The first was a pure manipulation technique.
Glancing out the window of the dark night sky.
He looked back down at his room mate.
A figure sleeping soundly.
It was something she wanted after their parents passed.
It was also an accommodation that would make things easier for him.
Gently placing his palm on her arm, he closed his eyes.
With a pulse of his life energy a soul a mark appeared outside of anybody's vision.
Secretly inscribed on her soul.
With it Roman removed his palm and through the mark, he tried to manipulate her with his will.
With much effort Menchi, still asleep, stood up. Confirming Roman's efforts.
He set her back down and focused on a new ability, this time a mark appeared on his own soul.
Different from Menchi's mark, eyes began to appear on his soul.
While souls took the same shape of their body they were devoid of expressions and features.
This was something Roman theorized was because souls were naturally formless. But when anchored, morphed to the shape of their anchor but not completely.
Roman believed completely morphing a soul into one's own likeness required a consciousness. Or at least a complete consciousness to have complete features.
This went back when he was in the afterlife. An experience that now felt kinda dream-like, though there was an indescribable understanding that it was real.
This made Roman believe consciousness wasn't purely soul, but a mix of soul and the physical world.
So as the eyes on his soul appeared they opened and Roman soul now saw Menchi's soul without having to touch it with his own.
Activating the mark he placed on her, he now tried to unanchor her soul.
But even with his full effort her soul only trembled without her body reacting.
This was interesting because he could manipulate his own anchored soul to be outside of his body. So long as a part stayed connected to his body.
But Menchis didn't budge an inch.
It would seem he'd need both lots of practice and strengthening, as well as strong limitations on this ability to make it work.
But his tests weren't finished, as he opened the window of the room for a night time stroll.
A sweep of his eyes within his soul saw through all obstacles.
Noticing many people within a hundred meters, sleeping.
But he focused in on a stray dog a few blocks away.
Approaching the dog huddled in a corner, it noticed him and approached.
Roman then petted the dog while marking its soul.
Repeating his efforts on this dog, he realized he couldn't even make the dogs soul tremble, not even control the dogs body.
This didn't make sense, since the dog should be much weaker and less intelligent than Menchi.
But he already knew the reason. The dog was awake, it seemed it was naturally easier to manipulate something that wasn't controlling itself.
But something awake and aware would interfere.
Moving on to the next test he simply tried to plant a whisper in the dog's mind, a suggestion.
And as commanded the dog sat.
Suggestions evidently much easier than commands.
But Roman wasn't sure it was the same when it came to humans.
So for his final test, in a swift motion Roman broke the dog's neck.
Now laying motionless and lifeless, Roman observed the dog's soul slowly dissipating while trying to manipulate it.
And… It worked.
The soul left the dog's body, but it was slowly losing its form in the image of the dog. Not to mention it was slowly vanishing, something Roman couldn't stop.
But he did try something.
He decided to make a new ability.
With it a mouth began to appear on his soul.
But once this mouth was formed more than half of the dog's soul had already dissipated.
So Roman didn't hesitate to consume it.
Though as he did he paused half way through after noticing the effects and let the soul dissipate on its own.
His own soul got larger, more abundant.
But there was one flaw, the dog's soul wasn't purified and his soul began to grow a tail.
But with little effort he suppressed this soul growth.
Thankfully it didn't grow a tail on his physical body, but he suspected he might in time.
At the very least he needed to maintain strong control over his soul to devour other souls.
Lest he become a dog or become possessed by one.
Whether he could make an ability to purify souls. In addition to before he consumed them or they dissipated was something he'd only look into if necessary.
But this all brought up two paths forward.
Could he change his body by changing the shape of his soul continuously?
The only issue was prolonged control was too taxing. He'd need to develop another ability for that.
The second path though was something he had longed planed out.
And that was of course a growth type ability.
Such a thing wasn't mentioned much in the original story.
But such a thing was possible, so he had to take advantage of it.
After all, to stay above others, people needed to tap into their life energy.
Though many struggled, even less people dedicated themselves to training this energy for a long period of time.
But these people would certainly exist, so Roman needed to take the next step.
That step was of course a growth type ability. Because even fewer people would develop one, not to mention keep training diligently.
This soul devouring ability finally put him where he wanted to be.
As for the next step in this ladder, Roman didn't know if another existed.
So he would keep training diligently and refine his abilities.
But the first step was to return home and rest for the night.
Rest was equally important.
An equal balance of training and rest. One not over the other.
Something Menchi wasn't as diligent in, but followed Romans efforts as closely as possible.
It was because of this that she soon realized Roman was training something different than her.
Causing her to bombard him with questions and accusations that Roman could only deflect and ignore for so long.
Until Roman finally gave in, but only an inch.
He used this inch to trick her into of course not taking a yard.
This was done by pointing out her hobby of cooking and how the food was improving with her life energy and even giving it special effects.
Though this alone wasn't enough. After all, his training was different from cooking.
Menchi would certainly question why their training was different.
So Roman had to finish his explanation by revealing why they were different.
Though this inch only lasted so long, it was long enough though.
Because one day Menchi was no longer able to cook.
"Roman!" She stormed into his room donning a chef's hat and apron.
But most concerning were the kitchen knives by her side that were enhanced and sharpened to degrees that made a slight chill go down his spine.
"I need help!" Menchi spoke before Roman could. Asking a question in a demanding tone.
"Heh— what's the issue?" Roman asked, slightly startled.
"Hmph! Follow me." She replied, making Roman follow her down to the kitchen.
While the staff and head chef didn't glance at the two.
Familiar with their presence, Roman noticed they tensed up when Menchi walked by.
Clearly affected by her unsuppressed presence.
Reaching a cutting board with a sweaty Lewy standing by.
Evident that she brought him down asking for help before finding Roman.
"What's going on?" Roman asked, looking at Menchi.
"I can't cut the ingredients." She motioned to some veggies and meats that were filled with life energy.
Frowning slightly, "why are they so hard?" Roman asked in a way Menchi would understand and Lewy would be deceived.
"They aren't as good soft." Menchi replied, crossing her arms.
But that made Roman understand, though Lewy was annoyed as an experienced chef he knew better.