Vol. 2 Ch. 12: Soul and the Stats

Author's note:

Recurring Characters:
Peter: The protagonist of this novel.
Mariah: Peter's mother.

Recap:

Mariah hesitantly raised her fingers to caress its colourful head before turning her gaze back to him, “Looks well trained…did you go into the forest to get it? I don’t remember you telling me anything about it.”

...End Of Author's Note...

...

Peter shook his head. “It’s wild,” he said, looking at the parrot.

“Then…” Mariah tilted her head, confused, as she held out a nut to the bird. “Why’s it acting so... unnaturally? Shouldn’t it be scared of humans?”

“It’s just temporary. ” Peter said, watching the parrot tug at her ear. “Neither I nor Deathknell could leave you and the animals here alone while we went looking for a stream. The parrot is a better scout anyway.”

“I see…” Mariah slowly nodded. ‘It’s a solid plan,’ she mused, unable to find fault with his logic. ‘he’ll be able to cover a long distance quite quickly,’ she thought, locking eyes with the parrot.

“You prepare lunch, and I’ll meditate until it’s back,” Peter said, taking the bird back from her. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the new bond between them. He conveyed his request in images and desires, and the bird responded to them by flying off into the morning sky.

Both of them stared in silence as the parrot slowly flew farther and farther away, leaving squawks in its wake.

“I hope he returns safely,” Mariah muttered, giving the disappearing bird one final glance before turning to Peter.

He walked to the driver’s seat and sat down cross legged, his back straight.

Mariah looked in silence as he closed his eyes and entered into meditation, just like he told her. She exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling exhasperated. She shrugged her shoulders before walking to the campfire, leaving him in peace.

Peter opened his IDE with a silent command. Meditation could wait as he had more important things to worry about He opened the terminal and started typing—his target being the stat.info_module.

[

invoke --server=cloud.statcore.net --auth=keyring://soulbind_token --fetch=library --target=Stat.info_module --mode=read-only

]

The System immediately responded to his request.

[

[ StatCore Kernel v.0]

> Authenticating via soulbind_token... ✓

> Connection to system.statcore established.

> Locating stat repository... ✓

> Accessing node: /Stat.info_module

> Permission level: Read-Only

> Syncing metadata...

[ 243 stats indexed]

> Displaying catalogue...

[Primary]

[Physical]

[Mental]

[Spirit]

[Unique]

> Tip: Use `invoke –inspect [Category ID]` to view stats under that category

> Tip: Use `invoke –details [Stat ID]` to access full stat breakdown

> Tip: …

]

Peter wanted to see if he could find out the real reason behind his massive spirit stat.

[

Invoke –inspect [Primary]

[ StatCore Kernel v.0 ]

> Query received: Category = [Primary]

> Retrieving primary stat definitions... ✓

> Displaying entries [2/2]

[SPIRIT]

[KARMA]

> Tip: Use `invoke –details [SPIRIT]` or `invoke –details [KARMA]` for full stat behaviour.

> Tip: …

]

He’d taken a quick glance at the stat library once before, but he had other priorities at the time. Skills, Classes and Titles were his priority at the time. Titles provided nice perks, and a high grade was crucial for building a strong foundation. One couldn’t just swap their earlier classes with a higher-grade one without consuming a high-grade treasure. It was something he learned from his father. If someone got a common grade class in their first advancement, they’re stuck with it unless they can consume at least a rare-grade treasure just to upgrade it to an uncommon-grade class.

‘Stats only grow linearly,’ Peter mused, remembering why he’d focused on skills instead. ‘Skills, though… they can scale exponentially.’

[

Invoke –details [SPIRIT]

[ StatCore Kernel v.0 ]

> Query received: SPIRIT

> Parsing stat blueprint... ✓

> Accessing description node... ✓

> Displaying metadata:

[SPIRIT] – Primary Stat

Classification: Absolute Stat

> Description:

SPIRIT is the core representation of one’s soul strength, size, weight, clarity, and influence on reality. The soul is immortal, ever-changing, and SPIRIT quantifies its current state within system-defined thresholds. A high SPIRIT grants greater influence of oneself on the world and the mortal shell, and stabilises one’s existence in the world.

> System Notes:

– This stat is anchored to the user’s soul.

– This stat affects the Mana Pool maximum capacity.

>Tip: Use `invoke –explain [Soul]` to open the soul description from the system archives.

>Tip: …

]

Peter’s eyes quickly blitzed through the text at a high speed, lines of code racing into the terminal at this command.

[

Invoke –explain [Soul]

[ StatCore Kernel v.0 ]

> Query received: Soul

> Fetching metaphysical definition node... ✓

> Reading from System Archive... ✓

> [SOUL]

> Description:

“Never was there a time when the soul didn’t exist, nor in the future shall it cease to be. Just as the embodied soul, in this body, passes through childhood to youth to old age, so too, the soul, upon leaving the body at death, passes into another body. So a disciplined person does not delude himself into sorrow.”

• The Immortal Empress to an unknown being.

“The seers of the truth have long concluded the true nature of unreal [the mortal body] and the real [ the immortal soul]. The unreal has no endurance; the real never ceases to be. That is the undying truth.”

• The ever-changing, ever-growing Yggdrassil to an unknown being.

“Know that which pervades the entire body is to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.”

—Elyssaria to the first saint of knowledge.

“These material bodies have no soul. Raised by the foul necromancy, they carry just memories. Therefore, my warrior, fight.

Neither he who thinks the soul to be the slayer nor he who thinks it slain knows it; the soul slays not, nor is it slain. He only slays the material body, and the waste—the memories. Stand firm and do your duty.”

—Elyssaria to the current humanity’s strongest.

“I—the immortal flames—took this form, the moment this universe came to being, yet the souls were even primaeval. A soul is neither born nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. It is birthless, eternal, ageless, and ancient, so amusing as it is to be called immortal, you too are immortal.”

—The Immortal Empress to a Sage Traveller.

“I remember still. In the beginning, there were but a few souls, likely broken pieces of a once whole Supreme Soul. With time, the pieces broke even further as the new universal truth took shape, splintering into numberless shards.

You wonder why the act of taking life grants strength? Foolish child, these fragments are eternal. When a mortal shell perishes, the soul-piece within is loosed—and a sliver, ever so small, is drawn into the one who struck the blow. The fragments long for reunion. Each death, each devouring, brings them closer to wholeness.

And I say this: when the last pieces are gathered, when the Soul is made whole once more, then shall all of this... this world, this dream, this delusion—collapse into silence. Into the Void from whence all began.”

• The ever-changing, ever-growing Yggdrassil to an Elven Sovereign

…

]

His eyes stopped at the entry. ‘Could it be…that my reincarnated soul got merged with the baby’s soul?’ Peter mused, a shiver running through his spine. ‘Did I kill him?’ he spared a glance at Mariah before looking again at the screen.

‘No…souls can’t die…it’s written as clear as day in here,’ he shook his head. ‘We merged…yes. It would explain the slow increase in spirit stat, but then…how does soul affect the other stats and what about the free stat points?’

He continued reading.

[

.

.

.

“Free stat points? That’s just a small sliver of soul shard. Yes, yes. I know that you can assign it to any stat. Let me ask: What is the shape of a soul?

Well…it’s hard to draw, but it’s not an even form. It points in countless directions, and each direction is a stat. The reason you can add the free stat point to any stat is that it’s a tiny shard that can be attached to any endpoint to increase it.”

• Topaz, the renowned skill creator.

.

.

.

]

‘Countless directions, hmm,’ Peter’s face twisted in deep thought, his forehead full of wrinkles. ‘Thus, that means…unlocking a new stat is nothing, but increasing the endpoint’s length without using a free stat point?’

A ping sounded in Peter’s mind, pulling him out of his thoughts. It was a system notification. Peter closed his IDE, thus allowing the notification to appear in front of his vision.

[

Congratulations! You have unlocked a new title: Truth Sage.

]

Peter focused on the title, and a new window appeared, displaying the description.

[

Truth Sage

Rank: Epic

Description:

A seeker of eternal truths, bestowed with the wisdom to pierce falsehood and illusion. This title is granted only to those who have uncovered a truth so profound it shakes the foundations of belief. Their insight is feared as much as it is respected, for the Truth Sage cannot be deceived—and will not be silenced.

The air grows still when they speak, and even the boldest tongues falter before their gaze. Scribes and kings alike consult them in secret, knowing that a single word from a Truth Sage can shatter legacies or birth revolutions.

Not all Truth Sages follow the same path—some are ascetics wandering forgotten ruins, others are scholars hidden deep in forbidden libraries—but all are marked by an unrelenting pursuit of what is, regardless of what should be. The title is not claimed, but awakened, as if the truth itself chooses its herald.

Effects:

+5 Perception

+10 Charisma

+15 Luck

]

‘One can’t say no to extra stats…wait,’ Peter stilled, his eyes narrowed. ‘Where do these stats come from?’ he thought, swiftly opening up the IDE and continuing with his reading.

[

.

.

.

“Ask! What do you wish to desire, my child? Riches? Valor? Harem?

…

Knowledge, you say! You sly thing! Very well! You shall have the priceless then. Ask away!

…

The System’s helpless in it, child. It’s bound by its own rules, for it’s the universal truth, and truth must be impartial, even to itself. It must reward you with more soul shards, born out of ambient mana, for mana is a byproduct of soul. Laughable, isn’t it? To be forced to birth more shards, and hasten its end.

…

If only it were so easy to create soul shards…Chaos would have been upon us already, a pity. Pity, I say! Oh, Abyss!”

• Unknown abyss heretic to her child.

.

.

.

• End of Archive Node.

]

‘This…the scholars were right. Ignorance is bliss,’ Peter wondered, his mind reeling from world-ending revelations. His stomach twisted with discomfort. He sighed, closing his IDE. ‘Enough revelations for now…’ he mused, sparing a glance at his mana pool, which was dangerously low. The knowledge was so staggering that he lost all sense of time. He decided to check the other stats sometime later.

Peter opened his eyes, and jumped out of his seat. His gaze was fixed on the transparent screen in front of him, displaying his status.

[

…

Perception: 19

Charisma: 45

Luck: 35

…

]

Closing the window, he looked around. His eyes found Mariah, hugging one of the sheep and grooming its fur. “Need any help?” he asked, a grin on his face. His feet slowly closed the distance.

Mariah looked up, her forehead full of sweat and wrinkles, her hair scattered around and spotting few strands of wool inside them.

“Yeah…” she muttered, nodding at him before turning to her captive. “It just doesn’t stay still. Can’t it understand… I’m trying to help?” She ground her teeth, her face twisting in annoyance. She raised a hand to wipe her forehead, dampening her sleeve.

Peter chuckled, stepping forward to take the sheep from her arms into his. “It seems to me you’ve forgotten to groom it,” he said gently, careful not to tug on the wool as he began grooming the creature.

“I’ve never had the opportunity, alright?” Mariah snapped, turning her face away with a pout.

…End of Chapter…