"Yes, we were left up to soul coating, the most useful soul art I would say. For a fledgling like yourself, that is. In truth, you lack sufficient soul power to even attempt any other of the arts.

The cause for it is that you have yet to venture into the depth of the city. Maybe you already know some of this, but I'll remind you anyway, just for a geographical reference, I'd still advise you to buy a map though.

Ceres, this incredibly vast city, hovering above the dark abyss below. We are now currently residing in the territory of the eastern Council, a republic guided by a pair of powerful consuls, while overseen by a congregation of old, wise souls, the senate.

It occupies the majority of the eastern half of the city, which is split in half by a bottomless ravine. Here a few areas are still outside of the councils' grasp, even after thousands of years, these territories are better left alone, I'll just say that.

*ehm*

Of course, there is the western half of Ceres you have yet to hear about. Well here I'll be very vague as the council is on an unending war against the other half of the city, and we have never managed to conquer the other side.

We did infiltrate their forces occasionally, but the last reports we received date back to at least a few centuries past."

Here, Lenard took a few breaths of respite, to recuperate his breath, as Nestor wasn't his only student he'd better not strain himself even more.

Thinking that a bunch of tonics would fix everything was quite shortsighted for an old scholar like himself.

Meanwhile, he thought to himself: ' Of course, the last report come to us scholars two hundred years ago so that we could revise our maps. But I doubt the council truly has yet to send new agents to infiltrate the other side. I would probably guess that a new batch of agents gets sent over once or twice a year.'

"Our arch-enemy is the tri-coalition composed of the Kingdom of Alur, the kingdom of Errante, and the Salar Empire. This powerful triad has in times past tried to trespass and get a hold of the territory of the council.

The main reason is the abundant resources of our first ring, the one we refer to as the zeroth. Well, yes, to be more precise it is a half-ring, while there are many others below, no one is like it.

It is from this ring that the council gets all the primary resources it needs, in fact, we call it the zeroth because it isn't a proper ring. It lacks the curse.

You see, from the first ring onwards, an unbreakable curse will be cast upon your soul, differing from ring to ring.

Thus, in this circle number zero, we managed to make farms and ranches flourish, as the climate there is mostly warm and even meteorological phenomenons exist, lush forests and wildlife are also present.

Oh, dear! Look at me, I went off topic again didn't I? Soul coating wasn't it?

Yes, yes *cough*. Then why is your soul power so minuscule compared to the bigger capacity your soma has?

The 'core' of your soul, can infact already accumulate much larger quantities of power than those you have currently stored.

The reason is, that you are basically a young lamb here in Ceres, a pure maiden yet inexperienced to the dangers of this place.

Alright, don't look at me like that, I'll explain it better. Your soma slowly generates power as I've already told you, however in your case it's extremely slow. That is because, even if its shape is of the right proportions, it is still of the poorest quality.

To make it simple, to increase to speed at which it generates power, you must kill the creatures and monsters from below. I haven't studied much in this field myself, so I won't explain any further.

I told you this because soul arts are heavily dependent on soul power, and soul coating can be both the least and most demanding in terms of power. For you that has yet to gain a title, don't have your expectations through the roof, even with the special aptitude you've shown you might manifest it even in the first week of training.

Now take now your weapon and pose in a combat stance, or whichever position you are most comfortable with. Feel your soma, and try to draw strength from it, for reference think of where I put the seed inside of you, then feel the tendrils and expel said energy, concentrating it around the surface of your weapon."

At this point, Nestor that had always been focused on his teacher's speech all along, couldn't help but feel somewhat wronged. He gestured for Lenard to momentarily stop his explanation.

"But teacher, until now, even if a little confusing, your explanations seemed to follow some sort of logical reasoning. however this time I feel like it isn't the same.

How am I to follow some sort of strange feeling from my soul and execute such a feat when in my previous life I have never even heard of any of this."

For Nestor's sullen expression, Lenard understood that for his disciple taking all in one session has been a little too much. But it wasn't like there were many other alternatives, Nestor didn't have the time he wish he had to learn all this.

He chose soul arts, and even if he had great aptitude it wasn't enough to protect him in the short term. Deep inside he still felt guilty for what he did to his pupil, but he himself didn't have much choice either, every few years a new group of fresh souls passed through the gates of Ceres and entered this foreign land in solitude.

One would be a fool to think that the Council would allow such fresh greenhorns to suck on their resources for six months before putting them to work.

"I know what you mean, You are not the first to have such doubts. But for the most part soul arts are like this, they don't have a universal training method or technique, you'll have to find your own. The only exception is soul augmentation which can be improved through soul scriptures.

I will still try to guide you until you manage it for the first time. After that you'll have to grasp your own personal means, that is the path of soul masters."

Nestor already expected his to be a thorny road, many have already warned him of the harshness of this place. He had to give his all to gain the freedom that was taken from him in his previous life.

He quickly took out the cursed Khopesh, its crude appearance piquing Lenard's interest for a moment.

He straightened his shoulders and held the rusty hilt of the curved sword with both hands and closed his eyes in meditation. Soon after he felt the warmth of his professor's hand on his back, from within he sensed a gentle presence guiding his consciousness.

Even with such help, feeling his soul and the energy stored inside was not as easy. It hasn't been long since he became aware of its existence after all.

Passed already a couple of hours, as was now time to end their first lesson. Lenard knew that Cole's training was as important as his and Nestor couldn't neglect such teachings either.

"I'm sorry Nestor but it's time for you to get back to the training grounds, Captain Knight Cole is waiting for you trainees and you know he doesn't like to have his time wasted. Not only he won't wait for anyone, but you'll also get scolded for being late.

You know the way right? Come on now, the lesson has officially ended."

Yet Lenard's words seemed to have entered deaf ears, as Nestor hadn't moved an inch. Still, with his eyes closed, the trainee seemed to be in deep meditation.

Lenard gave him an apprehensive look, the kid seemed to be quite talented, as he had kept his focus all this time. However, staying here any longer wouldn't change much, if not for Cole's steady punishment.

The Captain knight was famous here at the academy, as this was the third consecutive year he came back from the battlefront alone. His troops had all either perished or deserted in the midst of battle.

Each time he came back he became more ruthless in his training, hoping not to be left alone along with the rotting corpses of allies and foes alike.

It was at this moment, however, that a weak, light orange hue started to manifest over the dark red crust of the Khopesh. Feeling such energy fluctuations, çenard was left completely speechless.

'How is that possible? It never happened before to any of my disciples, to be able to grasp soul coating only after a few hours was unpreceded, only the consuls had probably managed such feat. However to are born from millennials' old bloodlines of warriors and knights, also nurtured since a tender age with an already paved road ahead of them.'