I ignored the desires of murder and mayhem stemming from the memories of the hunter and the warrior. My knowledge as a virologist told me that the whale, no matter if it was a ghost-type creature had to have some sort of internal defenses akin to leukocytes. Triggering an Immune system response would be extremely unwise at this point, I had to be extremely careful as I was a very small and weak soul hunter.
I knew that even the weakest attack could extinguish, smother my little soul.
I had to act akin to a virus, the type that would masquerade as something inside the body. I knew that viruses of the coronaviridae family could disguise themselves, hide inside human cells to replicate. Viruses were experts of cellular hijacking!
The most fascinating fact about Viruses was that many Soviet scientists did not consider them living things. Viruses are basically microscopic machines - complicated assemblies of molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates.
Viruses do not consume any form of nourishment or expel waste, they do not grow and they cannot reproduce independently. Max Delbrück, German–American biophysicist, described the basic "life cycle" of a virus in 1937: rather than "growing", a virus particle is assembled from its constituent pieces in one step.
When a virus encountered a living cell, it attached to it and injected its own DNA or RNA. The cell copied the viral data which made more of the virus. These reproduced viruses then broke free out of the host cell, often destroying it in the process and infecting nearby cells. Rinse and repeat, until there are no more cells to inject.
The most efficient virus wasn't the one that killed it's host - it was the one that used the host's own body to hide and replicate itself to pass onto other hosts. The influenza or common flu virus was extremely effective in this manner, using humans to spread itself around the entire planet in mere weeks.
Unfortunately I had no means, no skills of replication at this point, so hiding myself, and hijacking something akin to a ghost-cell was my next best option.
I kept humming the soul-stilling [Tamus-Anima] song, looking around cautiously, praying that the song would keep me invisible, tame whatever immune system response existed inside of the Phantom whale.
I realized didn't have to look for the heart myself, I only had to find something akin to a blood cell to infest. As long as the ghost-whale had a circulatory system, then it would take me into the heart of this creature, a place where I could really hurt it with my soul-severing song.
First of all, I needed a way to identify things, needed to figure out which parts of the ghost-whale were what. As far as I could tell, I seemed to be located in some kind of a membrane-like space between the Phantom's exterior and interior. I slowly and cautiously approached the membrane and peered through it. It looked like some sort of blurry things were indeed quickly moving around its insides. Yes. There was a circulatory system in this creature!
I paused, thinking about what to do next.
The old Archmage's memories told me that the Soul-Song skill provided detailed information about my skills.
[Expand skills!] I declared mentally.
The menu suddenly updated itself.
Skills:
[Soul-Song LV 0] [ON]
[Raising Spell efficiency by 0.1%]
[Providing detailed Soul-Stats]
[Translating the Soul-Song's Language]
[Tether LV 0] [OFF]
[Shards tethered]: 0
Wait. I could tether myself... to my other soul shards? What?!
Of course! The dead Dex's multi-tool body was made up of 88 tools and moving parts many of which like his magisteel fingers, feet, arms and eyes required direct, constant control.
Klondike was tethered to eighty eight shards! I had over ninety total in me now, if you count his original soul and the soul of his grandfather. In theory I could spread myself out...
A plan of action formed in my mind. As long as I carved little bits of my soul out and attached them to the whale's own defense systems, I could create an entire concealed army, a fleet of hijacked cells!
I tried to think what Song-Spells Klint and his grandfather knew by heart. There were three main ones used to manipulate the Soul... and then there was a Soul-Song that the Archmage used to identify poisons and enemy levels called... Identify!
I tried to recall the [Identify-Song] fully, hummed it to myself.
The song was an appeal to the Wisdom of the Humanity, the belief in the human mind and the collective knowledge of the Alanian Empire focused like a spell-beam. It was a song about human curiosity that drove civilization onwards, of asking questions about everything, including the universe itself. Of peering at the stars in the sky and wondering why.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
[Song of Identification] recalled!
The voice of the Soul-Song resonated in my mind.
Hang on... if I knew four Song-Spells... Why weren't they listed in the my menu?
The menu flickered again.
Skills:
[Soul-Song LV 0] [ON]
[Raising Spell efficiency by 0.1%]
[Providing detailed Soul-Stats]
[Translating the Soul-Song's Language]
Known Song-Spells:
[Tamus-Anima] [Sectus-Anima] [Conjugo-Anima] [Identify]
[Tether LV 0] [OFF]
[Shards tethered]: 0
Yes! Perfection.
[Since your Song-Spells are working fine, it means that the Astral Engine and Beacon Tower of Skyisle is somewhere nearby. Skyisle was where my boy met his end. Lets hope this beastie doesn't stray too far from the Beacon,] the old Archmage rumbled. [If this creature leaves the range of the magrad broadcasting Obelisk and the ley line vector can't reach us, you'll have to slot the Song-Spells into your skills and use up your own mana. It will be tough to rely on your own tiny resource of 1 mana per hour regen.]
That was a lot of interesting information!
According to the revelations, the Alanians had build an entire power structure to support their spells, akin to power stations and powerlines we had build across USSR to light up every Soviet Republic and chase away the night. Instead of electricity the Alanians used something called magrad, magical power being transferred along ley lines. Magrad was power that supported artifacts and Song-Spells of individuals alike, even here in the Astral Ocean, via ley line connections leading from the Beacon Towers! Incredible!
A pang of sadness shot through me when I realized that the picturesque town of Skyisle was most likely overtaken, maybe even destroyed by the worshippers of Ishira. Damn her perfect, stunning face. I was beginning to hate the goddess who's face I loved and desired more than anything in the world.
Argh!
"So any skill can be turned off and pulled out?" I inquired.
[Indeed, my lad. The skills can be removed at any time. A removed skill creates an empty channel within the soul that can be filled with any Song-Spell. Just beware that removing a skill resets its Level to zero,] the imprint of Keps answered.
Keps Klondike was an incredibly strong imprint. The old Archmage treated me as his own grandson... which was true in a way, I really was partly his grandson, felt like I was once a man named Klint.
The villainous divinity named Ishira and her priests, the people who killed me... they would pay for their crimes if I ever escaped the Astral!
Slowly and carefully wielding [Tamus-Anima] and [Sectus-Anima] I carved a tiny spark, a soul-shard out of my body. The little spark separated from me, floating away.
- 1 in Soul.
Ouch, that really hurt.
I connected to the soul-shard with the tether.
My extremely basic virus was complete!
I flew the spark towards the membrane wall and attempted to penetrate it. It didn't work - the little shard was too weak for such an action.
I approached the membrane wall myself and made the tiniest possible incision in it using [Sectus-Anima]. A few hexagon-shaped things immediately tumbled out of it. I closed and stilled the incision.
The three hexagons somehow noticed me.
They unfolded, presenting sharp, triangular claws.
I rushed away from them and hummed [Tamus-Anima] as they chased after me. The Song-Spell stilled the little hexagons and their motions slowed.
I struck one of them with [Sectus-Anima] just to see if I could destroy one. The song-spell sliced the hexagon apart in half and it stopped moving completely.
Meanwhile the other two hexagons accelerated again and started to nip at me with their blades.
[-2 in Soul]
The Soul-Song resounded.
Argh!!
I flew away and sliced another hexagon-spider with [Sectus-Anima] and finally stilled the final hexagon just as it struck me again. The Song-Spells took way too damn long to hum to completion, it was a big issue while trying to fight in a confined space.
[-1 in Soul]
The blasted hexagonal body-defenders were pretty good at hurting me. I shuddered, realizing what would happen had I cut up the entire membrane wall and released an entire swarm of these little buggers.
I made a small slice in the last hexagon and pushed my soul-spark inside it, sealing the cut.
I had my hidden invader!
[Chill, study the hexagonal remains, eat, grow and multiply.]