"Nice to greet you finally. You've earned the right to learn my name. I'm the Artifact Spirit of the Divine Soulless Pagoda, 'Soulless'!"
Jacob's eyes flickered furiously as the Artifact Spirit, Soulless, revealed itself before him. Furthermore, he instantly discovered how Soulless called the 'Divine Soulless Pagoda' instead of 'Soulless Ghost Pagoda.'
However, it wasn't necessary at this moment, as he asked curtly, "Where am I, and what is this place?"
Soulless snickering voice rang, "Keke, weren't you curious about where the Pagoda was located all this time? Well, this is it. We are in the depth of Chaotic Space between the Legendary Plains and the Universal Void.
"Normally, those Legendary Kings with space-type abilities travel through the periphery of the Chaotic Space, where the space current is the gentlest. Some of the ordinary elemental planets were also born there.
"But this is the deepest part of the Legendary Plains chaotic space where the space current is the strongest and only ancient elemental galaxies can exist in this place.
"Even a Quasi-Legend will have their body and soul totem tear apart once exposed in this place within a fragment of a second unless they are Lesser Gods, at least. And right in front of you is my true body. This should answer some of your questions."
Jacob was shocked and instantly grimaced when he heard the truth about this location. Furthermore, he can't tell if Soulless is lying or not with the current rank of his Eyes of Judge.
However, with what he could preserve, Soulless shouldn't be lying about this place because he can tell how terrifying those invisible energies are outside. Without this bubble, he might really fall into a life-and-death situation.
But no matter how he thought about this, it didn't make sense for Soulless to bring him here.
After all, he had completed the trials, and since Soulless was still protecting him, Jacob mused that there might be another reason for Soulless to bring him here and tell me so much.
"Alright, I get the point, but I still don't know why you have brought me here. Did I fail the trial?" Jacob impassively asked while secretly preparing himself to act if things went south.
It was impossible to measure what Soulless was thinking, which made Jacob somewhat restless as he was ready to get thrown into the chaotic space at any moment.
At this moment, Soulless finally spoke, "I didn't discover it first, but now I'm sure you are not a ghost race member, nor did you have any characteristics of a lich. Yet, you have a perfect body, this generation's Soulless Ghost King; even the Soulless Ghost Ancestor's residue Will wasn't able to find any fault with you and let you take the trial.
"Even I was fooled by you, but after I glimpse at your Divine Soulless Codex, I'm sure you are not the Soulless Ghost King. That scourge was too afraid of death and didn't care about his race at all.
"And finally, your eyes are not Nether Vision, but something even more profound." As Soulless stated, the bubble started to crack around Jacob, and it continued impassively, "Now, I'll give you a chance to confess. Who are you, and what are your motives? Since you passed the trials, and as I witnessed, you are an absolute talent of Soulmancy. On top of that, you seemed to have a completely impossible soul totem with more than ten laws imbued in it, including the laws of Space and Time. Even those eccentric Gods couldn't make it happen."
Jacob's eyes flared as the only thing he was afraid of had happened. Although he completed the trial, he had overlooked that Soulless wasn't some mindless treasure who would follow through the process mindlessly.
Like in the Soulless Ghost Ancestor's message, Soulless wasn't a mere mindless artifact spirit but a being capable of reasoning.
Furthermore, with how the Divine Soulless Pagoda was hiding in such a terrifying place, Soulless would definitely be careful about whom to choose as its master, and Jacob was filled with secrets and terrifying ones at that.
But despite all that, Soulless still didn't directly kill Jacob, and with all the experience Jacob had with such beings, Jacob was sure that he was essential to Soulless after what he showed.
'This might be a carrot and stick tactic. He probably wants to scare me into revealing my identity and then coerce me to reward myself for doing his bidding. But if not, I would have to escape this place and think of another way to get my hands on this pagoda some other time.
'But for now, I should play along and see what he wants and how he's planning on going forward with me…'
Jacob instantly put a submission front and bowed towards the Artifact Spirit before he said, "I shouldn't have overestimated myself in front of you, and that was my mistake because of my ignorance. Lord Soulless is right; I do not belong to the Ghost Race and only robbed the Soulless Ghost King of his identity when he came after me with ill intent.
"However, it's also true that I didn't know anything about Soulmancers or Lord Soulless before meeting you. I was just after the Ghost Race treasury and thought I could get it by completing your trial, but I've clearly been a fool from the beginning.
"As for who I am and why my soul totem is like this, I have no idea. My soul totem became like this once I reached the Legendary Rank through the Path of Legend with the help of one of the legendary vestiges in the Path of Legend: the Legendary Vestige of Pisces!"
Soulless remained silent, but its force was entirely on Jacob.
After a while, it finally spoke, "Some of your words make sense, but I can't believe you could form such a soul totem with a mere legendary vestige from the Path of Legend. Although I admit those vestiges are somewhat special, nothing like your situation is recorded in any of the records I have."
Jacob's eyes compressed with a grimace as he thought it was impossible to fool this ancient treasure.
But then Soulless suddenly said something unexpected, "However, I greatly appreciate your talent. So, there is a way to earn my trust. If you agree, you can be the most terrifying person in the Upper Galaxies and become my valid owner.
"However, if you disagree, I'll take it as you are my enemy who was trying to fool me. So, tell me, what it'll be?"
Jacob looked up towards Soulless, and although he didn't have skin if he had, he would have been grinning with utter derision!