As you can imagine, being turned into a soul, getting trapped in a little b-girls body, and then being forcefully contracted, is a new thing for me. I will only speak for myself, but this sequence of events wasn't that relaxing.

"kuku, now that all of the paper work is done, let's put you to work!"

"It's the middle of the night."

He smiled, which looked even creepier in the dark, and kept leading me into the forest. Had I been a smart little girl, I would not have followed a strange man into the forest at night where no one can hear me scream. But, I am not a smart little girl. I'm a dead adult male. Which means I'm an idiot. I think... I never had any education, so I really can't say. The fingers tied to the ribbons wrapped around the shamans staff didn't help me think straight either. Probably because I could see one of my own fingers...

The pedo interrupted my musing by stopping suddenly and turning around.

"So, since I can't put you in a soul stone, and because I'm not about to let a perfectly good soul go free, I have to find other ways of putting you to use."

"Listen, if you're talking about 'putting me to use' you better mean in a working sense, and not a sexual one."

"kuku, of course not. I'm only into Adult, dead women. I'm not a weirdo like some people."

"...I'm not going to trust you, but I'll follow along for now. So, how will you 'put me to use'?"

"kuku, I'm going to teach you a bit of magic. Since you seem to have an unusual ability to clearly see souls, you must have an affinity with at least one element."

"'see' souls? What do they look like to you?"

"kuku, I can't see them with my eyes. I use my intuition and magic compensates for the rest."

"So... magic? Isn't that something that old men in towers use?"

"ku, these country bimbos..."

"I'm a guy, thank you very much."

"kukuku."

'This bastard...if I hadn't already decided to kill him, I'd have decided to maim him.'

"kuku, here. Just do as I do, and gather fire element in your hand."

As I watched, he gathered a ball of flame in his hand.

"Fire Bolt"

A streak of flame flew about a hundred meters, then vanished into the air. Copying his motions, I felt at the surrounding heat in the air, and envisioned it all gathering in the palm of my hand. At first, the fire resisted and I had to gather a large amount of power to force a sufficient amount of fire element into one area. Something was wrong with it, and a good fifth of my power was consumed trying to gather the element. The thing that was wrong was that it was too small.

'But I gathered the same amount of fire element...'

Nevertheless, I said the chant.

"Fire Bolt"

With a whistle, the bolt flew off, and disappeared from sight.

"kuku, my, that flew far! It seems you compressed it too much. How many more of those can you fire?"

"Another four. Maybe five, if I use a little less power."

"Power? Ah, you must be refering to mana. Yes, it does seem like you used a large amount of mana just to shoot that Fire Bolt. You probably don't have an affinity for fire. Here, let me show you something else."

"Freezing Gust"

A visible gust flew from the shaman, and froze the leaves on the trees and left frost on the sides of their trunks.

"ku, not an overly offensive spell, but it does well to slow down any foes who are too fast. Heh, last nights dinner had a rogue who thought being fast could save him-Ha!"

'Overlooking the rude comment, this pedo seems quite knowledgable. I wonder why he's teaching all this to me? Eh, it's probably because he's confident he can kick me around whenever he wants. But, I get the feeling something is wrong with that freezing spell...maybe if I were to...'

I gather the frost element and-much to my surprise-they seem to leap into my palm. Just holding this much frost element is cracking the skin of my body. But, why stop at just gathering more element, why not change the spell itself? I feel a throbbing in my skull, and something seems to be pushing from within my stomach. Gathering the element into the shape I want, I push it forward, and say the first words that come to mind.

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"Fell Wind"

Craaaaaaack

Twigs and branches snap as the water within expands and explodes outward, the ground is painted with snow, and glistening ice adorns every tree within a ten meter radius of the spell.

"Ku-...-ku"

The pedo seems surprised. Heh, serves him right for stuffing me into a little girls body. But, that throbbing is still there, and that pressure in my gut is getting stronger-

"Unable to activate-True Form-at current time, host body assimilation has yet to complete."

"AHHHHH!"

Falling to the ground, I hurriedly look around for the source of the voice.

"ku, what's wrong?"

"t-there was a voice! A woman's voice!"

He looked around, then seemed to make a connection, and asked me.

"What did the voice say?"

"Something about me not being able to take form or something, because I haven't adjusted to my body yet."

"kuku, what luck! It seems I've found myself a nice spirit..."

"What do you mean?"

"kuku, That voice you heard was what is commonly known as 'The Voice of the World' that speaks to all creatures, regardless of race or language. What the voice was saying is that you are an uncommon spirit that has a 'True Form' which the spirit can take in order to harness all of its' power."

"So, this is a common occurrence?"

"kuku, of course. Spirits that can take a true form are usually those who have been around for a while, or those that are more highly attuned to their personal element. Spirits that can't are usually mindless, and get locked up in soul stones pretty fast."

"...I see..."

"kuku, so, did the voice say anything else, or just that you can't take your true form yet?"

"nope. Just the bit about the true form."

"kuku, but, all things considered, you are powerful enough already. That spell you just used... how come you didn't tell me you already knew a spell? And how did you learn a spell like that without learning Fire Bolt first?"

"oh... well, I haven't ever seen, much less used, magic before this. I just thought your spell was a little...weak."

"ku... I see. Well, how many times can you use that spell? if you can use that two times, then you will be a great help."

I checked my reserves of power... and there was no difference from when I started gathering elements and after I shot the Fire Bolt.

Just to be sure...

"Fell Wind, Fell Wind, Fell Wind, Fell Wind."

The sound of cracking intensified, and the only thing keeping the splintered trees from falling over was, ironically, the ice.

"kuku! Nice, using a spell like that five times- truely, you are a treasure!"

Once again, I checked my reserves... and barely any was gone. If my reserves had been water in a cup, then I had drained a fifth with the Firebolt. Then, I had taken drops out by using the Fell Wind.

"erm... mister pedo, I can use that spell all day. It hardly uses any power."

"..."

"..." 'Did I do something wrong?'

"...I believe you."

"wow, just like that?"

"yes, because the contract you signed stated that if you lied you would willingly erase your own existence."

"..."

'This...fucking...bastard...'

"kuku, well let's get back. It's almost morning, and I'm hungry!"

As we walked back, I noticed a bird that was frozen solid. Kneeling beside it, I felt a little sad. Then I got up and walked away.

As I left, Birds of all kind shimmered in the sun and flew up out of the trees.