The Divine Wolf... or?

Chapter 222: Newfound Power.

Although time magic was very convenient, Ark quickly stopped thinking about it as he sat down to eat with his family. For now, the only thing he needed to focus on was enjoying his time with his family, the exploration of his newfound capabilities could wait until he had eaten.

While eating, they naturally talked about all kinds of things, Eventually, Ark's apparent evolution came up, and he decided to tell them about his newfound strength.

"So what does it mean that you've become a Sovereign?" Thufrat was the most curious of them all.

"It means I've awakened my soul and become something like a higher lifeform. My strength has taken a huge leap, and I've gotten a bunch of skills and affinities that I didn't have before." Ark replied.

"You awakened your soul? What does that mean?" Thufrat wondered. He had never heard of someone awakening their soul before.

"You remember yesterday when those people approached Ephine and I looked at them? They fainted because I subconsciously pressured them with my soul. If someone who hasn't awakened their soul attacks me, it will be tough for them to even damage me."

Thufrat marvelled at the prospect. Ark had already been exceptionally strong before. So to hear that he had grown a lot stronger was a bit hard to grasp. He knew that Ark wasn't one to boast, and if anything, Ark's newfound strength was probably a lot more terrifying than he let on.

He also felt a little uneasy about the fact that Ark had become a "higher lifeform" whilst everyone else was left behind.

Although their friendship didn't have anything to do with personal power, Thufrat still wished he would be able to share the burdens of his best friend when shit hit the fan. As he thought a little more about it, Thufrat thought of something crucial.

"Then is it possible for us to awaken our souls too?" He asked tentatively.

When Ark heard Thufrat's question, his expression turned a little more serious. This was something he hadn't even considered yet. Since he was able to awaken his soul, shouldn't Thufrat, Ephine and Atar also be able to do it? Although the awakening of his Chaos Soul was a process of great anguish, Ark had some vague memories of other souls awakening earlier.

According to the description, his Chaos Soul was a fusion of souls.

"I'm not exactly an expert on the subject, since the awakening of my soul wasn't something I really did consciously. However, I'm sure that there are other Sovereigns out there, maybe one of them can provide us with some guidance. If that doesn't work out, I'll try to figure out a way on my own, I'm just afraid that it would take too long."

There was one important aspect of being a Sovereign that Ark left out without thinking about it, and that was the immortality aspect. As he pondered a little himself, he realised that he wasn't completely sure what the description entailed. What he didn't exactly understand was how it affected his lifespan.

If being a Sovereign made it impossible to die of natural causes, then Ark had all the more reason to help his family become Sovereigns too.

If other people knew how Ark thought about making his entire family into Sovereigns, they would probably be shocked beyond belief. The birth of a Sovereign was naturally something exceptional that didn't happen easily. The natural talent required was pretty scary, and some races didn't have a single Sovereign in their midst, whilst some of the stronger races had multiple.

A mixture of talent and opportunity was not something easily overcome.

The one thing that Ark's family had though, was talent. Thufrat had the bloodline of an Earth Dragon, a species that grew into Sovereigns on their own just by reaching adulthood. Atar and Ephine had been named by Ark himself and had therefore inherited some of his bloodline and talent. The only thing they lacked was opportunity, which was what Ark needed to figure out.

Eventually, Ark told everyone that he wanted to test out some of his newfound capabilities and skills, and they all ventured out into the nearby forest where no one was around. Although testing his abilities inside of a dungeon would provide him with an even better understanding of his own strength, Ark wanted to begin by at least understanding what his skills did.

Entering a dungeon could be used to find his limits later on.

The first thing he wanted to test was his normal magic and soul power. According to the description, his Chaos Soul would amplify his magic at the expense of soul power, but Ark wanted to know just what kind of amplification it provided. Since he couldn't use any large-scale magic without completely destroying the forest, Ark just used some normal elementary magic.

The first thing he did was create a wind blade that he sent flying towards a nearby tree.

The wind blade cut through the tree as if it was made out of paper and kept going, cutting through a bunch of trees before it eventually dissipated. Ark was a little surprised by both the speed at which the wind blade travelled, but also the power it contained.

A wind blade wasn't supposed to be that powerful, and after mulling it over a little, Ark realised that it was probably the result of his Absolute Affinity.

Not only did it affect the speed and power of his magic, but also the casting speed. Having gotten a grasp of the power of his normal wind blade, Ark tried to cast the magic again, but this time he activated his Chaos Soul. Behind Ark, an illusory grey figure of himself appeared.

Unlike his normal eyes, the eyes of this illusory figure seemed to contain an entire universe as they overlooked everything. When this figure appeared, Thufrat felt an uncontrollable amount of pressure and fear, and his knees grew weak.

In comparison, Ephine and Atar didn't really react much, as if the figure couldn't affect them. When Ark cast the wind blade again, it materialised at a speed incomparable to before. Not only that, but it had grown more than twice as wide, and flew out at a speed that was impossible to see with the human eye.

Without making a sound, the wind blade seemingly just disappeared, however, after a few seconds, Ark could see countless trees in front of him slowly falling over, creating a massive path through the forest.

After getting an idea of just how much soul power the attack had consumed, Ark stopped using his Chaos Soul. Behind him, Thufrat slumped down on the ground, cold sweat running down his forehead. He could finally breathe out a sigh of relief. Ark realised what had happened shortly after, and apologised to Thufrat.

It seemed like he would need to practise his control over his soul power so that it didn't affect his allies in battle.

On a battlefield, such a distraction could easily drive someone to their death. Ark also realised that Atar and Ephine seemed unaffected by the pressure of his soul, but after realising that he was the one who named them, he stopped thinking about it.