49 The Different Forms of Souls

After mulling around for a few days, Astur realises that she probably does have a way to complete her Alchemist Advancement Quest. Through one of her original goals, a homunculus. Although with the arrival of Elizabeth, most of the reasons Astur originally wanted to make one have been covered by her. As for other miscellaneous duties, most of them have been taken care of by the Oulvgar. Because of Elizabeth and the Oulvgar, as well as the player to some extent, Astur had nearly forgotten about creating a homunculus.

For the most part, Astur has already collected most of what is needed for creating a homunculus. The base chemical elements have been with Astur for a while now. As for what she is missing, there are only a few things, most of which come directly from Astur, making the list of missing items smaller. The supplied DNA and RNA was always meant to come from Astur. The Soul Imprint will also be coming from Astur, this is to make sure that the created homunculus can always recognise Astur as its creator and master. The hardest thing for Astur right now is obtaining Soul Essence.

Soul Essence, while not strictly impossible for Astur to produce, it would require both luck and an understanding of how to create. While luck isn't entirely out of the equation for Astur, the knowledge and understanding of how to create Soul Essence from nothing is beyond her. Even Astur's luck is misleading as it comes in the form of making others around her unlucky, thus making her the lucky one in comparison.

Leaning back in the chair of her living room, Astur says, "Damn, I should have asked the old hag to make it when she was here."

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asks, moving her eyes away from the report in her hand.

"Nothing, it's too late to worry about it now. Say, do you know anywhere that has a reputation for having Ghosts or Spectres hanging around?" Astur asks.

"I've read that ancient tombs often have such creatures, but I don't know any more than that."

Before Astur can tell Elizabeth to drop what she's doing and go research it, they hear someone knocking on the door, "Excuse me, I'm coming in."

As the sound of footsteps grows louder, a tall figure with a long ponytail can be seen turning the corner into Astur's living room. Only a few centimetres shorter than Astur, Kretea walks in, the daughter of Asterion.

"Seems like you've changed quite a bit since consuming my Elixir," Astur says, overlooking the changes in Kretea's appearance.

Previously, Kretea's knee-length hair was a faded grey but now appears to be a vibrant silver. As a member of the Kahafatir Demon race, Kretea's hair is of the utmost importance, being both a Kahafatir's greatest weapon and their greatest shield. Ignoring their abnormally long hair, a Kahafatir appears to be human at first glance, but their hair, while it both looks and feels like hair, is more akin to a mosquito's proboscis and is used similarly in that they drain the blood of their target. But unlike the frail mouth of a mosquito, the hair of a Kahafatir is incredibly tough.

"Lady Astur, I truly need to thank you for giving such a precious Elixir. In addition to the durability of my hair becoming even tougher and the force it can exert having increased tenfold, I seem to have awakened a new ability."

"No need to thank me. Having brought you all under me, it's my responsibility to care for you. If you really want to thank me, just work hard for the nation and do your job seriously. The wellbeing of the Holy Oulvgar State is of the utmost importance to me, so do a good job," Astur says while thinking, "Seriously, why thank me? You should know that I hadn't originally meant to give the Elixir to you but Asterion instead."

Hearing this, not only Elizabeth but even Kretea looks at Astur incredulously, not believing how she of all people can say to someone to take their job seriously and to work hard for the nation. While most of the Oulvgar thinks Astur does take her work seriously, the entire upper echelon of the Holy Oulvgar State are aware of how lazy Astur is and how much she slacks off, even the Forest Guardians are aware. But on top of thinking Astur's words are hypocritical, Elizabeth and Kretea don't even think that Astur is being truthful when she says the Holy Oulvgar state is of the utmost importance to her. While they don't deny that it is probably important to Astur, they also don't think the wellbeing of the nation is really as important to her as she claims it is.

Contrary to Elizabeth's and Kretea's opinions, Astur really does hold the Holy Oulvgar State with such importance. But it's not like Elizabeth and Kretea can be blamed for having such thoughts, especially given the way Astur usually acts. While Astur did grow up spoiled, she is still royalty and it was ingrained into her from the moment she could form coherent thoughts, the meaning of being a Ruler. Although she does more often than not ignore proper etiquette, her daily actions definitely aren't something anyone would expect from a proper Ruler, all this despite having gone through training. But even with both her unbecoming way of life, Astur regards herself as the ruler of the Holy Oulvgar State and fully intends to take on the responsibilities of a Ruler.

"What's with those looks?" Astur asks, but without waiting for a response, she continues, "Anyways, what ability did you get from my Elixir?"

"I'll show you," Kretea says.

Focusing her energy into her eyes, Kretea's irises shift and transform into the shape of a clock with numerals of one to twelve circling on the edge of each iris. While two white lines form in each pupil, representing the hands of a clock.

"Whaaaattt'ss goooiiinngg ooonn?" Elizabeth says, her words being long and drawn out, speaking in slow motion.

Astur, having a general idea, takes a look at Kretea's status to see what this ability is and finds it to more or less be as she figured it to be. But Astur also finds something that even Kretea was unaware of.

[Sight of Chrono Distortion (Active)]: Everything with Kretea's field of view has its time slowed, creating a delay to all action taken and slowing all actions taken when performed.

[Hair of Misfortune (Passive)]: Targets that have their blood drained by Kretea's hair will suffer from varying degrees of misfortune scaling with the amount of blood drawn.

"Kretea, you actually have two abilities, not just one. I'm not surprised you weren't aware, this is an ability tied to the traits of the Kahafatir, your blood drinking hair. Assuming they're still alive, people whose blood you drink with your hair will suffer from varying degrees of misfortune depending on the amount you drink. Since you haven't gone around drinking blood from random people, it's no surprise you weren't aware of this," Astur says.

Having answered her question regarding her second ability before she could even ask it, Kretea only says, "I see," but upon coming to the realisation she never turned off her eyes, she continues, "Wait, how are you still moving like normal even through my eyes?"

"There are a couple of reasons but there should only be one that's doing anything right now. Do you know what the main ingredients of the Elixir you drank are?" Astur asks.

Returning her eyes to normal, Kretea says, "No."

"The Grand Evolution Elixir's core ingredients are my heart and blood. The abilities that people can obtain from the Elixir are derivative from me and thus should have any effect on me. Both abilities you have are lesser versions of what I have," Astur explains.

Taking a seat next to Elizabeth on the sofa, Kretea takes a few minutes to digest the new information she learned before having her train of thought interrupted by Astur.

"By the way, Kretea, as a member of the Warband, you should have been to a good deal of places and heard a few things. Do you know anything about places where Ghosts or Spectres gather?"

"This question again? She asked me this right before you came into the room," Elizabeth says.

"I assume places like cemeteries are a no go. I'm sure there is something more to the question if you're asking?"

For a brief moment, Elizabeth's expression was a mix of shame and surprise, clearly having forgotten about cemeteries. Although it only lasted for less than a second, her expression was missed by either Astur or Kretea. But Astur just ignores this and nods to Kretea.

"If cemeteries were an option then I would have asked. I need to obtain Soul Essence and the only way to do that is to extract it from a pure soul, the kind that Spectres enjoy eating."

"I've never heard of Soul Essence before, but is that the only way to obtain it?" Kretea asks.

"No, it can also be obtained from ghosts. Although it doesn't end well for them since the process involves melding their souls together into a single unit and refining it until it transforms into Soul Essence. But this would also remove the souls from the cycle of reincarnation. Other than that, it can also be produced by a strong lingering soul that hasn't become either a Ghost or Spectre. This method, while reliable for the production of Soul Essence, finding such a soul is difficult since they are only formed in closed environments such as tombs and will either fade after being tainted by the outside world beyond their confinement or would transform into a ghost or spectre," Astur explains.

"The former is out of the question, that method is abominable!" Kretea says.

"That's why it isn't something I originally considered despite the ease of the method. In comparison, the other two are significantly harder. Pure souls aren't easy to find and they often get eaten by Spectres before anyone else can find it. On the other hand, finding a strong lingering soul is just as difficult, considering most ancient tombs have already been excavated or robbed," Astur says.

"Excuse me, but I've been wondering for a while now, but you seem to refer to Ghosts and Spectres as different things. I always thought the two words were interchangeable," Elizabeth says.

"I've actually been wondering about this myself," Kretea says.

"I guess as far as common knowledge goes, most people do use the two interchangeably. But they do refer to two different types of creatures. Ghosts and Spectres are similar in that they are both the result of a soul being tainted by its environment and reject its death. Ghosts are souls that have been tainted by the positive feelings of those around them during their separation from the body. Spectres are the opposite, being formed from negative feelings. To go a bit further, a pure soul is a soul that has accepted their death and has performed a grand number of great deeds throughout their lifetime, granting them the favour of the heavens to ward off the taint from the environment. Pure souls also have the right to remain in the world if they so choose instead of entering the cycle of reincarnation. Meanwhile, a strong lingering soul is usually the soul of someone noteworthy but just hasn't accumulated enough great deeds to earn the favour of the heavens, meaning they can't ward off the taint of the environment," Astur explains.

"These pure souls must have been truly righteous to have obtained the favour of the heavens. How could just outstanding people be food for spectres?" Kretea asks.

"You seem to be misunderstanding something. Great deeds don't necessarily refer to good or kind deeds. It's not like doing good things doesn't form a pure soul, but so can doing tremendous evil. A great deed can mean both great good and great evil, so don't assume a pure soul was a good person in life. As for how they end up as food for spectres, it's because when a soul is first formed and separated from the body, they are weak, additionally, they haven't acquired the acknowledgement of the heavens before their formation is complete. This makes it easy pickings for spectres and they can use the pure souls as a form of nourishment to make themselves stronger."

"How can evil be recognised by the heavens?" Kretea asks.

"For the same reason that the concept of an Evil God exists. But this isn't something you need to concern yourself with. Moving back to the original topic, do you have any information regarding unexplored tombs, mausoleum, or crypt?" Astur asks.

"Unfortunately, I can't help regarding this matter, Lady Astur. This is beyond the scope of my expertise. But I do have an idea. The crypts of the Church are usually left undisturbed and well guarded to prevent graverobbers from getting in. So you might be able to find what you're looking for with the Church. I know I was the one who brought it up, but I would still advise against trying to enter the crypts of the Church. I know you possess great strength, but to barge in and cause trouble with the Church on their own territory is suicidal."

"Yeah, you're right," hearing this, both Elizabeth and Kretea heave a sigh of relief. But this relief is short-lived as soon as they hear what Astur says next, "You're right that there is a good chance that the crypts of the Church are likely to have been left alone. I think I know what to do."

Taking out her phone, Astur dials a number she hasn't used in a while, "Hey Lester, I need to speak with Heinrich. I need his help with something, can you bring him over?"