ABYSSAL FOREST
The next moment, Ash appeared once again within the Abyssal Forest, the familiar sea of twisted trees and endless darkness welcoming him like an old acquaintance.
Over time, this place had gradually become his personal testing ground.
Whenever he wanted to experiment with a new ability, verify a theory, or test some absurd idea that suddenly appeared inside his mind, he would inevitably find himself returning here.
After all, there was no shortage of living subjects, and more importantly, there was nobody around to question whatever madness he was about to attempt.
Not wanting to waste any time, Ash immediately spread his senses throughout the surrounding area and began searching for a suitable target.
His current objective was simple.
Souls.
Or more specifically, finding a way to obtain them.
The problem, however, was that while he knew Souls existed, and while he could now perceive them through Soul Sight which had now merged with the Eye of True Omniscience, he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to capture one.
Still, he wasn’t completely without a direction.
Since Eva’s Core had been created using the Spirit Devouring Crystal, a treasure specifically related to Souls.
Ash had naturally assumed there should be some kind of attraction between the crystal and nearby Souls.
Thus, like always, he decided to begin with experimentation.
A few minutes later, a monster collapsed before him.
The instant its life ended, Ash focused his entire attention upon the corpse.
Using Soul Sight, he could clearly see a faint translucent body slowly emerging from the monster’s body.
It was vague.
Blurred.
Almost ghost-like.
Yet despite its indistinct appearance, there was no doubt regarding what it was.
A Soul.
Ash observed it carefully for several moments while waiting for something to happen, but nothing happened.
The Soul simply floated there.
It neither moved toward him nor displayed the slightest reaction.
Seeing this, Ash slowly extended his hand.
".....Soul Devour."
Nothing happened.
The Soul continued floating exactly as before.
Ash blinked.
"...Soul Absorption."
The Soul showed no reaction whatsoever.
"...Soul Extraction."
The translucent figure continued drifting upward as though he did not exist.
"...Soul Capture."
Once again, reality refused to cooperate.
"...Soul Assimilation."
The Soul continued drifting upward as though Ash did not even exist.
For several moments, silence filled the forest.
Ash slowly lowered his hand.
That was embarrassing. If there had been any witnesses, I would have buried them in the ground before they had the chance to laugh.
Unfortunately, the embarrassment did not stop there.
Since the Spirit Devouring Crystal refused to react on its own, Ash could only continue testing theory after theory, hoping that eventually something would work.
Thus, over the next few hours, one unfortunate monster after another lost its life in the name of scientific research.
"...I command you as the carrier of the Spirit Devouring Crystal."
The Soul floated away.
"...You are literally dead. Why are you playing hard to get?"
The Soul floated away.
What kind of nonsense is this...?
Several moments later, the Soul gradually drifted beyond the range of his vision before disappearing entirely, leaving Ash standing there in silence while questioning whether this entire experiment had been flawed from the beginning.
There is no way this is how Souls are supposed to work.
Unfortunately, the next few experiments only reinforced that belief.
Ash took a slow breath while watching another Soul leave.
"...I promise I am not trying to do anything suspicious, here take this candy...."
The Soul ignored him completely.
Ash’s eyelid twitched.
"...Just this once."
The Soul floated away.
"...Please come here."
The Soul floated away.
The moment those words left his mouth, Ash froze.
Meanwhile, the Soul continued its ascent without the slightest hint of concern, completely unaware that it had just witnessed one of the most humiliating moments of his life.
A dangerous silence gradually descended upon the forest.
Did I just say please...?
Ash stared at the disappearing Soul while the disappearing Soul continued ignoring him with remarkable consistency.
I am talking politely to dead monsters now.
For the first time since arriving here, Ash genuinely felt ashamed.
If Snow or Eric ever learned about this incident, he would never hear the end of it, and if Eva somehow accessed this memory in the future, he might genuinely consider erasing it from existence.
I need to seal this memory before Eva gains access to it.....
At this point, he had spent more time talking to the dead than to actual living beings, yet despite all that effort, not a single Soul had acknowledged his existence.
The most irritating part was that they all behaved exactly the same way.
Every Soul would emerge from the corpse, linger for a short period of time, drift aimlessly through the air, and then gradually ascend until it disappeared beyond his vision entirely.
According to Ash’s original theory, if Souls could accelerate Eva’s Evolution, then there should have been some form of attraction between them.
Although the Souls of these monsters were corrupted to varying degrees, Ash wasn’t particularly worried about that aspect. Eva possessed a Pure Soul, and according to the records stored within the Soul Library, ordinary corruption should have little to no effect on her.
No.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
The Souls weren’t responding, nor were they showing the slightest inclination to move toward him.
Either my theory is wrong...
Or I am missing a very important step somewhere.
However, Ash was not someone who gave up after encountering a single obstacle, nor was he a stubborn fool who would continue repeating the same failed experiment while expecting a different result.
If monsters weren’t working, then he simply needed a different test subject.
With that thought in mind, he vanished from the Abyssal Forest and quietly infiltrated one of the prisons beneath the City of Light.
A few minutes later, one unfortunate prisoner died without ever realizing what had happened.
The familiar scene repeated itself.
A translucent Soul slowly emerged from the Beast Kin’s corpse before beginning its ascent toward the sky.
However, this time, something was different.
The Soul moved toward him.
Ash’s eyes immediately lit up.
For the first time since beginning this entire experiment, he had finally received a response.
Unfortunately, his excitement did not last long.
The Beast Kin’s Soul merely circled around him several times, almost as though it had discovered something interesting, before eventually drifting away and continuing its journey upward.
What happened...?
The Soul was clearly attracted to me, so why did it leave...?
Determined to find the answer, Ash continued experimenting.
One prisoner after another quietly lost their life as he tested different intelligent races, carefully observing every reaction and every detail while comparing the results with what he had witnessed in the Abyssal Forest.
Eventually, a pattern began to emerge.
Only the Souls of intelligent races were being attracted toward him.
The Souls of monsters, on the other hand, displayed absolutely no reaction.
At first, Ash believed the difference lay in intelligence itself.
However, after more than twenty prisoners had unwillingly contributed to the advancement of his research, he finally realized where the actual problem was.
The realization left him standing there in silence for several moments.
Once again, I am glad nobody was watching me.
I am so stupid...
A moment later, he immediately shook his head.
No. Strictly speaking, this isn’t stupidity. It was merely a small detail that slipped my mind.
From the very beginning, I had been treating this as a problem of attraction rather than a problem of delivery.
My focus had been entirely on making Souls move toward me, because I assumed that if they were attracted strongly enough, they would naturally find their way to Eva.
But Eva wasn’t outside.
She was inside the Soul Space.
And if my assumption was correct, then a Soul dying outside the Soul Space would never be able to reach her no matter how strongly it was attracted.
Having successfully protected what remained of his dignity through a completely reasonable act of self-justification, Ash quickly prepared another experiment.
This time, instead of killing the prisoner immediately, he left him barely alive before sending him into the Soul Space.
Only after arriving there did he finish the job.
The moment the prisoner’s life came to an end, a Soul emerged from the corpse.
Then, right before Ash’s eyes, it began drifting toward Eva’s cocoon without the slightest hesitation.
A few moments later, it merged into it.
Ash’s gaze sharpened.
"!!!!!"
At long last, he had finally succeeded.
Without wasting a single second, he immediately checked the remaining time of Eva’s Evolution.
{Remaining Time: 123 Years}
The number remained unchanged.
Ash stared at it quietly for several moments.
Yet instead of disappointment, a faint smile slowly appeared on his face.
"It doesn’t matter that there are no changes. I can see a clear path now, and that alone is enough. All I need to do is keep walking until a trickle becomes a river, and a river becomes an unstoppable flood."
*****