Slime#47 knew his Will scars shouldn't have such an easy solution.
Still, he tried to pull in a small amount of soul essence.
'Damn…' He clenched his fist with a scowl.
In Young Slime's soul dimension…
As soon as the soul essence rushed toward his soul, the scars on the Will barrier—the authority remnant—flared and wiped it out.
The new method failed before it could even reach his soul!
'Yet again… of course it won't be so simple,' Slime#47 mused.
Twice, he had encountered failure.
"Looks like you tried to absorb it," Nobi asked, folding her hands behind her back and leaning in.
Thud!
Young Slime took a few steps back—she was too close.
"Soul essence cannot be absorbed directly like that," Thomas explained, standing up. "First, soul essence exists in the atmosphere because of Divinara."
"Divinara—a non-living planet—how can it carry soul essence?" Young Slime asked, raising his eyebrows.
Nobi replied quickly, pointing her palm down at the floor. "This planet—Divinara—is alive, so it carries soul essence along with its soul."
"What? Alive?" Slime#47 exclaimed, raising his voice a little.
He recalled a scene from Timeline 23: many brown eyes filled the cracked ground. And each eye had a one-meter gap between them.
He understood now. 'So an Elderlich corrupted Divinara itself… turning it into an unholy creature.'
That thought made him turn even paler. A chill swept through his core.
He glanced nervously below. 'Even a planet is doomed…'
He took a few deep breaths to calm down.
"What's wrong?" Nobi asked worriedly, as he shook for a moment.
Slime#47 shook his head. "I'm fine."
He asked, "How? Doesn't a soul get protected by the Will barrier, preventing soul essence leakage? Isn't it the same for all?"
"Yes, you are indeed right," the instructor nodded. "But Divinara is different."
"And so is every planet," Nobi chimed in with a grin, glancing at the doubtful expression on Young Slime.
The lion-headed instructor explained, "Souls are made of soul essence and covered by the Will barrier to protect themselves. But where do you think souls come from in the very beginning?"
Young Slime rubbed his forehead. "So that's how it is," he muttered.
"Yes. Not all of the living beings have reincarnated souls. How many of you do you think are reincarnated souls?" Thomas questioned, glancing at the demons far away.
"And due to many rebirths, souls would exhaust their soul essence, and they would recover it from the soul essence flowing in the world," Nobi simplified the mechanics.
"Rebirth…?" Young Slime asked. "Do they ever regain memories?"
"No, ordinary rebirth won't....but that's for later." Thomas waved his hand. "Let's focus on soul essence for now."
He added after a pause, "Soul essence from the atmosphere fuses together to form a new soul—a new life…"
"And because of this, Divinara—and many planets—don't cover their souls with a Will barrier, letting themselves leak soul essence for the benefit of beings," Nobi explained slowly.
"So… to create new lives and to prevent true death from soul essence exhaustion by multiple rebirths, soul essence is voluntarily leaked by planets…" Young Slime inquired, checking whether he understood everything.
"Yes…" Thomas nodded. "Absorbing soul essence directly won't work… I can teach a technique, since you lack the potions in your time," he said, with a small grin.
Nobi also glanced at Young Slime with expectation, hoping he would learn it.
"No…" Slime#47 said flatly. "I don't have time, and there are knowledgeable beings still alive in my time."
'Learning it would be a waste of time,' he rejected it, as soul essence couldn't even reach the Will barrier, much less regain the lost soul essence.
The instructor narrowed his eyes, but sighed. "It's your wish. And about combat style marks—they run on soul essence, not other types of energy."
"Soul essence…" Young Slime muttered, feeling his core tighten. "I hope it won't drain my soul essence for growth in the middle of battle… if so—"
"No, it won't…" Nobi reassured him, patting his shoulders. "It can directly absorb it from the air."
'Wait… Will barrier cracks…' He recalled the soul essence getting wiped out by the remnant of authority. 'How would the combat mark get soul essence to work?'
Nobi, however, not knowing about the young slime's trouble, added, "In fact, combat style marks have a major advantage," she continued. "They function as a second layer of defense for the soul."
"Second layer of defense…" Young Slime uttered, feeling hope. 'Even if I cannot use the style… at least it can stop soul essence leak.'
He quickly entered his soul dimension.
He floated up to his soul. Beneath the Will barrier, a golden scroll mark unfurled over his soul, forming a second barrier that stood above the Soul Mantle.
A golden barrier covering his soul made him laugh out loud. "I can survive… finally."
ZZZ!
"What…?" he exclaimed, as the golden barrier dimmed and folded itself, turning into a closed scroll.
"Wait… it ran out of energy?" He yelled.
In the next moment, he understood.
The energy it had gotten from absorbing his own soul essence had run out.
"I need to get some energy for it… than it could work," he said, with a gleam of hope.
"If it works… I can survive for a few loops instead of dropping dead at any time," he muttered, as he couldn't calculate how much longer he had.
The golden barrier from the Ancient combat style mark had given him hope for survival!
He then returned to his senses, musing, 'I need to get it some energy… please tell me I can do it.'
Instructor and Nobi glared at Young Slime as he opened his eyes.
"Wait for us to finish…" Nobi yelled, frowning.
"Okay…" Slime#47 nodded, rubbing his head.
"Did you check?" Thomas asked, taking a sip from his beer as he sat in his chair.
"Yes, but it ran out of energy," Young Slime replied. "How to get—"
Nobi answered before he could finish, "It absorbs it on its own… no potions or techniques work on it."
Slime#47's eyes twitched.
"It absorbs energy from the atmosphere to function," Thomas said, "but it keeps some soul essence for itself to get stronger and guard your soul."
"I need to fight…" Young Slime said.
He wanted to get the growth percent to 100% quickly, as it was related to his life!