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Chapter 120: An Artificer is soul touched. (NSFW Section. R-18)

Chapter 120: An Artificer is soul touched. (NSFW Section. R-18)

Spoiler: Spoiler

User Name

Falean Montage

Race

Human (Soul-Modified)

Bloodline

Child of a Changed one

Age 23 (1)

Level 2

HP 140/140

MP 210/210

Feats

Adjustable Soul

Soul Diver

Background

Royal Princess / Experimental Soul

Class

Artificier

Sub Class

Locked

Title

Soul Maker

Exp 55/100

Attributes

Strength 12

Constitution 14

Dexterity 12

Intelligence 21

Wisdom 22

Charisma 12

Luck 12

Skills

Soulforge

LV. 1 95/100

Guide

LV. 1 45/100

Blueprint Designer

Lv.1 80/100

Astral Projection

LV.1 20/100

After being arrested Falaen and Veronica were taken to a nearby guard station. All of the guards had become seemingly crazy, she soon learned that another guardstation had experienced an explosion. After being booked the two of them were separated, and Falaen was taken to an interrogation room. She took a seat in the only chair in the room, which was agonizingly hard on her ass. She waited there for a while basically twiddling her thumbs.

Eventually a guard did come in and she was forced to answer inane questions of his until she felt the ground rumble under her. The Guard frowned and rushed out leaving her once again alone in the room. While she was tempted to use her noble rank to get out of the station, she thought it would be best to wait, especially after Veronica messaged her that she had contacted Jack.

Nearly half an hour later the same guard came in informing her that she was being set free for the moment. Stepping out into the lobby, she saw that it was late out night. She was led to the front of the station where she spotted Jack standing with what had to be one of the strictest looking women she had ever seen. The pair of them were speaking with a guard woman. Veronica was standing nearby as well, she was currently filling out some paperwork.

As Falaen approached, Jack took notice of her and asked "How are you doing Falaen?"

"I could be doing worse. I'm just a bit sore from sitting from sitting so long on a hard chair." She replied. Ignoring the pins and needles in her ass, she looked at the strict looking woman and asked "Excuse me, who are you?"

The woman glanced at her and said "I am Mrs. Weaver, Headmistress of Mystikos Finishing School. I had just helped Sir Jack with something when he received word that you were arrested. I offered my help in securing your release."

Jack nodded and said "Several of the women she taught are in the guards. With her help we were able to get you released into our custody while they are conducting the investigation."

The guard woman who they had been talking to spoke up and said "The two of you are still currently person's of interest in this murder. You are not allowed to leave the city until we complete our investigation. If we determine that you had a hand in this gruesome murder we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law." 

Then she looked at Jack and said "If they flee the city you will be held responsible and face the consequence of their action." At which point she handed Falaen various papers she was required to sign in order to be released. When she had finished those she was finally free to go.

When they left the Guardhouse, Mrs. Weaver looked at Jack and said "I have to thank you for rooting out those assassins. I will meet you later in your space. For now I need to have my girls on the lookout for this supposed backup being sent." With that Mrs. Weaver said goodbye to Jack and walked off.

Jack hailed a carriage and they rode back to the Inn in silence. Jack was seemingly lost in thought and Veronica looked exhausted. When they reached the Inn, they went to the room where Falaen grabbed a small bite to eat before she went into the bedroom she shared with Veronica. Veronica was already asleep, letting out several snores, laying down Falaen soon found herself falling into a deep sleep. 

As she fell into sleep, her soul slipped from her body and drifted into Jack's soulscape. Stepping into it, she found herself once more in his city of a soul. Unlike the previous times she was here, she noticed that the inhabitants of the city seemed to be rushing about. On some of the streets she passed there were barricades being set up. She arrived in front of JP's building which had renovations occurring across the building's face.

Stepping inside of it, she had to dodge several workers carrying piles of equipment and supplies throughout the lobby. Walking past them, she managed to make it to the elevator and take it up to the top floor of the building. When she reached the top, she walked down the corridor that led to JP's office. Behind the receptionist's desk, she saw her soul echo filling out paperwork. She was also wearing a yellow helmet, the Echo looked up as Falaen approached and said "Ah I see you are here again Miss Falaen. JP is working inside right now, but he let me know that you are free to interrupt him."

Falaen nodded and asked "So what is with all the construction I saw going on in the city?"

"Ah Jack has encountered a very powerful psychic enemy. The Soul Network has decided to prepare for incoming psychic attacks that Jack may face in the future. Until the renovations are complete I'm afraid the city will be a mess."

Concerned Falaen said "Do you think it will work?"

"There is no doubt. If any Psionic dares to come inside here, they will face a fortified soul that will crush anything that attempts trouble."

Nodding, she went past the secretary and walked through JP's office door. JP was working on a pile of paperwork. He glanced up and said "Hello Falaen, I'm glad to see you. We have a lot to go over before you leave."

"Yeah I have some questions that need to be answered. But are you alright? You seem really stressed out."

"A little. Jack had a brief fight against a powerful psychic. While he was able to defend himself against her mental attacks, we did experience a brief breach in our defenses. She managed to grab some recent thoughts of Jack. We are making sure that never occurs again. I'm also stressing over some of the issues that have happened today with his users."

"Oh? Were you watching over me again?" Falaen smiling flirtatiously at JP.

JP smirked and he looked at her and said "I always keep an eye on you Falaen. I can't seem to keep my eyes off of you." 

She laughed and said "That's good, because I have a lot of questions about what I saw and encountered."

"As much as I want to explain everything you saw, not even I know the full truth of it. Plus there are a lot of things I can not tell you yet as Jack himself is not ready to hear of it. They say Knowledge is Power, and some of that power is way too dangerous to hold onto as it would only bring danger."

"Is there anything you can tell me then?"

JP nodded and said "I talked to you before about the various types of Energy paths. You specifically changed from using Magical Energy to using Soul Energy. Psychic energy like the one Jack fought against or Carol's energy falls under the Natural Energy path. In each of the Energy paths as you gather more power, each one gains the ability to manipulate space in some form."

He leaned down and opened one of the drawers in his desk and withdrew two things from it. He then placed them onto his desk, where she recognized one of them as being a copy of the teleporter that she had seen within the ruins. The other one looked similar though it looked like it did not run on magic.

"Each one of these runs on a different energy source to basically accomplish the same task. Teleporting an object across space. This magical one is a copy of this one." JP pointed at the non magical one. "This one is a copy of one that me and Maya created during our graduate years of college. Unfortunately there was an incident and Maya was sent elsewhere for a time."

"They got the idea of the teleporter from Jack's dreams?"

JP nodded and said "Most likely they spotted the blueprint for the device. I'm honestly surprised they were able to get it working without having to use high grade mathematics. I suppose that is one of the benefits of Magic, it seems to do most of the math within itself without having to burden the user to calculate it."

"Do you think whoever created the base underneath the city also saw some of Jack's dreams?" Falaen asked.

"I believe at the very least, they may have heard of some of the dreams. During my life when I was human I had many experiments dealing with the manipulation of space. Then there is Maya herself, her power is so strong it casually manipulates space."

"Do you think they built something like the teleporter in that base?"

"No, based on what you saw down in that base it appears that they were attempting to replicate Maya's powers. That path was already bound to failure. However it does appear they accomplished they have made something that does bend space down there."

"Maya? You are speaking of the one they call the Great One right?"

JP let out a long chuckle and said "Yes, she would be laughing her ass off if she ever heard someone call her that." He shook his head remembering something, then looked at Falaen and said "I don't know if Veronica's speculation that it's some sort of awakened base is true or not, but I'm certain they have no clue on how Maya's powers work."

Curious she asked "So how do they work?"

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"That is not something I can fully discuss with you. All that I can say is that her powers come from the creation type of energy. Which is probably why so many mistook her as a goddess. When Maya was here, it appears she made some significant changes to this world in order for me to grow in relative peace while she was away. As part of that besides leaving me a piece of her power, it also appears she may have left some fragments of her crystals around the world."

"You are speaking about the crystal that Veronica found inside that hole in the city wall?"

"Yeah, based on what Veronica saw it looks as if it holds a very small spark of Maya's power. It appears that someone has filled it with energy in order to access the effects of the crystal. Only they chose the wrong type of energy, on what I saw I guess they used life energy."

Falaen frowned and said "The killer appears to be using this spatial system. Could they be killing women in order to power it up?"

"Unlikely. While you could technically sacrifice someone to get their life energy, it requires a specific setup that is lacking in each of the murders. Besides, one life is not nearly enough to power such a system. There are other ways to gather life energy that would be easier."

She nodded and then said "We think the killer opened up the hole on the wall in order to take a look at the crystal. Why do you think that is?"

Standing JP took out a black device from his jacket pocket and pushed a button on it. A black screen slid down from the roof. A second later a map of the city of Keston appeared on it. Going to it, he circled six entrances along the city wall. "Using the observations and data I've gotten from Jack and his users, I was able to determine that these six entrances are likely original to the wall. The other entrances to the city were likely added later."

He pointed at one and said "This is the one where you found the crystal. Legends state the first king of Keston found a spring here and decided to set up here to fight off the goblin hordes. That I don't believe is the complete truth. Rather they probably stopped here because of the remains of the base allowed them to maintain a fortified position and put up a fight against the goblins."

"Some time later, they covered the old walls in this new covering." He finished.

"Can you guess at the meaning of the crystal in the wall?"

"Based on what Veronica saw I speculate that each of these six entrances have a crystal as well. Going through various possibilities, I found the best means of connecting them are through a Hexagram pattern. When I did so, several things  immediately became clear. I'm not entirely certain of its intended use, but it appears as if they were trying to use it to create or summon something."

"You don't know what they were attempting to summon?"

JP shook his head. "No, I would need to get a closer look inside the base to ascertain the builder's goals."

"What do you think those monsters that Veronica and Brandy discovered down inside the base were?"

"Oh those? Based on what happened to them, they are similar to holograms. Basically it's a thing made out of light. It was something I experimented with as well. If it follows the conventions I created, then as long as you damage them to the point of killing it, you will be able to disperse the creatures. The problem is, they could just keep spawning them to wear you down. So, I managed to come up with a modification to your wand in response to that threat."

Taking out her wand, she handed it to JP who had his hand out. "So what is this modification?"

"Such a device is likely not shielded from pulses of energy. Taking inspiration from an Electro-Magnetic pulse, I am adding a feature to your wand where if you pour energy into it, it will set off a powerful pulse that should disrupt any hologram tech nearby."

He took it to a bench in the corner of the office and tinkered with it for several moments. When he was finished he nodded and handed it back to her. "It's not directly a weapon, but be cautious. If you were to hold it directly against someone when it went off, it could cause damage to them."

"Thanks, I will be carefull. Speaking of problems, how am I supposed to deal with those spatial problems. If I go into that base I'm afraid I will be trapped down there."

"That is a problem." JP scratched his head. "You see spatial trickery is very hard to catch if you are not powerful enough. Even Jack has problems with it. After discussing it with the Soul Network we have come up with three solutions, technically four. The first of those is to use what we call a soul anchor. By using it it locks down the space around you while you have it out."

Seeing the look on JP's Face as he described it, Falaen said "Sounds like there is a catch to using it."

JP nodded and said "It's a big one. Using a soul anchor relies on you using a piece of your soul for it. If the force pulling on it is too strong, it could very well rip that piece off of you. Which would cause grievous harm to your soul and would not stop the spatial transfer. In my opinion it's only suitable in cases where you are certain your soul is stronger then the force pulling or if the change will only last a short moment and your soul can take the punishment."

"I see two other problems with it." Falaen said "You would be trapped wherever your soul anchor is. Not to mention you would have to know ahead of time that something is going to happen." 

"Good catch, all these problems are why I don't think very highly of this ability. Still I will teach you how to do it. Before that I will describe the other solutions we have come up with. The next one is by using a soul compass. By using your connection to Jack's soul, you will be able to reorient yourself no matter how confusing space gets."

"While I see the usefulness of that, I'm not sure how that would help me get out of a loop of space that traps me."

"If you were in that situation, I'm afraid you would have to rely on Jack getting you out. Or to destroy whatever is causing the spatial changes. The third option is to actually change space yourself. While this is the most difficult, this is the one I recommend. The challenge being that you are not nearly strong enough to change space yourself."

JP went to the wall near the bench and opened a cabinet and withdrew a glowing blue knife. "So I came up with this. This is a piece of Jack's soul. Along with a piece of Maya's crystal. The power within was used up by Jack, but it still holds a resonance of her power. You can use it to cut open a path through space. Be aware though it has limited uses before it needs to be recharge, which can only be done her."

Falaen nodded and took the blade from him, it tingles in her hands. It had a heavy weight to it. As she held it, it sunk into her arm disappearing. She looked at JP and he said "For your safety it has gone into your soul. When you need it, it will appear."

"You said there was a fourth method?"

"You can set up a teleport link before you enter the base. No matter how twisted space was to get around you, you would be able to teleport back to the link. The only issue is the length of time it requires to set up."

"That is a big issue. I don't think we can spare the twenty-four hours needed to set it up."

"No, all the cards seem to be falling down. That knife will have to be your means of escaping the maze of space. However that is not the only problem that you may face. I was reviewing the information that you were able to gather about the killer. From what I saw, I believe the killer is wielding a very dangerous weapon."

"You know how they were able to cause that spy to explode."

"That and more. It appears the Killer has the ability to control space in some amount."

"Wait, you just said it takes significant power to control space. Does that mean the killer is stronger than us?"

JP Shook his head. "No, I believe they are using a tool or a weapon they found inside the base in order to accomplish these feats. Even if that is the case they are still incredibly dangerous. I don't know the full potential of what they are able to do, but I can help you protect yourself from the ones that I do know."

"What exactly do you know they can do?"

"First, in order to kill that spy I believe they used a spatial bubble to cause him to explode. By creating several of these bubbles within the spy and rapidly expanding them, the spy would have exploded like the way you saw the remains."

Falaen frowned and said "I don't see how I could protect myself or the others from that. Surely they could do it hidden behind cover, and I would be unaware of what was happening until the last second."

"That is true, but I think it has a range to it. Otherwise it would take a great deal of energy to accomplish. Which begs the question how did they get close to the spy in order to set it up? Plus I suspect it takes at least several seconds to set up."

"How can you guess that?"

"Because the kind of power that could do it faster, would mean they are approaching Maya in terms of sheer strength. Which is unlikely. I reviewed what you saw in the apartment. You were distracted by the gore, but I noticed that there were actually two glasses on the table. If I had to guess, the Spy had let the Killer into their apartment and had given them something to drink."

"Your saying the Spy likely knew the Killer?"

"Most likely given the evidence. Though I don't understand why they wanted to kill the spy."

"How do you recommend that we defend ourselves from this power?"

"Fortunately this is actually fairly easy to protect yourself from. In fact you are already protected."

"I am?" She asked, confused.

"Yes, we made a simple modification to Jack's connection. By using his energy we are able to prevent spatial bubbles and the like from popping up inside your body. Unless it's from a power greater than Jack. In which case you would not be able to do anything anyway. The next think they can do is mainly speculation on my part, the evidence is thin at best."

"What is it?"

"I strongly believe the killer can form spatial blades. Jack's power would not be able to stop such a blade from cutting through you. It would cut through most materials that are used for armor. You do not have access to anything that would be able to stop such a weapon. The best thing you could do against such a weapon would be to dodge."

"Besides dodging, Do you have any suggestions that would allow me to protect myself from such a weapon."

"I suggest not fighting them up close. The only one who could probably defend herself from a blade would be either Veronica or Carol."

"Why them?"

"Carol can form Psionic blades. They are strong enough to stop a spatial blade as long as Carol has the will. Veronica's shield is strong enough but she would have hard time striking back."

"So you are saying I can do nothing to protect myself from such an attack."

JP was silent for a moment and then said "There is one thing you can do. It's not easy and would leave you vulnerable afterwards."

"What is it?"

"All you need to do is cover yourself in a coating of soul energy. With your current energy reserves I estimate you would be able to maintain it for at least three seconds before you ran out of energy. At which point you would be empty of energy until you recovered."

Falaen frowned in thought and said "I don't understand why that is so energy intensive. I mean it barely costs me any MP when I blast out a soul beam."

"Ah but there is a difference between solid and radiant soul energy. Solid soul energy requires a massive cost of energy to maintain. The only reason Jack can do it, is because he has a massive pool of energy. Still I will teach it to you along with the other methods of protection."

They spent a few  hours going over what Falaen needed to do. Eventually she developed the skills that she needed. As Jp was teaching her, she noticed that he would sometimes trail his hands along her body which sent tingles down her back. When they finished for the night, she found herself wanting to be touched more by JP.

She looked at JP, and he met her eyes. She could see desire within his gaze, he seemed almost entranced by her. She reached up and began to unbutton her shirt. His eyes trailed down her body focusing on her breasts. As she removed her shirt, she could feel her nipples begin to harden.

JP stepped up to her and he trailed his hand down her cheek and he leaned down kissing her.  Falaen kissed him back, tasting his tongue within her mouth. While he was kissing her, he picked her up and placed her sitting on the desk. He removed her bra and she felt his hands on her breasts.

She gasped into his mouth as he tweaked her nipples. In response she bit his lip lightly. He chuckled and helped her slide her skirt down revealing her dampening panties. He began to trail kisses down her body and removed her panties. Leaning back, Falaen watched as his head disappeared between her thighs and he began to tease her. Pleasure began to pulse up her body.

Shivering with anticipation, she grabbed onto the sides of the desk, as JP began to tease her clit with his tongue. As he circled it with his tongue Falaen began to shake. While she thought she had experinced everything in regards to sex, she had never felt anything like this. It was as if JP was connecting directly to her. 

Several soul shaking orgasms later, she lay gasping on the desk, when JP stood. He unbuckled his pants and slid them down revealing his massive member. He brought himself to her and leaned down to kiss her. As he brushed his lips against her mouth, he slid inside of her.

Falaen let out a squeal of pleasure as she stretched to accommodate his girth. She grasped him running her hands through his short cropped hair. Then he began to move and she shuddered and thoughts began to flee from her head as the two of them connected.

With each thrust of his, it was as if a torrential storm broke free and they were panting and grasping at each other as the pleasure burst through them. She ripped off JP's Jacket and shirt and ran her hands down his muscled torso and bit his shoulder. While she wos doing that he gripped at her hair and thrust harder into her.

She wrapped her legs around him as she came again from his thrusts. He grunted and pulled himself out and then flipped her around and laid her on her stomach. She was now facing towards the windows and a second later she felt JP push up deep into her.

He was like an animal rutting her in heat, and she loved it. The storm threatened to drown her in pleasure. Unlike the times where she tried to drown herself in pleasure due to the curse, this was perhaps the most pleasure she had ever felt having sex. 

Words came boiling out of her mouth, language so dirty that were she not in the midst of mindblowing orgasms she would be ashamed of using. In response JP just slapped her ass and she shuddered as she let herself fall deeper.  The desk began to creak under the strength of JP's thrusts and she began to slam herself backwards.

Falaen could feel herself being led to a crescendo and she felt JP began to grow larger in her. She was surprised when JP lifted her up and took her to the window and slammed her against the glass. Pressed against the window she was nude and JP was impaling her with his cock. 

He leaned down to her ear and he said "Such a dirty girl. We should let them see what a dirty girl you are."

She shuddered. A part of her knew that the outside windows were too reflective to see in, but another part got off on the thought of being watched while she was being screwed by JP. She came hard at that moment. It was so intense she found her whole body tensing and shaking and getting weak. Seconds later JP finished inside of her grunting hard.

For several moments he held her against the glass while his warm seed filled her. When she found she could finally stand on her own she climbed off him. JP helped her gather her clothing up that had been scattered around. Handing it to her, he leaned down and kissed her mouth in a deep kiss that she gave back.

Breaking free he looked into her eyes and said "That was amazing."

She nodded and said "I don't think I have ever had sex like that before."

"No, I would think not. Having sex with your soul is not very common."

She nodded and finished dressing while JP got his clothes in order. He glanced at her and said "I hope we do this again soon."

"I hope so too. It's nothing like what I experienced under the curse."

He ran his hand through her hair and said "The curse was not you. This is you."

They hung out for a bit longer until Falaen had to leave and wake up. When she did wake up, she found she had soaked the bed sheets. After taking a shower, she entered into the main living area. She was surprised to see Carol chatting with Veronica. "Where is Jack she asked?"

"Jack hasn't got up yet. I think he is visiting his space" Veronica replied.

Looking outside, Falaen could see that it was raining heavily outside. She looked at Carol who smiled at Falaen and said "I wanted to talk with you about the Empire Spy you found dead. Now that I know he is dead, it means we can move onto the next part of the plan to get Mianda out of the city."

Falaen nodded and said "Before that, could you take a look at this Jacket we found at the site?" Falaen took out the gore stained jacket and handed it to Carol."

She took it and looked at it. "This looks familiar." She opened the Jacket and took a look at the faded symbol and gasped.

"What is it Carol?" Veronica asked.

"This is the symbol for the Evercrals." Carol said, then looked at Falaen. "I think I saw the Duke wear this Jacket once before."