Over the past week, Zeke had fallen into a routine. He would spend most of the day practicing his Engraving skills. For the success of the Gondola project, it was of paramount importance that he became good enough to create High-level enchantments. By now, he had gotten incredibly close to that goal. The three runes he had carved today were high Mid-Grade and Zeke was confident that he would reach his goal soon.
His improvements stemmed mostly from his better handling of the tools and generally increased experience. But another part was that he had gotten better and better at using his Puppet Mode. He had become so familiar with Soul Magic that he could now enter and exit that state instantly.
Zeke had realized how incredibly suited for Soul Magic he was. Leaving one’s body was the most fundamental step of the process. However, according to the Giger texts, this was not a procedure that should be undertaken lightly. In general, detaching one’s Soul was considered a risky endeavor. For one, it meant that the body would bonelessly flop to the ground, leaving the caster defenseless and blind. Furthermore, if the Soul took too long to return, the body would simply die.
On the other hand, Zeke was doing the exact opposite — he was leaving the body as a way to increase his control. With his engraved spell he could enter such a state without anyone noticing. His body could continue to operate indefinitely as he was not relinquishing his control over any of its vital functions.
It could hardly be overstated how beneficial this advantage was, as leaving one’s body was the only way to sense souls. The thought of opening up this new method of perceiving the world was thrilling to Zeke. He was the last person who would ever look down on the applications of an observational ability.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t made much progress on that front. Even after countless attempts to discover anything soul-related, that world remained out of reach. Reluctantly, he had to give up for now in favor of his other projects.
In addition to his daily engraving practice, a different type of exercise took place in the estate’s prison. Every single day, Zeke would spend between one and three hours trying to break into the spy’s mind. Despite his diligence, his efforts were futile. This didn’t mean he wasn’t improving though.
Zeke had learned that to make any kind of progress in Mind Magic, he had to adjust his mindset. It wasn’t a straightforward attack. He had begun to imagine himself as a spider. A spider wasn’t trying to fight its prey. Instead, it created a web out of sight. From then on, it merely waited for its victim to entangle itself. Slowly, ever so slowly he spun his net, trapping the prisoner’s mind in between the hundreds of tendrils he had managed to weave around the man's mind.
However, every bit of progress was a grueling ordeal for Zeke. Even though he persisted for the entire week, he began to realize that this wasn’t for him. Not only did he not have any talent for the subtle art of invading a mind, but he also didn’t enjoy the process. In fact, he hated spiders and their disgusting webs. Didn’t they make them with their asses?
Independent of Zeke’s feelings, today would be his last day. This morning, they had run out of Supra root, meaning that the man’s Magic could no longer be suppressed. Zeke only had one last chance before they would have to either execute or release the prisoner.
At this very moment, he was on his way to see the prisoner one last time. He didn’t have high hopes for making any kind of substantial progress anymore. Over their many sessions, the spy had proven to be exceptionally headstrong. Despite his physical condition and less than hospitable treatment, the man bore everything stoically. To Zeke, it felt more like going through the motions than actually working toward something. He definitely wouldn’t miss this, once it was all over.
Zeke descended the stairs, entering the basement. As usual, there was nobody around at this time of day. The echo of his footfalls was the only thing disturbing the silence. Wasn’t this an excellent chance? Up to this moment, Zeke had never tried to walk in his Puppet Mode. Now that he was all alone, he had the chance to test it. Without breaking stride, he detached his Soul and immediately took command remotely. He didn’t even miss a step as he continued on his way.
In this state, Zeke wasn’t able to use his bodily senses. Instead, he relied solely on his sphere of awareness to perceive the world. This had the advantage that he could observe his own movements.
Upon seeing himself walk for the first time, Zeke mentally cringed. This was even worse than he had expected. It was a good thing he had never tried this in front of other people. Even though his body was still moving just fine, it didn’t look natural. Instead of a human, he seemed more like a statue that had come to life.
It wasn’t hard to figure out the most glaring flaws. His body was as stiff as a board and there were no wasted movements either. It looked completely inhuman. The first thing Zeke tried was to relax his control, causing his body to sag slightly. He was surprised when his act immediately became far more convincing. This was an odd realization. He would have to make his posture and movements sloppier to appear more human.
On the remaining trip to the cell, Zeke continued his practice. The few corridors were not enough to make any more substantial headway. All too soon, the prison came into view. Any moment now, the spy would appear in his sphere of awareness through the wall on his left side. Zeke could already perceive most of the room.
The farthest empty cell had materialized in his perception just now, followed by the second one. The spy was held in the third cell and was about to come within range of Zeke’s sphere with the next step. However, before that could happen, something strange occurred.
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At the very edge of his senses, just outside of what he could usually perceive, Zeke noticed an unfamiliar glow. It was strange; he obviously wasn’t seeing it with his eyes, as he could not use them in this state. However, it also felt different from the way he perceived the world through his [Perfect Spatial Awareness].
Zeke paused in his step. His entire being was focused on the shining outline he could vaguely make out. Its location was in the exact spot he suspected the spy to be. Was this it? Had he finally done it? Was this a soul?
Zeke didn’t dare take a single step. He didn’t move at all. He was too afraid to lose this sensation — never to find it again. Minutes passed in silence. Zeke merely focused on his senses, completely relaxed. But in the back of his mind, he was itching to figure out what had changed to make this possible.
When Zeke was certain he had a good grasp on the sensation, he allowed his mind to wander. In his previous attempts, he had tried to sense David. In order not to get found out, he had been sneaky about it. Zeke would always pretend to rest or to be deep in thought. From what he could tell, the ruse worked and David had remained none the wiser. However, his attempts had remained completely fruitless as well. What had changed?
For all intents and purposes, the spy and David had a lot in common. They were both males, both Mages, both at the Grand Mage level, both… his thoughts were cut off by a sudden realization. For some reason, Zeke could not perceive the souls of the guards standing in front of the door at all.
Tentatively, Zeke withdrew his focus from the prisoner. He had to do so in order to make absolutely sure that he wasn’t able to perceive the guards. His Soul sense didn’t work like his sphere of awareness at all. In contrast to his radial detection field, this was a very focused way of sensing. He would only be able to perceive a Soul when he restricted his attention to a single spot.
Zeke shifted his perception to the guard’s location. Through his sphere of awareness, he knew exactly where to find them. They were in front of the entrance to the cells, just around the corner. Both of them were standing ramrod straight at their post. Soul sense, similar to his sphere of awareness, didn’t seem to be hindered at all by physical barriers.
For the next few minutes, Zeke tried to sense even the tiniest fluctuations from the guards. He occasionally returned his focus to the spy. He wanted to confirm that his method was still working — which it was. This was interesting. Despite being able to perceive the prisoner’s Soul with ever-increasing clarity, he was completely unable to sense anything from the guards.
Eventually, Zeke felt confident he could move without losing the sensation. While still in Puppet Mode, he entered the prison. The guards didn’t say anything, but Zeke noticed them trading glances after he passed. Even though he had gotten better at walking, he still looked like a suit of armor that had come to life. One of the guards raised a brow. The other replied with a shrug and a chuckle, causing the first one to chortle as well.
Meanwhile, Zeke had arrived in front of the third cell, his senses still locked onto the prisoner. As always, the spy didn’t even open his eyes, content to await his eventual fate. Zeke took a seat on his usual chair in front of the man. In silence, he brooded over what he had learned so far.
The fact that he could perceive the spy but neither of the guards, led him to a simple conclusion. There was really only one explanation that made sense. A functioning core was able to shroud one’s Soul from detection. Zeke could kick himself at this realization. If he had simply practiced on someone besides David, anyone without a core, he could have saved so much time. He was lucky to have found this out on his last day with the prisoner. Who knew how long it would have taken him to realize this otherwise.
Zeke refocused his mind. He had just made his first real breakthrough in Soul Magic. Now it was up to him to find out how far it would take him. Despite having read all the Giger texts on Soul Magic, Zeke was still unsure as to its exact purpose.
The Giger had been Mind Mages, every last one of them. They had apparently not been able to develop any other affinities. Not all Races were as versatile as humans. In fact, humans were the only known race to have an equally high chance to awaken any affinity. It wasn’t impossible to find a dwarf with a Water affinity. However, they were hundreds of times more likely to have an Earth or Metal core. This was also the reason why many scholars in the empire proclaimed humans a superior race.
Zeke had his doubts about that. Even though a broad spectrum of possibilities could be an advantage, it wasn’t how it had turned out. Instead of strength, their differences only led to strife and war. Even to this day, people and nations were divided by their affinities. This was in stark contrast to the Dwarfs and Elves who lived in unity. Over the millennia, their mastery over their predisposed affinities had reached such lofty heights that no human nation could compare.
Still, a case such as the Giger’s was rare. Even among the most restricted races, they often still had a small pool of affinities. To only have a single option wasn’t something Zeke had encountered before. It severely limited their prospective research — a fact that also colored their knowledge of the Soul. They only really experimented with its uses in combination with Mind Magic, though it was theorized that Soul Magic had many other applications as well.
From what Zeke could tell, ‘Soul Magic’ wasn’t even an accurate term. There were no spells in Soul Magic. It didn’t provide any method for interacting with the Soul at all. As far as the Gigers could tell, there wasn’t anything magical about the Soul. It was simply an intrinsic part of every sentient organism. Humans, Dwarfs, Elves, monsters, and even animals all had one. The Soul comprised the very essence of any such being. This essence could be influenced in many different ways — the Engraving Ritual was one such method Zeke was very familiar with.
The most simple way to influence a Soul was through the body. In fact, affecting the soul through the body was exactly what Zeke had tried to do for the past week. He had tried to invade the prisoner’s consciousness through his brain. Now that he thought about it, ‘consciousness’ was probably referring to the Soul in this case. However, just because it was the most straightforward way, didn’t mean it was the easiest or best way to go about this.
This might even be the worst approach. As Zeke had learned in his many attempts, the brain acted like a protective shell to the Soul. For as long as the body functioned, it would do its utmost to shield the Soul from any harm. This made perfect sense, as a body could not live without its essence. Now, however, Zeke had found a different way of attack.
With the unguarded soul of the spy in front of him, there was nothing stopping Zeke from directly using his Mind Magic on the man’s very essence.