Nameless King

"Okay, I get the situation. Humans are an amazing race, but being a member of this race is either a blessing or a curse." Said Wain.

"Yes." Sven nodded weakly. "There are many mysteries in the world, and your disappearance is one of them, and so are you."

"Sven, I have one more question about the other races. I've already learned that their process of absorbing energy from souls is strikingly different, but can they insert the souls of other beings into their Soul Altars?"

"Of course, I don't know how it happens with humans, but to insert the soul of another creature into Soul Altar, certain conditions must be met. For example, a member of the fire race would not be able to insert a soul with the water attribute into his Soul Altar.

To be exact, he can, but it will destroy Soul Altar and imminent death. The attributes must match completely, or at least remotely. The same applies to abilities, but there are a few nuances.

If a member of the fire race has inserted another soul into his Soul Altar, the abilities of the additional soul will be subordinated to the main soul. This means that the new abilities will get the attribute of fire, partially or fully." Sven explained.

"How complicated it all is..." Mumbled Wain. "Okay, back to the beginning then. How do I get Essence if I'm human? Is that even possible?"

Wain originally came here to find out the answer to that question. However, their conversation took a different, unbelievable and unpredictable path. Wain was shocked to learn so much information, but that was not what was most important to him at the moment.

Sven shook his head, "I don't know how to help you. My knowledge of the characteristics of humans is severely limited. The process of getting Essence is 99% similar to absorbing energy from your environment and other objects. Given that you don't know how to do it, it seems impossible for you."

Wain didn't know what to say. He wasn't expecting to hear something like this. To him, it was like a dead end after a high-speed climb up a mountain.

'He's not lying... At least this hasn't happened before, and it doesn't make any sense... Damn, is being human in this world a curse and not a blessing?' Wain pondered.

He tried to find a way out of this situation, but all to no avail. He couldn't come up with a single idea.

"Wain, I can't help you in any way, but I can give you one piece of advice. You're human, which means you know better than anyone else what you're capable of. Perhaps you have some special way in which you can extract Essence." Sven said.

"I hope so... Okay, I want to know one more thing. There's one question that's been bothering me for a while now."

"I'm listening to you carefully." Said Sven.

"I recently fought a member of another race who infiltrated my Void and wanted to kill me. However, I was able to cope and tore him apart. Before that, I checked his status and saw that he had five Voids under his control.

Why didn't I own those territories after killing him? The last time I killed a leader of Void, I got it right away. I didn't notice it at first, but someone reminded me of it..." Wain muttered.

"It's a simple question." Smiling Sven said. "You should have gotten his Voids, that's true, but there's one common option that caused it not to happen. The person you killed wasn't the sole owner of those Voids. In other words, by killing him, you transferred the ownership of those Voids to other owners."

"What? Oh shit... Wouldn't it make sense for me to be one of the owners of these Voids in that case?" Wain resented.

Sven shrugged, "Those are the rules. By sharing the owner's role with someone, you lose a lot of advantages. However, it gives you a guarantee that an outsider can't take those territories for themselves.

In fact, 99% of families, clans, organizations, and even small groups do this. Basically, only powerful singles can have many Voids in which they are the sole owners."

"Understandably, they distribute power amongst themselves, and even if one of them dies, the clan doesn't lose the Voids they've struggled to gain." Concluded Wain.

"Okay, then I still have one more question. Is there any way to know which territories are on enemy Voids? That would be useful for gaining an advantage when starting a war and mining needed souls."

"Of course, there are such ways, but you can't afford them. Also, in most cases, the resources spent on this are not worth the possible benefit, so it is quite rare. But, if you want to know that to get the souls, you don't need to know everything about the enemy Void."

"Hmm? Aren't you contradicting yourself? If I need a soul with the attribute of fire, how do I know that this Void has the right area without revealing the information?" Wain said puzzled.

"No way, it's not necessary. If you want to get the souls you need, you don't have to declare war on other Voids, hoping that one day you'll get lucky."

"What?"

"You're not the only one facing this kind of problem, which is why the World of Darkness has special places for large-scale battles. It's called the Arena.

Arenas can be compared to huge Voids with no owner and constantly wreaking havoc, anarchy, and countless murders. There is no room for peace and development in these areas, only bloody battles." Sven said calmly.

"I see. How do I get there? What enemies will I meet there?"

"In the Arenas, you will meet enemies of all kinds. It's a common occurrence, and that's why there are so many Arenas. There is fire, ice, water, under almost any attribute, but the mixed ones are the most popular."

Wain nodded.

"Since you can't take your Warriors into the Arena with you, you'll mostly have to fight alone. Of course, some try to form alliances in the Arenas, but these places are too chaotic for alliances to last."

"Great, that's what's needed. If the Arenas are chaotic, I'll have no trouble finding suitable opponents there." Quite said Wain.

"Yes." Sven nodded. "But, you have to be careful and cautious. Usually, it's people like you who come to the Arena. Strong, confident ones who have come to hunt souls. However, only time will tell which of you is truly the predator and which the prey."

"Hmm, that's both a plus and a minus. I risk get seriously injured or even dying, but every victory will be valuable, and I'll get rare souls, but it looks like getting regular souls in these places will be difficult..."

"That's not true. As I said earlier, the Arenas are mostly frequented by strong creatures. There you will meet members of other races, members of powerful families, clans, and organizations, as well as owners of Voids.

The arenas are enormous and full of battles, causing an incredible density of Soul Essence in these areas. This leads to the non-stop appearance of Dungeons and Nests. The more powerful the Arenas, the more different events there are, up to and including natural disasters."

"I see, so if you're powerful enough, you can find both rare and common souls there. That's impressive."

"Yeah, also don't forget about plunder. In most cases, those who come to the Arenas have rare equipment and huge amounts of souls. Many rarely kill their enemies. They loot them, leave them alive and then after a while, track them down and loot them again."

Wain smiled silently. The robbery was not yet common in his world since most people did not yet have decent equipment, and no one kept souls. However, according to Wain's opinion, it was one of the quickest ways to become stronger and richer.

"To get into the Arena, you just have to concentrate and enter a special space. You can do it with your World of Darkness card. It's similar to declaring war on other Voids. You'll see the options and be able to join it, but sometimes you won't be can do it."

"Hmm? Why not? Don't I need special permits to visit the Arenas?" Wain muttered puzzled.

"Huh, imagine a situation where your main attribute is water. Do you really think they let you into the Fire Arena in that case?"

"Would I be forbidden to join this Arena?"

"You could say that. There are two options, in this case, the first is to vote, but in the Arenas, few people spend their time on this. No one cares about the others. So even if you have the water attribute, you can get into the Fire Arena. However, it will be lucky for others, not you."

Wain looked at him interestedly.

"Without a vote, you will be allowed in, but you will be like a firefly at night. There will be a bounty on your head, and hundreds of enemies will hunt you down.

You'll be able to overpower some of them because of the elemental advantage, but not all of them. Someone will end up killing you, taking your souls, and getting an extra prize, which is usually very valuable." Sven explained.

"Huh, I see, I should have expected something like that. Great, it's a good way to pass the time, and I was going to go into the Arena with as much variety of enemies as possible anyway. I need a lot of souls."

"Just like the rest of us." Smiling, Sven said.

"Oh yes, I forgot about something entirely. Sven, what do the crystals in the Dungeon and the dials above the ink doors mean?"

The first Dungeon, Wain had seen quite a while ago, and he wanted to know more about the meaning of these markings.

"It's simple. The color of the crystal indicates how rare enemies you can encounter there. This does not mean that if the crystal is white, all the creatures living there are Common Rating souls. There can be significant differences.

However, thanks to the color of the crystal, you will know approximately how unique enemies you have to fight."

Wain nodded.

"The stripes are an indicator of difficulty, size, and the number of resources and energy in the place. It's a common variable of those factors. Simply put, the more stripes, the bigger, more dangerous, and more valuable the Dungeon is. The same goes for the dial above the ink doors."

"I see..." Wain muttered.

He pondered and scrolled through their conversation in his head. Wain learned many new and surprising things. Every time Wain went to see Sven, he convinced of how amazing this world was and how valuable the information was.

"I learned everything I needed to know, so now I want to move on to trade." After a while, Wain said.

"Of course, but I must warn you about something. I don't advise you to go to the Arena right now."

Sven understood that Wain wanted to buy equipment to get the best score in the Arenas and win all his battles.

"Why?"

"That's where you'll meet various individuals, ordinary and powerful. Often some clans or organizations avenge their fallen comrades and hunt down murderers, even if it happened in the Arena. However, you have a more complicated situation."

Sven sighed and, pointing his finger at Wain, said, "You are human, and someone is bound to figure that out. Imagine what will happen then? You will be their target and not just in the Arena. Powerful beings will hunt you down and even break the spatial barrier to enter your Void and kidnap you. There's nothing you can do to them."

Wain nodded weakly. He understood that carelessness could lead to death. Given the circumstances, he had to keep his identity a secret.

"I can offer you a few things to hide your identity, but it won't save you if someone powerful finds out about you." Sven said.

In response, Wain shook his head, "You shouldn't."

Wain decided to decline Sven's offer because he was sure he would soon get the right item himself.

'I need the Faceless Aristocrat Mask to open the fourth form. Given the name, this item should have the appropriate abilities. In that case, it's settled. I'll head to the Arenas after I unlock the fourth form.'