Rebirth: Supreme Soul Master

William knew his fate was about to change. After all, he had been through it all. "My spirit is still in a muddy phase... I have a long way to go." He placed the crystal back on the table, tapping its surface with his fingers, lost in thought.

If anyone saw him at this moment, they would never believe that this child was only eight years old. Whether it was his expression, his posture, the strange, rhythmic tapping on the table, or even the determined look in his eyes... everything about him gave the impression of someone who had experienced life, an adult, not a child.

This was to be expected. After all, he had returned to the past, but retained all his memories, and most importantly, his experiences. He had learned a great deal, thanks to his master's teachings and to his long and arduous life after his fall from grace in this world.

“I still have a lot to do… but there’s one thing that, even if I came back in time, would still be vivid in my mind.” He slowly stood up, walked to the main drawer of the room, took out a large backpack, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Power is the only thing that truly governs a person’s life and destiny,” he said before closing the door.

The outside world was darker than what he could see through the window. He knew it was already late at night. But that didn't stop him from crossing the empty road and heading towards the vast forest ahead.

This is the Southern Demon Forest, or the Blessed Forest. The world consists of two main continents, connected by five narrow landmasses.

The academy is located in the Southern Continent, in one of the most powerful kingdoms on the continent. It is a Protestant kingdom.

It can be said that this academy is one of the top five academies in the entire kingdom, and also one of the top 100 academies in the world.

It's not that good, but it's not that bad either.

The strength of the disciples and masters here is self-evident. But in William's view, this academy, and indeed other academies in this world, are backward in their teaching methods. They are all weak!

That wasn't their fault. He knew it was a carefully orchestrated scheme by humanity's mortal enemies; the monsters.

As someone who witnessed the destruction of the world and survived it, and who has been to places that others cannot reach, he can frankly say that even his simplest knowledge far exceeds the comprehension of the people here.

Let's take the basic knowledge of Soul Masters as an example...

In this world, a Soul Master's power is discovered at the age of six through a special method. This isn't significantly different from the era of external trials William experienced. The difference lies in the various aspects of the test itself and how it is interpreted.

The people here rely solely on the innate spiritual power generated during trials, valuing primarily the worth of that power.

For example, someone with a Lion Spirit with a mustache can be considered a very strong Soul Master. Others with distant-range Spirits like Flying Tiger Holy Spirit or Scaled Serpent Dark Spirit can be considered geniuses.

The same applies to the soul power values ​​detected in the tests. A value above 25 qualifies one as a Soul Master. And children scoring above 100 are considered geniuses.

For someone like William, whose martial soul had no unique form and whose soul power was only twelve at the age of eight, he was already considered a failure. The people here were too lazy to raise such a child, so he was abandoned and forced to serve other soul masters for a living.

However, William understood this much better. These starting points may be a good factor in determining future strength, but they are not the only factor.

From his experience living in seclusion, he learned about the true world of Soul Masters and the three cornerstones for measuring a Soul Master's potential, known as the Three Holy Trinity of Soul Masters.

These are: spiritual power, spiritual purity, and spirit cultivation techniques, or in other words, the cultivation manual. For any soul master, what matters is not the starting point, but what the soul master does afterward.

For example, the second sacred cornerstone of the Triads, spiritual purity, was considered a life-changing concept in William's life. The concept of spiritual purity is that everyone is a soul master, possessing their own spirit containing varying degrees of impurities.

Purifying these impurities will unleash humanity's true potential, allowing losers like William to become true powerhouses and overlords in the world of Soul Masters.

However, it's easier said than done! To purify one's mind, one needs to do many things regularly, ideally making it a daily routine. The most challenging aspect is connecting these practices with effective spiritual cultivation techniques and continuously enhancing one's mental strength.

This was a comprehensive effort, but William wasn't worried about doing it. After all, he was over seventeen years old when he did such a thing. In other words, even by the standards of the outside world's true spirit realm, it was impossible, yet he still managed to do it.

All of this was thanks to his master.

So how could he doubt his ability to repeat what he did when he was eight years old?

"I need to get the money first." He knew that the biggest obstacle in his plan was money. He came from a poor background and had no one to rely on but himself.

To earn money, he needed to hunt monsters in the forest. Most monsters were strong enough to kill a weakling like him.

But he was not without options.

Blessed Forest is one of the largest forests in the world. It spans the borders of many kingdoms, and more than a dozen academies share their activities within this forest.

For the House, controlling access to the forest made sense, especially if it could make someone like William rich and powerful. But the House made no restrictions on access to the forest, and it wasn't the only House to do so.

After all, weaklings like William, who are porters, should be responsible for their lives there if they decide to go into the forest.

The forest is no place to while away the time. Death drools in every corner. A person can easily lose their life. So what's the point of restricting access to the forest?

The only restriction was that outsiders were not allowed to enter areas controlled by the Academy. Since William was a member of the Academy, he easily found the main path leading to the forest and began to walk forward.

Midway through, he took out his backpack and checked its contents. There were only three things in the bag: an iron sword with rusted edges, a bottle of water, and a small piece of ore to be used as a distress flare.

William's bag contained nothing else. After all, porters would hand over everything they had salvaged to their disciples at the end of the day.

If William were to describe his current gear, he would say it's the worst he's ever had in his life. Even if he considers it the second worst, he can't find anything that comes close to being the worst.