Chapter 22: Heart To Heart [2]

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The androids helped Louis and Mirai gather everything the girl wished to bring. Once finished, they left the VPI and headed to the surface. Guards and scientists looked surprised but received direct orders from Gustaf to allow her passage, though they would monitor her regularly.

When Louis returned to the castle with a beautiful young woman, chaos erupted. Servants whispered excitedly about the mysterious girl. Some assumed she was his girlfriend; others thought he had kidnapped a pretty commoner. Louis quickly quelled the rumors by explaining everything to the Head Butler.

Robert, the Head Butler, was a tall human with a scarred face and muscular build. He nodded and immediately informed the staff. Like Catrise, the Head Maid, Robert held authority over all servants, directing maids and butlers to keep the vast castle impeccable.

Robert was a retired War Priest of the Holy Dragon Mother Church. Like Catrise, he mastered Holy Light Magic—his only affinity, unlike her additional Ice affinity. While Catrise remained youthful due to Ice Giants’ long lifespans of up to 500 years, Robert was quite old and no longer possessed his former strength.

“This is your new room, Mirai,” Louis said, showing her the spacious chamber filled with elegant furniture and a large, comfortable bed. “It’s usually a guest room. I chose the biggest one.”

It was on the floor just below Louis’s own, ensuring she wouldn’t disturb him at night—or so he hoped.

“If you need new clothes, I’ll buy anything you want,” Louis offered. “Actually, write a list of everything you need and send it to my watch. I’ll make sure you get it all.”

“A-Anything? Really?” Mirai’s eyes widened. This felt like a dream—invited to live in a castle with a prince who offered her whatever she desired.

“Yes, anything. Don’t be shy,” Louis nodded. “Clothes, food, technology, a new bed—whatever money can buy.”

“Thank you…” Mirai grew slightly emotional. “I’ll send you the list of what I need, Your Majesty.”

“Very well. You’re free to settle in. I’ll assign a personal maid to you,” Louis said.

From the open door stepped an Ice Elf woman—not fully Ice Elf, as she also had a pair of white, fluffy bunny ears.

Yes, four ears in total.

Aside from pale blue skin lighter than most Ice Giants, white fur covered her arms and legs, and a large fluffy rabbit tail completed her appearance.

She was a hybrid. Her parents were Tisha, the Ice Knight Captain currently on a mission, and Pekorine, the Druid Headmaster of the Capital’s Magician School.

Despite her noble lineage and talents, she chose to work as a Royal Maid while training as a Knight and studying Spirit Magic with her parents.

Yet she was known for being laid-back and rather lazy.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lady Mirai. I’ve heard you’ve captured the young master’s heart. I wonder when the wedding will be…”

“Wha…! What?!” Mirai turned as red as a tomato, despite having fought Louis to the death hours earlier.

“Nothing of the sort, Anastasia,” Louis rolled his eyes. “She’s a friend and my new sparring partner. With her, I’ll reach new heights. Anyway, tend to all her needs.”

“Yes, yes, I understand,” Anastasia nodded, her floppy rabbit ears moving with her head.

“So cute… I’ve never seen a rabbit person before…” Mirai said in wonder. “It’s wonderful!”

“Hm? Ah, um, thank you?” Anastasia muttered awkwardly as Mirai caressed her large rabbit ears. “Please, if you could refrain—touching ears is considered very rude, my lady.”

“Ah… I’m sorry…” Mirai lowered her head.

“Anyway,” Louis said. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. I’m heading out.”

Louis departed while Mirai and Anastasia remained, staring at each other awkwardly for several seconds, searching for words.

Mirai usually wore an expressionless face despite her shy nature, but her poker face stemmed from constant nervousness.

“Ah… Um, it’s nice to meet you, Anastasia,” Mirai said. “Um… Well, what should I say now…”

“Shall I help tidy your room? You’ve brought quite a lot…” Anastasia sighed. “Ah, it’s a pain, but better than knight or magician duties.”

“Well… thank you,” Mirai nodded.

♢♢♢♢

Louis checked his status while watching the setting sun on the horizon. His stats had increased by 1 each. A single intense fight with Mirai, pushing him to his limits, granted what usually took a week of nonstop training and sparring with knights in previous regressions.

A week could mean +7 to all stats, a month +30, a year… +365.

“In a year, my stats could more than double… but would it be that simple?”

Higher stats grew harder to increase through exercise or combat. Leveling remained more reliable, but levels capped at a Spiral’s Tier. Max level meant slower stat growth.

That’s where the game’s “Free Time” activities boosted stats based on effort. The Sinners Academy offered special training areas for similar gains… Fighting Mirai wouldn’t work forever; growth would slow eventually.

Still, rapid early gains were promising. With carryover across regressions, he could accumulate strength continuously.

“I won’t let this make me overconfident, though.”

He couldn’t relax and train idly. Selene could be captured anytime, triggering Soma’s plans. The formation summoning the Abyssal Mother would complete, swallowing the Frostbane Kingdom into her Weeping Nest.

“Thinking about it… that hand from before…”

The mysterious hand that healed him had turned gray before melding back into his soul and vanishing. It disturbed him. Was it a parasite left by the Abyssal Mother? Or an independent entity separated into this new timeline?

The hand healed him, suggesting it benefited from his survival—or needed him alive for its own goals.

It didn’t seem powerful. A full heal exhausted it completely.

Ideally, he’d analyze and dissect it, but he lacked the means.

“I need a way to gaze upon my soul… Even peering into my Spiral demands intense concentration. I’ve heard the World of Spiritias has strong Soul and Spirit Cultivation Methods… I should acquire some.”

As Louis pondered, he called for Robert while admiring the sunset.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Search for Soul Cultivation Methods focused on viewing the soul—in the library or wherever we store books and scrolls for the knights.”

“That might be difficult, Your Majesty. Knights rarely cultivate such methods. Soul Cultivation is quite rare.”

“Then purchase some or find sellers.”

“That will be challenging too. Such methods mostly belong to the Vultarn High Dominion and are incredibly scarce…”

“Tsk. Do everything you can to find them. Also, I need more Methods from Zipangu. Contact a merchant.”

“Understood. I’ll arrange for one to deliver the Methods you want within a week, Master Louis.”

“Very well. Is dinner ready?”

“Almost, sir. Catrise is preparing it.”

“Alright. You may go.”

“Understood.”

Robert quickly walked away as Louis sat down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. He meditated, letting Mana and Ki flow through his body.

Yes, he worried about the creature inside his soul, but right now, he could do nothing except progress in his Body Cultivation.

The Heaven and Earth Essence Gathering Method he practiced was advancing steadily. Now that he had a proper foundation, he no longer needed to consume large quantities of food. Small pills packed with calories and vitamins sufficed.

His aura surged with golden light as Heaven and Earth Essence flowed through every fiber of his being. Louis had kept the technique active during his “spar” with Mirai, which accelerated its progression and mastery considerably. He advanced from Novice to Intermediate Stage almost immediately. With continued training, he might reach Grand Perfection within a week or two.

The differences were noticeable. At Intermediate Stage, activating the technique manifested his Aura of Heaven and Earth, enhancing his physical abilities by roughly 50%. At Grand Perfection, the boost would be far greater. His Vitality, Stamina, and Regeneration improved significantly too, allowing faster recovery from wounds—a necessity to synergize with [Death-Sense].

Thinking about the ability that had helped him survive beyond his life expectancy by forcing his body to move with raw Fantasium even when he should have died, Louis decided to analyze it thoroughly.

[Death-Sense – Tier 8 (Growth: 12%): Can sense the moment of death in others, past, present, or imminent. Can sometimes gain brief flashes of their final thoughts. Can mark targets, including self, for “delayed death,” causing them to die minutes or hours later.]

The description was vague, but it revealed everything the ability offered. After using it twice—once while dying in a past regression and again today—Louis determined his current limit with his Fantasium Reserves was roughly 2.5 minutes.

Beyond that, he would either die without timely healing or become incredibly exhausted, unable to use the ability for many hours. Now fully recovered, he felt he could sustain it for about a minute. The better his physical condition before activation, the longer it lasted.

Nonetheless, this was an incredible ability. It let him cheat certain death in close encounters and grant temporary immortality for a couple of minutes.

“If I can tame that hand creature and make it my primary healer, the synergy would be amazing… but I’m not even sure what that thing is…”

Louis gathered his thoughts and focused inward, immersing himself in his body and the ethereal soul within. He recalled the Entity’s words about souls being artificially created by a “monster” that introduced Fantasy to this Universe—and that souls didn’t originally exist.

“Was he telling the truth, or just messing with me? It sounds ridiculous…”

Yet recalling it helped Louis focus deeper into his soul. Learning the supposed truth allowed him to see through it more clearly. For a brief moment, his senses stirred within, as if drowning in an endless ocean of colors, this was his soul.

Deep within the colors, he glimpsed something: a floating gray hand with a closed eye on its palm. It slowly turned pitch-black again, but it would take another hour or two.

“I can see it…!”

Louis extended his Intent and Consciousness into his soul, shaping it into a hand to grasp the creature and finally uncover its nature.

But he couldn’t hold on. His body contracted violently. His brain felt like it would explode. Blood poured from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

“Agh… A backlash… I shouldn’t attempt this without a proper Soul Cultivation Technique… damn it.”

Still, he confirmed the hand creature seemed harmless for now. It slept comfortably inside his soul, neither parasitizing nor consuming anything, as if sustained by its own internal energy—unconnected to any “main body.”

“Could this hand be one of those creatures from the Abyssal Mother I slew? Or… perhaps one of the souls I acquired? Can I really carry a soul through regression? I’ll experiment later. Maybe it isn’t a soul but something like a technique or curse—similar to… a Soul Gear?”

Soul Gear were late-game equipment in the Sinner Academy game. They allowed characters with highly developed souls to equip relics or new gear for stat boosts and abilities. They also protected against Soul Attacks, which otherwise struck with 100% accuracy and often instant-killed without protection. Such attacks came mostly from high-level Grievances or bosses.

“Soul Gear can act independently, but… it’s odd. Another possibility is a bonded Entity.”

Bonded Entities were creatures a character could bind to share abilities, essentially taming a monster. This power was exclusive to Espers and Sinners, letting them link souls to an Entity for battle support, stat increases, and new skills. Upon entering Sinner Academy, students chose from contained Entities held by the VPI.

“It could be either… or neither. Whatever. I should go eat dinner.”

Louis enjoyed a pleasant dinner with Catrise, Robert, and Mirai. He introduced Mirai properly, and the two servants learned much about her. Catrise already knew of her existence but had never met her in person. She was exceptionally kind.

However, she also scolded Anastasia, who sat beside Mirai, for slacking off and not helping properly, mostly lounging on the bed and directing Mirai instead of assisting herself.

Days passed. With each one, Louis and Mirai sparred more intensely. They learned the true limits of their abilities. Mirai discovered what she could achieve without holding back out of fear of harming Gustaf. Louis advanced his Heaven and Earth Essence Gathering Cultivation and refined his unique Body Transformation Technique, merging his Incarnation and the two fragments into his body.

The Transformation Technique remained nameless and unstable after a full week of training with Mirai. Yet Louis gradually understood its mechanics and began modifying its inner formula to reduce the risk of “crumbling”, the aftereffect that turned him to ashes until death.

Throughout the week, he met Agustina again, delivering medicine for her mother while adjusting their deal slightly. Louis still planned to visit her territory and resolve the issue there once he dealt with Soma.

A week passed, Zorba was finally released, rejoining Louis after interrogation and imprisonment. He now wore restraining bracelets and a necklace as “insurance.” Gustaf warned that any misbehavior would cause him to explode. This upset Louis slightly, he feared Zorba would lose trust in him, but it wasn’t the case.

With Zorba and Mirai now in his ranks, Louis held a small meeting with his father, knights, and Catrise. He revealed the threat lurking in the Nameless Streets, discovered through secret scouting. He explained Soma’s plans, Melisa and Selene’s key roles, and the gangs—The Knife and Black Fang—producing and selling drugs from materials harvested via an illegal Dimensional Rift in the sewers. Soma intended to use it to summon the Abyssal Mother and engulf the kingdom in the Weeping Nest.

If anyone else had reported this, they might not have been believed. But as the prince, and someone who had worked tirelessly with clear concern, his father trusted him. The others followed the King’s orders regardless.

“I choose to trust you, Louis. As King of Frostbane, I command you to locate the Sinners Melisa and Selene and bring them to the Capital and VPI. Investigate Priest Soma’s whereabouts. If possible, dismantle The Knife and Black Fang gangs. A parallel investigation led by Helena will focus on sealing the Dimensional Rift while you handle the rest. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Thus, Louis’s plans finally began to unfold.

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