We walked to my room, I was feeling pretty good, all things considered. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my being. I felt like I truly belonged in the body I was inhabiting for the first time.

When I unlocked the door to my room, Torill entered first, then stopped short, staring at Thorn's mana shell. I mentally chuckled, it sure was a lot bigger than my staff needed. But there was still plenty of floor space left in my room.

I nosed Torill in the back of her head, to get her to move out of my doorway.

"Uh, what's that?" She said, as she moved out of my way, still staring at the mana.

"Thorn."

With their name, I included damn near everything about them.

"Oh, wow. That just sounds like a familiar, I don't know why the System made a big deal about them. But you probably shouldn't tell most people that much about them." She stared at Thorn's shell for a moment more, before turning to look at me.

"It's the New Concept, I haven't had time to figure out how to put limits on how Honest I am yet."

"What happened there? I know your soul was wounded, then there was a flicker, and now your soul is healthier than ever with two new Concepts." Torill looked at me, like she could see my soul, the way she was talking, I thought that might just be the truth.

I nosed my door lock, to make sure we were in private. I transmitted everything that had happened to the woman.

"You… split in two? And met a System Admin who gave you part of his soul, something I can hardly believe is even possible. If you didn't have that new Concept running wild, I'd wonder if you were pulling my leg. I don't think I've heard of a split soul before, what's it like? I don't see the other half of you by the way, and I feel like I should be able to." She looked around like she was trying to locate Angela.

"Dunno yet, I feel more in tune with this life? I guess it's nice. I haven't had time to think about it. I don't know where Angela is, she wanted to sleep, Randy said something about a better offer. I guess that's between the two of them"

When I tried to remember my first life, and it was there, but it was strange as hell. I knew it was memories of my own life, but it didn't feel like it really mattered to me. I tried to think of any memories that really mattered to me from that life, I saw a distressing trend in the ones that felt like they belonged to me. None of them started out happy, though some of them ended that way. I also seemed to possess the entirety of my final five years. I wished I didn't.

"It's weird." I sent, trying to give her an idea of how it felt to look at my old memories.

"It sounds like it. Now do you know how to settle a newly activated Concept?" She went back to looking at me, it really did seem like she was looking through me, and inspecting my soul.

"Not really, don't I just accept it as part of me?"

"Sort of, you also want to meditate on it, mold the Concepts to your needs so they aren't so all encompassing. Make your brand of Honesty, your kindness. You can use one Concept against the other here. It's unkind to saddle people with knowledge that could cause them trouble, you know." She had a pretty serious look on her face.

I snorted, that kind of made sense.

"Now, do you know how to meditate?"

I nodded.

She put her hands on her hips, and seemed skeptical that I actually knew how to meditate. "I'm going to walk you through it just in case you're wrong about that. Now get comfortable."

I laid down on the floor in front of her, and she calmly walked me through meditation, and guided me in how I should properly accept a Concept. I'd been doing it mostly right, thanks to Nefen's instructions, when I channeled mana before. Her words helped me make the Concepts meld with who I wanted to be, and what I needed.

When we were done, I felt amazing, it helped that I liked the idea behind the Concepts. I had fully accepted who I was, I felt like the split had been very helpful with the ability to take in the Concepts. I know Angela would have fought anything foreign, for me, it was just a new experience.

I got up and went over to my fellow contractor and licked her face, purring loudly to let her know how happy I was.

She wiped her face off and ran the hand she used through my mane while laughing cheerfully.

"Well you sure seem happy. So you're totally what you seem to be now, huh?. Something tells me the old you wouldn't have licked me like that."

I cocked my head to the side.

"It's actually a little hard to imagine being human now. I know I was, I know that life is part of me, but it's not me, it's mostly completely separate, only a few parts of that life feel real. If that makes sense?"

"Well, having spent thirty years in this life, and fifteen with this class, I kind of get that. Sometimes when I give things up, it feels a bit like that." She kept rubbing my neck, I started purring.

I moved so she was getting a different spot, it felt so nice.

"You're kind of adorable for such a big beasty you know." She giggled a little, and smiled as she moved to scratch me under the chin. I lifted my head, completely at ease.

"You're kind of adorable yourself."

"Now that's sweet, and I know you're honest too. You know before I got my memories back with my class, I was so sad to be one of the forsaken. I was taught that the more animal features someone has, the more in tune with their guardian they are. It's both true and false by the way. Did you know that if a demihuman child fails to bond with an animal spirit, this is what they look like? It's terribly rare. Demihumans revere their Spirit Beast guardians so much they're almost seen as gods, they're Belua's true children according to them. Touching you like this would be a religious experience for a true demi, the part of me that grew up here is absolutely ecstatic."

"What's it like being born into a new life like that?"

"You weren't? I've heard of that happening to some people, but all my lives have started with me incarnating into the womb. Well, I think that's when it happens anyway. You just grow up like a normal kid, there are no hints that there's anything special going on until you turn fifteen and get your class, mark, and all your memories. Once you get your memories back, the life gets put into perspective, but it's still something you lived. It's usually pretty nice, being able to grow up, and having all those new experiences. This life wasn't the best childhood I've had, but it wasn't the worst either. No one would dare mistreat a child, it's one of Belua's strongest laws."

"I can see how that would be the case, have you seen her?"

"Oh no, she's rarely checked in with me, my contract isn't very complicated. I just have to ensure the stability of the spirit realm in and around Brightwood. I'm meant to otherwise keep a low profile, it's why I'm so low level, though I've been shooting up in levels lately."

I tried to get her level from the System.

Contract-Bound Spiritualist

I felt like she was quite a lot higher level than me, but the System didn't include a number.

"Did you just check my level? You naughty kitty. I don't think I should tell you what it is since you've got that silly Concept." She tapped me on the nose.

I licked her hand.

"If I promise not to tell, then I'd be dishonest if I shared it! So I promise I won't tell anyone your level."

"Good work around." She wiped her hand on my mane, and scratched me behind the ear, I leaned into it. "In that case I just hit level 225."

"Wow. Didn't you say you were low level?"

"Honey, that is low level. It's just high for this area. It's actually starting to get a little uncomfortable to live here. I'd be thinking of moving on if I wasn't contracted to work in this place specifically. I bet my 250 evolution will mitigate the effect of being in a low tier area."

"What's high level then?"

"For this world? I think anyone who passes the 1250 milestone is considered high level."

"Is that normal? That seems crazy, I feel like I'm already getting pretty powerful at 80."

"Normal? I think so, I'm no expert though. It's cute that you think that you're getting powerful! You need to get out more. Belua talked to me while I was recovering by the way, told me to look out for you while you're here. She seems to like you."

"I'm pretty sure she likes everyone, I actually would be very pleased if she cared for me a little less. I'll be getting out a lot starting tomorrow. Oh crap! I just remembered I had plans today, I really need to go."

"Awww! Well, I understand. Let's chat again tonight?"

"Sure, absolutely! Can't wait!"

I started to pull away from her, just as she wrapped her arms around my neck, they didn't quite make it all the way around.

"It's nice to talk to another contractor, I usually don't go out of my way to find people like us, I probably should."

"I'm not even sure what Concepts get put behind the words when people do that 'old soul' thing."

"Oh, old soul ? Like that? I've heard a few people practically open every conversation with it. It's not too hard if you know how to channel Concepts. You just have to tune in to the binding part of your contract."

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I shivered a little at the resonance, now that I could sense Concepts, it seemed like a gong going off.

I shifted to demihuman without thinking. Torill's arms were still around my neck, and she yelped a bit in surprise. I wrapped my arms around her, and stood up straight, lifting her off the ground with a grin. "Thanks so much for all your help! I feel so much better now."

She giggled. "Put me down you big lug, didn't you say you needed to be going?"

My ears drooped a bit, and I set her down. "Sorry."

"You're just a giant teddy bear aren't you? Come on, let's go find Pierce and Ivo. Your plans are with them, right?" She grabbed my hand, and started pulling me towards the door. "I swear, no wonder she said you needed looking after, you're so easily distracted."

"Uh, I'd like to say I'm not usually this bad…" I allowed myself to be pulled.

"But you're too honest!" She giggled, as she led me out of the apartments at a jog.

"Uh… do you know where they are?" We were moving pretty fast, and didn't seem to be wandering randomly.

"Yup! I asked a spirit to lead us." She was smiling brightly.

"I could have found their scent, I've got a pretty good nose. You didn't have to pay whatever that cost." I couldn't imagine using her class to do something as simple as just finding people a little faster.

"Oh, this one's already been paid. I gave it a precious memory a few years ago in exchange for its service for nine years."

"What kind of memory would be worth nine years of service?"

"Um, well, I'm not sure, I gave it away for the whole nine years. I think it is the same one I always give away though. So it must be something I don't want to keep? There's no return clause on that contract, unless the spirit terminates it on their end. I've got a couple contracts like that. All I can say is I'm pretty sure I'm happier without whatever is in them." She looked over at me with her trademark bright smile as we continued to follow her spirit.

"You said it was precious though?" I was pretty confused.

"Don't you have any precious memories that make you sad? I can say one thing I know about the memories, they aren't from… oh someone's close." We were headed around the guild hall, and as we turned the corner, we saw everyone gathered together, talking.

"Angel!" Ivo called out. "That took a while, are you feeling better now, did you have fun?" He had a smirk on his face.

"Yeah! Torill's amazing, she helped me a lot." I said with a smile.

She hit me in the arm.

I blinked and looked at her in confusion.

She hit me again, I had no idea what I did wrong.

"Torill, honey, you're just confusing the poor guy." Ivo said, laughing.

The entire gathered group laughed too, and then I understood.

"She, I, we… didn't… she just helped me get my head on straight." I felt like my face was on fire.

"I am totally amazing though. He just hasn't found out how amazing I am… yet." She said with a wink.

"I uh…" my brain seemed to be on the fritz

"Oh my, I think you broke him." Ivo clicked his tongue and shook his head with an amused look on his face.

Torill grabbed my arm, and held it. "Whatever! So where are we going?" She was absolutely ignoring everyone else gathered around.

"We? Well I suppose you can come, but Angel plans to be hidden in a bag while we go see the critters they have at the hunter's guild." He had a mischievous look in his eye as he grabbed Pierce's arm, just like Torill had mine, Pierce looked unimpressed.

Looking at Pierce sparked my brain to remember what Randy had asked me to do.

"Oh hey um, since everyone is here, I have a message for Pierce, Krassis, Alexander, and you too, Torill."

The people mentioned looked at me with great curiosity.

"Message from who?" Krassis asked with a gravelly voice.

"The System admin who fixed me up said he would be looking at your classes, and seeing what tweaks he can make to make them nicer for you guys." I smiled.

"And why would an admin do that?" Pierce looked at me skeptically.

"Can't say exactly. But it had to do with a conversation we had about classes while he was deciding how to fix me."

"Uh huh, and are we going to end up fixed like you are right now?" It looked like whatever anger Ivo was draining from Pierce, it wasn't enough.

I lowered my head, my ears flattened.

"I'm a special case, I got hurt pretty bad, he didn't touch my class." I didn't think the way I was behaving was that different.

"I sure hope he talks to us first, I'm happy with my class." Said Torill, sounding concerned.

"Oh he definitely said he'd be talking to you, he's really kind. That's why he wanted me to warn you. I'm not sure how he'll contact you guys, but when he took care of me, he pulled my soul into a place outside of time. I'm pretty sure that would be really off-putting if you had it happen without warning." I scratched my cheek.

"What did you say to him?" Pierce looked like he wanted to strangle me.

"I uh, I really can't answer that exactly. I'm sorry, but I know he won't do anything you don't consent to. Every bit of help he gave me, he made sure I knew what was happening." My tail started twitching. I was surprised how absolutely certain I was that Randy wasn't going to do anything without asking first.

"What did he do to you?" Ivo asked, he put a hand on Pierce's shoulder.

"I really really can't say. But I was in trouble, I was hurt, and he made sure I could choose my fate." My tail's twitching increased its intensity.

I heard Martin whisper. "Was it that bad?"

My ears flattened. "Not your fault Martin. You couldn't know that it would interact with my form that way. It hurt, it hurt very, very badly."

I was assaulted with the memory of having my Concepts stripped. My heart raced so much I started leaking mana from the horror of it. I heard Ivo groan. Then I felt the terror leave me. The memory playing out ground to a halt. I felt my soul vibrating.

"Thank you Ivo. I'm sorry you had to feel that." I said, I was still breathing hard from the experience.

I suddenly felt Randy's energy touch me.

"I felt something, let me look at what happened."

His voice rang in my head.

"Just the memory of the attack." I said, out loud.

"Just the memory, he says. I should have dulled that, I thought I did. Let me in, I'll see what I can do. Your soul can't take that kind of strain repeatedly in its current state, not even with my reinforcement."

I was about to ask what he meant, but then I felt a pressure on my mind. My instincts told me to resist it, but I had trusted Randy with my very soul already, so I did the opposite of what my instincts told me to do, and gave way to him.

"Good job with the Concepts, that little lady is a keeper. Actually, I think I'm going to mark her for hiring, would you like to work with her when I hire you? Ah you don't know yet, huh. Well, we'll see, it won't be for a couple lifetimes anyway."

"What's going on now Angel? Your emotions just shifted pretty strangely." Ivo seemed both confused and concerned.

"Are these your guildmates? You can tell them I'm here, it's okay."

"I think they might have some questions for you, they seemed pretty scared of what you might change." I said out loud without thinking.

"Uh sorry guys, the admin that helped me decided to check on me after the memory hit me." I lowered my head a little, somewhat ready to be assaulted with questions. Everyone was silent though, they seemed to be really scared.

"Not many people have encountered an admin before Angel, and we kind of have a less than stellar reputation for how we handle things too. Most admins are very disconnected from mortals, they are rather likely to just solve whatever problem they encounter as efficiently as possible, with little regard for the people they are working on. My Authorities make me a bit of an exception, I should have thought about that before I told you to warn them."

I thought about how the one called Hash had talked. It was easy to think where their reputation came from. Though, something told me Hash wasn't that bad of a person deep down, he did call in Randy, and he let me overhear their conversation.

"Very deep down, Angel. Very very deep down, I believe you're right."

I wondered if he could hear all my thoughts since he was in my head.

"Yep, on the surface, and below, you are currently an open book. Don't worry, I won't hold what goes on in your mind against you. Not that there's anything to take issue with. I am very happy to hear you trust me so much, I swear on my power I will try my hardest not to ever betray your trust."

I felt the certainty of an oath settle on me. He didn't have to do that, but it was kind of him to do.

"You have a part of me in you, you know my measure more than most, but an oath to make it official never hurts."

I should have realized that there might be a reason I felt such extreme trust in the man.

"That is a likely side effect, yes. One of a few, like how I could feel it when your soul started to damage itself just now. I swear I'm not watching you all the time now or anything silly like that."

So he was watching me some of the time, was what I got from that.

"Well, one's attention is drawn in when a piece of their soul is experiencing something nearby. Now, tell your lovely empath friend to be ready, I'm going to push on the memory."

I nodded, and did as I was asked. Ivo's face went white when I spoke to him, but he nodded. Pierce put his arm around him, the man was looking a little green.

When the memory played, it felt different, still horrible, but there was a distance to it. It was almost like it happened years ago.

"That's better. I'm going to leave your mind now. Good luck."

I felt the presence withdraw from my mind.

I looked around, no one had left while Randy worked on me. They had, however, moved some distance away though. Except for Torill, who was still holding my arm tightly, and Ivo and Pierce who looked like they'd much rather have moved away.

Suddenly Torill's grip on my arm tightened almost painfully, then immediately loosened. "Oh Angel, I know why you trust him now. He spoke to me, and I felt his truths. He said not to worry, if my class didn't bother me he felt no need to alter it." She giggled, then she spoke under her breath, not even loud enough to qualify as a whisper. "He also told me something else, we'll have to talk about that later though."

Then I saw Pierce stiffen. His eyes widened, and then, after a moment, he started to cry. "Thank you. Thank you so much." He said, as he began to sob. He hugged Ivo, and I heard him say. "He offered to make it an activated ability."

I then heard Krassis laugh, I looked over, and the man was smiling. I had no idea what Randy said he'd do, but it seemed like it was a hit.

Then I looked over at Alexander, expectantly. His eyes were as wide as saucers. "Oh, okay." He said, sounding disappointed. He looked over at Torill. "I have to level, he can't do much with my class, but he said he'd flag me for a divergent evolution to a true healer."

"That's great though! 50 isn't that far if you actually try, and now you've got a reason!" She shouted at him, smiling happily.

Krassis grunted. "Be happy kid, I got flagged for a divergent class too, but I've gotta somehow get to 250. I'm gonna have to leave Brightwood soon, not that I'm attached or anythin'. Angel, I want to train with you soon, I heard it's good for levels."

I blinked. "Uh sure, I should have time, I still have to head to the hunter's guild though." I looked at Ivo and Pierce, who were too busy hugging each other to pay attention to me.

I looked at Torill, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. "How do you feel about carrying a comatose squirrel around the hunter's guild in your purse? I don't think I want to bother those two."

She laughed, and whispered. "Let's go."

I looked at Martin, whose face had gone white, he was nodding along to whatever the voice in his head was telling him. I hoped Randy didn't blame the man for what happened to me.

Janus was looking around. "Hey mister System man, you got something to make me less of a hazard when I fight?" He asked the air.