So it had been weeks since I… died? Most curious. The last memory I had prior to this moment was of when I was dying, right around here, in fact. Exalted One, you said that you brought away all of our souls in… one of your skills, wasn’t it? Did that include those who lost their lives back at Navef as well? Are they… also still around, in some way, within you?”

“That… would not be incorrect,” admitted Esperanza as Kvar-Litu’s soul turned to ask her the question. “If there was any tradition that prohibited such a thing, I was unaware of it, and there was nobody to tell me about it anyway. I just… couldn’t… do nothing when I had something I could do, so I hope I did not like, offend all your ancestors or something.”

There were no such things, as far as I am aware of, so I have only gratitude to offer for your kindness, Exalted One. It… relieves me to hear that not all is lost, somehow, despite all the misfortune that befell us. I am sure the others would be thrilled to learn the same, should you choose to… manifest them like you did with us today.

“Gracias,” replied Esperanza with a nod. The affirmation that she had done the right thing despite the admittedly shitty situation was something she needed quite a bit, as she kept feeling that she could have done more, and that failing to do that was a failure of hers. “Anyway, you still got another five minutes until I will no longer be able to keep you here, anything else you want to hear about?”

For the most part, the other three children’s souls spent their time chatting in what could vaguely be considered a “happy” way with the Progenies and Iryl, who kept them occupied with the tales of what they’ve experienced since, namely the remnant of the journey, their arrival at Agur-Bas, as well as the training the group had done since, including their recent foray back into the dungeon.

It was only moments like those that Esperanza saw the unguarded childish nature that they still possessed, despite their system-enforced physical maturity. When they were in a safe place, together with their friends, they still acted like the children they were inside, just ones with bigger bodies. It reinforced her desire to at the very least try to keep them away from the worst of the world until they grew older.

Then if I may ask… How is Eda-Zil doing? I know that you had brought her and the rest of the children safely to Agur-Bas, but you hadn’t elaborated. I remember that she was… injured quite badly that night as well… Is she… all right?

“I can at least alleviate your worry there,” replied Esperanza with a relieved shake of her head. “Eda-Zil was paralyzed from the waist down by her injury, but with the healers in Agur-Bas helping her, she is recovering. They estimated that it might take a few months, but she should be able to walk on her own two feet once again given time.”

I… am glad to hear that, thank you kindly, Exalted One. I would presume that the rest of the children are doing fine too. If I may ask what sort of arrangement had been made for them?

“The local temple helped us with it, but we found foster families who gladly adopted them in Agur-Bas,” replied Esperanza honestly. “Hmm… you know, now that I could manifest those of you I kept safe in my [Soul Storage], that would mean I could bring their parents for them to meet once more… Think that would be a good idea?”

The way things had happened so quickly and abruptly back then… I believe both the children and their parents would greatly appreciate the opportunity to see each other one last time, Exalted One. When we were attacked back then, we were so occupied with keeping them safe that I doubted that they had any chance to say their goodbyes.

“Good point. Since I’m still pretty limited in how many I can manifest at once, I guess I should train this skill for the next couple of weeks as much as I can,” noted Esperanza. “Also, Kvar-Litu, I know this might be a bit much of an ask, you being already dead and all, but if possible, can you try to describe to me how you felt inside the [Soul Storage] after you return there today? I’m not even sure if you’d be aware while you’re in there, but it’s worth a try. Oh, and if you are aware in there, take care of the young ones for us.”

I shall endeavor to do as you have bid, Exalted One.

Scarcely a minute later, the souls started to fade out of existence one by one, though Esperanza could feel them returning to her [Soul Storage]. They still had time to say their goodbyes before they vanished, which left the Progenies looking both relieved and somewhat forlorn at the same time. She could understand why, as they had just been reunited with the friends they had lost, after all.

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“I am going to practice more with this skill once its cooldown comes to an end,” stated Esperanza to the Progenies once she had their attention. The short meeting was a meaningful and touching one for all of them, since those they had lost had not blamed them for their deaths. They had only thanked them for bringing the rest to safety, and even helped reassure them that they had not been failures. “Who amongst you… would like to say some words to your late parents when the time comes?”

The progenies looked at each other for a brief moment, before every single one of them clamored to be given the opportunity.

“Right, so all of you, I get it,” said Esperanza with an understanding smile. “At the moment my skill can only manifest four souls at a time, though, and I’d find it pretty cruel to only bring one of your parents instead of both. Can you all choose who will go first amongst yourselves? No need to hurry about this, the skill’s cooldown is still three days away.”

“Understood, Exalted One,” chimed the group as a whole as they nodded in affirmation. The news had clearly lifted their spirits somewhat, which was a good thing, as now that they had reached their third tiers, the plan was to delve deeper into the dungeon and make use of the monsters to level up, since they were already quite familiar with the types of creatures they would face and the higher level monsters further inside would naturally give better experience.

When the party delved deeper into the dungeon once more the next day, they did so in high spirits. The change they had undergone was quite a tangible thing. Val-Kas’j chose to take on the first pair of arachnoids they encountered, both of them at levels where he would have only been able to handle them one at a time before.

After his class change, he handled both of them with ease, and even eviscerated them on his own. He even tested out his new skill, which apparently made it so he would never lose his balance for a short period of time. It sounded rather weak, until everyone saw how Val-Kas’j made use of it. He contorted his muscular body in positions where he should have fallen by all rights, but was kept steady by his skill, and made use of the opportunity to strike at the opening the surprising move created.

That he progressed from one of the monsters to two at once was a definite improvement, and it definitely inflamed the desire of the other Progenies to try out their new abilities after the class change.

Legisvula went to work on that immediately afterwards as he volunteered to scout ahead, as his new class was very suited for that role. Esperanza acquiesced to his request, though she did send Dali off with him, who was not only capable of keeping up with the lithe scout but also knew how to keep himself out of the sight of what monsters they came across.

They mostly encountered smaller groups as they advanced deeper into the forest, which was convenient, as it allowed the Progenies to test their new capabilities under relatively safe conditions. Tiesya took on the next couple of monsters they ran across, where she combined the defensive skills she earned from her second tier with her more offensive new class, dancing around the bladed limbs of the arachnoids as she carved them into pieces with her own blades.

Even the ones who were less inclined to violence in the past, like Mel-Ivas, joined in. She took on one of the lower leveled monsters to test out her capabilities, and was pleased to see that she could hold her own against it. It was a boost of confidence that the children had needed, and the chance to acclimatize with their new class and skills was a precious one as well.

Esperanza herself found that her combat abilities had been improved by quite a lot after the class change.

It was not due to her third tier class. The skills she received from that was closer to supportive at best and had little to do with combat, though she was learning on how to make use of [Soul Sense] as a radar of sorts, which was pretty useful. The improvement was mostly from the two skills that evolved during her class change, as they had brought a direct, qualitative improvement to her own fighting ability.

[The Body as a Weapon] made the bodily modifications she performed for combat purposes come much easier. An act that used to require at least part of her concentration now felt far more instinctual, and she found that where before she started having a hard time coordinating herself if she created more than five limbs at most, she could easily handle up to a dozen after the class change.

It was not only the quantity that had improved, but also the quality. The blades she could fashion parts of her body into were harder and sharper than before, and the time it took for the transformation itself, much faster. While her physical stats were unchanged, the improvements from that one skill evolution alone would have made her at least twice as deadly as a combatant compared to before.

And all that was before she brought [Soul Armament] into play.

The way [Soul Armament] attacked her targets’ souls – which in most monsters’ cases, were notably weaker than their physical bodies – was already a great boon. The added flexibility in how she could use the skill was another boon, as the old [Soul Bolt] was slower than she liked, whereas if she made projectiles with the evolved skill they would fly a good bit faster.

It was the fact that she could “coat” her own limbs with the skill that was the greatest boon, however, as it would make every attack from such a “coated” limb to be one that affects the soul as well. Even better was that the offense from [Soul Armament] was entirely reliant on her Soul stats, which she had much more of compared to her Body or Mind stats.

In essence, [Soul Armament] practically gave Esperanza a way to target her opponent’s souls in a far more reliable and extremely destructive manner, and more than doubled her offense, since she just had so much more Soul than Body, which was what her physical prowess stemmed from. She very quickly learnt just how potent the evolved skills were in combination when she decided to take on a quartet of arachnoids that were in the high fifties.

It took Esperanza barely two hits for each arachnoid before they collapsed and convulsed on the ground. Their bodies were mostly unmarred, but their souls had been thoroughly damaged to the point that they broke apart in Esperanza’s [Soul Sight]. To her relief, she could still collect those broken souls and they still seemed to count as normal, though she worried if that sort of breaking might have adverse effects on a person’s soul.