I spent most of the night listening to Torill as she told me stories about her lives, she'd been human in over half of them. Apparently it was common for younger contractors to be placed in bodies similar to their original. She had also mostly been placed as a female.

Only two of her lives had been fighters of any sort, and she admitted that she couldn't remember half of one of those lives. She'd given those memories in exchange for the service of one of her strongest servitor spirits. All she knew was that the memories were linked to a Concept that she dearly wanted to be rid of. She did not tell me what it was, and I didn't ask.

She told me a little about her original life too, even if she wasn't able to go into detail. She had been a painter, and a somewhat famous one at that. She had earned not just one, but three Concepts in her first life. She was Passionate, Dedicated, and Driven. She had earned a lot since then, but your first Concepts were special.

She admitted that telling someone your core Concepts was considered an act of sincere trust among contractors. Only the oldest contractors could usually see into a person's soul well enough to see the Concepts there. She could, but it was a class skill that allowed it, not something she could do without the System yet.

She didn't have to tell me why it was thought of that way. I could easily guess how someone's Concepts could be used to manipulate them. I was reminded of that when she made me swear on my life that I would tell no one what hers were while telling me how much it would hurt her if they got out. It neatly bound me with my own Concepts to keep the secret as long as I lived.

Eventually Belua interrupted us to ask if we wanted to wake up to a knock on the door. It was Nefen, he had apparently put together Torill's order while we slept. We agreed to wake up, and Torill went to get the door.

I stretched, noting that I hadn't shifted in my sleep. It made sense, I had stayed in my demihuman form the entire time, I was pretty sure my body tended to shift to match the form I took in Belua's realm.

I ran my brush through my fur, ignoring the slowly growing nagging itch to shift that came from holding anything other than my mana beast form for too long. It wasn't bad yet, and I knew I'd be shifting to travel within the next few hours.

While I waited for Torill to get done talking to Nefen, my eyes landed on the pack that the System had given me. It was large, and high quality, everything from that room was.

I could use it, I remembered Dux telling me that I could bind it when I had enough mana. I could summon and dismiss it with items inside. The items had to be non-magical, but I wasn't sure what that really meant. I had a feeling what he really meant was things that didn't have an active enchantment. It was the same kind of feeling I got when the System gave me information, but more subtle.

I picked up the bag, and laughed a little when I felt the mana inside it. I had advanced so much that it barely registered as mine. The mana felt weak and wispy. It gave no resistance when I followed the impulse to pull it out of the item and replaced it with new, much more dense and powerful mana.

As I worked I scanned for useful Concepts, and ended up imbuing it with Durable and Comfortable. They were simple, and even awakened by my mana, fairly weak, but they were better than some of the alternatives that presented themselves, like Shiny and Soft.

When the bag was fully infused with my mana, I set it down. I was going to be smart about it, and wait until I was back to full mana, and I had some mana crystals in front of me to eat if needed before asking the System to bind it.

I really hoped I wouldn't regret it, the memory of being drained by the System was still enough to make me cringe. I knew I could outpace what it had drawn now, but that kind of experience leaves a mark.

I started calling mana to me, gathering far more than I could eat. Torill and Nefen came running.

When I explained what I was planning, Nefen looked at the bag. "I suppose storage rings wouldn't be a good fit for a shifter. I've heard about the binding process, I'm told that it is quite expensive to do in terms of mana."

I nodded. "That's why I'm pulling as much mana as I can into the area first. The last time I did this, I wasn't prepared and it felt like I was going to die."

Torill held out her hands and they filled with fire crystals, I could feel the mana wafting off of them.

"Will these help?"

I grinned. "Perfect, shove them down my throat if I start looking bad."

I grabbed the refillable mana crystal I bought from Hoyt, and set it on the floor as I sat down in front of the pack.

"Exactly how bad is it likely to be?" Nefen asked, "I know having your mana bottomed out for a day is uncomfortable, but I've never heard of it being more than an inconvenience so long as you don't expose yourself to danger."

I laughed ruefully, if that was all it did to normal people I envied them. It also occurred to me that Nefen didn't know much about my species.

I thought about keeping it a secret, just so he wouldn't be burdened with any ideas about the value of my body. But he swore an oath to keep my secrets.

"This stays in this room. My mana isn't just in my cores, it's a fundamental part of every cell in my body. I'm made of solidified mana wrapped in Concepts to create a facsimile of a living body."

I had no idea where the words came from, I'd certainly never thought of myself in quite those terms. But I knew it was the truth.

"I should glow to sense mana, and sense Concept. But I don't because the System is shielding me." I continued, my mouth moving on its own. I heard a laugh in my ear, and held back a snarl.

"What sort of creature are you? Your information says spirit beast, but those are simply animals who have had the good fortune to form cores instead of crystals. Are you secretly some sort of elemental? I've never heard of one existing at such a low tier. I've also never heard of one that looked like you, or used more than one mana type."

Nefen was looking at me like I had just become the most interesting thing he had ever seen. The intensity of his stare made me have to hold myself back from shifting in self defense.

I half expected to have my mouth start moving on its own again, but something in the laughter I still heard told me I was on my own to try to explain things now.

I opened my mouth to tell him about how mana beasts were born, but the words stuck in my throat. I scrambled to think of something to explain my being.

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"He was created by the Great Mother to serve his purpose. She needed a being that was more versatile than your average spirit beast. Something that could grow, and impress both man and beast with its might eventually. He was created with a lifetime worth of emotional knowledge, but she left him mostly blank in terms of actual worldly knowledge."

I blinked. There was nothing there that was an outright falsehood. Torill had given me a story I could use in the future.

Nefen fell to his knees. I reconsidered how often I would use the story. It did seem to banish any impulse he had to study me from his head, but he was looking at me like I was some sort of object of reverence. I was entirely taken aback when the usually grumpy half goblin bowed down, putting his forehead on the ground.

The laughter in my ear intensified. "I'm glad you're amused Hash, but I'm pretty sure distracting me, and making me say things counts as audience participation."

The laughter disappeared. I wondered just how long that fragment had been messing with me.

Verifying System selections with ruling entity.

Selections Altered

Rejoice! Due to an exceptionally rare opportunity, you will be incarnated into a unique entity.

The text flashed into my mind, if I wasn't already seated, I would have fallen on my ass. I remembered that text, a lot had happened since then, but that was damn near the first thing the System told me. In retrospect, it did seem to have a bit of a different tone to it than normal System chatter.

It certainly gave context to how vehemently Randy assured me that things weren't usually as bad as they were for me.

"Ah come on kid, it wasn't all me, I went mostly inactive after you entered the real world. I just had to make some tweaks to make sure the System interfaced with the species. We don't usually integrate them since they don't tend to live very long."

My heart skipped a beat, I needed to know just how short my lifespan would be.

"Ahh shit the look on your face! The horror! Priceless! Also, wrong assumption. I don't know, no one does, you could be immortal. That's why this experiment is so damn fun. Without the shield I created, every monster, mage, hunter, and spirit beast for miles would come at you like that wolf did when you first entered the real world. The shield didn't initialize correctly on the transition. I've fixed that little error, no need to thank me."

I blinked. I didn't know what to think.

"You know time's not paused, your little girlfriend is watching you stare blankly at that silly mage. It's kind of hilarious. But I'll stop interfering, no more answers from me for a while, you don't seem to like them anyway. Your loss."

Torill was starting to look distressed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It wasn't my place to tell."

I blinked at her, it took me a moment to remember what had happened before the fragment of an elder god decided to inject himself into the moment.

"It's okay. I didn't know how to explain it. I'm not sure I'll be telling that to anyone else unless I absolutely have to though…"

I was at a loss for how to handle the situation. I could almost feel the strength of the Conceptual energy he was throwing my way. I couldn't read what they were, but I had a feeling I didn't want whatever Concepts I'd pick up from whatever he was thinking. I had to make sure that response didn't happen too often.

"Nefen, sir, could you please get up? I'm the same fool cat I was before. It's true that I'm here specifically to do a job for Belua, but I'm just one of many." I glanced at Torill, and grinned. She shook her head vigorously. I frowned, and decided not to throw her under the bus.

Nefen shook his head and pushed himself up, once he was standing, he asked, "how many people know?"

"I'd assume anyone who is a part of the church has some idea. Or at least, the reaction a sister had to my mark made it seem that way. Other than that, it's just you and Torill. I would very much like to keep it that way."

He reached up and grabbed one of his long ears while biting his lip.

"If you told more people, it would open many doors, but many would think that you were too special to represent Spirit Beasts as a whole. Your mark alone holds that risk, but it's also commonly thought that a mark is nothing more than an endorsement of your goals." He nodded, it seemed like he was speaking mostly to himself.

"I apologize, I was raised by the church, like so many half breeds. Doctrine states that after the first two generations she created no more. And yet, I don't doubt the truth of those words. Is that her doing?"

I cocked my head to the side. "I don't think so?"

"It's yours silly, you are so darn honest, people can feel it. They don't know what they're feeling but they have a hard time doubting you when you tell them something's true." Torill looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes.

It seemed Honest had its advantages. Of course the fact that I had to suppress the urge to tell everyone literally anything they asked me was a hell of a drawback.

Nefen knew something about Concepts, but he looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened. "Honest, truly, that sounds like a fantastic, and terrible burden to carry. I'd assume you can also sense lies?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I think I probably can if I focus, but with everything else I'm feeling all the time? It would have to be a complete fabrication for me to register it. Torill was telling me that I should raise my intelligence to help me sort out all the data."

"Have you told her your distribution? Because I would recommend perception. It seems counterintuitive, but the stat itself helps you parse what your senses pick up. Even if those senses are generally attached to other attributes, like wisdom. Your perception is rather low when you consider your effective movement speed. It's not a perfect rule, but you want it to be half of the combined total of your agility and dexterity. If it's lower you'll start being able to move faster than your own perception can keep up with."

I smiled, Nefen seemed to be bouncing back to his old self rather well.

"He's right, I guess I assumed your perception was already high, and thought that was the bulk of your issue."

"My girl, what have I told you about assumptions?"

"Look at him, those twitches are almost textbook sensory overload, I thought it was a safe assumption."

I flicked an ear, I hadn't realized that I was twitching. But when I paid attention, I could see that my fur flexed out a little now and then when mana touched it. As soon as I paid attention to it, it stopped happening.

"If you looked, you'd see that he's reacting to the mana, not the nonexistent breeze. If it was largely mundane overload, the twitches would stop almost entirely in this room."

"Intelligence would still work."

"It's less efficient."

They argued for a while over where I should put my next few stats before I got frustrated and cleared my throat. They both shouted, "what!?" Before looking at me sheepishly.

"I would like to bind this pack and get breakfast before Belua sends us on our journey."

They looked at each other, and nodded.

"Well, get on with it, we're watching." The older half goblin said.

I chuckled, and called on the System to bind the bag to me.

The drain wasn't nearly as bad as it was the first time. It helped that I hadn't stopped calling in mana, so I had plenty to eat to replace what was drained. In the end I only had to eat a half dozen fire crystals, and drain the refillable mana stone's charge.

Once it was bound, I was able to confirm with the System exactly what could be stored in it. Mana crystals, the mana stone, and my lightly imbued brush were all fine.

I dropped the stone and my brush into the bag and dismissed it. It didn't feel good having so much mana ripped out of me, but binding more things in the future didn't feel like such a daunting prospect.

I grinned widely, I wasn't exactly a slave to fashion, but wearing the same blue shirt and black pants every day was starting to wear on me.

The moment the pack was bound, my stomach announced its displeasure with something that I was pretty sure transcended a growl, and was more properly labeled a roar.

Torill giggled, and Nefen rolled his eyes. "You never eat enough! Let's get to the kitchen, shall we?"

I didn't need to be told twice, I was halfway to the hall before I even knew I was moving.