The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1148: System Overhauled, Prime Factor

In the blink of an eye, a week had quickly passed since Vaan began delving into the study of soul runes to overhaul the system. Due to its complexity, he didn’t rush the modifications until his understanding of soul runes was solid.

The runic structure of the truncated icosahedron-shaped system was similar to that of DNA; each segment contained a huge amount of information.

Just by studying all of this information, Vaan’s understanding of soul runes improved by leaps and bounds. Once he reached a certain level of comprehension, he was able to derive new knowledge of soul runes.

It was like understanding the periodic table and then using it to determine the properties of unknown elements.

With a strong foundation in runic understanding, the missing soul runes could be recovered, and even unknown soul runes not recorded in the system’s information library could be deduced.

As long as Vaan was willing to continue exerting his computational prowess, he could keep producing new knowledge of soul runes, further enhancing his runic understanding over time.

This was a case of good wealth generating even more wealth.

By consuming soul power, Vaan could also accelerate the development of runic knowledge. As such, he had also made frequent trips to the Astral Soul Realm for soul power recovery in the past week.

Now, Vaan was ready to overhaul the system.

Fortunately, although overhauling the system seemed like a huge project, requiring tremendous time and effort, it was far simpler than it sounded. After all, modifying an existing system was far less demanding than creating one from scratch.

With the entire new system design mapped out in his mind, Vaan only needed to make a few tweaks here and there, with some areas naturally requiring more time, effort, and energy than others.

However, the overall process was smooth and continuous.

At no point did a problem arise or confound him. Since he was thoroughly prepared for the system overhaul, it was just a matter of materializing the virtual into reality.

’It’s done.’

Vaan’s eyes suddenly lit up as he fitted the last soul rune into place.

In that instant, the whole system seemed to come to life. While its overall truncated isocahedron form remained unchanged, it showed higher activity and movement than before.

With no further obstructions in its circuit, the flow of information and calculations became smooth, greatly easing its operational burden. At the same time, a lot of its soul power reserve was freed up, no longer locked behind operational maintenance.

Ding!

<A new soul rune had been deduced>

<Consume 5 SP (Soul Power) to learn?>

’Yes.’

In an instant, mastery of the new soul rune was fully imprinted into Vaan’s memory. He didn’t just know it; he understood it, instantly and instinctively.

Generally, when he learned new knowledge, it still required mastery through practice to be executed perfectly. Otherwise, it would just be floating knowledge, consuming more brainpower to recall and use.

Although he could simulate countless practices in his mind, greatly accelerating the time to master the knowledge without the need for actual practice, this still consumed time and soul power. ꞦÅＮỘΒΕš

Even without such simulated practices, he could still execute the knowledge perfectly.

However, this method had a serious disadvantage: it would consume even more soul power from his original soul, which he did not know before.

Since Vaan became aware of what was fueling his computational prowess and understood the importance of soul power, he couldn’t spend it so carelessly as before.

Fortunately, with the help of the new system, he could instantly master any new knowledge he learned, like he had practiced it for countless years, saving both time and excess soul power consumption.

The new system helped him optimize efficiency and expenditure of soul power, saving both time and effort.

Although Vaan had practically limitless access to soul power, it required a systematic trip to the Astral Soul Realm every time. As such, he did not look down on the amount of soul power he could save through the new system.

After all, the amount of soul power he saved through the new system might just save his life during a dire situation.

Having more soul power was always better than having less.

’Open system status.’

Ding!

=====

[System Status]

System Name: The Witch Hunter System

Version: Operating System 2.0

Core Medium: Soul Power

Structural Integrity: 99%

Operational State: Stable

Soul Power Capacity: 60/1000

Recovery Rate: +1SP/Day (Passive)

System Level: 2

Upgrade Requirement: 1000SP

=====

After looking at the information on the system, Vaan wore a strange expression.

Strictly speaking, the original system wasn’t named as such, let alone designed to hunt witches. It was the previous host’s work, which also twisted the system in this direction.

Nevertheless, since it’s been known as such, Vaan didn’t feel the need to rename it.

More importantly, the system’s personal soul power reserve was quite low, requiring 940 days to fully replenish naturally. Of course, this process could be expedited through the sensual stimulation or killing of other beings.

However, the fact that the system’s soul power reserve was only around this level showed just how poorly it had been operating previously.

Now that the flawed operating system had been overhauled, it was more efficient and powerful than ever. In fact, the new system was more efficient at using soul power than himself.

After all, the new system wasn’t just relying solely on itself. His own Prime Factor also empowered it. As such, the system practically possessed the capability of two Soul Masters working in synergy.

With twice the intensity of soul power and half the cost of usage, its efficiency was naturally superior. It wasn’t just a simple addition of one plus one equalled two.

’Prime Factor...’ Vaan recalled.

This was something he had learned from the records of the Soul Master Hall—or rather, the records themselves had originated from the Soul Master Association.

According to the Soul Master Association, the reason Soul Masters could comprehend and wield the power of thought was that they were born with the Prime Factor. Without this Prime Factor, even if they understood the power of thought, they would not be able to wield it.

But what was the Prime Factor?

Supposedly, the Prime Factor was an invisible authority granted by the Prime Originator. As the creator of Chaos, he possessed the highest authority over it, surpassing even that of the Lord of Chaos.

Without his permission or blessing, no one else could wield the power of thought within his domain of creation.

Possessing the Prime Factor was precisely receiving this permission or blessing.

Unfortunately, this Prime Factor could only be granted at birth. There was no other way to acquire it. As such, many Soul Masters speculated that all Prime Factor Holders were, in fact, related to the Prime Originator.

Because of this common belief, it was taboo for Soul Masters to harm each other.

Of course, this taboo was only maintained on the surface. In the face of self-interests, even one’s kin could slaughter each other, let alone others.

’Considering the Lord of Chaos permitted the Soul Master Association to spread its influence across Chaos, its belief that all Soul Masters were part of the Prime Originator’s lineage should be true. I, myself, can be considered its proof,’ Vaan mused.

’Although it doesn’t matter if Soul Masters believe themselves to be the true masters of Chaos due to their connection to the Prime Originator, I dare say the Lord of Chaos wouldn’t hesitate to throw them into the cycle of reincarnation if they act audaciously in front of him.’

’After all, after more than a hundred chaos cycles, god knows how much of the Prime Originator’s lineage had spread? A distant descendant would be no different from a stranger to the Lord of Chaos.’

’Moreover, at the level of the Lord of Chaos, moral values would naturally be different from human mortals. Perhaps, tossing a misbehaving junior into the cycle of reincarnation is considered a light punishment.’

’As for a heavy punishment... Probably better off not knowing,’ Vaan thought wryly.

After leaving the cultivation chamber he hired at the Soul Master Hall, Vaan intended to return to Whispering Pearl City’s Mermaid’s Grotto to continue his old business for a short period, enough to replenish the system’s soul power reserve.

Although the Soul Master Hall had quite a few training facilities that could assist with Soul Master Cultivation, none of them piqued Vaan’s interest.

Compared to his privilege of entering the Astral Soul Realm, the basic training facilities at the Soul Master Hall simply didn’t possess any allure to keep him. That said, he did benefit from the Soul Master Hall’s accumulation of knowledge.

It wasn’t quite right to just leave after benefiting from it.

’I should improve the Soul Master Hall’s heritage,’ Vaan casually decided, thinking it wasn’t in his nature to owe others. It was better to have others indebted to him.

With that thought in mind, Vaan quickly returned to the Soul Master Hall’s library.

At the same time, Soul Master Vastmind and Soul Master Voidwhisper sensed Vaan exiting his cultivation chamber. They hurriedly dropped everything and headed over to receive him.

However, by the time they arrived outside his rented cultivation chamber, Vaan had already entered the library.

"Sigh, we just missed him," Soul Master Vastmind lamented.

"Lord Vaan stayed inside the cultivation chamber for a whole week after visiting the library. I wonder what he has gained during this period?" Soul Master Voidwhisper commented curiously.

"That’s hard to say. It has only been a week, after all. It’s not strange for Soul Masters to enter secluded cultivation for hundreds of years without a single gain."

"That’s true. But this is also Lord Vaan that we are talking about. Considering his past feats, he must have made significant gains. Perhaps Lord Vaan is about to achieve a new feat and take the Myriad Sea God Palace by another storm."

"Hahaha, it’s strange that I don’t find it surprising. It’s just that this curiosity is killing me. After all, this time, it’s related to our Soul Master Hall."

"Right. I feel the same, Vastmind."