Lowly Ascent

Soul energy gushed like a river, it fell back on itself and condensed into even stronger soul energy.

"With this, I can continuously strengthen and expand my soul energy! The only issue is that the soul energy produced will always be just normal soul energy. Otherwise, everyone would use this augment.

"Technically, as long as I don't get into any fights and use up my soul energy, I can infinitely condense it until it's impenetrable, but I have no clue how long that would take."

Cain succeeded in augmenting his soul with Soul Recovery, his soul was now always producing more of itself, and when he reached the limit of recovery he could dilute his soul into a near-limitless source of soul energy and vice versa. Even if his soul is heavily damaged he could recover from it.

Yet there was an issue with this augment, if his soul was damaged he could lose memories and his mental state could falter, even if it recovered instantaneously there would be issues and things would be lost.

However, Cain was confident in this augment simply because of the nature of his soul differing from the other people in this world. His soul was strong, and the energy produced was tiers above other soul users.

Put in layman's terms, his foundation was so sturdy it made this ability overpowered more than it was supposed to be.

"At long last, another Path can be explored!"

It was already morning, the ritual for soul recovery took some time but Cain didn't wish to wait, he hungered for more knowledge and power. He didn't need to sleep either since his soul energy was limitless.

He spared no time picking up his recently acquired book and opened its pages with shaking hands.

"The Path of Voice! How complex! Not only does it have perquisites but goes into the depths of what is written and spoken language! Words have power and the voice projects it!"

Cain consumed the vast treasures of knowledge in the new power base before him. The more he read the stronger he felt the Path of Voice was as unique as it was dangerous.

First off, the Path needed a strong soul, this could be accomplished through the Path of Soul or other means. The soul had to be around the rank of Wholeness to enter the first step, which meant users of this path were strong even before they touched it. Another thing was that the path had multiple uses, even a mute could use it if they reached the second stage.

"Although this Path only has three levels, if the rumors this book holds about the 3rd level are true then..." He shut the book and sat down to digest his gains.

The Path of Voice was truly spectacular, the first level went beyond common sense in how words were spoken. As he read one note, Cain was even more intrigued.

"From what the first path has been simplified to, is that it encompasses learning words through the understanding of others. This being historians and linguists, the history of a language and its culture. People of this stage are called Scholars of Tongue. The words they project contain strength and can be used as incantations by forming sentences. Not just that, the users' soul energy can come into play...I wonder"

Cain imagined his words forming into powerful manifestations, no matter how much an opponent tried to stop the manifestations they continued to grow back.

"This...is a Path I need!"

Cain skipped his original plans and decided to first deal with learning the new path to prepare himself for the future.

"Who cares about some Sisterhood when I have personal power waiting for me!"

...

Some time passed. The next few weeks were well spent. Cain had made some progress, but to enter the first stage he would need to study an entire language, the more history, the better.

Learning a whole new language was hard, he was required to understand the words, their different meanings, the meaning the culture had for them, and more. Cain had never had to learn a language before as even the Land of Souls strangely used the same language found in the landfill. Because of this, the ancient dialects were too hard and he gave up on them and instead studied the modern language.

However, in learning the history of different languages, he found the modern tongue erupted out of nowhere a few millennia prior and erased the rest, in the sense they were no longer used for writing or speaking. It was a strange turn that seemed natural for the world, and there had to be a reason for it.

But he had to forgo his curiosity as he had not the means to quench it. He wholeheartedly spent even more time studying language and time continued to pass like this as the world continued to go round.

...

"You what?!" The Warden's fist slammed into his desk.

Isaac repeated himself, "I want more resources, more than you are giving me. The Council has been generous and has been able to keep up with the same amount as you. As the Warden, I find that it is likely you have been sending me scraps making me think it was a lot. This is not how partnerships are supposed to be maintained."

"You...how can you think I'm treating you badly!? The Bureau is your home, why would we throw you away!" The Warden paused, he found an error in his words, an error he could not take back. 

After a few more words with the Warden, Isaac made the man begrudgingly give in to his demands. He ended up handing over a 50% increase in resources.

As Isaac left, the Warden complained that what he was giving was already better than some higher-ranking guards.

Isaac knew his position well, and he was confidently exploiting it. He used a similar method before getting more resources from the rest of the council, saying he couldn't understand the Book of Envy and needed more supplies to consolidate his foundations. The council didn't believe it but he didn't give in so they eventually had to.

'With even more resources, it won't be hard at all to hit Wholeness! Now, I should also start preparing to make the second moon!'

Like Cain, Isaac was also changing, the two were advancing themselves in this world and grew stronger each second they were here. It was only a matter of time until they reached the peak of available power and found each other.

At that time, who knew what would happen, perhaps only Fate. Or...perhaps not?