"There you are."
Hearing Eric’s voice, Ash looked to his side. There he saw an energetic young man with a golden monocle on his right eye, the surface of the monocle faintly reflecting the surrounding light.
But Ash knew it was not a simple monocle like the one he had seen years ago.
No, it was a transformed version that Eric created, something far more sophisticated than before.
It had become his own personal library, filled with every piece of information he had carefully stored for himself to see, analyze, and reference whenever needed. The amount of knowledge contained within it was huge.
Not as huge as his own Soul library, but still huge.
He is certainly talented and a Genius too, if there was only mana present in my Soul Space, his rank would have increased too....sigh..
Ash could not help but think about it with a quiet sigh.
It was not that Eric’s rank had not increased, but that was only because Eric consumed various herbs and used lots of Mana stones Ash had gathered. Those resources helped him advance to a certain degree, though the process was not as smooth as it would have been in a proper environment.
But that also had its own limitation. Eric needed a natural environment rich with mana if he wanted to increase his rank further without restrictions. Artificial sources like herbs and mana stones could support progress for some time, but they could never truly replace the natural circulation of mana in the world.
Currently his rank was at Lord rank, which corresponds to the Grandmaster of the human ranking system.
"Lets go, we should start working on it now!!! I have already organized the basic structure, so if we begin now we might finally see some results."
Eric beamed with enthusiasm, clearly very excited to work on the project he had been thinking about for so long.
Ash looked at him and jumped up from his chair with a smile.
"Lets go."
Throughout these thousands of years Ash has comprehended every Rune a little bit, and some Runes a bit more than others, and the reason behind it was simply the present situation he was facing.
Creating something out of nothing is hard, but reviving a dead person using its soul by converting it into an Artificial Intelligence was another level of difficulty altogether. It was not just a matter of knowledge, it required absolute precision and understanding of how the essence of a soul interacts with the fundamental laws of reality.
It was almost impossible.
Almost.
Unless you have the Runes.
Ash had comprehended a total of 13 Runic symbols and around 8220 glyphs, taking every Rune he had studied into consideration. Each Rune was not just a symbol but a fragment of the universal language that shaped existence, and every glyph inside it represented a specific interpretation or functional expression of that meaning.
And each of these 13 Runic symbols represented a Grand Meaning in reality, something that could not be exactly put into words. The depth behind them was far too vast for simple language, but for practical usage they were categorized with single words that best represented their fundamental nature.
’Witness’ is for 1 Runic symbol of Rune of Truth.
’Anchor’ is for 1 Runic symbol of Rune of Stability.
’Restore’ for Rune of Balance.
For Rune of Life we have ’Awaken’, ’Sustain’, ’Maintain.’ A total of 3 Runic symbols.
For Rune of Death we have ’Release’, ’Transition’, ’Revert’.
’Observe’ and ’Predict’ for Rune of Knowledge.
’Manifest’ for Rune of Wish.
And finally ’Synchronize’, ’Moderate’, ’Cycle’, ’Sequence’ for Rune of Harmony.
These were the 13 Runic symbols Ash had comprehended completely. Within each of these symbols there existed many sub branches and deeper meanings that could lead to entirely different purposes depending on how they were used.
Through the 360 glyphs contained in each Runic symbols, Ash had already grasped these variations, understanding how subtle changes in interpretation could alter the final result.
Now what Ash had to do was use these 13 Runic symbols and 8220 glyphs to create as many combinations as possible. From those combinations he needed to search for stable possibilities that could transform a Soul and connect it to his own Soul Library, which would act as the central storage for information, memories, and structured consciousness.
The idea itself was extremely delicate. A soul could not simply be forced into a system like ordinary data.
It had to be stabilized, preserved, and harmonized with the structure that would hold it. If even a single layer of the process was unstable, the soul could collapse or disperse.
And all these requirements had already been researched by Eric during those long years.
Eric had spent thousands of years carefully studying what conditions were necessary for such a process to work, analyzing the nature of souls, consciousness, and information structures so that the theoretical framework was already prepared.
Because of that, Ash did not need to start everything from nothing. His role was to construct the Runic structure that could actually make the theory work.
Though trying new combinations of glyphs was no easy matter.
After all, even Negative multiplied by Negative becomes positive. A simple change in interaction can produce a completely different outcome. Who is to say that a combination of different glyphs would not result in a complex and completely unexpected effect?
When dealing with the language that governs reality itself, even the smallest variation between glyphs could reshape the entire result. That was precisely why every combination had to be tested carefully and understood completely before it could ever be used.
And that was going to be a very time consuming and arduous task.
Even with Ash’s current comprehension ability and the vast number of glyphs he had already mastered, the number of possible combinations between 13 Runic symbols and thousands of glyphs was simply enormous.
Thus, Ash did not rush.
He began with the most basic structures. Two glyphs connected together. Then three. Then small chains that revolved around a another glyph acting as the core directive. Slowly he started observing how meanings interacted with each other when they were forced to coexist inside the same formation.
Some combinations created stable structures that floated quietly inside the Soul Space for hours.
Others shattered the moment they formed, their meanings contradicting each other the instant they came into contact. They might need another glyph combination, that he might not have currently.
At times the results were completely unexpected.
A glyph meant for "Maintain" would suddenly interfere with "Transition" and create a looping structure that tried to preserve something that was meant to move forward. The formation would twist in on itself, repeating the same cycle endlessly until the meanings finally tore each other apart and dissolved into scattered fragments of light.
Ash would quietly observe every failure.
He would slowly dismantle the structure and trace the interaction backward, analyzing which glyph caused the imbalance and why the meanings refused to cooperate.
Then he would try again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Eric, of course, was present throughout this entire process, but his role was very different.
He did not understand Runes.
To him the Runic symbols Ash manipulated were still mysterious languages of reality that he could not fully grasp. When Ash first began his experiments, he spent a long time explaining the most basic ideas behind what he was doing.
Not the deeper truths of the Runes, because those could not truly be explained with words.
But the logic behind the structures.
Sometimes Ash would gesture toward a floating Runic formation and calmly explain,
"This part keeps the soul stable. Without it the structure collapses."
Then he would point toward another symbol.
"This one allows information to flow. Think of it like a pathway between memories."
Eric would listen carefully, sometimes nodding slowly, sometimes asking questions that sounded simple but often forced Ash to rethink the structure from a different angle.
Then he would dismantled the entire formation and rebuilt the structure with an additional stabilizing layer.
Moments like that happened often.
Eric was not guiding the Runic process itself, because that was far beyond his understanding. But his perspective as someone who studied logic, structure, and information systems often gave Ash unexpected ideas.
Sometimes Eric would simply say something like,
"What happens if the soul resists the conversion halfway through?"
Questions like these forced Ash to explore possibilities he might not have considered immediately.
At the same time, Eric did not spend every moment working.
He had already spent thousands of years researching this concept long before Ash arrived. His mind had carried that burden for far too long. Now that the actual experimentation had begun, he often stepped back and allowed Ash to handle the complex Runic work.
Many days Eric simply rested beneath the Soul Tree, occasionally watching Ash’s floating Runic formations with quiet curiosity.
Other times he studied his own records through the golden monocle, slowly organizing the massive amount of data they were producing through these experiments.
The monocle helped him store and access information efficiently, but it was not some all knowing artifact. It was simply a tool that allowed Eric to record observations and review patterns without losing track of thousands of experiments.
Ash still handled the true complexity.
Eric simply helped him see things from another angle.
Thus, centuries quietly passed inside the Soul Space.
500 years passed.
By the end of those five centuries, the chaotic experimentation phase had gradually turned into something far more organized.
Thousands upon thousands of combinations had already been tested and cataloged. Entire categories of unstable structures had been eliminated, while several stable Runic frameworks had begun to appear.
They were not complete.
But they were promising.
Ash had successfully created small Runic formations that could hold fragments of information without collapsing. Some structures could even maintain a small portion of spiritual data without harming the soul essence contained within them.
This was the first true sign that their goal might actually be possible.
Eric studied one of the newly formed structures through his monocle and slowly leaned back in his chair.
"So... this one finally holds?"
Ash observed the floating formation quietly for a moment before dispersing it with a gentle wave of his hand.
"It holds... but barely."
Eric chuckled softly.
"Still better than the ones that exploded instantly."
Ash allowed a faint smile to appear on his face.
Because both of them understood something very clearly.
Testing glyph combinations using empty structures was only the preparation.
The real challenge had not even begun yet.
So after five hundred years of preparation, the next phase finally began.
Ash brought out the Spirit Devouring Crystal.
The crystal floated silently in front of him, its surface faintly reflecting the surrounding light of the Soul Space. Deep within the crystal, the soul of Eric’s elder sister still existed, preserved but dormant.
This time the experiments would no longer be theoretical.
Now they would be working with an actual soul.
Eric straightened slightly when he saw the crystal appear.
"So... we are finally doing this."
Ash nodded slowly.
"Yes."
He raised his hand.
Runic symbols began appearing around the crystal one by one, forming the structure they had spent centuries refining.
The first layer was stabilization.
The second was synchronization.
The third would slowly guide the soul toward the storage framework connected to the Soul Library.
And many more countless steps.
This time every step had to be precise.
Because if the soul collapsed during the process, there would be no second chance.
And just like that 500 more years quietly passed inside the Soul Space.
****