The Harvester

Chapter 312: "How tear-jerking…"

"Please stand in the center of the formation," a member of the Pavilion's staff led the way for Rakna into a large oval room with a high ceiling. There were several other people stationed there with monitoring equipment as well as a guard meant to intervene in case a Soul Beast goes berserk.

They all displayed a common behavior at the moment; nervousness. No one in the System hadn't heard of the 'Legendary Wolf Emperor' at that point.

"Out of curiosity," Rakna began as he stood in the center of a magic formation written on the floor and powered by some sort of transparent cylinders containing a blue liquid. "Why did you make me wait instead of performing my Contract along with everyone else?"

"That is because Your Majesty is on a different scale… Your soul power was measured to be much higher than our base parameters can handle. We adjusted the output while your companions were taking their turns," the woman attending to him replied uneasily.

"I see. When did you measure my soul though?"

"At the entrance of the waiting room…" She muttered. "Do you remember the person that fainted earlier? He was one of our staff with a specialized ability to visualize a soul."

"Oh. So, that was that. I just thought he got scared or something."

"Haha… yes…" She laughed wryly. "Ahem, about the target of your Contract," she calmly continued in a professional way and pointed at a slot located in the formation a few steps away. "He will need to stand there preferably."

"You heard the lady," Rakna uttered and Pronos jumped out from under Sonata. When he landed on the spot, everyone in the room began sweating even harder. The creature was small but its nine heads were menacingly blatant.

"U-um…" The woman stuttered but eventually got her speech under control. "Does your pet have a Gigantism skill?" She asked and the therian nodded. "In that case, there is no need for him to be at his full size, but it would be preferable if he grew to fit the slot fully. It's not really important to the ritual in itself, but…"

"I get it. Details add up together," Rakna finished for her and nodded at Pronos, who was already following the instruction. He grew three meters in the span of a breath and his presence became even more intimidating.

"A-all right. Everything is in order," the attendant bowed before stepping out of the formation. She nodded at the staff and they triggered the cylinders in the corners of the formation. The liquid inside began to deplete and the strokes of the magic formation gradually lit up.

"That is?" Rakna asked the staff as he watched the light flow like a time-lapsed painting.

"Liquid mana," they answered him. "It makes the conjuration stabler and since it doesn't require the participants of the ritual to provide the energy, there is much less room for complications."

"We're reaching full charge, Sir. Please add one drop of your blood into the formation, anywhere you wish; your pet will also have to do the same."

The therian instantly cut his finger with his other hand's claws while Pronos breathed out a cloud of poison which consolidated into a sharp arc. He nicked his tail with it and a green drop of blood dripped into the formation at the same time as Rakna's rosy-colored one.

In the blink of an eye, the color of formation appropriated a gradation of both colors and erupted with mana and soul power. The staff nearby had to cover their faces from the outburst but they managed to witness hazy apparitions of a Hydra and three other unrecognizable beasts spiraling around each other before merging.

It was over as fast as it started and when the Contract Formation died down, the figures of Rakna and Pronos stood immobile with their eyes closed. A torrent of visible soul power was connecting them and when they opened their eyes, they flashed in unison and everything settled down.

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Soul Beast Contract Established!

Pronos' Status has been updated from Pet to Soul Beast!

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A Soul Beast will receive 100% of their master's experience points except when levels are incremented directly by reward or earned through Quests. However, the Soul Beast can never have a higher level than their partner. Surplus experience will be transferred over in the opposite way.

Additionally, a Soul Beast and their partner have a passive extrasensory link far surpassing one between a Host and a Pet. They can forever interact no matter the distance.

Finally, a Soul Link opens the possibility for the ultimate art of Soul Unison; Resonance. It is a difficult skill to achieve and only the most talented pairs can manage to execute it.

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Note: Summoned Soul Beasts will die if their creator perishes; this does not apply to Soul Beasts acquired through a Contract.

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Pronos' soul is being tempered by yours through the link.

Pronos has formed a Soul Core!

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In the little time it took Rakna to read the notifications, Pronos' soul power had already increased in magnitude by at least three-fold. 'Even better than expected…' He thought as the Hydra seemed to be focusing on the changes.

'I guess this will make Resonance easier for both of us. My Soul's Decree is soon going to reach Divine Class, after all. As far as Soul Practitioners go, I'm near the peak,' he said internally and then glanced at one other System window flashing repeatedly.

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Error! Error! Error!

Information on the Host's Soul has been corrupted!

Error!

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Searching for Manifestation Potential… Found.

Searching for Soul Link… Found.

Searching for a Cause Variable… Not Found.

Error! Error! Error!

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…

Information on the Host's Soul has been corrupted!

…

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It was repeating the same alert over and over again as if it was stuck in an infinite loop. Obviously, it seemed that having both a Manifestation and a Soul Beast was not something implemented to be possible during the programming of Systema.

Rakna watched it scroll down for a short moment before it abruptly ended.

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Error! Err—

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Error Terminated by Administrator.

Status Confirmation Will Await Eventual New Data.

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The therian almost expected to see a note from Eva at the bottom, like she always did. But there wasn't any this time and considering the word 'Administrator' had been used specifically, there were chances that someone other than her was behind the correction of this error.

"All signs are green," someone from the Pavilion staff told him and he nodded. He approached his reptile friend who eventually woke up from his trance and with a quick check of his status, Rakna could see that his Soul Core had already Ascended. Unlike his Primal Soul Core though, Pronos' had evolved into Undying Soul Core. His Soul Control proficiency had similarly sky-rocketed.

"Well, looks like you got a big boost from this," the therian commented and the Hydra nodded as he shrunk back to fit under Sonata. "We'll need to work on our Resonance later on. Knowing us, it shouldn't be too hard, should it?" He jested and Pronos cried out jauntily as Rakna was led out of the room.

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* * *

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"{He was quite a dashing gentleman, I admit. Perhaps slightly more than me,}" Fray recounted as he finished explaining how he met the Crystal Sage.

Rakna silently rubbed his temples. 'I asked why you went to see the Crystal Sage. Not how dashing he was.'

"{Oh, well, now you know.}"

'…right. So, you're saying my soul is filled with animals all around and that the Sage willingly became my Kzanaria at my birth? Which saved my life when I was… flooded by that death causality?'

"{From what I have gathered, yes.}"

'I remember Wis saying I had gotten him as my Kzanaria through an arbitrary roll of fate,' Rakna reiterated with a scowl. 'That would mean the Sage didn't choose me specifically, right?'

"{Or it could also be that choosing you was from an indiscriminate happenstance.}"

'Right... Did the Sage say anything else?'

"{Not much, I'm afraid. He kicked me out rather brusquely afterward.}"

Rakna shook his head at that and sighed as he typed a response to a message from Kara. It seemed that she had already caught wind of the Nefertrion family acting against him for the punishment he gave to one of their heirs.

"As expected of pathetic men driven by arrogance," he muttered inaudibly and closed the message window, glancing up at the empty Private Section of the Pavilion. He was alone there as the others were visiting the shops or strolling outside like Astraea. As for Hans, he had given him the location of his territory in the Fifth Plateau to go and settle in.

"{'Pathetic men', huh?}" Fray chuckled. "{Well, isn't that a curious thing to hear from you? I assume your pride is doing wonders?}"

The therian huffed. 'While we're on this topic, why don't you explain the reason you didn't warn me when Hans cast that spell on me?'

"{Why, of course, I could tell the boy's intent was not malicious. Besides, he used a Unity Magic of which I had no understanding. Unity Spells are even harder to establish than Union Spells as they require the combination of at least three elements. I only was familiar with one of them.}"

"{The way his spell affected you was different from the regular application of Tale Magic. To put it simply, it was far more powerful and focused. It was a spell made for you at its core. It will not work on anyone else. It pierced through your every defense because you had a weakness it could exploit.}"

"Then, what exactly is Tale Magic's normal application?"

"{Hm, that is a nuanced question. But, shortly said, Tale Magic brings stories into the world. It will not alter reality but superimpose it. For instance, my magic could potentially create an illusionary world but it won't truly transform the world. But what Hans can do is much more powerful. Due to his status as an Incarnation, he can overwrite the world.}"

"{What he used on you was a Tale Magic spell at its root, indeed, but the result was far more. If it was a regular spell, you might have been subjected to 'witness' the story. But it wouldn't have put you in any real danger since its intrinsic nature was not meant to harm you physically. However, Hans' Overwrite went as far as transforming your mind and soul. For a short moment, you were not Rakna Xiorra anymore; you were truly that lone wolf dying of cold.}"

'…that's frankly scary,' Rakna confessed. 'I truly believed I was going to die during that 'dream'. Even as I found my way out through Flavia, I felt utterly lost and out of control. I was being played around by a plot leading to nothing other than my demise.'

Fray smiled to himself and replied, "{But you came out of it grateful, did you not?}"

'…'

"{Well, if it makes you feel better, that spell will not work on you anymore. The basis of the story was written around your lack of pride and self-denying behavior. You overcame both.}"

'How tear-jerking…' Rakna scoffed half-heartedly and Fray laughed.

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I'm sorry... I'm alive and I honestly don't give a shit about giving an excuse because I'm too tired to do it... tee-hee.

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Anyway, imma try to channel the spirit of Christmas into me to pump more chaps this month…

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Please bless me, Padoru Padoru!

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