Would you look at that! I thought I had given you everything I had, and yet here we are! As you can see, my research has stumbled upon some new findings! During this past year, I made a revelation that not only extended my research but also resolved certain complications I came across when trying to apply my research to various fandoms. I hope you enjoy!

The study of soul magic took a turning point when scientists began looking even deeper past character traits alone and into the field of emotions. Human emotions have always been theorized to hold massive levels of energy said to exceed the very laws of human understanding, however the progression of soul studies allowed the field to be observed from a new angle, resulting in the findings that 4 of the deepest emotions the human heart has been known to feel, in fact also possess powerful and unique magical power:

Hope: The basis emotion that cements the very lifeforce and emotional stability of all human souls. As such, Hope is essentially the emotion pure magical energy originates from. Additionally, it embodies the power of one of humanity's greatest strengths: the power of unity. Hope's power is conceived not only through faith and belief, but also through the emotional bonds that connect humanity together; through Hope, peoples' hearts connect to one another, and thus magnifies their strength and their wills. Just as how hundreds of tiny carbon atoms clustered together are what make a diamond so hard, hundreds of human hearts joined together create a force that can overcome any adversity; hence the reason why the concept of friendship, trust, or any sort of deep relationships are known to be so powerful. All in all, Hope possesses the power to make the impossible possible, or more specifically, the power to make miracles.

Incidentally, a miraculous discovery was recently made after a patient came in for an examination, revealing that they possessed a soul that was colored white. At first, the examiners feared this to mean the subject's soul was still a blank slate and had never manifested a dominant trait, which was odd considering the soul appeared to be fully developed. The patient in question was brought in for a more in depth, thorough inspection, and what the scientists found was baffling… the subject's soul was indeed emitting magical energy and a close-up scan revealed that it did in fact appear to possess a dominant trait, but one that did not match the original 7, leading to the speculation of the potential existence of an 8th dominant soul trait! What was most confusing however, was the color of the trait and the power it emitted highly resembled the wavelengths scientists recorded from the energy readings of the emotion, Hope. An in-depth comparison between the makeup of the extract samples and the wavelength readings were made, and confirmed to be a match, proving that this mysterious trait was in fact Hope! Scientists also found that the extract samples had a strikingly similar chemical makeup to DT; prompting researchers to begin going through old records and sources to find any notes containing hints of this discovery that may have been touched upon in the distant past. Finally, an old journal appearing to contain depictions of soul trait magic was found, and after linguists managed to translate its ancient text, the contents revealed that the author was apparently an ancient magician who also knew the secrets surrounding the power of Hope. According to the journal, at its core, Hope is indeed classified as an emotion that possesses great magical power, however, in a similar sense to DT, very rarely it can manifest in a human soul as a dominant trait. Furthermore, it could be said that Determination and Hope act as sister traits; DT's power to exceed limits and Hope's power to create miracles go hand in hand as the two often correlate with one another… for instance it is usually one's own Determination that inspires Hope in others. And just as how no more than two individuals per lifetime can possess a soul with DT as a dominant trait, at the same time only two individuals per lifetime can possess Hope as a dominant trait. The journal's entries also revealed that apparently, elder magicians of the past kept this knowledge hidden away, hoping it would be lost and forgotten, as they feared the implications of what could happen if two magicians who each possessed one of these dominant traits ever were to meet. However, the author believed this knowledge was invaluable, and recorded it in his journal in hopes that one day someone may stumble upon it and bring this long-hidden truth back to light.

Via the journal's entries, the author depicts that those who possess Hope as a dominant trait were viewed to have uncharacteristically cheerful dispositions and positive attitudes, but these qualities are only surface level, as they can be found in plenty of individuals with different dominant traits as well. Rather one of the more notable qualities of individuals with Hope as a dominant trait was their unwavering optimism; but not in the sense that they blindly and foolishly believe that the world is all sunshine and rainbows and good always triumphs in the end, despite most people's misconceptions. Rather it is that these individuals actively choose to believe to give either people or circumstances the benefit of the doubt, and that there is always light even in the darkest moments; when in a bad situation, they have the strength to believe everything will still be all right, not because they naively assume it will be, but because they believe there is a way to make it so. People that have Hope as a dominant trait also appeared to have some sort of unexplained social magnetism, as they seem to be charismatically good at bringing people together, as well as drawing others in and befriending them… even people who may have been previously on bad terms with them before. But most of all, those with Hope as a dominant trait have been recognized to be individuals who, by believing and trusting in those around them, seemed to be capable of performing impossible or miraculous feats.

With these revelations in hand, scientists immediately commenced modern studies upon Hope as a soul trait… they were curious to know if a wielder who possessed it as a dominant trait possessed any additional unique magical abilities just as wielders of all the other traits did. Of course, testing was slow as they only had one subject to work with… the person who was brought in and confirmed the discovery in the first place. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the subject showed no results of manifesting any unique abilities; however, the tests were not completely all for nothing… as in the midst of one session, the subject unexpectedly utilized one of the abilities of BV! The scientists were baffled by this development and modified the testing until they arrived at the undoubtful conclusion: the subject had the capacity to use all the powers of 6 of the seven soul traits! Even more baffling, it seemed the subject was even able to use two different soul trait abilities at the same time, and thus had the ability to utilize combination spells all on their own; a feat which is normally only plausible by two or more different magicians combining their magic together. The scientists theorized this endeavor to be a feat that only magicians with Hope as a dominant trait are capable of, as the power of Hope is the embodiment of unity and connection, hence it gives anyone who possesses it as a dominant trait the power to wield the magic of all the other soul traits. However, it seems the only magical abilities wielders that have Hope as a dominant trait are unable to use is that of DT; other than utilizing their own Determination to push past their limits when needed, as all humans are capable of, DT's own unique magical abilities remain exclusive only to those who possess it as a dominant trait.

Love(More Info TBD)

Fear(More Info TPD)

Hate: Materializes as a volatile, corrupting black substance that latches onto and sticks to wielders' souls like a tar. It massively enhances the overall strength, durability, and magic of the wielder, but feeds off their traits to do so while deteriorating their consciousness over time. If allowed to fester, this substance will eventually completely devour the individuality of the wielder and gain a sense of consciousness of its own, overtaking its host's body like a puppet, with nothing but the annihilation of everything in its path as its core objective.

One of the more recent and currently ongoing studies regarding soul magic is combination spells. While magicians can only use the magical abilities of their dominant traits, it has been proven that if two magicians combine their magic together, they can perform entirely new and even evolved forms of magic together:

Combination Magic:

BV and JT – Long range offensive magic(Target Locked)

BV and KD – Body armor magic(Suit Up)

BV and PT – Not exactly a proper combination spell due to the two traits' combating elements to one another, rather it is a spell in which the powers of both traits are perfectly balanced, allowing the subject to utilize the full potential of both powers at the same time, but it will only work when their bodies and minds are in a state of complete focus and inner harmony(Total Focus)

BV and IT – Acceleration magic(Flash Step)

BV and PV – Direction destruction magic(Clear a path)

JT and KD – Transmission magic(Discharge)

JT and PT – Paralysis impact magic(Not so Fast)

JT and IT – Course shifting magic(Psych)

JT and PV – Damage over magic(Karmic Retribution)

KD and PT – Concealment magic(Hide and Seek)

KD and IT – Reflection magic(Backhand)

KD and PV – Repairment magic(Put in Place)

PT and IT – Freezing magic(Freeze Tag)

PT and PV – Puppeteer magic(Strings Attached)

IT and PV – Navigation magic(Show Me the Way)

Advanced Combos:

JT + PT + IT – Reconnaissance magic(Show Me Going)

BV + IT + PV – Teleportation magic(Shortcut)

KD + IT + PV – Pathway creation magic(Connect the Dots)

JT + KD + PT – Interference magic(Cut Off)

Double Combos:

KD + PT and KD + IT – Invisibility magic(Now You See Me, Now You Don't)

That's all for now, but I will add on any new combination spells I come up with over time, so check in every once in a while for a chance to see if I've listed a new spell. Or if any of you have any ideas on any possible combination spells, write them in your reviews and let me know! Even if you have any specific questions or want more thorough explanations regarding the spells I've already listed, just ask!

I hope you found the information at the top interesting as well! Before I came to the conclusion regarding Hope, evidence at first lead me to believe it was possible there was an additional dominating factor that truly defined certain characters, so even though it was not Undertale canon, I did not ignore the possibility of the existence of an 8th soul trait, which at first I believed was Optimism, a trait that was born due to being a variation of the emotion of Hope, but when talking it through with my sister, she actually helped me realize that the rabbit hole regarding the answer I was looking for was deeper than I first anticipated!

Also, if it's not exactly clear, all souls with Hope as a dominant trait are indeed colored white, just like monster souls, which I decided upon because white is technically the reflection of all the colors combined, which aligns with Hope literally being the embodiment of "Friendship is Magic." Cheesy as it may sound, it's actually true. It also makes sense why Monsters are able to manipulate magic much more freely and easily than humans are and why their magic is specific to their respective identities; since Monster bodies and souls are both made collectively out of pure magic. It also explains why losing hope can cause monsters to have Fallen Down. My sister and I even theorized that when Undyne becomes Undyne The Undying in the Genocide route, it wasn't just because of her Determination, although that was a main factor, but she also said she could feel the hopes and dreams of everyone in the Underground giving her strength in that moment; thus we theorize that she literally received power from the hope of all the remaining monsters who believed in her to stop the human and it caused the miracle that allowed her body to handle Determination in the first place. Even in the neutral route, Frisk received help from the other human souls to defeat Omega Flowey, and their combined strength made it possible to damage him. And of course, the hope from everyone in the Underground was what allowed them to have the power to SAVE everyone in the pacifist route and even Asriel.