Apprentice Rank and before needing to upgrade one’s rank.
Max weighed his options and decided to try. After all, time was never an issue for him.
Taking deep breaths, he followed the method mentioned in the technique and entered a meditative state again.
A moment later, the darkness parted, and he found himself in a world full of clouds, similar to the entrances to all his dimensions. However, unlike that, the clouds in this world were gloomy and black.
’Is this my consciousness?’ Max wondered, looking around. It was just like the entrance to all his dimensions, except for the black clouds.
In the middle of everything, there existed a circular-shaped wall or something.
’What’s that?’ Max wondered as he walked closer to it.
’A Tai Chi diagram!’ he exclaimed in joy. According to the Hundred Refining Threads Soul technique, the door to the Soul Palace would take the form of a Tai Chi diagram.
It was like a circle with half of it colored black and the other half colored white, but not in a linear fashion.
’Huh.’ Just as Max was observing his Soul Palace, he found something odd. The black part of the Tai Chi diagram was missing from his door, with only an outline of it remaining intact, alongside the white part.
’What is this? The technique didn’t mention anything like that,’ Max frowned, noticing this anomaly, and walked closer to inspect it.
The white part of the Tai Chi diagram was almost the size of him but the black place part was gone only the outline remained.
’Is something wrong with my Soul Palace?’ Max wondered, frowning at the uniqueness of his Soul Palace’s door.
He contemplated for a moment and decided to open the door. Since he was already there, he figured he might as well try.
The way to break open the door to the Soul Palace was simple. One had to tap into the power of the soul and cause it to leak some Soul Force out of the door.
Like energy, which had a term in the world called Mana, the power of the soul was termed Soul Force.
To break open the door of the Tai Chi diagram, one needed to use soul force, like mana, to forcefully break open the door leading to the Soul Palace.
Max did exactly that. He tapped into the soul force inside the Soul Palace, which caused the door to leak white smoke.
The white smoke seeped out little by little from all sides of the circular Tai Chi diagram, appearing starkly contrasted against the black gloom of the world around him.
Max raised his right hand and controlled the soul force to stick to it, as he would when drawing a rune to control the soul force with a brush.
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Little by little, the white smoke began to float toward his right arm, squirming around it. It took a minute or two for all the white smoke to stick to his arm, turning his entire right arm pitch-white.
"Alright," Max muttered. He walked toward the white part of the Tai Chi diagram and pushed it with his right hand, but it didn’t even budge.
Feeling resistance, he pushed harder, but still, it didn’t move.
’This is tough,’ Max thought. While he had expected this outcome since he was attempting the impossible, it was still disappointing to see no progress.
However, he wasn’t discouraged. He punched the white part of the Tai Chi diagram.
Bang!
A ripple-like wave was released from it, changing the black clouds beneath him into pitch-black water.
’Something changed, which means I’m going in the right direction,’ Max thought, and began punching repeatedly for a full minute. However, after the initial ripple that turned the clouds into water, nothing else changed.
Most importantly, the white part of the Tai Chi diagram didn’t even budge despite tens of dozens of blows with his fist being covered with Soul Force. It was as though he was a toddler punching into a wall.
Max frowned as he observed this and contemplated. ’If the technique says that breaking the door to the Soul Palace is possible before reaching level 10, then it should be possible. There is no doubt about it.’
He had complete confidence in the technique since it was given to him by his sister, but he wasn’t as sure about his soul force.
’Level 10 of Apprentice Rank would certainly make one’s soul stat reach a high level, but my soul stat also increased by a full 3 points after absorbing the remains of the Dracovore, which is many times higher than the 0.3 points of a single level-up,’ Max thought, contemplating.
’According to this, the value of my Soul stat is equal to or higher than the required stat at level 10 of Apprentice Rank. Then where am I lacking?’ He furrowed his brows deep in thought.