Death... and me

Once they entered the City Lord's palace, they were told to follow a different path from the sect's elders. Kayla didn't mind as he warned Rean and the others, "We will be observing you two from afar. Just do your best."

As the elders were soon brought away, Rean and the other participants followed a different path. Eventually, they arrived at what seemed to be a big room. However, Rean and Roan had underestimated the size of it. "This..."

Inside the room, there seemed to be a huge space much, much bigger than what it looked like from the outside. Not only that, but they could see participants everywhere. All of them were waiting for the assembly to start. With that, Rean asked Sister Orb, 'Sister Orb, is there a formation manipulating space in this room?'

[Oh, you noticed? That's correct. I can't tell what kind of formation it is exactly without analyzing it. However, it's definitely a spatial formation as you can probably feel the spatial power similar to when you enter the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.]

Rean nodded in response, muttering, 'Really impressive. So far, I only know of formations that could teleport people. This is the first time I've seen a formation that manipulates space. It turns what was supposed to be a small place into a bigger one.'

Wamil and the others didn't seem surprised by that, so they moved ahead. "Rean, Roan, let's check the contents of the assembly this time."

"Check the contents?" The twins were surprised to hear that. "Have they announced it already?"

Wamil nodded as he told them, "It has obviously been decided already. It's just that you won't know before you arrive at this place. It's always like that. Let's head to the center of the room. It should be there."

Everyone followed Wamil, passing various other candidates. Eventually, some formations displayed giant boards with a lot of information on them at the center of the room.

Roan looked at them, paying attention to the type of competitions available for the Divine Veins. "I see...there isn't just a single type of trial. There are also trials related to side occupations. Alchemy, blacksmithing, formations, talismans..." Roan also noticed one he hadn't seen before. "Soul Power?"

Kar noticed Roan's puzzled expression when he said that, so he explained, "Any humanoid race can use Soul Power, but there aren't many who focus on it. That's because it's hard to awaken Soul Power. Even if you do, you have to divide your attention between your normal cultivation and Soul Power, which decreases the number of users even more. Of course, a few races are already born with this capability, like the Husbons, Iolas, Zasfins, and so on. In their case, it's a lot easier to focus on both paths."

Rean and Roan nodded after hearing that. Kar's words confirmed what Rean mentioned in the past. Humans could really learn Soul Power, just like he had discovered. Plus, it seemed like it wasn't a secret in the Realm of Gods, unlike the Zasfin Planet in the Realm of Mortals. 'However, anyone who has kept my Light Element equipment close to them would definitely awaken Soul Power in the future. On the other hand, it seems that it's a lot harder to do it in the Realm of Gods. I guess that's an advantage of having Light Element Affinity, as others simply can't copy my abilities. I wonder what methods they would use to awaken the Soul Power of those who aren't born with it.'

Kar continued, "Since Soul Power is uncommon, it's considered a side occupation. Naturally, there's a competition for them as well with Divine Veins as the prize." In Kar's eyes, Rean and Roan didn't know those things because they came from that 'other part' of the Realm of Gods where things seemed to be different.

Rean and Roan nodded in response. It made sense since everyone could definitely cultivate, but not everyone could do a specific side occupation. Soul Power obviously fell into the latter.

Rean and Roan then looked at the different categories of the Soul Power competition.

-Soul Power Strength-

-Soul Power Manipulation-

-Soul Power and Divine Energy Synergy-

"Three categories for the Soul Power competition, huh?" Obviously, the twins wondered if they should take part in it as well.

It was then that Sister Orb mentioned. [Well, the fusion of Divine Energy and Soul Power you have makes it one type of energy. When you fight, you absorb Divine Energy from the environment and create Soul Power in your Soul. Those two powers fuse together, and your attacks come out with this new type of energy. They really can't be considered any of the two. Well, I guess it can be considered both of them simultaneously.]

'What do you mean?' Rean asked.

[I meant that once they try to measure your Soul Power, there's a chance they won't be able to detect anything as it is fused with Divine Energy to create the new type of energy. That means you won't have any Soul Power Strength. Your Soul Power Manipulation won't be considered Soul Power Manipulation either. As for Synergy, Soul Power users use both Divine Energy and Soul Power to support it. However, their energies don't fuse together. Naturally, you won't get anything from this synergy since it'll look like you aren't using any of them.]

Rean found it strange. 'But that also means they'll find out that we aren't using Divine Energy or Soul Power alone either, no?'

Sister Orb responded in agreement, [Exactly. So unless you're ready to keep using the excuse that you come from somewhere else, I would rather not let them analyze your fused power.]

Roan then mentioned, 'From what you said, this is just a possibility. They might be able to tell that we're using both energies, right?'

[Yes. The question is which one of the two is the case. Suppose that their Divine Senses can tell that you are using both energies. In that case, they might only see it as you two having ridiculously high proficiency in Divine Energy and Soul Power Synergy.]

Rean then remembered he passed by a Soul Power Analysis Formation on the way to the center of the room. 'Well, we can test it out. The Zasnfins had the Soul Power Measurement Orb, which could calculate our Soul Power even after the fusion. Perhaps that formation we passed by can also calculate it. Let's try the formation. If it shows us our Soul Power Score, then we know they can distinguish it, and we can take part in the Soul Power competitions.'

Rean also added one last thought, suggesting, 'By the way, let's just call it Divine Soul Power. There's no point in talking about both energies all the time.'

Roan and Sister Orb agreed with the suggestion, thinking that it was a fitting name.