limbing the final snowy steps, I was greeted by a gigantic skull, its hollow eyes and gaping jaw frozen in a silent roar. The words of the hooded man in Frodo's tavern yesterday still echoed through my mind: "Are you a master or merely a slayer?"

He had approached me after hearing me boast about my latest dragon-killing spree. "This is a soul core," he had said as he handed me the crystalline object I was now holding in my hand, its depths seemingly trapping the spirit of a dragon. "There is a secluded place in the North, off the beaten path, where daredevils can discover if they are truly supreme hunters of their quarry. So, what say you?"

Upon entering the gaping maw, I caught sight of a group of adventurers disappearing through an obelisk. "So this is it," I muttered to myself, "the Soulpit. I say, bring it on!"

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The Soulpit is a new opportunity to find out if you truly dominate creatures from the Tibian lands. 

Whenever you kill a fiendish monster, you have a low chance to obtain a soul core of this creature. Rarely, you may also loot a soul core from an uncommon, rare, or very rare creature within the same Bestiary class.

Once you have obtained a soul core to your liking, it is time to head to the Soulpit in the north-eastern part of Hrodmir. Gather a team of up to five players in total or courageously venture there alone. Offer the soul core to the obelisk in the entrance room and brace for battle!

In the Soulpit, you will have to face increasingly difficult waves of descendants of the creature whose soul was trapped in the sacrificed core, culminating in a final confrontation with a particularly strong specimen.
Soulpit creatures are bolstered by varying stacks of Sinister Embrace and different durations of high initial resilience, depending on the wave in which you encounter them. However, they do not drop loot, are not tameable or skinnable, and do not count towards kill counters or kill statistics.

On top of that, the final foe will flaunt one of three possible special abilities: Enrage will intensify the creature's damage and resilience as its vitality wanes. The Oppressor can leave you hexed, simultaneously feared and rooted, or powerless, preventing you from casting offensive spells. And be wary of the unpredictable Overpower ability, which allows your enemy to torture you with sudden spikes in damage. Right after you descend into the pit, the setting already reveals which of them you will have to face.

Defeating the final adversary unlocks the creature's Animus Mastery for all participants present at the time of its death. For this creature, Animus Mastery permanently grants 1% more experience per unlocked Bestiary stage, up to a maximum of 3% in total when its Bestiary entry is fully unlocked.

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Here I stand at the brink of the Soulpit, preparing for battle: a slayer among dragons. Will I emerge as their master, or turn into just another whisper in the Soulpit's shadows?

Upcoming next: It's big and terrible, more frightening than ever thought possible... for a plant.