There are other races, most having to have taken a power from a natural disaster, or simply a force that they desired to wield. Some of the more popular are those of the mountains, the clouds, the sea, the beasts. The last one to be exemplified is the ghosts and wraiths. These are souls that manifested themselves without leaving to go to the realms and having already died. They are sometimes known as the true spirits. they have earned a power that makes it easier for them to interact with the world of the living.
Each species has its quirks and unintended benefits, but each is basic in form, terraformed and manifested. The beast, which just used to be just animals do not have souls. They are merely sustenance in a world of life. At least it used to be like that. That was until pure souls started asking to be rebirthed as animals, thus the first animals with souls were born. But this did not change them, they were still just pure souls inside animals. After a force of will and training, these soul inhabited animals manifested, and this made most to look more like how a pure soul was, more human, thus the beast folk were born.
There are varieties, like there are those that did not assume the form of humans when manifesting. They became more of a threatening animal, losing what remains of their humanity, these are known as true beasts. Their quirk is that they can be tamed by those with the tamer skill, so they have been used in labour, truly they do not even know any better for themselves, their knowledge stats are usually low. The beasts, beast folk, true beasts, and animals are all three distinct soul groups, one having none. Beast folks are able to assume a form of a true beast but only temporarily, and with less power.
There are species that have the ability to shapeshift as well. The most problematic are the ones that have been dubbed demons, pitiful creatures. The book went through everything in lengthy detail, about each and every species, including what they became, their visuals, their property/power that they embody, their differences, the effects good and bad on their souls, and what effects their souls have on the soul cycle, rebirth, and rarely reincarnation. Then it also included the details about the mixed bloods, the chimeras, and the mixed manifestations, as well as other strange occurrences.
Each of all these species are strange to reproduce, and even though they tend to be more powerful they lack the numbers of humanity as well as the versatility and variety in the powers they have, actually the strangest part, is that the strongest being to date from the living world was a human, more specifically a pure soul. A single case though. The stronger a being the longer it can live, but the more strain the power puts on the soul, thus pure souls tend to live for a relative amount of time, unless they get powerful enough to live longer.
There are those that focused on this sole pursuit for so long that they are effectively immortal in body. In many, if not all cases, a skill is what leads to any and all types of changes in the souls, they mare be less inconsequential, but they do define the natural course of a soul, just like monster eater and greed skill.
There were more details as usual, stretching time as to how they all come together. Some information will be included later, for now these are the most vital parts of the book of souls for the parts to come.
***
The Knight was still a little dazed by the depth of information received. It had to view the worlds in a new vision. The first thought was Mugaw, and why its classified as a disaster.
'If a soul needs a skill to change, and one possesses a skill like assimilation, allowing them to take multiple souls into one, does this not mean it could probably make a soul strong enough to wield multiple powers without collapsing. No that doesn't make sense. After all, even fusing multiple souls will not guarantee a soul that can bare more than four powers, because I am just a strange case forged by the Beginning and End and later changed by the void itself. Thus, naturally attempting to wield any more power than four, will allow the soul to be consumed by the void and become part of oblivion. That means that Mugaw's goal was not multiple powers but one extremely powerful one. Is that why it became my follower, hopes of become a void creature and possibly gain the power? This sly thing. I know you can hear me.'
There was silence of which the Knight ignored because in as much as the book of souls was mostly about souls, it still added bits of history to contextualise the context. Some of this assisting knowledge was about the void. From what the Knight collected, void beings always desire to bring everything back into the void, thus, they are all inherently bound to bring about the end of the planets they were sent to, even the realms are not safe, and if nothing stops those of the void all will be eventually consumed by oblivion, leaving the Beginning and End, and the void.
That has nothing to do with the Knight thought, for now, since it just has to fucus on the current planet it has been sent to. It could guess why it was sent to this one specifically. This is where it was sent when it once was a pure soul, thus, its sword should be somewhere on this planet. There was something that was either good or bad news, maybe even both. The Knight is a being that possessed seven powers, an impossible set, that also means that their condition for activation is high, just like how the first one demanded level 100.
Another thing was that visage of terror was more powerful than the Knight had been capable of. It could literally take fear from something and give it to another, making a rabbit chase a wolf, neither sure why it's afraid, nor less afraid. The Knight had mostly been focusing on making things fear it. It could change so much with just this one power, the absolute control of fear.
But just as the Knight has already experienced using it, it could destroy the Knight if the Knight was not strong enough. This gave it the question of, if this power had such a draining effect, then what will the next and the next do. And what will it take to even be able to use them. That was for later anyway because then the Knight heard something. This was strange because it sounded like the grain of darkness but mostly it was not.
You have gained the Knowledge of the book of souls. One hundred levels gained in knowledge stats. Will activated. Power has risen to match status. Extra historical information confirmed. Thirteen levels gained. Power has risen to match. Take care of yourself. Using too much power will result in a longer slumber. Anyway, good morning… good void. Morning is undefined in here.
"Mugaw! Is it me or is the grain of darkness chattier? It's not even just assessing things now; it's also starting to have a personality."
Mugaw found it sufficient to answer this time, in its usual friendly but cynical voice, "Oh! I forgot to mention, when you claimed that darkness, it said something about evolving into whisper of darkness. Whatever that meant. It didn't say it, but it kept trying to wake you up too, it was bored but its voice could not have volume to wake you, actually it's what gave me the idea to wake you up, so you should be mad at it really."
The Knight thought for a bit, and I mean a bit, with the Knights Knowledge status having more than doubled, its processing speed was frightening, the days of making those bad decisions are gone.
Then it realised it made sense, the Knight had that small territory before and after adding the rest it became more than just a grain, now it was a whole whisper. That also meant that when the Knight was made, the void territory it possessed was given one of those mock souls, that meant that the other void lords voids are not paradoxically alive, as this one was.
After all, the void the Knight possessed was minor, and the thing that created the Knight had not given thought to the Knight growing stronger and possibly making the fake soul placed in the void territory to grow, it wanted to get the vile thing out of the way as soon as possible. 'Anyway, it's a welcomed development.' The Knight did not miss that the history parts were mostly true thus serve as valid knowledge to increase the overall intelligence of the Knight.
"Good Void too you too whisper of the void."
… what will be the next course of action.
Somehow the whisper was still a soothing sound to hear. The Knight knew it contrasted to the noise it heard when it was being created and now it new why. That was the void itself. And just like the information in the book, it detested the Knights existence. After all, now that the Knight had a look at the naming of the powers. They were everything that is vile about the world. Fear being the first, the rest to be discovered later.
For now, the Knight wants to evaluate its status, and just as it thought this, the grain… the whisper of darkness obliged. "It's even considerate."
Dweller ID … 070124
Title – Vile Knight
Power – 228
Knowledge – 228
Skills acquired – [Crimson smith] [Mighty] [Hero] [Sole Survivor] [Battle Monger] [Greed] [Soul craft] [Teleport] [Sense Manipulation] [Soul Touch] [Horror Mirror] [Camouflage]
Followers – 4290
Void Domain – 1010
Armament – [Vile Armour] [Vile Sword] [Forlorn Feather]
Inventory – [Dangerous Medallion] [Bone Thrown] … (dozens of souls and other equipment) … [Ansi's Soul] [Arduo's Soul] [Gift of Speech] [Survival Kit] [Monster Cage] … [Book of Souls] [Contract]
Slaughtered – 1204
Dreaded Soul – [Visage of Terror] [Daunting] [Desire] [Retched Void] [Soulless] [Madness] [Unfathomable]
Will – Wisdom (Infused with Whisper of Darkness)
"It seems I can use the [Daunting] power."
[Daunting] – All Power is useless in the void; thus, all that is destroyed joins it, joins Oblivion.
The Knight can destroy things to increase void territory. All powers are rendered useless when swallowed by the void. It is a Daunting task to oppose the advance of the void.
"You even explain. I guess what allowed me to be able to use daunting is that I possess a larger void territory now, and that I am strong enough to activate it. Level 200 strength ought to come in handy. If I had to guess I'd say that it is near impossible to oppose me when I'm covered by the void, a sufficient amount of it. However, if I am not in it this does not work, I see.
The fact that destroying objects not just souls into oblivion is good to know. I will have to wait until next time to see just how to use the void and daunting to subjugate all those who oppose me. And if I condense the void and use Daunting, that will nullify all powers at the point of impact. In a way I can see why taking away someone's power might be seen as vile."
Now, it is time the Knight to leave the dungeon and go find the vile sword. The Knight had recovered from its dizzy condition after waking, checked the situation and fed the army. With these two voices in its head the Knight was thinking that it was going to be driven mad and will soon be a monster.