Dream Travel

Chapter 517 Your Spirit Isn't Strong Enough

The way you filter the soul can preserve that part, but the way Lexenberg shatters it leaves nothing behind.

"Hehehe, but my plan is more efficient!" Lexenberg sneered twice. Beatrice was simply trying to win over Bai Mu.

"How much more efficient?"

“One-fifth!” Lexenberg grinned maliciously as he answered the White Curtain’s question.

"One-fifth... well, either way is fine." Bai Mu made the decision: "Is that okay?"

“Of course, but you’ll need to prepare two of the same material.” Luxembla didn’t seem to mind.

Both methods can torment the soul, one is more efficient and the other is less efficient.

Atris projected out the 'soul remnants' sealed inside the Soul Stone, which was a large number of tiny, densely packed dots of light.

"These are products of a small amount of soul mixed with spiritual energy; they are more like true spiritual entities," Beatrice explained.

Inside the weapon box in the white curtain were some spiritual entities, but the one sealed in this soul stone was more complete than those spiritual entities.

This is the spiritual consciousness that remains after the soul power has been stripped away.

"With enough soul power, it can still be restored to a 'soul'."

"No need... Hmm, this method is good." Bai Mu said after thinking for a moment. Putting everything else aside, he thought this method was quite good.

At least it's not a complete annihilation; they can still make use of what they have.

Bai Mu went to the experience store and got two pieces of dustless jade that had been cut off from there.

"Have you made any progress on your end?" Lily asked curiously.

"Yes, by using the effect of the Dustless Jade to squeeze out the impurities of the soul, what remains is pure soul power," Bai Mu explained simply, then took the roughly cut Dustless Jade to the craftsman.

The craftsman opened the door and glanced at the white curtain: "Come in, what do you need me to do?"

"Help me process two pieces of material," Bai Mu stated his request, and the craftsman's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"That's it?" Bai Mu's request was too simple. There was no need to ask him; any ordinary craftsman could have done it.

“There are other requirements as well. You’ll need to cooperate with them during the process.” Bai Mu said, summoning Atreus and the others.

The craftsman was used to seeing phantoms appear here.

"I understand. Just wait, it won't take long."

The requirements put forward by Bai Mu were too simple; it only required processing two pieces of material, and the material had to be compatible with the weapon box. This was not a particularly challenging task.

As for the additional part, that's not the work of the craftsmen; how well they can do it depends on Beatrice and the others.

The craftsmen all felt that Bai Mu's visit was somewhat unnecessary, and it seemed more like he was just looking for an excuse to come and deliver some materials to him.

The characteristics of Dustless Jade make it difficult for it to be compatible with other materials. If you want to make something, you have to integrate it into one piece.

Adding any other materials can cause the dustless jade to reject the material.

He has already made many attempts with the small piece of material that Bai Mu gave him.

The white curtain wasn't kept waiting long; the craftsmen completed the follow-up work in less than two hours.

The craftsmen finished processing the materials in less than half an hour; the rest was handled by Beatrice and the others.

During the processing, some parts require adjustments made by craftsmen.

The craftsmen observed the parts that Beatrice and the others were in charge of, but they didn't seem overly curious.

The craftsman didn't say much until Bai Mu left.

Back at his lodgings with the weapons case, Bai Mu could feel some unfriendly stares directed at him on the way.

Bai Mu didn't react much to this attention; this time, he was just going to deal with some of the unwanted attention.

You can't guard against thieves for a thousand days. If you don't want to be targeted by thieves, you have to completely eliminate their den.

"It's time to get rid of those souls. Come on, let's take care of those demons—" Upon returning home, Bai Mu immediately got to work.

The weapon crate contained the souls of many demons, all of whom were artificial.

It sounds like some unlucky guy was forcibly modified, but in reality, these artificial demons are all 'manufactured' through demon factories.

Demons develop from embryos, so the Demon Factory is not a good place either.

Many artificial demons are 'fallen beings'.

Since it wasn't during a battle, White Curtain had enough time, so she used Atrist's plan.

In other words, it's a squeezing-type 'filter,' using the properties of the dust-free jade to squeeze out the 'impurities' within the soul.

The unique properties of dust-free jade ensure accurate classification during this process.

The compressed parts will reassemble once they are in a suitable storage environment and freed from the influence of the dustless jade.

That part was no longer important to Bai Mu; all he wanted was the preserved soul power.

The demons, such as Luxembla, seemed quite pleased.

"You all seem quite happy?" Bai Mu examined a processed soul stone, which had been shaped to resemble a memory card.

It is easy to carry and can also store a large amount of soul power.

"The soul being squeezed will also produce pain, and the fear generated by the pain will also be squeezed out by the Dustless Jade, and it tastes like pure sugar!"

Luxembla explained that things like fear are also impurities for the flawless jade, and such factors are classified separately when categorizing them.

As an observer, the demon can naturally extract and savor this particular element in the process.

However, it can only be savored; without the cooperation of a complete soul, factors such as fear and pain cannot be released through the soul to unleash the power the demon needs.

But it's also nice to enjoy the corresponding seasonings.

White Curtain was also impressed by this approach that offered a glimmer of hope.

"Is it possible that this is how souls are handled in a normal hell?" Rayazos glanced at Lexenbra.

"Demons exploit souls, and once the souls are squeezed into waste, they are discarded. What we are doing now is simply avoiding the long process of torture."

"Hmph, is there a difference?" Lexenbra glanced at Rayazos; he didn't have a good impression of the guy.

What is the difference between rapid torture and prolonged torture?
No, both methods are simply ways to extract the necessary power from the soul.

He wanted to categorize Whitebeard's actions as 'demonic,' but Rhaazos was undermining him. "Heh heh heh," Rhaazos chuckled, Lexenbra wanting to make Whitebeard lean more towards being demonic.

But he didn't want to do anything that would benefit unity; he had only been dead a short time and was still full of resentment.

"Let's begin the soul enhancement. Who wants to go first?"

"Me, me, me," Beatrice said without hesitation. It had already been tested before, and as long as the weapon box inside the white curtain remained, the process was safe.

As for the problem of their own souls being bursting during the process of infusing soul power, this can be avoided.

As long as it doesn't exceed the control limits of the white curtain, they won't be so foolish as to force a soul infusion after approaching the limit.

"Alright, let's begin." The impatient Beatrice didn't notice the subtle expressions on the demons' faces—a strange kind of mockery.

"you sure?"

"Yes, let me go first."

"Alright then." Seeing how enthusiastic Beatrice was, Bai Mu didn't say anything more. While using the Dustless Jade to process the souls of those artificial demons, he began to try to enhance Beatrice's soul.

A gradual process of becoming stronger through consistent nurturing.

During the process, Beatrice was completely absorbed, as if she were drunk. The enhancement from her soul made her lose herself in it.

But this was just the beginning; soon after, Beatrice sensed something was wrong.

"Uh, wait..." Beatrice quickly called for a stop as she felt a wave of dizziness. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed and the mental heaviness was making her drowsy.

"Hahaha, greedy woman!!" Upon seeing this, Lexenbra and the other demons immediately burst into loud laughter.

Beatrice desired immortality, so she studied the alchemy of life. After achieving her physical desires, she began to pursue the immortality of her soul.

However, she knew too little about the soul. After learning some knowledge from the demons, she thought she could delve into this field.

With the help of the weapon box and the spiritual power of the white curtain, it is indeed possible to stabilize the process when infusing soul power into a normal soul.

However, the enhancement of the soul also generates corresponding pressure. Simply put, the higher the quality of the soul, the heavier it becomes. To make a heavy soul move freely, it needs a sufficiently strong spirit to drive it.

Only Atreus's soul was strengthened, but her mental strength remained unchanged. Therefore, while the strength of her soul increased, her mental strength was suppressed by her soul.

The direct result is that Beatrice is now drowsy and will appear listless for a long time to come.

"Why is this happening?" Even after Beatrice called for a halt, she still felt an intense sense of oppression.

This sense of oppression directly affected her mental state, making her feel as uncomfortable as an ordinary human wearing hundreds of kilograms of heavy armor.

Let alone moving around, even standing is difficult.

“Your soul has been strengthened, but what about your spirit?” Luxembla scoffed.

Beatrice realized that the problem was actually with the proportions.
She couldn't help but glare at the demons like Luxenbra. They hadn't told her such an important thing, only reminding her after she had made a fool of herself.

As for why this problem was not discovered during the experiment, the reason is simple: in her eyes, the soul being tested was not considered a life, but merely a cold, lifeless material.

Although a stress resistance test was conducted during the experiment, the subjects were not conscious during this test.

As long as the test subject can withstand the pressure, it doesn't matter whether they are conscious or not. Keeping the test subject conscious may actually lead to more unexpected events in the experiment.

"...Sorry, I need some time to adjust."

Beatrice's eyes darted around, and suddenly a new idea came to mind: "What if I were summoned again?"
"The phantom body is formed from your spiritual power. Under those conditions, the excessive mental pressure from an overly strong soul shouldn't be something I could bear, right?"

After she finished speaking, she looked at the demons present, and sure enough, she saw that the mocking expressions on the faces of Lexenberg and the others had not diminished.

Beatrice's expression darkened: "We have to give it a try."

"Let's try it first." The white curtain retrieved Beatrice's soul and performed a summoning.

The summoned Beatrice did not appear energetic; she remained in the same state as before.

"Hahaha, the body is made up of his spiritual power, but the core is still ourselves. Your idea of ​​taking a shortcut is good, but you are too naive for someone who has never directly participated in a battle!"

Lexenberg mocked Beatrice without any restraint.

He had the right to laugh like that, after all, he had fought many battles for Bai Mu, and sometimes he himself almost got beaten to a pulp.

As a result, the main body inside the weapon case was also affected and fell into a near-dormant state.

This makes it difficult for the White Curtain to summon him a second time in a short period of time.

Furthermore, injuries sustained during combat can also affect their mental state.

The phantom body, although it does not have a health bar, has a mental energy bar that is equivalent to a health bar.

The consumption of the white curtain only constructs a body for them to move around in the outside world; the core that drives them will still be affected after the body is injured.

Atreus's attempt to use a phantom body to escape the excessive pressure on her soul was doomed to fail from the start.

However, because she had not directly participated in the battle and had no opportunity to learn about it, she was unable to discover this matter.

After experiencing it firsthand, Beatrice completely abandoned the idea of ​​taking shortcuts.

She couldn't do anything about her insufficient mental strength. The soul could be enhanced in other ways, and techniques could be learned if they were lacking, but she had no good way to quickly improve an individual's mental strength.

There is a simple way: gradually adapt to the current soul pressure. Once you've fully adapted, your mental strength will grow to the corresponding level, right?
That's it for now.

Beatrice sighed regretfully and said to the white curtain, "Although the effect wasn't perfect, everything else is fine."

"Okay, let's continue." Bai Mu fiddled with the two soul stones in his hand. One stone stored those mental consciousnesses, and the other stored soul power.

The stored spiritual consciousness, Bai Mu tried it out and found that it could still be utilized.

Even the summoned phantoms can maintain their original strength, looking no different from before.

But out of curiosity, Bai Mu conducted some follow-up tests.

The results showed that while this part of the phantom was not a problem in terms of strength, its durability was very low, and it recovered very slowly after being destroyed.

To ensure the phantoms summoned by the weapon crate are durable and have growth potential, the more complete the soul and spirit of the captured target, the better.

A spiritual entity that only possesses consciousness but lacks a soul has virtually no potential for growth.

If the White Curtain doesn't want to enhance the beings captured by the weapon crates, then the separately extracted mental consciousness, mental fragments, or soul fragments are essentially the same.

All that's needed is for these to serve as the driving core for the phantom body.

(End of this chapter)