An Unbound Soul

[Analysis] didn't work, but [Eye of Judgement] was now showing a complete-looking status.

Name: Harry Withermark

Species: Human (β)

Age: 35

Class: Commoner (Level 4/4)

Soul Points: 3

Health: 15/15

Stamina: 15/15

Mana: 0/0

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 11

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 14

Charisma: 12

Rank 1 Skills: [Language: English 10] [Language: Common 7]

Traits: [Researcher] [Genius] [Revolutionary]

Titles: None

Status Conditions: None

Attuned Affinities: [Fire] [Air] [Earth] [Water] [Time]

Rank 1 Available Skills: [Basic Cooking] [Mana Sense] [Inspection] [Meditation] [Clock] [Basic Smithing] [Basic Alchemy] [Weapon Proficiency: Unarmed] [Weapon Proficiency: Dagger] [Weapon Proficiency: Sword] [Weapon Proficiency: Heavy Sword] [Weapon Proficiency: Axe] [Weapon Proficiency: Mace] [Weapon Proficiency: Flail] [Weapon Proficiency: Polearm] [Weapon Proficiency: Staff] [Weapon Proficiency: Bow] [Weapon Proficiency: Thrown]

He'd gained another level since I'd last looked, as well as more stats. He had three traits, and his affinities were almost normal, if I ignored the fact he had both air and earth. Nevertheless, there were multiple points of concern in there.

The first was his age; he'd told me he was older than that. Most likely, it was simply showing it in local time, rather than Earth years. That was fine; how was the System supposed to measure things in years if the length of a year varied? Mana was zero, as expected; he didn't have a mana circulatory system.

He had, however, unlocked [Mana Sense]. That more or less confirmed that the System wasn't relying on innate biology to make it work. Maybe. There were other options; maybe buying the skill wouldn't do anything, or would result in biological changes, or perhaps Earth humans had some sort of vestigial mana biology.

That was an interesting thought, right there. The System recognised them as human. It wasn't just me saying it, but it was right there in his status. Yes, he had a subspecies, just like the different subspecies of beastkin, but his main species was the same as mine. Either the System had taken that from me, or it based things on external appearance, or else it recognised us as actually being related. Did humans here and Earth humans share a common ancestry? It would certainly be strange for two identical looking species to evolve independently.

In turn, that raised suspicions about monsters and beastkin being based on Earth animals. Had life on this planet moved in from elsewhere?

Beyond that, there was the sheer quantity of skills he'd unlocked. There was no possible explanation other than going for [Jack of All Trades]. Why was he doing that? He should be minimising System interaction to delay his soul erosion.

And finally, there was that trait.

[Revolutionary] - Whether to correct injustice, for selfish gain, or just out of boredom, you have seen the way the world works and have rejected it. Through words or violence, you fight to bring change. Increased stat and skill gains for related actions. (Rank 2)

I was pretty sure he fell under 'correct injustice', at least by his perception, and I just hoped he'd go the words route instead of choosing violence. The perk from that trait presumably meant that he'd get bonus charisma for trying to talk me around to his point of view, or crafting levels if he made an enchanted anti-Law device.

"Catch-the-mana? What are you talking about?" asked Harry, pulling me back to my suggestion.

"Darren's ability to perform magic without the System came from mana exposure during his first year. Perhaps we could replicate it with you."

"That seems doubtful. Kari described traits as an embodiment of your personality. Playing games is not going to change our personality, as it might a baby."

It was true that all of Harry's traits defined his personality, but that wasn't always true. My original [Abnormal Soul] and its replacements hadn't been anything to do with my personality, for example. It went back to my theories about how much of 'me' was my brain, and how much my soul. Was personality defined by a soul? The psychopathic Owen had gone on to become the psychopathic Daniel. Would he have done so even without his memories?

Then did Darren need to have a natural affinity for magic in order to get [Natural Mage]?

"Not all traits have anything to do with personality. Darren's [Natural Mage] certainly doesn't."

"Does it cost us anything to try? How much time will this take?"

"I used to play with mana around Darren quite often, and he was almost a year old when he got the trait. Or, at least when he first showed signs of mana sensory and manipulation abilities. It's possible the trait came earlier."

Or if it was anything like Cluma's [Acrobatic], the trait could have come later. Shame I hadn't had [Eye of Judgement] back then.

"If there's no harm in trying, give it a go."

I exercised my [Expert Mana Control] to grab hold of the surrounding mana and form it into streamers, brushing them against Harry and Calvin. Or, at least, trying to. The streams of mana didn't interact with them, as they had Darren, but passed straight through with as much ease as a normal wooden wall. The idea was a bust.

"Well? Are you going to start?"

"I already did. Mana doesn't seem to interact with you at all, and apparently you can't even feel it. How did you unlock [Mana Sense]?"

"Huh? How do you know what skills I've unlocked? Even I can't see them."

Oh. Good point; his shop was locked! Not only had he been making an attempt to get [Jack of All Trades], but he'd been doing so completely blind!

"[Eye of Judgement]. But you have loads of skills available. Presumably trying to get [Jack of All Trades], but why? You remember what I said about soul erosion leading to the Law taking effect sooner?"

"Of course. Given the System's ability to improve my mental abilities, it's a simple trade-off. I deem it worthwhile. Abigail does not share my opinion, and will not deliberately unlock skills, nor purchase them or change class. Calvin has yet to decide. Cara... shares my opinion."

Harry's slight frown suggested that Cara shared his conclusion, but not his opinion. Given her response to Harry in the discussion with my former parents, I suspected she simply didn't mind so much about the erosion. Or wasn't so scared of it, perhaps.

"To give credit where credit is due, that's brave."

"It's a calculated risk. Nothing more. I am not in a situation where I can afford to play safe. Now, no-one here seems to know any history prior to three hundred years ago. You can start by filling us in."

We joined up with the other two, and I gave them the full history of the previous two civilisations, as far as I knew them.

"So... the previous two civilisations destroyed themselves with soul magic, yet everyone I've spoken to believes that soul magic can only be used by monsters, so we can assume they are prevented from using it by the Law?" asked Harry, spotting the inconsistency immediately. Not that I'd expected any different; I'd already mentioned the previous civilisations, so it was already too late to hide that fact. I was just hoping he'd conclude Erryn had edited the ability to use soul magic out genetically, rather than by Law.

"Yes."

"And yet, despite considering it so dangerous that she prevented anyone from realising it was possible to use, Erryn herself used it to construct the Law."

"Also yes."

"I'm sure you can understand why I am dubious. In combination with the previous civilisations lasting so long, soul magic cannot be that dangerous. Perhaps this Erryn had another reason for forbidding its use? Such as its ability to overcome her Law."

"No. Firstly, the Law drove Erryn insane, to the point she effectively committed suicide to stop herself falling to madness..."

"And secondly? All of your evidence so far simply goes back to Erryn. She could have been feeding you anything."

Damn my mouth. My secondly was going to be pointing out how much damage I'd done to myself and others each time I'd used soul affinity, but saying that would be admitting I could use soul affinity.

"Secondly, I have soul affinity. I've used it on three occasions. One left me and everyone around me in agonising pain. One knocked me unconscious. The third very nearly killed me, and left me crippled for days. There will not be a fourth time, short of someone's life being in danger."

I was still bonded to not-Blobby, and still had her yellow markings patterning one arm of my soul, although my own colours had started pushing them down, taking back a third of the way to my elbow. Perhaps I'd recover fully over time, but it would take years, and I hadn't noticed our link growing weaker.

"I thought you considered the Law claiming someone against their will to be something akin to killing them?"

I opened my mouth to make a snappy comeback, but couldn't think of one. That was true, wasn't it? I had said that. Then why would I be prepared to use soul affinity to save Krana from corrupted flame elementals, but not Harry from the Law?

It was certainly true that there were different 'levels' of a life being in danger. I wouldn't use soul affinity to save someone dying a natural death of old age, for example. I'd consider it better to die a painless death in my sleep than to be tortured to death by a sadistic criminal. Calvin had asked Harry where his lines were, but apparently I didn't yet know mine. Despite saying that I considered the Law to be a sort of death, I obviously unconsciously considered it more akin to a peaceful death than a violent one, despite being very obviously unnatural. Why? If—to pick a popular isekai example—slave collars were a thing that existed here, robbing their wearers of all freedom and autonomy, I wouldn't hesitate to save the victims, even if I risked harming myself in the process.

If I wanted to be cynical about it, I could note that the first time aside, when I didn't know what would happen, the following two uses had been to protect myself. Not-Blobby had been trying to kill me directly, and Krana being infected by the corruption would likely have been the end of the Emerald Caverns and everyone in them, myself included. I wasn't in danger from the Law, and thus was significantly less inclined to risk myself to solve it.

Although I could phrase that in a way that didn't make it sound so bad.

"The previous uses were instinct driven, on the spur of the moment. There were no other options, and randomly blasting soul affinity had a good chance of helping. Now there's not an imminent danger of death, and randomly blasting soul affinity will do more harm than good."

"How often is your life in danger?" asked Russell, frowning.

"Fair point... Funny that it's happened twice."

"So, that's just great," snorted Harry. "The only soul mage around refuses to do soul magic. I thought we had an agreement."

"We do, but me committing suicide wasn't anywhere in it."

"So just how exactly do you envision going about saving this world from your friendly neighbourhood mind rapist?"

"I have no idea. Finding the source, maybe? But if you're considering outright destroying it, I'd stop you myself."

"Oh? So you're admitting you don't want us to succeed?"

"Not in that way. Heck no. If you suddenly removed it, what do you think would happen to this world? There's none of the societal structure required to deal with crime and punishment. If even a small portion of the population turned to crime, society would collapse."

"Collapsing this fake society is the entire point!"

"This isn't your world. You don't have the right to make that choice. Think how many lives will be ruined."

"Perhaps, but it falls to me anyway, because the people who do have that right are all brainwashed. And I have to say, you've certainly changed your tune since the last time we spoke."

"Because you forced me to think about it. I've made my decision. I'll help you, because I think you deserve a defence, and I'll tolerate your attempts to 'free' the world because I don't think you'll succeed and because we need you to defend from invasion, but it's my opinion that the Law should stay."

"Don't think I'll succeed, huh? Well, having spoken to Kari and seen what the state of magical research is like in this world, I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be able to create the wormhole defences you want either. Giving the locals the capacity to comprehend they're being invaded may be the only chance they've got."