As he went out to the balcony that oversaw his kingdom. He realized that if he was going to spend some time here and check things out, he probably should go out and talk to Lorenzo first so he could buy some more time. Putting thought to action, Van emerged from his soul realm, opening his eyes. Where Lorenzo was waiting patiently for his return.
“How did it go?”
“I grew my soul realm again!” Van couldn’t help but say excitedly.
“Oh really?” Lorenzo asked, surprised by the sudden change in events.
Van nodded. “It may have been completed before. But it’s completely matured now.”
Lorenzo’s eyes widened at that. “Really! That’s no small feat. For some, it could take decades for their soul realm to mature. That means you already have a soul guardian and a unique soul aspect.”
“Soul aspect?” Van asked, surprised there was more to this than just a bigger soul realm and guardian.
“Think of it as a special ability, or passive. Somewhat similar to Alv’s dummies, or my book. Remember?” Lorenzo replied.
“Huh…” was all Van said as he went into deep thought as to what that meant for him. “Didn’t you say that comes with a completed soul realm?”
Lorenzo nodded, proud that Van paid attention to his studies. “Yes. but this is different. As you know, your father, in exchange for some drawbacks, can summon one of his dummies to fight for him. But let's say his soul realm matured. Instead of one, it could be two, or three, with fewer drawbacks. Or it could manifest as an ability to create a dopple or just give him a unique passive to his slash attacks, making even a normal swing, hit further, deeper, and with greater impact. It could be anything, in some rare cases, it could even be guided, so you will have some say in how your ability will work.”
Van was a little excited about this. A new ability or power seemed just what he needed. “Can you tell the driver to circle the city or something? I kinda need more time to check a few things out.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to check when we get home and you can go to your room?” Lorenzo asked. “Luna’s been waiting for you for a long time now… and with how busy you’ve been, you two have hardly been able to communicate. And I know she has been holding back patiently waiting for you so as not to distract you in any way.”
That made Van pause. A guilty feeling growing in his chest. After the talk he had with Lyn and Ren, he realized that while he was trying to be the best male for him, it probably wasn’t the best for her. Probably not even the best husband either. “For all my dad's faults. He is probably the better husband… I can’t believe I may have to learn something else from him other than fighting.”
Van thought about it some more and made up his mind. He calmly gave Lorenzo his undivided attention. “Yes. I'm sure. If anything, I should check it now, so that I can give all of my undivided attention to Luna when I get home.”
Lorenzo looked at Van, trying to figure him out, but slowly acquiesced. “Alright. If that’s how you feel. I’ll tell the driver to take a few more laps. There are a few stores I need to hit anyway to buy more ingredients for my potions. I could waste some time doing that while I wait for you to return. But I’m saying it now, we are returning before sunset, that means you have two hours. Understand?”
Van nodded, thankful. “Yes. and thank you.” then remembering something thanks to Lorenzo bringing up potions, said. “Oh! Before I go. If you ever have the free time. Can you teach me more about alchemy and runecraft? Especially runecraft. There are some things I want to check out.”
Lorenzo happily agreed, it had been some time since he last got to teach Van anything. “I’ll get a few extras while I shop,” he said with a smile. “Off you go now. Times a wasting.”
Van said his thanks once more and closed his eyes. Falling back into his soul realm. When he opened them again, he was surprised to find that he was back in the castle, in his throne room instead of the open-air like he usually was.
“Well, you're back early.” Ren said, standing right next to the throne as if waiting for Van. “oh well, easier for me.” he said with a shrug. “I forgot to mention something before you left, I didn't think it was the right time after everything we just got through. But since you are back here so early, I might as well tell you now.”
“I know. Soul aspects right? Lorenzo already told me.” Van said. “Do you know what mine is?”
“Well… that saves me from having to explain it myself I guess… as for your aspect. You're sitting in it.” Ren said.
Van looked down at his throne. “...what? What does a throne have to do with it? Isn’t it just decoration for the castle?”
“Actually, your throne acts very much like a city core. Something your parents haven't told you yet because that kind of stuff is kept on the down low. It’s the thing that helps supply mana and controls the barrier that surrounds the city. It also has some other aspects, like determining the pop of your city, or even sense if enemies are approaching. And so much more.”
“And your throne is all that, and even more. We only have to look at the bridges that were made between you and the soul realms of your soul bonded. Anna and Luna. with this, they can visit you anytime.” Ren said.
“I don’t understand. Couldn’t I already visit them whenever I wanted?” Van asked.
“No. You might have been able to meet Anna. but that was because there are multiple of her. But have you ever been able to meet Luna?” Ren asked.
“...Now that you mention it. I have never seen Luna, even when I sense she’s in her soul realm…” Van said, now curious.
“That’s because even soul bonded would need time for their souls to properly stabilize and connect with each other. And even then, never would it be this direct. Another matter was, though you could enter their soul realms, that was only because you were the master of the bond, they couldn’t enter yours at all. But with this… you can give them permission to not just enter your outer layer, but your middle and even inner layer. If you want to, of course.” Ren said.
“I don’t understand. Why is this my soul aspect? Doesn't seem so useful to me.” Van said, slightly disappointed.
Ren shook his head. Disappointed in Van for thinking like that. “Van, this new soul realm, is based on your desires, your feelings, your dreams. And it’s far more powerful than you realize.”
“What do you mean?”
“All of this. This castle, the castle town, the ability to accept people walking in and out, all of it was based on your desires. The focal core, and your last talk with Lyn, helped mature it. Even if you had spent all that essence to upgrade, at most it would have done was protect you from the focal core. After all, a matured soul realm needs certain conditions to be met.”
“Finally. As for the reason as to why you have this layout as your mature soul realm. The answer is obvious. Your desire control. Rulership. Power over things. That’s why your soul realm took this turn of events.”
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Van felt a little offended, he never thought of himself as a greedy or power-hungry person. If anything the opposite. And said as much to Ren. “why would I want all of this? It just doesn’t seem like me.”
“You have experienced hardship have you not? You were raped. The world around you is different and alien. You don’t feel like you have control over your life and its destination. So your soul realm reflected that desire for order and control. Creating what you see before you now.” Ren replied.
“And while I can’t fully understand what benefits you would gain from such an arrangement, even I can feel the sheer depth of potential that lies underneath such an aspect. I believe with this new soul realm of yours, you will become very powerful. Thought probably in a more… unique way.”
“Any ideas on how?” Van asked.
Ren shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you. It’s probably something you will have to learn on your own. But my guess is, the best way to start would be looking at your menu.”
Van thought about it, came to the same conclusion, opening up his menu screen to see if there were any changes to it.
What he found was truly astonishing. He could see how saturated his soul realm was with mana. See how many residents he had in his inner, middle, and outer layer. Create more than just soul guardians. And Luna and Anna were labeled as soul bonded vassals under him, allowing him to upgrade them as he saw fit.
Opening up Anna’s soul realm, he saw what it would cost to increase her body cap, and how much it would take to upgrade her soul realm. Not to mention, far more information about her and her potential soul aspect for the future. Not only that, her soul realm now gave a passive buff to his own.
Some sort of production buff that would make producing the same item over and over again, faster and more cost-effective, with the ability to once in a while, at the cost of mana or essence, duplicate said item. With many other potential future buffs that were greyed out.
He could assign her to guard certain places, do certain tasks, or a myriad of other things in his castle or town.
Then playing around with the menu some more. He found that he could mess with the temperature of his soul realm, whether it would be rainy or sunny. There was even an option to grow minerals, trees, plants, and help the breeding of animals and more. All for a great cost of mana or essence of course.
Going through a few more tabs, he found that all those insects and insect-kin that Lyn brought, were labeled as temp visitors, but could be turned into residents, or citizens, which he could tax monthly for mana and essence. And if he could turn them into residents or citizens, he could have the power to upgrade them or empower them, using mana or essence to turn them from regular bugs, into insect-kin.
Not to mention, at the cost of mana, he could power factories, machines, or, thanks to Rudricks memories unlocking an option, create golems to patrol his town.
Even the focal core had many potential uses, most of which were greyed out, that could help him grow his power.
“It’s like some sort of sim management game or rts.” Van thought. “Soul bonded vassals give me unique buffs and can help me rule, I can assign them to roles and to do certain tasks. The residents and citizens, on the other hand, can be put to work farming or crafting, even mining if I can get it to work. Perhaps hire a few as soldiers.”
“This is seriously broken if you think about it. But there does seem to be some rules that prevent me from just taking things out of my soul realm. After all, Anna said that things made from the soul realm, inside the soul realm, disappear once out of it. And one still needed to know how to make said item or object first anyway, if they wanted to create it.”
“Not to mention.” Van clicked a few buttons. “If I want to create something like copper, I will need to bring tons of the stuff and let my soul realm absorb it first, making it disappear forever. And then if I want to create that copper, I would still have to spend a ludicrous amount of mana or essence, or just wait several years or decades for it to naturally grow on my island. In which case I will then have to have someone mine it, and smelt and prepare it if I want to make use of it.”
“Ren wasn’t lying when he said there was huge potential in this power. But it also comes with huge costs. Thankfully, I think the focal core can help with some of it. If only so much information wasn’t greyed out. It doesn’t seem like I can make use of it at the moment.”
Van then played around with the menu some more. “I don’t think I can gather much more info as of right now. Some of these things seemed to be both locked behind some sort of progression system, and because I just don’t have the knowledge for it to be unlocked.”
Van put the menu away and got up, stretching his body, it had only been half an hour, and he had so much more to learn but decided to save that for later and tell Ren what he learned.
“What did you learn?” Ren asked once Van was done with his stretching.
Van told him everything he discovered so far.
“Hmm… interesting, I’ll be sure to see what I can dig up on my end to help,” Ren said with some thought. “What do you plan to do now?” he asked Van
“Well… I was planning to hear that story from Lyn, but it now seems like there's another reason to see her.” Van said.
“You mean, trying to get some of those insect-kin or bugs to formally acknowledge you as your ruler?” Ren asked, raising a brow. “You might as well try and see if you can’t do the same for the rabbits and other few animals you have on the island.”
Van looked at Ren, wondering if he was being sarcastic, but found to his surprise that he looked genuinely serious about the matter. “You really think it’s worth it?” he asked.
“If you can turn bugs into insect-kin, then you can turn rabbits into kobolds or more. Who knows what you can do with this power. It also might be for the best that you start collecting as many different types of herbs, plants, trees, animals, fish, and even more to grow in your soul realm. If we can somehow get them to multiply, we could create a self-sustaining environment. But that will also mean you will have to bring actual food, like crops to grow. Since there's no way for animals to actually grow or multiply without actual food. Even the trees and plants here need actual soil. So try to get on top of that.”
Van sighed as he realized how much work this was probably going to be. He would probably have to absorb tones of soil, then let his soul realm grow it naturally over time. But that still wouldn’t be enough, he probably would still need to import a lot of soil into his soul realm for the sake of growing plants right away. Already this was starting to sound like a huge financial burden than an actual power-up.
“All right. I’ll get on it. After I meet up with Lyn and get home to meet my parents.” Van said.
Ren nodded, already opening up one of his screens and barely paying attention anymore. “Sure. see you.”
Van walked towards the balcony and jumped off. Flying over his new land and enjoying the sights on his way to Lyn.