Faced with the labyrinthine tangle of his [Soul Ability Tree], Anthony barely hesitated before selecting the ability he'd already set his heart on.
[Soul Foundation · Spirit Soul]
This was to be the foundation of everything — the starting point of all his soul abilities going forward. It wasn't a choice Anthony had made lightly; he'd thought it through with care.
First, there was one crucial point worth noting: choosing Spirit Soul didn't mean he was locked out of Iron Soul forever. The two paths weren't fundamentally in conflict. Right now, he was simply choosing which one to prioritize.
Second — staring down his current situation — Anthony genuinely couldn't picture a scenario where Iron Soul got him out of this mess.
What was he supposed to do, power up his soul and trade punches with DIO's Stand, The World? That would be the stupidest idea he'd ever had in either of his lives.
So, all things considered, Anthony figured the smarter play was to explore what Spirit Soul had to offer — broaden his support toolkit, and improve Jonathan's odds against DIO.
[500 Points spent.]
[Soul Foundation · Spirit Soul: Unlocked.]
The moment that foundational orb lit up, it was as though sparks began spreading outward across the entire ability tree.
Anthony's movements stilled. He took a half-step back and watched in quiet attention as the tree shifted before his eyes.
At the same time, he felt his soul stretch — pulled taut in some direction he couldn't name — and then a sensation that was almost impossible to describe washed through him: a deep, spreading sense of release, like something that had been clenched for a very long time finally letting go.
In the layer above Spirit Soul on the tree, countless orbs began to glow with a dim, grey light — signaling that they had entered the range of what could now be unlocked.
[Spirit Soul has been unlocked.]
[You may now acquire abilities from the "Spirit Application" series. These abilities are designed to leverage the plasticity of Spirit Soul to achieve a wide range of effects.]
[After unlocking a sufficient number of "Spirit Application" abilities, you will be able to unlock "Spirit Direction" abilities and formally determine the primary focus of your Soul Ability development.]
Anthony studied the system's prompt for a while and gradually pieced together how the structure worked.
If he had to put it in terms of an analogy: unlocking Spirit Soul was like getting accepted into university. The "Spirit Application" abilities were like choosing your broad field of study.
But choosing your field wasn't the end of it — you still had to finish your first year, rack up enough credits, and only then could you enter the specialized track of a "Spirit Direction" and begin serious study in your chosen discipline...
It was a bit like a class advancement system, now that he thought about it.
And the "Spirit Application" series abilities were, to put it simply, absolutely everywhere. Anthony did a rough scan and identified some basic patterns.
First: without exception, every single one of them cost 1,000 Points.
Second: they all involved the application of soul energy in some form or another — covering a remarkably wide range of functions across virtually every conceivable angle.
"With two thousand Points left, I've got exactly enough to unlock two more abilities..."
After a moment of quiet deliberation, Anthony went through the abilities one by one. After a long, painful process of consideration and elimination, he finally settled on the two he wanted.
[Spirit Application · Soul Splitting]
[Effect: You may divide your soul energy into separate portions, attach your consciousness to individual fragments of that soul energy, and direct them to act independently.]
[Enhancement Cost: 1,000 Points]
[Spirit Application · Soul Attachment]
[Effect: You may attach soul energy to inanimate objects and drive those objects into normal movement.]
[Enhancement Cost: 1,000 Points]
The reasoning behind both choices was, honestly, pretty straightforward.
Soul Splitting — because Anthony simply couldn't afford to be tied down. As an Earth-Bound Spirit anchored to the Primordial River, without some additional ability to compensate, he would never be able to linger long in another group member's world. And for what came next, he was going to need to spend a significant amount of time in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure world.
So, after turning it over from every angle, Soul Splitting was the answer: he could leave his Soul Foundation anchored to the Primordial River and simply send a fragment of soul energy over to Jonathan's side. Clean and efficient.
The reasoning behind Soul Attachment was even simpler. Without this ability, Anthony had no real means of interacting with the physical world. He needed it — both as a form of self-defense while operating in the JoJo world, and to make certain plans even remotely executable. The restrictions on a purely soul-form existence were, frankly, crippling.
But beyond the practical necessity, he genuinely liked this ability.
The effect was blunt and direct — and blunt and direct meant it had raw numbers behind it.
After reading it carefully, Anthony noticed something: Soul Attachment placed no stated cap on how much soul energy could be output.
Which meant — in theory — as long as he had enough soul energy, there was nothing technically stopping him from going toe-to-toe with The World itself.
The only problem was that playing it that way would burn through soul energy at an absolutely terrifying rate.
Two words: costs money.
Three words: costs a lot.
Soul energy, when you got right down to it, was essentially Points made manifest — because right now, every scrap of soul energy Anthony had was sustained entirely by his Point reserves. Sure, going all-out like that would feel incredible. It would just be somewhat catastrophic for his wallet.
"Back to fishing. The Points I earn from here on out can't keep going straight into new abilities — I need to hold as much in reserve as possible, in case of emergencies, and to fuel the two Spirit Application abilities when I actually use them..."
Anthony muttered under his breath, settled himself back onto the toilet, cast the rod out again, and sank once more into the familiar misery known as being completely broke.
God, I'm so poor.
When is this ever going to change?
For a long moment, Anthony fell into genuine, earnest contemplation.
And so, in the long rhythm of fishing and thinking — punctuated by the occasional idle message to the group chat — another day ground by.
While chatting in the group, Anthony learned that time on Jonathan's end seemed to be accelerating again.
That information hit him with a kind of low-grade numbness.
Did Father Pucci show up early over there or something? Why does the time keep accelerating like this?
I want an explanation. Someone show me the receipts.
Complaining internally aside, Anthony pushed his fishing pace up another notch — the last thing he needed was to fall behind on his end.
According to Jonathan, his side was ready. He'd been making frequent excursions to DIO's estate in soul form during the accelerated intervals, observing the changes taking shape around DIO.
By Jonathan's account, the acceleration had compressed what felt like several dozen days. And now — Jonathan had seen it. The golden humanoid silhouette forming behind DIO.
Stand · The World had taken shape.
But Jonathan himself still showed no signs of awakening. Their working theory was that his Stand wouldn't emerge until after his physical body was reconstructed and he was properly revived.
Either way, the main story had clearly begun — and it was advancing at an almost incomprehensible pace.
Time was running short. Anthony had no choice but to fish like his life depended on it and stockpile Points as fast as he could.
At last, the second day arrived. Anthony — who had endured another full cycle sitting on his toilet throne — pressed the check-in button on the panel before him.
And then, without warning, a different notification flashed across his vision.
[Support Mission Now Available!]
[Support Mission · The Resurrection of Lazarus]
[Mission Overview: Help group member Founder of the Golden Spirit formally complete his resurrection, and eliminate the threat posed by DIO.]
[Mission Reward: All participants will receive between 10 and 10,000 Points based on individual performance, plus one random ability.]
——————————————
Second update of the day.
Tomorrow's updates will run a little later than usual — there'll be a late-night burst of chapters, and I'll give advance notice when the time comes. Please bear with me.
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