Interconnected: Spliced Souls

Today was the 11th day since I moved into the mansion, and things were already in high gear.    

“Wait, a mentorship program?” Momo and I said simultaneously during breakfast. The captain’s hair was partially damp from her after-training bath. 

“Yes, that’s correct,” replied Srassa, holding a newspaper Jony had given her a few moments earlier. She started to read it. “Due to the recent events in the Canary Duchy, the Kingdom of Lando’s guild master has decided to implement a trial run of a mentorship program. Effective immediately, members may visit their local guild and request access to participate in the program.”  

“Woah… That’s cool of them. We’re totally signing up, right?”  

“Sounds good to me, captain. I wonder how they choose?”  

“Beats me. But a teacher being taught by a teacher?” Momo slyly grinned. “I hope this doesn’t put me out of a job, haha!”  

Srassa placed both hands on the table and rocketed out of her seat. “What? Never! Ms. Momo, that-·”  

“Easy there, Srassa. It’s just a joke. Just trying to have a bit of fun.” Momo winked and stuck out her tongue.   

This mentorship intrigues me, Servi. Had I still been alive, I’d like to have participated.  

I mean, you still can. You can share whatever knowledge you want the next time I bring you out. And that might be sooner than you think. Aren’t I a few hundred SP away from getting [Soul Remembrance]? 

My goddess answered me. Yep. Is that why you’ve been saving your Soul Points? 

It is. If it can help bring Albert to his former power, it might grant him a body. Or some skin. Or that might be the key to getting him a ring. 

After breakfast, we departed from the estate and walked to the guild. While the conversations were pleasurable, I couldn’t help but think about the previous nights.   

For some odd reason, I felt so incredibly horny. It was wrong to do that in someone else’s house, but at least the evidence was always promptly cleaned up.  

However…  

Momo had caught me. Itarr saw her vivid pink hair one night while I used the breeding mount. And when I sucked myself the next night, I saw Momo’s reflection in the mirror.   

And I knew she was fingering herself…  

She didn’t know I had caught her, but I wasn’t mad. I was happy because our friendship never changed. If anything, she was maybe a little bit friendlier.   

It also turned me on. It made my jerking off feel much more intense because I always waited for Momo's cute, fluffy ears to hear my silenced moans before ramping it up and using my fingers to pound my crotch.   

There was one incident. I preferred my semen to taste like a sweetened cake, but [Lover’s Blossom] must’ve picked up Momo’s stray thoughts when I drank my ejaculation and altered the flavor to taste like the cookies we had for dessert.   

It was a surprise—but one I welcomed all the same.   

I’m just a big pervert, aren’t I? 

The guild, however, was packed under the hot summer morning sun. There was a twenty-minute wait to get into the building, then another forty before we even got to talk to Claire. The red-haired elf was already a sweaty mess. Between running around, collecting documents, answering questions, and asking a bunch to the adventurers who wanted to sign up for the mentorship program…  

I didn't envy her. 

“Woah there, Claire. Are ya thirsty?” Momo handed the parched woman a canteen from her messenger bag.   

“Oh, you’re an angel!” Claire took and downed it all in a single swallow.  

“I didn’t expect this many people, Ms. Claire. Umm… I’m sorry, but we’re… interested in joining the mentorship. I hope that isn’t an issue.”  

“It’s the furthest thing from one, Srassa. My job is to help and support the guild’s adventurers, and signing them up for the program is something I'm happy to assist with. Now, I presume you three want to stick together?”  

“You mean train under the same person?” Claire nodded. “Then yes. We do.”  

“Okay…” Claire retrieved three documents from a nearby stack of paper and wrote our names on them.  

She asked us for our rank, our fighting style, what weapons we were most familiar with, and our skills.   

Momo was a spell sword— someone who fought toe to toe with monsters with sword and magic. Her ideal Skill Path, Spelldancer, required Expert Rank 10, so she started with the Mystic Skill Path. She was most proficient in using long swords, as evident by the one resting faithfully at her hip. It was a memento from her grandfather, and I doubted she would ever get rid of it because it was an exquisite work of art.    

Srassa wanted to be a courageous knight. She clashed with monsters and blocked their attacks with her heavy shield, then responded with devastating strikes when the opportunity presented itself. She still couldn’t summon her Skill Tablet. “But I’ve received knowledge in bows, crossbows, one and two-handed swords, axes, maces, warhammers, daggers, spears, various types of polearms, and—”  

“And there’s more?! It’s not just the sword and board?” 

“I’m not familiar… Oh, you mean the sword and shield? I’ve never heard anyone call it that, Ms. Momo. That’s a new one to me.”  

“Sorry, but that’s what my grampy called it. I knew you were trained, but I never knew to what extent.”  

“It’s impressive. Especially for someone so young.” Srassa blushed at the praise given to her by our friendly receptionist.    

Next, it was me, and I said I fought with a scythe. Claire was confused until I retrieved it from my ring. However, I didn’t say a word about anything related to Twilight Maestro/Albert.   

“But I guess I can use some magic. I know [Shadow Shot] and [Sleuth]. As for weapons? I’m not trained at all. I practice the teachings of ‘swing really hard.’”  

“You’d be surprised to find out how many do the same. But… Okay… Now, what do you want to learn? What would make you more confident?”  

Momo wanted to learn more about different fighting styles. Her grandfather fought with swords and spells, but Momo wanted to go beyond that and implement other weapons like maces and daggers. And maybe a bow because she knew there’d be times when that would be appropriate.  

Srassa desired confidence. She was aware of her weakness and meek nature, although Momo and I said she had come a long way since we met, which made the cute noble blush harder.    

Myself? I didn’t have anything specific.  

“That’s fine, too. It’s a rather common answer. Okay… That seems to be that… Okay…” Claire finished writing and neatly organized the documents. She used a small, thin piece of metal to staple the papers together, then placed them in a small stack. As much as we wanted to stay and chat, the endless line behind us suggested something else.   

We left with a pleasant wave and went to the quest board. “Gotta wait a week before we meet our mentor, huh? I’m getting excited!”  

“My first instructor once told me something. The more you anxiously await something, the longer it takes to arrive. That’s why I never expected my parents to arrive. And they never told me they would visit. It was always a pleasant surprise.”  

“But I’m totally not that type of girl… I have a lot of memories counting down the days until grampy took me to the farms and stuff like that.”  

“Patience is a virtue, captain.”  

“Yeah, I know, but it can sometimes be a dumb one.”  

“Guess I can’t disagree with you there.” 

---

And so, a week, surprisingly, sped us by in the blink of an eye. It turned out you flew into a regular routine when you had endless quests requiring the deaths of invasive golems. Unfortunately, the number of people wanting to get in on the rocky slaughter made it impossible to bring Albert out.   

I acted as a proxy and enabled him to speak to Momo and Srassa through me. And it wasn’t so bad because we killed enough monsters to get enough Soul Points to purchase the first level of [Soul Remembrance].  

It was on the sixth night when it happened. Itarr and I were standing in front of the bloody fountain. Albert had his bony arms crossed. He didn’t quite know what was about to happen.   

“Are you ready?” I asked. My finger hovered above the button to buy the skill. It would drain me dry, but it was worth it.   

“I am. Please continue, Servi.”   

“Alright. Here it goes…” 

Tap! 

A gnarly green magic circle materialized beneath my revenant, unleashing a towering pillar of necrotic flames that pierced the infinite sky. The fire burned so fiercely that it obscured everything, even the nightly abyss above, casting an eerie illumination. Tremors rattled Itarr’s never-ending tower and the surrounding ground.  

As quickly as the excitement began, the whooshing flames receded into the magic circle, which vanished without a trace.  

“What the hell… Albert?” I wasn’t staring at a skeleton.   

The person didn’t even look undead!  

It was…a child? One with gray hair, determined eyes with green irises that flickered like flames, and two black horns protruding from his forehead.    

“This… This is how I looked once I learned why Viridian saved me. It was my tenth birthday. Why did I…? Good lord, why am I naked?!”  

Albert dashed behind the fountain and peeked his reddened face out. “Please forgive me! I didn’t mean to show you an unsightly sight!”  

“You’re a cute kid, Albert. Itarr, do we have any clothes?”  

“None that would fit him, but… Ah, I have a dress… It’s long.”  

“Can you deal with it until the morning?” Albert quickly nodded, his cheeks rosy and cute. I tossed him the polka-dot gown. He asked us to turn around while he got dressed.  

We agreed to forget the previous five minutes to focus on the present.  

I tossed him a sword. If anything, the added flesh increased his familiarity even though he had shrunk from a grown skeleton to a little boy. “Ah, I believe I have it. Servi, I was this age when I acquired my Skill Tablet. I was blessed with puppeteering skills to turn enchanted marbles of skill energy into controllable golems.” 

“[Soul Remembrance] uses milestones? That makes sense.”  

He pulled his phone out and looked through his skills. “But while I have not regained those skills, I can store an undead in a marble of necrotic energy to call upon later via [Undead Storage].”  

“Seems like the best of both worlds. Are you limited to undead created with [Create Undead]?”  

“That appears to be the case. But I can only store three marbles. If I have this right, acquiring further levels of [Soul Remembrance] will continue to age me until I reach my prime, grant me additional marble slots, and return more of my former abilities, albeit with a necromantic twist.”  

“That makes sense, but what happens if you get hurt? A skeleton reattaching their head differs from a body born of flesh.”  

“Shall we test it?” Without warning, Albert gripped his arm and ripped it out. A child wearing a dress and holding their severed arm, bleeding like a gutted pig, was not something you saw every day.    

“I can feel the pain, but it's dull. Servi, please look.” When Albert held his arm to the socket, fleshy tendrils reattached it.   

“It’s like what I can do. Itarr, can you feel anything about a ring?” My goddess shook her head and crossed her overall-covered arms.   

“That’s a shame. How does it feel to have a body again?”  

“Unsettling is what I want to say. I haven’t been this age in over six decades… But I feel there is more potential in the form. Ah, a thought. With me looking like this, could I not act as your spirit? The only ones who know what I looked like at this age are either dead or ruling an empire. Even Viridian hadn’t seen portraits of me when I was a child. And I have these horns... I can safely say I didn’t have them when I was alive.”  

Albert was certain he didn’t have any Bicornkin blood in him, but he also didn’t have a family tree he could check.  It might’ve been an undead revenant thing, or perhaps he had a horn-bearing ancestor in the far past.    

“I suppose that could work. Can spirits be summoned from their weapons?” Albert nodded and said you could incarnate them by offering skill energy, so it wouldn’t be odd. I required blood, but I could say the pommel skull collects liquefied skill energy and tints it crimson. 

Huh… Which came first, the incarnating revenants from a catalyst or summoning spirits inhabiting weapons? Is the latter based on the former? 

---

I woke earlier than everyone else and departed the mansion with a fat stack of dupla resting in my ring.    

Harold had given it to me four days ago when he came by for a surprise visit. It was to be used for emergencies, and this was one of them. In all actuality, it was probably hush money. Harold's words almost outright declared it as such.  

Besides, this is less than pocket change for that wealthy son of a gun. How does it feel to live with so much money you can spend more than you could imagine every day and still not run out before you die?   

Jony noticed me leaving and said he would tell Momo and Srassa I was going for an early morning walk. That wasn't a lie. My journey was just to the clothing store we had visited a few times over the past weeks.  

Do you have anything specific in mind? I texted Albert after walking in, politely waving to the employee.    

Albert said he had worn suits all his life. In the muddy swamps of Southern Keywater or the frigid snow-covered lands to the far north, he was always dressed to perform his duties as Virin’s head butler.    

So that was what we looked at. The employee helped me find the perfect outfit, and I was in and out in ten minutes.  I also purchased some pajamas for Itarr. It wasn’t fair for her to be the only one not to have any. 

Before returning to the mansion, I stopped at a nearby park and entered my soul world to find a cute kid dressed as sharp as a knife.   

He wore a well-tailored, knee-length coat in a rich shade of blue that was adorned with intricate gold embroidery. The threads caught the dim light in a way that made it glow. The white cravat around his neck added elegance to his outfit, while the matching trousers gave him a polished look. His black shoes were shiny and well-polished, and they completed the ensemble perfectly. 

 

 

“Wooow!” I whistled. “You’re looking good.” 

“Wearing a suit fills me with familiarity,” Albert admitted.    

“Don’t worry about messing it up because I bought five replacements.”   

Albert thanked me, I left the soul world, and I returned to the mansion to find Momo and Srassa eating breakfast. After sharing a pleasant meal of ham, eggs, and smoked sausage with freshly brewed tea and coffee, we departed for the guild.   

Two days ago, the girls and I stopped by a small bakery and picked up some delicious cookies before heading to the guild. Claire was working then-- as she always seemed to do lately—and she enjoyed our treat. Momo tried to convince us to name our party the Cookie Delivery Girls, but that got a solid veto from me. It was cute seeing Claire try to convince me after Momo said she would bring the elf sweets for the rest of her life if she did this for her.    

“Ah! I’ve been expecting you!” Claire was in a bright and sunny mood. The pleasant smile across those pretty lips was always comforting and warm. She grabbed a sealed envelope from nearby and cut it open with a knife. “Wonderful! You three are to be learning under Dineria," she said after reading it.  

“Dineria? She’s your friend, right? I thought she was on a sabbatical.”   

Claire nodded at me and explained. “Dineria wants to return to the guild, so she's looking for an excuse. This happened to be it, so I’m glad she was chosen. Of course…” Claire smiled like a fox and wide-eyed us with a mischievous giggle. “I may or may not have had a teensy, teeny, tiny hand in arranging this. You’re welcome, by the way. Dineria’s really amazing. She’s the best archer I know, a total survivalist, and emits confidence like a fountain.”   

“Oh, man… I’m getting excited. When do we meet her?” Momo asked.    

Claire handed the document to our captain. “She’s at her store, so follow the written directions. Oh, and she’ll have more information about the program, so be sure to ask her anything if you're still confused about something."  

“Okie-dokie. Thanks, Claire.” Momo smiled and offered a friendly wave when we left the guild.    

 Levourisa Woods, or Levo Woods, wasn’t that far away, so we reached the store in about thirty minutes.    

It was located near the middle of town, right in a prime spot to attract the most customers.    

As we stepped into the store, a wave of earthly scents and the comforting aroma of fresh wood enveloped my senses. Sunlight streamed through the large windows, casting a warm glow over the interior, illuminating rows of finely crafted wooden bows and arrows adorning the walls. The strangest spot was probably the area filled with spiders. Wooden rope cordoned them off from the rest of the store, but they spun webs in organized, neat patterns.    

Albert told me they were most likely used for bowstring making.   

“Woah… It feels like I stepped into a forest,” gasped Momo. Our captain looked at the shelves and displays of intricately designed quivers and slim vials of grip powder.  

“Indeed. The atmosphere exudes an aura of ancient wisdom and reverence for all things naturalistic. It’s enchanting.”   

“Hehe! I’m glad my cute students think so highly of my store.” We turned to the voice and saw a tall, beautiful elf with emerald-like long green hair and grassy-colored eyes. Dineria wore an apron with the store’s logo sewn into it and crossed her arms, displaying the red flower tattoos on the back of her hands.    

---

Dineria led us to a backroom and served us tea and cookies she had prepared earlier that morning. Then we sat around a nearby table and discussed the mentorship, but Dineria spoke a little about herself.   

She was more than just a trained archer. Dineria worked for the guild for two decades. In that time, she reached Expert Rank 9.   

Momo asked if that meant Dineria was a Chimera, and our mentor sweetly smiled and nodded. She unhooked her dog tags from her neck and handed them to Momo. I peeked over and saw an engraving of a monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.   

I keep forgetting that the ranks have nicknames. Honestly, that’s just kind of confusing, but we’ll have our own engravings when we rank up past Novice.  

I asked why she took the sabbatical, and Dineria had this melancholic listlessness in her eyes.   

One of the smaller guilds located within Warden effectively worked as bounty hunters. Dineria’s father was one, and she journeyed in his footsteps. At first, the criminals were petty thieves. But as she became stronger, she went after tougher bounties. There, she saw how depraved a man could be. And for a year or two, she lost herself in work. She began to look at people as potential rewards and actively wished they would be her targets.   

It was no wonder she was given the moniker Dreadwood Shadow. She worked best in the dead of night, stalking silently like a shadow, able to get in and out of her target location without anyone being aware.  

And one night, after sneaking through a cave to capture a man accused of abusing his daughter and killing his wife… She said she stood over the corpse and lost herself. She didn’t like what she had become. Her bow… She made it with her grandmother’s help long ago, but Dineria couldn’t bear to look at it any longer. She hated how…many lives she took with it.   

After returning to the guild with proof of the mission’s success, she left and returned to her village, hidden amongst the forests to the far east. Dineria said her family helped her love herself again. If she didn’t have that support, Dineria probably wouldn’t be here.   

After leaving, she wandered around until she came to Canary. Thanks to living a frugal life, Dineria had more than enough money to open a little store. She then met Claire, became close friends, and lived together in the red-haired elf’s house as her roommate.   

“That’s… Are you sure you’re okay sharing something that heavy with us?” Srassa asked.     

“Yes, I am,” replied Dineria. “If you knew where I came from—knew about my past, challenges, and tribulations, my teachings would be more readily absorbed. Now, are you okay with someone like me? If you’re uncomfortable, there’s still time to request a transfer. I promise it won’t hurt my feelings.”   

The look I shared with my friends said it all, and I found it apt to share my lacking memories with Dineria since she was our mentor. 

The empathetic elf found my story saddening and said I could come to her with any questions.

That’s right. I told Claire back when we first met Dineria at the guild. Dineria had left by then. I didn't know if it was okay to bring it when she was there, so I waited until she left to open her store. 

After that, we shared our abilities and showcased Dineria the limits of what we could do. She found my crystal wand, which I named Duskwand, truly special. She also noted the similarities between the crystals left behind at the break-ins a month or two ago and believed me when I said I didn’t do it.   

And my scythe was another point of conversation. Albert never appeared in the discussion, but Dineria was sharp enough to sense there was more to it than being a mere weapon with a slightly dulled cutting edge.   

“It’s time for the itinerary.” Dineria returned my scythe and didn’t bat an eye when it vanished. “Tomorrow morning, we will meet here and depart for Waveret. It’s a port-side town to the west that borders the Landonian Sea to the east.”   

“What will we do in Waveret, Ms. Dineria?”   

“You will have to complete enough quests to acquire 50 SP, become an Oval, then venture to the bottom of the nearby dungeon to retrieve ten wateronia petals from the plants that grow in the underground spring. But that’s not all. It is near the ocean, and there is a beach. Should we complete our objectives in time, there is time in the schedule to have fun!”   

I was lost at Oval, but that was a nickname for Beginner Rank 1. Beginner Rank 0 was known as Cycle, then it went Oval, Sphere, Disk, Ring, Hoop, Loop, Dot, Target, Wheel, and Globe—all various Circles—the informal name for that tier.   

Intermediates were called Colors, and they went from Red at Intermediate Rank 0 to Orange, Amber, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Purple, and Black, at Intermediate Rank 10. 

Advance were Gemstones, starting at Jasper, then Onyx, Carnelian, Citrine, Amethyst, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond, and ending at Alexandrite.  

Experts were Monsters, beginning with Goblin, then Kobold, Nymph, Minotaur, Harpy, Griffin, Gorgon, Kraken, Sphinx, Chimera, and Hydra.  

Masters were Dragons... Those Master Rank 0 could take on dozens of Expert Rank 10s at once. It took tremendous effort and dozens of years to get this rank. How ironic a Master Rank 0 was called a Whelp. It then went Drake, Wyrm, Young, Adult, Elder, Ancient, Wyvern, Frost, Fire, and the last was Bahamut.  

Can we please just call them by their name?  

Fifty SP? We gained about 2 or 3 on average for each quest. Our progress in the guild had been slow, so Beginner Rank 1—or even higher—should unlock some additional Skill Paths.   

“The ocean? I’ve never seen it before. My grampy used to tell me stories about the beach.” 

“Ah, there’s something else.” Dineria happily clapped her hands. “I also have a few presents to hand out tomorrow morning, so I hope you’re looking forward to it!”   

“Haha, I’ll never say no to a free gift!” Momo relaxed and cutely laughed.   

Since today was more of a meet-and-greet, we did just that and focused on learning more about each other.