After she got her book Seras returned to the room she shared with Petra, the only other women in the expedition, and immediately slotted the shard in. What followed was a feeling much like absorbing Essences or awakening stones. It was like someone took a thousand hours of lectures and diagrams and shoved them into her head.

Golden images flashed across her eyes, a thousand magical formation diagrams. Words flashed across her mind, and her fingers twitched with newly programmed muscle memory.

Rohan had told her that passing out would muddle the process of absorbing the skill book, so she forced herself to stay awake. But it was a near thing.

Skill Book absorbed.

Formation knowledge added to database.

WARNING. Formation knowledge is incomplete. Develop foundational theory knowledge to complete gaps in knowledge.

“Oh fuck me” she groaned loud from the bed. That was a lot more than just ‘taxing’ Rohan.

“AH” a voice said from outside the door. “Do you have a guest in there?” Petra asked from outside.

Seras blinked and sat up. “No,” she called back.

There was a pause. “Are you decent? Because it sounds like you might be… ah.. indisposed.”

“What was she on about” Seras thought. Then she remembered what she had said after she finished using the skill book and face palmed. “No” she called back “I’m perfectly fine.”

The door cracked and Petra peaked through hesitantly, then upon seeing that Seras still had her pants on strode through the door. “Good, I was worried with what I heard, didn’t want to walk in on anything awkward.”

Seras scowled “Just a skill book, it was a little more intense than I expected.”

Petra didn’t look convinced, but kept her thoughts to herself. “If you say so. Dustin says we’ve got another few days before the barge departs down river.”

Seras nodded “Nova, I think I’m done exploring the city, want to spend tomorrow training.”

“What, you’re done complaining about low batter-ee?” Petra teased. Seras had to call off their training sessions recently when her power reserves crept down to low power mode.

“Naw, I think I bought enough low-grade stamina potions to last this time. They’re a bit pricier than I’d like.”

Petra grinned. “Good, no more slacking.” She quirked her head to the side. “It’s actually been long enough to start seeing some results, have you seen any improvements?”

“About that. my limits still remain in place, and haven’t changed. But I’ve been tracking the repair times, and I’ve noticed the speed has been slowly improving. Its already down by ten minutes.”

“That’s not much.” Petra pointed out.

“Everything in small improvements right. Besides, I think the enhanced repair time applies to other things. Like if my arm breaks I think it’ll repair faster. And if I boost that with monster cores and quintessence I might be able to one day make up for being unable to heal with magic.”

Petra considered that. “Yeah, that would be really good for you.” she shook her head. “I’ve really taken for granted how weird your body is.”

Seras frowned, not this again. “Its no weirder than yours, yours body is also made of metals, nonmetals, and goo. Mine just happen to be more refined and less squishy.”

Petra shook her “I still don’t follow your logic. People are more than just an assembly of these ‘elements’ of yours. Theres more to it than that.”

“Not really, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus are like ninety-something percent of your chemical makeup. It’s all about how those elements bond and interact.”

Petra looked unconvinced. “Whatever. Are you actually going to sleep tonight or just study?”

“Study, I just absorbed a formation skill book, now I need to build up my background knowledge to actually understand what I know.”

“Alright, just dim your eyes, the light distracts me at night.”

“Alright”

~~~*~~~

In an open field, while enduring hammer blows from Petra, Seras felt a breakthrough.

She felt the limits of her reinforcement ability press against a wall, and then push through that wall.

Structural reinforcement Iron 1: 97% has advanced to Structural reinforcement Iron 2: 02%

Petra stopped hitting Seras as she held up a hand and smiled at the feeling of progress. Then she felt a sickening feeling spread through her stomach. She collapsed onto the ground and began to shiver and shake.

WARNING. Potent magical energy is surging through your system. Increased strain on your magic matrix has resulted in a disconnect between your magical matrix and biomechanical physiology. Condition Soul/body dichotomy has developed.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Senses reduced.

Movement speed is reduced.

Strength is reduced.

Cognition is hampered.

The same message she had seen when she ate a spirit coin. Then she felt a rush of greater pain.

Soul/Body dichotomy has developed into soul/body disconnect. Current disconnect 2%

The pain did not leave her. It did not fade. Instead a constant aching feeling stabbed at her very soul.

“Seras. Oh Gods Seras.” Petra shouted.

“Please stop yelling” Seras croaked. She forced herself up despite the pain.

“What happened?” Dustin, who had run over from his own spring match, asked in alarm.

“I don’t know” Petra answered. “We were just doing our normal sparring when she collapsed on the ground and began shaking.”

“My, my metal essence ability advanced.” Seras said with a strained voice. “Is that supposed to happen when an ability advances?”

They exchanged a round of concerned looks.

“No” Dustin said slowly. “You only get bad reactions at rank ups, but your still normal rank.”

“This happened before” Flint spoke up. “When she took a spirit coin.”

Seras nodded “Soul body dichotomy. The power of the coin somehow gave me seizure, or at least the symptoms. It happened again with the advancement, but this time my body couldn’t purge the energy, so it developed into soul/body disconnect.”

“What could have caused this?” Petra asked out loud.

“Isn’t it obvious” Flint said darkly. “It’s a soul/body disconnect. Her soul is normal rank, and ordinarily her body would be as well. But hers isn’t, her speed, strength, and durability are all on par with a weak bronze ranker. Her body is bronze rank while her soul and magic matrix is only normal. The power of spirit coins and essence advancement must have aggravated that uneven power dynamic.”

His words landed like a stone on her.

“Then she just needs to reach bronze to fix it” Dustin offered.

Seras shook her head. “Won’t work. To get to bronze I need to advance twenty abilities by ten levels. That one level had a soul/body disconnect of 2%. Even excluding the starting level I wont be able to get to bronze before the disconnect reaches 100%.”

“Which would mean death” Flint finished for her.

Petra looked incensed on Seras’ behalf. “How is that fair? She has to reach bronze to fix the problem, but she’s going to die before she hits bronze.”

“Its perfectly fair” Flint said. “She gets a bronze rank body at normal rank, and its presumably the only reason she survived the Astral space and the Labyrinth. But people don’t get to have a bronze rank body for no cost. Everything balances out.”

“Philips’ theory of potential” Seras muttered.

Flint nodded “Exactly.”

“Excuse me, but what is the theory of potential?” Petra asked.

“It’s a way of explaining why essence powersets always balance themselves out.” Flint said. “Burgos Philips plotted all essence powers and powersets on a chart. He measured things like mana cost, casting speed, damage potential, scaling, and many other factors. He found that in general, with only a few outliers, all powersets fell within a certain range of power. With the abilities skewing one way or another, but always remaining within the bounds of their rank. That includes Racial traits as well. His research also found that people with abilities or traits that outstripped their rank were hampered with devastating side effects. Seras has a racial trait that gives her a bronze rank body at normal rank, but that over powered ability comes at the cost of other skills. That might be why she didn’t get a looting ability unlike other Outworlders who always have one. It also puts an innate strain on her matrix and soul. When she came into this world her soul couldn’t form a normal body so she got the one she has, at the time of her rebirth her body and soul were in equilibrium. But the addition of essences and abilities tipped the scales, and now she’s suffering the back lash.”

They were all stunned into silience.

“That a lot to come up with on the spot” Dustin said suspiciously.

Flint frowned “I’ve found our Outworlder strange from the very beginning. When I saw body and abnormal strength I grew suspicious. I’ve been researching since. That’s why I gave her Philips’ theory of potential, I was hoping she might connect the dots on her own. But now it seems that we’ve found the draw back.”

“What if we found her a third essence, got her to iron rank? That should reduce the disconnect thing” Petra asked.

Flint frowned “I don’t know. This has never happened before.”

Dustin looked to Seras “Is the pain going down at least?” he asked.

“No, its still there. I don’t think its going to go away.” Seras said with a grunt.

“Do you think a pain-relieving potion will help?” Petra asked.

“No.” Flint said. “What’s going on right now is soul deep. No potion I’ve heard of can affect the soul.”

“So what, she just has to deal with an endless pain that just keeps getting worse and worse!” Petra snarled.

“Until we find a solution I’m afraid she will.” Dustin said. “If it’s a soul pain then there’s no escape. Not even sleep will be free from it.”

“Its fine Petra. I’ll just need to get used to it.” Seras tried to calm down the Leonid.

“Its not fine. Its fucken bullshit!”

“Its life, no one gets any say for how life choses to fuck us over.” Seras said, her voice lacking any emotion. “This isn’t some cruel God playing a prank on me, its just natural forces at play. Its like being mad at a storm.”

“Gods” Dustin said. “If anyone would have an answer they would. A priest of Healer was able to figure out how to recharge up your body, maybe they will know how to help you.”

“Then we take her to the church of the Healer” Petra said firmly. “The divine district is just a couple blocks over.”

Flint and Dustin both shook their heads “Not here” Dustin said.

“Why not, I saw Healers temple over there?” Petra asked.

“Not all temples are equal, especially in the case of Healer. He lets his temples have a lot of leeway with his edicts. Something to do with the freedom of choice. That often means that churches in isolated places like this become corrupt and less honorable than his big temples. “ Dustin said.

Flint nodded “The temple of Wolfram Valley is notoriously corrupt, and they like to decide who is and isn’t worthy of healing depending on how ‘pious’ the person is. People who give the church regular donations are more likely to receive treatment than some strangers who rolled in from out of town. We once tried to have a snake bite treated here, but even though the spell would cost the clergy nothing to cast they refused unless we paid a ridiculous fee.”

Petra frowned “That was Frank right? Before I joined. Didn’t Rohan say he sucked the poison out to save his life?”

Dustin snorted “Yup, he did it right there in the temple. He sucked the blood out of Frank and spit it on the priests robes. Nearly lost our heads for that one. But the Wolframites still hold to their old traditions of honor and respect, and they said Rohan was well within his rights to spit venom on priests who refused aid.”

“What about Briaxis?” Petra said, naming the last city the Wolfram river passed through before reaching the sea.

“No go as well, those priests are all Draconians, and we all know they get a little Supremacist-ee at the best of times. They’ll refuse her on account of her not being Draconian.” Flint explained.

“God-damned god and his stupidly lax rules” Petra grumbled.

“Florin should be fine. They recently had a major sweep and purging of their ranks. They’re our best bet.” Dustin said. “And its not like she’s going to die any minute. This is a growing, long term condition. If Seras can bear with the pain for a little longer then there’s no issue waiting until we get to a better church.”

“Can you last that long?” Petra asked.

“Yeah, I’m already getting used to the discomfort.” Seras lied.

“Alright.” Petra relented, the furry in her voice and posture seeping away. “But we should call off any more essence training.”

Seras nodded. “Alright. But I think I would like to keep the rest of the routine going. Maybe we can sub out essence training for weapon’s training instead? I doubt I’m going to ever hold a gun again, so I need to learn something new.” Seras said, trying to change the subject from her potential impending doom.

“Guns are those magic bow things you mentioned right?” Dustin asked.

“Sort of. They’re similar in the same way a sword and dart are similar since they both have pointy ends.” Seras said cheekily. She had tried several times to explain guns, but they always either related it to a bow or a magic staff that fired force bolts.

“Then maybe Rohan can show you how to fire a bow, you should have the strength and accuracy for it.” Petra said.

“Maybe, but I was never much of a sniper. My specialty always sat somewhere between the frontlines or the middle of a fight. My style is very up close and personal. So maybe swords or scimitars would be better.”

Dustin looked contemplative. “A bow-like weapon useful on the front lines. I must admit I’m curious.”

“Again, not a bow. Think of pistols more like knives, and rifles are like spears or lances.”

“I can work with that” Dustin said with a grin, then his his grin fell. “But not today. Today you rest, and that means actually sleeping. Sleep helps govern your magic matrix, and that’s going to be important for you from now on.” He said firmly.

“Alright, I’ll try to sleep twice a week from now on” Seras said with a shrug.

“No, every night.” Dustin commanded.

“Every night! That’s ridiculous.”

“Seras, most people sleep every night. It aint right to go that long without sleep.” Dustin countered.

“Three nights, and only four hours” Seras said, her voice brooking no argument.

“Fine” Dustin relented.

“Yes!” Seras said with a fist pump.