Chapter 11: Soul Sea

One month had passed since Llewellyn awakened his Martial Soul.

The disturbance caused by his Soul Revelation had not been forgotten, although life within Sylvia’s estate had gradually returned to something resembling normal.

The servants still whispered whenever they thought he couldn’t hear them, visiting relatives suddenly found far more excuses to inquire about the Tenth Son, and the number of unfamiliar guards stationed around his mother’s estate had noticeably increased.

Sigurd ignored most of it. Whatever conclusions the rest of House Zierghardt had drawn from the phenomenon above the Martial Soul Hall were their concern.

His own attention had been occupied by something far more practical: understanding exactly what had awakened inside him and forming his first Vis Core.

For the past month, his days had settled into a strict routine.

He woke before sunrise, trained his five-year-old body according to the limits his instructors allowed, ate, studied the introductory cultivation texts Sylvia had obtained for him, and spent several hours every afternoon practicing Vis perception and absorption.

Progress was frustratingly slow. Sigurd could already sense Vis now, something he had been incapable of doing before his Soul Revelation, but sensing the energy and controlling it were entirely different matters.

His instructors repeatedly reminded him that this was normal. Most children required months of guided cultivation before gathering enough Vis to begin forming an Embryonic Core, and rushing the process could damage the channels through which Vis circulated.

Sigurd understood their reasoning perfectly. Understanding it did absolutely nothing to improve his patience.

That afternoon, he sat alone inside a Vis Cultivation Chambers, a large circular stone room buried beneath the western training wing of the estate.

Formation arrays covered the walls from floor to ceiling, their interconnected lines glowing faintly as Vis flowed through them.

Several Vis Shards had been placed within recessed sockets around the chamber, providing energy for the formations, while another array beneath Sigurd drew ambient Vis inward and prevented it from escaping.

The result was an environment several times denser than the outside world. Even without actively cultivating, Sigurd could feel the energy brushing against his skin like an invisible current.

He sat cross-legged at the center of the formation with his hands resting loosely against his knees.

His breathing gradually slowed as he followed the meditation method he had been taught, ignoring the external world and directing his awareness inward.

The first few attempts at entering his Soul Sea had taken almost an hour. Now he could accomplish it within several minutes.

His heartbeat became distant, the sensation of the stone beneath him disappeared, and the darkness behind his closed eyes slowly changed until the physical training chamber vanished completely.

Stars appeared around him.

Sigurd opened his eyes within his Soul Sea and found himself standing in an endless black expanse filled with distant points of light.

There was no ground beneath his feet, yet he remained perfectly stable, suspended among countless stars that stretched farther than he could perceive.

He had originally expected a Soul Sea to resemble an actual ocean because of the name. His instructors had quickly explained that its appearance differed according to the individual and their Martial Soul.

Some resembled forests, battlefields, empty plains, oceans, temples, or spaces without any recognizable form. Apparently, his had decided that an endless stellar void was appropriate.

His gaze moved forward.

Something slept among the stars.

Even after a month of visiting this place, Sigurd still couldn’t determine the creature’s complete shape.

The Star Devouring Leviathan was simply too large. Its shadow stretched across his Soul Sea like a dark continent suspended in space, with portions of its body disappearing beyond the range his consciousness could currently reach.

He could make out vague sections whenever distant stars illuminated them: the suggestion of an enormous curved back, something resembling overlapping scales, and a vast head resting motionlessly somewhere within the darkness.

He had attempted to move closer several times during previous visits. Every attempt ended the same way.

Today, Sigurd intended to try again.

He pushed his consciousness forward, passing several clusters of distant starlight while keeping his attention fixed on the sleeping behemoth.

Twenty seconds passed without resistance. Then thirty. The creature became marginally clearer, although calling the enormous shadow clearer was generous. Sigurd could finally distinguish the edge of what appeared to be a single scale, and that alone was several times larger than his spiritual body.

Forty seconds.

Pressure began building behind his eyes.

Sigurd ignored it and continued.

At approximately fifty seconds, a sharp pain suddenly pierced through his skull. His vision distorted instantly, the stars stretching into long white streaks as the entire Soul Sea seemed to recoil around him.

He tried maintaining his concentration, but another pulse of pain struck before he could stabilize himself, and the stellar landscape shattered.

His eyes snapped open inside the cultivation chamber.

Sigurd inhaled sharply and caught himself with one hand before his body could tip sideways.

A dull headache throbbed behind his temples, and several beads of sweat had formed along his forehead despite the cool temperature of the underground chamber.

He remained still until the dizziness faded, then looked toward the formation-covered wall opposite him with visible irritation.

"Fifty-three seconds," he murmured, wiping the sweat from his brow.

A bitter smile briefly touched his face. "Still can’t even last one minute."

The limitation wasn’t coming from the Leviathan itself. At least, the creature had shown no hostility toward him since the awakening. The problem was Llewellyn.

His consciousness simply wasn’t strong enough to remain close to something of that scale for long periods.

The System had confirmed as much after his third failed attempt and had recommended strengthening his Martial Foundation before attempting deeper contact.

Sigurd had naturally continued trying anyway, although he had enough sense to stop whenever the pain became severe.

He summoned the System and selected the Martial Soul entry. The familiar blue interface appeared before him, displaying the small amount of information he had managed to unlock during the past month.

[ MARTIAL SOUL ]

Name: [ Star Devouring Leviathan ]

Grade: [ Error — Unquantifiable.]

Type: [ Primordial Beast / Growth ]

State: [ Awakened — Dormant ]

Fundamental Authorities: [ Devouring | Stellar |Gravity | Light ]

Primary Mechanism: [ Devour and Conversion. )

Sigurd’s eyes settled on the final line.The four Authorities weren’t individual skills.

They were aspects of the Leviathan’s nature, and what Llewellyn could eventually accomplish with them depended upon his cultivation, understanding, and the development of the Martial Soul itself.

Devouring was the foundation connecting everything else.

The Star Devouring Leviathan possessed the ability to consume external matter and energy, break what it consumed down, and convert pure Vis for Llewellyn to absorb.

At his current level, that description was mostly theoretical.

He didn’t possess the strength to start swallowing weapons, monsters, or anything equally ridiculous.

Devouring wasn’t an excuse to eat everything he encountered and magically become stronger.

Its implications were nevertheless enormous.

Stellar represented the Leviathan’s natural connection to stars and stellar energy.

Gravity governed attraction, weight, pressure, and forces Llewellyn currently understood only through the physics of his previous world.

Light appeared straightforward until the System informed him that an Authority wasn’t restricted to a single application.

Beyond those basic explanations, most information remained inaccessible, either because his Martial Rank was still Uninitiated or because the Leviathan itself had not developed far enough.

That left one mechanism he could actually begin experimenting with.

Consumption. More specifically, Vis.

Sigurd dismissed the Martial Soul window and glanced around the cultivation chamber. Dense Vis continued circulating through the formations, replenished by the shards embedded within the walls.

During ordinary cultivation, he had to perceive that energy, carefully draw small quantities into his body, guide it through the correct pathways, refine it, and gradually gather the purified Vis required to establish his first core.

It was safe, controlled, and painfully slow.

The Star Devouring Leviathan offered another possibility.

The System had confirmed that ambient Vis qualified as external energy.

If the Leviathan could consume that Vis and convert it into a form compatible with Sigurd, then his Martial Soul wasn’t merely a source of future combat abilities.

It could directly influence the speed and efficiency of his cultivation.

There were limits, of course. His five-year-old body could only tolerate so much energy, and without a Vis Core he lacked a proper reservoir capable of containing large quantities.

Trying to absorb more than his current foundation could withstand would accomplish nothing except injuring himself.

Sigurd had no intention of destroying his second body because he became impatient at five years old.

But controlled experimentation was different.

He checked the timepiece mounted beside the chamber entrance.

His scheduled session still had more than an hour remaining, and Aunt Mira wouldn’t arrive until it ended.

That gave him enough time to attempt another cultivation cycle without interruption.

Sigurd straightened his posture and rested both hands against his knees again.

The headache from entering his Soul Sea had already faded to a manageable pressure.

He closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and allowed his perception to spread through the chamber until the surrounding Vis became increasingly distinct.

One month.

One month of meditation, controlled absorption, and listening to instructors explain why patience was supposedly a virtue. He had learned enough theory.

The System’s first Main Mission still waited unfinished, and almost every deeper function concerning the Star Devouring Leviathan remained locked behind the same requirement.

Form the first Vis Core.

Enter the Awakened Martial Rank.

Sigurd exhaled slowly as the first traces of Vis responded to his consciousness.

"I better hurry up and form that Vis Core."

His eyes closed completely.

Behind Sigurd, space distorted without a sound. Flecks of pale starlight gathered within the air, slowly rotating until they formed a small swirling vortex.

Its center was completely black, while the surrounding points of light curved inward around it, giving the strange phenomenon the faint appearance of a gigantic open mouth.

Then it began to devour the Vis in the room.