『Soul Nodes』

"It's okay, you can cry all you want," A person said while hugging someone.

"But..! but!"

"I'll buy you some ice cream, then we can have your favorite for dinner." She smiled.

"Really!?' He said, wiping out his tears.

"I'd have to talk to the teacher about this..." She thought to herself.

That's right, Naoki, who was then a young child, was weeping—and it was his mother who was consoling him.

It was often very happy at the Ozawa household, and while it was just the two of them, it was always lively. Contrary to that, on this particular evening, it was quite emotional as Naoki had just arrived home bruised up and crying.

"Remember, Naoki. If someone hurts you, you got to fight back. It's fine if you lose, and it's fine if you cry—but remember to never ever lose yourself."

<<----------->>

"-Never lose yourself huh...?"

Naoki was not sure why but it seems that looking at the Sky Tower in the distance, had unearthed a part of his soul.

"Watch out!"

"-Eh?" He said, breaking from his daze.

*Thud*

"Guh!" He groaned, something had hit his stomach.

The impact had sent him flying several meters. Naoki was shaken out of his senses, quite literally; After recovering from the impact, he stood back up again.

"I'm alive?" He said, seemingly more shocked at the fact that he survived the impact.

A force like that striking an ordinary person would have at the very least rendered them unconscious if this had been in his former world—but Naoki was unharmed. Naoki was suffering from a mild concussion, but not severely enough to prevent him from moving.

"You bully!" Lily shouted, her spear aimed at the perpetrator.

*Pierce*

After piercing it, the creature stopped moving and became lifeless. It seems that the thing that was skulking around and hit Naoki was a monster.

"Are you okay mister!?" Lily said, seemingly about to cry.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Naoki wryly smiled.

"Use this soul fragment from the monster!"

"Ahaha, thank you," Naoki said embarrassingly.

He began absorbing the fragment to heal his soul and body. After he felt that there was no pain, the rest of its essence had been used to nourish Naoki's soul.

"These are... the monster's memories?" He thought, viewing what happened in the eyes of the monster.

Naoki wasn't sure why he was seeing the monster's memories and the emotion that it had felt when it was killed by Lily—but he had felt much better than the first time he had absorbed a soul fragment. It seems that the monster had just been born recently since its memories are only a few hours old but as to how these monsters are born, Naoki could not tell.

"Lily, can you teach me how to kill those monsters next time?" Naoki said, regaining back his composure.

"Mhm! Leave it to me!"

<<----------->>

"There it is mister! A monster that is the same as the one that bullied you earlier!"

"It's a ball of fur...?" Naoki said, confused.

Naoki was unable to see the monster earlier since it had already been covered with blood. Rather, Naoki was more amazed by how Lily can still remain cheerful even after killing a creature.

"You see, papa told me these are For...? Far? Furballs!" Lily said jovially.

"I see... quite practical."

Quite a distance from the two, a monster was idling around; As its name suggests, it was a ball-shaped monster that was covered in fur the size of a soccer ball. Lily explained that these monsters can go at astonishing speeds when attacking which is why Naoki was pushed so far back.

"This is your chance mister! You can use your bow from here." Lily said, urging Naoki.

"Alright..."

As Naoki pulled an arrow from his quiver and drew the bow back, his hand was a bit shaken. Naoki, having absolutely no experience holding a bow, would naturally...

*Pierce*

...miss.

The arrow had pierced the ground which was just a few meters from Naoki. It was so bad that the monster wasn't even alarmed.

"..."

"Hehehe! I'm sorry for laughing! I should have taught mister." Lily giggled, borrowing Naoki's bow for demonstration.

"I'm in your care..." Naoki grimaced, his pride absolutely broken.

Lily wasn't good with the bow, but she could at least draw it properly. She taught Naoki the basics and had him practice on the monster. He had failed—but at least he was more accurate than he had been at the beginning; Ultimately, the Furball escaped since it was frightened by Naoki's laughable shots.

"Guh! Why can't I hit my shots!? I should have gone for the sword!" Naoki exclaimed, pulling the missed arrows from the ground.

'Hehe, you can do it mister!"

Naoki was certainly improving, but he still hasn't killed any furballs and that was bothering him. He was beginning to doubt whether he could actually become strong.

<<----------->>

"Hmm...?"

"A big Furball!" Lily said excitedly, as if it was some delicious treat.

Several meters away lies a Furball more than ten times its normal size. Naoki had seen several Furballs with varying sizes but not quite as big as the one in front of them.

"Should we run...?" Naoki said, feeling imminent danger.

"Let's go!"

It seems that Lily did not hear Naoki and decided to attack the monster immediately. Naoki sighed and drew his bow...

*Pierce* *Growl*

"To think that my first shot that lands would be to a dangerous monster..."

The Furball was groaning and was alarmed by the duo. It appears to be hopping back to prepare its attack.

"Remember to dodge to the side mister!" Lily said giggling, in contrast with Naoki's grim face.

"Oka-"

*Boom*

"That was WAY too close." Naoki dodged to the side.

Naoki was shocked at the fact that something so big could go so fast—to the point that it makes a crater on where it lands.

"Lily, is this really a good idea?" Naoki panicked.

"I got you now!" Lily declared, piercing the Furball on its side.

The battle continued, with Naoki continuously shooting at the monster and Lily playfully piercing it at its sides. Even when the monster was considerably large, he had pathetically missed a few arrows.

Naoki had not noticed earlier but Lily was quite agile and fast to be able to dodge its attacks easily.

"Ehehe, this one is quite weak for a big guy," Lily said cheerfully, in contrast to the bloodied monster.

"That's weak!?"

They eventually defeated the large Furball—with Naoki being exhausted as he had to dodge and reposition constantly, in stark contrast with the cheerful 8-year-old.

"Lily... do all of you in the village... hunt these monsters?" Naoki panted, on all fours.

"Yep!" Lily smiled, as if that was something to be happy about.

After the battle, the now dead furball lies motionless and Lily began to get its soul fragment in its center. It was still a surreal sight for Naoki to see a child butchering a dead creature.

"You can have this mister!"

"You don't want it? It's quite a big one after all." Naoki said, referring to the fist-sized colorless crystal.

"No, papa always gets a lot of these for me on our weekly hunts."

It seems that these kinds of big monsters were fairly common. Naoki wondered if he could defeat one of them by himself.

"Again... the creature's memories." He thought to himself while absorbing the fragment.

"This..." Naoki closed his eyes.

What Naoki had seen was the monster's emotions and memories from when it was born until now. It seems that the Furball had just been born a week ago but it had quite a tragic tale. The Furball was born quite small and was relatively weak than its other newborn Furballs. It seems that it was common for monsters to fight each other so that they may be able to absorb more souls to grow stronger. The Furball would have already died long ago if not for a fellow Furball pairing up with him. They were together for 3 days but sooner or later that fellow Furball had perished and left the Furball behind.

"-and then you managed to become this strong to take revenge huh..?"

"Why are you crying mister?" Lily said worriedly, tugging his sleeves.

"Huh? I'm crying? I'm sorry, it's just that this monster's life was tragic." Naoki said, wiping away his tears.

"Life...?"

"I meant that the memories of this monster were sad."

"What is that?"

"Eh?"

<<----------->>

"Memories?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, that's right, whenever I absorb a soul fragment, it seems I sense a fragment of the monster's emotion and memories."

After hunting the big Furball, the two proceeded to hunt more but ultimately did not find any more big ones—which is why they head back to the village. Naoki then asked about what he had experienced to Robert.

"That's... I don't know."

"You don't experience anything similar?"

"Not necessarily no, the only way I can think of someone seeing the memories of a monster's soul is for someone with an aptitude of Soul Seeking that does lots of preparation and makes Soul Inscriptions."

It seems that Naoki was able to view a monster's life by just absorbing their soul but as to the reason why—no one knew. Naoki was unable to hide the smile on his face that he had something he could consider his own unique power—but as to whether that was useful in battle or not, he had no idea.

"Anyways, how did you unlock a significant amount of your first node in one day?" Robert asked, a perplexed look on his face.

"Really? How could you tell?"

"Try closing your eyes and focus on a feeling in the center of your body, you'll be able to see your own soul inside and the nodes you have unlocked."

Robert explained that he had a bit of expertise in seeing other people's souls. It was for that fact that he had become Village Chief and he could tell whether someone had good intentions or not.

"Sooner or later, you'd be strong enough to see your soul without closing your eyes, and perhaps you might be able to read others as well." Robert continued.

"Alright..." Naoki took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

What Naoki saw was the state of his soul, it was colorless and formless but deep down he could see a shine. Naoki was not sure why but the information about his soul had already been in his head the moment he peeked. It seems that shine was his first node and that one-fourth of it was already unlocked. It paled in comparison with the tiny fragment unlocked when he first arrived. Although, Naoki noticed something peculiar...

"There's another completed node...?"

"A dedicated node!?" Robert said, amazed.

"That is?"

Robert went on to explain, that aside from the Soul nodes, there is another type of Node which is a Dedicated Soul Node. It works like a Soul Node, but it is only for a more specific purpose. Robert said that he had a Dedicated Soul Node for reading souls but it was only halfway unlocked. He further explained that unlocking and using dedicated soul nodes is more powerful than a Soul Node but you had to spend time being proficient and practicing the purpose of that node. For example, if one wants to unlock a swordsmanship node, one'd have to train in swordsmanship.

"So If I use my 3 Soul nodes to read souls, my half-unlocked dedicated Soul Node can supplement it and it would be equal to someone who has 5 Soul nodes—although it depends."

"It seems that my Dedicated Soul node allows me to suddenly increase speed for a short moment."

"That's weird, when you came here, I couldn't find even a trace of that..." Robert said, confused.

Despite the sudden developments, Naoki could piece the information together. Naoki hypothesizes that if he can even see their memories, he might have the ability to absorb a soul greater than normal—which would explain his rapid growth—and also take their power. The Dedicated Soul Node was similar to what the Furballs used to attack, after all. After telling Robert what he thought...

"That's great kid! If that is true—then you would be an unparalleled genius. I can finally rest easy that we'll have a man back in the Lizea Soul Chart." Robert gave a hearty laugh.

"Soul chart?"

Apparently, it was the Top 100 ranking of the most powerful people in the Lizea Kingdom, where Naoki resided.

"The top 100 has always been dominated by women." Robert sighed

"Why is that?"

As Naoki surmised, it seems this world is unfavorable to men.

"Whenever we absorb Soul Fragments, we always get only a tiny percentage, and added by the fact that we men have had bad aptitude since we were born, it's hard for us to become strong." Robert can't help but have a long sigh.

It has been like this for a long time—the roles of men had always been beneath women, he added.

"How long did it take for you to unlock the 3rd node?" Naoki asked.

"20 years."

"That's..."

Naoki now understood the gravity of the situation. It seems that he was not affected by the "Cursed Law" of this world—but whether it was because of his ability or the fact that he is not from this world, he wasn't sure.

"Enough about all that grim stuff—So? Have you decided where you will go from now on?" Robert asked, facing Naoki.

"For now... I'll have to get a source of income."

"Even though you were weak, I had initially intended to recruit you as one of our town's hunters and live in our house. However, it appears that you have boundless potential, and remaining in our little village would only confine you. Why don't you go to the nearest city?" Robert smiled, encouraging Naoki.

Robert told Naoki that the nearest city was the Town of Avery. It was only a few hours' walk from the village and the villagers often trade their goods there. While explaining, Robert handed Naoki a leather drawstring bag.

"This is?"

"5 red coins, 40 green coins, and 100 white coins which totals up to 1000 Zeals. It also has some simple provisions that you can eat on the way."

"I can't accept this..."

"Keep it, this was supposed to be what Lily will bring if she reached her 12th birthday but that's still going to be 4 years from now. I can just prepare a new one." Robert said firmly, indicating that Naoki should accept it.

Naoki knew that Robert would insist on it even if he refused and so he accepted. He could not help but feel a great sense of gratitude for Robert.

"Thank you. I will repay this favor someday." Naoki bowed.

"Haha, don't sweat it kid. You're someone who's going to achieve great things. Go make us proud." Robert said proudly, patting Naoki's shoulder.

Naoki was unsure as to why Robert had put so much trust and faith in him—but he knew that it was genuine. If he could, Naoki has sworn to himself to pay them back in the future.

"Take this letter. You should look for Andrew, my brother. He owns a store in Avery that deals with materials and herbs all the time. It should help get you started."

"Got it."

"If possible, if you ever visit the Lizea Sky Tower one day, go meet my Wife and daughter. Especially my daughter, she has always been tomboyish that I'm afraid no one will marry her." Robert laughed, a smile on his face.

"I see..." Naoki wryly laughed, noticing the implication.

<<----------->>

"Here lad, catch," Drake said, throwing a weapon.

"A sword? So I still get one in the end?" Naoki internally sighed.

"HAHA! you can't expect to defend yourself always with that bow." Drake said, patting Naoki's back.

Naoki was preparing to leave as everyone gathered to watch him go with hopeful gazes.

"Bye bye mister!"

"My... such a promising and astute young boy." Grandma Ku said softly.

"Come back anytime, we'll welcome you any day," Robert said

"HAHA! Come back with all the ladies, lad!" Drake grinned.

"Dear...?" His wife reprimanded him.

As everyone bid their farewells, Naoki proceeded to exit the Village's gate to venture into this wide and new world. Looking towards the giant tower in the distance, he turns back one more time.

"Thank you very much!" Naoki shouted, bowing as low as he can.

"Have a safe trip!" They all said in unison.

<<----------->>

"Ozawa-kun huh...?" A person sighed.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in." The person said, getting out of their daze.

"Kaori-chan! Let's go hunting! I'll go with you." A person cheerfully said, slamming the door wide open.

"Princess Lydia? Hah... sure, it's not like I can avoid it." She sighed.

In the royal capital of Lizea, lies the Lizea castle. The one creating such a loud ruckus was no other than the adventurous and lively princess that the kingdom is so fond of—and talking to the princess was no other than Fujiyama Kaori. As to how they are on friendly terms, it could be said that it was the princess' doing.

"Hey, wait! call me Lydia only! no princess!" She pouted while looking at her new friend.

"Fine, Lydia."

"Ehehehe." She giggled.

The two began to go out of the castle, but Kaori couldn't help but reminisce about what she was told just earlier. It wasn't about being transported to another world as a "stray"; In fact, she is not even surprised. Although, something was indeed bothering her.

"I hope he is also in this world..." She said silently, looking at the massive tower at the center of the town.