Soul of the Warrior

The Grand Magus sat in silent contemplation after examining Kefira. He tapped his lips with his finger as he was lost in thought. Gennet couldn’t wait any longer after only a few moments and spoke up.

“So?” He asked. “What’s going on?”

The Grand Magus seemed surprised that anyone else was in the room after being addressed. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Everything is as expected, for the most part,” he answered. “We just miscalculated on the timing.”

“What does that mean?” Reivyn asked.

Gennet, Silfa, and the other members of Kefira’s family seemed to understand what the Grand Magus was talking about. The Grand Magus turned his attention toward Reivyn.

“We always knew that the seal wasn’t a permanent solution,” he explained. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had to change the seals out. As you know, Kefira’s soul is too strong for her body, putting increased stress on her physical being. We need to seal a portion of her soul to alleviate the problem.

“If we make the seal too strong, she won’t have access to her abilities and Skill and might not even be able to Level her Skills at all. If it’s too weak, like it apparently has been, the power will leak through and exhaust her body.

“What I mean by our timing was off is that her Skills have advanced at a much more rapid rate than anticipated. The soul has capacity, power, and intensity. The capacity of the soul generally refers to the combination of number of Skills and their Level. Higher Level Skills fill the capacity quicker than additional lower Level Skills.

“One’s soul capacity naturally increases over time with age and Class Level. It’s a gradual thing, though. It’s so gradual that normally one would never even realize it if they didn’t have a benchmark from much earlier in life to compare to.

“Power refers to how well one is able to martial one’s Skill Level. I’m sure you’ve noticed that no two people are alike even with similar Skill Levels. That’s not just based on a difference of understanding in one’s Skill. It’s also a reflection of one’s soul power.

“There are many theories explaining the nuances of soul power, but a popular one is that it directly affects one’s ability to interact with the System. Someone with more soul power will receive more System assistance in a Skill at a similar Level than someone with a lower soul power. That is an objective fact, but the underlying reason is the theory.

“Finally there’s intensity. The best way to conceptualize soul intensity is the passive aura it exudes on the world around it. One’s body usually contains the aura as most people’s souls are nowhere near strong enough to reach the natural limit of a mortal body. Those with Bloodlines are naturally able to house even more powerful souls.

“Kefira is lucky and unlucky at the same time. She’s lucky that she has such a powerful natural soul and was born in a family with a decent Bloodline, but she’s unlucky that her soul is just powerful enough to overwhelm her body’s ability to contain the aura.

“As the aura leeks out of her body, it acts like wind or water on the land. It slowly erodes it. If nothing is done, eventually, her body would waste away completely.”

Reivyn’s eyes widened in alarm at the statement. The Grand Magus saw his look and chuckled.

“No need for concern, just yet,” he said. “It would take decades in Kefira’s current state for the issue to be fatal. As it is, even without another seal fashioned to curtail her soul strength, she would be able to function to a lesser extent with frequent, proper rest.”

“She’s been getting plenty of rest, though,” Reivyn frowned.

“No, no. She would need proper rest. She’s resting her body, but her body’s not the underlying issue. Her soul is. She would need to go for an extended period of time without using any Skills or Magic to rest her soul. Her body falling into a coma is simply her soul forcing the issue. If she’s unconscious, she won’t be able to use any Skills or Magic.”

“It’s as simple as that?” Reivyn quirked an eyebrow.

The Grand Magus snorted.

“I doubt I would ever describe the interactions of the soul between the host body as simple, but relatively, yes I would say so.”

“This leads me to a question I’ve had for a long time, now,” Reivyn said. “I’m almost 100% certain that my soul strength is more powerful than Kefira’s but I’ve never had any problems. Not even before I awakened my Bloodline.”

“Truly?” The Grand Magus was surprised and looked around the room at the other occupants for confirmation. The others nodded their heads. He turned back to Reivyn. “Do you mind if I take a look?”

“Sure,” Reivyn shrugged.

He extended his hand and the Grand Magus placed two fingers on his wrist. It seemed like he was simply taking his pulse, but Reivyn could feel a Skill activate in the older man and felt a presence from his gaze.

Reivyn had tried to follow along while the Grand Magus inspected Kefira with his Divine Sense, but he was missing some sort of insight or ability associated with the Skill to do so. He had long contemplated that Divine Sense incorporated all lesser perception Skills under its umbrella, but that didn’t mean he had access to all of those abilities.

The Grand Magus’ Skill somehow penetrated deeper into the metaphysical whereas Reivyn’s own perception still only glimpsed the surface, so to say.

“I see,” the Grand Magus nodded to himself, releasing his hold on Reivyn’s wrist. “You’re natural body is simply far more powerful. It’s the most powerful soul container I’ve ever seen. It edges close to what’s theoretically possible, in fact.

“Tell me, how many thresholds did you have to break to reach Level 1 of your Bloodline?”

“One hundred,” Reivyn answered.

The Grand Magus’ eyes bugged out at the response.

“Even knowing it was going to be high, the actual answer still managed to surprise me.” He shook his head before looking at Reivyn once more. “I’ll give you an example to illustrate how it works:

“Let’s say that your body is a waterwheel, and your soul intensity is a river. The stronger the body, the more sturdy the waterwheel, and the stronger the soul, the more powerful the current.

“When one’s body is mundane or has an unawakened Bloodline, we can imagine that the paddles are made of wood and cloth. A too powerful current could tear right through the cloth.

“Awakening the Bloodline is akin to reinforcing the paddles. The natural treasures one consumes to awaken are the raw materials to convert the cloth paddles to solid wood. The paddles themselves, however, are not the only point of impact.

“In Kefira’s case, she has solid-wood paddles, but the current is still too powerful. It’s causing the wheel to turn faster than it can handle. In this analogy, the next point is to reinforce the gears and joints.

“These materials are more rare, though. The natural treasures to awaken a Bloodline and attain Level 1 can be found in Tier 4 and below Regions. The natural treasures to advance to Level 2 and 3, though, can only be found in the upper Regions: Tiers 5 through 8. Well, not all of them, but the most important ones.

“To add difficulty, the efficacy of these treasures cannot be preserved beyond a few mere moments after harvesting, so anyone who wishes to upgrade their Bloodline to Level 2 and beyond has to personally travel to the upper Regions.

“Advancing to Level 2 in her Bloodline would be equivalent to reinforcing the gears, like I said, and Level 3 would be further reinforcing the paddles and/or gears to accommodate an even more powerful river current.

“Now, back on to the main point, you,” he jabbed Reivyn in the chest with his index finger, “appear to have this state of your waterwheel as the baseline. Your body in its unawakened state, in regards to its ability to contain your soul, is equivalent to Kefira’s Level 3 Bloodline-enforced body, and you’re already at Level 1 for your Bloodline.

“You would be better served finding natural treasures that clear blockages in your soul’s flow. You can imagine them as dams upriver from your waterwheel.”

Reivyn nodded along to the lengthy explanation. It made perfect sense to him the way it was explained. At the mention of dams blocking his soul’s flow, though, he raised a question.

“Wait, if one’s body interacting with their soul is like a waterwheel, and there are dams blocking the flow of the river, couldn’t one harness the pressure from piercing holes in the dams instead of clearing them away?”

The Grand Magus stared at Reivyn for a couple of seconds before bursting out into laughter.

“No, no. This is just a way to conceptualize it. Your body isn’t actually a waterwheel, and there aren’t actual dams blocking the flow of the river. Don’t get too caught up in the analogy to lose sight of what it’s trying to tell you.

“That being said, it appears you’ve already consumed a soul treasure that put your soul in harmony. Those are extremely rare, and I’ve only ever heard of one being found hundreds of years ago by an Elder exploring a Tier 6 Region.”

Reivyn frowned in confusion at the statement. I don’t recall ever taking any soul treasures… A flash of a Masked Man on a bridge between Realms flashed through his mind. Unless that’s what that Masked Man did to me at that time. But why would he…?

“Well, everything seems to be in order here,” the Grand Magus said, standing up and dusting his robes off. Reivyn was brought out of his musings before he could really think about it at the man’s words. “We just have to adjust our timeline, is all. I’ll go and fashion a stronger seal for Kefira. It’ll be done in a couple hours.”

Reivyn sensed his two sisters becoming agitated at the mention of crafting the soul seal. He glanced at them, and if he didn’t have his Divine Sense, he would have never been able to tell that they were about ready to burst with anxiousness.

“Ah, Sir Grand Magus, a moment,” Reivyn called out to the older man. He looked back at Reivyn with expectation. “Would it be alright for my sisters to accompany you and observed the process?”

The Grand Magus quirked an eyebrow and glanced at the twin girls with a surprised look. He looked to Gennet and Silfa for their opinion.

“Oh, yes,” Gennet nodded his head. “That’s their area of study. Well, not soul treasures or the soul at all, for that matter, but crafting unique things. Kefira is sponsoring their tutoring among many different masters.”

“We could treat it like a lesson and pay you for your time,” Silfa added.

The Grand Magus stroked his beard as he examined the two girls. His face split into a wide grin.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” he said. The two girls’ exhaled the breath they had been holding and jumped up and down in excitement. “Teaching is one of my favorite things, and I’ll never say no to some extra spending money.” He chuckled.

“What do you way, girls?” Reivyn gave his two sisters a stern look.

They both stopped jumping up and down and gave a bow to the older gentleman.

“Thank you, sir,” they said in unison.

“Right, right. Come this way,” the Grand Magus turned and strode out of the room with the two girls trailing after.

The room descended into silence for a few moments before Gennet cleared his throat.

“Well, quite the ending to the evening, I would say,” he chuckled. “It’s good to hear that the issue isn’t something new, just a miscalculation in timing.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re responsible for that,” Refix coughed into his hand and spoke up. “Reivyn and I can be a bit… zealous, when it comes to training. We’ve been pushing her pretty hard and in new directions, too.”

“Bah, don’t worry about it,” Gennet waved his hand away. “Like the Grand Magus said, it’s not an immediate problem, and raising one’s Skills faster than anticipated is actually something to be celebrated.”

“There’s really only one solution to this,” Reivyn spoke up once more. Everyone focused their attention on him, waiting for his answer. “We have to go to the upper Regions. It seems obvious to me. It was the plan from the beginning, right?” Gennet slowly nodded his head. “The Grand Magus just said the timing was off, so that expedition needs to come forward as well.”

“I’m just worried this could cripple Kefira’s potential, though,” Gennet voiced his concern.

“I’m not,” Reivyn shook his head. “She’s already further ahead than she expected to be, for one. Two, her Life Experience and Skill Levels are definitely ahead of schedule as well, or this wouldn’t be an issue. Finally, there’s nothing saying we can’t explore Dungeons and experience new things in the upper Region. Just going there to explore ahead of time should give her a boost in her Class options.

“Her potential isn’t the issue here. It’s safety. We can all punch above our weight class, and considerably at that. I would suggest sending word to the Elders to have them provide us a mentor for exploring the Regions, and we can study up on the knowledge we’ll need to be safe.”

“I’ll be going with them, too,” Refix pointed out. “With me and at least one mentor from the Region, there shouldn’t be too much in a Tier 5 Region that can catch us off guard if we don’t get complacent.”

“You’re going to have to live your own life again one of these days, dad,” Reivyn said to his father with a slight smile on his lips. “You’ve sunk so much of your time into us already.”

“I’m your father. It’s what I’m supposed to do. Besides, if not you, then I would be doing something similar with some other kid. It’s what I do. It’s what I like to do.”

“I’m sure mom’s super happy about it,” Reivyn needled his father.

“I’m going, too, this time,” Ameliyn spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to her. “The girls are independent enough now, and they have their own schedules to keep them busy. Plus, I used to be an Adventurer, too. I’ve been catching up with Delves alongside Refix for a while, now. We might as well make it a whole thing, and we can all seek to improve our Bloodlines and possibly soul power while we’re there.”

Reivyn was only mildly surprised at the exclamation from his mother. After thinking about it, though, it made a lot of sense. He still remembered the awe-inspiring pose of her actions from when she had seemingly unleashed the Heavens themselves against the Dungeon Break army and its instigators all those years ago.

“I’ll look after your two girls and make sure they’re not spending all of their time on mischief,” Silfa patted Ameliyn’s hand.

“I’ll have copies of the documents on what we know about the Tier 5 Regions and Wilderness sent to your house,” Gennet said.

“Thank you,” Reivyn expressed his gratitude to Kefira’s parents.

“Of course,” Gennet chuckled. “The more I help you all prepare, the more safe my baby girl will be in your care.”

Gennet motioned to one of the staff standing unobtrusively along the wall. They all had ears, so the staff member understood what was required of her and she immediately rushed off.

Kefira’s older siblings excused themselves for the evening. Reivyn had no desire to leave Kefira’s side, so he stayed seated on the couch. His parents remained to keep him company, and Gennet and Silfa sat down as well.

They made small-talk amongst themselves much like they would have done if the dinner had continued in the normal way. It wasn’t long before the Grand Magus returned with the two girls in tow. He stepped forward and presented another, identical necklace to Reivyn. Reivyn wasted no time in securing it around Kefira’s neck.

He could feel a subtle shift in the ambient pressure being exuded from Kefira. He tried to observe it with his Divine Sense Skill in order to further his ability to peer deeper into the metaphysical, but he would need more opportunities before he could fully grasp such an ability with his Skill. It quickly abated and he simply waited for Kefira to come to.

After waiting for several minutes, Kefira finally stirred and slowly sat up. Her hair hung down in front of her face, and she blew it away with a quick puff of air before swiping it away with her hand. She looked up in surprise to see everyone looking at her.

“What happened?” She asked, glancing around at the sitting room. “How did we get here?”

Kefira’s parents smiled at their daughter regaining consciousness. Reivyn hugged her to his side with one arm.

“You collapsed at dinner,” Reivyn explained. “I told you there was something going on.” He smirked and bopped her on the nose with his finger.

Kefira rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure, but do you care to explain what it was? I’ve got no idea what’s going on right now.”

Reivyn smiled and hugged her tighter again. The two groups of parents looked at each other and with unspoken agreement got up to leave the sitting room. Reivyn was left alone with Kefira with the ever-present Serilla standing behind the couch.

“Sure,” Reivyn said. “It seems that your accelerated rate of Skill advancement didn’t come without its disadvantages…”