<div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    My next two rooms were cakewalks. The more armors added in, the  easier the group was to take apart. My danger sense combined with my  overlay made the mid combat portions of my Belial form incredibly  simple, and the more I trained them the more I honed those reflexive  moves. I realized after I finished the third, however (which was a bit  more challenging) that I''d run into a slight problem. My soul had  finished its refinement in orange, but I had no clue how to break  through to yellow.


    After my experience in the forest, I  felt like my soul had sublimated, but apparently whatever had happened  wasn''t the necessary trigger to jump to the next rank. I sat for a while  in my third room, meditating on the potential methods I could think of  to break through. Unfortunately, it wasn''t a problem I felt particularly  equipped to handle. It was like trying to flex a muscle you didn''t know  you had. You could think about it all you wanted, but the actual  mechanics were just...a mystery.


    I sat like that for about  an hour, eventually getting bored and deciding that there was no way to  break through here. At the very least, I could still train my Belial  form. I''d been getting substantially better with it. As a technical  subskill of DS Mastery, it was folded into that Skill, and I was pretty  thrilled with the progress. I''d even started work on my second form,  though it was still in development.


    Eventually though, I  acknowledged that I needed to move on, and stood up to head through the  door to the next chamber. As I entered, two others stepped inside. I was  preparing to meet some new people, but to my shock, I found that I knew  both of them. Sadly, only one of them was a friend.


    "You!"  Shouted Kellix, the masked man from the first trial. Apparently falling  off the island didn''t kill you. After he yelled, he drew his rapier and  lunged at me, blurring across the room to try to kill me. Sadly for  him, a massive fist manifestation hit him like an oncoming bus and  slammed him bodily into the now closed door he''d come out of.


    I  nodded casually to the other figure. "Hey Abel." My mentor was looking  as amused as ever, and waved at me as he strolled over. I found my eyes  drawn to the seriously injured form of Kellix, bashed literally THROUGH  the door. "Damn. You didn''t pull that punch, did you?"


    Abel  shrugged. "Reflex. Years of people screaming ''you!'' at me in an  accusatory manner. By the time I figured out he was pointing at you and  not me it was already over. Environmental conditioning."


    That  drew a sharp laugh from me. "Why do I not find that hard to believe.  Surprised you aren''t with Mel. You guys split up for the duration too?"  Their teamwork was even better than mine and Callie''s. I wasn''t sure why  Abel would feel the need to split up, unless it was just to enjoy  himself rampaging solo.


    "I hit a wall." He said with a  shrug. "Peak of yellow, about to break into green. Breaking the second  soul shackle is much harder than the first though. Now I understand why  you need access to a heritage or this temple to break through more than  one."


    I nodded. "I wanted to ask you about the  first...soul shackle? Are we good to talk, or do we have to worry about  this idiot attacking us from behind?" I pointed to the damaged but still  functional body of Kellix. We can just kill him before he picks himself  up if you want."


    Abel chuckled and shook his head. "Nah.  He won''t bother us again." He let his Path leak out, bloodlust and  violence permeating the air. "Will you?" Kellix made a low whining sound  and jerked his head side to side. "See." Abel said, jerking his thumb  toward the immobile form. "What a great guy. Plus the more we leave  alive the more fun we get to have later. Elimination games are so  boring."


    "That sounds more like you." I laughed. I was  impressed again by his Path. That weird oppression he used. I wondered  if that was unique to his path or if I could learn it too. That was a  bit personal though. I decided to stick with the more important question  as we sat down. Or at least the more urgent. "So, what can you tell me  about the soul shackle? I knew there was a barrier of some kind, but not  what it does or how to get past it."


    He shrugged. "The  soul shackle is hard to explain. The body is connected to the soul. When  you rank up, your soul goes along with it. You know this, it''s why I''m  at the peak of yellow. But the body''s connection to the soul isn''t all  positive. It uplifts but also limits. You have three soul shackles. The  first shackle binds the mind. Break the heart shackle and your soul can  ascend to the next rank. The heart shackle is different for everyone, so  I can''t give you specifics."


    "How did you learn all this?" I asked incredulously. "Aren''t you from the same backwater I am?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He  snorted. "Sure, which is why I spent the three months on the ship when I  wasn''t training asking around about soul refinement. I''d already broken  the mind shackle, and it was a...weird experience. I''d hoped learning  more about souls would help me understand what I went through."


    I  blinked at that. "Oh. That...makes sense. Now I feel stupid, I should  have done that. What about the other two shackles. I imagine the second  shackle is what lets you get your soul to the required two levels above.  What about the third? What do you become if you break the third  shackle?"


    "A corpse." He said with a snicker. "Mind,  heart, and self. The shackles tether your soul to your body. Break one  and you can reach the next level of soul refinement, break two and you  go two above, break the third and your soul loses its connection to your  body and floats away. You become an empty shell. Luckily, you have to  actively try to break shackles, and no one is stupid enough to make the  attempt on number three."


    That made  sense, but it didn''t answer the biggest question. "How did you break  your mind shackle though? How am I supposed to break it? And why can you  only break the first one without the temple?"


    For  probably the first time since I''d met him, Abel hesitated. He seemed  almost afraid to speak. "I can''t say much. It might make breaking it  harder for you. But I can tell you something that will explain the why  of your last question. The mind shackle is a binding you place on  yourself, and the heart shackle is a binding placed on you by others.  Internal and external. You can overcome the influence you have on your  own thoughts, but overcoming the place others have in your heart is  different. I''m guessing you got that during the second trial."


    I  nodded slowly, considering his point. "You''re right. I could see how  that would be different. So, you said everyone''s is different. What was  your mind shackle?"


    "Fear."  He said bluntly. "Fear of failure. I used to be much different. I was  always talented, and strong, but for a long time the constant  expectation of victory spurred me forward. I probably would have ended  up becoming an Adamant myself if I''d stayed on that path. But when I  spent all that time on my own, leaving behind everyone else...there  wasn''t much I could call that but losing."


    He  looked unusually philosophical as he continued. "I was depressed for a  long time. Pinned under the weight of guilt and the fear that I would  let someone down again, but eventually, I came to realize that losing  wasn''t the end of the world. Hell, it was the best part of fighting.  Losing means you found something you can''t beat. It means you have  something that challenges you to grow."


    That  explained so much about Abel. But part of me also worried about it.  "That sounds like a big change. Almost like you lost an important part  of yourself. Are you sure we''re SUPPOSED to break the soul shackles?"


    "Ascending  is the process of releasing your humanity, kid." He said with a smile.  "You can''t get something for nothing. Not even in a world like this.  Ascendants are both more and less than the humans we used to be. You  need to give up a part of yourself to progress. Sure, you could ignore  the shackles, get stuck at S-rank and try to hold onto who you were. But  here''s the thing. People change. The you who was here yesterday is  dead. And today''s you is going to die too. You can''t stop that, and  clinging to who you are won''t change it."


    Zeke  had told me something similar once. I understood their point, and I  agreed with them mostly. That fear of evolving was natural. I''d changed  too much too fast. It made sense that there was still parts of the old  me left. But the problem was that I didn''t know what my mind shackle  was. A restraint I imposed on myself? That could be so many things.


    "Do  you regret it?" I asked quietly. "Losing that part of yourself. Losing  more of your humanity? Faster than you had to I mean."


    He  just shook his head. "You''re focusing too much on the past. Let me put  it to you this way. The soul Ascends as we do. To rise in power and  quality, it sheds parts of what it was. Well, sublimates them, but they  get crushed by the sublimation, so sheds still works in a sense. When a  person ranks up, their being becomes much bigger in a sense, and stats  are used to fill that in. It''s why only strong willed people overcome  recursion, the core of their being has to be strong enough not to get  diluted and swallowed up."


    "I know that part." I said in annoyance. "What does that have to do with anything?"


    Abel  rolled his eyes. "The soul of a higher ranked Ascendant isn''t like the  soul of a lower ranked. It changes. Which means to sublimate your soul  early, you need to undergo that change early. You need to sever part of  what makes you what you are so you can become something else. You don''t  break the shackle to rank up, you rank up because you break the  shackle."


    Put  that way, it seemed less...scary. It was something I''d be doing  eventually. Refusing to break it wouldn''t make me more human, it would  just put off the change. I blinked. "Wait, is that why we need to  complete going up two ranks before we hit Master?"


    "Yup."  He said with a shrug. "Something weird happens at Master rank, the  shackles become part of your soul. You can''t break them anymore. Not  sure what exactly. Something to do with Paths I expect. Who knows what  ranking up to D-rank actually requires. Anyway. I should be moving on  kid, and so should you. I kind of want to see if I run into anyone  stronger than me."


    I  laughed at that then stood and headed for the next room. Personally I  wanted to run into my sister more than anything. I had a lot I still  wanted to know about her. Maybe talking to her would help me break my  mind shackle, but even if it didn''t I was still buzzing with excitement.  As I stepped into the next room, I froze. Ten suits of armor, nine of  them black one of them glowing a brilliant gold. I rolled my eyes at the  temple. "Subtle." And then the fight was on.