Nate was only half paying attention to Professor Karne as he wrote up a flow diagram on the board detailing how soul energy moved from the Physical Realm to the Spiritual realm. He was far too preoccupied with what this information meant for his own experiences. Even before he had received his Class Core, the System had known he was from another universe. It knew the kinds of rewards he wanted from Dungeons. It knew how he was trying to expand or push his Skills. What was Intent, if not a form of mental effort based around a memory or idea? It even explained some questions he had from Earth. Why were there ideas about monsters and magic that had arisen on Earth? A place that was, as far as he knew, basically a mana desert. Goblins, kobolds, dragons and a thousand other myths and legends that had almost certainly never existed on Earth, yet the humans of Earth knew of them. That made a lot more sense if they were inheriting fragments of memories from other people and beings in other universes.

“What are Spirits?” he mentally sent to Frick.

“A conglomeration of soul energy with memories that relate to a singular idea that has come into contact with enough mana to self actualize into an individual,” came the instant response.

“So…the goblin shape?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Most of the memories that formed me were related to a varying number of goblins from varying tribes and universes. In a couple they were even the dominant species. Those aren’t the only memories that made me, but they’re definitely the strongest.”

“Why aren’t you more…aggressive, then?” he asked.

“Ah? Did they not cover that? It’s just the memories. Not the emotions associated with them. It’s like watching a movie but in black and white and without sound.”

“..why is everyone not more affected by this?”

“Boss, your memories don’t just live in your soul energy. They’re in your brain. They’re mostly your experiences, which have all the emotions attached to them, making them far stronger than the occasional exchange of soul energy you have with the Spiritual Realm. You’re still you. Kiri is still Kiri. Hells, I’m still me, gloriously Fricky, goblin extraordinaire. Just, rarely, you’ll experience a fragment of someone or something else’s memory.”

Nate stopped asking Frick questions as his mind went back to another experience. When he had saved Kiri from Soul Dissolution. She hadn’t lost her memories, because as Frick had said, they lived in her mind as well as her soul energy. But, the System hadn’t been happy about him disconnecting her soul energy from the Class Core, which had resulted in the crystallisation of Kiri’s Class Core and the addition of a new one to replace it. That meant The System could somehow recognise the presence of soul energy in the Physical realm.

“Do insects and plants have soul energy?” blurted out Nate as the thought occurred to him, interrupting the Professor.

Karne shot him a disapproving look before answering, “Plants, yes, but a fraction of what you or I possess. Insects do, but again, it is miniscule. Small minds is the prevailing theory as to why. If, as I was saying, life is the key for soul energy, then the level of sentience, or better yet, sapience, is the measurement for the quantity of soul energy. And yes, there are Mental Classes capable of controlling insects. Now, if we’re done with the interruptions…”

The Professor didn’t get to finish as one of the nobles took the opportunity to ask their own question.

“Why are we not more influenced by these memories? If we’re exchanging information with the Spiritual realm and receiving memory fragments, then why are they not changing us and our personalities?”

Professor Karne sighed and turned to his flow diagram, adding an additional step to the exchange of soul energy between the Physical realm moving to the Spiritual realm.

“There are two key reasons. The first is, your personality is a conglomerate of your experiences and memories across your entire life. Receiving a memory or two from the Spiritual realm is unlikely to change that when it is a fraction of a fraction of your total memories. The second reason is, all emotions associated with the memories are stripped away before they enter the spiritual realm. These stripped emotions need to go somewhere. The negative emotions become demonic energy while the positive emotions become celestial energy. We will go into further detail on both in a few weeks. No. No questions on them. Now, if I could continue the lecture?” asked the Professor, the question clearly rhetorical, as he returned to the diagram on the board.

“Good. Now, as I was saying. Upon entering the Spiritual realm, soul energy is fragmented into many smaller pieces. Rarely, this process does not occur. We do not know why, but when this happens we sometimes see a result that has led to the idea of reincarnation. I want to be clear, there is very little evidence for this and the ideas espoused in regards to reincarnation are inaccurate. Without the emotions or context for these memories, the resulting individual would likely be very different from their previous life. This is also why the banned practice of Necromancy leads to the result of a creation with similar Classes and Skills to the source of the soul energy.”

“Finally, we get to Mental Skills. Mana can influence soul energy, and soul energy can influence and interact with the brain. That simple flow is how mental skills, such as Suggestion, can be used to affect an individual, and why soul energy protections are so important. This brings us to the Stats involving soul energy. Willpower and Charisma. Willpower has nothing to do with your brain and everything to do with your ability to influence your own soul energy, controlling it and preventing outside influence. Both Stats, when used with the appropriate Skills, can be used to influence the soul energy of another. Charisma is far and away more potent in this field, but with enough Willpower, mana and soul energy, it is possible to influence the soul energy of others. Which brings us back to something previously discussed in the Intermediate grade of the course. Seats of Power.”

Nate went back to half-listening as Professor Karne explained how since soul energy and mana could interact it was possible, using enchantments and creating affinities, to align a location with one’s own soul energy and then use that to bolster themselves when in the vicinity. He got the gist of it, but had better ways of doing such for himself with runecrafting. What interested him instead was the idea that The System was using soul energy to effectively read his mind and doing so for every sapient in existence. Whether it had spirits, like the Dungeon Custodians, assisting it was irrelevant to the sheer scale that was required. A multiverse of sapients and it could detect every creature with enough soul energy to interact with a Class Core, and then forcibly give them one. To what end? What was it trying to achieve? And why?

He sighed. Every time he got an answer, it just raised more questions. He supposed it at least explained a little about why he had been flagged for Class Core interference so long ago. Even if his goal had been to save Kiri, he could just repeat the process over and over on people, accruing a supply of Stat and Skill Orbs. It also explained why soul dissolution was allowable and why soul enslavement wasn’t. Soul Dissolution was in effect, killing someone by sending all their soul energy to the Spiritual Realm, that wasn’t really an issue for The System. Soul Enslavement though, that sounded like it prevented the transfer of soul energy with the Spiritual Realm, creating a source of soul energy that The System couldn’t interact with.

That led him to a final conclusion about his, and the Intents of others. His Intent Skill was letting him use his soul energy, via his mind, to directly control and influence his Class Core. The fact that he was using his mind meant his Intent was also being recorded in his soul energy, keeping The System informed of his desires. Such as restructuring the Skills on his Class Core. That explained why he, with a Mythic, previously Legendary tier skill that let him focus his Intent, had shown far more capability than most of his peers in Skill Development.

Could he have forced Skills on his Class Core to merge, forcibly creating synergies, without a skill for his Intent? Specifically Intent related to runes? The very runes that it seemed Class Core Skills were written in? Probably not. The question he had was, could he do the same to others? And if so, would The System consider it a Class Core violation? He had a thousand questions and answering more than half of them ran the risk of crossing The System for a second time. Something he definitely did not want to do.

Glancing at Kiri he decided it was something to discuss later. Though finding the time between his other experiments and work was going to be a challenge. He sighed quietly. There was never enough time. For a moment he second-guessed his decision to trade the Legendary Time Skill to Evindal before firming his resolve. His plan for his Tertiary Class and his Embodiment was the right one for his Path. With his mind finally settling he focused back on the Professor’s words. If this was what they taught in the Advanced course, what in the Nine Hells were they teaching in the Expert grade? He didn’t know, but he intended to find out.

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*************

Kiri spat blood into the gritty sand as she let the second punch land, knocking her to the sandy floor of The Pit. Even without activating Soul Imbuement she could have dodged the attack, but that would’ve meant showing off just how much better she was than her opponents. Her Skills were all growing, with five of them approaching their second evolution. With her current Skills and Stats, the other fighters in the Pit in the under level sixty division just didn’t pose a challenge any more. But if she showed off just how wide the gap between them was, she would be adding fuel to the fire about the nature of her Classes and their tiers. Instead, she let them get in a few good shots. It didn’t take her much to heal from the injuries they inflicted. She however would leave handling the worst of it till after she was done beating the shit out of them.

Going on the offensive she threw a flurry of punches at the stocky woman's kidneys. As she had expected, the woman clamped up, trying to protect the area which let Kiri kick the woman in the side of her right knee, buckling her stance. With the fighter's stance broken Kiri followed up with an elbow to the face, utilising her higher Agility to strike before the woman could react. As blood sprayed onto the sand Kiri pushed her advantage, striking over and over as her opponent futilely tried to mount a defence. Within two minutes the woman was a bloody mess, splayed out on the sand. The referee, if he could be called that, was raising her arm to the screams and adulation of the crowd even as they bayed for more blood.

It only took her a few minutes to collect her winnings and exit The Pit. With the cut Nate was going to give her for her work in managing his crafting clients she didn’t really need to keep fighting. But she liked it. Loved it even. More than that, she had needed a way to vent after their class that day. The truth about soul energy had rocked her to her core and made her wonder about the true nature of her abilities. Was she stealing the memories of others when she drained their soul energy? What about her To Slay A Soul skill? Was it creating a copy of their soul energy within her own or was she temporarily denying the memories contained within the soul energy from returning to the Spiritual Realm.

Beyond that, were they influencing her? If she was taking in the soul energy of others, was it mixing with her own? Altering her? She hadn’t seen any signs of it in her day-to-day life, but then, how would she know? She knew it definitely influenced her when she used To Slay A Soul. She could still remember how it had felt to take on the aspect of Szuzkrung, Chosen of Xenyntiss. The little kobold had dreamed of becoming a dragon, with Classes to match. Channelling the power of the creature's soul had definitely driven her to dominate and burn all that opposed her. She had still been herself, but with the addition of the kobolds ideas and understanding of the Concept of what a dragon might represent. She hadn’t had the same experience when she had used the souls of sentient creatures.

The power and knowledge had faded with the soul energy. But she could still remember how it had felt. Was using the Skill going to make her change? She didn’t know the answer, and that honestly scared her a bit. Bringing up her Status she glanced at it, worrying over the implications.

Stats

Physical

Mental

Magic

Strength

68 (3)

Intellect

14

Magic Power

13

Dexterity

92

Charisma

16

Magic Control

94

Agility

340 (6)

Creativity

13

Channelling Speed

29

Endurance

56 (3)

Willpower

332 (3)

Mana Reserve

82

Constitution

50

Perception

172

Mana Absorption

18 (6)

Classes

Primary Class - Level 20 (40)

Secondary Class - Level 5

Tertiary Class

Reborn Soul Slayer (M)

Reborn Soul Dancer (L)

…

Skills

To Slay A Soul (M) Lvl 18 - (Bound Souls Equal to 8)

Effective Soul Shift (L) Lvl 36 - (432 metres teleport range, -43.2% Soul Energy Cost)

Soul Imbuement (L) Lvl 38 - (Increase Agility, Endurance and Constitution by +266)

Soul Drain (E) Lvl 37 - (+23.5% Willpower, +12% Agility)

The Size of a Soul (E) Lvl 38 - (Soul Capacity increased by 456% and 9% Soul Energy Regen/hr)

Empowered Soul Engraving (E) Lvl 25 - (4/4 Soul Engravings Used, Engravings last for 110 days, +10% Effective power for Soul Engravings)

Tethered Soulblade Dancing (L) Lvl 37 - (1850 metres detection range, 19 Tethers, 7 Tethered Arms, +18.5% Agility, +15% Penetrative Power)

Soul Storage (E) Lvl 29 - (13.92 cubic metres of space)

Soul Slayers Aspect (M) Lvl 24 - (+70% Agility, 36% Perception and 29% Dexterity)

Soul Sense (E) Lvl 17 - (216 metres sensory range)

Command the Soul (E) Lvl 17 - (+40.8% Effective Willpower)

A Hidden Soul (E) Lvl 15 - (-15% Reduced Soul Energy Cost)

Spells

Wisps of Shadow (U)

Status Effects

Illusory Class Core Veil Soul Engraving (Illusory Class Core: Dagger Dancer (E) (37) / Spiritwalker (R) (8) ) (Temporary, Legendary)

Willpower Soul Engraving (+11% Willpower) (Temporary, Rare)

Soul Power Engraving (+22% to Soul Energy Skills) (Temporary, Legendary)

Strength Soul Engraving (+11% Strength) (Temporary, Rare)

System Contract - Luc Crozier & Evindal Ravalynn (Temporary)

Her Willpower was soaring and it was the lifeline she was grasping onto. The Professor had said Willpower was the Stat for controlling your own soul energy and resisting outside influence. She intended to take that to the extreme, to make sure that her sense of self was sacrosanct.

Pausing her walk, she stepped into an alley, having sensed his approach. A moment later Deverell stepped out of the nearby shadows.

“How?” her mentor asked curiously.

She smirked in response before answering quietly, “I put a Tether on you before I gave you that Soul Engraving.”

At his request, she had given Deverell a Soul Barrier Soul Engraving, replicating the same rune that Nate had devised. And just like with Nate, she had put a Soul Tether on him first, so she could find him when she needed to. The fact that it had the added benefit of not letting him sneak up on her was just an unintentional side-effect. Definitely unintentional, she thought, still smirking.

“I see,” Deverell answered quietly before he nodded. “Acceptable and clever. I am just delivering a message. Luc is back. Aisling and Evindal should only be a few days away. Luc wants you to bring Nate to the Guild Compound tomorrow evening. Also, you are both to be careful. A Guard Inspector came by today and asked after Nate. They refused to say why and were turned away, but I don’t think it will be the last we see of them. You know why.”

Kiri nodded with a sigh. It was too much to hope that the fallout from the kidnapping and death of a noble was going to be swept under the rug. At least the Platinum’s were almost back, she thought with a smile before she glanced back at her mentor.

“Anything else?”

Deverell shook his head, “Not yet. But soon.”

Kiri gave another nod in response. She knew what her mentor meant. They would do whatever was required to protect Nate. Even if that meant leaving a trail of bodies behind them.

With the exchange over, Deverell vanished back into the night and she used Effective Soul Shift to return herself to the University, finding Coralie waiting in her room. As her girlfriend rushed to look over the blood on her clothes from her fighting, she let the presence of the cute, little Ice Mage soothe her worries about her Classes and the things she was more than likely going to have to do soon. If the price of her best friend’s freedom was blood, she was more than willing to pay it, no matter how much was required.