Soren had used his Soul-steel dagger for days, equivalent to years.
He knew Soul-steel when he saw it.
The moment Vinegar touched it and it lost its color, it fell off the whale's body, as if unwanted and pushed out by its cells.
It fell to the ground below. But stopped mere inches from the earth, suspended there.
A characteristic of Soul-steel Soren had seen himself when the Soulbound knights came to his town.
The carriage they brought with them also did not touch the ground.
Old man machos had told him that the purer and greater the quality of the Soul-steel, the higher it will suspend from the ground.
This was what the empire used Soulbound warrior criminals for.
To mine resources like Soul-steel from Eldritch creatures.
Vinegar pointed out that not all of these whales had Soul-steel; for some, it was aether, the greatest and purest fuel in the world.
