Memory Reaper's Ascension - Chapter 180: Soul Space
Chapter 180: Soul Space
Ishiki dismissed all the other windows only keeping the main system window with only the main system screen remaining in his view.
He focused on his Exclusive skill and rather than opening the Information window… he wished to activate it.
As soon as he did that… he felt a soothing sensation rise from deep within his body. His mind was suddenly very calm.
[Soul Archive Activated]
Ishiki closed his eyes in the candlelit villa and let his consciousness sink inward.
The transition was very smooth. There was violent pull, or disorienting blackness.
It felt like a gentle descent through water… and the next moment he opened his eyes he was inside his soul space.
The last time he was here he saw a barren plain of cracked earth that extended in every direction towards the horizon that didn’t resolved to clarity.
This time the whole plain was muddy… it was wet and some patches of water were formed all around Ishiki. Inside them… he could see countless ripples as small drops merged into them.
Ishiki looked up, feeling ethereal drops strike his spiritual form. They passed through him without making him wet and leaving any physical trace.
It was raining inside his soul space.
His body here was made up of translucent blue energy that was like solidified smoke, holding on a physical form. He raised one hand and watched it shimmer in the non-light of this place.
’I actually managed to do it on my first try! ’ Ishiki almost jumped with excitement. ’That was easy… I simply willed myself into my Soul space.
’
Suddenly a question tingled into the back of his mind. ’My body is laying on the chair without moving… like a lifeless doll.’ He felt a little horrified as he thought that, but then he recalled his earlier experience here.
’Back then I activated it by mistake and was dragged here. That time I was in between a battle and almost spent 10 to 20 minutes in here. Contradictory to that… when I regained my senses… It felt as if only a second had passed in the real world. So, this space doesn’t have the concept of time! ’
Having told himself that… he came to understand a crucial aspect of his skill. It was the fact that the souls here were his eternal tools. The word ’Eternal’ exactly meant that they were not bound by the force of time.
’Even the mightiest of beings crumble in front of time…’ Ishiki couldn’t help but make that comment because it didn’t matter if time existed here or not, the moment he died… his soul space would dissipate into nothing.
The rain fell harder.
The blue form of energy, vaguely outlining Ishiki’s body started walking across the muddy soil. His footsteps made no sound and the silence here was absolute except for the soft patter of ethereal rain that he heard with his consciousness.
After moving a few steps further he saw four vague forms of energy. On a closer look he could make out four figures in the distance, bound by chains that erupted from the muddy soil like iron serpents.
Ishiki’s chest tightened. He had four souls now. Four consciousnesses torn from death and imprisoned in his inner world, chained eternally by his Mythical Title.
’Memory Reaper,’ he thought bitterly. ’What a romantic name for what amounts to stealing someone’s eternity.’
He moved closer, and the figures resolved into clarity.
At first the figures were just vague humanoid figures without any facial features… but then as Ishiki moved closer and stopped just a few meters away from them, the energies seemed to react to his presence and changed the appearances.
The first was the Shinobi—the assassin whose Ghost Blade skill Ishiki had already copied, though he didn’t know when or how.
The figure stood rigid, chains wrapped around wrists and ankles, the blue energy of its form shaped into the lean, dangerous silhouette of a killer. Its face was blank, expressionless, but somehow Ishiki could sense awareness within. Trapped consciousness, unable to move, speak, or do anything but exist.
The second was the frail guy—the teammate who had died during the hunt in the Crimson Canopy. His form was smaller, more fragile and slightly hunched as if the chains weighed more heavily on him than the others.
The third made Ishiki’s throat constrict.
Bern. The stocky, muscular man who called him a hero with his dying breath. His soul stood tall despite the chains, and something about the set of his shoulders suggested he bore his imprisonment without resentment.
And the fourth…
Ishiki stopped ten meters away, staring.
The High Priest was no longer a skeleton.
The soul had taken human form— It was a man who looked to be in his late thirties, with sharp features and eyes that burned with ancient intelligence. His hands, bound by chains at the wrists, were elegant and long-fingered. Scholarly hands that had turned pages of books for years.
Ishiki approached slowly, the ethereal rain soaking through his consciousness, and focused on the High Priest’s chained form.
A window materialized in the air before him, platinum text glowing against the void.
====================
Title – Spoudaios
Rank – Epic
Synth Reactor Tier – Adept
Available Skills for Mimic – [Spatial Jump (Legendary)] – (Ready)
[Sage Eyes (Exclusive)] – (Locked)
====================
’Spoudaios’ Ishiki read, committing the details to memory. ’An Epic Title. And two skills—one Exclusive, one Legendary.’
Reading the title again he grimaced a little. ’What a weird title… I can’t even read it properly.’
But the skills looked very strong and tempting. The names suggested that they were strong and useful at least.
He focused on the name of the skills in hopes that he would get an informative window with all the information but he got just a simple notification window.
[Do you Wish to Mimic-[Spatial Jump (Legendary)] ]
[Cost – 50 Spiritual Fragments]
Ishiki looked at the notification in daze and confusion. ’What’s Spiritual Fragments? ’
This was an entirely new term for him!
“How do I check how much I have?” Ishiki questioned and suddenly another window materialized in front of him.
[NC – 62,700]
[Spiritual Fragments – 42]
“Whoa!!” He was shocked at first but soon regained his composure and processed the information.
’I have… 62,700 NC. That’s quite a fortune! I didn’t even realize I had this much… time to open the shop again.’
“Hmm… so I have 42 Spirituality fragments whatever these are. And I need 50 to be able to mimic the skill… I need 8 more! But how do i get it and why do I have so less?”
Ishiki questioned himself, but found that he was unable to answer the question.
Curious and anxious he summoned his system screen here. He was a bit uncertain about this action because the last time he tried to do it… he was forced out of this place!
A little hesitant… Ishiki willed the system screen to appear…
