Death... and me

Since Habac had gone through the Deep Sea Monster Assault test before, Rean obviously expected him to know more about their next test, Soul Land. "What can you tell us about this test?"

Habac nodded and began to explain. "As you know, Soul Power is a very common thing in the Realm of Gods. Everyone uses it to increase the power of their attacks, pretty much absent-mindedly. For Jhiod Sect, only having strong cultivation isn't enough. One also has to have strong Soul Power. That includes demon beasts and spirits."

Rean expected that, saying in response, "So it's basically a Soul Power test, huh?"

Erla took the chance to ask after that. "I can use Soul Power like everyone else. However, I'm not very good at it, just like most demon beasts. What kind of dangers can we expect there?"

Habac continued, "The Soul Land is a Dimensional Realm that prioritizes Soul Power. It has a formation that locks one's Divine Energy inside everyone's body. However, it doesn't make it impossible to use Divine Energy."

Min understood why, saying, "That's because Soul Power is always used with Divine Energy to start with, right?"

Habac nodded in response. "Exactly. What the formation there does is prevent Divine Energy from being used as the main force. You will have to use your Soul Power to drive your Divine Energy instead of the other way around."

Divine Energy was the main fighting energy in the Realm of Gods. Everyone relied on it more than anything else. With that said, Divine Energy was always used first, and then Soul Power was added to the mix when using attacks or any other skill that required the two.

"Also, there's a limit to how much Divine Energy one can use. It will be based on how much Soul Power you can control. If your Soul Power is on par with your Divine Energy, then you can obviously use as much Divine Energy as you always did. It's just that you will have to start with Soul Power first. If your Soul Power is much lower than your Divine Energy, then your Soul Power will limit how much Divine Energy you can use."

Habac shrugged his shoulders after that. "Well, the number of participants who can match their Soul Power with their Divine Energy is pitifully low, let alone those who have more Soul Power than Divine Energy. Expect to see a lot of participants fail this test. In fact, I fared quite badly last time I tried it."

Back on Roan's side, he also received the same explanation. "Krikei, as far as I felt, your Soul Power is definitely not worse than your Divine Energy."

Krikei, the Kipos Lake Spirit, didn't deny it. "Oh! So you could tell, huh? Indeed. My Kipos Race is quite good at Soul Power abilities. My Divine Energy does indeed match my Soul Power in strength. That's why I'm quite a bit stronger than others at the same cultivation level as myself."

Lita sighed after that. "My Soul Power isn't anything worth mentioning."

Vrie was even worse, saying, "Your Soul Power should allow you to display at least 60 to 70% of your real strength. Look at me. I'm a demon beast. I won't be able to do any better than 40 to 50%. We demon beasts rarely ever focus on Soul Power, after all. Not that we didn't want to focus on it, but because we didn't even know it existed until we gained sentience at the Transition Realm."

He was right. That contributed to the number of demon beasts who were always poor at Soul Power. However, they usually had their own demon beast traits to rely on. However, this was a Soul Power test, so it didn't help them much. Then again, the Jhiod Sect was looking for those who rise against the odds... or hoped they die in the tests.

Krikei then looked at Roan after that. "Because of that mysterious energy in your weapon, I couldn't measure your Soul Power that well, Roan. How good are you at it?"

Roan nodded, responding, "I'm the same as you. My Soul Power matches my Divine Energy perfectly." In fact, too perfectly. After all, both of them were merged due to the system's upgrade. If one got stronger, the other would follow suit.

It was then that Vrie thought about something. "Wait! Roan, that mysterious energy you gathered on your weapon was not made of Divine Energy, right? Doesn't that mean you can use it?"

Roan agreed with Vrie, replying, "I expect that to be the case. But there's no need to worry. It should be fine since my Divine Energy won't be restricted. We will keep our four-member formation and use Krikei and me as cores since we can both use our powers to the fullest."

Krikei had no issues with that. "Fine by me. We can support Lita and Vrie's Divine Energy that way."

Rean and Roan's groups were more or less covered. However, this test was far from being considered easy. That's because there were quite a few people and demon beasts there that could also match their Divine Energy and Soul Powers. The test was obviously aimed at those beings. As for the rest, they would have to deal with it themselves.

Well, the twins were definitely on another level since their Soul Power and Divine Energy was merged. They already checked it before. If Soul Power was measured, their Soul Power would show as being much stronger than anyone at the same level due to the merge.

There was one group that wasn't feeling very well, though. That was Kentucky and Celis's group. "Here it is, one of the nemeses of our demon beast races, the Soul Land test."

"It's too unfair for us."

"Hey, don't complain. Don't forget the Pressure Realm test is very advantageous for us demon beasts instead."

Kentucky and Celis didn't seem too much concerned, though. 'Well, we have our Soul Power and Divine Energy merged because of Rean and Roan...' they thought to themselves. Indeed, due to the connection, any system reward regarding Divine Energy was also passed down to those two. Right now, Kentucky and Celis's Soul Power were as strong as their Divine Energy. Of course, they didn't tell the others about it since the Soul Gem System was a secret.

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Author's note (26/04/2022): I'll be busy during the next few days, so there will be only two chapters release. I'll do a mass release next month to compensate for the chapters.