A side effect of Soul Eater?
Alice’s POV:
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Although we were in the presence of Gaia but considering that she was the one who created Soul Eater, I’m quite sure that we didn’t have to hide it from her. As we took out a few souls, which were at the later stages of Baby Soul, Gaia looked at us with her brows furrowed. Still, we continued.
We started mending Aiko’s soul and the process didn’t take more than a few seconds. But considering the pain Aiko felt, it probably felt like an eternity for her. Since we have regained our energy by this time, we poured huge amounts of it into Aiko’s soul. Her body started regrowing with a visible speed. With sixteen minds and the amount of energy we pushed into her, it didn’t take more than ten seconds.
But there was something strange… she was still a cat beastmen, but she had a few scales on her body, while she had elven ears as well. She also had a feathery pair of white wings and spikes were covering the tip of her furry tail. Not noticing it, she just hugged us and thanked us for saving her.
“What are you talking about? You saved us even before we did you… and it didn’t take too much out of us. So I’ll have to admit that we are indebted to you…” Hiro said slightly unhappily, feeling bad that our debts were piling up.
As she stepped back, she looked down at herself. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” She shouted as she noticed the change. Looking up at us with a questioning look, we scratched the back of our head, saying - “Uhm… it’s probably a side effect of using other people’s souls… but look at the bright side! You probably turned more talented and now you are as unique as us! You are one of a kind!” I told her with a smile, while my eyes were darting all over the place.
“Unique you say… I’m like a chimera… but well. I’m still alive and what you said about talent is also true. It doesn’t matter that much, does it? I’m even starting to like this new look of mine,” Aiko answered as she continued checking out her body.
At that time, Gaia appeared in front of us, with Sedna by her side and… we couldn’t move. She put her finger on our face and started touching it all over the place. After feeling everything, she moved her hand downward and touched our muscular breast and even the part where our genital organ was supposed to be. Opening her eyes in her surprise, she exclaimed in our mind. “Did you inherit my skill?”
We could move once again. Nodding once, I moved our hand and touched her private place as well. She looked down with a surprised face, not expecting such a thing. “You know, trolls should expect other people trolling them, don’t you think?” I told her with a smirk on our face. Hiro jumped out of our merged form and I was left there, holding Gaia’s… *cough*
Her face reddened as she grabbed my wrist and quickly pushed my hand away. “This is a first… but your words are true…” She answered while turning around. After clapping once, everyone appeared back at Genotin Academy.
“You can go and do your own things. We will talk about the rewards later and tomorrow we will go and finish Angelwood Academy.” She shouted with a loud voice, while everyone was making dumbfounded faces, seeing that she was alive. She turned to look at us once again and before leaving, she said - “We’ll talk soon enough… and I’ll remember your trick,” a smirk formed on her face as she said her last words. A shudder ran through my body upon seeing that look.
“As long as you don’t use your superior strength and play fairly, you are welcomed~” I told her with a smile and she disappeared as I finished my sentence. Still, her words resounded in my ears.
“Of course~”
Seeing my ‘trick’ many people were looking at me with strange faces. I’m quite sure that no one ever dared to counter-attack her. Especially not with such a move. [Hahaha, yeah. I too am sure of that. I don’t know her yet, but at least she seems to be the mysterious playful kind of person… we better watch our backs because she is like a snake! I haven’t moved my brain too much before anyway… I guess it’s time to wake up,] Hiro laughed as he remembered to what I did and then talked to himself… mostly.
Narihi and Poirlion stopped in front of us with their hands on their hips. “You could have died…” was the first thing she said, which after she added, “but you didn’t. So I’ll refrain from reprimanding you.” Hearing her words, both of us started laughing. As we stopped, she continued.
“You have our congratulations for breaking through. So? How does it feel?” Hearing her question, I teleported behind her and grabbed her bust from behind.
“Hmm… it’s really good!” I answered her. She didn’t even care about what I was doing, while Poirlion’s saliva was literally spilling out of his mouth. I appeared beside Hiro and coiled my arm around his.
“What do you intend to do now?” Poirlion asked, trying to regain his focus. Ugh… once we leave, I’ll punish you, Narihi! You let her touch your body, even though you are only mine! Hehe~ You need to be punished for it… He thought. Seeing my smirking face, he probably realized that I heard him, but he looked as if nothing would have happened.
“We have a few things to take care of in our own world and then we will visit Gaia, probably,” Hiro answered in my place. After saying goodbye, everyone went their own ways. We teleported to the orbit of the planet and entered our own world. When we broke through, many things happened.
At the Temporary Law Realm, we have two hundred and seventy Crypt in our normal forms, while other people had only two hundred and forty! After each stage, our strength would increase by two hundred and seventy. Twice as much as our actual strength! This was a very important difference as we would gain thirty more Crypt after each stage than the other cultivators!
Our souls also reached the third stage of Young Soul, which happened to other only at the eighth stage of the Temporary Law Realm. The difference between us and normal cultivators was huge! But the best thing was left for last. Our world expanded by a huge margin! In normal cases, when a cultivator steps into the Temporary Law Realm from the World Realm, their world grows twice as big as before.
Now considering the size of our world… we had a lot of room to work with! But the humans had enough space. Giving them more was unnecessary. But this was the case with the monsters as well. It was unnecessary to increase the size of the other half of our world. Maybe the size of one or two sectors additionally would be alright. What do we want to do with the remaining area?
As we have noticed, the humans and the monsters as well turned too… comfortable. So we separated that remaining area into a few million mini sectors, with one planet in each of them. These mini sectors were filled with treasures and they were private. There was only one way to enter them and that was our permission. Only those who were quick enough would have a chance at acquiring a pass to one of these sectors.
Under these weeks, ‘the Guild’ they created also set its footing everywhere. We wished to use those buildings. As we appeared in one such edifice, the poor humans fell to their butts, expect for those who were sitting. We walked up to the receptionist with smiles on our faces. Beads of sweat start pouring down on her forehead as she kept looking downward. I put my tail under her chin to raise her head.
“Hello, Rose. Hehe~ one of our friends is also called Rose. Could you tell me where can I find the leader of this guild? Or some kind of authority who can spread the news we wish to share?” I asked her nicely. Her face turned into a surprised one as she realized that I knew her name.
Ah~ that face was worth coming here. NOOO! My instincts are flaring up again. Looking at their fearful faces is such a wonderful feeling… I thought upon realizing my problem, even though I came here with the intention to abuse that instinct of mine.
[You are making fun of yourself…] Hiro though while a chuckle escaped his lips.
“H-Her highness knows my name?! Ah! Pardon me,” she said while wishing to bow down, but my tail stopped her.
“No need, just answer my question,” I told her with a smile.
Nodding once, she continued. “Please follow me, he is in the room at the back.” She sprung up to show us the way, forgetting that it was a bad idea. She fell to the ground almost immediately.
After coiling my tail around her waist, I raised her up above the ground by twenty centimeters as I said - “Standing up was a bad idea, but since you wish to show us the way that much, now you can do it~”
With her face slightly red, she pointed towards the right way. Honestly, both of us knew where it was. It’s just that I’m a dirty and evil dragon, who wanted to feel mighty and abuse her strength on the weak. [That’s an interesting way to put it, though it’s true… But honestly, I’m enjoying this as much as you do. It’s not like we are doing it regularly.] Hiro defended himself and me as well. Who wouldn’t want to try this feeling out?
At the end of the corridor, there was a door on the left. Without knocking, we opened it and entered the room. A thirty looking guy was sitting behind a table, but he was exactly two hundred years old. He was probably nearing the end of his life when we changed this world for the better since living that long was hard to do even if counting those bacterias they had. Considering that he turned so young-looking in such a short time was a proof of his talent, which we knew of.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
We took a seat, while he kept looking at us and then behind us for some reason. Turning around, Hiro facepalmed. “My love, when do you intend to release Rose?” Hiro asked me with a stiff face.
Turning around, I put her down and loosened my tail around her, saying - “Ehm… sorry.” I chose this guild specifically because this was the only one, which had a receptionist, who was called Rose. Just for the fun.
“Good afternoon His Majesty, Her Highness,” the guy called Xinu greeted us with a bow. Such a fancy way of greeting… I can only look up to him as I don’t have the willpower to bow before someone. Even just imagining it, a shudder ran through my back.
Hiro leaned forward and after greeting him, he started talking. “We have something to declare. Although we could do it through our world as well, we want to turn this into a temporary thing, so we need your help. You’ll have to spread this through every guild and we will also tell everyone to check the news for more details.”
“We created lots of new sectors where are many treasures. These consist of armor, weapons, pills, cultivation techniques, one of them being a top notch one from the outside world, and those who gain access to these sectors can keep it as their own little sector. This means that other than them, no one will have a chance at entering it. We will provide them with a small toy, which will take them straight to their own sector.”
“Naturally, this isn’t for free and for everyone, nor this is something for the top random number of people. Those who want to gain access will have to advance quickly enough and they will also have to kill a set number of monsters, which are at least at the same level and stage as them. Your people can surely take care of the proving process and all the shit… I’ll give these teleporting toys t all of the guilds, but be warned.”
“We can feel everything in our world. Just once. If any of you dares to use it without the rights even just once, that person will be killed on the spot. No second chance, no joking. Maybe peeking is allowed so that they will feel more thirst to try harder, but touching or taking away anything definitely, equals death. Take these Memory Crystals. We will also leave a few one in every guild. It holds every necessary information.” Hiro told him everything in a serious way.
He gave him a few Memory Crystals and a ring. That ring was full of keys. Those keys provided the cultivator with access to their own planet. Still, there was a catch! They can’t take anyone to those planets and even they can stay there only for one hour at most. Finding treasure won’t be hard, but gaining access will be! After creating clones of ourselves, they appeared in every guild and gave the same things to every guild master.
Although they didn’t understand it at first, after seeing the pinned post on their online page and touching the Memory Crystal, they did. We stood up from the sofa and turned around, only to see the poor Rose, who was struggling to stand up or crawl out of the room. I started laughing… but only silently and I tried to hold it back! That’s a good point, right? I’m so terrible…
I stopped next to her and grabbed her hand. Her eyes turned surprised because she felt at ease and free of pressure. This surprised me as well. But in the next moment, she scared the shit out of me. Her body started turning older and older by the moment. I quickly let go of her hand, but the ages she lost didn’t return. She fell down once again. While I was at it, I coiled my tail around her and raised her up. But nothing has happened. I touched her face with my finger for a moment and she started aging once again.
“I’m sorry, I’ll compensate you for teaching me something new…” I told her as I poured a huge amount of soul force and Hydra Qi into her body. She turned younger and younger, and in the end, she looked like a teenage girl. She also broke through twice under this short time. Naturally, she didn’t explode only because I watched out for her and didn’t overcharge her.
She looked down at herself in awe as she felt young again. “T-THANK YOU!” She shouted with a happy face. Nodding once, I told her that it was my pleasure. Both of us won something, so it was alright. We left the guild and our own world as well. After looking for Narihi and Poirlion, we appeared in front of their world. We spent quite a lot of time in our own world, so they should be done with their game…
Just as I expected, they appeared with sleepy looks on their faces. Resting after a good sex was the best I say! “What is it?” Narihi asked and the first thing I did was grab her at the same place as before.
“Is this a new habit, or some kind of greeting?” She questioned me with her brows raised as she followed my movement.
At first, I laughed at her and then asked what I wanted. “Concentrate on your soul. Do you feel something? Anything?”
“I do feel hot when I see such things,” Poirlion remarked and earned a punch in the face from me as a result. Chuckling once, Narihi closed her eyes and focused on her soul.
“Huh? What the fuck? Release me! Quickly!” She shouted and I complied. Stepping back with a slightly fearful face, she asked. “W-What the hell is this? You were sucking away my life force. I was turning older! Although it was weak, I surely lost a few decades from my life… It’s good that at these levels we have long lifespans…” She said as she breathed out a sigh of relief.
At the sixth level, our lifespan grew to five hundred thousand years and we would gain two hundred and fifty thousand after each stage. This meant that at the ninth stage, we could live up to two million and five hundred thousand years. Surely, losing a few decades didn’t mean a lot to Narihi. Especially considering that she was only around two hundred thousand years old.
Looking at Poirlion, I asked something. “Do you have any enemies in the school?” Furrowing his brows, he answered with a yes. “Then… could you show them to me? Only for test purposes… if you catch my meaning,” I added with an evil grin.
A similarly evil grin formed on his face as well as he answered, “Well, I could use some helping hands… Hehe,” emphasizing his joke.
I merged with Hiro and turned into our monster form to have a bit more chance. Poirlion led us towards his enemies. Naturally, both him and Narihi could have killed them even beforehand. They just didn’t bother themselves with killing flies. But since we wanted to test this new power of ours… we searched for them. And Narihi’s ‘the Binder’ title wasn’t for nothing. Her abilities had to do with bindings.
We found a few turtle-men, who were famous of verbally abusing dragons and other scale covered divine beasts. How surprising. I could see the trouble this would bring, but neither I nor Hiro minded it. Those poor people were only at the second and third stages of Temporary Law Realm. We locked space around them as we saw them, gaining their attention.
“What the hell do you think of yourself? Idiot scale covered monsters…” One of them shouted.
Shaking his head, Hiro said silently. “What are these? Kids? Hating someone because they are thinking that turtle’s shells are better than scales. I never in my life stopped to think of such things or even hate turtles for these kinds of things. But I do hate their kind, so killing them will come easily…” As he finished his sentence, his bloodlust spread through the area, silencing the clamoring turtles.
Narihi covered her body in her symbiote, and with her whip in her hand, she swung it towards the turtles. It coiled around their bodies. Infinis’ ability made it impossible for these turtles to evade her attack. We made a good combo~
It started strangling them and holding them in place, while Poirlion appeared in front of them and hit their heads hard. They were immediately knocked unconscious and before they could regain it because of their souls, we also attacked them with a weaker soul attack. While they were trying to clear that out and then regain their consciousness, Hiro touched two of them out of the three. I was left with the remaining one.
Focusing on their souls, he felt a thin layer around it, which was actually their bodies. But upon touching them, he felt a suctioning force. Their souls started ‘melting’ and flowing into ours. Before touching my target, I focused on our souls. Both of us were gaining the same amount of years continuously. What Hiro sucked out was halved into two automatically. Probably because of our bond.
Wishing to increase the suction force, Hiro willed it and it happened. Suddenly, not decades but centuries were added to our lifespans! They were losing it by the second. Wishing to steal more, Hiro growled in a deep voice as he started devouring their souls. Those years which were only trickling away before now came to us in huge bulges. In just two seconds, Hiro stole away four hundred thousand years!
Their shells turned weaker and their bodies much older. Since Poirlion was standing next to us, observing, Hiro put his palm on his shoulder and focused on sending their life force into him. Surprisingly, it was a success. Knowing that it was working, Narihi didn’t stop Hiro from touching her darling. They didn’t have the kind of bond we had, so Hiro also had to touch Narihi to give her the same amount. With a few hundred thousand more years, they stepped back.
Understanding their meaning, we took away everything. Their worlds crumbled, their dreams shattered and their life has come to an end. Such was the law of killing. You had to know what you were taking away. It was cruel and much deeper than people let it think. We understood it. We weren’t killing mindlessly. Kids might think that ‘Ah… it’s just killing someone, do it already!’ but it was much more than that. Hiro still disliked such pussy main characters in the novels he read, but he also knew what it meant when he saw a killing machine…
We weren’t good people. But what made us good people? Are there even good people? I don’t think so. It was only a question of understanding and mindset. Maybe the saint looking mothers, who were talking about equality had crueler thoughts deep inside. None of us believed in the good of humanity. We aren’t saying that they were bad. Naturally, there were people with good sides, who were kind, who were loving, who could throw away their lives for others. It wasn’t only a dream.
Still, in every living creature, the dark side of nature was there. The instinct to stay alive as long as possible. The instinct of survival! The instinct of greed and envy to make our own lives better! Hiro grabbed the neck of the only survivor and stopped in front of Narihi and Poirlion, saying. “You know, we have long enough lives and we would only gain more when we break through. With our talents, it’s unnecessary. If I can help out my friends and give them longer lives and maybe also give them a chance to reach the age of eternity, then I won’t be stingy. So take this.”
As he finished his sentence, he devoured the life force of that turtle completely and gifted it to Poirlion and Narihi. Although they were three-star divine beats and reaching the tenth level wasn’t just a dream for them, but these years might help them somehow in the future. Still, their next move surprised us a lot.
They knelt down in the air with stupid smiles on their faces, saying - “Thanks for your gift, our lord~ We’ll make sure to help you if the need arises or you ask us to do something!” Narihi said with a smile, almost laughing. I knocked on her head, asking if we were friends or not. She quickly answered with a yes as she started laughing, along with Poirlion and us.
[This wasn’t even funny…] Hiro remarked through our bond while laughing. I’m just going with the flow, I answered him.
Standing up, Poirlion asked. “But what is this ability of yours? You didn’t have this before…”
Frowning slightly, I answered him. “Well, you know that we inherited Gaia’s Legacy and there was also this skill called Soul Eater. We can devour other people’s souls, which would make our advancement easier. This never happened before, but it seems like we can steal away other people’s lifespans and add it to anyone… the downside is that it’s working passively. Oh, by the way! Rin!” I shouted and she appeared.
“We have a blood bond with her, which means that if she won’t age upon contact, then there is a way to evade it! In that case, we can have a child safely in the future…” Hiro explained, feeling slightly worried. I touched Rin’s side and upon focusing on her soul, I realized that nothing was happening. Feeling happy, I hugged Hiro and showered him with my kisses.
Separating - “Well… it’s time to leave. We have to unite the pairs in our own world, we also have to talk to Gaia and visit a dungeon or the Abyss. We need something good! A treasure!” Hiro exclaimed feeling excited to go dungeon diving or something of the sort.
Narihi put her hand on her chin and a thoughtful face later, she said - “If you need a one-time use treasure, then I’d advise the Abyss. If you are looking for something permanent, then definitely a dungeon. The Abyss is more for instant benefits, while dungeons help you permanently or for long periods of times.”
“Oh? I didn’t know that. Thanks a bunch!” Hiro said as she patted Narihi’s shoulder. Feeling happy that she was useful, she smiled happily. Turning around, we flew towards the director’s house. Weston told us of the things that happened at Sedna’s place, so we came prepared. But not prepared enough…
There was a flowery garden in front of the house and Gaia was sitting there with Sedna. We greeted them politely, but Gaia appeared behind me and grabbed my titties. “Woah! What are these melons!? Your hips are also wide, while you have a thin waist. Sexy~ I’m sure that you are very much fertile! Right?” She asked while looking at Hiro. He showed her his thumb with a grin.
“Do you feel better now that you touched them?” I asked her when she appeared at her place and sat back down. Sedna buried her face in her pulled up legs, feeling ashamed of her big sister. We heard it from Narihi that Sedna was actually Gaia’s little sister!
“Hehe, definitely better. So? What brings you here? Wait, don’t answer. Is it about my legacy and how am I still alive?” She questioned us. Seeing us nod, she shook her head and with a smirking face, she answered.
“Well, since you pulled a nice prank on me, I won’t tell you and to top it off, I won’t tell you until you reach the second stage of the Temporary Law Realm! I know that you are True Divine Beasts, but not even they can advance a stage quicker than one or two hundred years!” Gaia exclaimed, feeling proud that she came up with good conditions.
“Oh, yes? Then let’s make an oath that when we reach the second stage, you’ll tell us of your secrets!” I said with a defeated face. Eating it, she made an oath on the spot.
At that, Sedna talked. “You were tricked, missis troll… These two are the kind of monsters I’ve never seen before. They were only at the third stage of the World Realm when they came… And now? They are at the Temporary Law Realm. Looking at their current progress speed, advancing a stage might not take more than a week at most. Even if they are at the Temporary Law Realm.”
Gaia looked at us with her brows furrowed, asking - “Is this true?”
Seeing us grinning evilly, she stomped on the ground, almost breaking the planet into two halves. It was good that she didn’t use her full strength… She was at the ninth level! Clapping once, I quickly corrected the opening cliff between my legs and the planet looked new and good once again.
“WAAA! This dragon! I had a lot of Divine Beast friends! But I’m starting to get annoyed by you! I’m being shamed by you here!”
“Hahaha! Good! I’m starting to like you more and more! Please continue with this!” Suddenly, Sedna laughed out loudly, praising and encouraging us.
“You! You traitor! I’ll send you after Shir’ Tu!” Gaia shouted at her, making her laugh even more.
Saying goodbye, we left to explore a dungeon on this planet.
It was time to gather some treasures!