Bound to the Soul

"What the..."

Spark picked up a piece of crude, white metal.

It lacked any lustrous qualities, and seemed to look like an unrefined ore at first, but a moment ago, the thing made Spark's heart palpitate.

"It's gone!" he thought while drawing a cold gasp.

For a fraction of a second he saw a vision of pale mist wreathing around the lump as if it was a piece of dry ice. The nibs of smoke were sharp and thick, giving off a wistful and desolate aura.

"Hey what are you doing?!"

The cloaked elder called out angrily.

The old man had only answered inquiries about the items with succinct replies of the connected prices as of now. But this time, he had called out of his own.

Spark twitched. He realized his mistake. It was rude to touch the commodity of others without asking. He bowed politely.

"Excuse me respected elder, I was rude. This piece just... what exactly is this piece of metal?"

The old vendor looked at Spark and then at the piece of metal before shrugging his shoulders and saying:

"I don't know."

His anger had already subsided. Luckily it seemed that the mysterious elder didn't hold grudges.

Spark frowned.

'You don't know?... Is that it?'

"What kind of beast did you slay to obtain this thing?"

An annoyed sigh came from the old man before he said:

"I didn't slay anything. I found this thing in a ruin a long time ago, but it wouldn't connect to my Soul no matter what I did. So I decided to sell it now. Occasionally such things can happen."

The old man was reluctant to share any more and Spark gave him a thankful nod:

"I understand... How much is it?"

"Ten Spiritual Crystals"

Spark's eyebrows arched and he almost cursed. While somehow keeping his composure, he snorted:

"I thought that thing was useless to you! How come it's so expensive? You didn't even want 10 Spiritual Crystals for the fierce swords over there!"

The old man was silent for a moment before saying:

"... 9 Spiritual Crystals."

Spark was still unconvinced:

"It's just a piece of lackluster metal! What exactly is worth 9 Spiritual Crystals here?"

Finally, the old man retorted with a bit more vigor:

"Just because I can't use it, doesn't mean it is not a treasure! There are some Soul Bounds which

require certain Elements before agreeing to bind themselves to you.

They are remnant Souls after all! I suspect that this is one of those cases. I just haven't met anybody who was able to bind the damn thing to them. Who knows how many, and what Elements are needed to bind with it. I would not bother to sell it, if I wasn't in dire need of Spiritual Crystals right now."

Spark knitted his eyebrows in thought, but inwardly he had to snort. This guy doesn't even know how many, or which Elements the Cultivator needs to possess to unlock this ore, and without a way to check... There might not be a single or only a handful of people in the world who can make use of it! Double or Triple Elementalists are beyond rare after all!

That's why his angry answer was a bit... enlightening. In the end Spark, chose to trust his gut and the peculiar vision he saw. Heaving a deep sigh, he said:

"Well, fine... Give me the quill on top and I'll pay you the 11 Crystals... Maybe I'll find someone who can make use of this thing."

The crowd looked at him like an idiot. Who would pay 11 Spiritual Crystals for the slim chance of finding someone suitable? This young man must have lost his mind. It was still better to just buy a good item which you can actually use...

The old man hesitated for a bit before giving a slight nod.

The transaction was complete... Spark received the piece of crude metal and the quill in exchange for 11 Spiritual Crystals. Luckily he had taken just enough with him today.

The cloaked man quickly severed his Soul connection with the quill before handing it over. This process wasn't needed for the metal, since he never managed to bind it to his Soul.

After obtaining the items, Spark made his way out of the market. Initially he also wanted to buy some spiritual herbs for the Circulation Lessons, but his budget had already been spent on this gamble now.

It was too late for regret now.

Spark prayed it would be worth it.

After all the piece of metal wouldn't react this strongly to him if they really weren't fated for each other... is what he hoped.

Maybe one of his hidden Elements was a prerequisition for the Soul Bound to agree and bind itself onto him.

As he was taking his last steps out of the market street, a hand grabbed him from behind.

He quickly turned around to see who it was.

A middle-aged man dressed in a beautiful silken robe stood before him. The man looked quite handsome, with long, straight black hair reaching down to his back. Gold-rimmed glasses made him exude a certain scholarly air.

Spark presumed him to be a scholar or a businessman.

'He doesn't want to buy the quill or the metal from me, right? The quill I can accept, but the metal...'

Spark kept his cool, took a step back and straightened his back. The suit he wore exuded the same, if not a more profound sense of aesthetic.

"Yes?"

The man in gold-rimmed glasses scratched his temple and thought for a bit, before uttering:

"Your clothing... where did you obtain it?"

Spark's eyes widened a bit and his mouth turned into a cordial smile before beginning to advertise.

...

Back in the office, he slumped onto his chair with a sigh.

His smile reemerged and a chuckle escaped his mouth:

"I knew they would appreciate the suits!"

He, or rather Terry had made his first customer. Some of the profits would inevitably go to the joint funds of the kids, Joey and him, but the highest share would go to Terry.

He was the one to make the suits after all!

This type of clothing was really aimed at the wealthier segment of Monsoon City. Every suit would be customized and perfectly fitted, to not stain their reputation with loose and inelegant garments.

The next step would be of course to create alternatives for the middle-class and the lower-class customers. But that was an endeavour for the future. Spark was avid to introduce Monsoon City to the comfort of modern-style clothing, and not exclusively to business-suits.

But to have his first customer on the first day he wore the outfit outside made him feel emotional. It was a good thing, as Spark just squandered weeks worth of liquid profit from the Cultivator shops. He thought about building rapport with the gentleman with the excellent eyesight for his initiative. The scholarly man didn't seem simple anyway.

For now, he had gotten his name and referred him to Terry on Curkland St.

He was called Kandel.

Spark took out the piece of metal and the quill and put them on his working desk.

He crossed his arms and stared at them for a bit, while thinking of a way to approach the matter.

...It was because he didn't know the process of how to bind an item to his soul at all!

Realizing that just thinking about it wouldn't make anything work, he activated the Cochlean Implant to prevent any surprises in the process and went ahead to grab the quill.

Mana spilled from his hands and proceeded to submerge the feathered pen.

When it engulfed the entire quill...

Well, strangely... or maybe not, nothing happened.

"..."

There must be another way to do this!

A Soul Bound is an item Bound to the Soul. Of course he had to work with his soul...

Closing his eyes, Spark fell into deep meditation. He tried feeling his innermost self.

And sure enough, somewhere deep within him, an intangible mass shimmered intricately.

He prodded and stirred and did everything to declare his intention.

After a while, he succeeded. Spark was surprised that it wasn't too difficult to do. He expected to need more training and attempts to spill out intent from his soul.

A strange change began to happen, when he did.

Slowly, an intense feeling of connection emerged between the quill and his soul. It weaved a mysterious bond that felt like an inseperable invisible string.

This feeling culminated until a row of black runes brimming with dark elegance blurred into existence.

[You have acquired a Soul Bound, The Perennial Quill.]

[The Perennial Quill]

[Category: Utility]

[Rank : Lesser]

[An everlasting quill, created by the heartfelt wish to be capable of forevermore immortalizing helpful knowledge. It will never run dry no matter how many pages it fills.]

[Effect: [Perennial Ink]]

"So it's a Lesser Rank Soul Bound..."

Spark stared at it for a moment before nodding.

"A good investment for a businessman, honestly... Especially in a world without ballpoint pens."

'The effects are self-explanatory, too. The Ranks are categorized the same as Skills, and with the Lesser Rank... yeah, there will be a single effect.'

"Although it must be the bottom of the barrel of Soul Bounds... I like it." Spark smiled brightly.

With a single thought he willed the Quill to vanish, leaving only fragments of azure Mana in its place.

Every Soul Bound was conjured and used at the expense of Mana. Although the quill vanished, the sense of connection was still in place, and when Spark concentrated on his Soul, he actually felt the existence of the quill swirling around it as a sphere of Mana.

He was very satisfied with the pragmatism of Soul Bounds.

His soul essentially functioned like a Space Ring, with the exception that it could only hold spiritual items, instead of also mundane ones.

When he checked his Soulslate shortly after, [The Perennial Quill] was registered under his Soul Bounds.

"This feels exciting..." Spark murmured with shining eyes.

He had found so many new hobbies he can pursue, ever since reincarnating.

Let's see... there was the hobby of consuming nutritious and delightful Spiritual Herbs... And there was the wonderful endeavour of collecting tons of new Skills by either innovation or the slaying of putrid beasts.

There was also the hobby of becoming stronger and receiving Elements!

And now there was another hobby of gathering cool and quirky Soul Bounds!

The future seemed to be filled with interesting and worthwhile things.

The former businessman, Théo Floga, couldn't help but smirk and laugh. His fervent feeligns of longing and desire could be kindled once again.

He wouldn't just gather any Herbs, Skills or Soul Bounds. He would gather the absolute best!

And he wouldn't just get stronger... he would aim to become the strongest.

But... that was an endeavour to be taken step by step. First, he needed to acquire everything to survive the onslaught of hidden dangers, be it from Human Cultivators, Intelligent Species or insidious Beasts.

If a powerful Being willed it, he would still be at the mercy of it. It could easily decide on his life and death, so...

A small goal was to reach the Qi Realm first.

Now that he was in the Peak of the Body Foundation and had Joey by his side, who had already managed to awaken, this small goal would surely not take much longer.