Benladann's POV

-----

Just what was that just now?

Our mother was this mysterious entity that came out of nowhere?

By Ymir, I really need a break…

She's gone but we can still talk within my soul, we have done it before, this is a very convenient space to practice magic and abilities, despite not being physical, it seems that I can emulate the experiences and knowledge I get from being here to the real world outside.

In this way I had managed to learn many Mold Magic Spells with Miranda in just a few days, surprising Drake a bit.

"So she was our mother? So strange… What's a Primordial Deity?" asked Miranda.

"Probably something stronger than in here. Primordial is definitely something… Well, Primordial, so I guess it is very important and strong that has existed since immemorial eras."

"Hmm… She did say something about our soul… That it would burst like a balloon if we didn't refine it and nourished it… That's scary to think about…" said Miranda.

"Indeed. I wonder what it is. I do remember that Drake said my soul was very strong…" I added.

"It is strong but… vulnerable at the same time?"

"Geez… It is rather painful to know about this just when I know I am pregnant…"

It really is…

"Maybe you should wake up for now and tell Drake." Said Miranda.

"You're right, see you later."

I hugged Miranda and gave her a small kiss on her lips.

"Eh?!"

"It is just a little show of affection between sisters, right?"

"I-I guess…"

I quickly decided to wake up, finding myself alone in the bed.

I looked at the window and it was night already.

"Fuyu, where did Drake go?" I asked.

"Ah, you're finally awake. Drake is currently in his laboratory doing something sketchy…" said Fuyu.

"Sketchy?"

-----

Drake's POV

…

After learning about Benladann's soul, I couldn't stay here just sitting and wasting my time. I quickly moved to my laboratory and began to gather wandering souls across the forests below by creating a semi-transparent net made of my own soul.

Soul and Phantoms can cross through solid objects without problems, so it was easy to set a net without even moving from my position.

It was like net fishing that modern fishing boats do on Earth, they just lay a giant net and grab anything that passes through, a very cheap way to do it, but it works quite well and easily.

After an hour, I already had a dozen of the monster's souls, which I slowly pulled back and began to inspect one by one.

To know and learn how to refine a soul, I must first investigate how to do it, of course.

And how about doing it with these random souls from animals and monsters? I had caught the soul of a person, which I let go of, but I took the monster ones because they barely kept any consciousness after dying due to not possessing enough intelligence to harbor enormous emotional grudges that keep their personalities even after death, so they are like masses of phantasmal energy.

I began to inspect one that seemed bigger than the rest, the composition of a soul and everything. I had inspected my own soul composition multiple times, but you can go only so far before risking damaging your soul.

I inspected the soul through my special soul abilities and also the Death Magic Spell [Soul Analysis]. With that, I was able to see the many wondrous anatomies that a soul could have, although it would take me days if not weeks to fully comprehend the entire composition of something so simple yet so complex as a soul.

Apparently, souls are made of a major composition named Primordial Essence, which I had already discovered before. This Primordial Essence is in every soul, even on mine. The more souls I eat, the more I get. There are also other methods of getting it, such as cultivating the mana core, which also enhances the soul as an after effect.

Primordial Essence was explained to me by the System when she fully analyzed the component.

Amazing, she analyzed everything so well!

System, you're really amazing.

Aw, you're even cuter than I remember you.

<…Don't say such things of me, I am only a System.>

Is she embarrassed now?

Well, it should be better to go back to the topic.

We continued to inspect the composition of a soul in detail. I died deeper into it, reaching a mystical area inside a soul named Primordial Essence Sea.

This sea was vast, and one could directly extract primordial essence from a being from this.

This Bear Soul had 1000 Primordial Essence, which wasn't even a single point in any stat.

However, there are deeper layers within the soul.

It is incredible how complex such an aspect as souls is, such a thing that we give for granted is so complex, it is as if the whole soul is like an enormous realm by itself, every single soul is.

As you dive deeper into it, you find deeper layers, where the Primordial Essence becomes more complex, it is as if it was being refined into higher levels of energies, but because this soul is too weak, I cannot cross this, it is impossible for the soul's complexity to develop, and therefore, if I press too much…

POOF!

It explodes.

-----