So it had come back to life, and in the “strange” circumstance where he wanted to kill the partition racer at all costs, he had leaned onto it instinctually? Had to be.
He zoomed in to the gigantic lantern docking onto a corner of his mind, its majestic, oppressing present still as gorgeous as the last time he visited — which was just several hours ago. Though the surrounding air was different. More … lively. Traces of activity rippled, likely because the culprit didn’t even attempt to hide.
No, who am I kidding? It’s been my work all along, but it’s time to give my “guests” a visit.
Scanning through the window, he ignored the rampaging lion and the scaredy-cat and stared at a levitating soul — the kitten, as he had named it. Still a spherical object the size of his palm, but instead of laying motionlessly on the floor as it always did and waiting for him to project mana inward, it came over to stay eye to eye with him. If the green veil border wasn’t there between them, perhaps it could’ve been assaulting him already.
“No more pretending?” He opened this no-doubt interesting conversation with this mystery third soul he had caught. Wait! Could it even talk? He had never heard the soul siblings—
“Tried to, but this lantern demanded my power. Or rather, wasn’t it you who sought my support?” To his surprise, its voice was rather pleasant to listen to. No grunt, no curses, and no asking for freedom. Like a grown-up, knowing its fate was in his hand and now composed itself to talk it out.
“Not explicitly. A stray thought, maybe? But what prompted you to heed my call?”
“What for? Not like I can break out. I doubt anyone could. A magnificent and peculiar prison you have here. Now, I’m wondering how a weakling C-grade like you is in possession of a god-tier item like this. I’m intrigued.” Direct, huh? Zalanir liked this.
“So you give up and now try to talk to me, hoping for disincarceration?”
“Collaboration. You are far too weak and clueless to exploit this lantern to its full power. With my help, you can speed up the process.” The kitten was completely still, no movement at all, not even a glowing up. Weird to hold a conversation in this situation. It was like he was talking to a rock. How silly!
“There’s no free lunch. What’s your goal? Freedom, or taking over my body?”
“The latter is tempting, can’t say I’m not interested in what you have. But yeah, mostly the former. I need a body. You have destroyed the one preparing for me, I suppose?”
“I still don’t know what you are, or how you ended up here, but let’s save it for later. I will return soon.”
Zalanir returned to the outside, as he had heard approaching steps, and the other battle seemed to be over already from the lack of fighting noise. His groupmates had encircled him, with Wanyi leading in the front, shield and sword firmly in hands.
“Erm, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here?” He hung both his hands in the air while trying to think of an explanation. A scoff rang inside his head, staggering him a little. Wait! The soul kitten could see what was happening?
“You … good? Who, and where are we?” Wanyi stopped, but her gleaming shield suggested something else.
“Thanks for the concern. I’m fine. You can drop your guard now, Wanyi, Seseguri, and Shinnya. We still have to recover ourselves and continue the exploration inside this mine, don’t we?”
“You are saying that, but your hands …” Hearing the paladin’s hesitation, Zalanir shifted his focus up, and the black veins still wrapped around his hand, giving off eldritch visual perception. Took him two seconds to register what was going on, then he deactivated Soul Collection and got his hands back to normal—partly, the shredded skin would take a little longer to heal up.
“Sorry, I’m good now.”
The awkwardness continued until Shinnya turned and moved toward the snake’s corpse from afar. “Let’s see if it dropped a core.”
Seseguri soon followed, and only Wanyi stayed behind. Though at least she wasn’t as tense as before anymore, having dropped onto the floor and invited him over.
“It was intense. You were like a mindless beast back then, lucky that I am not a target.”
“Yeah, sorry. A spur-of-the-moment decision, as the bloodlust was running high.” He scratched his head.
“No need to say sorry. You didn’t attack me, so it’s all good. Trust requires time to sink. That’s all.”
“Now I’m out of gas. Will need some meditating time to recover.”
“Two hours then. We still have to get out before those outside get mad.” Wanyi smiled and stood up.
“Roger that. Thank you!”
His mana pool was hovering around the 15% mark, so he did need this rest to recover, but also, he wanted this opportunity to sort things out. The first one was to confirm whether he had a pesky eye sneaking on him all the time.
After half an hour, while still maintaining meditation, he visited the lantern again.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I’m back. Looks like you are all talk, unable to finish that snake. What do you have to offer me again?”
“What snake?” The soul kitten flew into view once more.
“The one you helped me earlier. Cutting it into three parts didn’t end its life.” Zalanir stared at the green wisp.
“Intriguing. That’s some powerful racial skill. Catch one if you can. It could be valuable for us to study them.”
“Will do. Now, first of all, what are you? If we are to collaborate, I need your info.”
“Cokhi’lurg, a proud crocosaurus of the branka’r.” Except for the scoff earlier, this little rise at the end was the first time it deviated from the lifeless monotone. Not a rock anymore.
“Cokhi then. What’s branka’r? Your race? Your place? Anything of note?”
“Race. Simply put, we were originally feral, non-sapient beasts being blessed with intelligence and powers by the Elders. We domiciled in the Umiterceup Swarm. Not that it matters to you dorks in this pathetic First Ring. Too advanced and grandeur of a concept to explain.” Cokhi snorted.
“Oh, thank you for your enlightenment, o magnificent crocosaurus. Please enjoy your stay here until the end of time.”
“You are an exception to the rule doesn’t mean the condition here is less bad. I have killed too many ascendants thinking they were the best of this world. Foolish.”
“Okay, enough with the derision. It is what it is, not like we ask for this. I’m sure everyone would prefer to be born in the Second Ring, if it is as great as your praise. How strong are you, by the way?” For some reason, even the soul lion had stopped its usual rampage and was sitting on the floor. Was it listening to the current conversation?
“A-grade.”
“Not too bad, but you’re not the strongest creature I have ever met, so be more humble. I have met a god-grade before. Nasciivez. Does the name ring any bells?”
“Now this is interesting. In what circumstance did you encounter them? They are one of the strongest races in the Second Ring, but a defensive one in nature, so how come they come down here?” The green wisp remained in the same spot since the beginning, but now it shimmered more frequently when talking.
“We humans have a history with them, that’s all you need to know. Okay, so A-grade. What can you do? You suggest collaboration, so you must have something in your mind, right? Care to share it?”
“Two things. First, let’s get me back to full power. Right now, this soul is still only a fraction of what I am originally, so we would need to fix this soon. Then, I will be able to examine this lantern with you.”
“Fix? You mean …” Zalanir shifted his attention toward the other two souls currently inside the lantern. Now that he thought about it, they did have similar colors and vibe, like they were three small parts of a whole.
“Yes, all are mine. I’m not sure how you do it, but you have managed to separate us and keep us alive without a body. Not entirely clear, but I have an inkling this shouldn’t be possible.”
“Okay, if what you said is true, then why should I do this? Helping you unite with the other souls means more danger for me, doesn’t it? We are talking about the difference between a C and A-grade here.”
“You have that minimal trust in the lantern?” Cokhi scoffed.
“Even so, I still don’t get what’s the benefit. Give me something concrete. What exactly can you do?”
“The advantage of having an A-grade like me with you all the time isn’t enough? Even prodigies in the Second Ring would risk their life for this opportunity alone. But sure, if you want details, recall what you did earlier when you called upon my power. What happened?”
“I saw a queer swamp, dark, dampish, and dense with all kinds of crooked trees. Exotic flora of many dark colors as well. They crept up my ankles, like hands gripping my legs, but not out of spite. They did me no harm, perhaps not yet, considering every power comes with responsibilities. But in that moment, they gave me the strength, the vigor to unload these lances onto the snake, to empower my attacks resulting in the enemy’s demise. So, what you’re saying is, that’s your doing?” After retrospecting the sensation, and with the obvious hint from the crocosaurus, he had started to see the power of this A-grade, or rather, the power of the lantern. This had to be the part about him becoming the soul’s expression, right?
[Soul Collection] — Universal unique: Grants the ability to mend and preserve souls with your energy, and allows you to become their expression.
“It’s one of the skills in the dark magic collection, allowing you to temporarily increase your offensive power in trade for fragility. I guess that is one usage of the lantern? Allowing you to tap into my power without owning them, effectively bypassing all the requirements. If so, our first task is to find out what the requirements are, both for your and my resources. You have something special in your possession, kid. If words about this lantern of yours get out, many will be after your head.” For the first time, the soul actually moved. It came closer to the edge of the green jail, as if a prisoner was gripping the bar and edging their head up for a closer look at whoever was outside — in this case, him. The soul had no eyes, but the piercing gaze was as intense as his time playing on the court, under the scrutinizing of thousands of spectators.
The warning about the secret of the lantern worried him, but in a different way. He wasn’t afraid of having it stolen, as it wasn’t anything real. It came from a skill so unique only he had accessed to. But if others found out about this, would he become their genuine pig for experimentation? Perhaps even becoming their slave, forever having his freedom taken away and becoming their war tool. His life at the fighting pit was objectively that of a slave, but still, he had lots of freedom on his own inside the pit, so not as scared or tragic as some tales he had read of the ancient time. No, this power was strong, but he would need to be careful on how much he should display it, and under what circumstances. He also needed an explanation or two in his arsenal in the case of inspection. Ioviann was on his side, but the enforcer was still on his tail. Any slipup would mean wood for their campfire.
“So, dark magic then. Anything else? Other cool skills for me to use?” He refocused on the floating soul. Uncomfortable as this might be, it still had no eyes, so no awkward direct gazing battle.
“I need more energy in order to function. Guess this is a hard requirement for us to collaborate. You need to give me your mana constantly, otherwise I will have nothing to work with.”
“Okay. I will trust you for now, but don’t try to pull anything behind my back. I can trap you here means I can do other things, including eradicating you with a simple thought, so take it however you want. There are plenty of stronger souls out there for me, so don’t think you are unique. Okay, I will be back at another time. Rest well.”
Zalanir returned to the outside world without letting the soul have any last word. That should set the tone well for this collaboration. No doubt it had deceptive motives, but as long as he had the lantern and acted carefully, he should be fine. The item, even though it wasn’t real, was still a god-grade masterpiece forged by Verizss’ia and Sinclair themselves.
Thinking about this, mana was already his focus, but after understanding what the soul was capable of, and unless some specific circumstances occurred which required him to invest in other attributes, he would just default all the free points to Spirit from now on. One less thing to worry about, and with how many times he had struggled to distribute all these free points, he liked it this way. And he did it right away with the new level from beating up these two snakes.
