"What the hell?" Julius muttered to himself.

The boss room was completely isolated, which meant that he hadn't been able to see what was beyond it despite using [Absolute Spatial Perception]. That was also the reason he was shocked to see the situation in front of his eyes.

He had walked in half expecting it to be crawling with more undead along with the big bad boss, but what he found instead was a large empty room with two figures. One of these figures was imprisoned in a semi-transparent cage while the other person was off in the corner fiddling with something.

On closer inspection, it almost looked like the figure in the mana cage was an undead. Was this the boss of the room? If so, what was it doing in a cage? And who was this other person?

It was a young man with dark brown hair who was covered in a beat-up and worn black cloak. Julius could also tell that this man noticed him when he entered the room. He said this confidently because the man's mana filled the entire room and reacted to Julius's presence the very second he opened the doors.

However, the unknown man only barely glanced in his direction. It appeared that he was too busy finishing up whatever he was examining in the corner. From what Julius could tell, the man was inspecting some of the enchantments placed around the room.

In the meantime, Julius walked over to the caged undead and knelt down to get closer to it. The mana cage prevented him from sensing any of its mana or aura, so he wasn't sure if this thing was the boss. But just from looking at it, there was something different about this monster.

For one, it had glowing green eyes that pulsed lightly. It was also completely bare of rotten flesh. It was just a skeleton covered in elegant black robes. He had never seen one before, but he suspected that this creature was a lich.

Julius inspected the cage in front of him with curiosity. It was quite the intriguing work of mana. Julius was able to sense multiple different channels of mana flowing throughout the entire construct. Each one had its own function and empowered the others.

He didn't think he could even make a dent in this cage, not without a lot of time and mana.

This construct was also the reason why he knew that this unknown man was skilled. The mana around the room was the first hint, but the mana was diffused throughout the entire room. It was more like it was meant specifically for perception. It had some similarities to a domain, but there wasn't any real power behind this technique, which made it hard to estimate what tier the man was in.

However, that mana cage had Julius believing that this man was at the very least toward the top of Tier 4 or even Tier 5. He didn't think this man was Tier 5 quite yet, but that was just because Julius believed the unknown man would have simply used a domain instead of throwing out his mana like a pseudo domain technique.

Julius was wary of the man, but his curiosity was quite piqued. That was the reason he found himself sitting across the mana cage as he calmly analyzed whatever skill the cloaked man used to create it. While he waited for the mysterious figure to finish whatever he was doing.

***

Kuro POV

Kuro had been coming back from a particularly intense mission deep in the Endless Forest. However, he came across a weird rift just as he was flying over the treetops. He dropped down to the forest floor to investigate and was intrigued when he spotted the entrance to an undead rift.

He commanded his familiar Syla to drop down and see what he had sensed. She made sure to find a suitable place to land, and once they did, he climbed down from her soft and feathered back.

Syla was a unique beast. She was a Cloudgale Eagle and he had been lucky enough to find a sole egg when he was young. He had painstakingly cared for her egg and it took almost an entire year for her to hatch. But once she did, they became inseparable and quickly became partners for life.

He had even been lucky enough to get a skill that improved this bond. She was able to be stored within his soul space whenever he wanted, and they also shared their talents with each other. She gained his talent for soul magic and mana manipulation, while he gained her potent affinity to wind magic as well as an increase to his physical abilities.

What had gotten him interested in this rift was that it was an undead rift. While undead rifts weren't the rarest rift out there, most of the variations were heavily based around death. However, he sensed that this wasn't the case with this rift.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

There were some heavy hints of powerful soul magic, and as someone who was always trying to learn more about soul magic. He realized this could be a good opportunity to learn some new things. That was why he had delayed his return to Peralt and took a look at the rift. He wasn't worried, though. As a Tier 4, he was more than confident in solo delving a Tier 3 rift.

He didn't even bother to fight the undead. He simply used his stealth skill to pass by them without issue and went immediately into the boss room, where the lich in charge of the undead welcomed him.

He had been disappointed, though. The lich wasn't the expert in soul magic like he had been hoping for. The lich was more like a powerful mage than someone who specialized in the esoteric art of souls. Sure, the lich knew enough to control some undead, but that was about it.

There wasn't much that he was interested in learning from it.

Because of this, Kuro almost made the mistake of killing the lich right away. However, he thankfully held off when he noticed the enchantments around the room. He quickly imprisoned the lich so that he could examine the walls of the room.

This was where he had sensed the soul magic coming from. Whatever this rift was, it had created a room that was specifically designed to amplify the soul magic of the lich. It was why the lich had been able to control so many undead at its tier with such a poor understanding of soul magic.

It was basically a resonating chamber that heightened all soul magic usage. It was ingenious and beyond his understanding. However, he believed that if he could glean even a single bit of this wisdom, it would help him immensely.

He was so focused on analysing the chamber and how it worked that he almost didn't notice when a young teen entered the boss's room. From what Kuro could see, the boy was alone and unarmed.

He wondered how he had managed to get through all of the undead. Kuro knew that there was a large horde of undead all around the cavern, and even he had decided that avoiding them was easier than fighting all of them. If a Tier 4 like himself didn't think it was worth it, then for a Tier 3 like the boy in front of him, it was doubly true.

Despite all of that, the boy was covered in blood, gunk, and ash. There were parts where he had clearly tried to clean himself up, but it was obvious to anyone with a set of eyes that he was quite ragged. Was it possible the boy had fought all the way to the boss's room?

No, he probably snuck his way through while fighting some stranglers, he thought to himself.

However, Kuro didn't pay too much mind to the boy. He wasn't doing anything and was simply sitting in front of the mana cage patiently. He didn't sense any malice or anything of the like, but he still made sure to wrap himself in some mana. Syla was also ready to come out of his soul space to protect him if the need arose.

However, he found out that all of his precautions weren't necessary. The Tier 3 teen maintained a polite distance and was prodding his barrier with a scholar's curiosity. Something that made Kuro grin to himself. He always enjoyed seeing children being studious.

He felt Syla give him a mental nudge, reminding him that he wasn't that far away from a child either. He had not even reached thirty years of age yet, so she was right in a way.

When Kuro finally finished up his analysis, he was happy. He didn't quite understand everything about the chamber and how it was able to amplify soul magic, but he found some interesting ideas he could try and implement into his own techniques. Perhaps he could empower Syla with something like this using their connection and a little soul magic.

He knew it was possible. He had heard of plenty of others who could accomplish something similarly with soul magic before Tier 5.

He used [Mental Library] to tuck away all of his findings for later. The skill would allow him to recall some of the finer details with great precision. Once he did all of that, he finally placed his focus on the boy who was still prodding his mana cage.

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to finish it up. Can I help you with something?" Kuro asked.

The youth shook his head. "No. Just clearing out this rift when I came across this," he said while gesturing his arms at the room and Kuro.

Kuro narrowed his eyes. From the sounds of it, the boy was implying that he had been trying to close the rift. Which sounded implausible considering that he was alone and his aura came off as a low Tier 3. For that very reason, he used [Soul Gaze] and inspected the boy more closely. It was a skill that would allow him to sense a person's aura, despite how well they controlled their aura.

It was actually more correct to say that he was looking at a person's soul rather than their aura.

However, he choked on his tongue when he saw the boy's soul.

It was nothing like he had ever seen from a Tier 3 before. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought this was a Tier 4's soul. The only thing that assured him that it wasn't the case was the lack of evidence showing a second soul evolution.

But there was this iridescence that went beyond just the power of a soul. It said a lot about the quality.

Yet, all of that wasn't what alarmed Kuro. It was the oppressive and tyrannical nature of the soul. It had both signs of life and death, unlike anything he had ever seen before. One part was lively, like a blazing fire of life. At the same time, the other side was destructive and pure carnage.

He didn't know what this meant exactly, but he was suddenly very sure that this person in front of him was someone to be cautious around. The only thing that stopped him from making any rash decisions was that the boy in front of him was still staring at him with calm and relaxed eyes.

However, for some reason, that only made Kuro even more wary, and he decided that it would probably be a good idea to take a more careful approach and be as polite as he could. He had a feeling that he didn't want to cause any issues with a person with a soul like this.