Stray Soul

As the teddy bear—that was actually a black bear swinged its claws at my lesser body, I immediately melted into the shadows. While the skill’s original purpose of making me invisible in the dark wasn’t really useful here, as it was just a few hours after noon, becoming a dark blob allowed my other body to escape the bear’s attack due to its smaller size.

Then I quickly moved my body to escape, but the enraged beast wasn’t really planning on letting it go away easily, so I did the only thing I could do.

Jumped on the bear’s head with my main body to distract it.

Which was something that some might call stupid, but I wasn’t exactly worried for my main body. After all, my main body was pretty small, and had ample amount of mana to escape from the bear, while my lesser body did not.

Then, with a mighty roar the bear started trying to shake me off and throw me from its head which is something that I will let it do, because my goal is not to somehow clutch this situation and kill the bear, no no no, my goal is to just gain enough time for my other body to escape to somewhere safer.

But sadly, due to my enemy being a literal fucking bear, I was thrown off of its head after a few seconds, and quickly melded into the shadows to escape further but the bear must’ve seen where I landed after it threw me off because it immediately started charging at me with a mighty roar.

“Okay, plan B time!” I said, jumping onto the branches of a nearby tree, and climbing higher and higher.

And yes, I do know that bears can climb trees, I am not as dumb as I seem to be. My main goal is not to find refuge in the branches of the tree I am on, but escape from the bear by jumping from branches of one tree to anoth—

But before I could even finish my thought process, the bear charged into the tree, destroying most of its lower half and making the tree fall, but before the tree fell completely, I was able to jump to the branches of another tree.

“FUCKING HELL! Of course, the first bear I encounter has fucking magical strength and a hide thicker and harder than some metals, how stupid of me to assume that it wouldn’t be so!” I said with a bit of sarcasm, anger, and surprize.

But I was still able to jump onto a lower branch of one of the nearby trees, and quickly started pumping my legs with mana so I could just from one tree to another, as fast as possible, and make some distance between the bear and me.

The bear however continued to chase me, but instead of dodging whatever trees or bushes were in its way, it just charged straight forward, making me believe it either had a skill that made it harder to slow down, or hurt while charging, or it just had an insanely strong body… probably both.

But I wasn’t planning on playing fair either!

Not like I had the option of playing fair anyways…

---

As the bear charged into another tree to stop the puny little creature that had dared to annoy it, it realized something. The creature was not there.

It had been chasing after it for a good few minutes, its mind filled with thoughts of rage and blood wanted to see nothing but the creature’s corpse because only then would it be satisfied.

But even though the creature jumped from tree to tree, trying to escape from its inevitable fate, it didn’t this time for some reason.

Perplexed by this weird situation, bear started to think it killed the small creature, I mean it was glorious, and the strongest being in this forest, was it not?

It wouldn’t be weird for it to have accidentally killed a bug that was annoying it, even though it didn’t want the creature’s end to be accident, it wanted it’s end to be from its very own paws.

Turning back to the tree that had just fallen, the only thing the bear could see was the destroyed tree itself. Nothing else of importance made itself known.

But the bear had fought things that hid beneath the earth before, so it knew whatever creature that annoyed it could still be hiding beneath its very being, mocking it with its very existence.

Annoyed and angry, the bear lifted and threw the tree a few meters away with a mighty roar and expected to see a hole of some kind where the tree previously lay, but there was nothing other than dirt and grass, undisturbed by nothing other than the tree that laid there just a few moments ago.

Perplexed by what was happening, the bear started growling, its rage boiling by the mere idea that it had lost the thing that dared to annoy it, the thing that had dared to land on its head and tried to injure it.

And as the bear was preparing to give out a roar of rage, it heard it, the skittering of something small. The skittering of the thing that was trying to escape from it.

Letting out a roar of anger, the bear started charging towards the sound, but not before it heard another skittering sound.

Stopping in its place, the bear realized there was not just a single sound, but 2.

Had the fiend had a friend? Did not one, but 2 beings attempt to desecrate its honour?

Remembering something from a few seconds before the fiend landed on its head, the bear saw the images of something small. Something it initially just ignored and attempted to swat away with an attack of its claws. Something else that was insignificant as the fiend that had attacked it.

Remembering this, made the bear’s blood boil. It’s anger seeping from its mouth in the shape of a foam whiter than the clouds.

With a newfound rage, strength coursed through the bear’s body, giving it strength like no other, it’s hide became harder than rocks, it’s speed faster than the birds, and it charged forwards like a raging river, unstoppable by anything in this forest that was not it.

The bear charged and charged onwards, towards one of the sounds, not caring for the trees, or the creatures that lay on its path, throwing everything away like a god of war incarnate.

It didn’t care which one of the creatures it killed first, the fiend that dared to jump on its head, or the bug that dared lay on its path.

Both would die, both would meet its rage, one just sooner than the other.

But as the bear continued charging the sound disappeared for a moment, only to appear in a different place…

The bear didn’t give it much thought and assumed that the creature it had been charging at jumped on the trees like the one it fallowed before.

No matter what it did though, it would tire and stop soon. Nothing could stop or compete with the bear’s charge after all.

Not a pack of wolves, not those annoying pests that appeared at night, not the moving rocks that appeared every now and then, and definitely not some creatures smaller than its paws.

Changing the direction where it was charging towards, bear continued. But soon realized something.

The small creature wasn’t stopping.

The bear wondered how could something so small have so much stamina that the bear was starting to get tired before it.

But the bear couldn’t give up chasing it, if it did, its honour as the strongest being it ever knew would be desecrated.

So, it continued charging onwards. Throwing away trees, and animals that dared to get in its way away. Occasionally changing its direction to fallow the skittering sounds the small creature was making.

But soon, the bear started hearing something else. Something it couldn’t quite put its paws on.

But before the bear could think further about the origin of the sounds, it crashed through a tree, and then crashed into a mound made out of mud.

Then, dozens upon dozens of tiny, yellow and black, creatures dared to attack it.

Then the bear got really angry, angry at these things for not allowing it to chase the annoying little creatures that it was chasing just before.

Then, the bear started tearing apart every tiny creature that surrounded it, feeling them pinch its hide, making it feel uncomfortable which just made the bear angrier.

----

“I—I should probably head out right about now…” I said, looking at the bear that was just mowing through the beehive and its defenders without a care in the world.

But before I made my escape, I needed to rest a bit and recover my mana… because of the bears sheer… I’d like to say determination, but the only reason why the bear just continued to charge through the forest was probably its stupidity.

After I decided to put my plan into action, and no longer play fair, the first thing I did was, just not jump out of the tree, and use shadow meld instead.

But how the fuck was I suppose the know that it would yeet the fucking tree away?!

I can’t believe how, or even why, it did that! And, after I landed, I wanted to confuse it by running in 2 different directions and combining after escaping with my body after escaping it, but no!

Instead of going after the nearer sound, the crazy fucker just started charging at the further one, my lesser body!

So, I had to use even more mana to run towards my body, and then trick it into chasing me, instead of my other body!

And I swear, I saw at least 2 deer get run over by this fucker.

How does an animal even have that much stamina and pain tolerance to just charge through trees, and animals, just to fallow something as small as me?!

You know what, I don’t even care at this point. I am just happy that I somehow got to live.

Taking another look at the bear, and the hive, I saw the bear getting swarmed by weirder, and bigger, bees. Probably soldier bees? But do bees even have soldiers???

Sadly, I don’t want to stay around for long enough to find out, because I need to find my other body and I need to supply it with some mana so… I hope you die bear, and I’ll never have to bother with you again.

Taking one last glance at the bee, and the devastation it caused to the forest, I quickly started making my way towards where I left my other body and, to my surprize, I could control it even though we were very far away.

How far away? I have absolutely no idea. And I don’t even want to know.

Quickly setting off to find my body, and supplying it with mana after I found it, I started thinking.

While having multiple bodies was nice, and it made it easier for me to escape from the bear, I wish I just had one body that was just… larger, and stronger.

And while I’ve already found out that having a larger body doesn’t always scare animals away, the extra stats I’d get from having one big body would probably be better for my survivability…

“Wait… what happened to the animals the bear hit while it was charging?” sensing some easy exp, I left my thoughts for later, and fallowed the trail of destruction the bear had left.

And soon, I found something familiar, a vine deer.

“It doesn’t seem like the buck from before… with it not being male and all.” I said to myself and, while the deer looked very alive, it definitely was dying. And before long, maybe not even a minute, it would be dead.

Deciding to hit 2 birds 2 with 1 stone, I moved through the shadows behind the deer, wanting to end the creature’s misery, and get a new body while doing that.

It was a win-win really.

Quickly moving both my bodies, and aiming for the deer’s throat, I ended the severely weakened vine deer’s life in one swift motion.

Congratulations! You have defeated Vine Deer (G) Level 30!

As Vine Deer (G) is a rank higher than you, you will get increased exp.

Because Black Bear (F) heavily damaged Vine Deer (G), you will get reduced exp.

90 > 120 > 1 exp gained.

“A-Are you fucking shitting me?!” I screamed after reading the system message and seeing the pitiful amount of mana I had gained.

In hindsight, yeah, the bear had done most of the work. So, it made sense that the bear would get more exp from the deer than me, who only kill stealed really. But it couldn’t even gain any exp from deer because of its fucking rank either! I SHOULD’VE GOTTEN ALL THE FUCKING EXP!

And HOLY FUCKING HELL! How did I survive that fucking bear?! It’s literally 2 ranks above me, and every rank is a lot stronger than the previous ones!

…You know what? I am starting to believe that I am actually the protagonist of this world and nothing bad will ever happen to me because of plot armour. And I am going to keep holding fast to that belief until the day I die because I tried to solo the demon king!

Heh… but I should probably just move into the deer and get out of here before long…

Quickly extending a tendril from my main body, I entered the deer’s body, and slowly started building my mana cloud network as fast as I could.

Then, after I had a decent enough mana cloud network in the deer, I just got it up right, and started moving it away from the bear’s rampage area, because a lot of animals will be visiting this site in the very, very near future and I don’t want to be here for the inevitable return of the bear, or a pack of wolves.

And I definitely am not having a repeat of the same situation as the fucking terror bird.

But, before moving, I jumped onto the deer with my main body, and only then did I actually started to move

And while the deer, and my other body walked, I continued to develop my mana cloud network inside the deer, and even if I didn’t know how much intelligence or wisdom the deer had, I could practically feel it.

But, not letting myself get distracted, I sent my other body to scout out the area, so me and my new beauty wouldn’t get jumped while we were unprepared.

And after… god knows how long, probably a few good hours, I stood still on a small clearing in the forest, my other body watching the surrounding area, but my main body and the vine deer standing still.

Then, slowly I started pulling my soul out of the hyb—wait, did I even need to do that?

Wouldn’t this body just become another lesser soul? So, I didn’t have to pull out everything out right now, did I?

Then, to test my idea, I cut the connection between the vine deer and the hybrid standing next to each other. My soul once again separating into smaller chunks.

And, after a bit of disorientation, I felt completely fine! And was finally ready to see my extra stats…

Name: William Race: Stray Soul (Vine Deer)

Level: 8 Exp: 1/14 Rank: H

Health Points: 0/103 Mana Points: 133/260

Strength: 0 (13)

Vitality: 0 (10)

Agility: 0 (15)

Intelligence: 9 (17)

Wisdom: 15 (12)

Charisma: 0 (16)

Free Stat Points: 0 (8)

Skills: Ethereal Body (S), Mana Sense (Z), Bind (Z), Soul Sense (Z), Soul Manipulation (Z), Mana Control (Z), Mana Strengthening (Z) +

Titles: Reincarnator (S), Otherworlder (A)

Quests: Meddling with the Unknown (S)

Looking at my new stats in awe, I noticed something weird…

“Aren’t these stats… a bit too high?” I thought to myself, but then quickly remembered I had only been in the body of a rabbit, a big bug, an oversized bird, and then a literal cat-fish hybrid.

I was probably just weak before.

But even though these stats are really high for me… they seem a bit too low.

“What’s going on here… shouldn’t an F rank killed something as weak as this in one hit? Even if it was an indirect attack? Am I over estimating and underestimating F and G ranks at the same time, or is there something else going on…” I said to myself and started thinking if there was actually something fishy going on…

Hmm… would system answer a question like this? I wonder…

Then I quickly proceeded to ask the system a question about the deer’s low stats.

*ding*

As you may have noticed, the bodies of the creatures you kill are level one, even though their living counter parts were not. This is because the soul leaves the body after death, and most of the skills, levels, and stats are directly connected to a being’s soul.

So, after a being’s death and their soul’s departure, the being’s body returns to its ‘Original’ state in which the body loses all of its extra stats and such.

A-are you fucking shitting me? So, let me get this straight.

Even if I manage to kill a level 100 S rank dragon, I won’t get the corpse of a level 100 S rank dragon, but the corpse of a level 1 S rank dragon?

*ding*

Yes.

Are you fucking—NO! Be calm… be calm William.

*hoooh*

Letting out a sigh, I stopped thinking about the BULL FUCKING SHIT, I’d have to go through in the future.

Instead, this made me think about corpses and my connection to them.

I now knew for a fact that every body had stats, and they weren’t just some magical thing, and my experience with the terror bird’s body proved that too!

But how does my soul connect with bodies? And more importantly, how does a being’s ‘Original’ stats are decided?

Could I just… take the brains of these hybrids and get intelligence? Or do I need something more?

… Even if I can’t take their brains and gain more intelligence… couldn’t I take their eyes?

Now, this might seem crazy to you, because I don’t think I’ve said this before but, the hybrids have great night vision… but they are also colour blind.

So, in theory, I could just remove the eyes, or an eye, of one of my lesser souls, and then just… replace it with one of my deer eyes, or just make a hole in a random part of my body of mine and use it like that?

I—I don’t really know a lot about how my connection with bodies works… eh, I have bodies aplenty, I can sacrifice one… or both.

Then, I started moving one of my vines towards an eye of my old main body.

And yes, I could manipulate vines as if they were limbs. Instead of a magical skill, they were more of a body part of mine.

Which made me really, really happy because I could now, potentially, make and use tools! I don’t need a humanoid body anymore! Hoorah!

Cutting the distraction short, I steadied the head of the hybrid and just… removed one of the eyeballs from it.

Which was… messy to say the least. And I may or may not have ruined one of my eyes, and had to take both of them out… but you’ll never know now, will you?

Raising the eyeball with my vine, I connected it to my main body with a swift soul manipulation and…

“Holy… molly…” I whispered. Because I could see from it even though it wasn’t connected to my brain, nor my neural system.

“Well, this opens a whole can of worms…” I said to myself, looking at my other hybrid body with a predatory glare because if I could literally craft myself a super body, why have multiple?