NOVEL WEB 9. Soulmates and Spaces
Chapter 9 – Soulmates and spaces
When his senses adjusted, he realized he was not actually in his soul space. At least it didn’t look like his soul space. In place of a spherical white void, his soul now floated in a pitch-black abyss. There was absolutely nothing around him, not even Harley or his avatar. He tried calling out but heard no response. There was no up, down, forward, or backwards in this place. He couldn’t even tell if he was moving or stationary without a reference point.
Eventually, after an indeterminate amount of time, he saw a point of light. It was very distant and faint, but it stood out like a bright flame on a cold and moonless night. He mentally tugged his consciousness to move in that direction. He wasn’t even sure if he was moving at all since the light source looked the same. After ages, the point of light seemed to grow, and he finally heard Harley’s voice.
AENON. ARE YOU THERE? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? AND WHERE AM I?
“You don’t have to shout you know,” he quipped with a hint of humor as he approached her. The crystal turned around and flew towards him at high speed but passed right through. He noticed that she was shivering.
Where the hell were you? It was all so dark, and empty, and cold, and …
She frantically bombarded him with questions, and he let her vent for a while. Patiently listening without comment, even when she peppered him with insults. After she was spent, and calmed down, he finally spoke.
“It’s okay Harl. I am not going anywhere,” he said gently.
Before he could say anything further, he detected something, but not using his conventional five senses. The space around them wasn’t exactly empty. There was some kind of gaseous substance around them, almost imperceptible, and colorless. Noticing his distraction, Harley asked again seriously.
What is going on Aenon? Where are we?
“Wish I could tell you that. I am as lost as you are. Is it possible we died? Maybe this is the place our souls rest for 60 minutes for someone to cast resurrection, you know, before moving on?” he mused out loud.
How can you be so calm about it? I am freaking out, and here you are, casually chatting like nothing happened. This is all your fault.
“Well, don’t know what to tell you. If a situation is out of my control, I just go with it. No sense in crying over spilt milk,” he casually remarked.
A lot of things in his life were out of his control. So, he learned his lesson a while ago, worrying solves nothing. Now that he had found Harley, he scanned their surroundings a bit more carefully. The ambient mist was flowing outward from a single point somewhere. He asked Harley to follow and moved against the flow. Harley tried protesting, but he just shushed her and kept going.
Eventually, they reached a barrier of sorts. It was hard to detect a black surface in a black void, but he felt the hard unyielding surface. He circled it and found it was about 10 feet in diameter, much like his soul space. He thought maybe this was the inner soul space the Overseer had let slip once.
And if that was the case, he must be in outer soul space. He hovered around the barrier and found the tear where the Shard had pierced through, along with all the cracks he had witnessed while on the other side of this wall. The subtle current of mana was leaking through these cracks and the hole. The hole had a flexible membrane covering it.
When he pushed in, his hand broke the membrane and the next instant, they were back to their familiar white soul space, with his avatar floating at the center. He noticed the subtle mist leaving the soul space from the cracks in the shell. He decided to check his notification before talking with Harley.
Title achieved: Arcane Wizard (1)
Title evolved: Mana Hound (1) to Mana Touched (1)
Title achieved: Unfettered (1)
Arcane Wizard (1): Achieve basic mastery of natural mana on your own.
+10 all stats
Mana Touched (1): Interact with natural mana without the System's aid.
+20 all stats
Unfettered (1): ???.
+50 all stats
Aenon’s eyes bugged out when he saw the last Title. It was his strongest yet, giving him 360 stat points by itself, with the percentage boost. He decided to check out his stat page.
Name
Aenon Fenrast (13 yrs)
Race
Human (F)
Level
0
Class
None
Level
NA
Subclass
None
Level
NA
HP
1960
MP
2040
HP/10 min
390
MP/10 min
424
Stats
Strength
196 (4+192)
Intelligence
204 (12+192)
Constitution
195 (3+192)
Willpower
212 (20+192)
Dexterity
206 (8+192+6)
Perception
202 (10+192)
Titles (192x6 + 6 = 1158)
Indomitable Soul (3)
+20 all stats
Planetary Forerunner (5)
+20 all stats
Overseers Favor
+5 all stats
System's Chosen
Nomenclaturist
+5 all stats
Savant Hunter (2)
+20 all stats
Arcane Wizard
+10 all stats
Mana Touched
+20 all stats
Unfettered
+50 all stats
Predator
+5 Dexterity
Prodigy (1)
+20% stat gained from Titles
Skills (Free SP: 20)
Weapons (Dagger, Unarmed)
Savant
Stealth (Woods, Urban)
Savant
He had almost doubled his stats from just the three new titles and now qualified for an E-grade evolution. He was ecstatic about it.
“That is a lot to take in, but let’s focus on what is going on here, shall we?” Aenon remarked.
“My thoughts exactly, although talking to yourself is not a sign of good health you know,” a familiar female voice spoke up, making his consciousness jump back in alarm. Arbiter Allie was floating in his soul space right next to his avatar. His avatar was without clothes again for some reason, and she seemed to be in deep contemplation while observing his lower body in detail.
“Are you done admiring? What are you doing here?” he asked with some heat and embarrassment in his voice as he conjured up a fresh set of clothes for his avatar while possessing it. He was not used to people gawking at him in his birthday suit.
“Impressive that you learned how to create constructs in your soul space and even controlling your avatar. Although… that is not the only thing I am impressed about,” she looked him up and down with a smirk before winking.
“Could we please move on?” he asked with narrowed eyes. He did not want to give her the satisfaction of knowing how embarrassed he was, but he couldn’t help it. He could feel his face heating up.
“It’s adorable how red your face is getting,” she giggled at his discomfort. “Typically, it is not possible to enter someone’s soul space like this. But you are hardly a typical case. Your soul space was ruptured and even I was not aware how badly till you went and did what you did.”
“Which is what, exactly?” he asked while crossing his hands. He probably shouldn’t antagonize an existence who can snuff him out with ease, but this was the only way he could hide how embarrassed he was.
“What do you know about soul spaces?” she asked with a coy smile while she scanned his avatar as she moved around him in a circle.
“It is the place where my soul resides along with a representation of my real body. But that doesn’t answer my question.” She had not reacted to Harley’s presence so far, so he kept quiet about it
“I was given a System quest to fix an injured soul space. I had trouble believing it till I finally saw it. Anyway, you are correct about what a soul space is, but the information is incomplete,” she paused for dramatic effect.
“And?” he asked impatiently.
“A soul space is where you harness and store mana. At birth and in uninitiated worlds, it is just a void. As you grow in age and strength, you learn to absorb mana and condense it for use with spells and abilities. The more mana you can stuff in, the stronger your spells. It is also how you conjure up constructs, like your clothes,” she said mischievously as she ran a finger up and down his chest.
“Is it anything like a core some cultivation novels on my old world talked about?” he asked quickly to distract her. She was having way too much fun at his expense, but he had to deal with it to get more information.
“I am surprised you know that, but yes. The principle is to compress the mana dregs into a more usable form. The System helps in this regard. It automates the process of ambient mana absorption and compression. That is what your mana pool is.”
“So where is this mana? I don’t see it in my soul space.”
She smiled as she held out her hands, “Look around you. What do you think the walls are made of? They essentially act as your mana pool as well as a barrier to contain the ambient mana you absorb, either naturally or through meditation. When you have compressed enough mana within your soul space, the barrier gets pushed back, making your soul space wider. The process is what we call evolution. When you use spells, the walls get thinner, which makes your soul feel stressed and weaker. That is why it doesn’t feel good to bottom out your mana pool. Although, I am curious where your mana is continuously flowing out to. I am assuming that is where the soul injury was?” she asked while pointing at the point where the cracks spread out from.
He was not comfortable sharing his secrets and potential weaknesses with a stranger. But he had no choice in this regard. He needed all the information she had.
“Wish I could explain what is going on, but I am as clueless as you. I was attacked by some annoying little shard which seems to have done this damage,” he decided to give partial information without lying. Harley huffed to his side in annoyance but stayed quiet. Allie eyed him suspiciously, but continued, nonetheless.
“I was originally planning to fix the damage when you were in a safer location, but you somehow managed to anger an entire goblin village. Nice work, very entertaining stuff. Dumb, but entertaining. That snake around your leg is an artifact I am controlling.”
“That was you. Why the hell did you wrap yourself around my leg in such a situation. If I had panicked, I would have given away my location,” he yelled at her furiously.
“Because if I had not, they would have found you. You touched mana charged bones. Mana which got absorbed by your body. Normally that is not an issue, but you have a gaping hole in your soul space, which is leaking like a faucet. The shamans would have tracked the leaking mana back to your hidey hole,” Allie said with annoyance. She did not appreciate being yelled at
Aenon thought about it for a minute and felt embarrassed at his outburst. He sheepishly apologized. “Sorry. Guess you were just trying to help.”
“Of course I was. Did you forget what my main role is in this tutorial? I was given a System quest too," she folded her arms and eyed him sternly.
“That still doesn’t explain how you got in here,” he asked.
She rolled her eyes in frustration. “Because you started meditating and tried absorbing mana. Not only that, but you also focused on my artifact which was working on the leak. You essentially pushed me into your soul space through the hole.”
“Oh,” was all he could say to that.
“Oh? Is that all you have to say?” she raised an eyebrow at him.
“I, uh, don’t know what else to say. Sorry? I didn’t mean to do it, you know. It was a complete accident,” he tried explaining himself.
She stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. “Ya I guess a newly minted player like you wouldn’t have known. Who is your class trainer anyway? I wasn’t controlling the artifact personally till you went and caused the commotion in the cave. So haven’t had time to check your level. I am impressed your level is high enough to raid a goblin cave solo.”
“What do you mean trainer?” he asked puzzled.
“You know, the guy who taught you mana control. At level 5 is when your trainer shows you how to meditate and absorb mana.”
Mistaking his silence for an inability to recall, she continued.
“I am assuming one of your classes is mana based. So, which is it?” she prodded him further.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Aenon replied after the silence got too uncomfortable.
She blinked numerous times; no doubt trying to connect the dots and figure out the situation.
“What level are you?” she finally managed to ask.
“Ummm. Isn’t it considered rude to ask such a thing?”
“No, it’s not. I cannot use my identify skill in here or we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she said with frustration in her voice.
“Zero.”
She went silent and back to blinking with a vacant expression before getting red with anger.
“You didn’t level either of your classes? Who told you about the first kill bonus?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just tell me who told you about the first kill bonus,” she screamed at him before marching up to him. She had her face very close to his, giving him a death glare.
“I heard some guy in the village talking. He said the more difficult your first kill, the better the rewards,” he wanted to keep Harley’s existence a secret, so he fibbed. Her face was still red with fury and having no other outlet she vented it out on him.
“And you, a level zero, in his infinite wisdom decided this would be your one and only chance to obtain glory? How stupid are you? Did you stop to consider how it would affect those who care about you? Your family, your friends. You would throw all that away for the promise of a few extra stats.”
His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Not only was she not making sense, but she was also blaming him without knowing about his past. He had no family. He had no friends. Well technically, maybe Harley was, but this was her idea in the first place. Sort of.
“I do not appreciate being lectured by someone who barely knows me or my past. I have no family and have no need for friends. I will live my life on my terms and will die on my terms. No one has the right to dictate my life. So, if you are done with your task, please leave,” he replied coldly. The sudden change in his tone and harsh words shocked her enough to shut her up.
She glared at him for several minutes before turning his back on him. “I do not have anything more to say to selfish jerks like you. You will be dead soon anyway,” she whispered before waving her hands and disappearing.
Ummm…
“Not now Harley,” Aenon fumed. He knew that he could have handled that situation a little better. But her words about family had pushed all the wrong buttons. He suppressed the memories that were dangerously close to resurfacing.
“Did she fix the hole before leaving?” he asked in a neutral tone. He was trying not to take his anger out on Harley. He focused on the tear and noticed it did stop leaking the gaseous mana. But there was still a tiny trickle.
I am sure she must have. She is an Arbiter after all. It is her job, especially if it was a System quest.
“Well, let’s get out of here and continue our mission.”
Sensing his mood, Harley stayed quiet. With a little bit of concentration, Aenon managed to exit his soul space. He was still in the crevice he had wedged himself in and the snake was gone. His head hurt from the overload of input from his mana sense. And he didn’t know how to turn it off either. Weirder still, he could detect all the lifeforms around him even with his eyes closed. Like a radar of sorts, that bypassed physical barriers and only homed in on life. For now, it had a range of about 10 meters (32 feet).
Aenon looked down and saw that the goblins were back to their usual activities. The search must have been called off a while ago. He pulled out a System ration and bit down on it. Although it tasted worse than free ration, he was in no mood to complain. His only reasoning was that it didn’t have any smell. He did not want the scouts to pick up on his hiding spot. After relieving his hunger and thirst, he continued his silent vigil of the cave’s inhabitants till he fell asleep. He continued the same pattern of eating, observing and sleeping for the next three days, only breaking the monotony when he had to relieve himself. He did that by quickly exiting the cave twice a day for short durations.
On the fourth day Harley finally snapped. When he was out relieving himself, she popped out of his soul space in a huff.
OK. That does it. I know you are upset, and I know you need time to get over whatever this is. But you can’t just ignore me for days on end. I didn’t even do anything. You haven’t said a word to me since we left your soul space. It almost feels like I am back in that dark abyss, whatever that was.
Aenon completely ignored her presence, which made Harley angrier. But he kept quiet and sat down in a small burrow with his legs crossed. He took a deep breath and entered his soul space again. Harley followed soon after.
“I am sorry Harl. But I am not ignoring you. I don’t know how, but I am able to sense every living presence around me. Maybe my mana sense, but I am not sure. And that’s why I know that we are being watched. That pesky snake is still around. I did not want to risk trying to communicate with you in case she picks it up and have been hoping she would leave after a few days of boredom. But she refuses to leave like a damned cold.”
The angry red glow of the shard eased up a bit, glowing a faint shade of red, instead.
Oh. I see. Still, a heads up would have been nice. I have been stewing in worry for three whole days.
“And I am sorry about that. But I didn’t want to risk it. Even this conversation is, but I was worried about you too. Anyway, I have not been wasting my time. I have a rough idea what I want to do next, and I was hoping not to do it with her watching. But this might be better. It is time to show her how wrong she is about me. I am waiting for the right opportunity,” Aenon said with confidence.
Very well then. Let’s show that worm what you are capable of. Also, cool that you now have a way to sense lifeforms around you. I believe it is separate from your mana sense though. I will let you work it out yourself.
Hearing her normal cheerful voice brought a smile to his face. He quickly exited his soul space and sneaked back into the cave. There was a commotion going on which had all the goblins on edge. With a distracted patrol, it became easier for him to sneak back in and climb back to his earlier roost.
He used his newfound life sensing skill on all the creatures down in the cave. They appeared very different in his … life sense? He decided to call it that till he could figure out what it truly was. The goblins appeared like uneven spherical balls of varying sizes, while all the other critters looked like amorphous blobs of dust. The hobgoblin’s ball was the largest of the lot, which meant the size somehow corelated to power.
He was lost in thought when something unexpected happened. The runes on the stone pillar started glowing and a portal of sorts opened right next to it. The hobgoblin was sitting on his throne with confidence, staring at the portal with interest, when suddenly a large foot appeared out of it. It was too big to be a goblin, and the hobgoblin immediately jumped to its feet and roared in challenge. It was another hobgoblin. Although this one was about 6 inches shorter and was more on the skinnier side. What truly set him apart were the bone necklaces around his neck and waist, and the bone staff he carried.
The new entrant appeared as a much bigger ball in his life sense, but Aenon was focused on something else about it. He detected one tiny tendril attached to the creature, and unlike all other spheres and blobs which were colorless, the tendril appeared red in his life sense. It was only a sliver, and he barely managed to detect it, but it gave him a dirty oily feeling.
All goblins fled and cowered at the edges of the cavern when their leader screamed out his challenge. By the looks of it, this was to be a battle to decide who the next leader will be. The current king grabbed a club and moved towards the interloper in his domain. But before he took his third step, he collapsed to the ground as though a heavy weight was placed on his shoulders, with a perfectly circular crater forming around him.
The challenger merely pointed his staff at his adversary and a bunch of earth spikes rose from the ground and pierced the downed hobgoblin in his legs and arms. He roared in pain before letting go of his club and collapsed in a pool of his own blood. The new arrival then casually walked to the throne and settled down. All goblins immediately bowed down to their new leader, with the shamans being the first. Looking at the new development, he cast Identify on the two Hobgoblins.
Both had two question marks next to their names and identify didn’t distinguish the type of hobgoblin. If he was to guess, the newcomer was a shaman variant of the hobgoblin who had cast some sort of gravity spell followed by an earth spell.
With this, things got a bit more complicated, but Aenon smiled, nonetheless. The earlier matchup was bad for him. A rogue against a tank was infinitely worse than against a caster. And now that he had mana sense, things were finally in his favor. He stayed still for the next hour while observing the shaman leader. Unlike the brute, he was barking orders to better organize his troops, instead of merely ordering food.
The balance of power instantly shifted in favor of the goblin shamans who started harassing the scouts openly. The hobgoblin shaman was planning something. But unless he learned their guttural language, it was anyone’s guess. Finally, he got the notification he was waiting for.
System Notification
By studying the behavior of your target, you have obtained sufficient info to unlock more details. Identify Skill can now identify the following goblin types – Hobgoblin, and Hobgoblin Shaman
Hobgoblin – A superior version of the goblin race. About one in a thousand goblin births can spawn a hobgoblin. Like their cousins, they are barbaric and brutish but are much more lethal in battle and do not rely on numbers. They rule over their weaker counterparts with an iron fist and possess the intellect of a human child.
Hobgoblin Shaman – A significantly greater threat due to their use of mana and spells, hobgoblin shamans will almost always defeat their brutish counterparts. With greater command of mana, they can cast basic offensive and defensive spells, but are weak to physical attacks, if one can get close enough. They are the definition of glass canons.
“Well, I guess its slicing and dicing time,” Aenon smiled viciously as the plan he was making the last couple days finally started to crystallize. But first, he had more stalking to do.