Growing Soul

"A Giant, huh?" In a private room Tabbris, his father Razor, and The King were having a discussion, and Tabbris just finished telling them of the findings deep underground.

"That's no joke… I'll send a thousand of my soldiers to secure the location and destroy the monsters before they awaken!" King Robart III said with a firm gaze.

Then he shifted his body and made himself comfortable in his fancy armchair. "So, about that person, Gerald, did you discover any useful information about him?" he asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have indeed learned a few things, however…" Tabbris respectfully articulated his response and told the King everything that happened in the recent days, including the extreme lengths Gerald went to kill monsters.

"Unfortunately he suffered Mana Overload. He became a bit mentally unstable after that, but he soon returned to normal," Tabris spoke of the small incident that happened.

As his report came to an end, The King mulled over the information, and eventually came to a decision.

"Invite everyone to the palace to be rewarded for their efforts and sacrifice. And while we are at it, I'll examine his Soul. Who knows, if we help him recover faster we could get on his good side," The king expressed his thoughts.

"Call them in, this unprecedented occasion must not go unsettled!"

"Yes, Your majesty!"

Tabbris left to announce to the group that the King was giving extra rewards for their efforts, while secretly using it to observe Gerald more closely with hopes of establishing a mutually beneficial connection.

Many rejoiced when they heard the news, especially the badly wounded. The damage they sustained needed a lot of money and time to heal, what with all the medicines and strong potions they had to buy.

Time was not an issue since they were still young, however, if they stayed out of work for a few months because of unresolved injuries, their savings would dwindle and they would go from a proud warrior to a crippled beggar.

Nobody desired such a fate, so they accepted the gifts with open arms and big smiles even though they just lost many close friends to get it.

The King's rewards would surely be enough to live comfortably for a good while so they all answered the call. Even Gerald loved gold, so of course, he would go, that wasn't even up for debate!

***

The rewards were awarded at a small ceremony in the Royal Palace. The King himself was not present, and instead one of his men presented the warriors with various items and valuable trinkets.

There wasn't any actual money, however, the gold medals, high-quality potions, and nice armor, as well as new weapons more than made up for it. The rewards were extremely generous, and while they were each congratulated individually for their service, the King wasn't far away, patiently observing it all.

"Hmm, so there he is…" The King quietly murmured. "Didn't you say his Soul was damaged?" He turned to Tabbris who was behind him.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Tabbris saluted and answered, "The Mana Overload was quite severe and he nearly died too. If we didn't find him in time, I'm convinced he wouldn't have made it. Honestly, I was a bit surprised when the coma lasted for only a day. If any normal mage tried to replicate what he did, I'm sure they would burn up after doing less than half of what he did!"

"So your guess, that his Soul should be on its last legs ready to dissipate at any time, you consider it accurate?"

"Well… Maybe not that extreme, but generally yes. I told him he could recover his magic, although that is extremely unlikely in his situation. Your Majesty can see Souls, so you should be able to give the most accurate evaluation," Tabbris said and slightly bowed.

King Roland III considered his words and then glanced back at Gerald. "You say so, but… Why the fuck is his Soul so huge then?! It more than doubled since the last time I saw him, and it's nearly as big as mine!"

"What?!" Tabbris was flabbergasted. "Impossible! Your Majesty is at Nascent Soul Realm while Gerald isn't even Cultivating! He doesn't even know a thing about it!"

He appeared stunned when a thought crossed his mind, "I remember he saw my sister Cultivating, however, he was clearly unfamiliar with it at that time, that much I know, he asked me about it even. And besides, it's only been a few short months, how could his Soul possibly be the size of Your Majesty's?!"

"I don't know, it just is!" The King answered sternly and furrowed his brows. "However his Soul is filthy! It appears like an amalgamation of hundreds or more Souls, something impossible to exist in this world. Last time we met, his Soul was much clearer, so this must be a recent development!"

The King took a deep breath and spoke with a somber voice, "I suspect he's training a Demonic Cultivation Technique!"

Gasp!

Tabbris took a deep breath and his eyes widened. "A Demonic Technique! Should… Should we confront him about it or…"

"No! Pretend you know nothing! We need to keep an eye on him until we figure out what's his goal and on whose side he's on. If we do something rash, he could react unpredictably and do serious damage! Nobody else can know this," The King warned. "We'll just observe from the distance for now…"

Tabbris nodded unceasingly as the news was just too shocking! A possible Demonic Cultivator! This was big news, but he couldn't share it with anyone. So frustrating!

***

Meanwhile, Gerald was clueless about what was happening behind the scenes. He just wanted to quickly take his reward and go, but the ceremony was being dragged indefinitely. The monsters living inside his head were still attacking him and making a ruckus, making it extremely hard to concentrate.

Although they quieted down a tiny bit in recent days, they were still going strong enough to drive a person mad. However, instead of driving Gerald to insanity, they were only making him mad.

"I swear I'll exterminate your entire species after I get my magic back!" he hissed through gritted teeth and did his best not to show his frustrations on his face.

Finally, after about an hour, the main guy guiding the ceremony received a secret signal and ended it all shortly thereafter.

"Finally!" Gerald carried the stuff they gave him in a big sack on his back and hurried back to the Mansion to sleep. He was exhausted and didn't have a good night's rest in days! He collapsed on the bed and fell asleep before even the sun went down. He even forgot to eat, he was that tired.