"It sounds… pretty impressive."
Artoria only knew souls as a concept, never imagining soul energy could be used like currency.
She was, frankly, a bit out of her depth.
"Justeaze's proposal has significant potential."
Violet added, "This system allows soul energy within monsters to flow upward."
Souls were the hard currency for monsters breaking through A-rank to evolve further.
"By offering enough souls to the Voice of the World, one can gain an exclusive skill."
"Exclusive skills are standard for Demon Lords."
In other words, A-rank monsters could collect souls to solidify magicules as exclusive skills, evolving into Demon Lords.
As for higher Awakened Demon Lords…
Damien's monsters were loyal to him.
Theoretically, no matter how many souls they gathered, they couldn't awaken as True Demon Lords on their own.
But if a Special A-rank Demon Lord amassed enough souls, Damien would help them ascend.
"An invisible hierarchy?"
As his influence grew, Damien knew a class system was inevitable.
Justeaze's Heaven's Decree offered a ready-made template.
The strong aid the weak.
The weak support the strong.
It wasn't the best hierarchy, but it suited the current Monster Kingdom.
"So, where do weaker monsters get soul energy?"
Damien raised the question.
He hadn't paid much attention to goblins and didn't know their soul strength.
But everyone knew souls were a creature's most vital component.
Even slight soul damage could severely impact a monster.
Damien wasn't a tyrant who exploited his subjects.
To him, goblins, wolves, and Kijin were all his people, equal in worth.
"Magicules!"
Violet spoke up, "In the Cardinal World, souls are vessels for magicules."
"Every bit of magicule contains a fraction of soul energy."
This soul energy was free-floating, unclaimed souls.
As a monster's magicules increased, they gained soul energy they couldn't absorb.
"In a way, every monster is constantly acquiring new soul energy."
"But their innate limits prevent them from collecting it, letting it return to the world."
Violet listed the daily soul energy limits for different monster ranks.
The amounts were small and highly impure.
These were the lowest-quality, tainted souls, unusable in their raw form.
"No wonder it's so hard for monsters to evolve naturally."
Soul energy accumulation raised magicule caps, but the process was glacial.
The High Orcs hadn't produced an Kijin in a millennium.
That was just B-rank to A-rank.
A-rank to Special A-rank was even harder…
In the original story, the Orc Lord and Rimuru were prodigies born with exclusive skills, tied to natural evolution.
Even Clayman was a creation of Kazalim, not a natural growth.
This showed how inefficient soul absorption was... less valuable than supporting a soul guild.
"But our monster population is still too small."
"The soul collection's true potential will show when the population grows."
"So I suggest implementing this system across the faction."
"Let everyone join the soul network built by Heaven's Decree."
Violet couldn't purify souls, but Justeaze could.
"Leave it to me."
Like Artoria, Justeaze wanted to repay Damien's life-saving grace.
Taking on such an important task filled her with drive.
"Won't that be too much work for Justeaze?"
Damien worried that this setup would turn her into an overworked drone, slaving away endlessly.
With so many monsters now, and more to come, she'd be overwhelmed.
"Um, I could actually…"
Artoria raised her hand timidly, about to offer help.
"Oh, about that."
Justeaze responded faster, "What do you think of the Einzbern children?"
"Huh?"
Silently, the king of knights lowered her hand.
"Them?"
Damien ignored Artoria's brief distress, considering Justeaze's idea, "That could work."
The Einzbern homunculi.
Damien had been unsure what roles to assign them in the village.
Now, soul guild receptionists.
A team of stunning white-haired, red-eyed attendants... could anything be more perfect?
As for numbers…
No worries there.
Justeaze had rescued over four hundred deceased homunculi from All the World's Evil.
With the Einzbern estate's, that made nearly five hundred staff.
If that wasn't enough, Justeaze could use Einzbern technology to create more.
She even had a bolder idea.
To have her children evolve along her path, becoming an angelguiding the souls of Damien's faithful.
"Homunculi, angels, artificial angels."
Damien had no reason to refuse, "Alright, let's do it."
"From now on, Justeaze, you're the leader of the angel."
"Oh, and Irisviel and Illya."
"Among the homunculi, they're the last two generations, with the highest talent and potential."
"I'll train them well."
Their potential was nearly on par with Justeaze's.
Especially Illya, the Einzbern's greatest masterpiece in a millennium.
If Damien ever founded a church, Justeaze would be the pope, Illya the saintess, and Irisviel the high priestess.
He'd pull Artoria in to form a holy knight order.
Of course, these were just musings.
Damien wasn't keen on faiths or churches and had no interest in building them in another world.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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