Merphis opened his eyes back at the cave room and found the golden book was in his hands. He doubted it was possible at first but turns out he really can take things out of the ark.
He opened the book and read the first few pages detailing the breathing technique and mantra, it also mentioned learning the technique without soul bonding the book would be impossible.
He bit his finger and placed a drop of blood on it then whispered a mantra, a white ball came out of the book and went through his chest.
He felt a connection to the book and the mantra became clearer. Knew information about the technique entered his mind, he realised if he had tried learning it without bonding the book to his soul he would've killed himself.
His heart shook with fear, he did not want to die a second time. With all that done he sat crossed legged and started the breathing technique while chanting the accompanying mantra.
There was no mana in his body but he felt something in his soul. A piercing pain as if he was being slowly sliced in half by a blade but a hundred times worse.
Tears streamed down his eyes, he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs but he would have to stop the mantra and he knew that would be a bad idea.
Not only would that demage his soul it would also undo all his progress so he persevered through the pain. Hours passed but it felt like years.
Finally after some time the process ended. He felt something was different inside him, he chanted a mantra and concentrated. He felt two souls inside him yet they were connected as one, it was a strange feeling.
Each soul piece was weaker than the previous soul but they were healing, growing stronger. Even so, they were already much stronger than his soul was when he was a mortal in his previous life.
Being reincarnated strengthened his soul significantly. He threw himself on the stone bed and fell asleep. When he woke up he felt more refreshed and the throbbing pain inside him was gone.
The book was releasing soft golden light that was healing his soul. Now it was time to choose which path to walk first, since he can only choose four that means one path would have to be discarded, now the question was which one?
Every creature in the universe is born with mana veins, even mortal animals gain mana veins upon awakening but for some reason humans are the only creatures without them.
From the beginning they were meant to be the lowest of the low, standing at the absolute bottom of the food chain but how can such a stubborn race accept that.
Through trial and error, through blood and tears humanity was finally able to create five pathways, since they didn't have mana veins then they would have to absorb mana directly to their soul.
The first pathway discovered was the spirit master pathway. Since humans did not have any connection to the world's laws they had the purest souls, untainted by laws.
Through that they discovered they were the only beings capable of forming a soul pact with spirits from the spirit realm. Second came the bloodline pathway.
Through absorbing and purifying beast blood humans could gain their ability, the blood essence can absorb mana and direct it to the soul thus replacing the need for mana veins.
Next was the rune pathway, those that walk this path can imprint runes on their souls, it was the most versatile but also the hardest to walk as comprehending the laws behind each rune was a nightmare.
The fourth was the weapons pathway, by creating soul weapons they can replace the mana veins then the last and most recent is the manatech pathway.
Now since he currently have two souls he has to choose two pathways and until his souls grow stronger he can't split them. If he thought about it there wasn't really much of an option.
He couldn't forge a soul weapon in this cave nor does he have essence blood of a beast and he didn't want to walk the manatech pathway, not that he had that as an option either.
So the only two left are rune pathway and spirit master pathway. All he needs for them are a few herbs and ink to draw the runic circles.
He stood up and looked around the cave room, he found a bottle of ink and a feather pen but there were no herbs. He went out of the room for the first time.
He came out to a much larger cave and there were two more doors like the one he came out from. He went to the first door next to him and the room behind looked like a laboratory.
It had all the materials one would find in a lab but they were rusted and the glass flasks were long shattered into fragments. He went to the last one and it turned out to be a garden.
However he was disappointed, all the herbs inside had withered and died, they would not be useful anymore. He sighed, do I really have to go back there?
He has seen herbs in the ark but he was not very eager to deal with that rude woman, not that he had a choice. He will have to face her eventually, he still needs breathing techniques.
He went back to his room, with a tired sigh he sat cross legged and went back into the ark. He appeared in the library, he tried to sneak so he wouldn't alert her.
Greetings master, he heard a voice behind him and flinched, he steeled his heart for the coming insults but none came. Now that he thought about it that voice sounded differently.
It was softer and more bubbly? He turned around and saw a teenager in a short black and white maid uniform , she had white skin with blonde hair tied behind her.
He..llo, he dragged the hello, confusion was apparent in his voice.