The Witch Hunter System -
Chapter 1139: Consequences of Soul Power Exhaustion
Vaan did not have any special intent in creating an ancient ruin; he just thought he could make the scenery look less plain and boring while experimenting with the power of thought.
Moreover, creating the ancient ruin, moon, and stars required low effort.
Thus, it was easy to do.
If he wanted to make a much more complex scenery, like a human city down to the minute detail, it would quickly consume all his soul power, and even then, he might still fail to complete a part of it.
After all, the power of thought consumed soul power.
But more importantly, even though the power of thought was easy to understand, executing it was not as simple, and could even be extremely difficult for many people to master.
It wasn’t something that could be changed with hard work; it required talent to understand, and even more talent to master.
In simple words: You either know it, or you don’t—Just like maths.
’The power of thought isn’t as simple as willing something, and it would happen. If it were so simple, I would have already become a full-fledged Soul Master the moment I stepped into Chaos,’ Vaan thought.
He recalled that the first time he entered Chaos, he felt as if he could control the world. As a result, he was able to draw in mana with just his mind and will.
However, he had never been able to do anything more than this.
Of course, now that he had comprehended the power of thought, Vaan knew more about it and its requirements. The power of mind and will was not enough to activate the power of thought used by Soul Masters.
It required a certain level of knowledge, perception, feeling, and belief.
In other words, if Vaan wanted something to happen, he couldn’t just will it to happen; he had to believe it would happen, understand how it would happen, and even feel it was happening.
All of this required a special perception.
’The power of thought goes against the natural order of the world. Naturally, common sense can’t be used to utilize it.’
’When all beings are born into the world, they observe the world, understand its changes, and come up with their own comprehension of it, recognizing this as the natural way of the world. This forms the basis of their perception, and is a foundation built on ignorance.’
’In truth, in the beginning, from time immemorial, there was no order, no governing laws that defined the world. There was only nothingness, then came chaos. Order came after.’
’Everything I believe I know about reality can be completely false with a change in perception,’ Vaan mused.
The way things were wasn’t necessarily the way things were.
Who could confidently claim they know their reality?
If he claimed that everything in the known reality was just mere chemical reactions happening on the atomic scale within a much larger lifeform, who could disprove him?
Who could say that it wasn’t true?
The foundation of observation, used to understand all things, was flawed from the start. What was seen wasn’t necessarily the same as what was happening.
If this point couldn’t be understood, then one would be a trapped chicken in the theory of the chicken and the farmer.
For example, if the farmer poured the same feed into the same bowl at the same time every day, and the chicken observed this, it would believe that there would be food in its bowl at the same time every day and take it as the eternal truth.
How could the chicken know that the farmer was just fattening it up to be slaughtered later, or if the farmer had some other purposes for their actions? 𝙍ἈNОʙĘṦ
The chicken wouldn’t and couldn’t know unless it witnessed a precedent of it happening to another chicken.
As such, nothing was certain in the world.
They could learn and understand things at the micro level, but the same was not necessarily true at the macro level.
Just like how people, as three-dimensional beings, could see everything happening in two dimensions, but they can’t see everything happening in three dimensions, let alone four dimensions.
’Nothing is true, everything is permitted.’
With an alterable perception and the power of thought, the very fabric of reality could be changed and rewritten.
After modifying the scenery, Vaan began absorbing soul essences on a larger scale. With just a thought, the sea of soul essences altered its path, rushing toward him.
Although the action was simple, the scale still consumed a large amount of his soul power.
However, fortunately, the rate of consumption did not exceed the supply of new soul power. As such, the absorption of soul essence could be maintained.
Now that Vaan was equipped with the power of thought, he began to tackle the problem of his original soul. Undoubtedly, the restoration of his original soul was of the utmost importance.
After all, its full restoration wouldn’t just grant him access to an immeasurable amount of soul power, various abilities and talents could also be unlocked and enhanced.
He could even unlock the full potential of his fourth-dimensional sense and achieve true omniscience!
Unfortunately, Vaan had been too optimistic about resolving the problem.
Although he knew his original soul was incomparable vast despite its current small appearance in his mind, he still greatly underestimated its vastness. Just that one piece he could sense his connection with was actually as vast as a galaxy cluster.
If he took that as the standard unit to calculate the entire original soul, its size would likely exceed a normal chaosverse many times over.
As such, the moment he tried to repair the crack surrounding the first connected soul fragment, his entire reserve of soul power was also sapped dry in an instant, causing his astral form to become transparent, like it were on the verge of fading.
Even the first connected soul fragment dimmed in its brilliance.
’As I thought, full restoration of the original soul is a gargantuan task. Previously, I didn’t know how exactly gargantuan it is, but now I do.’
Vaan’s eyes flickered with resolution, hiding a hint of excitement.
Although the exhaustion of soul power left him feeble and tired, arguably the most tired he had ever felt, he was still motivated and excited due to his restoration attempt producing an effect.
’The effect isn’t significant, but any restoration progress is better than none. This is obviously a problem that will take a long time to fix; it can’t be resolved in the short term,’ Vaan understood.
If he had known better, he would have tried to limit the consumption of soul power.
Even mental exhaustion did not make him feel this tired. At the very least, mental exhaustion could be endured. It could even be alleviated with multiple methods.
On the other hand, soul power exhaustion was like an itch he couldn’t scratch.
In such a state of exhaustion, he couldn’t maintain his high absorption of soul essence to replenish his soul power.
Moreover, an irresistible urge compelled him to sleep. He simply couldn’t muster the strength to fight it. Mental exhaustion could still be fought with willpower, but soul power exhaustion left no willpower to even speak of.
For an instant, Vaan feared that if he fell asleep in his astral form, he would join the Astral Soul Realm in its eternal rest.
However, he quickly adjusted his perception before darkness consumed his awareness.
After an unknown passage of time, Vaan regained consciousness, and his eyes opened. He found himself back in Sound Chamber No.1, but his mental state remained terrible due to the persisting soul power exhaustion.
Although some soul power was recovered with time, the amount was pitiful and not even enough to leave the state of exhaustion.
If he wanted to recover his soul power quickly, he would have to re-enter the Astral Soul Realm to absorb its boundless sea of soul essence.
However, such a task was impossible to carry out in his current state.
’I have to be careful with my consumption of soul power in the future. Falling into such a state severely limits my abilities and greatly delays my progress,’ Vaan understood with a grim, lethargic look.
Even in life-or-death situations, Vaan had never felt this pathetic and desperate.
’Curiosity kills the cat. It’s going to be difficult to do anything for a while...’ Vaan sighed helplessly and powerlessly.
Nevertheless, this unfortunate experience was not without its merits.
At the very least, Vaan discovered that with soul power exhaustion, he felt more emotionally aware and human.
Without the constant, cold, rational calculations of his powerful mind running automatically, he became more conscious of his individual self, which also made him feel relaxed and peaceful, contradicting the debuffs of soul power exhaustion.
’Undeniably, my biggest issue with this powerful computation ability is that its simulated calculations are no different from parallel realities,’ Vaan sighed in thought.
If one became spiritually aware of their parallel selves and constantly experienced the death and suffering of their loved ones in parallel realities, how could they stop such awareness from eating away at them and driving them insane?
Without a firm Sacred Will, one would likely capsize with despair under their own powerful ability.
’Fortunately, I can enter the state of soul power exhaustion whenever I feel this ability becomes too burdensome and suffocating. This is a valuable discovery,’ Vaan sincerely thought.
Furthermore, he didn’t necessarily need to enter the state of soul power exhaustion.
He just needed to reduce his soul power reserve to a level that restricted his computational ability. That would also make him more approachable to his loved ones.
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