"Well, well, his mind is in real turmoil right now." Blind Sorcerer shook his head.

"Yeah. This girl is telling him things that will clarify many things for others, but not in his case. The more he listens, the more he realizes he doesn't understand anything." Light Racer spread his arms out to his sides.

"It's pretty ironic... but it will all fall into place someday." Code of Light and Darkness muttered.

They stood on the platform at Wain's Soul Temple while gazing at the brightly burning torch. It was a mesmerizing sight as one could watch forever.

Whoooooosh.

Suddenly there was a violent blast of dark wind that almost managed to extinguish the torch's flame. It was an invasion of Soul Temple, but the forms did not prepare for the attack as they knew who it was.

"It's you... And, you act brazenly as always... heh, just like me." The Cursed Swordsman smirked as he pulled his sword from the ground.

A tall man with black hair and gray eyes appeared next to the crown, and his muscular body was covered with a long armored cloak while much smoke emanated from a massive cigarette clamped between his teeth.

"Guys, it's been a long time since I've seen you. How long has it been? Two hundred? Three hundred?" The man shook his head, took out his cigarette, and blew out a huge cloud of smoke.

"Gladius, it looks like you haven't learned how to count. It's been five hundred years since that day." The Knight of the Bloody Rose said in a calm voice, "You finally made it here. I thought you'd do it as soon as you were in Wain's hands."

"Well... It wasn't very easy, especially since he recently evolved." Gladius shrugged, "What's the plan?"

"For now, we're just waiting." Black Sun Aristocrat said with a bored look, "Things will get really interesting when his soul unfolds and when he finds the seventh. Well, we've waited five hundred years, so we can wait a little longer."

"Yeah... That makes sense. Hopefully, there won't be any problems until then." Gladius nodded as he took another puff, "As expected, he just needs a sea of energy, hopefully, we'll get to the Dragons as soon as possible."

"Rest assured, it will definitely happen." Blind Sorcerer said in a serious voice, "With your help, Wain can probably get as many souls as others can even imagine."

"Huh." Gladius grinned as a wicked smile appeared on his face, "Yeah... It'll be a real massacre, bloody and merciless."

...

"Wain!" Aurora slammed her fist on the table.

"Hmm? Did you want something?" Wain finally turned his attention to her.

"Were you even listening to me?" Aurora moved closer to him as she stared intently into his eyes.

"Of course. I was thinking a little bit. I was just wondering what it would take to uncover my True Soul." Wain waved his hand in a careless manner.

Aurora stared at him for a while as she didn't believe him, but then sighed and returned to her seat.

"It's not hard. In fact, it's one of the easiest things to do, but first, you have to fill all your torches completely so they burn brighter than the sun!" Aurora pronounced.

"When we do that, will we finally get our real souls?" Alas asked.

"Yes. That's right. The soul in your Soul Altars works like a shell, the true power lurks beneath it, but you must help your True Soul grow."

"Well... What level do we have to reach to do that? What should our stats be?" Erza asked with a curious look.

"Levels? Stats?" Aurora looked at her as though Erza had said some nonsense, but then her face changed, "Ah... Right... I completely forgot that you haven't all evolved yet. In the Fourth Chronicle, there are no levels, no stats, no skills. Majesty, as you move to the Ascension Stage, is the only thing left."

"What...?" Ern muttered with a dazed look as the piece of meat fell out of his hands, "How are there no levels? What have I been training and fighting for all this time, then? And the skills?! Who the hell came up with that?!"

"Huh, what else did you expect? You're already in Third Chronicle, so you should have realized that you're going to change more and more with each step. The rules that work for wimps can no longer be applied to you. There will be no more levels and stats, in battle, everything is decided by unique features, fighting style, and the desire to win!" Aurora uttered with a sly smile on her face.

"Unfortunately, that's true." Wain nodded, "But, I guess losing levels and stats isn't a big problem as long as it has a replacement, but what about skills? Is all I have now my Concepts?"

"Concepts? Oh... I should have known that even here, you are unusual. Not everyone has two Concepts." Aurora's eyes widened, "You can now use your Beyond and the power of Concepts more freely, so using those three elements, you can create your own skills."

"Hmm? I can create a whip of darkness right now and use it to split this building in two, does that count as a skill?" Wain asked with a raised eyebrow as darkness accumulated in his left hand.

"No, of course not. It wouldn't be a hard enough and strong enough attack. If you want something like that to be your skill, you have to think about it carefully, experiment, and spend weeks practicing. Skills that you've created yourself will become your powerful weapon." Aurora explained.

"Well... I guess I really should work on it. Without the skills, it won't be comfortable, even dangerous to fight." Wain muttered while looking at his fist.

"Actually, there is one exception." Aurora smiled, "Now you can't get abilities from other beings' souls, your True Soul, even if it hasn't revealed itself yet, will reject the energy of those souls, but... that doesn't apply to Legendary Souls."historical

Aurora said in a slow voice, "You have a choice. Either train and create your own skills or use the souls of Legendary Beings to do so.