A more recent example of the superiority of knowledge over tangible benefits is from the soul prowler he just killed. He gained 60% of the soul essence of the soul prowler, but he gained 40% of its memories.
This 40% might be more valuable to other soul prowlers than the soul essence because it contains memories of a defensive technique. It is a defensive technique that will increase survivability in this unmerciful world more than 60% ever could.
The defensive technique is called soul refining. It is a method to refine soul fragments with soul essence into a denser and more durable state. This process expends soul essence and it takes time.
The cost of soul essence is prohibitive but the return is also high. If done right, even the rate of dissolution to nether water will reduce drastically so the soul fragments will last longer.
This is because the soul fragment will reduce in size which will reduce the surface area and it will also increase its density which will make it sturdy. The soul prowler refined himself into a ball. He also made a cocoon of super-refined soul fragments that look like gems around it. The cocoon protects it from both the corrosion of nether water and the attacks of others.
Legion-7 said in understanding, "So this is why it was able to survive in the spiritual dimension."
Many types of soul fragments from all works of life, different realms, and different races come to the spiritual dimension. But only those with special luck or certain ability can survive for any period of time.
The soul prowler for example had a poor perception technique but it was able to survive and grow stronger because of the soul-refining defensive technique that it created. Maybe it could have become a great entity like the soul mother in the future. Unfortunately, it met Legion-7.
"It is not the feather refining technique of the great mother but it is something." He said after digesting the memories.
If he were a soul prowler struggling at death's door then this technique would be heaven-sent. But he is not. He is an entity that brings other soul prowlers to the door of death. He is an entity that a hegemon of the spiritual dimension wants to get. He is also an entity that has stolen valuable information from said hegemon. A mere refining technique can't impress him.
He didn't gain a defensive technique from the great mother but he created one with his soul force. His use of soul force is crude and direct but it is still superior to whatever any other soul prowler can come up with it.
Now he knows how to refine the honeycomb of soul fragments around his soul. It will become stronger with the addition of soul force. So while the soul-refining technique is not impressive to him, it will still make him stronger. At least stronger than the 0.01% strength that he gained from eating 60% of the soul prowler.
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Legion-7 resumed his hunting while refining the soul fragments he had grafted onto himself. He also tried to create a better way to use the soul arrow attack technique.
The ability to shoot attacks at a distance appeals to him because he can shoot as many as he wants and can. It doesn't take up mental resources needed to control them which will limit how many of them he can use like his tentacles do.
He found many unaware soul fragments which he ate. But he is no longer looking for soul fragments. He has tasted the forbidden fruit that is soul prowlers and he is not willing to go back.
The difference between unaware soul fragments and soul prowlers is the difference between leaves and trees. Leaves are great when you are starving and you don't have any other option. But if you have options and you want to grow stronger, then the best thing to eat are trees. They have fruits of knowledge that might be more nutritious than the whole tree.
So he hunted trees. And he found a lot of trees to eat. Many soul prowlers felt the gravitational pull of the black hole so they came to feast. He on the other hand feasted on them.
Most of the soul prowlers he found were weaker than him. He was able to kill them easily. But he lost a lot of soul essence during the process. So the nether water was the greatest winner because of his fights. His bitterness about it made him decide to devise a means to eat more efficiently.
Soom he became even more picky about the soul prowlers he attacked. He stopped targeting small soul prowlers. This is because they have very little for him to eat even if he wins the fight.
Size is a determinant of strength in the spiritual dimension. The bigger a soul prowler is, the stronger it is. So the large soul prowlers that he wants to eat are more dangerous than small ones.
The risk increased because of his change in targets but his previous fights proved to him that size isn't all that matters when it comes to strength. Skill matters a lot. And most importantly, soul force matters more. So with soul force, he can fight soul prowlers that are much larger than him.
He remained cautious but he stopped being afraid just because a soul prowler is bigger than him. So he went ahead to develop the soul digestion technique. It is a combination of attacking and brainwashing. It does the two of them at the same time.
He is using the technique on a soul prowler that is more than 20 times his size right now. He has grown bigger by 10 times compared to when he just found the feeding ground so this soul prowler is 200 times or more bigger than his previous form.
This soul prowler is enormous, to say the least. But he still managed to cover it up completely in soul force in order to digest it without wasting anything.
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A/N: I am releasing this extra chapter for the voting goal.
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