Chapter 3: Soul Library [1]
The blue screen hung in the air in front of him.
[Soul Rendering is the authority to seize, preserve, create, and reshape souls.]
[It governs the cycle of souls itself.]
"...Govern the cycle of souls." He said it out loud to see if it sounded any less insane out loud.
The screen continued without waiting for him to catch up.
[The path of Soul Rendering consists of Eight Acts.]
[Each Act is unlocked after reaching the required level.]
[Information regarding higher Acts remains inaccessible.]
[Locked Acts are concealed.]
’So... I can create things? Or even remake life itself using souls?’
Alden stared at it. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to know about the locked Acts.
The only one available. Since it was available, Alden wanted to know what exactly it was.
"What does Soul Extraction actually do?"
[Soul Extraction is the foundation of Soul Rendering.]
[Whenever you defeat a living creature, you extract its soul and obtain two things.]
[A Soul Fragment]
[ A Blueprint.]
"...Soul Fragment and Blueprint?"
[A Soul Fragment contains traces of a creature’s existence. These fragments are essential materials for creation.]
[A Blueprint is the record of a species’ soul. It contains everything that defines that species. Its instincts, natural abilities, strengths, and hidden potential.]
[The more complete a Blueprint becomes, the deeper your understanding of that species.]
[A completed Blueprint grants full access to every recorded trait.]
[With a completed Blueprint, the only limit to creation is your imagination.]
Alden read through it twice.
Souls. Fragments. Blueprints. Creation.
He kind of understood them.
Governing the cycle of souls itself.
The only limit is your imagination.
He let out a long breath.
"Alright. My brain’s done for tonight." He closed the interface.
The wooden door creaked open behind him.
"Alden, are you busy?" Claire leaned out.
"No. What’s up?"
"We’re running low on firewood." She scratched her cheek. "Grandpa usually handles it before sunset, but he’s not feeling well. So if you don’t mind..."
"I’ll get it." Alden was on his feet before she finished.
Her face lit up. "Really? Thank you! I still have a few things to take care of nearby, so I’ll leave the chopping to you." She pointed toward the shed at the side of the house. "The axe is in there."
She disappeared into the trees before he could respond.
He grabbed the axe and went in the opposite direction.
The forest was quiet.
Alden worked through a pile of fallen logs, axe rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He wasn’t thinking about Sierra. He wasn’t thinking about Nicholas or Roselle. He was thinking about what he should do next.
By the time he stopped, there was enough wood stacked at his feet to last several days.
"That should do it." He set the axe down and tied the logs together with the rope from his belt, then hefted the bundle onto his shoulder.
He turned back to head towards the house.
The forest had gone wrong.
Dark red stains covered the ground a few feet ahead.
Alden’s steps slowed.
’Blood?’
The stains spread uneven, like something had been dragged. An old sword lay in the leaves nearby, blade dark with dried blood.
’Someone had a bad night here.’
He adjusted the bundle on his shoulder and started moving again.
The bushes to his left parted.
A wolf stepped out.
It was large and grey. Yellow eyes that found him immediately.
Neither of them moved for a full two seconds.
Then the wolf’s body dropped low.
’Oh no.’
It launched forward.
Alden threw both arms up instinctively.
The claws caught his forearms instead of his face and sent him staggering sideways, three lines of burning pain opening across both arms. He crashed into a tree, bundle of firewood scattering everywhere.
"Ackk! Damn it—"
The wolf pulled back to lunge again.
Alden grabbed the nearest log and threw it.
The wolf dodged it without slowing.
’Seriously?’ He ran.
Through the trees, over roots, his forearms burning, the sound of the wolf’s paws behind him closer than he wanted.
Then he saw the sword.
The abandoned one. Sitting in the leaves where he’d passed it a minute ago.
He dropped into a slide, fingers closing around the hilt, and came back up running with it in his grip.
He spun around.
The wolf was already jumping at him.
’Shit! I’m done for!’ Alden shut his eyes and held the sword out.
The impact knocked him down.
The wolf’s weight came down on him, and he braced for the part that came next. The teeth, the claws, the part where this ended badly.
Nothing came.
He opened one eye.
The wolf was directly above him, completely still. The sword had gone straight through its chest. The blade stuck out the other side.
Alden lay under a dead wolf.
"...I’m alive."
He shoved the wolf aside, and sat up in the leaves.
’I should get back before anything else sho—’
[Ding!]
[Wolf has been killed.]
[Power Combat: 1.0 → 1.5]
[Soul can now be extracted.]
His forearms had stopped burning, which was odd, but he didn’t look at them because the notification had appeared.
He stared at it.
’Wait... Does it mean Soul Extraction? The First Act?’
"...Extract," he said.
Nothing happened.
He looked at the wolf. Back at his hands.
"Extract." Louder this time.
Still nothing.
He stood up. He’d seen enough stories to have a theory about how this worked. He took a breath, planted his feet, and spread both arms out wide in the most deliberate, authoritative stance he could manage.
"Come forth, soul!"
He pointed at the wolf.
"I command you — Extract!"
The forest said nothing back.
He cleared his throat.
"Soul... please?"
Nothing.
"...Come over here?"
He lowered his arms slowly.
"I cannot believe," he said quietly,
"That I just embarrassed myself in front of a corpse." He pressed both palms to his face and stood there for a moment.
He looked at the sword still stuck in the wolf.
’Maybe it’s because of the sword?’
He knelt next to the body and reached for the handle.
The moment his hand touched the wolf’s fur—
Fwoo-!
"W-What?!"
Alden scrambled back and fell to the ground.
He looked quickly from his hand to the wolf. Then a thought came to him.
’Wait, do I just have to touch it?’
This time, he slowly placed his palm against the wolf’s body.
FWOOSH!
Black energy poured out of the wolf’s body like rising smoke.
It moved in loops, twisting slowly through the air. Then, it wrapped around his wrist.
He watched it move up his arm, twisting tighter and tighter. Then, it sank right into his skin and completely disappeared.
He stood up and looked at his arm.
Nothing visible, just his arm.
[DING!]
[Soul successfully extracted!]
[Beast: Wolf — Rank: C]
[Obtained: Wolf Soul Fragment ×1]
[Wolf Blueprint: 0% → 10%]
[+250 EXP]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 2 — EXP: 250/500]
[Second Act Unlocked!]
The Soul Rendering panel reappeared with two lines lit instead of one.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Soul Rendering [25%]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
◆ Soul Extraction [Active]
◆ Soul Library [NEW — Unlocked] [Menu]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Alden looked at it for a long moment.
"The skill has its own menu," he said, "and now the skill’s menu has another menu inside it."
He rubbed both temples.
"This system is genuinely obsessed with menus."
[Do you wish to open Soul Library?]
Alden looked at the question.Then at the forest around him.
His forearms completely healed now that he’d noticed, the dead wolf already looking faded somehow.
He looked back at the panel.
"Yes."