After comprehending the method of creating a Class-1 Soulless Flame and the basics of Soulmancy, Jacob decided to give it a try with the Soulless Ghost King physique. After all, if he wanted to use the Life Bane Wheel, he needed to show his real self, which was the real problem. That's why Jacob must show the Artifact Spirit some hope before taking any risk.
"Where are the hundred souls I'm supposed to use?" Jacob impassively inquired as he looked at his dark surroundings and waited for the Artifact Spirit to reply.
The Artifact Spirit told him he'd get 100 souls in this trial, but there was nothing else on the platform except for the stele.
The Artifact Spirit's jeering voice reverberated at this moment, "I've already released sufficient souls…"
Jacob's eyes flickered with coldness as he interpreted the hidden meaning behind its words, 'So, I need to capture those souls myself. It seems this thing wants to test my ghost-controlling abilities, and as a ghost king, if I can't even find some souls, what qualification do I have to be a Soulmancer?'
Jacob didn't speak and instantly spread the Soulless Ghost King's soul sense, but to his surprise, the soul sense suddenly encountered an invisible wall when it was about to spread outside the platform's range. It was like he was trapped in a container, and Jacob's expression changed slightly!
'Just what could've blocked a soul sense like this?' Jacob was astounded as he tried to analyze this invisible barrier. But even with the soul sense, Jacob can't sense anything.
Now, Jacob started to get suspicious of this entire trial; after all, except for giving him some rudimentary knowledge and formula, the Artifact Spirit was continuing to make this entire task complex and challenging.
Nonetheless, Jacob knew what he was getting into, and he never trusted or underestimated this treasure for a second, and he never expected righteousness from this evil treasure.
Jacob then retracted the soul sense, moved towards the platform's edge, and moved his hand forward. As he had expected, he was completely confined there, both physically and spiritually.
"Nice trick…" Jacob stated before his eyes flickered profoundly, "Ghost Form!"
The next moment, the dense black mist suddenly gushed out of Soulless Ghost King's body, completely enveloping Jacob, and then his 'form' began to change his height, growing up to 10 meters before the mist vanished.
A towering 'Ghost Form' was revealed as Jacob appeared in his original skeletal body and infernal eyes. The Ghost Race's ghost forms were scarce, and every owner of this manifestation had a different form than the other.
So, under the pretext of 'Ghost Form,' Jacob decided to reveal his real body, so even if the Artifact Spirit knew about the Ghost Form, it would only be suspicious, and unless it can see through the Cursed Immortal Totem Skeleton, and Jacob knew it can't, the Artifact Spirit would be able to found any fault.
Furthermore, after witnessing this Artifact Spirit's eccentric personality, he had this nagging feeling that he was also into this for fun. So, it would probably observe him without pointing out anything as it wanted to watch him suffer.
After all, Jacob now had a terrific experience dealing with an eccentric book, and in comparison, this Artifact Spirit seems cute.
Just as Jacob expected, despite revealing his original form, the Artifact Spirit called out and remained silent, and this was all Jacob could ask for.
He then quickly focused on the barrier, and this time, with his Eyes of Judge, he instantly saw its structure and was astounded.
In his vision, he saw the barrier was actually made like an octahedron, and each point of this octahedron consisted of a crystalline white triangular quartz, and within this quartz was a pitch-black shifting mercury.
Jacob's eyes flickered as he used soul force to reinforce his vision further, and then he could see the mystery of this mercury, and realization dawned on him when he saw a familiar structure of particles!
'It's a soul!' Jacob was astounded. He had never seen a soul compression in a crystal like this.
Furthermore, the soul trapped in that quartz was filled with negative life force while also brimming with other vitalities, almost like a living person's soul. But he knew it was a dead soul, and upon further analysis, he reached the conclusion that this was most likely the work of a Soulmancer or some rare innate ability!
After further observation, he was surprised when he noticed that the octahedron structure has precisely a hundred of these soul quartzes, and realization struck him.
'So, that's how it is…that Artifact Spirit didn't lie about giving me the souls. It's just that the Soulless Ghost King's soul sense were so weak, or he probably lacked some crucial aspect to see them in this state.
'This was another test to evaluate Soulmancer's talent further. Then, didn't this mean the Soulless Ghost King lacked the talent of Soulmancer? Could it be related to Ghost Form? After all, the Artifact Spirit didn't say anything when I used this form, and I even felt a peculiar fluctuation when I revealed this 'Ghost Form'…'
Although Soulless Ghost King had tons of spells and other abilities, Jacob couldn't be bothered to test them since his own abilities matter in the end. Now that he sees through the Artifact Spirit's trick and finds the 'materials', he quickly moves to the next step.
Jacob released his own soul sense, which was far more powerful than any Legendary King or even a Quasi-Myth, and this time, his soul sense easily seeped into the barrier like water into cracks, and Jacob tried to cover a soul quartz before pulling it out of the structure.
He instantly met with a strong attraction force. Jacob instantly pulled it with more force, and the next moment, he successfully plucked the soul quartz from the octahedron structure!
The moment the soul quartz was pulled out of the structure, it instantly became visible. In contrast, another web line shot from another soul quartz filled the gap between the barrier, instantly mending it without any damage. However, Jacob could sense the barrier had lost some of its power.
At this moment, all of a sudden, Jacob sensed intense fluctuations in his surroundings before the Artifact Spirit's ecstatic laughter reverberated like thunder.
"Kekekeke… after countless years, someone with Nether Vision Ghost Form has finally appeared!"